David Thang Moe

Dr. David Thang Moe is a scholar of public theology and World Christianity whose work explores the intersections of religion, politics, and theology. Drawing on firsthand experience of ethnic conflict and civil war in Myanmar alongside interdisciplinary scholarly inquiry, his areas of expertise include public theology, religion and nationalism, ethnic conflict and reconciliation, intercultural hermeneutics, Christian-Buddhist engagement, ecclesiology and missional leadership, and faith and globalization, with particular attention to Southeast Asia and its global diasporas.

He is the author of Beyond the Academy: Lived Asian Public Theology of Religions (Princeton Theological Monograph, 2024), which is currently being translated into Japanese, Indonesian, Korean, Chinese, and Burmese. His ongoing research examines religion and nationalism, ethnic conflict, decentralized resistance, reconciliation, peacebuilding, migration, and the public role of Christianity, and he is at work on the forthcoming volume Beyond Buddhist Nationalism: Political Theology of Interreligious and Decentralized Resistance after the Coup (Oxford University Press). His scholarship and public commentary have appeared in academic journals and public venues including Harvard Political Review, Yale Daily News, The Straits Times, VOA, and Christianity Today.   

Dr. Moe has held teaching and research appointments at Yale University, Harvard University, Columbia University, MIT Center for International Studies, Boston University, and the University of Connecticut. He co-chairs the Religion in Southeast Asia Unit of the American Academy of Religion and serves in several editorial roles with the International Journal of Public Theology, Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship, Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology, and Asian American Theological Forum. He has delivered invited lectures and presented his research at leading institutions and scholarly conferences across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.   

A Presbyterian minister shaped by pastoral ministry among Burmese, Korean, and multiethnic diasporic communities, he brings together theological scholarship, ecclesial leadership, and public engagement. Born and raised in a rural Chin village in Myanmar, his work is shaped by firsthand experience of ethnic conflict and seeks to build bridges among four distinct communities: the academy, churches, society, and state. His public engagement includes advocacy for displaced communities affected by civil war and policy engagement with U.S. senators, UN ambassadors, diplomats, and other international practitioners concerning Myanmar’s democratic future.

Beyond Buddhist Nationalism: Political Theology of Interreligious and Decentralized Resistance after the Coup, Religion and Global Politics Series (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

Beyond Christendom: A Historical and Theological Exploration of Faith under Regime and Nationalism in Myanmar, Theology and Mission in World Christianity Series (Brill, forthcoming).

(with Joseph Cheah) A Minority Within Minorities: Recovering the Untold Stories of Burmese Americans in Asian American Theology, Asian Christianity in the Diaspora Series (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming).

Asian Theology in the Context of World Christianity: Issues, Insights, and Interpretations. (Fortress Academic/Lexington, forthcoming).

Beyond the Academy: Lived Asian Public Theology of Religions, Princeton Theological Monograph (Wipf & Stock, 2024).

(ed., with Gregg Okesson) Public Theology for Global Witness (First Fruits, 2023).

Pyithu-Dukkha Theology: A Paradigm for Doing Dialectical Theology of Divine Suffering and Human Suffering in the Asian-Burmese Context (Emeth Press, 2017).

2023. “Burmese Public Theology of Religions and Reconciliation After the 2021 Buddhist Coup.” International Journal of Public Theology, 17 (2): 262–286.

2020. “Contemporary Theology in Asia: Current Challenges and Future Directions.” Irish Theological Quarterly, 85 (2): 145–168.

2020. “Is Karl Barth a Liberation Theologian? New Perspectives on Barth in Asia.” The Expository Times 131/4.: 137-152.

2019. “Intercultural Theology in the Multicultural Context of World Christianity: Issues, Insights and Interactions.” Currents in Theology and Mission 46 (3): 18-23.

2019. “A Cross-cultural and Liberative Hermeneutics of Luke 10: 25-37 in an Asian and Asian-American Perspective.” The Expository Times 130 (10): 439-449. 

2018. “Identity and Otherness: Engaging the Other and Embracing Otherness in a Pluralistic World.” Ecclesiology 14 (3): 261-283.

2018. “The Church as the Image of the Trinity: Toward A Trinitarian Public Theology of Justice and Peace in Asia.” Asia Journal of Theology 32 (2): 22-49.   

2025. “Social and Political Context.” In Compact Atlas of Global Christianity, et al, Kenneth R. Ross, 296-305. Edinburgh University Press.

2023. “The Expansion of Asian Christianity (up to 1500),” ed. Amos Yong and Mark Lamport, The Hidden Story of Christianity in Asia, 3-18. Cascade.

2020. “Christianity in Timor-Leste.” In World Christian Encyclopedia, ed. Todd Johnson and Gina Zurlo, 3^rd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.