{"id":17933,"date":"2018-06-03T20:35:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T03:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=17933"},"modified":"2018-06-03T20:35:59","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T03:35:59","slug":"grassroots-is-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/grassroots-is-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"Grassroots is cool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grassroots Asian Theology<\/em> by Simon Chan is a fun read for me. Having lived in Japan for three years as a child, currently working in a (formerly) Chinese congregation and about to become brother-in-law to a Filipino Chi Alpha Missionary, there was a lot of common interests. I was also drawn to the concept of \u201cgrass roots\u201d theology. I supposed this is because I am, along with most everyone else, drawn to grassroots anything. The idea is that it is anti-establishment (rebel sell anyone?) and more genuine because of it\u2019s organic nature. It\u2019s easy to set up the elitist theology as the scarecrow to tear down throughout the entire book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the beginning Chan points out that things that defined Christian dialogue in the west were non-issues in many parts of Asia. In the west where seminarians prepare for for years and learn apologetics show up only to teach a crowd more that is interested without apologetics and but needing other complexities explained. This is such an unfortunate oversight that so many Christians and missionaries have fallen guilty of. We dive in to fix them by trying to fix what was broken in us, and think of them as hard hearted when they are not interested. This is where the heart of a missionary is so crucial. One who enters in and lays down his own ethnocentrisms to see the real needs and hang-ups of a people. Reading this book makes me grateful for the hundreds of years of missionary work that has come before us to help teach us the appropriate how\u2019s. I also think, where am I pushing my own \u201clet me fix the problem before I listen\u201d type of attitude to those within my community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chan\u2019s section on \u201cGod in Chinese contexts\u201d was particularly intriguing to me. The amount that Confucianism has grown into the way of life of the Chinese is staggering. I did not know it had started as a \u201ctranscendent\u201d religion, only to be so systematized and legalized that it simply became codes of conduct general wisdom for life. Chan brings up an insight from Tu Wei-Ming who said, \u201cThat is to say, if Confucian ethics is to be taken seriously, it has to have some \u201creligious\u201d basis. For Tu, then, \u201cthe Confucian way of being religious [is] ultimate self-transformation as a communal act and as a faithful dialogical response to the transcendent.\u201d[1]<\/a> Brilliant. If Confucianism should<\/em> be followed, there has to be a something greater just us. And if there isn\u2019t than there is nothing greater to Confucianism than any other set of laws and principles that any other group of humans have concocted before.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another portion of Chan\u2019s book that stretched my thinking is his section explaining the difficulty with the trinity. Of course, when it comes to the trinity, there is always difficulty. Many embrace this difficulty as mystery and proceed forward with their faith. While others, this idea can be a real stumbling block to then. Chan\u2019s point that Hindu\u2019s find it easier to believe because of the trinity, while Muslims get hung up on here was a very enlightening thought. For the Chinese though, and the Confucius\u2019s, and the Asian culture where family is so paramount, the idea of the trinity as family has been very helpful in explaining the belief. And yet to explain that further gives further difficulty because is there hierarchy within the family, and if there is, how is that possible? Ironically I feel like the peculiarities of this doctrine fall quickly under elitism, which is what Chan is trying to deconstruct. But with the trinity, we can go round and round for hours and yet all will admit it has to be a mystery. We spin our wheels to find a superior model, but still a partial one. But I suppose, \u201clook its 3 in 1 and 1 in 3, so just go with it\u201d is not very persuasive or honoring. Chan does bring a strong answer that would satisfy the Asian read though,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut as we have seen in the Korean theologian Lee Young Jung, the human hierarchy is patterned after the \u201cfunctional hierarchy in the Trinity.\u201d This view comes much closer to the traditional Catholic and Orthodox doctrine of the monarchy of the Father, which understands the Father as the one \u201cwithout origin\u201d and the \u201csole principle\u201d (mon\u0113 arch\u0113) by whom the Son is generated and from whom the Spirit proceeds.67 The Father\u2019s generation of the Son and spiration of the Spirit imply personal distinction and order, yet the relationship can also be described as mutually dependent. Just as the Son and the Spirit depend on the Father for their origin, the Father is dependent on the Son to reveal his Fatherhood and lordship and on the Spirit\u2019s glorifying the Father and the Son to reveal his deity.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think our trip to Hong Kong might still be my most \u201cforeign\u201d trip yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/u><\/p>\n

Chan, Simon.\u00a0Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground up<\/em>. IVP Academic, 2014.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Simon Chan,\u00a0Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground up<\/em>\u00a0(IVP Academic, 2014), 57.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Simon Chan,\u00a0Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground up<\/em>\u00a0(IVP Academic, 2014), 57.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grassroots Asian Theology by Simon Chan is a fun read for me. Having lived in Japan for three years as a child, currently working in a (formerly) Chinese congregation and about to become brother-in-law to a Filipino Chi Alpha Missionary, there was a lot of common interests. I was also drawn to the concept of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"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":[634,1288,1017],"class_list":["post-17933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chan","tag-grassroots-asian-theology","tag-lgp8","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17933","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\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17934,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17933\/revisions\/17934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}