In light of the shift of focus in Global Christianity from the North to the Global South, this course focuses on the Asian context in exploring the paths Christian theology has treaded. Various current trends in theology will be compared in their diversity in order to help the student learn to do robust theology in context.
This course is an introduction to the Asian context which constitutes a huge portion of the Global South. Since the center of Christianity has shifted South from the Global North, students in the Global North must understand the struggles and prospects of their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world and vice versa. This course will help students in any part of the world acquire knowledge of theology done in different situations and provide skills to do theology in their own context.
Due to the steady shift of the center of Christianity from the Global North to the Global South an urgent need arises to learn and do Christian theology from a non-European perspective. Theology is always done in context and the context of the Global South, particularly Asia, is not only different from Europe or North American but also quite varied within Asia itself. In order for the Church to be truly universal and for theology to make sense in today’s Global South, it is wise to learn how Christians in Asia do theology and how it is influenced by their particular situations. It will also help students gain knowledge as well as skills in learning to do contextual theology in their own contexts.
This course will examine the biblical foundations of Asian Theology and the interplay of basic biblical theology with the contextual theological themes in Asia.
Theology informs and is informed by missions. The emergence of Asian theology is the result of missions in Asia. This course will examine how the missions over the past centuries have shaped the trends and themes of contextual Asian theology.
Theology is always done in context. The context of the church in Asia is quite different from the North American as well as European contexts; therefore, this course will examine how the trends and themes of Asian theology are influenced by their particular Asian situations of colonialism, poverty, and persecution.
The Asian context is naturally diverse and is home to several races and people of different color and creeds. This course will also compare the local theology of the region with the theology imported from the Global North making it an intercultural learning opportunity.
Opportunities will be provided for students to interact with people from Asia and Asian theologians with an aim of learning their struggles and prospects in doing theology from the context of Asia.
The course will incorporate issues of persecution, suffering, and poverty and how the Bible speaks to these issues in our context today to help students gain experiential knowledge.
