This course, from an evangelical perspective, introduces students to the religious and cultural backgrounds of Asia, focusing on its major world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Confucianism—as a foundation for theological thinking centered on Asian experience. The course presents Asia theologically, engaging both its vibrant spiritual heritage and contemporary challenges. It equips students to articulate an evangelical theology that faithfully represents God's redemptive design in and through Asian peoples, introducing classical, modern, and contemporary evangelical theological methods in Asia and key trends in Asian evangelical thought today.
By taking this course, students develop the ability to craft evangelical theological discourses informed by Asia’s major religions and contemporary realities. This enables them to resist theological approaches that overlook the historical and religious dimensions of Asia’s present context. With discourses rooted in these backgrounds, students can identify effective evangelical responses to Asian religious contexts and gain initial skills to produce impactful, gospel-centered actions for today’s Asian societies.
This course is essential because evangelical theological thinking grounded in Asian religious contexts offers a pathway for deeper, positive, and lasting gospel impact in Asian societies. It addresses the shortcomings of past theologizing that often ignored Asia’s rich religious traditions, striving to proclaim the truth of Christ in dialogue with Asia’s major world religions while remaining faithful to evangelical convictions.
Rooted in an evangelical perspective, the course introduces students to Asia’s religious backgrounds while highlighting the authority of Scripture and potential Asian connections to biblical narratives. It emphasizes Scripture’s use of history, culture, and present realities to proclaim God’s truth, grounding the course in a biblical framework. The aim is to reveal God’s redemptive work through the gospel, engaging Asian contributions and contexts.
By focusing on Asian peoples and their religious experiences, this course fulfills the evangelical missional purpose of advancing the Great Commission in Asia. It equips students to understand and participate in God’s redemptive mission through the proclamation of the Asian contexts.
The course is deeply engaged with the particularities of Asia, especially its major world religions. It emphasizes evangelical theological conversations that respect Asia’s religious diversity while articulating the uniqueness of Christ. Students explore theological thinking in non-Asian evangelical contexts, distinguishing these from Asian evangelical approaches.
From an Asian evangelical perspective, students gain insights into how culture and religion shape theological thinking and recognize the importance of engaging Asia’s major religions in theological dialogue. They learn that understanding religious contexts is vital for effective gospel communication. Positive and negative examples of evangelical engagement with Asian religions will help students assess the role of culture and religion in theology.
The course aims to equip students to address Asian religious issues with evangelical theological clarity, enabling them to respond effectively to challenges posed by Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Confucianism. Students develop competency in crafting gospel-centered responses to contemporary Asian contexts.
Students are guided to reflect on past, present, and future (simulated) Asian religious experiences through an evangelical lens. Those in ministry select one theological topic, such as engaging a specific Asian religion, and experiment with applying evangelical principles to an Asian context or life experience.
