East Asian Theology

A new era began in the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. Instead of holding the classicist worldview of a single normative culture, a new and more positive attitude towards the modern world and bearers of modern social, political and cultural movements was employed. New developments in various aspects of the life of the church spread out all over the world, including Asia. Among them is the flourishing of theological thought. Theological works at both academic and more popular levels in Asian churches blossom, with emphasis on their particular contexts and cultures. In spite of this, problems arise in the process of inculturation in theology. Some of them are: Without neglecting cultural diversity and being sensitive to the already presence of Christ in different cultures, how does one respect the normative character of Christianity? If religious faith is at the core of a culture and the goal of inculturation is to transform the culture by the Christian life, will it destroy the religious root of another culture?

This is chapter one of my published PhD Thesis - "Proclaiming the Peacemaker: The Malaysian Church as an Agent for Reconciliation in a Multicultural Society", Oxford: Regnum books, 2012.

From the Introduction:
The Malaysian church exists as a minority community in a multicultural context, where racial tensions are present and religious liberties are restricted. Given these sorts of challenges what shape should Christian mission take in Malaysia at this time? In particular, how are Malaysian churches to combine proclamation of the gospel with a ministry of peacemaking? These questions are explored in this book with the prior understanding that both proclamation and peacemaking are included in the mission God gives his church, and that both may be combined in the exercising of a ministry of reconciliation.

This article examines the importance of strengthening virtue ethics approach in Catholic social teaching for a Chinese Christian community through putting the Catholic tradition and Confucian tradition into dialogue. Through examining the virtue features in the Confucian and Christian traditions, it is found that they share a number of commensurable elements. This study contributes to the on-going reflection on inculturation in the Hong Kong Church, dialogue between Chinese culture and Christianity. Moreover, strengthening virtue ethics approach in CST is important in moving the hearts of Chinese Christians and transforming them to engage in social justice endeavor, leading to common good and solidarity with the vulnerables. It can complement the principle-based approach in CST. Employing virtue ethics method to approach CST, it would emphasize both rational and emotive approaches rather than primarily cognitive principles, leading to a more holistic formation and integrative way of planning pastoral action. It also offers concrete ways of practice through practicing various virtues. Moreover, it can integrate spirituality and morality, and linking personal ethic with social ethic. It is an attempt to contribute to the renewal of ethical methods of Catholic social ethics.

This paper sits within the field of Christian-Buddhist Comparative Theology and will explore the concept of the crucifixion in relation to Chinese Buddhist images of suffering bodhisattvas. While the bodhisattva is normally portrayed as placid and serene and to have transcended suffering, I will argue that some form of suffering is either implicit or demonstrated within various stories associated within specific figures, focusing especially on Dizang (Kshitigharba) and Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara). The way that these Bodhisattvas suffer may be an area for profitable exploration in terms of Christology in Comparative or Intercultural Theology. Given the limits of space the paper does not proceed to develop a new Christology, but rather presents the argument that the image of a suffering savior is not alien to the Buddhist world, at least in its Sinitic portions, and so opens the potential for developing such speculation.

With the rise of the church in the Majority World comes a rise in interest in issues drawn from those cultural contexts. One of the issues in the last few years has been that of honor and shame. While this is not a new issue to Asians, it is one of the most difficult aspects of Asian cultures for Westerners to grasp. It may have been issues like this that poet Rudyard Kipling, who was born in British India, had in mind when he wrote his famous line " East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. " Difficult or not, it is part of the core of most, if not all, Asian cultures. It is also, as my colleague Marlene Yap pointed out to me some time ago, a core value in the background of the Mediterranean cultures in the New Testament era. I then discovered that the Old Testament cultures also had honor and shame as a core value, opening up new vistas of biblical understanding to me. I am not alone in this discovery. In the lead article, Amanda Shao-Tan discusses shame and honor among people of disabilities among her own ethnic group, the Chinese-Filipino community in the Philippines. For Shao-Tan, this is personal as she has battled a congenital disability all her life and used to feel ashamed of her body. After sharing part of her story, she takes us on a study of the book of Hebrews and tells us about how " Hebrews presents an empathetic and empowering Jesus who is worthy of emulation in his responses to shame. " Amanda has learned well from Jesus and borne her disability with dignity and grace. I have never heard her complain and she always has a kind word and a warm smile. She is one of my many heroes. In the article that follows Marlene Yap, who is also a Chinese-Filipino, explores the cross and the resurrection through the prism of honor and shame. Rooting the events of the events of the day in the Graeco-Roman culture of the times, she notes that Mediterranean cultures practiced a number of " status degradation rituals, " which included crucifixion. She then goes into detail about how shameful death on a cross was and how Christ willingly endured the shame, which God turned into honor (Phil. 2:6-11). In accepting Christ, we too, must accept the shame that comes from our sin. But in Christ, however, we are now honored, sitting with him in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6-7). Yap demonstrates that not only did Christ died for our sins, he also died for our shame and his death also put to rest the stigma that comes with shame and elevated us to positions of honor in Christ. All of these articles can be downloaded from our website www.apts.edu/ajps

Based on Catholic and Confucian social ethics, this book develops an ethic of solidarity and reciprocity with the migrants in Asia who are marginalized. Mary Mee-Yin Yuen draws off her own pastoral experiences in the Church, the situation of the wider Christian community, and the personal experiences of migrant women from various Asian countries in Hong Kong, to describe the features and practices of an ethical approach that emphasizes solidarity and reciprocity. Interdisciplinary in nature, this book integrates Catholic social ethics, moral philosophy, Chinese Confucian ethics, social sciences, and cultural studies to investigate the phenomenon of international and intra-national migration in Asia, particularly with regard to women migrants moving from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Mainland China to Hong Kong.

Straight lines seemed to be an image of imperialism. I became aware that the love of God-hesed, agape-is more of a zigzag than a straight line. For the sake of others, love makes self-denying zigzags, displaying its power as it overcomes profound frustration.

An anthropogenically caused climate crisis threatens the Earth and humanity. As such, religion’s engagement is of increasing importance. This paper critically evaluates the significance of the East Asian context regarding the climate crisis, arguing for contextualization of contemporary ecotheology, or an East Asian contextual ecotheology. Considering how key contextual elements might inform ecotheologies to mobilize Christians regionally to action in relation to the climate crisis, this paper concludes that the field of East Asian ecotheology is an emerging conversation rich with opportunity for continued theologizing and inter-religious dialogue, and practical impetus for East Asian Christians to mobilize to address the climate crisis. Suggestions are made as to how these ecotheologies may be integrated into Christian practice in the region.

An anthropogenically caused climate crisis threatens the Earth and humanity. As such, religion's engagement is of increasing importance. This paper critically evaluates the significance of the East Asian context regarding the climate crisis, arguing for contextualization of contemporary ecotheology, or an East Asian contextual ecotheology. Considering how key contextual elements might inform ecotheologies to mobilize Christians regionally to action in relation to the climate crisis, this paper concludes that the field of East Asian ecotheology is an emerging conversation rich with opportunity for continued theologizing and inter-religious dialogue, and practical impetus for East Asian Christians to mobilize to address the climate crisis. Suggestions are made as to how these ecotheologies may be integrated into Christian practice in the region.

Theology must remain alert to the perpetual novelty of God,
expressed throughout believers’ lived experiences and communal inventiveness. The ethnographer’s sensitivity to the way religious communities take shape and evolve can help the theologian to reflect anew on the way God’s revelation unfurls itself in the contexts and languages of our time. This article illustrates such approach by highlighting some aspects of an ongoing research on Shanghai’s religious communities. Not only does it reflect upon Christian churches’ growth and maturation but it also considers the religious diversity of Chinese megacities as a way to re-think Christian identity. It argues that China’s religious awakening is not to be considered as a special case or a mere opportunity for Christian mission but as a field for theological critical thinking.

For a millennium and a half, Christianity in China has been perceived as a foreign religion for a foreign people. Yet in the last hundred years, various attempts to articulate a Chinese Christianity have been made by indigenous leaders like Watchman Nee, T. C. Chao and K. H. Ting. This book examines these and other historical approaches, and highlights their tendencies to draw from Western or Latin forms of Christian theology. Alexander Chow is sensitive to the ideological resources of China's past and present, and shows the potential role of Eastern Orthodox theology in today's development of an authentic Chinese contextual theology.

Can Christianity be accepted as the fourth wisdom tradition of China, alongside the three teachings of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, in their mixed, shared, and pre-conditioned engagement? Is there a contextual theology which embraces at its core the Chinese principle of 'Heaven and Humanity in Unity' (Tian ren heyi)? Is there a way to interpret theological recourses in a non-Christian context? At once spirited and intellectual, and simultaneously critical and historical, this book offers an encouraging voyage into a great space that has been left unexplored for too long.' - Yang Huilin, Vice President and Professor of Comparative Literature and Religious Studies, Renmin University of China

'Most studies of Christianity in China have been undertaken by historians or social scientists rather than by theologians. Alexander Chow's book is different. He brings twentieth-century Chinese Christian leaders such as Watchman Nee, T.C. Chao, and K.H. Ting into dialogue, not simply with the Western theological tradition, but crucially also with the writings of the Eastern Fathers and the Orthodox tradition. The result is a strikingly original work that will attract lively debate. No serious student of Chinese Christianity will be able to ignore it.' - Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh, UK

'This monograph represents 'contextual' theology at its best: a deep investigation of some key concepts of salvation in the Chinese-Confucian culture vis-à-vis a critical and insightful assessment of Christian theological formulations in both lay and academic Chinese theologies. Alexander Chow gleans from the rich soteriological resources of the Christian East with its concept of theosis to propose a viable constructive theology of salvation for an Asian context. A must-read for both theologians and missiologists.' - Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, USA, and Docent of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki, Finland