Asian Christianity and Theology

Inculturation, Interreligious Dialogue, Integral Liberation

Edmund Kee-Fook Chia

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367340810
• eBook ISBN: 9781000425048
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Politics

This book provides a comprehensive exploration of Asian Christianity and Theology, with emphasis on how it has developed in different parts of the continent and in the different eras, especially since the end of colonialism in Asia.

Asian Theology refers to a unique way of theological reflection characterized by specific methodologies that evolved in postcolonial Asia. Premised on the thinking of Asian Church leaders and scholars, its focus is on the dialogue with the many cultures (inculturation), many religions (interreligious dialogue), and many poor (integral liberation) of Asia. The book looks at each of these ministries in detail, foregrounding Asian biblical hermeneutics, Christianity's engagement with Hinduism, Confucianism, and Islam, Asian Women's Theology, and the rise of Pentecostalism.

The volume is valuable reading for scholars of religious studies, theology, world Christianity, Asian religions, and Asian studies.

1 Asian culture and religions

Introduction

Asia is host to a number of ancient and robust civilizations. It is unique in that practically all the world’s living religious traditions have their roots in the continent. They hail from three distinct geographical regions, namely, West Asia (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism), South Asia (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism), and East Asia (e.g., Daoism, Confucianism, Shintoism). From there they spread to various parts of the continent and to the rest of the world at different rates, in different eras, and through different circumstances, but mainly in the context of travel along the ancient network of trade routes. This gave rise to the religion-with-trade tradition, meaning those who resided along the trade routes were more likely to switch religions as they had more opportunities for coming into contact with foreign missionaries. Asia remains the most religious continent in the world today.¹

This chapter presents an overview of the culture and religions of the peoples of Asia. It begins by defining the three Asian regions of South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, offering a bird’s-eye view of the socio-political history that shaped each. Specifically, it lays out the origins and development of the various Asian religions and the factors leading to their spread throughout the continent. The chapter then examines the characteristics unique to Asian culture and how its understanding of spirituality differs from that of the West, concluding that even as religion is appreciated differently across cultures there is no denying that Asians are generally very religious people.

South Asia

South Asia is the region consisting of the Indic subcontinent, centered on the Indus Valley civilization, and includes countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Colonized by the Portuguese beginning in the late fifteenth century, followed by the Dutch and then the British, the Indian subcontinent finally gained its independence in 1947. The perseverance and struggles of the Hindu nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi and his methodology of non-violent civil disobedience played a crucial role in the local independence movement of this region.

With independence in 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into the two countries of India and Pakistan (located north of the subcontinent), with a Hindu-majority population in the former and a Muslim majority in the latter. The eastern region of Pakistan—which is separated from the western region by India—broke away in 1971 to form Bangladesh. Though Sri Lanka (an island in the south) has a history closely related to that of the Indian subcontinent, it developed on its own and was granted independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948, remaining with the British Commonwealth until 1971, when it was renamed the Republic of Sri Lanka. Nepal (located north of India) was never colonized but formed an alliance with the British Empire and served as a buffer between Imperial China and British India.² While culturally sharing a lot in common, each of these states had to negotiate the task of nation building in the postcolonial era, taking into account not only the socio-political situations of their own nations but also the religio-cultural investments of their citizens. Hindus constitute the majority of the population in India (80 percent) and Nepal (90 percent), Buddhists make up the majority in Sri Lanka (70 percent), and Muslims predominate in Pakistan (96 percent) and Bangladesh (90 percent).

South Asian religions

While each nation is shaped by its own religio-cultural heritage, the entire South Asian region was greatly shaped by the Dharmic religio-cultural tradition—which has Hinduism as its base—and the related traditions that grew out of it, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. All these religions share some basic core beliefs—such as the doctrines of karma, moksha, and reincarnation—as well as worship and ritual practices, as they have a common origin and history, on top of mutual and interpenetrating influences. The most significant Dharmic influence on the region is the caste system, which determines a person’s social status on the basis of birth, serving even as the principle of classification by occupation. The teachings of the Vedic Scriptures have also greatly influenced the family, structures of society, religious behaviors, morality, and a host of other areas of life.

Hinduism

Hinduism is a religion that is not associated with any particular founder, body of scriptures, or set of philosophies or beliefs.³ It is more a synthesis of the many different cultural traditions of the Indic subcontinent, some of which date to the second millennium BCE or possibly earlier. In particular, the belief systems and ritual practices of the Indus Valley civilization greatly shaped the Hindu tradition. One example is the Vedic Scriptures, which gave rise to the Vedic religion that was adopted and spread by the Indo-Aryans as they conquered the subcontinent. The ritualism of the Vedic religion associated with the priestly caste-led Brahmanism, as well as the social stratification of the Aryans that served as basis for the caste system, played a major influence in the evolution of the Hindu tradition.

Hinduism developed as a distinct tradition around the fourth century BCE, in part as a response to breakaway movements such as Buddhism and Jainism. It was also very much the fruit of interaction between the faith of the Indo-Aryans and the beliefs and practices of the local Dravidian cultures as the former colonized the latter in the Gangetic Valley. With time, practically the whole of the subcontinent was colonized, except perhaps for the wild hill tribal lands. Today, though Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, with more than 1.1 billion followers, India and Nepal are the only two countries with a predominantly Hindu population. While proportionally small in Bangladesh, its absolute number is substantial given the country’s huge population. Outside of South Asia, Hindus constitute the majority only on the island of Bali in Indonesia and are minority religious communities in several other Southeast Asian countries made up mainly of diaspora Indians. Almost 99 percent of the world’s Hindus live in Asia; the rest are primarily Indian emigrants living on other continents.

Buddhism

Buddhism arose in the sixth century BCE, in part as a reaction to the stringent ritual practices and sacrificial offerings of the priestly centered Brahmanism tradition. It is thus regarded as a reform movement, led by Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who was himself not of the priestly caste but rather the warrior Kshatriya caste. Gautama renounced his princely status, gave up his ostentatious lifestyle, and went on a quest for the truth that would end the cycle of birth and rebirth, as well as the suffering of humankind. He began his search by studying under Vedic teachers, switched to asceticism, and finally turned to the practice of intense meditation. He discovered the truth about karma and taught the Middle Way of the Noble Eightfold Path between the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification. As an enlightened being or awakened one, he was then called the Buddha.⁴

Following the death of the Buddha, the sangha (Buddhist community) slowly spread from the Indian subcontinent and developed into numerous different schools of thought, the main ones being the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions. Buddhism spread more rapidly in the third century BCE during the reign of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (273–232 BCE), who commissioned missionaries to various countries for the purpose of spreading the dharma (Buddhist teachings). They traveled as far south as Sri Lanka and as far west as the Greek kingdoms, and possibly even farther, to the Mediterranean. Centuries later, Buddhism saw a decline in India, in part because of competition from Hinduism, which in a way co-opted Buddhism by adopting some of its principles, effectively turning the Buddha into yet another Hindu deity. Buddhism caught on in Sri Lanka and developed steadily over the centuries, and the country has become a leading center for Theravada Buddhism today. Vajrayana Buddhism developed in Northern India, quickly spreading to Tibet, Bhutan, and parts of East Asia, where it became integral to society. Mahayana Buddhism also spread, especially to East and Southeast Asia, adapting itself efficiently to the local cultural beliefs and practices and developing into various denominations such as Chan or Zen Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism. There are about 500 million Buddhists in the world today, the majority living in China and in other East Asian countries, such as Japan and Korea, and Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Myanmar.

Jainism

Like Buddhism, Jainism is also regarded as a reform movement against Brahmanism and was born at around the same time in the sixth or fifth century BCE. It is often associated with Mahavira, although Jains regard their religion as eternal and not founded by any particular individual. Tradition has it that Ashoka’s grandfather, who founded the Mauryan Empire, was himself a Jain monk. In subsequent centuries, the development of Jainism depended greatly on royal patronage. The community faced severe persecution with the Muslim conquest of India beginning in the twelfth century.⁵

Jainism is emphatic about the practice of asceticism and has ahimsa (non-violence)—including not killing any living being—as a core principle of the religion. The other two core principles are non-absolutism and non-attachment. These principles have shaped the way Jains live, including adopting a predominantly vegetarian lifestyle and avoiding occupations that are connected with harm to any beings, including animals. Thus, one finds them mainly in the trade and financial sectors, accounting for why the community has some of the wealthiest people in India. There are about 7 million Jains in the world today, the majority living in India.

Islam

Islam had its origins in the Arab peninsula at the beginning of the seventh century, with the Prophet Muhammad receiving divine revelation. Muslims believe that Islam is the religion of Allah, going back to the prophets of Israel, including Jesus, David, Moses, Abraham, and Adam.⁶ The principal message of Islam, as taught in the Holy Qur’an, is to return to the worship of Allah, the one and only God, and submission to the will of Allah. It is emphatically monotheistic and considers shirk as an unforgivable sin or even a crime of the worship or association of anything or anyone with Allah. Polytheism therefore is strictly forbidden by Islam.

As early as the eighth century, Muslim Arab traders had established a presence on the southern coasts of India, some of whom intermarried with the local population who converted to Islam. As Islam expanded, it slowly came to rule over the Indian subcontinent, and by the twelfth century, the Bengal region saw many locals converting to the tradition. It reached its peak with the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century, when many in the region of Kashmir became Muslims. By the early twentieth century, the Muslim population in certain regions in Northern India was so significant that the British divided them administratively. In the country’s elections after World War II, the All-India Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, campaigned for a separate Muslim state and won over most of the Muslim-majority seats in Bengal and Punjab. The British subsequently allowed the partition into India and Pakistan. Today, Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia, after Hinduism. Its 600 million adherents represent one-third of all Muslims in the world and is almost twice as large as the Muslim population in the Middle East.

Sikhism

Sikhism is one of the younger religions of the world, originating in the Punjab region of Northern India only in the fifteenth century. It is sometimes looked upon as having incorporated the ideals of Hinduism and Islam, as its teachings embrace the radical monotheism of Islam and re...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Asian culture and religions
• 2 History of Christianity in Asia
• 3 Asian theological methodologies
• 4 Asian theology of inculturation
• 5 Asian theology of interreligious dialogue
• 6 Asian theology of integral liberation
• 7 Asian biblical hermeneutics
• 8 Christianity engages the Asian religions
• 9 Asian Women’s Theology
• 10 Pentecostalism in Asia
• Index