Towards An Asian “Christianity”

One thing I realized through my course of study here in BCM is that the more I study, the more I realize that I don’t know, and this brings an insatiable hunger to want to know more and more about God and His Word for us and everything else that is related. This is what motivates me to further into Th.M. In fact, this gave me a love for books. After reading “Apocalyptic” by Leon Morris and started on “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” by John F. Walvoord, it gives me a sense of satisfaction and a hunger to read more books. This is SOOOO different from the Bryan Boo of the past who hated reading and dreaded going into the library. Yes, it is a little heavy on the finances but, well, it’s all worth it.

But one thing I realized is that being in the church, more often than not, we receive a very “Western Theology” or even a “Westernized Perspective” in interpreting passages of Scripture. At times, even the application is Westernized. Many a times, church members speak as if they are scholars on a particular Christian teaching but in actual fact, know nothing about what it is about besides vomiting out what was taught to them. As I study these Western scholars and their writings, I realized that the full impact of Christian Theology is watered down due to the “Western ideology” in an Asian culture. The Asian culture is so much different than the West. I strongly believe that in order for the Asian church to receive the full impact and implication of the Word of God and Christian Theology, it has to be catered to the Asian culture (as they say, the Word of God knows no boundary. If so, why are we limiting it to just the West?)

It is then my passion and burden to work on applying Christian doctrines and theology as well as applying Scriptural truths into our Asian culture, not just scholastically, but with a hope that a more “Asian Christianity” would be more significant in the development and maturity of the Asian church, particularly the churches in Malaysia. But until then, I’m just a little seminary student trying to complete his B.Th.