The 1517 Project and World Christianity: Migration and the Uses of Doctrine

Abstract

This article examines the dynamic relationship between Christian doctrine, migration, and social circumstances, tracing how the uses of Christian doctrines have evolved and interacted with different socio-political conditions from the Protestant Reformation to present-day Christianity in Asia. It delves into pivotal historical moments, such as the Protestant Reformation, symbolized as the “1517 Project,” and the Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversy in the United States, to show that Christian doctrines have shaped and been shaped by cultural and socio-political landscapes. This work particularly contrasts the uses of doctrine in Anglo-European Christendom contexts with post-Christendom situations relating to Asia. The study emphasizes the significant role of migration in spreading Christianity globally and in the development of doctrine, focusing on the Christian faith of Dalits in India and Taiwanese Americans. It calls for a holistic understanding of how Christian doctrine’s universal character interacts with diverse racial and ethnic formations. The article argues for and imagines a more expansive view of the catholicity and contextual embodiment of the Christian discursive tradition for the twenty-first century.