INCREDIBLE INDIA – the Journey Begins… People from India understand the challenges of a religiously pluralistic society. Most of the world’s “Great Faiths” were spawned in India, my motherland. Hinduism, the oldest of the living faiths, thrives with branches worldwide and manifests itself in the New Age Movement – the fastest growing eclectic “religion” in…
Category: advance
EDITORIAL: Pluralism and Mission
The message of the church cannot be changed, but the message must be preached in a way people can best understand and accept. At the Asian Society of Missiology Forum held in Bali, Indonesia, we talked about Christian mission in religious pluralist society. The ASM Forum was a productive and profitable gathering of missiologists from…
REPORT ON THE 5TH TRIENNIAL ASM ACADEMIC FORUM
The Asian Society of Missiology exists to serve churches in Asia, helping them to become dynamic missional churches through research, publication, consultation and education. In the past, ASM had four missiological forums in Bangkok, Semarang, and Seoul. In each forum, the prominent missiologists and scholars participated both from the West and the East. These were…
THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL IN SOUTH KOREA: How to Cope with a Changing Religious Geography
The progress of Protestant Christianity in South Korea has been dramatic during the 20th century. While the Protestant Christianity as an imported faith and practice among Korean believers, has become a familiar phenomenon in the life of the South Korean people. However, South Korea is a land that still needs evangelistic and missionary outreaches. Being…
CONVERSION AND PUBLIC CONVERSATION IN ASIA Christian Witness in Pluralistic Society: A Reflection from the Islamization of the Indonesian Public Life
The Latest controversies over the alleged defamation of the Quran by a Chinese born-again Christian Governor of Jakarta, Mr. Basuki Tjahaya Purnama/Ahok (now jailed since 2017 for 2 years), have to do with the growing intolerance toward minority in Indonesian society. For some Christians, this sentiment have made them hesitant and cautious to manifest their…
CHRISTIAN MISSION IN RELIGIOUS PLURALISTIC SOCIETY: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MALAYSIA
INTRODUCTION I am a Malaysian. I live in a religiously pluralistic society. To give round figures on the current religious constituency of the country, approximately 60 percent of the population of Malaysia are Muslims, 20 percent are Buddhists, nine percent are Christians, six percent are Hindus and another two percent are Taoists plus a few…
EDITORIAL: With God All Things Are Possible
Timothy K. Park Our God is a missionary God. He does not leave us alone. He actively works with us. When God calls us for His kingdom ministry, He provides us necessary gifts. If God looks big to us, the world will look small; if you look at the world as big, God will look…
SOCIAL CONFLICT AND IDENTITY CRISIS IN A UNIFIED KOREA
INTRODUCTION Unification is a ‘clashing’ of different social entities. It is a shocking process that two heterogenic states should be accustomed to the abruptly changed environment. It will also be a tough process that a socially accustomed entity meets with entirely different human community, so that it leads to much conflict in the realms of…
THE STRUGGLES OF JAPANESE CHRISTIANS TO PRACTICE THEIR FAITH (1549-1945)
This paper discusses the impact of Japanese international and domestic politics on the Japanese government’s attitude towards Japanese Christians until the end of the Second World War. It reflects on the Japanese government’s reaction to the West’s politics and its effects on Japanese Christians. Since the arrival of Christianity in 1549 until the end of…
A MISSIOLOGY OF PHILIPPINE ROMAN CATHOLICISM ON OVERCOMING NOMINAL CHRISTIANITY
This article approaches the issue of nominal Christianity (in short, nominalism) as a challenge faced by the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) since Vatican II (1965), particularly in the Philippines. We will show that it is possible to overcome the common failure of almost all Christendom churches in overcoming the static maintenance religiosity of church structures…