After spending some extended conversationsat the Lausanne YLG-06 with Brad Smith (Thanks Brad for the stimulating conversations and questions posed) on Asian theologies, and all that’s related to that. My consciousness about Christianity in Asia is heightened 🙂 So, I decided to spend some time checking out some of the articles in the Dictionary of Asian Christianity. Here’s some excerpts of what leaped out for me this afternoon.
“One of Ricci’s first efforts at this accomodation was to publish a tract on friendship, a subject of extreme importance and interest to the Chinese, for whom friendship and human relationships rank above other virtues. Of equal importance to this small booklet was Ricci’s own modeling of friendship. he was more than a scholar — he was a remarkable human being whose life of friendship, humility, and love demonstrated the faith of which he wrote.” – entry on “Ricci, Matteo” (Sherman I thought of you when I was reading this!)
“To show he was no longer a Sikh, he cut off his long hair, distributed all his possessions to the poor, and began the life of a Christian sadhu. Clad in a saffron robe and a turban, he went on evangelistic tours throughout India. His greateste joy was to serve and suffer for Jesus, whose love he felt so deeply. For years he walked on the slopes of the Himalayas in his incessant ministry of preaching the Gospel, encountering many hardships from the climate, robbers, steep narrow roads, and persecution. He visited many parts of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir and then preceeded father to Baluchistan and Afghanistan. He soon came to be known as the “apostle of the bleeding feet.” Meanwhile he spent eight months in St. John’s Divinity School at Lahore, but he found this too confining. He did not want to limit his ministry to any particular denomination. As a wandering sadhu, he could carry the message of Jesus Christ to all churches and to all people of other faiths.” – entry on “Sunder Singh”
“De Nobili was the first missionary to study philosophical Hinduism deeply. He adopted a Hindu lifestyle, including a strict vegetarian diet, and encouraged his converts to remian Hindu in every possible way. A few dozen baptisms demomstrated the potential of his approach before controversy led to a ban on further baptism. The issues are still controversial today despite belated official church approval for de Nobili’s methods.” – entry on “De Nobili, Roberto”
“De Silva believed that the acknowledgement of spiritual truths in other religions would not weaken one’s commitment to the Christian faith; rather, he was convinced that one’s own faith could be deepened and broadened by a sympathetic and intelligent understanding of faiths of others. His thesis was that the truths in Buddhism could be absorbed or adpated into Christianity and could fertilize and enrich a Christian’s own faith. In his publications and lectures, he tried to facilitate Buddhist-Christian dialogue and help people of these two faiths overcome prejudices and past misunderstandings of each other.” – entry on “De Silva, Lynn”
“According to inscriptions, the Nestorian monk Alopen, from Syria (Da Jin), arrived in the capital city of Changan om 635. He was escorted by Duke Fang Xuen-ling, with a guard of honor, to an audience with Tang emperor Tai Zong (626-49), who invited him into the imperial library and asked him to translate the Bible into Chinese. The emporer allowed a monastry housing 21 monks to be built in the capital and, as a gesture of honor, permitted his portrait to be placed in it. Emporer Gao Zong (649-83), son of Tai Zong, bestowed upon Alopen the title of “great patron and spiritual lord of the empire.” It is uncertian whether the title was only honorific or whether Alopen had been appointed an archbishop by the Nestorian patriach in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, Persia.” – entry on “Nestorian Church, China”
There’s more … I haven’t finished the entry on “Ancestor Worship” and “contextualization” which looks interesting.
It’s inspiring and yet disheartening to know that we actually have a much richer Christian heritage in Asia that we have actually forgotten than what is popularly acknowledged.
While we look to Europe and the United States for more contemporary developments of theology and faith practices; especially as Protestants; we ought to rediscover and appreciate and perhaps apply the richness and diversity of the expressions of the ecumenical faith as practiced both in the Near East (within the development of Eastern & Oriental Orthodoxy .. plenty to learn from their experience as a persecuted church .. especially in de-learning triumphalism) and in the Far East.
Thanks Bob, for the comment. One of the concerns I think we in Asia need to watch out is any form of “triumphalism” whic not only distracts us from the Gospel but also serves as a barrier for others to grasp the message of love and humility originally displayed supremely through Jesus and ultimately by his death on the cross.
Sivin,
Great thoughts in the post and above in the comments. Thanks.
John, you managed to get thru .. great! I think we have much to dialogue 🙂
Just thought of something to mull about ..
The Church in the Far East has had a pretty chequered history. One of the earliest recorded arrivals was the introduction of Christianity to the Malabar coast of India (attributed to St Thomas), the mission of the Assyrian church to China (circa 635 AD) and the mass conversion of some Mongol and Turk tribes (5th – 6th century).
Most of these efforts were waning or arguably syncretised (like the St Thomas Christians of India); due to the rise of Islam, inter-necine warfare or official persecution; by the time the first Roman Catholic missionaries made it to Asian shores and that sort of gave missions a second breath. Even so, a lot of these efforts, especially North Eastern Asia were on the retreat by the time Protestants started coming into the area.
In fact, there was some level of syncreticism in the contemporary indigenous practices of the Christian faith by the turn of the 19th century (like the Kakure Kirishitan who went underground after the Shimabara Rebellion in Japan and to a certain extent, the Kristangs/Cristaos of Malacca who went underground after the Reformed Dutch persecution of Roman Catholics).
Modern Christianity in East Asia today is directly decended from the later missions of the Protestant and later Roman Catholic missions of the 19th century and even then, some level of syncretisation (some would prefer to call it re-examination and contextualisation) has taken place. This is evident in the ministry and teachings of people like Watchman Nee, Sundar Singh, Wang Ming Dao, Zhang Ling Sheng, Pandita Ramabai, et al.
And then there’s now .. where a convergence of various conversations on a global level is happening, most of which tend to attempt to de-construct a lot of what we’ve taken for granted (some call it Emergent, others Missional and even others as the Resurgent Reformed – yep .. even them). So how does an appreciation of the journey that the Asian Church has taken help us in giving further depth to what we’re talking about nowadays? How do we approach syncreticism? Is it even syncretic in the first place?
Stuff like that .. and of course, where do we see the supremacy of Christ and the sovereignty of God playing out in this picture? Do we trust Him to continue doing so today or do we still believe God needs our help to nudge things along.
Weird stuff that continuously play in my mind even as I try to deal with the normal hustle and bustle of the daily grind and try to remember I have a witness, both private and public, to the world wherever I am.
Sigh .. sometimes I have to wonder .. do I stay awake all night worrying about the things I should be worrying about? 😉