Editorial

Christianity is well known for its far-reaching influence on the history and culture of Western civilization. It is possibly less well known for its vestiges in following major trade routes across East Asia.

Macau played an important role in the development of Christianity within the region. Indeed, the presence of Christianity in Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor and Singapore is related with the presence of Christians in Macau. It is also impossible to understand the evolvement of the different shapes that Christianity assumed in Asia without considering the relationship between the Philippines, Goa, and Macau.

Christian denominations that established themselves in Macau used the city as a springboard from which to establish missions in other parts of Asia, including China. The resulting challenges faced by different Asian missions served to shape many of the Christian denominations that exist today, including Catholicism itself. Indeed the many debates that have surrounded ‘missio ad gentes’, ‘indigenisation’, ‘inculturation’, ‘acculturation’, and ‘multiple belonging’, have continued to emerge with the settlement of different Christian missionary experiences within Asia. They are, together with other doctrinal and non-doctrinal dimensions of Christian faith, a challenge and a task for whoever wants to reflect about the presence of Christianity in Macau and Asia.

When Portuguese traders started to settle down in Macau during the sixteenth century, they brought with them missionaries. This new moment in the history of the presence of Christianity in Macau also marked the development of centers for theological preparation for those missionaries. At that time, the College of Saint Paul and the Seminary of Saint Joseph were the major reference centers; each one of course with its own history and vicissitudes.

In 2007, the study of theology was reintroduced into Macau. This was and continues to be in the form of a joint venture between the University of Saint Joseph and the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Portugal. At the University of Saint Joseph, the courses in Christian Studies that are delivered serve the dual purpose of developing academic teaching and research. Within this purpose, the mission of Orientis Aura is to publish the results of theological research, as well as other scientific perspectives about the presence of Christianity in Macau and Asia.

The winds that brought the Portuguese and other sailors to Macau took them all over the Pacific, as well as made them return home. The name given to this journal, Orientis Aura, evokes those winds but also expresses the wish that Macau can be a place for the production of scientific research regarding the Christian presence in Asia.

João Eleutério (Chief Editor)