Date: 21 Nov 2025 (Friday)
Time: 3:30-5:00 pm
Venue: YEUNG-G7603, 7/F, Yeung Kin Man Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong
Speaker: Prof. Klaus Koschorke
Language: English

Abstract

“Globalization” exists not only since this term has come into use. Transregional and transcontinental networks existed already in former periods. Especially in its earlier beginnings, religious factors played an important role: through pilgrimage, migration, missionary activities and literary exchange links were established between people from various regions and cultures.

Biography

Professor Klaus Koschorke is a distinguished historian of global Christianity, renowned for his extensive research into the history of Christian communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was dean of the Evangelisch-Theologische Fakultät at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München (2003-2005), and he inaugurated and developed the Munich-Freising Conferences as an international platform for interdisciplinary exchange and the development of a polycentric approach to the “History of World Christianity.”

Professor Koschorke’s work has been instrumental in shifting the focus of Christian history studies away from a Eurocentric narrative and towards the development of World Christianity. This includes his recent book, A Short History of Christianity beyond the West. Asia, Africa, and Latin America 1450-2000 (Brill, 2024). In March 2025, Professor Koschorke was presented with the “Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence” by the Princeton Theological Seminary for his research into the development of World Christianity Studies. He is the Guest Professor of the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies in Hong Kong in 2025.