About Xiaoli
Xiaoli has been serving in Australia and overseas as a pastor, mentor and lecturer over the last twenty years. Her PhD offers a conversation between the Chinese soul-searching and the gospel of Jesus Christ through a unique contextual poetic lens (Leiden: Brill 2018). She has published widely for both academic and general readers. She is also a spiritual director and serves on the Executive Committee of Australian Association of Mission Studies and the Editorial Board of Australian Journal of Mission Studies. She holds honorary research and supervisory positions at a number of Australian universities.
Fellowship project: ‘Developing Chinese Christianity: Poetry and intercultural theology’
Despite the rapid growth of Chinese Christianity around the world, there is a desperate need for a deepened and mature faith, expressed in both theological and biblical reflection and in practice. Xiaoli’s work aims to be gospel-centred, culturally relevant and missiologically driven.
For her Summer Fellowship she will focus on two of her current projects. First, compiling and translating her bilingual poetry collection for publication as a preparation for her next monograph on poetic theology. This collection seeks to allow the in-between experience of people in a context of global dislocation to be heard in the public space, therefore creating a window of opportunity to reach out to those living in the margins.
Second, conducting some research on a book chapter 'Creation and Tian' as a part of ‘T&T Clark Companion to the Doctrine of Creation’ to be published in 2021. The chapter will help academics and students to grasp the biblical understanding of Creation and the Chinese concept of Tian (Heaven) through the creative engagement of a dialogue. It is hoped that these intercultural and interdisciplinary publications will build bridges between the East and the West, poetry and theology, and the Bible and other texts.