RSS 1.0Asian Christianity / Theologies
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The Asian Christianity / Theologies collections gathers sources on the history of Asian Christianity and churches, with a focus on their theologies embedded in the specific socio-political, cultural and religious contexts of the Asian region. It includes articles from major Asian religious journals, such as Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies, Chinese Theological review, Ching Feng, Indonesian Journal of Theology, International Journal of Sino-Western Studies, Religions and Christianity in Today's China, and others. The collection is supported by the Foundation for Theological Education in South East Asia FTESEA.
Image taken from: England, John C. 2002. Asian Christian theologies: a research guide to authors, movements, sources. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, ISPCK/Claretian Publishers.
Recent Submissions
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We choose abundant life : Christians in the Middle East : towards renewed theological, social, and political choicesWe Choose Abundant Life Group, 2021-09
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Navigating challenges and opportunities : an exploratory case study of the Eparchy of Gorakhpur, Northern IndiaThe Eparchy of Gorakhpur, Northern India, is one of the relatively youngest eparchies of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. This case study explores the challenges and opportunities it faces and shapes its contours. This single case study uses a qualitative approach, drawing on email interviews with the local ordinary and clergy and synodal consultations and analyzing its annual report and other relevant documents. The findings reveal that the Eparchy’s current situation is filled with many challenges and opportunities, but they have found a way to succeed. These include a shortage of candidates for the priesthood, declining religious participation among the youth, and a lack of educational and economic opportunities. Moreover, it is located in a predominantly Hindu region, posing a challenge to evangelization efforts. However, the study also helped surface and identify opportunities for growth and reform in the Eparchy, such as a stable interest in Catholicism among local people, the presence of committed clergy and laypeople, and the support of a wider Syro-Malabar Church. This study concludes with lessons to address the challenges and maximize opportunities. These include improving the training and formation of clergy and laypeople, seeking assistance and human, financial, and technical resources from the Syro-Malabar Church, and exploring innovative ways of evangelization, such as using social media and online platforms.
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Negotiating the meaning of spirituality in holistic health care from a Chinese perspectiveABSTRACTThis paper argues for a cross-cultural understanding of spirituality, suggesting that the meanings of spirituality currently available in the holistic healthcare literature are largely Western, which are heavily loaded with a spirit–body dualism. This constitutes one of the reasons why many Chinese-speaking people would not, or would not be able to, fully appreciate the importance of spirituality in the context of holism, which often manifests in Chinese clinical settings as an everyday resistance in the form of non-oppositional cultural alterity. At the end of the paper, the author suggests that inter-religious hospitality be adopted as a more promising way of interfaith spiritual care.
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A Filipino Resistance Reading of Joshua 1:1-9Go beyond historical questions Lily Fetalsana-Apura reads Joshua 1:1-9, a text that has been used to legitimize Western conquests and imperialism, as a resistance text. Using contextual hermeneutics, the author reads the Former Prophets as countering and resisting impositions of surrounding imperial forces. Read in the context of four hundred years of colonial victimization and a continuing struggle against neocolonialism, Fetalsana-Apura interprets Joshua 1:1-9 as exhorting strength and courage against exploitation and domination by empire. She reveals the Western context and interests reflected in many books and commentaries and outlines instead how the text's meaning can be translated as resisting empire to marginalized and exploited communities such as the Philippines. Features: A critique of Western biblical studies that exclusively focus on historical and theological readings An outline of exegetical and hermeneutical procedures for contextual interpretation Identification of themes and concepts in the Deuteronomistic History that subvert imperial ideology
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Interactive pluralism in Asia : religious life and public spaceIn today’s multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Asian contexts, religious plurality is one of the hallmarks of many societies. This book provides new insights into the current realities of religious life in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Myanmar, highlights the influence of religious commitment on the public space, and examines how Christian theology engages with contemporary realities in Asia. Christian theologians of different denominations offer fascinating theological reflections on justification, salvation, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, and discuss interactions within and between Asian societies as well as with the world at large.
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Broken Church for Broken Couples: How the divided church should take care of divorced personsThis article challenges the radical anti-divorce attitude embraced by most churches in Asia. Although such an attitude is based on Jesus’ saying, it contradicts what Jesus really meant. Jesus resisted the Jewish tradition of easy divorce for the sake of the victimized, particularly the wife. It is, therefore, suggested that instead of falling into legalism, the church’s approach regarding divorce should start from its own reality as a broken fellowship yet still attempting to be a channel of the Good News
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Notes on Joel 3:1-5"The pericope, Joel 3:1-5 has attracted the attention of both Biblical Scholars and interested believers. This ability to attract attention, derives from both its Old Testament context and significance along with its New Testament usage’s (Acts 2:17-21; Mark 13:24; Rom 10:13). Yet beyond its intra-testamentality it challenges the way we understand our relationship with God and those special “transformational moments” we experience and call spiritual."
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The Indigenous Principle Revisited"For a most of this century the approach to missions which has generally characterized the overseas ministries of evangelical missions agencies has been based on the indigenous church principle.2 The indigenous principle suggests that the goal of the missionary movement is to bring the church in the lands where missionaries serve to the place where it is "self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating."3 Indeed, if one were to ask many missionaries what they see as their future on the field, they would likely answer that their goal is to "work myself out of a job." While this statement echoes the sentiments of the indigenous principle,4 it may be unrealistic in the context of missions programs and realities as we approach the beginning of a new century. It is the purpose of this paper to evaluate some of the observable, though perhaps unintended, effects of the indigenous principle and to argue that a different conceptualization of the missionary task may be needed in some situations--one that places an emphasis on the interdependence of the ministry of missionaries and the national churches they serve."
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Toward an Asian Pentecostal Theology"In the past two decades, the validity of Asian theological reflections has been forcefully argued not only by liberal theologians, but also Evangelicals.2 As a result, a consensus has emerged through critical Asian theological reflections for the legitimacy of Asian theology. However, the question remains: How shall we construct such a theological framework? Meanwhile, the century-old Pentecostal movement is experiencing several paradigm shifts in theological reflection. Case in point, various theological concerns were raised in two recent conferences: Brighton Conference of World Evangelization (1991)3 and Globalization of Pentecostalism Conference in Costa Rica (1996). In particular, the stance on constructing a Pentecostal theology was convincingly argued by participants from various parts of the world and traditions. Despite this progress, there are many basic unsettled issues in doing Pentecostal theology, let alone Pentecostal theologies related to specific contexts. As an example, the exact nature of the baptism in the Spirit, the primary Pentecostal distinctive, continues to be hotly debated."
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Acts 10: A Gentile Model for Pentecostal Experience"One of the doctrinal heritages of the classical Pentecostals has been Spirit-baptism."
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A Pneumatological Approach to Virtue Ethics"Pentecostalism in Asia, the west (western Europe and North America), and the rest of the world, has been typified as emotional, worship-oriented, and emphasizing the spiritual gifts. This tends to be true, and in most cases, it was a corrective to the more cognitive, liturgical ecclesiastical approach which did not demonstrate the charismata. Initially, the early Pentecostals used their theological, pastoral, and educational energies to refute antagonistic responses mainly from other Protestant groups who reacted negatively to the perceived emotionalism, and lack of proper theology of these Pentecostals. Unfortunately, many of the Pentecostals who came from a strong holiness tradition with an emphasis on high moral lives and ethical behavior were drawn into the debates over the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and tongues. Thereby, essentially neglecting whole fields of theological and ethical inquiry from a Pentecostal perspective."
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Aspects of Initial-Evidence Dogma"North American classical Pentecostal denominations were formed in and around the turn of the twentieth century. All of these denominations have been influenced in varying degrees by Charles Parham and W. J. Seymour. The general theological heritage of this movement is quite broad and includes distant groups like the Pietists along with recent millenarians and the nineteenth century healing movement. Among the most telling theological roots are the related Holiness and Keswick movements."
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Initial Evidence"This article addresses a subject which has been the center of extensive debate both within the Pentecostal movement itself, and (particularly) in debate and dialogue with non-Pentecostal groups. The most heated debate has no doubt been between Pentecostals and Evangelicals, particularly in those societies in which both groups enjoy numerous adherents, and can boast well-developed teaching and academic institutions and structures. North America is a good example of such a society."
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An Evangelical Critique of "Initial Evidence" Doctrine"It is a privilege to be asked to write this article as a representative of the Asian Evangelical theological community. The writer appreciates this openness to honest academic dialogue on one of the key distinctives of Pentecostal theology. It is hoped that this essay will open the way forward for a common understanding and a more biblical theology of those who believe in the doctrine of “initial evidence” and those who do not."
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Tongues: An Experience for All in the Pauline Churches?"In 1 Cor 12:30, Paul poses the question, “Not all speak in tongues do they?,” in a grammatical form which invites his reader to respond with a firm negative. For many, that settles the question implied in the title, once and for all. Unfortunately, few issues are that easily dealt with. Some of my Pentecostal friends would immediately respond that by starting with 1 Cor 12:30 we have begun at the wrong place. It is implicit, they would say, from the narrative of Acts that Luke thought tongues was universally received as initial evidence of a Spirit-baptism promised to all believers. And Luke clearly belonged to the Pauline churches, at least in the general sense that he knew them well, and considered Paul as prominent among the apostles."
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Salvation in Christ and Baptism in Spirit"This reaction essay seeks to review the current article of Robert P. Menzies, "Evidential Tongues: An Essay on Theological Method." My aim is not only to review this present work but also to assess many contributions of R. Menzies to Pentecostal literature. In this essay I will react to his outlook in articulating the Pentecostal claim. Then, I will review his methodology and product. It is also vital to integrate his endeavor to my region, Asia in general, and the Philippines in particular. Thus, I will discuss the relevance of his contributions to my locality. Finally, since R. Menzies asserts that the Pentecostal gift is an empowerment for witness, I will reflect on the missiological implications of his presentation of Pentecostal empowerment."
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Groans too Deep for Words"I asked for a show of hands one day in a pneumatology course at Southeastern College from those students who disagree with the doctrine of tongues as the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Only a small number of hands were raised. I then asked for a show of hands from those who agreed. To my surprise, only a small number of hands went up. I impulsively asked for a show of hands from those who did not understand the meaning of the doctrine."
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A Response to Frank Macchia’s "Groans too Deep for Words"Frank Macchia’s paper represents one of the growing efforts to articulate and refine the Pentecostal distinctive - initial evidence. I applaud his effort to develop a theology of initial evidence that goes beyond mere defense. A purely defensive apologetic is positionally constrictive to say the least. I heartily agree with him that we need to engage in creative theologizing from within the Pentecostals’ own contextual reality that is passionate in our commitment to scripture and at the same time sensitive to the larger Christian community with whom we dialogue. Such theological humility is important. This would help to prevent doctrinal and experiential differences to disrupt our basic unity as the body of Christ. Since "tongues" is integral to our denominational selfunderstanding and religious life, we need to develop a sustainable theology of glossolalia. Only in this way can we recognize in the difference, the wealth and depth of the whole of our Christian reality and experience."
