{"title":"Deborah and Female Leadership in the Context of Deuteronomistic Theology","authors":"Charlotte Jia Lerd Ng","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i2.43","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i2.43","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000Why did God place Deborah, who was a woman, in a leadership position in ancient patriarchal Israel? The biblical record of Deborah’s account had puzzled readers throughout centuries as it reflected an unconventional gender role. This study will show that Deborah was presented as an ideal leader according to Deuteronomistic theology. She was an agent used by Yahweh to fulfill five Deuteronomistic theological themes (DtrTh), showing that Deborah was a fitting judge and prophetess in ancient patriarchal Israel.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129257319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Protestant Social Theological Thinking in Indonesia during the Era of Soeharto’s New Order","authors":"Julianus Mojau","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i2.38","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i2.38","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000This article aims to discover and outline the social-theological thought of Protestant Christians during Soeharto’s New Order era. According to the findings of this study, Indonesian Protestants’ social-theological thinking developed into three paradigmatic types over thirty years (1967/68-1998). First, there is the paradigm of modernism, which is in line with Soeharto’s New Order agenda of political modernization and holds that the gospel of the kingdom of God could be consistent with the goals of Indonesia’s modernization agenda, which was seen as an implementation of the Pancasila’s ideology. Second, the type of liberation-related theological thinking that holds that the gospel of the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth is a liberating power that frees real people from the political hegemony of Indonesia’s modernization agenda. Third, pluralist theological thinking holds that Christianity is not the exclusive agent of God’s liberating work in the context of Indonesia’s pluralistic culture.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122313845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Theology of the Crown of Thorns for the Outcast and Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh in Second Corinthians 12:7","authors":"Kei Hiramatsu","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.28","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.28","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000Do liberation hermeneutics and traditional historical-grammatical hermeneutics intersect in their reading of the text? In this article, I have chosen Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Cor 12:7-10 as a test case to examine how a particular reading of liberation theology from Asian liberation theologian Teruo Kuribayashi intersects with the traditional exegesis. Thus, I will first describe Kuribayashi’s theology of the crown of thorns and then I will evaluate his interpretation in light of a careful exegesis of Paul’s symbolic use of the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians. The purpose of the article is to appreciate the hermeneutical heritages of both the Western and the non-Western traditions and to call for a holistic interpretation of the biblical text. Incidentally, this article asks whether the source of our interpretation comes from the biblical text, the reality of interpreters, or both.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123732533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hermeneutic of Cultural Differentiation and Accommodation: A Biblical Paradigm of Inculturation for the Indian Church","authors":"Manoja Kumar Korada","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.27","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.27","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000The relationship between Christian faith and culture continues to generate discussion. This issue is perennially relevant to the Indian church as it exists in a multicultural context. How should the Indian church practice its faith in a given culture? To what extent can its faith be enculturated? This article proposes a biblical hermeneutic of cultural accommodation and differentiation as a model for the Indian church. It examines the culture/customs of the patriarchs in the book of Genesis as a test case and argues that the narrator’s hermeneutic promotes the integration of culture with faith so long as both converge under the primacy of the latter.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"22 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113968419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Christianity in East and Southeast Asia","authors":"A. Peh","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.33","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.33","url":null,"abstract":"This book was published just as a pandemic was fanning out from Asia to the rest of the world in the early part of 2020. Asia seemed to the locus of global attention as the effects of the pandemic rippled across the globe. Interestingly, this part of the world is undoubtedly one of the geopolitical centers of the “clash of civilisations,” where the rise of China has become the catalyst for the possible escalations of economic, political, and theological changes in this decade.","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127239821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why Interfaith Dialogue is Necessary but Dangerous: Raimon Panikkar’s Cosmotheandric Vision as a Case in Point","authors":"S. Kuek","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.26","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000With postcolonial sensibilities, increasing globalization, and intensifying worldwide religiosity, interfaith dialogue has become more important than ever. However, this imperative for dialogue inherently presents perils that the different approaches to dialogue hope to mitigate. The exclusivist approach seeks to assuage the danger of eroding one’s faith system, while the pluralist position seeks to allay the fear of one’s faith system unjustly dominating another. The inclusive approach, in mediating between the two seeming extremes, attempts to validate the dignity of various truth claims without pandering either to extreme rejection or to pedantic assimilation. Raimon Panikkar’s cosmotheandric pluralism, being a case in point, provokes both admiration, because of its creative synthesis, and alarm, because its consequential outcome could potentially be an unrecognizable mutation of the original worldviews it seeks to represent. The inevitable result of such endeavors is the erosion of classical theological categories.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"92 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116511636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Christianity in the Modern World: A Study of Religion in a Pluralistic Society","authors":"S. Kuek","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.23","url":null,"abstract":"The modern world finds itself pervaded by the phenomenon of pluralism, which presents itself in many different embodiments. The thesis of this book is that the plethora of religious and ideological claims present in global society necessitates that dialogue takes place among the various stakeholders in order to emerge with a set of ethics shared globally for the purpose of mutual responsibility. To that end, dialogue aims to facilitate a peaceable co-existence between monotheistic and polytheistic religions, various ideologies and cultures, and religious and secular spheres of society, all of which have the potential to contribute to this global conversation and endeavour. In the final analysis, pluralism is no longer to be construed as an epistemological dilemma, but rather, an agent for the preservation and sustenance of the human societal order.","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121539145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bishop John Leonard Wilson (Singapore 1941-1949): Koinonia in Suffering","authors":"Sue Ann Mak","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.20","url":null,"abstract":"Despite a century of ecumenical efforts among Protestant churches, real koinonia remains as elusive as ever. This article introduces John Leonard Wilson, one of the early contributors to the formation of Trinity College (known today as Trinity Theological College) in Singapore, to emphasize his ecumenical spirit that continues to be a key characteristic of the college. Leonard Wilson’s war time experiences in Singapore and its aftermath as well as those of TTC’s co-founders, show koinonia working at a much deeper level beyond the loose associations, large gatherings and joint declarations commonly seen in modern ecumenical movements. Wilson’s imprisonment and torture experiences during the war, his wider contributions before and after the war, and his devotion to church unity continue directly and indirectly to influence the Singapore church’s larger story. Wilson’s almost-fanatical commitment to and practice of koinonia in the midst of harsh circumstances has demonstrated that real koinonia is possible, but it comes with a heavy price.","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"140 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129651366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hong Kong Protestant Theologies in the 1980s and 1990s Responding to the Handover of Hong Kong to China","authors":"Hongbo Wong","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v36i1.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v36i1.25","url":null,"abstract":"By closely studying primary theological works in Hong Kong during the 1980s and 1990s, this article argues that a uniquely local Hong Kong theology emerged during that period. This local theology developed in response to an unprecedented fear and an ambiguously hybrid identity in face of the imminent transition from British colonial rule to the Communist Chinese administration. Moreover, it was stamped by three distinct marks: first, the negotiation between two competing theological visions, the “prophetic” and the “priestly” voices; second, the shadow of liberation theology and its Asian progeny; and third, the seeds of postcolonial theory, which commanded increasing influence toward the turn of the century.","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131010797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparative Reading as an interfaith dialogue: Reincarnation in the Bhagavad Gita and Resurrection in Thomistic Theology","authors":"David Muthukumar Sivasubramanian","doi":"10.54424/ajt.v35i2.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54424/ajt.v35i2.11","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 \u0000 \u0000In a context such as India, religious differences are the focal point of almost every sociopolitical interaction amid growing religious intolerance. This article proposes comparative theology as a viable approach because it takes religious diversity seriously and accords due respect to other religious texts and practices. But while seeking knowledge that bridges religious boundaries, one may confront the possibility of confronting “logically inassimilable” differences in the form of conflicting truth claims. This article will argue that by using apologetics as a truth-seeking endeavor we can constructively approach such instances of cognitive dissonance. For this purpose, a comparative study of reincarnation from the Bhagavad Gita and the resurrection from Thomistic theology will be used as a case study. \u0000 \u0000 \u0000","PeriodicalId":262921,"journal":{"name":"Asia Journal Theology","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115492475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}