Constructing Irregular Th eology Studies in Systematic Theology Series Editors Stephen Bevans S.V.D., Catholic Th eological Union, Chicago Miikka Ruokanen, University of Helsinki and Nanjing Union Th eological Seminary Advisory Board Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Fuller Th eological Seminary Jesse Mugambi, University of Nairobi Rachel Zhu Xiaohong, Fudan University, Shanghai Wanda Deifelt, Luther College VOLUME 1 Constructing Irregular Theology Bamboo and Minjung in East Asian Perspective By Paul S. Chung LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chung, Paul S., 1958– Constructing irregular theology : bamboo and Minjung in East Asian perspective / by Paul S. Chung. p. cm. — (Studies in systematic theology, ISSN 1876-1518 ; v. 1) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17417-7 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Christianity and other religions. 2. Asia—Religion. 3. Th eology—Asia. 4. Philosophy, Asian. I. Title. II. Series. BR128.A77C49 2009 230.095—dc22 2009010949 ISSN 1876-1518 ISBN 978 90 04 17417 7 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................ vii Introduction: Asian Irregular Th eology: Inculturation and Emancipation ................................................................................. 1 I. Justifi cation and Self-Cultivation: Christian Faith and Buddhist Enlightenment ..................................... 27 II. God and the Mysterious Place of the World: Judeo-Christian Narrative in Engagement with Mystery of Dao ....................................................................................... 49 III. God the Trinity: An Interfaith Reframing of the Trinity with an Asian Face ............................................. 81 IV. Christian Mission: Matteo Ricci and his Legacy for Christian-Confucian Renewal .......................... 103 V. Religious Pluralism: Asian Christianity and Life Horizon of World Religions .......................................... 131 VI. God and Evolution: God and Sunyata in an Evolutionary Context ..................................................................................... 157 VII. Th e Future of Irregular Th eology in East Asia: Asian Contextual Th eology: Past, Present, and Future .... 185 Glossary of Terms .............................................................................. 211 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 217 Index .................................................................................................... 225 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Th e content of this book is mainly based on my lectures held at the Center for Christianity and Cross-Cultural Studies on May 14–19, 2007, at Zhejiang University—the “Cambridge of the East”—in Hangzhou, China. I give my heartfelt appreciation for the lecture invitation to the director of the center, Prof. Dr. Chen Cunfu, and the vice director, Prof. Dr. Wang Zhicheng. Furthermore, I extend my gratitude to Prof. Dr. Wang Laurel (Sizhu), who during my stay in China took over the diffi cult translation work in a joyous, collegial, and sisterly spirit. Dur- ing my stay, I was privileged to nourish and deepen my spiritual and intellectual vocation in Hangzhou, once portrayed by Marco Polo in the late 13th century as a paradise on earth. Th e West Lake, called the reincarnation of lady Xi Shi and one of the most beautiful places in the world, remains an inspiration to me for exploring an Asian irregular theology in a hermeneutical, aesthetical, and utopian contour in pursuit of the Asian face of Christianity. I acknowledge that my spiritual trajec- tory—born in South Korea, receiving Western schooling in Europe and North America, and now teaching Reformation Th eology and World Christianity in Dubuque, Iowa, USA—informs my discussions in this book. A Christian irregular theology in the cross-cultural perspective of “bamboo and minjung” sounds strange, provocative, and controversial to Western systematic and confessional theology. A religious and cultural lifeworld of bamboo and the socio-political reality of minjung (the poor) form a history of eff ect in the hermeneutical sense of my spiritual and intellectual pursuit of God’s speech act and its mystery in East Asia. For the construction of Asian irregular theology I take into account as an example the life and spirituality of the seven scholars living in a bamboo grove in ancient China. Here, my theological endeavor begins to embrace Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism as conversation partners with Reformation theology (especially that of Martin Luther, Karl Barth, and Dietrich Bonhoeff er). Such a hermeneutical hybridization promotes the ethical responsibility which expresses a resistance of the diff erence and prophetic marginal- ity. So, an Asian irregular theology fi nds its locus in the promotion of inculturation (in recognition of the Other in the religious cultural viii acknowledgements context of bamboo) and to mobilize emancipation of massa perditionis (public lost, multitude; in Korean: minjung, in Chinese: minzhong) from the iron cage of global civilization and empire. A spirit of freedom and resistance rooted in the East Asian life setting, as modeled by the seven sages’ life in the bamboo forest, remains an on- going incentive for the development of an Asian irregular theology by learning from the great wisdom and spirituality of Confucianism, Bud- dhism, and Daoism, which also critically engages Western philosophy and theology. In the process of this encounter I am constantly driven to self-renewal and increased openness to mutual transformation in terms of the provocative irregularity of God’s act of saying that takes place in every way and all directions. Th erefore, Asian irregular theology in a constructive-hermeneutical confi guration implies a theology of audacity. I must risk my self-understanding as an East Asian Christian by facing, recognizing, and being faithful to the claims which come to the surface as I engage the Other. In the framework of Asian irregular theology, a hermeneutic of audacity, resistance, and retrieval for encounter, fusion, and transformation among world religions is at play. Its task involves challenging a society haunted by religious violence, scientifi c empiri- cism, and the colonization of our lifeworld. Within the postfoundational and hermeneutical confi guration, an Asian irregular theology that is grounded in an aesthetic and utopian dimension envisions a topos as humanly dreamable, ecologically sustain- able, and muti-religious in a peaceful manner. A theology has its time, conditioned by its existential, political, and cultural context. Constrained by its limitations, it continues to evolve by and through the challenge of the Other in light of the irregularity of God’s speech event. Aft er my fi rst articulation of Reformation theology in its relevance for Buddhist wisdom in Martin Luther and Buddhism: Aesthetics of Suff ering, the present book could be understood as a second intellectual attempt to cross-culturally initiate an Asian irregular theology regarding a religious culture of bamboo and the social reality of massa perditionis (minjung) in a way that is of interpretative, aesthetic, and utopian character in content and horizon. Verbum Dei quaerens dialogum. Th e Word of God is in search of dialogue with humanity and the world. I extend my gratitude to the editorial committee in Brill for accept- ing my project of Asian irregular theology to the new series of Studies in Systematic Th eology. I also would like to thank the following for permission in using selected texts: From Luther, Martin Luther’s Basic acknowledgements ix Th eological Writings, ed. Timothy F. Lull. Used by permission of Fortress press, 1989. From Th e Poem of Ruan Ji, trans. Wu Fusheng and Graham Hartill. Used by permission of Zhonghua Book Company, 2006. From Laozi, trans. Arthur Waley, rev. and ann. Fu Huisheng Hunan. Used by permission of Hunan People’s Publishing House and Foreign Languages Press, 1999. From “Christian Faith and Buddhist Enlightenment,” by Paul S. Chung. Used by permission of Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 17:2 (2002). “God’s Reign and the Pure Land in Interfaith and Scientifi c Discourse on Imago Dei and Buddha Nature,” by Paul S. Chung. Used by permission of Ching Feng, A Journal on Christianity and Chinese Religion and Culture 7:1–2 (2006). INTRODUCTION ASIAN IRREGULAR THEOLOGY: INCULTURATION AND EMANCIPATION Th eology is historically, culturally, and linguistically conditioned and shaped. Th e contextual character of theology is not a new reality because throughout the centuries, Christians have lived and witnessed to the Gospel in diff erent times and places. A theology