Asia is the birthplace of Christianity, yet the history of Asian Christianity has long been a difficult one. Scott W. Sunquist is a recognized expert on the history of the Christian faith in Asia, and these essays cover Asian Christianity in broad perspective, with topics like the history of Christian mission and missionary practice in Asia, theological education, and global migration.
This book provides a comprehensive exploration of Asian Christianity and Theology, with emphasis on how it has developed in different parts of the continent and in the different eras, especially since the end of colonialism in Asia. Asian Theology refers to a unique way of theological reflection characterized by specific methodologies that evolved in postcolonial Asia. Premised on the thinking of Asian Church leaders and scholars, its focus is on the dialogue with the many cultures (inculturation), many religions (interreligious dialogue), and many poor (integral liberation) of Asia. The book looks at each of these ministries in detail, foregrounding Asian biblical hermeneutics, Christianity’s engagement with Hinduism, Confucianism, and Islam, Asian Women’s Theology, and the rise of Pentecostalism. The volume is valuable reading for scholars of religious studies, theology, world Christianity, Asian religions, and Asian studies.
Asian Christian Theology provides a survey of contextually reflective, robustly evangelical theology for students to engage with the core doctrines of Christianity and their outworking in different cultures across Asia. The contributors of the chapters come from all corners of Asia to systematically examine traditional doctrinal themes and contemporary concerns for the Asian church. Ideal for use as a companion textbook in Asian seminaries and institutions, this book will also provide excellent further reading for those outside of Asia seeking global theological perspectives, and for those in contexts of significant Asian diaspora. Many excellent books surveying theology exist, but this book is a major step forward for students and scholars seeking to understand the dynamic environment of evangelical theology in Asia.
This volume examines the dynamic, mutually constitutive, relationship between religion and mobility in the contemporary era of Asian globalisation in which an increasing number of people have been displaced, forcefully or voluntarily, by an expanding global market economy and lasting regional political strife. Seven case studies provide up-to-date ethnographic perspectives on the translocal/transnational dimension of religion and the religious/spiritual aspect of movement. The chapters draw on research into Buddhism, Islam, Chinese qigong, Christianity and communal ritual as these religious beliefs and practices move in and across Singapore, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the upper Mekong region, the Thai-Burma border, the Middle East and France. With these diverse and rich ethnographic cases on translocal/transnational Asian religious practices and subjectivities, the book transcends the conventional nation-state centered framework to look into how mobile religious agents are redefining boundaries of local, regional, national identities and recreating translocal, transnational and interregional connectivity. In so doing, it illustrates the importance of promoting a dynamic understanding of Asia not just as a geopolitical entity but as an ongoing social and religious formation in late modernity. This book was published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology.
Preliminary Material -- Preface -- An Overview: Asian and Oceanic Christianity in an Age of World Christianity /M. Thomas Thangaraj -- An Asian Journey Seeking Christian Wholeness: Owning Up to Our Own Metaphors (Theotao) /Heup Young Kim -- Contextualized and Cumulative: Tradition, Orthodoxy and Identity from the Perspective of Asian Theology /Anri Morimoto -- An Asian Christian? Or a Christian Asian? Or an Asian-Christian?: A Roman Catholic Experiment on Christian Identity /Peter C. Phan -- Texts and Terrorism: Communal Strife, Sacred Scriptures and Secular Stories /R.S. Sugirtharajah -- The Economy of God-talk in Asia: A Cultural Materialist Critique /Angela Wai Ching Wong -- Pacifism: its Frustration and an Alternative /Hisako Kinukawa -- The Guide Who Stands Aside: Confessing Christ in India Today /J. Jayakiran Sebastian -- Blessed are the Peacemakers: The Search for an East Asian Reading /Benoît Vermander -- Reimagining Home: a Diasporic Perspective on Encounters with the Religious Other in Australia /Seforosa Carroll -- Emerging Theology on an Asian Frontier: History and the Future of Memories in West Papua, Indonesia /Charles E. Farhadian -- Pasifika Secrets /Jione Havea -- Learning to Speak a New Tongue: Imagining a Way That Holds People Together /Fumitaka Matsuoka -- About the authors -- Index of Names.
