Dr Luke Li
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Address
- Street
-
New College
Mound Pl - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH1 2LX
Background
Luke Li, originally from Tianjin, China, completed his PhD in Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to his appointment at the University of Edinburgh in January 2024, he served as a Humboldt Senior Fellow in Berlin, where he pursued a research project on Chinese public theology.
Luke's research focuses on moral and political theology in postcolonial and neoliberal contexts. He is the author of the monograph The Idea of Governance and the Spirit of Chinese Neoliberalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and has published several articles in the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, Studies in Christian Ethics, Journal of Church and State, and Political Theology.
Currently, Luke is engaged in a British Academy-funded project to develop a constructive public theology in dialogue with Karl Barth. He is also leading a research initiative on the church and war in modern China.
Qualifications
BA MPhil PhD
Responsibilities & affiliations
Affiliate, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
Executive Committee Member, Society of Christian Scholars
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Chinese Ecclesial Theology
Research summary
Moral and Political Theology
Violence and Peacebuilding
Chinese public theology
Monograph
The Idea of Governance and the Spirit of Chinese Neoliberalism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
- “In Search of Priestly Witness: A Barthian Intervention in the Chinese Church-State Relationship in A Neoliberal Age,” Journal of Church and State 67: 1 (Winter 2025). Forthcoming.
- “Liu Xiaofeng’s Transcendent Christ and the Predicament of Chinese Public Theology,” Modern Chinese Theologies Volume III, ed. Chloë Starr, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2024, pp. 3-24.
- “Karl Barth, Mou Zongsan and Political Responsibility of Chinese Church,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 43: 1 (Spring/Summer 2023), pp. 245-262.
- “The Question of Communist Violence and the Birth of Chinese Public Theology,” Studies in Christian Ethics 35: 3 (August 2022), pp. 519-541.
- “Responsible Witness in Crisis: Rethinking the Political Theology of Karl Barth,” Logos and Pneuma: Chinese Journal of Theology 55 (Fall 2021), pp. 239-268.
- “Karl Barth in Beijing: Towards A Political Ethics of Collective Right in Neoliberal China,” Political Theology 20: 5 (June 2019), pp. 1-13.
- “Beyond the Politics of Redemption: Tradition-based Visions of Responsibility in the Thought of Karl Barth and Mou Zongsan,” Brill Yearbook of Chinese Theology, ed. Paulos Z. Huang and Thomas Xutong Qu, Leiden: Brill, 2019, pp. 60-76.