Culturally Christian
In his book Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking The Faith From The Ground Up, Simon Chan presents the reader with a challenge to see theology in a much different view than western churches do. In reading how Chan views theology, one senses a deep love of Christ and a desire for understanding just how theology can affect the church.
In describing the roots of Asian theology Chan separates what he calls Elitist theology of the west and how theology is done in the East. He does not focus so much on the actual theology as opposed to how it works out in the church itself. Franklin Woo says this about Chan, “Instead of presenting a systematic theology in Grassroots Asian Theology, Chan is only interested in showing how theology ought to be done. In short, the process of doing theology is just as important as the content; therefore his thesis is definitely “thinking the faith from the ground up.” [1] The interesting thing that Chan argues is not theology differences, i.e. virgin birth or not, but how theology plays out in the church. In chapter two he discusses the difference in divine immanence and transcendence in Western theology. He argues “Western theology took a major turn in the seventeenth century when the doctrine of divine transcendence-immanence was redefined in terms of God’s ‘distance’ in relation to the world rather than, as was the case prior to that time, a way of pointing to the mystery of God who transcends metaphysical categories. By understanding God’s relation to the world as a matter of distance, the rational mind could then ‘domesticate’ God.”[2]. He goes on to argue that because of this the thought of God being on “our” side and the theory of evolutionary progress was one of the causes of colonialism, then with the advent of the two World Wars the idea of a God at all started to waver especially a God present with us. [3] Asian Christians, on the other hand, he argues never had to concern themselves whether or not there was a God because in most of the religions there is a presupposition that there is a God. The idea then becomes the what is God’s nature[4] If one starts with the presupposition that there is something greater out there, it seems this path would be easier trod than the Western idea, now, that there is no God and everything is just an accident. Growing up hearing that everything is an accident and you have no intrinsic value other than just a bunch of molecules which happened to come together, it is a much harder road to God, but if one starts at the point of “there is a God” finding the one true God seems to be a path to freedom in Christ.
There are some criticisms of Chan’s work. For one Jesuit Ahn Q. Tran who questions his line between “elitist” and “grassroots” theologies. He points out the line between the two is not as clearly demarcated as Chan supposes. He also poses this question “c.’s claim that the “hierarchy” of church and family found in Asian cultures is more nearly biblical may pose a problem for those who support a “Western” egalitarianism of discipleship.” [5] Franklin Woo seems critical of Chan, mainly because of Chan’s background as a Pentecostal. His statement “Chan seems to take the Bible, the creeds, and doctrines of the church in all ages literally. In this manner he can be regarded as a “fundamentalist.” But most fundamentalists are also anti-intellectuals.” [6] is an elitist statement at its very core. To assume because one holds to the creeds and doctrines as literal that one does not have the capacity or knowledge to be considered intellectual is why it is hard to take so-called “intellectuals” seriously. Franklin goes on to criticize Chan because “being himself a product of Cambridge University, he is no less an elitist intellectual, like the people he critiques in this volume.” [7], again assuming that if you came from Cambridge you are an elitist intellectual. What Chan seems to be criticizing is jut the same assumptions that Franklin makes.
Enoch Charles argues “Chan’s approach has filled a void in Asian theology by giving voice to the living faith of ordinary people” [8]. This speaks from the heart where I feels is missing in the church. There are too many who want to look at God academically and I think we miss out on his full Godhood if we do not also choose to live out our faith. There is nothing wrong with an intellectual knowing of God, but without living your faith, a once vibrant faith becomes cold an callous. Chan seems to argue that the church in the third world will be the leading edge of the church in the future. This may not be a bad thing!
[1] Woo, Franklin. “Book Reviews: Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up.” China Review International, vol. 20, no. 3-4, 2013, pp. 294–296.
[2]Chan, Simon. Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground up. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014. 47.
[3] Ibid. 47-48.
[4] Ibid. 48.
[5] Tran, Anh Q. “Book Review: Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up. By Simon Chan.” Theological Studies 76, no. 2 (2015): 394-95.
[6] Woo, Franklin. “Book Reviews: Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up.” China Review International, vol. 20, no. 3-4, 2013, pp. 294–296.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Charles, Enoch. “Grassroots Asian theology: thinking the faith from the ground up.” Religious Studies Review 41, no. 1 (March 2015): 10-11. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed June 1, 2018).
About the Author
Jason Turbeville
A pastor, husband and father who loves to be around others. These are the things that describe me. I was a youth minister for 15 years but God changed the calling on my life. I love to travel and see where God takes me in my life.7 responses to “Culturally Christian”
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I liked how we you incorporated the reviews of others into this post. (I have to keep my comments brief this week)
I agree with this: “Chan seems to argue that the church in the third world will be the leading edge of the church in the future. This may not be a bad thing!”
And yet, I think there wil be a lot of resistance from the first world church, and given the fact that the first world still controls the purse strings, I wonder if we will yield to our third-world brothers and sisters or miss this opportunity for growth.
Jennifer,
If we do not I think the church is in danger of losing itself (by that I mean western Christians.)
Jason
Jason. Appreciate the walk through this book and some of the critical reviews. I do like that there seems to be a push in many theological settings to incorporate non western thoughts and approaches. This truly makes our world view broaden.
Jason-
Thanks for this post and your engagement with the critical reviews that you came across. This was a very theological post and you did well to highlight how Chan frames some of the East/West differences. It seems like it might be more of a question of which society (east or west) is more influenced by the Enlightenment. So, thank you for this!
Jason great job. Loved how much review your incorporated. each of those points made me think of the book in a new light. Also the word elitist leaves a bad taste in our mouth, but perhaps it is not 100% a bad thing. The bad part is when its so exclusive and snobby. Maybe there is a way to be a beneficial elitist? Maybe not.
The Cambridge insight was excellent. Because we will all have doctorates from Portland Seminary, does that make us all elitists as well?
Jason, I fear the Christian world is becoming congested with the amount of people that believe themselves to be “intellectuals” and yet fail to even read their bible. I had a woman at church tell someone the other day that she did not need to read the bible because she has read it all at some point in her life. That same woman seems to enjoy telling people how wrong they are in every bible study we have, and yet has no real grasp of the bible. This reading, as well as many of the reviews I read, seemed very interested in classifying others. Don’t get me wrong, there was some very helpful information to be gleaned for the global ministry outlook, however, I am still more swayed by those that desire to teach the truth of the Gospel, than those that only focus on the conflict in religious organizations. As scholars, the latter is necessary at times for education purposes; however, as ministers, it is a dangerous practice for any of us to get used to.