Theme

MIGRATION, DIASPORA, TRANSNATIONALISM IN WORLD CHRISTIANITY

Sixth International, Interdisciplinary Conference

In an increasingly fragmented world, the discourse on the evolving landscape of religious

boundaries, cultural entanglements, and how world Christianity responds to the challenges of

expanding conviviality is pertinent. The study of World Christianity in the past several decades

has revealed a vast diversity of Christian practices and beliefs worldwide, in ways that render

earlier focuses on institutional unity and theological dialogue insufficient. In his keynote address

at the inaugural World Christianity Conference in 2018, Dale Irvin highlighted the tensions

between an “old ecumenism” haunted by the lingering influence of historical colonial structures,

ideologies, and memories, and a “new ecumenism,” characterized by fluid, transnational, and

trans-denominational networks operating beyond traditional church-state frameworks. In the

context of Christianity’s demographic shift towards the Global South, new questions about

boundary-making, entanglements, and conviviality or convivência (a most common vocable

among Portuguese and Spanish speakers) must address structural injustices and challenges faced

by marginalized groups. On the other hand, conservative forms of Christianity in the same

context have seen those challenges as threatening to orthodoxy and unacceptable, engaging in

forms of “culture wars” with both secular and religious others. Orlando Espin employs the

concept of inter-transculturation and intercultural dialogue to challenge binary perspectives on

‘truth’ and promote convivência among diverse cultural and religious traditions, advocating for

an intercultural approach to the ecumenical quest. Edmund Kee-Fook Chia challenges traditional

ecumenical structures against the backdrop of increasingly fragmented and independent

churches, particularly in the Global South. Notably, 2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the

Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT), a Global South movement that

significantly contributed to reimagining ecumenicity. A number of other more fluid ecumenical

and interfaith networks have emerged since then, many of which in the global South.

The seventh World Christianity Conference will focus on the multifaceted dynamics of religious

boundary-making, entanglements, and conviviality in World Christianity and beyond. Relevant

topics may include but are not limited to: religious boundary-making, entanglements,

conviviality, ecumenism, ecumenical networks, intra- and inter-faith relations, cross-border

networks, borderlands, power dynamics, and social justice across the lines of gender, sexual

orientation, poverty, cultures, identity, ethnicity, race, media, environment, Indigenous peoples,

indigenous churches, marginalized communities, hybridity, interculturality, intersectionality,

nationalism, transnationalism, migration and diaspora. We seek to address interrelated questions

such as: How do religious communities construct, contest, and negotiate boundaries in various

cultural, social, and geopolitical contexts? How do religious entanglements foster or hinder

conviviality and mutual understanding within and across different religious traditions? How do

processes of boundary-making influence identity formation, authority, exclusion,

marginalization, or social cohesion within and among religious communities and movements?

How do contemporary phenomena such as mass migration, social media, hybridity, nationalism,

interfaith dialogue, and fundamentalism impact religious boundary-making and entanglements?

How important are matters of justice, fair-play, civility, freedom, and equity in broadening

conviviality and fostering broader entanglements?

We welcome panel and paper proposals from any discipline on any topic relevant to the conference

theme, whether contemporary or historical. While proposals from ethical, theological, and

missiological perspectives are welcome, we particularly encourage studies grounded in historical,

ethnographic, and other empirical methods.