Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship 4-1-2015 The Gospel in Singapore - The Impact of Civil Religion and Civil Law Mark Madson Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Madson, Mark, "The Gospel in Singapore - The Impact of Civil Religion and Civil Law" (2015). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 71. https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/71 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE GOSPEL IN SINGAPORE THE IMPACT OF CIVIL RELIGION AND CIVIL LAW A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Systematic Theology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Mark J Madson April 2015 Approved by Dr. Thomas Manteufel Advisor Dr. Robert Kolb Reader Dr. Victor Raj Reader © 2015 by Mark James Madson. All rights reserved. This dissertation is dedicated to my wife Elizabeth. I do not despise the grace of God, for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died in vain. Galatians 2:21 CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................................................... viii TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... ix PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... x CHRONOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND .................................................................... 1 The Singapore Challenge ............................................................................................. 6 Pluralism and Harmony among the Religions ............................................................. 7 Secularism, Pragmatism, and Civil Religion ............................................................. 15 Civil Religion and Shared Values in Singapore ........................................................ 23 Summary Comments on Civil Religion and Civil Law in Singapore ....................... 32 Lutheran Two-Dimensional Anthropology ............................................................... 36 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 43 2. CIVIL RELIGION AND THE CIVIL ORDER ............................................................ 45 Civil Religion ............................................................................................................ 45 Civil Law and Pluralism ............................................................................................ 51 A Hypothetical Example of Religious Civil Law ...................................................... 54 A Unified Model of Law and Religion ...................................................................... 58 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 63 3. RELIGIOUS LAW IN SINGAPORE ........................................................................... 66 v From Island to Colony ............................................................................................... 67 Colonial Beginnings ......................................................................................... 67 Cases from the Colonial Period ........................................................................ 71 Colonial Observations ...................................................................................... 75 Modern Constitutional Framework and Legal System .............................................. 78 Excursus on Islam and the Shari’ah Law as Regards Civil Religion ........................ 88 Modern Religious Legislation through the Lens of the MRHA ................................ 93 1989 White Paper on the Maintenance of Religious Harmony ................................. 95 Concluding Comments ............................................................................................ 102 4. SINGAPOREAN CIVIL RELIGION ......................................................................... 105 Singaporean Civil Religion ...................................................................................... 105 Confucianism in the Values or in the Water? .......................................................... 108 Of a Word–Jen ......................................................................................................... 111 Concerning 21st Century Confucian Humanism ...................................................... 115 Concerning Confucian Lacunae .............................................................................. 120 Of a Man–the Singaporean Junzi ............................................................................. 123 Contextual Definitions from the Singapore Story ................................................... 133 The Competing Poles of Civil Religion .................................................................. 137 5. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ITS KINDS ....................................................................... 149 Civil Religion Under One Party Rule ...................................................................... 150 Public Theology as a Response to Civil Religion ................................................... 158 Framing Righteousness ............................................................................................ 163 Bestowing Spiritual Righteousness ......................................................................... 183 Concluding Comments ............................................................................................ 188 6. ORDERS AND LIMITS ............................................................................................. 191 The Dual Rule of God .............................................................................................. 195 Orders of Creation in Lutheran Theology ............................................................... 200 Limits on Obedience to Political Authority ............................................................. 208 7. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK ............................................................... 217 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 217 Further Work ........................................................................................................... 222 Appendix 1. 2010 SINGAPORE CENSUS STATISTICS ............................................................... 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 226 VITA .......................................................................................................................................... 240 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Civil and Traditional Religions ............................................................................................. 57 2. Colonial Period: English and Religious Law ......................................................................... 77 3. Modern Period: Civil and Religious Law .............................................................................. 87 4. Presidential Council and the Religions ................................................................................ 102 5. Deepening and Broadening Process of the Self after Tu Weiming ..................................... 117 viii TABLES Table Page 1. Singapore Resident Population by Religion ........................................................................ 224 2. Singapore Resident Religious Affiliation by Ethnic Group. ................................................225 ix PREFACE Singapore has a variegated religious complexion that is quickly appreciated but slowly understood. When this study began in 2009, it was hoped that researching civil religion within the Republic would yield some direction and insight for pastors and Christian laymen that labor there. Christianity is certainly not novel to any former British Crown Colony; however, the rapid modernization and academic achievements of this bit of land in Southeast Asia make it particularly interesting to students of religion and Christianity. Of particular interest to Lutheran readers are the perennially relevant categories of law, gospel, righteousness and their interaction with civil society. It was hoped that this study would yield perspectives on Christianity and culture in Singapore that would give readers a pair of Lutheran eyes. From the beginning my advisor, Dr. Thomas Manteufel, has acted as a sounding board for many ideas and possible