Description
Book Synopsis“The future of the Church is in Asia.” (Pope Francis to the Philippine Cardinal Tagle.) Asian Catholic bishops have taken up this challenge since 1970; they show how the Asian Church navigates itself in the midst of Asian religious and cultural plurality. An image of a harmonious, dialogical and inclusive church with its wayfarer’s theology emerges in the theological thought of Asian bishops. This book also shows that the Asian Catholic Church is a lively and vibrant communion of local Churches, whose fresh and inspiring theological thought should be studied and welcomed outside of Asia as well.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1 The Search for a New Identity – The 1970 Asian Bishops’ Meeting as the Beginning of the FABC 2 Features of the Development of Contextual Theologies 3 A Few Pioneering Asian Catholic Contextual Theologians 4 Task of This Study and Its Method and Sources 5 Motivation of This Study and Earlier Research on the FABC’s Theology 2 Asian Contexts Challenge the Christian Gospel in Asia 1 Towards Being Asian 2 Harmony as a Major Element of an Asian Worldview 3 Towards an Asian Understanding of Truth 1 Asian Truth: Universal, Practical, and Non-exclusivist 2 Dialogue as a Means towards a Better Understanding of Truth 3 The Asian Wayfarer on the Way towards Truth 4 The FABC’s Wayfaring Theology Challenges Traditional Understanding of Church’s Tradition 4 The FABC’s Encounter with Asian Contextual Realities 1 Word of God/Logos spermatikos as a Bridge-Builder between the Universal and the Local 2 The FABC in Dialogue with Asian Religions 3 The FABC in Dialogue with Asian Cultures 4 The FABC in Dialogue with Asian Socio-Political Realities (the Poor) 5 The Question of Sin with Regard to Asian Contextual Realities 6 Logos, Christ, and the Spirit 5 The Local Church in Service of Asian Peoples 1 Searching for Asian Faces of Jesus 2 An Asian Church with an Asian Face of Jesus: What Kind of Community, What Kind of Mission? 3 A Theological Methodology Compatible with Asia 6 Postscript: The FABC during the Pontificate of Pope Francis 7 Conclusions: The Journey Continues 1 Conclusion Based on the Postscript Chapter Bibliography Author Index Subject Index
