Understanding missions in
the modern Asian context
VINOTH RAMACHANDRA’S Church and Mission in the New Asia: New Gods, New Identities refreshingly questions widely-held understandings of the nature and purpose of missions in light of the modern Asian context. The book content was prepared originally as three public lectures under the Annual Lecture Series of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia (CSCA).
Ramachandra’s core thesis is that the nature of missionary work must adapt to the nature of its object. Perhaps the most radical of his three lectures is the first one which criticises over-prescriptive missionary projects which seek to impose on, rather than engage with, the
His next lecture goes on to discuss what is commonly termed the “postmodern condition”; he suggests ways in which missions may find relevance in resolving the volatility of personal and national identities. Finally, he examines modern technological development and stresses the need for a sense of personal and corporate direction and purpose.
His analysis is strongest in the first lecture; rather than stopping at a denouncement of “top-down” missions, he goes on to describe four characteristics of “authentic Christian mission” and justifies them with Biblical references. By pointing out parallels between the modern interplay between cultures and the situation that Jesus himself faced as a foreigner, he offers sensible and practical suggestions on how to engage another culture while waterproofing his thesis by grounding it firmly in the very purpose of missionary work.
However, he points out that in emphasising the uniqueness of Asian culture we run the risk of reinforcing cultural stereotypes. Ramachandra deals with this paradox well by urging action that is flexible rather than over-rigid in nature. He encourages a dialogue and a “counter-cultural appreciation of [people]… for their intrinsic worth” which calls for a deliberate effort of both mind and action from all to make people the object of missions. In this way, a primary concern for people can overcome the tendency to stereotype people or the (post)modern tendency to be so indefinite that we are left with “fluid” identities.
The very structure of the book embodies the need for this form of dialogue as it includes three critical responses from theologians of various countries as well as a rejoinder from Ramachandra himself. The responses to Ramachandra’s lectures add fullness to the book as a whole. Besides demonstrating the nature of the discourse that he advocates, they lend examples of specific cultural context to his theories.
As one author, Melba Padilla Maggay, says, “We do not all experience things in the same way as philosophers tell us.”
Although not all the authors of the responses agree with Ramachandra, his key message is quite clear: Christianity is about humanness, not prescriptive structuralism; we may “discover Jesus in the most unexpected place, beyond the Christian church” through a sensitivity to different social and cultural contexts.
This promising starting point, and the rigour with which it is analysed, is enough to make the book a valuable contribution to discourse regarding missionary work as well as the nature of discipleship itself.
Benjamin Ong worships at