• Research Interests

  • Theological reception history in China
  • Ethnographic study of contemporary Chinese Christianities
  • Sino-Christian Studies

• Recent Research ProjectS

  1. “Contributing to China: The Sino-Christian Mandate from 救國 jiuguo to 中國化zhongguohua” (CUHK Direct Grant, Year of Award: 2023-2024)
  2. “Comparative Ethnography and Christian Conversations on Chinese and African Ancestral Traditions” (CUHK Direct Grant, Year of Award: 2021-2023)
  3. “Moltmann in China: A Sino-theological Reception History” (Early Career Scheme (ECS) 2022-23)

• Representative Publications

  Books & Edited works

  1. Naomi Thurston, Moltmann in China (Routledge, 2025).
  2. 《靈基壹築：見證百年香港社區故事》。香港：一八四一，2024。（林皓賢、霍揚揚、德詩婷合著）
  3. Jason Lam and Naomi Thurston, editors, Moltmann and China (Leiden: Brill, 2023).
  4. Studying Christianity in China: Constructions of an Emerging Discourse (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
  5. Guest Editor, Issue of Contemporary Chinese Thought: “Zha Changping’s History of Ideas in Pioneering Contemporary Chinese Art.” Volume 51.1 (2020).

   

  Articles & Book chapters

  1. Thurston, Naomi Elaine. "From Chinese Theology to Alternative Sinicizations: Theological Reception History and Moltmann’s Theology in Greater China" Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie 67, no. 3 (2025): 361-395.
  2. Guest Editor, with Jordan Wang, of a special issue of ChinaSource Journal, Spring 2025 
  3. “Scholar, Critic, Scribe: Zha Changping 查常平’s Humanist Criticism,” in Modern Chinese Theologies III (Academic and Diasporic), edited by Chloë Starr, forthcoming from Fortress Press.
  4. “New Political Theology in Beijing: Jürgen Moltmann’s Dialogue with Chinese Humanists,” Exchange 53 (2024) 204–232. doi:10.1163/1572543X-bja10077
  5. “Jürgen Moltmann in Chinese Scholarship: From Import to Dialogue,” in Jason Lam and Naomi Thurston, editors, Moltmann and China (Leiden: Brill, 2023).
  6. “Relating to the Whole Community in Akan and East Asian Ancestral Traditions,” Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions Vol. 11, Submission: November 5, 2021 Acceptance: January 24, 2022.
  7. “Zha Changping’s History of Ideas in Pioneering Contemporary Chinese Art: An Introduction,” Contemporary Chinese Thought Volume 51, Issue 1, 2020, DOI: 10.1080/10971467.2020.1765547 
  8. “A New Generation of Sino-Christian Scholars: Shifting Concerns among Researchers of Christianity,” International Journal of Asian Christianity Volume 2 (2019): Issue 1 (Mar 2019).
  9. “Imported insider/outsider boundaries: the case of contemporary Chinese Christianity researchers,” in: The Insider/Outsider Debate: New Perspectives in the Study of Religion, edited by George D. Chryssides and Stephen E. Gregg (Equinox, 2019).

   

  Book Reviews (Selected)

  1. “You Bin 游斌, Meditations on the Birth of Christ: Reflections for Advent in the Context of Chinese Culture,” Ching Feng, n.s., 21: 1–8 (pre-print version) Accepted December 20, 2022; Published online December 28, 2022.
  2. “Li Ma, Religious Entrepreneurism in China’s Urban House Churches: The Rise and Fall of Early Rain Reformed Presbyterian Church” International Bulletin of Mission Research. 45 (4) (October 2021) 431-432  Volume 45 Issue 4, October 2021
  3. “Hong Liang 洪亮, Leben vor den letzten Dingen: Die Dostojewski-Rezeption im frühen Werk von Karl Barth und Eduard Thurneysen (1915-1923)” Christianity & Literature 68 (1) 159-165
  4. “Alexander Chow, Chinese Public Theology: Generational Shifts and Confucian Imagination in Chinese Christianity” International Journal of Asian Christianity 1 (2018) 350-352
  5. “Liu Xiaofeng 刘小枫 (and Leopold Leeb, trans.), A Collection of Essays by Liu Xiaofeng” Quest: Studies on Religion & Culture in Asia 1 (2016) 113-116

   

• OtherS

  Selected translations, Editorial appointments, and Online blogs

  1. Editorial Committee Member, Journal of Research for Christianity in China 《中国基督教研究》(JRCC, Semi-Annual, ISSN: 3068-479X)
  2. Editorial Committee Member, Journal for the Study of Religion and History (JSRH, Semi-Annual, ISSN: 3068-4803)
  3. Associate Editor, Journal of Chinese Theology (Brill, Online ISSN: 2772-6606 Print Only ISSN: 2772-6592)
  4. “The Global-Theological Vision of a New Generation of Overseas Chinese Scholars,” China Source, 24 October 2025
  5. “As a Matter of Faith Chinese Theologies in Transnational Contestations,” China Source, 8 May 2026
  6. Zha Changping, “Experiment of the World-Picture Logic Philosophy: Towards a Relational Theology, translated by Doris Yu and Naomi Thurston. Journal of Chinese Theology (2023): 1-13.
  7. With Lim Eugen. Translation of Wang Xieda and Liu Chuyu (王燮达、刘楚筠). The Ark Project 方舟计划. Amanyangyun International Community (养云安缦国际社区). 2022.
  8. Zha Changping, “The Lord’s Prayer,” translated by Wang Wenqian and Naomi Thurston (International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2023).
  9. Translation of Zha Changping 查常平. “The Great Commission: The Greek Text and Its Translations.” In Yearbook of Chinese Theology, Vol. 7, edited by Paulos Z. Huang. Leiden: Brill, 2021, 195–204.
  10. Associate Editor, Ching Feng: A Journal on Christianity and Chinese Religion and Culture, Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture.

>>  Click here to Prof. THURSTON's profile on Divinity School of Chung Chi College website.