God's mission in Asia: A comparative and contextual study of this-worldy holiness and the theology of missio dei in M. M. Thomas and C. S. Song.

摘要

Ecumenism in postwar Asia institutionalized in the Christian Conference of Asia displayed a remarkable this-worldliness from its inception in the 1940s. This tendency was in contrast to the tension between the Church-centric and world-centric approaches to Christian mission which marked conciliar mission thinking in the West. This dissertation examines the development of such this-worldly holiness in Asian ecumenism, focusing on M. M. Thomas of India and C. S. Song from Taiwan.; In the study, special attention is drawn to the idea of "God's this-worldly presence" that considers God as redemptively at work in world history apart from the Church. In modern Western mission thinking, this view was explicitly expressed in the 1960s with the world-centric missio Dei concept. In Asia, the idea emerged much earlier while some Christian leaders were searching for a theological basis for Christian participation in the Asian revolution. The idea was, subsequently, expressed repeatedly on various ecumenical occasions and helped Asian Christians relate their faith to the cultural and social milieu of modernizing Asia.; The dissertation first compares the development of this-worldly holiness in the West and Asia (Chapters Two and Three) mid then examines the thinking of Thomas and Song. The chapters on Thomas (Chapter Four) and Song (Chapter Five) each begin with a sketch of the theologian's background, discuss the basic concerns motivating his intellectual search, and examine his responses to the questions arising from thew concerns. These chapters primarily attempt to clarify the two theologians' understanding of the relationship between God and the world. In so doing, the study highlights the significance of the idea of God's this-worldly presence shared by Thomas and Song in spite of the difference in their backgrounds, approaches, and theological formulations.; Having compared Thomas and Song, the study concludes that the idea of God's this-worldly presence became central to Asian ecumenism because it offered a common unifying vision to Asian Christians who come from a region characterized by tremendous diversity. The idea helped them to see the diverse peoples, cultures, and religions in Asia under one God who transcends the a under one God who transcends the diversity and yet never dismisses it quickly.