Rev Dr Xiaoli Yang

Bio:

Xiaoli grew up in Asia and became a Christian in her second year while studying at university in Australia. Following her professional accounting career, she has been involved in pastoral leadership, theological education and spiritual direction locally and abroad over the last 25 years. She has travelled, taught and given lectures in both academic and church settings around the world.  Xiaoli writes and publishes extensively to profile less-heard voices from the Global South to encourage dialogue and mutual enrichment across the globe. She also holds research, supervisory and adjunct roles at a few Australian universities and has visiting appointments at Fuller Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary and Boston University, USA. She serves on the boards of national and international organisations, including the Australian Association for Mission Studies (President 2022-23; Vice President 2021-22), and the International Association for Mission Studies (Regional Representative for Oceania).  She is also an ordained minister, a trained spiritual director and a bilingual poet.  Her poetry has been widely published and used in spiritual direction and retreats.

Her PhD monograph ‘A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the Gospel of Luke—Chinese Homecoming and its Relationship with Jesus Christ’ (Brill: 2018 in English & CYCU: 2022 in Chinese) was reviewed as a ‘singular’, ‘trailblazing’, ‘masterpiece’ with an original contribution to the field of mission studies, world Christianity and intercultural theology.  She has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, including the first prize-awarded chapter in Spiritual Direction in Australia (SDI: 2022). Her most recent release Chinese Christian Witness: Identity, Creativity, Transmission and Poetics (Brill: 2025) presents a multi-paradigmatic view of gospel expression and expansion displayed in the life of Chinese believers over five centuries. Her forthcoming publication includes Singing Theology from the Ground: Indigenous Hymnody and Global Christianity (Baylor).  Currently, she is working on ‘lived poetics’ and how it engages theology, mission and spirituality in World Christianity.  She is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and several other dialects.

Research Interests:

• Intercultural Theology
• World/Asian Christianity
• Lived Poetics
• Comparative Theology, Migration
• Ethno-hermeneutics
• Spirituality/Spiritual Direction

Currently Teaching:

World Christianity and Spirituality

Recent Publications:

Books and Edited Volumes:

• Chinese Christian Witness: Identity, Creativity, Transmission and Poetics, Theology and Mission in World Christianity. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2025, with Daryl Ireland.
• “Chinese Christian Identities in a Wounded World”, Special edition on Chinese Missiology, Mission Studies, 39, no. 3 (2022) with Daryl Ireland.
• A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the Gospel of Luke—Chinese Homecoming and the Relationship with Jesus Christ (Chinese version), Taipei: Chung Yuan Christian University & Taiwan Christian Literature Council Ltd. 2022 (foreword by Prof. K. K. Yeo). 一场海子诗歌与路加福音的对话:中国人的回家之路与耶稣基督的关系， 2022年, 326 pages, https://readmoo.com/book/210238071000101.
• A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the Gospel of Luke—Chinese Homecoming and the Relationship with Jesus Christ, Theology and Mission in World Christianity, Leiden: Brill, 2018, 332 pages, https://brill.com/view/title/36213.
• Homecoming in Haizi – A Dialogue between the Chinese Soul-Search and the Gospel of Luke, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, 2015 (Awarded without amendments).

Articles:

• “Lived Poetics of Contemporary Chinese Art: Remembering, Reimagining, and Responding.” In Chinese Christian Witness: Identity, Creativity, Transmission and Poetics, edited by Xiaoli Yang and Daryl Ireland, 394-424. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2025
• “Introduction.” In Chinese Christian Witness: Identity, Creativity, Transmission and Poetics, edited by Xiaoli Yang and Daryl Ireland, 1-12. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2025, with Daryl Ireland
• “A Multiperspectival Critical Analysis of Mekdes Haddis’s A Just Mission: Laying Down Power and Embracing Mutuality.” Missiology: An International Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/00918296251330183. with Green, William R., Tite Tiénou, Al Tizon. 2025.
• “‘Revive, Sisters!’: Chinese Women in Ministry through the Lens of the Canaan Hymns.” Missiology—An International Review, 20 Feb 2025, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00918296251320651.
• “Listening to the Echoes of Lausanne 4 and Learning Lessons of Abiding.” 21 Oct, 2024. https://www.christiandaily.com/asia/listening-to-the-echoes-of-lausanne-4.html.
• “Canaan Hymns: Towards a Decolonizing Missiology of the Chinese Church Movement.” Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies, 25th April. 2024, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02653788241240207?journalCode=trna.
• “Leaps in the Womb of Asia—Transformative Intercultural Discipleship in the Sacred Space”, American Professors of Missiology 2023, Conference Proceeding, Missiology – An International Review, 52(2), 2024: 177-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/00918296231214497.
• “Lived Poetics as a Contemplative Stance of Christian Witness – The Case from Australia for a World in Crisis”, International Bulletin of Mission Research, 47(4), 2023: 489-504, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23969393231175175.
• “The Transformative Power of Deep Listening – (Re)Imagining in Global Mission”, Lausanne Global Analysis, 12, no. 2 (Mar 2023) https://lausanne.org/content/lga/2023-03/the-transformative-power-of-deep-listening.
• “Hymns and the Singing Community: The Formation of the Canaan Hymns in Contemporary Chinese Churches”, Review of Religion and Chinese Society, no. 9 (2), (2022): 151-169. https://brill.com/view/journals/rrcs/9/2/article-p151_1.xml, with Xu, Songzan.
• “Canaan Hymns: Songs from the Fields—A Grassroots Missiology of the Chinese Church Movement”, Missiology – An International Review, Vol. 50 Issue 3 (2022), 229-39, https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00918296211072846.
• “Towards a Chinese Theology of Displacement—the Poetic Journey of a Chinese Migrant”. Mission Studies 37, no. 2 (2020): 193-217.
• “Contemplative Aspects of Pentecostal Spirituality—A Case Study of a Retreat Experience in Asia”. Journal of Pentecostal Theology28, no. 1, (2019): 123.
• With Daryl Ireland, Guest Editorial, “Chinese Christian Identities in a Wounded World”, Mission Studies, 39, no. 3 (2022), 293-6.
• “Displacement and Homecoming through a Poetic Lens”, Zadok Perspective, no 155, Winter (2022): 5-9.
• “The Rise of the Middle Kingdom – Reflections on Chinese Indigenous Mission Movement.” Australian Journal of Mission Studies 12, no. 1 (2018): 37-43.
• “Why am I (still) a Christian? —The Journey from a Young Pioneer to a Christian Leader”, Australian Journal of Mission Studies, 15, no. 2 (2021): 48-52.

Book Chapters:

• “Towards a Grassroots Missiology: Case Studies of Missio Dei in the Streets of East Asia.” Chap. 2 In Transforming Work: Missiological Perspectives for the Church in the World, Theology and Mission in World Christianity, edited by Darren Cronshaw, Steve Taylor and Maggie Kappelhoff, 20-38. Leiden: Brill, 2024.
• “Creation and Tian.” Chap. 54 In T & T Clark Handbook of the Doctrine of Creation, edited by Jason Goroncy, 707-22. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024.
• “The Art of Listening during Pandemics: From a Poet’s Gaze” in Spiritual Direction in Australia – Research and Practice, ed. Kristen Hobby, 7-42, Bellevue: Spiritual Direction International, 2022 (First Prize in SDI Australia Handbook).
• “The Letter to Titus.” Chap. 16 in An Asian Introduction to the New Testament, ed. Johnson Thomaskutty, 383-403, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022.
• “‘Let the Wind Blow’- Spiritual Direction as a Way of Witnessing the Movement of the Spirit in a Cross-Cultural Setting.” in Companioning at the Edges: Exploring New Dimensions of Spiritual Direction in Australia, ed. Peter Bentley & Ann Lock. Melbourne: WellSpring Centre Inc, 2021, 218-244, Melbourne: WellSpring Centre, 2021.
• “The Beauty of Poetry – Discerning the Images of Christ in Chinese Tradition.” Chap 11 In Beauty and Tradition,ed. Matthew Del Nevo, Robert Andrews and Rohan Curnow, 199-220. Strathfield: St Pauls Publications, 2020.
• “A ‘Steam Boat’ Theology of Home—Reading the Gospel of Luke with Chinese Eyes”. Chap 14 In Reimagining Home, ed. Darrell Jackson, DarrenCronshaw and Rosemary Dewerse, 217-36, Sydney: Morling Press, 2019.
• “Poetry as Theology—a Creative Path”. Chap 22 In Challenging Tradition: Innovation in Advanced Theological Education, ICETE Series, ed. Perry Shaw and Dharamraj Havilah 425-45. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2018.
• “Verse by Verse: The Use of Poetry in Advanced Theological Education”. Chap 23 In Challenging Tradition: Innovation in Advanced Theological Education, ICETE Series, ed. Perry Shaw and Dharamraj Havilah, 447-59. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2018, with H. Dharamraj, G. Al-Zoughbi Arteen and K. Shaw.

Encyclopedia Entries

• ‘Names, Naming (People) | Christianity | Africa and Asia’, in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), ed. Christine Helmer, Steven L. McKenzie, Thomas Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric J. Ziolkowski, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023, 710-713.
• ‘Mystics, Mysticism | Christianity | The Global South, in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), ed. Christine Helmer, Steven L. McKenzie, Thomas Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric J. Ziolkowski, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023, 448-449.
• ‘Meal Customs | Christianity  | World Christianity’, in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), ed. Christine Helmer, Steven L. McKenzie, Thomas Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric J. Ziolkowski, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020, 236-238.
• ‘Jesus | Christianity | China’ in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), Jesus – Kairos, Vol 14, ed. Christine Helmer, Steven L. McKenzie, Thomas Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric J. Ziolkowski, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017, 30-32.

Poetry on Youtube channel: @xyangbridgingthegap

Reflective articles in ChinaSource: https://www.chinasource.org/multi_author/xiaoli-yang/