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By Miriam Shastri (*)
Free photo available – see below.
"Future Asian theologians should be like ants, bees and spiders! Ants because of their way of patiently gathering nourishing materials, bees because they have to fly all over the world and bring home more knowledge and good ideas, and spiders because they have to be able to build webs between different theological concepts from around the globe and the inherited notions of their local cultures and religions."
This is a vision recently shared by over 70 students of theology from about 15 Asian countries at the second Asia Conference of Theological Students (ACTS 2).
It is an Asian custom to express oneself with the help of such colourful imagery, explains Professor Sathianathan Clarke, who came from India to share his thoughts with theology students from all over Asia.
This second gathering of Asian theology students was held from 25 to 31 July 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and coincided with the Faith and Order plenary commission’s first visit to this Muslim-majority country, thus resulting in valuable exchanges between the participants of both conferences.
Clarke’s metaphor speaks for itself. It is also a very provocative image for some seminarians as it symbolizes the recent development of Asian theology, in which inter-faith dialogue and education are becoming increasingly crucial.
Asian identity
It can be confusing and difficult to be Asian, as this means being religiously plural - something that is challenging to many. A young Malaysian, originally a Sikh and recently converted to Christianity, said he believed that, in order to become an integral part of his adopted religion, he needed to be entirely cut off from his religious and cultural roots.
In speaking of religious pluralism and of dialogue between their local peoples and cultures, the conference lecturers defied the classical approach to missionary work.
Recent developments in Asian theologies challenge the common notion that religion is always a dividing factor between different peoples, showing instead that it can be a place for significant inter-religious dialogue.
But what exactly is “Asia”? Outside the continent, it has been defined as the exotic "other" of the "Western self". Yet in many instances, Asian countries are much more intertwined with Western powers than they are among themselves. In fact, Asia is far from being the unified reality that would be understood by Asians themselves.
Moreover, Asia has been the subject of three kinds of colonialism: colonialism of the West, which wanted to portray Asia as a whole; internal colonialism, expressed through the caste system, kinship, ethnicity and surviving monarchies; and globalized capitalism which extracts Asia’s wealth and leaks it to the West.
However, consultations such as ACTS 2 demonstrate how Asia, and especially its theologians, are rising to the occasion to resist these foreign influences and work for better understanding and unity.
Early in the consultation, when exploring Christian theology in Asia, the participants considered something said by R. Panikkar to be a working definition of Christian theology: “collective, critical, and constructive reflection on God, world, and human beings and their interrelationships, as interpreted through the lens of Jesus Christ, through the nudging of the Holy Spirit, in the light of the realities of the people in Asia striving for life in all its fullness”.
Asia has its own experience of God, world and human beings, which at times is not in relation to the West. Christian theological reflection, therefore, has to address the problem and the promise of the “many religions”, the challenge and instrumentality of the “many poor”, the systematic and indigenous forms of Asian structural marginalities (such as caste, patriarchy and ethnicity), and the post-colonial resistance within the dynamics of globalization arising from the memory of colonialism.
Ecumenism in Asia
The future theologians taking part in the gathering were encouraged to develop their own theological thinking, while still holding on to the realities in their respective societies. During the lectures and activities, there was much time to discuss and analyse, enabling the participants to formulate their opinions on the state of ecumenism in Asia.
“Many ecumenical ventures have more often been encouraged by factors external to the church, such as social factors (joint projects to address poverty, HIV/AIDS, globalization, etc.) and political factors (cooperation in response to discrimination and/or oppression of Christians) than by the prayer of Jesus that “all may be one” (John 17:22),” said a statement given to the Faith and Order plenary commission.
Because many churches in Asia and Africa are burdened by colonial legacies, one finds that where they were divided since their formation, they have remained separate and disunited until today. At times, there is still a competitive spirit amongst churches, incidences of sheep-stealing, manifestations of prejudice and suspicion as a result of the separation and division.
Therefore, the students agreed, “Ecumenism in Asia is more about working together for a better world than about exploring sensitive and doctrinal issues that divide”.
Being a woman in Asia
Amongst the issues explored during the week-long gathering, Asian feminist theology evoked the liveliest response.
“In Asia, there seems to be a great resistance to feminism, because it is seen as merely the concern of a few women seeking power or is distinguished as a ‘Western imposition’ on Asian soil,” said Asian feminist theologians Dr Hope Antone (Philippines) and Yong Ting Jin (Malaysia).
Women being oppressed and discriminated against in Asia may seem ironical in light of the fact that both Indonesia and the Philippines currently have female leaders. But Asian feminist theologians say that subjugation and inequity exist in many forms – and, often enough, they are exerted in everyday life situations in seemingly innocent ways. Hence, an Indonesian theology student of Chinese heritage shared that even the ostensibly “simplest” things do matter, and have had a tremendous impact on her life and self-identity.
Relating to the other young theologians how her father abandoned her and her mother upon her birth – she, who was expected to be a boy – casts a shadow on the claim that gender equality exists in Asian societies today. Society, she says, never blamed the father for leaving the family, and made her feel that she was the cause of her mother’s and her own misfortune, that she was an abomination to her entire family.
Asian pluralism
Including a detailed lecture on Islam in the programme spoke reams about Asia’s struggle with the acceptance, tolerance and understanding of its pluralistic societies.
Father Tom Michel, who, amongst other things, is ecumenical secretary for the Office of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs of the Federation of (Catholic) Asian Bishops’ Conferences, described the most important elements and traditions of Islam to promote understanding and informed dialogue with Muslims.
It was made clear that Islam is not a religion of terrorists, and that the problem is that most of what society knows comes from media, especially newspapers, that are keen to sensationalize and exaggerate.
Through a survey of theological methods, the young theologians discovered that Asia and Asian theologians have a special task of working for unity and commonality, since Asian Christians have more experience in living with other religious traditions than the rest of the world.
Due to its differing polarities and vast cultures and religions, Asia may not be as united as some Western regions. But Asian theologians do have a role to play in exploring and using their knowledge of different peoples to work for unity of the churches, and also for the greater unity of civilization.
This provides a basis for reflection upon what unity actually means (or should mean) in the Christian community, and what the unity of humankind means.
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The meeting was jointly organized by the Christian Conference of Asia and the Federation of (Catholic) Asian Bishops’ Conferences, and supported financially, as part of its programme for Ecumenical Theological Education, by the World Council of Churches. ACTS 2 participants drafted a statement with their views and suggestions, and submitted it to the Faith and Order plenary commission.
While Faith and Order leads churches around the world into theological dialogue as a means of overcoming obstacles and opening up ways towards the manifestation of Christian unity, ACTS 2 serves the Asian churches by exploring the issues, trends and challenges in theology in an effort to promote a more contextualized approach to doing theology. This, it is hoped, will help shape new generations of church leaders who are faithful to the Christian tradition as well as sensitive to the Asian context.
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* Miriam Shastri, from the Lutheran Church, is an 18 year old steward at the Faith and Order plenary commission meeting. She is currently working for a Malaysian newspaper, and will soon commence law studies.
Free photos, news items and feature stories are available at the meeting website at:
www.wcc-coe.org/kualalumpur2004.html
Kuala Lumpur features: Although written according to the usual journalistic standards of accuracy and balance, since this article is intended for the general public it should not be read as a formal academic or theological text, nor should it be considered an official statement of the Faith and Order commission.
Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the author.