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The research leader in charge of the project is Dr. Miikka Ruokanen, Professor of Dogmatics, Department of Systematic Theology, University of Helsinki. The project applies to the Academy of Finland FIM 3.247.200 for three post-doctoral and four doctoral research persons. This sum will fund a total of 20 person-years of work within the project over the period of 1 January 2001 - 31 December 2003. The sum includes an application of FIM 90.000 for organizing an international conference together with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on the "Contextualization of Christianity in Contemporary China" in Helsinki, 15-22 August 2003. The research sites are: Department of Systematic Theology, University of Helsinki, Department of Church History, Åbo Akademi, Turku, and Department of Political History, University of Turku. The objective of this project is to study problems and issues in the relationship between Christianity and classical religions of eastern and southern Asia, as well as the culture, beliefs, values, and morals inherently integrated with these. The project will investigate: 1. how Asian Christians have understood and related themselves and their faith to the context of other major religions and the beliefs, values, and morals contained therein; 2. how the representatives of Asian non-Christian religions and value systems have been influenced by Christianity and how they relate themselves to the beliefs, values, and ethics of Christianity; and 3. what type of discussion on central, common human moral issues - such as human rights, justice, peace, democracy, work ethics, economic ethics, social ethics or family ethics - takes place in the encounter and dialogue between Christianity and other religions in Asia. The emphasis is laid on China; in addition, cases from India and Thailand will be investigated. Two of the seven researchers will concentrate on topics common to most parts of eastern and southern Asia. The three post-doctoral researchers will complete their monographs by the end of 2003; the works will be published in international series immediately following. All four doctoral students will complete their licentiate dissertations by the end of 2003, possibly two of them also their doctoral dissertations. At the latest, all four doctoral dissertations will be published in international series within two years after December 2003.
Contact address: E-mail: miikka.ruokanen@helsinki.fi Tel: 358-40-572 4411 Fax: 358-9-191 23033 Mail: Prof. M.Ruokanen, Faculty of Theology, Box 33, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland |
