transpacific political theology: perspectives, paradigms, proposals

Since U.S. political and military strategies pivoted to Asia, tensions between the United States and Asian and Pacific countries have escalated. Geopolitical changes in the Asia Pacific have challenged the world order and will shape the destiny of the twenty-first century. These rapid changes test and challenge the concepts, theories, and frameworks developed in political theology arising from North Atlantic contexts. It is urgent to scrutinize the relationship between the theological and the political from a transpacific perspective.

In Transpacific Political Theology, Kwok Pui-lan brings together sixteen scholars from across the theological disciplines and from various Asian countries and North America. The book provides a framework for transpacific political theology by discussing racism and casteism, racial capitalism, gender and sexuality, Asian and Pacific political visions, and the China-U.S. contest. It elucidates the intersection between sexual politics and theology by queering heteronormativity, Asian values, and binary national narratives. With the heightened military tensions in the region, the book offers insights into war and violence, invokes the power of mourning, explores the use of art in interreligious healing, describes the processes of peacebuilding, and provides theo-ethical principles for reparations.

The collective insights of these scholars produce a pioneering mosaic in the developing field of transpacific studies. In addition to moving the burgeoning field forward, the cutting-edge perspectives developed in Transpacific Political Theology provide a lens through which the reader can reevaluate the complex power structures, theological frameworks, and status quo of empire, coloniality, and marginalization that might exist in their context, opening doors into further conversations of liberation and just peace.

Kwok Pui-lan is Dean’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Candler School of Theology. She also co-edited Teaching Global Theologies: Power and Praxis.