Email: [email protected]
First Year at Gordon-Conwell: 2011
Biography:
Dr. Yao came to Gordon-Conwell with 10 years of experience ministering in Hong Kong and mainland China. His career as a theological educator officially started in 2003, when he became an assistant (most recently associate) professor at the Department of Theological Studies, China Graduate School of Theology (CGST), located in Hong Kong. In addition to serving as a church history and Chinese culture professor, he has held a variety of other positions, including students’ spiritual formation mentor, and coordinator of the Mandarin program. Dr. Yao’s academic career dates back to 1987, when he began work at the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as an editor and researcher. He was with the Institute for two years and also served as a visiting scholar there.
During his tenure at CGST, he was a researcher at the school’s Chinese Culture Research Center where he participated in numerous academic conferences and other events and contributed significantly to Christian scholarship in Hong Kong and mainland China. From 2001 to 2003, he served as a Beijing-based consultant for the China Educational Exchange, a North American Mennonite program. While working in Hong Kong from 2003 to 2010, he was an associate of the Mennonite Mission Network (U.S.A.). In recent years, he has also become active in scholarly exchanges among Korean, Japanese and Chinese church historians.
Dr. Yao’s research interests include the fundamentalist and evangelical movements in China and America; comparative studies of Christianities in China, Korea and Japan; the history of Christian pacifism in China; Chinese traditional religions and culture, and their relation to Christianity and Christian thought in contemporary China. He has published widely in English and in Chinese. He is the author of The Fundamentalist Movement among the Protestant Missionaries in China, 1920-1937 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003). A native of Beijing, Dr. Yao is married to Szewai Ho, who was born and raised in Hong Kong. They have a son named Evan. Dr. Yao enjoys classic music and jogging.
Degrees
- BA (Nankai University, Tianjin, P.R. China)
- MA (Nankai University, Tianjin, P.R. China)
- MTS (Associate Mennonite Biblical Seminaries)
- ThD (Boston University School of Theology)
Select List of Publications
- “The NCTS’ Controversy in North America, 1946-1952.” Pages 1-17 in An Echo from One Century Ago. Tengzhou, Shandong, China, 2019.
- “Wang Wei-fan’s Evangelical Theology—Its Significance for the Church in China Today.” Pages 3-16 in Yearbook of Chinese Theology 2016. Edited by Paulus Huang. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
- Preface to Back to Jerusalem with All Nations: A Biblical Foundation, by Mingri Jin. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2016.
- Preface to History of Christian Mission, by Tk. Chuang. Boston, MA: The True Light Society, 2016.
- A Watchman Vigilant in Spirit and Pure in Heart: The Study on the Thought and Ministry of Wang Weifan. Co-edited with Song Jun. Hong Kong: Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture, 2015.
- “Evangelicals in East Asia.” Pages 326-334 in Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century. Edited by Brian C. Stiller, Todd M. Johnson, Karen Stiller and Mark Hutchinson. Nashville; London: Thomas Nelson, 2015.
- “Hunan Bible Institute—A Model of the Fundamentalist Bible Schools in China.” Pages 449-474 in Western Tides Coming Ashore in a Changing World: Christianity and China’s Passage into Modernity. Edited by Timothy M. Wong, Paul W. Cheung and Chi Hang Chan. Hong Kong: Alliance Bible Seminary, 2015.
- “The Legacy of Frank Arthur Keller.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 39 (2015): 34-38.
- “The Legacy of Frank A. Keller: Gospel Messenger in Hunan, China.” Blessings 15(4) (2015): 20-23.
- “The Chinese Church: The Next ‘Superpower’ in World Mission?” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 50 (2014): 296-306.
- “Religion and Church in China: Trends and Dynamics.” Africanus Journal 6(11) (2014): 23-28.
- “Frank A. Keller and Hunan Houseboat Ministry.” Pages 659-674 in The Study of Chinese Church History from Regional Perspective. Hong Kong: Alliance Bible Seminary, 2013.
- “The Preliminary Reflection on the Relation between Christianity and China’s Modernization.” Pages 42-52 in Church and Society in the Context of China’s Modernization. Edited by Li-ling and Zeng Qing-bao. Shanghai: Remin Press, 2011.
- “Christianity and Modernization Campaign in China.” Blessings 11(1) (2011): 17-21.
- Introduction to Church History by Eusebius. Chinese Translation. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2009.
- Contending for the Faith: The Fundamentalist Movement among the Protestant Missionaries in China, 1920–37. Hong Kong: China Alliance Press, 2008.
- The Protestant Pacifism in China. Hong Kong: Logos Publishers Ltd., 2008.
- “At the Turn of Century—A Study of China Centenary Missionary Conference, 1907.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 32(2) (2008).
- “The North China Theological Seminary: Evangelical Theological Education in China in the early 1900s.” In Interpreting Contemporary Christianity: Global Processes and Local Identities. Edited by Ogbu U. Kalu and Alaine Low. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
- Searching for a Path: Christian Faith and Contemporary Chinese Society (Editor). Hong Kong: China Graduate School of Theology, 2007.
- “City versus Countryside: The Geographic Factor in the Protestant Missionary Fundamentalist Movement in China in the Early 20th Century.” In Studies of Regional History of Christianity in China. Edited by Chen Jian-min and Liu Jia-feng. Chengdu, China: Bashu Press, 2007.
- “Chinese Christians’ Debate on War and Peace after 1931.” In Separation and Integration: Chinese Christians and the Rise of Indigenous Church. Edited by Liu Jia-feng. Shanghai: People’s Press of Shanghai, 2005.
- “Recovering a Lost Vision: the Historical Development of Evangelical Social Concern.” CGST Journal 38 (2005).
- The Fundamentalist Movement among the Protestant Missionaries in China, 1920-1937. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003.
- “The Missionary Women and Holiness Revivals in China during the 1920s.” In Gospel Bearers, Gender Barriers: Missionary Women in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Dana L. Robert. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 2002.
- “On the Roles of Christianity in a Pluralistic World.” In Christianity and Pluralistic China. Edited by Zhongxin Wang. Scarborough, Ontario: CCIC, 2001.
- “Social Gospel and the Protestant Mission in China, 1910 –1924.” In Christianity and China: History, Theology and Dialogue. Edited by Zhongxin Wang. Scarborough, Ontario: CCIC, 1999.
- “The Fundamentalist-Liberal Controversy and the Protestant Missions in China of the 1920s and 1930s.” Logos & Pneuma, Chinese Journal of Theology 10 (1999).
- “Missionaries and Chinese Religions.” In Construction and Deconstruction: Theological Approach to the China’s Cultural Transformation. Edited by Zhongxin Wang. Scarborough, Ontario: CCIC, 1998.
- “The British Colonial Policy in Nigeria.” Journal of Minor Asia and Africa Studies (April 1986).