ABSTRACT
Christianity is one of the largest and fastest-growing religions in Asia. A survey of the relevant literature, however, reveals a relative paucity of comparative studies on Christianity in the region. Thus, one of the main aims of this volume is to examine the experience of being a Christian in Asia, particularly in relation to how the state has either hindered or facilitated the propagation, regulation or maintenance of the Christian faith. There are two aspects to this discussion. The first is the ongoing and complex interplay between the global reach of Christianity and the ways in which it is articulated in Asian localities. In spite of active foreign missionary activity in the region, the ‘indigenization’ of Christian theologies and rituals draws attention to local agency in the expression of faith. The experience of being Christian in Asia, in light of the faith’s ‘global’ orientation, has engendered new and diverse forms of interaction among its adherents (cf. Hefner 1993, 1998; Kaplan 1995; Horton 1971). As with the Dayak in Borneo or the samahans of the rural Philippines, indigenous Christianity has often exceeded the orthodoxies prescribed by their mission ‘sources’. This has in turn created highly contextualized forms of religious and doctrinal expression that this volume seeks to trace (e.g. Keyes 1996: 290; Love 2004). The second aspect of the discussion focuses on how Christian churches1 and their followers negotiate their public roles and identities vis-à-vis the state as arbiters of modernity (cf. Leung 1996; Viswanathan 1998; Gifford 1998). In both these themes, a fundamental concern is over the conditions under which Christian religious practices at various times either clash or converge with the mechanism of the state, in light of the challenges brought about by processes of modernization. In discussing the relationship between Christianity and the state, it should
be pointed out that a certain kind of interaction with governmental authority lies at the very heart of Christianity’s birth story. That the Holy Family escaped the temporal authority of Caesar, highlights the fact that the birth of Jesus was possible only through the circumvention of the state’s jurisdiction. The death of Jesus – the other fundamental cornerstone of the faith – likewise came through the penal instrument of the state, even though the Bible records Pilate’s reluctant complicity. When Jesus famously exhorted Jews to render what is due to both God and Caesar, he identified two distinct sources of
authority. Yet the fundamental message being promoted in this context is this: when Christians were forced to make a choice, they ought to place themselves under the will of God as the ultimate authority. This choice becomes particularly important when thought of in relation to how religious belief is articulated and practised in the context of modern state structures. One key focus of this volume is to consider what happens when broader
concerns of Christian doctrine are brought to bear on the civic and patriotic responsibilities of Christian citizens. Such a situation can, at least in principle, become a source of contradiction and conflict, which ultimately concerns the respective goals of the state and Christianity. While the nation state aims to produce citizens for the sake of its own long-term survival, Christian morality sees individuals as ‘temples of God’ to be soteriologically conditioned in preparation for ultimate salvation. How have Asians responded to the fundamental exhortation to treat the divine will as the ultimate source of authority, and the secular jurisdiction of the state as secondary? And how does the state deal with a religion whose ultimate source of authority both transcends and relativizes state authority that is founded upon legal-rational principles? Let us consider briefly some examples from the region. Authoritarian or
incompetent presidencies have been toppled more than once in the Philippines by popular movements, galvanized largely by the Church’s overt calls to ‘People Power’. The Church’s direct role in regime change in that country attests to a belief that secular authority should always be subject to God’s will, and to a faith in the Church hierarchy as a legitimate conduit for that will. This fact is brought out most poignantly in this volume by Digna Apilado’s chapter on HIV/AIDS in the Philippines, where the Roman Catholic Church and the government are engaged in intense debates on how to deal with the deadly disease. The strong tradition of Roman Catholicism in the country means that the Church is able to exert tremendous moral pressure over Filipino politicians who favour policies against the Church’s agenda. In contrast, Christian communities still often experience repression in places such as China and Vietnam: Under these regimes, placing one’s ultimate allegiance to an authority outside the state may still place the Christian faithful in an antagonistic and dangerous position in relation to state authorities. It is regarding issues such as the Church’s limited capacity to appoint its own bishops that the fault lines between Christianity and the state are at their most pronounced. These are but two examples among many that encourage us to ponder
upon instances of complicity and conflict between religious and secular concerns. The contributors to this volume will demonstrate that there is much more fluidity in the ways in which Christians in Asia deal with their spiritual and civic obligations. As an introduction to the volume as a whole, this chapter is less an exhaustive survey of the literature on Christianity in Asia than it is an elucidation of the debates in which the contributors of this volume seek to participate. In this vein, we identify three thematic currents: firstly, the historical processes in which Christianity was introduced to the
region, including the religion’s role in nation-building processes; secondly, the fervent proclamations of the rise of a new global ‘Christendom’, which ostensibly displaces or weakens the authority and even the relevance of the state in light of the demographic expansion of Christians in and from the ‘global south’; and finally, the conception of social development, which predicted the decline, disappearance or privatization of religion in light of modernization and pluralism.
