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Public Theology in an Age of World Christianity Public Theology in an Age of World Christianity 9780230102682_01_previii.indd i 2/11/2010 11:31:56 AM This page intentionally left blank Public Theology in an Age of World Christianity God’s Mission as Word-Event Paul S. Chung 9780230102682_01_previii.indd iii 2/11/2010 11:31:57 AM PUBLIC THEOLOGY IN AN AGE OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY Copyright © Paul S. Chung, 2010. All rights reserved. First published in 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–0–230–10268–2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chung, Paul S., 1958– Public theology in an age of world Christianity : God's mission as word-event / Paul S. Chung. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–230–10268–2 (alk. paper) 1. Missions—Theory. I. Title. BV2063.C495 2010 266.001—dc22 2009039957 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: April 2010 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. 9780230102682_01_previii.indd iv 2/11/2010 11:31:57 AM CONTENTS Preface vii Introduction: God’s Mission as Word-Event in the Public Sphere and World Christianity 1 1 Mapping God’s Mission in an Age of World Christianity 11 2 Seeking God’s Mission as Word-Event in a Wider Horizon 37 3 A Theology of Word-Event and Reformation 77 4 Reconstructing God’s Narrative as Mission in a Hermeneutical-Intercultural Configuration 127 5 Hermeneutic of God’s Narrative and Confucian Theory of Interpretation 165 6 Intercultural Theology as a Prophetic Mission of God’s Narrative 187 Conclusion 233 Notes 241 Bibliography 259 Index 267 9780230102682_01_previii.indd v 2/11/2010 11:31:57 AM This page intentionally left blank PREFACE Christian community is located within civil society. Issues of the public sphere affect and shape congregational life and mission. Congregational life and mission are characterized in terms of God’s narrative through justifying grace and church’s gratitude toward public discipleship. The church is a witness to the universality of God’s narrative for all. This per- spective marks the church as the community of communion, fellowship, mission, and diakonia. The public sphere has become more and more multicultural and multi- religious. This is a challenge for and renewal of the Christian community. Now the truth claims of non-Christian religions and the full humanity of people of other cultures and religions become public issues. How do we understand Christian mission and evangelization in this complicated con- text? To what extent does the church engage and learn from the life world of non-Christian religions? What contribution can a Christian theology of mission make to the public sphere as the church struggles with these issues: solidarity and justice for the full humanity of those on the margin, recognition of religious outsiders, and engagement with emancipation from the socio-political system colonizing our life world? In the study of God’s narrative as mission of word-event in an age of World Christianity, I will begin to rearticulate and reinterpret a Christian concept of God’s mission and evangelization in light of the universal, irregular, and transversal horizon of God’s narrative as it pertains to the realities of public sphere. My basic conviction is that mission serves the Word of God which is revealed in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit for all. It is salient to develop a theology of Trinitarian mission through the perspective of God’s living word event in a hermeneutical, intercultural fashion. Here, a Trinitarian concept of missio Dei is deepened and refurbished in light of God as the subject of speaking through Israel, the church, and the face of innocent victims and religious outsiders. This perspective contextualizes and widens the mission of God’s narrative and deepens its universality in light of word-event―viva vox evangelii. Seen in this light, God is the one who speaks, weaving and narrating God’s salvific story and drama in covenant with Israel along with church, humanity, and the world. A hermeneutical reflection on the relationship between ecclesial discourse and extra-biblical narratives (in light of the 9780230102682_01_previii.indd vii 2/11/2010 11:31:58 AM viii Preface dynamism of God’s saying) becomes the driving force to reframe God’s mission as word-event and evangelization in an age of global Christianity. This project explores God’s narrative in the public sphere, dealing with a constructive proposal of a missiology in an analogical, discursive, and intercultural framework. A hermeneutical missiology of word event in connection with public theology deals with evangelization, church’s pub- lic discipleship, economic justice, ecological sustainability, an interreli- gious witness, and intercultural exchange. This book aims to emphasize important aspects of God’s narrative in the public sphere by conceptual- izing and developing a missiology of word-event in prophetic and dia- conal fashion. It undergirds intercultural, interpretative engagement with narrative of God’s grace of justification and reconciliation for the world. A missiology of word-event renders the aspects of God’s narrative more amenable and transculturally relevant to the reality of global Christianity. This spectrum is underscored for the sake of the church that transforma- tively acknowledges religious outsiders and advocates for those who are marginalized and voiceless in the public sphere. Special thanks are extended to my colleagues, friends, and students at Luther Seminary for their valued feedback, comments, and improvement on this project of a theology of Trinitarian Mission of Word-Event from a hermeneutical-intercultural perspective. I would also like to thank the following for giving permission in using selected texts: from the work of Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, ed. Timothy F. Lull, with per- mission from Fortress press, 1989; from the work of Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, I/1, II/2, IV/3.1. eds. Geoffrey W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance, first paperback edition, 2004, with permission from T & T Clark and the Continuum International Publishing Group; from the work of The Poem of Ruan Ji, trans. Wu Fusheng and Graham Hartill, with permission from Zhonghua Book Company, 2006; from the work of Bonhoeffer’s poem, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison, with permission from Macmillan, 1972; from the work of a Buddhist poem, Paul William, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, with permission from Routledge, 1989. The Bible quotations and references are based on the New Revised Standard Version. 2010 New Year St. Paul, MN 9780230102682_01_previii.indd viii 2/11/2010 11:31:58 AM Introduction: God’s Mission as Word-Event in the Public Sphere and World Christianity Christian theology is a critical hermeneutical science of the Word of God that becomes a discipline in service of Christian faith and the proclama- tion of the living Word of God. Insofar as theology is a question about the God who speaks through the Scripture and in the church, there is a hermeneutical circle between theology and the ecclesial sphere. Theology arises from the practice of the church and constitutes its practical-missional needs. Christian theology, based on the Word of God and sacraments of ecclesial life, brings a universal message of the gospel and a special life of communion, fellowship, and diakonia together into the life of public sphere. An ecclesial dimension of theology is furnished with a special commission to the public sphere. Communion, fellowship, and diakonia mark the missional nature of the church located within the civil com- munity. The Holy Spirit imparts faith and guidance for a life of Christian community as a serving church. Here it is essential to consider the mis- sional character of the Word of God. Christian mission aims to communicate the narrative of God’s grace in Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the whole of creation. Subsequently, Christian mission as mission of God’s narrative character- izes the church as being publicly oriented in light of word-event. The church follows God’s mission as word-event, participating in preserving creation and being involved in society. Christian mission, grounded in the biblical narrative of God’s gracious justification, reconciliation, and vocation, takes on public concerns in light of the eschatological reality of God’s coming. The church receives its mandate of congregational mis- sion from the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the living Lord of the church as well as the living Lord of world. The church’s mission is based on the 9780230102682_02_int.indd 1 2/12/2010 12:03:48 PM 2 Public Theology in an Age of World Christianity living narrative of God’s grace in Christ that underscores justification, reconciliation, and vocation, and is practiced and embodied in a social location. We perceive the life world of the public sphere to be considerably influ- enced by the process of global civilization. Life in many public spheres is characterized and shaped by multiple cultures and religions in a plural- ist and multicultural fashion. The challenge of diversity within global Christianity also arises, calling for a postmodern recognition of difference and otherness within indigenous reframings of the Christian religion.
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