CAN THEOLOGY BE DONE OUTSIDE THE CHURCH (EXTRA ECCLESIAM)?

Cyprian (c. 200–58), Bishop of Carthage, insisted that ‘outside the church there is no salvation’ (extra ecclesiam nulla salus). In the context of modern China, the question is now: Is there Christian theology outside the (Chinese) church (extra ecclesiam)? This has become an important issue in modern China because non-Christian scholars in the Chinese academia have been seriously involved in studying Christianity and doing theology for about twenty years now. Lo Ping Cheung of the Hong Kong Baptist University has in fact written an article on this issue: ‘Can Any Good Theology Come Out of the University?’

Lo writes in response to Wilson Chow and Liu Xiao Feng who hold opposing views on the issue. Chow holds that ‘The university has virtually no place for theology. As such, the responsibility for theological studies has landed on the theological college.’ On the other hand, Liu Xiao Feng asserts that if the goals and interests of Sino-Christian theology are perceived within the structure of academia, it will have to depend on the university to produce the kind of theologically educated intellectuals who can expand the knowledge of Christian thought as well as having the ability to engage in dialogue on modern thinking. As such, the traditional division between ‘humanist theology’ and ‘church theology’ is precisely what is needed for the survival of Christianity in the modern context. Such a division is also required for the development of Sino-Christian theology.