The Center for Asian American Christianity and the Future of Theological Education

This chapter provides an example of a theological ecotone—a boundary space where academic theology and the lived faith of Christian communities actively reshape one another. As denominational authority wanes and migration continues to transform Christianity in America, inherited institutional frameworks often fail to address the social, cultural, and spiritual realities that Asian diasporic communities navigate. Drawing on John Hwang’s philosophy of public scholarship, Ted Smith’s critique of denominational professionalization, and David Chao's analysis of the “1517 Project,” the authors show how the Center for Asian American Christianity (CAAC) at Princeton Theological Seminary responds by organizing theological education around the concrete needs and questions emerging from its communities, extending and complementing existing institutional forms. Its distribution-first, audience-centered approach—expressed through newsletters, podcasts, webinars, and conferences—creates layered pathways for lifelong formation and expands access to theological reflection. By inhabiting the structural gap between academic discourse and community practice, the CAAC models an adaptive, community-rooted, and globally attuned vision of theological education suited to a post-denominational age.