{"id":17918,"date":"2018-06-01T18:45:37","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T01:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=17918"},"modified":"2018-06-01T18:46:31","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T01:46:31","slug":"multiple-perspectives-same-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/multiple-perspectives-same-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiple Perspectives, Same Spirit."},"content":{"rendered":"

Grassroots Asian Theology<\/em> by Simon Chan may take on the assumption of a basic approach to faith in Asia until opening the text. Chan approaches the content from an academic perspective, and while he lays a strong foundation for the differences between Asian Christianity and other parts of the world, it is technically and theologically connected to its elite opponents more than its grassroots members. Looking at God, Jesus and spirituality of Asian theology from below rather than above, Chan disqualifies the egalitarian nature of Christianity in the West. Chan is uninterested in elitist theology as it does not relate to the daily experience of Asian culture.<\/p>\n

Contextually relating to Jackie Pullinger\u2019s experiential writings of the work of the Spirit and the Pentecostal nature of Christianity in Asian culture, Chan extends her work into the theological realm, citing the ground up approach to spirituality not only in Hong Kong but throughout Asia. Time and again, Chan highlights the perspective of the poor in Asian culture, as Pullinger does, as not primarily interested in liberation but embodiment of the spiritual life of Christianity, namely the Pentecostal practice of Christian spirituality.<\/p>\n

Henry Rowold observes, \u201cChan structures his book around five major theological loci: God, Humanity and Sin, Christ and Salvation, Holy Spirit and Spirituality, and Church. He introduces each topic, illustrates how representative \u201celitist\u201d or traditional theologians approach each theme, and describes how the various theological affirmations are refracted by the life and theology of grassroots Christians from varying Asian contexts.\u201d[1]<\/a> Chan critiques the largely elitist version of theology widely known throughout Asian culture as removed from the people practicing the faith. While able to converse with the elitists his criticism is focused on their methodological approach to theology. Chan cites, \u201cThe task of the professional theologian is not to tell the church what is good for it but to listen carefully [to] what the Spirit of truth who indwells the church is saying through the people of God.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

While attempting to listen to the Spirit of truth, Chan is critiqued by others in his perspective on hierarchy in Asian culture. Anh Tran recognizes the effect of the West on Asian culture and the possibility for opposition stating, \u201cChan\u2019s claim that the \u201chierarchy\u201d of church and family found in Asian cultures is more nearly biblical may pose a problem for those who support a \u201cWestern\u201d egalitarianism of discipleship.\u201d[3]<\/a> On the other hand, Tran commends Chan\u2019s fresh perspective on Asian Christianity, highlighting the experience of Asian people and their \u201ccontribution to the global church.\u201d \u00a0As Tran puts it, Chan\u2019s writing is ecumenical in scope and can be used as a starting place for bringing together evangelical concerns with the broader Catholic, Orthodox, and mainline Protestant traditions.\u201d[4]<\/a> This is helpful when considering the church as catholic in nature and with the need to seek unity even within diverse contexts. Chan\u2019s ecumenical approach, while heady, offers points of intersection and flavoring that are not readily recognized in the broader traditions of the church, namely Pentecostalism in Asia and its relation to Pentecostalism worldwide.<\/p>\n

It seems there are two variant groups in Asian culture with a tension between them, just as in American culture. The elitist theology that tends toward Western perspectives on theological formation and practice and grassroots and even folk theologies that remain more closely tied to Asian culture.<\/p>\n

Is the West so dissimilar in its split between the elites and the grassroots? From the Catholic and mainline protestant traditions to the nondenominational evangelicals, there are many versions and experiences of Christianity. While some focus on the justice of God and others on the embodiment of God in life, they often speak the same words while meaning very different things.<\/p>\n

While living in Southern California I had the experience of living in one theological culture in the church and clashing regularly with another pastor on my team. Both Free Methodist, both seminary trained, both on staff at the same community, we would use the same words but have completely different meanings for them. We realized this as we would begin to practice our theology. I would go out into the neighborhood to be a witness for Christ while he would study often and considered his witness through his experience of pastoring from the presence of the building and congregation meeting in the neighborhood. Over time, we realized our seminary experiences, one of a United Methodist cultural theology and the other of an evangelical Wesleyan theological trajectory, led us to the same long-term conclusions while forcing us to spend much more time in dialogue and defining our terms to understand one another throughout the process of our ministry. Could this have been remedied? Possibly. However, in the end we both knew it was better to partner from afar, giving one another the space and grace to fully live out our ministry language and philosophy as we embodied it.<\/p>\n

As much as Chan is recommending a grassroots theology of Asian culture, there are equal possibilities that the realities of the elitist theologies have much to offer to the roots while also learning from the grounded perspective of even the folk theology of Asia. They don\u2019t have to work in the same spaces, fully agree or even adapt to one another, but humbling themselves to listen and learn is something that transcends all cultures and fits in perfect alignment with Christ.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Rowold, Henry (2015) “Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up. By Simon Chan,” Concordia Journal: Vol. 41: No. 1, Article 22.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Chan, Simon. Grassroots Asian Theology.<\/em> Downers Grove: Il, IVP Academic, 2014, 30.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Tran, Anh Q (2015) “Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up. By Simon Chan,” Theological Studies Journal: Vol 76: No. 2, 394.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Tran, 395.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grassroots Asian Theology by Simon Chan may take on the assumption of a basic approach to faith in Asia until opening the text. Chan approaches the content from an academic perspective, and while he lays a strong foundation for the differences between Asian Christianity and other parts of the world, it is technically and theologically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-17918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-simon-chan","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17918"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17920,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918\/revisions\/17920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}