We are thrilled to introduce you to one of our winners of the 2021 Goodwin Prize in Theological Writing, Chengyuan (Rene) Guo (Yale Divinity School) for the essay, “A New Realism: First Generation Chinese American Theology of Liminal Complicity.”
Paper Abstract: In the context of COVID pandemic and Sino-American strategic competitions, Chinese Americans have been singled out by our kin and racialized as contagion. However, Chinese American Christians from the PRC should not be considered as pure victims of racism in this Thucydidean circumstance because we are also complicit with perpetuating oppression against other weaker groups. This essay explores liminal complicity as a theological alternative to liberation and reconciliation, which prioritizes our endless entanglements with structures of violence. This essay develops a new approach to Christian realism that bypasses the danger of liberation-themed grammar and the oppressed/oppressor binary in the Chinese American context.
What led you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?
I have always been passionate about political theology since my undergrad at Denison University. I devoted my senior research to black liberation theology and mass incarceration. During my master studies at Yale, I began to explore my own embodied theological voice through investigating state-church relations in the context of Chinese Christianity. My interest in political theology has allowed me to rediscover myself and my relationship to Chinese culture. Currently, I am pursuing a doctoral degree in world Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, researching the intersections between family, state, and religion in China. I had determined that my path would be to offer the Chinese church a pragmatic voice of reform that allows Chinese Christians to recalibrate our critical distance to political power.
How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background?
My paper formulates a first-generation Chinese American theological response to the structural competitions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. During the COVID pandemic, Chinese bodies became racialized as the ultimate threat to American security. It is easy for some to deploy a critical race lens without situating this episode in the great power conflicts that is going to define this decade. Rather than portraying us as pure victims of racism, I used a “liminal complicity” model to analyze our collusions with Empires—both the US and China. Through which, I modified Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism to allow us to speak theologically from the place of complicity and compromise. No great power is morally pure, and free of sin in the interconnected body of God. Both Chinese and Americans as imperial subjects remain complicit, implicated and tied to things we abjure. Instead of relying on one empire to combat the other, we should recognize the incredible price of nuclear power conflict to the creation as the body of God, and discover constructive ways to initiate dialogue and deescalate.
Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life?
My faith is impacted by the heritages of both awakenings and enlightenments. For me, faith and intellect are two sides of the same coin. I hope my pastoral training and research will have tangible effect on my work with seminarians in the future. In the past, I have written extensively about interfaith dialogue and theology of religions. I do this so that I may continue to prepare clergies to engage with religious diversity in their daily work through emphasizing the abundance of divine wisdom that exceeds our expectations. Since no one has the final say on the knowledge of God, we could all learn from each other while refusing to reduce our differences and the uniqueness of Christ.
How might this award make a difference in your life?
I am incredibly grateful to have received a Goodwin prize. It not only helps with my PhD budget, but also encourages me to continue to explore my authentic theological voice. Specifically, I hope my research could help the Academy and American churches to better understand Chinese Christianity, to see us as equal dialogue partners with real agency rather than helpless victims. I hope my work could enrich the theological dialogue and reduce misunderstanding in this turbulent era and raise the awareness about the racialization of Chinese people in American public imagination.
What do you hope to do with your degree?
At the beginning of my career, I thought I would either be ordained as a pastor in the United Church of Christ or pursuing tenure positions. Due to COVID pandemic, the structural collapse of the tenure market and struggling church finance made me reflect on my potential career path. I am deeply passionate about the faith development of seminary students and training future church leaders. In the future, I hope to work as a seminary administrator. I care deeply about preparing clergies with the fast-changing religious ecology, with the knowledge that immigration and growth of Christianity in non-western countries will greatly impact the pews. It is my hope that our next generation of church leaders will be well versed in African, Asian, Latin American, and diasporic theologies.
How do you spend your time when you are not studying?
I love cooking and I like to explore different styles of cuisine. Additionally, I like to enrich my knowledge by listening to different lectures on Youtube, including security studies, international relations, archaeology, history, literature, and law. As an international student, I also like to talk to my parents and younger brother, so I can always feel at home.