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GRASSROOTS
ASIAN THEOLOGY
THINKING THE FAITH FROM THE GROUND UP
SIMON CHAN
In memory of Joseph P. Frary
(1940–2013)
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
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©2014 by Simon Chan
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ISBN 978-0-8308-9544-1 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-4048-9 (print)
CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1 Methodological Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 God in Asian Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3 Humanity and Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4 Christ and Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5 The Holy Spirit and Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6 The Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Praise for Grassroots Asian Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
More Titles from InterVarsity Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
PREFACE
Much of what the West knows as Asian theology consists
largely of elitist accounts of what Asian theologians are saying, and elitist
theologians seldom take grassroots Christianity seriously. Yet it is at the
grassroots level that we encounter a vibrant, albeit implicit, theology. It
is this theology that I wish to highlight. If we accept Prosper of Aqui
taine’s dictum that the rule of faith should be based on the rule of prayer
(ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi), then a study of the lived the
ology of the people of God in Asia will yield a better theology for the
Asian church and perhaps for the global church as well.
Such a theology, however, cannot be derived solely from Asian cul
tural resources. Any authentic theology must be developed in light of the
larger Christian tradition. The appeal to Christian tradition is not simply
a matter of preference but essential to our theological quest. If the Asian
church is truly a part of the church catholic, the accumulated contribu
tions of the past and present are essential to moving the church forward
wherever it is found. This point has been strongly argued by the Japanese
theologian Anri Morimoto against postmodern attempts to deconstruct
tradition.1 A theology developed in this way would not only be a theology
for Asia but also from Asia to the universal body of Christ.
In light of this imperative I have drawn freely from Catholic and Or
thodox sources. I believe they offer a broader and more solid basis for
1Anri Morimoto, “Contextualized and Cumulative: Tradition, Orthodoxy and Identity from
the Perspective of Asian Theology,” Studies in World Christianity 15 (Jan. 1, 2009): 65-80.
8 Grassroots Asian Theology
contextual theologies compared with what goes on in much of mainline
Protestantism and evangelicalism today. Putting it another way, any
healthy theological development requires holding together two processes
in a healthy tension: ressourcement and aggiornamento. Ressourcement is
not merely a return to the past; rather it is a creative engagement with
earlier sources, the fountainhead of spiritual life. Only in this way can we
begin to engage in the work of aggiornamento, or adaptation and up
dating in light of the new situations in which the church finds itself.
Without the prerequisite of ressourcement, aggiornamento could easily
end up with the church capitulating to the spirit of the age.2
I have not adopted any standardized format in the development of
each theological locus but have sought to let the grassroots dictate shape
and direction. Generally, however, I will present a brief sketch of elitist
theologies followed by an exploration of theologies found in sermons,
devotional works, testimonies and other popular writings by Asian
Christians. Sometimes we will look at case studies; at other times we will
examine the works of historians, sociologists and anthropologists for
what light they can shed on popular thought and practices. I will use
whatever resources are available within my limited competence in a
highly complex situation to understand grassroots Christian experiences
theologically. There is admittedly some unevenness in such an approach,
but it allows for ideas to be elucidated from a number of perspectives.
This is not a systematic theology. My main focus is on how theology
ought to be done. This book is as much concerned with the processes as
the content of theology. Only the content that has a particular bearing on
the Asian context is highlighted in each theological locus. My aim is to
force a rethink on the way Asian theology is currently undertaken and in
so doing show the distinctive contributions of Asian grassroots Christi
anity to the wider church’s theological endeavors.
Traditional Chinese and Korean names are normally written with
surname first, followed by given names. This is the form I have adopted.
2Marcellino D’Ambrosio, “Ressourcement Theology, Aggiornamento, and the Hermeneutics
of Tradition,” Communio 18 (Winter 1991): 530-55.
1
METHODOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
It is not unusual for discussions on Asian contextual theology
to begin with a distinction between Eastern and Western ways of thinking.
The Western way, we are told, is abstract, rationalistic and dualistic both
metaphysically (for example, spiritualmaterial, Godcreation) and epis
temologically (subjectobject), while the Eastern way is concrete, holistic
and nondualistic; Western thought presents issues in either/or terms
while Eastern thought encompasses both/and; Western thought is linear
while Eastern thought is nonlinear; and so on.1
That there are basic differences arising from different cultural experi
ences cannot be denied, but whether these distinctions should be demar
cated as Eastern and Western is another matter. What is sometimes called
the Western way of thinking should more accurately be called Cartesian
and Enlightenment thought, which does not exclusively define Western
epistemology and philosophy. Some postcritical, postmodern ways of
thinking that are considered part of the Western philosophical tradition,
such as the personalist philosophy of Michael Polanyi, have perhaps
more in common with what is characteristically described as the Eastern
way of thinking. Similarly, as we shall see, some Asian theologians have
adopted theological presuppositions and methods derived directly from
1For example, Lee Young Jung, “The Yin-Yang Way of Thinking,” in What Asian Christians Are
Thinking, ed. Douglas Elwood (Manila: New Day, 1976); Peter Chang, “Steak, Potatoes and
Chopsuey: Linear and Non-Linear Thinking in Theological Education,” Evangelical Review
of Theology (October 1981): 279-86.
10 Grassroots Asian Theology
Enlightenment thought.2 Can their theologies be called Asian?
Sometimes the antithesis between East and West is no more than a way
of expressing certain value judgments. In some circles, “Western” the
ology is theology one does not particularly like, while one’s preferred
theology is regarded as more authentically “Asian.” For instance, some
Asian theologians of a more liberal persuasion equate “the Western model
of theology” with colonial domination and oppressive capitalism.3 A
similar impulse runs in some conservative Asian theologians.4
Perhaps it is time to get rid of the habit of describing different patterns
of thought in terms of Eastern and Western ways of thinking. In a post
modern, globalized world, such descriptions are neither helpful nor ac
curate. Rather, a more pertinent question we need to ask in order to de
velop a contextual or local theology in an Asian context is: what spiritual
and intellectual resources of the Christian faith can we bring to bear on
the Asian context such that an authentic Christian faith can be effectively
communicated and received? Implied in this question is a fundamental
theological presupposition: an Asian theology is about the Christian faith
in Asia. This presupposition may be phrased in different ways, but it runs
through diverse Christian traditions, including Catholicism, Orthodoxy,
evangelicalism and Pentecostalism.5 Some see the common spiritual
heritage binding these four traditions together as holding promise for a
new ecumenism that goes beyond the currently deadlocked World
Council of Churches.6
The evangelical mission theologian Paul Hiebert refers to this common
2For example, the theologies of C. S. Song and others to be discussed below.
3See the document from the seventh international conference (1986) of the Ecumenical As-
sociation of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) in K. C. Abraham, ed., Third World The-
ologies: Commonalities and Divergences (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990), p. 196.
4For example, Han Chul-Ha, “The Crisis in the Doctrine of God the Creator in Modern
Western Theology,” in God in Asian Contexts, ed. Bong Rin Ro and Mark C. Albrecht (Tai-
chung, Taiwan: Asia Theological Association, 1988), pp. 62-77, accuses “modern western
theology” of producing a number of faulty concepts of God—namely, concepts derived from
Enlightenment rationalism.
5The possible exceptions are liberal Protestantism and the liberal wing of Catholicism (see
below).
6See In One Body Through the Cross: The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity, ed. Carl E.
Braaten and Robert W. Jenson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).
