Dr. James He was former Professor at Nanjing Theological Seminary (1983-2005), and visiting professor of Nanjing University and Nanjing Art Institute (1998-2002). Now, He is an artist-in-residence and visiting scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary. He was a former board member of Asian Christian Artists Association (1998-2006). Dr. James He is a Distinguished Professor of Renmin University of China in Beijing (2016-2019) He also was an artist-in-residence of Claremont School of Theology (2015-2016). He studied at Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing Art Institute, and Hamburg Art Institute in Germany, and received his Doctor Degree on the art history and religious art in 1992. He was awarded Honorary Doctor Degree from Australian Catholic University in May 2011. He also received the 20th Century Award for Achievement in recognition of outstanding achievements in the field of Religious Art Theory and Christian Art Creation of IBC in Cambridge UK. His art works has been displayed in numerous cities, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angels, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Birmingham (AL), Pittsburgh, St.Louis, Hartford (CT), Elizabethton (TN), Richmond (VA), Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Nanjing, London, Oxford, Gevena, and Aachen. He has also been invited to lecture at Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Chicago Wheaton College，Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Nanjing University, Toronto University, Augsburg College, St. Olaf College, Alliance Bible Seminary, HK Lutheran Theological Seminary, Doshisha University, St. Paul Luther Seminary, Milligan College (TN), Drew University (NJ), Samford University, Calvin College(MI), The United Theological Seminary, and others. His art works have been introduced in numerous newspaper and magazines, such as The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong Cable TV, BBC-UK, ABC-Australia in Sydney, the National Geographic Channel，Copenhagen Daily (Denmark), Bet Binnenhof Daily in the Netherlands, China “Fine Art”, Xinhua News Paper, Princeton Post, Minnesota Monthly,Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, and WCCO TV. He Qi’s official website: heqiart.com.
Remembering History, Working for JusticeThis year marks the centenary of the March 1st Movement of Korean protest against Japanese colonialism. Thirty-three religious leaders, among them 16 Christians, issued a Korean Declaration of Independence that sparked a nationwide protest. About 2 million people took part in the protests, and thousands were killed and injured.
Cooking Without RecipesI burst through the door of a low, light-green stucco cottage and scream, “They have taken my mother! The Communists have kidnapped her and are brainwashing her!” This nightmare began to interrupt my childhood sleep after my family moved from Okinawa to Kansas. I was 6 at the time.
A Church For UsFrom one perspective, my life has been like the Oscar-winning movie, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Like Benjamin Button, my path in ministry went in reverse. I started as a theological educator and engaged academia for 12 years. Then I became a pastor.
Reshaping an Indian SpiritualityWhen I came to the United States for higher education, I was a practicing Hindu and a seeker. Discipled by my Hindu mother, I followed and believed in the teachings of Hinduism without any concern until I was in high school. It was during my high school years that I encountered the Freedom Fighters who served alongside Gandhi to win liberation for India from the British.
Is There a Future for Evangelical Theology?About five years ago, I published “The Future of Evangelical Theology: Soundings from the Asian American Diaspora” (IVP Academic, 2014). I was motivated in that book by the observation that the so-called center of gravity for Christianity had shifted from the Euro-American West to the global South (Asia, Africa, and Latin America).
An Exile’s Dream for JusticeTheologian Amos Yong remarked that African Americans have a theology of liberation, and Latinx have a theology of the borderlands. He suggested that Asian Americans have a theology of exile, because of our status as forever foreigners wherever we are.
In Between BelongingI live a small life. I teach, live alone, sing in choir, and commit Sunday evenings to family. My body, as it were, disappears into convention. But it is in the details that things get complicated: I teach religion at a Catholic all-boys’ school.
Migration as GraceI had heard the story a thousand times. As a young man in China in the 1920s, my Gung-Gung (grandfather) Calvin Chao contracted the deadly disease of tuberculosis.
Contemplating Radical LoveTheological reflection is an ordered inquiry into an individual or corporate experience in conversation with the wisdom of religious and cultural traditions. It produces a conceptual framework that leads to action.
The Woman Warrior Within and About MeI am pleased by this invitation from Inheritance magazine to reflect on the concepts that were powerful for me in understanding my identity as an API Christian. I begin by doing a riff on the prevalent stereotype of APIs as “model minorities”.
Elder Too Soon?Back in India, some of my cousins’ children call me aunty. Actually, they call me mamima or kakima, depending on whether I’m their father’s cousin or their mother’s cousin.
We Are More Than Our NamesOur kitchen is filled with all manner of children’s supplies. Sippy cups, plastic cutlery, and a half dozen small, white plastic bowls with blue or pink rims. We fill them up with cereal and pretzels, fruit and popcorn; basically, anything edible.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and My Asian American IdentityMy students call me a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. scholar; I published two books and wrote a number of articles on Dr. King, and am currently serving as co-chair of the Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr. Unit at the American Academy of Religion, the largest guild of religious scholars in the world.
Cowboys, Lawyers, and TherapistsWhen I first arrived in Los Angeles in 1981 to do my Master of Divinity program at the School of Theology at Claremont, I was full of dreams to learn from this “Brave New World”.
What has San Francisco to do with Babylon?The church father Tertullian’s question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” has long challenged theologians to interrogate the relationship between theology (Jerusalem) and Western philosophy (Athens). By reframing the question to, “What has Jerusalem to do with Beijing?” the theologian K. K. Yeo frames Asia as the primary context for doing theology rather than the West.
SIR JusticeBorn in the Philippines but having grown up in North America, I have lost much of what it means to be distinctly Filipino. When I returned to the Philippines to spend the better part of the 1990s as an international development worker, I rediscovered some of my ethnic heritage, including recovering my native tongue of Tagalog.
We Are EnoughBeing Asian American is complicated. It’s not just about our appearance, language, culture, mannerisms, or values. People who were adopted from Asia and raised in white families are Asian American. People who have been in the U.S. for less than a generation are Asian American. We do not share a common migration story.
