Presentation I

NEW ECUMENICAL VISION IN ASIA:

A Biblical and Theological Perspective

Kim Yong Bock

The Ecumenical movement in Asia has inherited various visions, some of which developed in Asia and some of which came from the outside of Asia. Empires and Kingdoms in Asia always had visions of the world in terms of the power centres and the margins of the Empire. Such a vision arose in China, which called itself the Middle Kingdom, while the people in the margins of the Kingdom were regarded as the "barbarians". Another manifestation of the vision of the world arose in Japan, when the Japanese Empire sought to build the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere in East Asia. Then, different visions of the western colonial powers arose - The Portuguese and Spanish vision of the world dominated some of the Asian peoples, and the Dutch and British Empires brought their own vision of the world. Today, the two superpowers impose their own versions of the world upon the Asian people.

These visions of the world have their distinct universal claims, which are linked to socio-economic relations, political structure and religious-cultural values, and the powers of the Empires impose these upon the Asian peoples. It is in this historical context that we are searching for a new ecumenical vision in Asia.

I. THE CONTEXT OF THE PEOPLES IN ASIA

The powers and principalities are the realities of Asia which defines the context of the Asian peoples. The powers and principalities in Asia and from the outside of Asia always impose their vision of the world on the people. The claims and counter-claims of the powers that be (imperial and national* powers), with regard to their vision of a just world order, world peace and even the whole cosmos, form very

* Sukarno's PANCHASILA, Nehru's NATIONALISM are some of these examples also.

complex interactions and contradictions in the reality of the Asian peoples. To list a few important realities, the first is the vision of Pax Americana and another is Pax Russiana. In between, there are a number of national developments which carry their vision of the world from their national and ideological perspectives. Often these variations of the vision of the world are related to the larger global and "imperial" visions of the superpowers, which advocate the capitalist and communist ideologies respectively.

The context of the peoples in Asia is the reality of the universal religions, such as, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism and Christianity. Also, there is the vast reality of the religious and ethnic/national world of the peoples. These so called world religions claim to be visions of the world on the basis of their religious and cultural foundations.

In the midst of these political and religious visions a new and forcible vision of the world is emerging and being intertwined with the present visions of major competing ideologies. It is The Scientific and Technological Vision of the world, which is being manifested as the so called information society and new media. In a sense, this vision has penetrated the world powers and industrialised and industrialising societies with great speed. It is beginning to make great impacts on the peoples in Asia.

Here we cannot analyse in full the complex contours of Asia in terms of the power and religious-realities. However, we need to clarify a few points to proceed to the issue of the ecumenical vision on the basis of Christian faith in Asia. We have simply identified three different and yet complexly related visions of the world, which affect the vision of the peoples in Asia with regard to the world in which they live.

Coe of the truths of the reality is that these visions of the world are not universal visions as they claim to be; rather/ they are often visions of the powers and principalities imposed upon the people; and often the visions of the people are suppressed. We will have to answer our ecumenical questions in relation to this basic and fundamental reality.

Thus, we embark on our thinking with the vision of the people, not with the visions of "the powers and principalities." We are not speaking of the visions that are

forged for the people, or that are designed to save the people. We are talking about the visions of the world that the people themselves have been envisioning out of their experiences.

This requires analysis of the objective realities of Asia, not in themselves, but in relation or counter-relation to the historical experiences and visions of the people. In fact, any analysis of the reality of Asia should be the people's own analysis. This is indeed a vexing question for us, as intellectuals, for there is no easy way to enter into the reality and the vision of the people in Asia. Dwelling with and among the people becomes a basic and fundamental condition to hear the voice of the people and share their suffering and their vision. This is the starting point for us to enter into the reality of the Asian people. When we insist on this, we do not mean that we are in this situation, nor are we trying to maintain a certain fundamentalism about the subjectivity of the people in Asian societies. Rather, we intend to maintain this point as forcibly as possible.

II. CHRISTIAN EXPANSION IN ASIA

Christian expansion movements in Asia can be described historically in terms of the early period of various orthodox churches and other churches, the Roman Catholic phase, and the era of the Protestant Missionary in Asia. These three Christian movements have their own visions of the world. We do not know how the early Christian movement had its vision of the world influence the peoples in Asia at that time. But we have a fairly clear idea about how the Roman Catholic Movement was closely associated with the Portuguese and Spanish commercial and colonial expansion. Christiandom sought to impose its vision of the world among the peoples in Asia; it succeeded in some cases, and failed in others. By and large, in these periods the Christian theologies and Christian religious culture were the concrete manifestations of the vision of Western Christiandom in Asia.

The Protestant Missionary Movements in Asia were very closely related to the colonial powers of the West. Christiandom in the West had imposed its vision of the world upon the people in Asia. The Christian Gospel was captured by Christiandom; Christ and Caesar were closely intertwined with each other. Although Christiandom has been eroded considerably, there is still no substantive shift in the relationship between Christ and Caesar in the West. When the Christian Missionary Movement came to Asia, the vision of

Western Christiandom was imposed. The theologies and the Christian trappings were concrete manifestations of Western Christiandom in all its variations and nuances. We do not like to admit this analysis as Christians and Christian churches in Asia today. Things did not happen so simply and so neatly; but we must admit that the main thrust of the Christian movement in Asia was the expansion and extension of Western Christianity, although there are a few important exceptions such as the Independent Church movements and the indigenized churches.

The theologies of the Christian Movement are also those of Western Christiandom, formulated for Western Christians. Therefore, these theologies did not and could not deal with Asian issues such as Asian religious-cultural identity, political independence, and socio-economic poverty. In fact, the theologies of the churches in Asia have failed to give adequate responses to these fundamental questions of the peoples in Asia. Therefore, the Gospel of Jesus Christ should be liberated from the theology or ideology of Western Christiandom and of the "established" theologies of the Asian churches.

III. ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT IN ASIA

The modern ecumenical movement in Asia was set in the revolutionary situations of the Asia peoples. The Christian involvement in the national independence movements in the colonized nations were the first important stage of the ecumenical movement. In many situations the Christian missionary movements were in a contradictory relation with the Christian involvement in independence movements of the Asian peoples. But we find many important examples of Christian involvement in independence movements such as in Korea and the Philippines. We also find indigenous Christian movements such as the Taiping Christian Movement in China. We, as the ecumenical movement in Asia, have not fully documented and explored the Christian involvements in the independence struggles of the peoples in Asia. We have not fully grasped the nature and meaning of the Christian participation in those revolutionary struggles for independence and self-determination of the Asian peoples.

The organized ecumenical movements such as the World Student Christian Federation and the Christian Conference of Asia and their national and local counterparts gained significance during the period in which many Asian nations were attaining their independence, building modern

nation-states and developing modern industrial economies. The key historical issues have been those of national self-determination, nation building, modernization and development, social transformation and revolution.

Daring this period the ecumenical agenda was a response to nationalism, resurgent indigenous religions, and socio-economic development. Issues of Church and State, dialogue with other faiths and encounter with social revolutions were very important questions that the ecumenical movement in Asia had to deal with.

During this period of revolutionary situation, different ideologies, foreign and indigenous, were experimented with and tested to meet the demands and aspirations of the Asian peoples. This process is still going on. There is a growing sense that these existing ideologies and their visions of the world are not sufficient to meet the historical demands of the peoples in Asia.

In the same period there also have been explorations into the traditional religious and cultural resources which are available to meet the challenges of the times. So far, no major religion in Asia today has provided any exciting vision for the peoples in Asia, although some of the religious heritages of the Asian peoples are recognized to be crucial.

Recently in Asia there is a sense of historical tragedy, in which economic poverty, political oppression, cultural repression and power conflicts among the military powers, domestically and internationally are becoming serious.

In this situation the Asian ecumenical movement has begun to discover that the peoples in Asia are not in a fatalistic sleep, but have very much come of age. The people are aware of their historical conditions and their destiny. The people struggle to be liberated. The people suffer. The people dream visions. The people are subject of their own history. They tell their own stories to share among themselves. The people join in the people's movements. The people struggle to transform their historical conditions of political power, socio-economic order, religious and cultural life so that they may realize their own visions in which they are the real people; the real humanity.

IV. FAITHS OF THE PEOPLE MOVE MOUNTAINS AND THE VISIONS OF THE PEOPLE OVERCOME THE IMPERIAL VISIONS OF THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS

What really matters is the faith of the people that can move "mountains" in history and the vision of the people that defines their own destiny in Asia.

The stories of the peoples in Asia are fundamentally those of sufferings (exploitation, oppression and so on) and struggles to overcome their sufferings. It is in this context that the faiths and visions of the peoples in Asia are set, and that we are seeking to define our place as an ecumenical movement. Here we need to clarify several points:

In the first place, we made the statement that the stories of the peoples in Asia are intertwined with the story of Jesus the Messiah of the people. Theologically, God dwells among the people and thus among the peoples in Asia. God's dwelling among the people is the very incarnation of God. The incarnation is realised in Jesus the Messiah of the people, who dwelt among the people, and who thus lives among the peoples in Asia. The theological framework of the incarnation is the covenant of God with His people. God is faithful to the people and therefore the people are faithful to Him. This is the faith of the people of God. The people believe that God is faithful in His work for justice and peace among the people; and therefore, this very faith of the people can move "mountains" in the world.

In the second place, the faith of the people entails their vision of the new heaven and the new earth. People with faith in the premise of God envision the future and the future is concretized into sceneries of the movement toward the vision.

In the third place, the faith of the people overcomes the "bad faith" and the mystification of faith of the dominant powers.

Finally, the visions of the people are enormous source of social and political imaginations with an ever-widening horizon and with a deeply penetrating power that subverts the Imperial "visions".

In Asia we have been experiencing such visionary movements as the Taiping Chun Kuo (Heavenly Kingdom Great Peace) movement and the like. These visionary imaginations were not taken seriously by the intellectuals, for they were the

captives of the Imperial world-view. For us, the popular religions are of particular interest in this connection; thus, the study of Minjung religions by the Minjung theologians in Korea.

The messianic vision is an integral part of the people's movement for liberation. Thus, the faith of the people is the motive power to transform the existing world into a new vision that comes from the future.

V. THREE VISIONS: VISIONS OF THE PEOPLE, IMPERIAL VISIONS AND VISION OF JESUS CHRIST (Messianic Vision)

Here we are trying to relate these three sets of visions. Our task is to clarify the Messianic vision in relation to the other two sets of visions.

We are not going to enlist traditional theological questions of Christology, as to what is the nature of Christ, as the western churches have been doing. Rather, we will reflect upon salient biblical materials for our purpose.

The context in which Jesus lived and suffered and envisioned the future of the world was the Roman Empire. Order the Roman Empire the story of Jesus was that of the Suffering Servant, the climax was his crucifixion at the hand of the Ronan Governor, Pontius Pilate, who represented the union of the Roman Empire.

The Gospel according to Mark tells three times of Jesus' prediction of his own suffering on the cross; same as the story of the Suffering Servant told by the Second Isaiah (chapter 53).

Paul introduced the early confessional hymn in the letter to the Philippians describing Jesus Christ as the crucified slave. This Suffering Servant is the story of the people that has emerged during the Babylonian exile. It is the same story of the people of God under the Greek Empire. This story goes back to the story of the Hebrew slaves.

In the story of the suffering of the people of God (the suffering Servant), the promise of God for the exodus and its resultant blessings – socio-economic security and prosperity, justice over the oppressive powers for the poor and Shalom on the whole of earth – finds its reality. The faith of the people in the promise and power of God become

the essential constituent factor in the story of the Suffering Servant - that is, the people of God.

Faith of the people in God works in the Exodus, defeating Pharaoh. Faith of the people works in the prophetic movements to advocate the rights of the poor and to protest against kings, who follow the ways of the Empire. It is the faith of the people of God who are expecting the coming Messianic age in the midst of the oppression of the Empire of Rome, Assyria, Greece and Rome.

Concretely the faith of the people in God (Exodus) brought about the covenant among the people of God to protect the rights of the poor, powerless and weak. (Exodus 21:1 - 23:23 is the covenant code). This covenant has been reconstituted in the history of the people of God/ when it is broken by the people of God. The covenant of the people with God manifests itself as the covenant with the poor. (See Kim Yong Bock, Covenant with Minjung, in Ecumenical Review, 1986)

When the covenant was broken and trampled down by the Empires and its cohorts/ the new covenant had to be mediated through the sacrifice and reconciliation.

Prophetic movements protest against the powers that break the covenant; and the priestly movements bring about reconciliation and peace through paying the cost, that is, through sacrifices. This movement of reconciliation and peace culminates in the sacrifice of the Lamb, who is the Prince of the Peace. (Hebrews 8) This peace is not between the powers that create jungles and suffering people, but between God of justice and peace and the people, who are the victims of the Imperial powers.

This means the overthrow of the regimes and empires of the jungles, and the taming of the Leviathans into play animals.

The covenant is entailed by the visions of the suffering people, who have faith in God who promised shalom for them. Visions of the Suffering Servant and Suffering People of God emerge out of the ashes of the broken covenant. When the Empires of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, and Rome dictate to the world its visions, the suffering people, that is, the people of the Messiah, who suffer with the Suffering Servant, dream powerful visions to avert the Imperial visions of the world.

These visions are told in terms of the Palestine, full of milk and honey; the Messianic Role in Isaiah II; the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1 and 2; and the Messianic Kingdom in Revelations 21. We insist that these visions are those, emerged from amongst the suffering people, who have faith in God (who dwell among them) and that is in Christ Jesus, the Incarnate God.

The vision of the Garden of Eden is the overcoming of the chaos and darkness of the Babylonian jungle; the vision of the Exodus people is the socio-economic security which is the overcoming of slavery in Egypt; the messianic vision of the people of Israel in Isaiah II is the vision of shalom that overcomes the invasion, exile and war of jungle; and the Messianic vision in Revelations 21 is that of the New Heaven and New Earth, in which the Messianic banquet of all peoples and nations will be enjoyed in the New Jerusalem, the eschatological city of Shalom and this Jerusalem overcomes the Roman Leviathan.

Four inter-related components in these visions may be discerned:

1) The faith of the people is translated into covenant with the poor, which means the protection of the poor in terms of their socio-economic security and rights.

2) The faith of the people brings about the sharing of life, koinonia of life, which means not only the sharing of things (Act 3.4.5), but the life itself. This is the koinonia of joy and pain, the communion of suffering among God and the people.

3) The faith of the people is an active expectation of the Cosmic (New Earth and New Heaven) Shalom of the New Age.

4) Faith of the people affirms their religious, ethnic and cultural subjectivity and identity. All nations (Goyim and Ethne) are to participate in the Messianic Banquet.

The suffering of Christ in the crucifixion under the Roman Empire cannot be told without telling the story of the faith of the people in God's justice and shalom, that overcomes the power of death and the forces of the darkness. The vision of the suffering people is the very manifestation of the faith of the people in the resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Messiah.

VI. MISSION OF CHRIST IN ASIA: SUFFERING MESSIAH AMCMG TOE PEOPLES IN ASIA

THEMES OF FAITH OF THE PEOPLE IN THE INCARNATE GOD, WHO IS THE SUFFERING SERVANT, OF GOD'S COVENANT WITH THE POOR AND CHRIST'S MEDIATION OF THE NEW COVENANT, AND OF THE MESSIANIC VISION OF UNIVERSAL SHALOM, ARE ALL CRISTOLOGICAL REFERENCES. HERE WE WOULD LIKE TO STATE THAT THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION FOR THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT IN ASIA SHOULD APPROPRIATELY BE "THE MISSION OF CHRIST JESUS" (OR JESUS THE MESSIAH OF THE PEOPLE) IN CONTRAST TO THE NOTIONS OF "THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH” AND "MISSIO DEI".

There are several reasons for this proposal. The first is the biblical one. The faith of the people of Christ Jesus in the early Christian Community is in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We need to liberate this confession of faith front the Imperial vision and restore its power.

The second is that the messianic movements of the people are faith, movements for liberation from the Empires of the past and present world. This fundamental reality has been emerging in Asia throughout the ages. There are many examples of this in all classical and new religious traditions, not only in Christian traditions. This may be a real context in which the inter-faiths solidarity, not merely dialogue, for liberation can take place.

The third is that our ecumenical movement can be most strongly based in the confessioning faith of Jesus the Messiah of the peoples in Asia, who was crucified and resurrected.

The Theology of the "Mission of the Church" had become an ideology of ecclesiastical expansionism of the Christiandom, although it had sought to overcome the established nature of the traditional ecclesiologist, of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches. Theology of the "Mission of the Church" became ecclesio-centrism in order to overcome this captivity. The "Missio Dei" had been proposed as the theology of participation in historical process and social movements. But God is too sovereign to participate in the sufferings of the people. It was a prophetic theology, with somewhat optimistic and even "triumphalistic" tendencies.*

* In this theology Jesus was tended to be depicted as a revolutionary Zealot.

At the same time the traditional Western Christology did not allow into theology and praxis of Christian Community the full incarnate God - Christ as the Suffering Servant who had communion with the suffering people. The Kenosis Christology (Phil. 1-2) had often been outright rejected, in spite of its early origin.

The question is as classical and basic as the Christian Faith itself. How do the people confess Jesus the Messiah who suffered among the people, was crucified and who overcame the power of death in history? How does this confessing faith of the people move the "mountains" in history?

Today, the Ecumenical Movement is a Movement of Confessing Community of Faith in Jesus the Suffering Messiah of the Peoples in Asia. This is basically the meeting of the peoples in Asia and the Christian Community on the deepest level of faith, with the strongest possible commitment to the Messianic Vision of the people.

Then what are the tasks of the Ecumenical Movement in Asia?

1) The ecumenical movement means the Koinonia and Covenant with the peoples in Asia. This is the mode and style of life of the God Incarnate - the Suffering Messiah of the Asian peoples.

2) The faiths of the people move the "mountains" in history. How do these faiths of the people become reality in a concrete situation? Faith movements of the people for Liberation?

3) Let the Vision of the People of faiths overthrow the imperial ideologies. What does this mean for the ecumenical movement in the ideological struggles of the people in Asia?

4) What are the disciples required to do for the ecumenical movement to meet the challenges of the Asian people?

These may be some of the basic questions for our ecumenical movement in Asia.

Bishop La Verne Mercado

Dr. Kirn Yong Bock