Committee on Asian/North American Asian Theologies & Spiritualities

Purpose

To be a theological resource and support to Emmanuel College, the Toronto School of Theology, and the United Church Faith Communities in Toronto and beyond. 

Objectives

1. To raise awareness of theological and spiritual developments in Asia and in the Asian North American context.
2. To encourage and enhance scholarship in Asian and North American Asian theologies and spiritualities in the Toronto School of Theology by:
   a) increasing library holdings in these theological areas;
   b) holding occasional public lectures, forums, and workshops in these areas;
   c) making information re: (a) and (b) available to the public through the CANAATS page on the
   Emmanuel College website, with links to related ecumenical bodies and UCC sites sharing its purpose.
3. To contribute to the academic, worship, and social life of the Emmanuel College community as appropriate.
4. To work with The United Church of Canada in supporting its Asian partnership endeavours, and with ecumenical bodies such as the Foundation for Theological Education in South East Asia (FTESEA), the Association of Asian North American Theological Educators (AANATE), and Pacific Asian North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry (PANAAWTM) committed to enabling theology and theological education in Asia and in North America.

How We Came to Be

The Centre for Asian Theology was officially launched in the fall semester of 1996 following Hanshin Professor Jong-Hwa Park's initiative in Fall 1993, and later with the help of President Chai-Yong Choo of Hanshin University. Provision was made for an exchange of theological books between Emmanuel and Hanshin. The ensuing Agreement of Co-operation between Hanshin and Victoria/Emmanuel, begun in 1994-95, includes student and faculty exchanges between the two institutions.

With the recent establishment of the Centre for Religion and Its Contexts at Emmanuel College, the Centre for Asian Theology (CAT) formalized its transition into one of this comprehensive Centre’s constituent entities in March, 2016, highlighting its context in North America with its new name, the Committee on Asian/North American Asian Theologies (CANAAT), with an updated mandate.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary in 2026, CANAAT expands its mandate and renames itself as the “Committee on Asian/North American Asian Theologies and Spiritualities” (CANAATS), reflecting the growing recognition of diverse spiritual practices among individuals of Asian and North American Asian.

CANAATS, co-directed by Dr. Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng (emerita professor) and Dr. Henry Shiu, is committed to being a theological resource and support for the students, leaders and scholars of Asian descent in TST and the United Churches in Toronto and wider areas.

Recent activities

The Committee on Asian/North American Asian Theologies and Spiritualities (CANAATS) held its Winter gathering on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Ariel Siagan, PhD candidate at Trinity College, presented his research on the Underground Christian Movement in the Philippines. The PhD student presentation at the CANAATS meeting is an excellent opportunity for Toronto School of Theology (TST) graduate students to make connections with each other and with the larger Asian leaders' community in Toronto.

Annual Lunar New Year Lunch Celebrations

2024

A celebratory occasion to mark the arrival of the Year of the Dragon was held for the Emmanuel community on Feb. 14, 2024. The community of the Buddhist Association of Canada, which announced on the same day the establishment of the “Venerable Dayi Shi Scholarship” for Emmanuel College students pursuing studies with a Buddhist focus, also joined the celebration. Jeffrey Cupchik, a guest speaker from York University, made a presentation on the use of Buddhist music during Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Other highlights included Wenh-In Ng’s poetry and reflections on what it means to be in the midst of both Lent and the celebration, Joseph Kaung’s and Christine Deng’s sharing of the rich East Asian culture surrounding the Lunar New Year, as well as Henry Shiu’s presentation on the different forms of dragons and their meanings associated with the I-Ching.

Past Activities

Wing Yi Wong, PhD Candidate at Emmanuel College, presented her research, “Preaching the Disturbing Ghosts in the Pulpit: The Use of Haunto Postcolonial Preaching Model for the Wounded Hearers,” on October 20, 2023.

Abstract: How can the preaching of God’s Word mirror and respond to the need and cry of the suffering people of Hong Kong and the wounded globe? Through the use of an interdisciplinary methodology that connects the perspectives of postcolonialism, Jacques Derrida’s hauntology, and collective trauma theory, my project introduces “haunto-postcolonial preaching” as a new preaching model that can effectively bring healing to a traumatized community, especially one in a postcolonial world, where a reimagination of a better and more just future is critical for the well-being of all.  

Christianity and China in the 21st Century
October 22-24, 2015, an international academic conference sponsored by Emanuel College/Victoria University and The United Church of Canada, with scholars and church leaders from China and the United States and Canada. Topics presented ranged from the current state of church-state relations and church music in ministry training to the construction of Chinese and Sino-Christian theology.

Subaltern Challenges from Asia to the Ecumenical Movement: Through an Indian Feminist Lens (video)
A panel discussion with Emmanuel’s 2014 Anne Duncan Gray Visiting Scholar, Dr. Aruna Gnanadason, Responders Professor Marilyn Legge and The Very Rev. Dr. Lois Wilson, October 2, 2014.
Transcript of Dr. Aruna Gnanadason's Paper 

When Confucianism Meets Christianity: A Renowned Scholar's Encounter (video)
A lecture by Professor Stanley Jiadong Zheng, Professor of Confucianism & Chinese Philosophy and Visiting Scholar at Emmanuel College, October 1, 2013

Exploring Faith through the Eyes of Culturally Diverse People
An ecumenical and intercultural study group initiated in 2006 and originally co-sponsored with the Ethnic Ministries Committee of The United Church’s Toronto Conference, this group meets monthly during the academic year and is open to anyone interested. Sessions are held on the fourth Friday of each month (except for December and January) in the College from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Topics for 2015-2016 include: the genesis of Muslim and Buddhist studies at Emmanuel College led by Principal Mark Toulouse, how to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Margaret Sumadh of Canadian Peacemakers, ethical and Christian responses to medically assisted dying led by past principal Roger Hutchinson, and developing a Javanese theology of sexual violence led by Ajeng Chrissaningrum of Wycliffe College.  For further information and to visit, contact Coordinator Maria Ling.

A Bibliography

Theological works in Korean, a series of generous gifts from Hanshin University, are catalogued and integrated into the Emmanuel Library, as are titles in Chinese and Japanese. 

The Asia Partnership desk of The United Church’s Partners in Mission contributes regularly to the Emmanuel Library's recent resources produced in Asia. If you have books and resources in Asian languages or in English which you think could enhance the work of the Committee, please get in touch with either of the Co-chairs, who will work in consultation with Emmanuel College's librarian about your offer.
  
For recent additions in the area of theologies and spiritualities in Asia and in North America, please consult the lists posted below from time to time.

Recent books available at the Emmanuel College Library (October 2024):

Buddhist books:

Abiding in Emptiness: A Guide for Meditative Practice, by Bhikkhu Analayo (Wisdom Publications: 2024)

Introduction to Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, by Sanjib Kumar Das (Delhi: Buddhist World Press, 2024)

Protecting Nature with Buddha’s Wisdom: A Contribution to Environmental and Nature Studies, by S. Niggol Seo (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2024)

Essential Buddhadhamma: The Teachings and Practice of Theravada Buddhism, by Thepwethi (Prayut) Phra, edited by, Bruce Evans (Boulder: Shambhala, 2024)

Buddha’s Words for Tough Times: An Anthology, by Peter Skilling (New York: Wisdom Publications, 2024)

Kadam: Stages of the Path, Mind Training, and Esoteric Practice; Pt. 1: Treasury of  Precious Instructions, by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye (Boulder: Snow Lion, 2024)

Christian Books:

Identity and Mission of the Korean American Church, edited by Enoch Jinsil Kim (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2024)

Asian Case Studies on Translating Christianity: Toward God’s Self-Communication and the Trinitarian End of Asian Theology, by Heejun Yang (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2024)

Modern Chinese Theologies; v.3 Academic and Diasporic, edited by Chloe Starr (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2024)

Protestant Missionaries in China: Robert Morrison and Early Sinology, by Jonathan A. Seitz (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2024)

Twilight Years: Biblical Hermeneutics of Ageism with an Asian Perspective on Aging, by Gilbert Soo Hoo (Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2024)

YWCA in China: The Making of a Chinese Christian Women’s Institution, 1899-1957, by Elizabeth A. Littell-Lamb (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2023)

The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia, edited by Felix Wilfred (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014) Call #: BR1065 .O94 2014

Evangelization in China: Challenges and Prospects, by Kin Sheung Chiaretto Yan (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2014) Call #: BV3777 .C5 Y36 2014

Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith From the Ground Up, by Simon Chan (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2014) Call #: BT75.3 .C4245 2014

China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture, by Yang Huilin (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014) Call #: BR115 .C8 Y35 2014

Reaping a Harvest from the Asian Soil: Towards an Asian Theology, edited & introduced by Vimal Tirimanna (Bangalore: Asian Trading Corp., 2011) Call #: BR1065 .R43 2011

Breaking the Glass Box: A Korean Woman’s Experiences of Conscientization and Spiritual Formation, by Jungja Joy Yu (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2013) Call #: BL458 .Y85 201

Christianity in Chinese Public Life: Religion, Society, and the Rule of Law, edited by Joel A. Carpenter and Kevin R. den Dulk (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) Call #: BR1288 .C495 2014

Encountering Modernity: Christianity in East Asia and Asian America, edited by Albert L. Park and David K. Yoo (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press in association with UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Los Angeles, 2014) Call #: BR1275 .E53 2014

Christianity and the State in Asia: Complicity and Conflict, edited by Julius Bautista and Francis Khek Gee Lim (London; New York: Routledge, 2009) Call #: BR1275 .C47 2009

Asian Politics and Ecumenical Vision: Selected Writings of Feliciano V. Carino, edited by Philip L. Wickeri and Marina True (Hong Kong: Christian Conference of Asia, 2013) Call #: BR1065 .C27 2013

Training to be Ministers in Asia: Contextualizing Theological Education in Multi-Faith Contexts: Historical, Contextual and Theological Perspectives from Different Asian Countries, edited by Dietrich Werner (Tainan, Taiwan: Programme for Theology and Cultures in Asia, 2012) Call #: BV4140 .A7842 T73 2012

Making Paper Cranes: Toward an Asian American Feminist Theology, by Mihee Kim-Kort (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2012) Call #: BR563 .A82 K56 2012

A Voluntary Exile: Chinese Christianity and Cultural Confluence since 1552, edited by Anthony E. Clark (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2014) Call #: BV3415.2 .V65 2014

Postcolonial Resistance and Asian Theology, by Simon Shui-Man Kwan (London: Routledge, 2014) Call #: BT30 .A8 K93 2014

• Foundation for Theological Education in Asia and the Pacific (FTEAP)
• Pacific Asian North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry (PANAAWTM)
• Asian Heritage Month Worship Resource

Staff support

Ms. Karen Wishart, Librarian
Andrew Aitchison, Admissions Advisor & Strategic Recruiter, Centre for Religion and Its Contexts

Co-Chairs of CANAAT

Rev. Dr. Wenh-In Ng and Dr. Henry Shiu

Current Research Fellow

Sungmin Park

Past Research Fellows

Hye Lim Yoon, Jaemin Lee, Hyung Jin (Pablo) Kim Sun, Sheng Ping Guo, Yun Jung Kim

Emmanuel College, Victoria University
75 Queen's Park Cres. Toronto, ON M5S 1K7
Phone: 416-585-4539