https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3161 Fri, 13 Nov 2026 18:34:03 GMT 2026-11-13T18:34:03Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/4039 The theology of choan - seng song Johnson, Anne Very few analyses have been made of the contributions of Third World theologians to modern theology. Because of their vastly different cultural heritage and background, they have the opportunity' to break away from the previous strictures of the West; yet, because of their Western education, such attempts are often ineffective in face of powerful Church tradition. What is more Third World theologians are so westernized that their efforts have a considerable occidental flavor. In the 1950's "the Third World" was taken to mean the non-aligned, non-industrialized, underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America in contrast to the capitalist forces of the NATO nations of the First World, and the communist-aligned nations of the Warsaw Pact ( the Second World). More recently poor, oppressed, racial or ethnic minorities in the United States and in Europe have also been considered to belong to the "Third World peoples". For many mission agencies today, the geographical aspect of the definition of "Third World" has been superseded by that of "an emerging consciousness on the part of deprived and relatively powerless people, wherever they live - an emerging awareness of their condition and a growing convict 2 ion that it need not and must not continue". Choan-seng Song is a Third World theologian, both in the geographical sense of having originated from non-aligned Taiwan, which at that time was one of the non-industrialized, underdeveloped countries of Asia; and in the social sense of being painfully aware of what he regarded as the deprived and powerless position of Christians in Taiwan. Yet, in a sense, such a classification of theologians according to geo graphical origin or social status is far too glib, for Peter Berger and others maintain that strictly speaking "the Third World" as a political, economic or social entity does not exist although it may be a useful shorthand term for a brief reference to units sharing certain common characteristics. Shortly before the Chinese mainland was conquered by the communists in 1949, a large number of Christians from all denominations came to Taiwan as part of the post-war flood of refugees. The result was denom- 2 national chaos. In response to this denominational proliferation and at the urging of the younger generation of Chinese Christians, -idle two existing Presbyterian Synods came together and organised a General Assembly in 1951. As part of the celebration of the Centennial of Modern Protestant Missions to Taiwan ( 1965), the Presbyterian Church launched a ten year campaign called "Double the Church Movement" in 1954. At that time the Church had 59,471 members in 233 congregations. In this year Choan-seng Song obtained his in Philosophy ( summa cum laude) at the National Taiwan University, and from 1954-55 he did his required military service. In 1958 he obtained a E.D. in Dogmatics at New College, University of Edinburgh. His chief advisor was Professor T.F. Torrance. From 1958 to 1959 be undertook a Programme of Advanced Religious Studies, Union Theological Seminary, New York, as well as special studies in Old Testament under Professor James Kuilenberg. In the summer in 1959 he participated in archaeological work at El-jib, the biblical Gibeon near Jerusalem, under the directorship of Professor James Pritchard. From 1959 to 1960 he undertook studies at the University of Easel. In 1960he was appointed lecturer in the Old Testament at Tainan Theological College, Taiwan and in 1961 was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. In the ten years between 1955 and 1965 both the number of congregations and the membership of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan had doubled. There was also a rapid growth of the Roman Catholic Church. This had a significant impact both on the Protestant Church and on society as a whole. Within a few years the Roman Catholic Church had almost as many members as that of all Protestant churches combined. In 1963 Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and a few other Protestant groups came together to form the Taiwan Ecumenical Cooperative Committee to stress a more inclusive under- standing of the Gospel. In 1965 Choan-seng Song obtained a Ph.E in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary, New York under the advisor, Prof. Daniel p. Williams. His dissertation was entitled “The Concepts of Revelation and Religion in the theologies of Karl Earth and Paul Tillich". He returned to Taiwan to be Principal and Professor of Systematic Theology in Tainan Theological College during a momentous period for the Protestant Church in Taiwan. Since 1952 the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan had been the only Taiwanese member of the World Council of Churches (WCC).Under the inspiration of the American ultra-fundamentalist Rev. Carl McIntire and supported by the Taiwanese Government, a movement led by K.G. Taan pressed for the Presbyterian Church to withdraw her membership of the WCC. The reason given was a political one that the WCC had recommended that the Peoples' Republic of China become a member nation of the United Nations and that the future of Taiwan should be "dealt with to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. The pressure came to a climax at the Annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in March 1970 where, for the first time in history, it had to adjourn for lack of a quorum. Rather than discuss the issue, members had absented themselves. In June the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. William Ui Sia, a strong opponent of withdrawal from the WCC, was killed in a car accident. In the month following his death, the Presbyterian Church had to announce its withdrawal from the WCC. The announcement stated that, "Confessing Jesus as Saviour “and "Anti-Communism" were equally articles of the Christian faith. The juxtaposition of these two elements was considered heretical and was violently opposed by many Christians including Song. Some modification of this announcement was made at the Annual General Assembly in l971, but this was for many members far from satisfactory. In October 1971 the Republic of China (Taiwan) lost its seat in the United Nations. This was followed by a general panic and fears that President Nixon might "sell" Taiwan to Peking as the price of diplomatic normalization. The Taiwanese Ecumenical Cooperative Committee failed to make a statement on the subject; but the Presbyterian Church, the oldest and largest church in Taiwan did. In its "Statement on Our National Fate" it emphasized; (i) the future of Taiwan must be determined by all inhabitants of the Island, whose Human rights are granted by God. (ii) There must be a General Election in Taiwan. (There has been none since the seat of Government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan in 1949.) This statement met with general approval throughout the world but the Taiwanese Church had to pay for her prophetic role. Many people became persona non grata with the Taiwanese government. Because of the unsettled, conditions and the desire for a more secure future a great number of people emigrated overseas including nearly two hundred clergymen. Choan-seng Song left Taiwan on extended leave from the Tainan Theological College in 1971 becoming the Secretary for Asian ministries, the Reformed Church: in America until 1973. In 1972 he was also Holder of the Cook Memorial Lectureship with Prof. Gayraud Wilmore, Lecturing in Indonesia, Singapore Thailand, Japan and Korea. This lectureship was sponsored by the United Presbyterian Church in the USA and the East Asia Conference of Churches, now the Christian Conference of Asia. Since 1973 Song has been Associate Director, Commission on Faith and Order, the World Council of Churches. He has never returned to Taiwan but from 1976-1977 was Visiting Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. While Song was in Princeton, "Doing Theology Today" of which he was editor, was published. In his editorial foreword 1 he gave a summary of his attitude to the study of theology which will serve well for the purpose of this introduction. Details of his other writings will be considered in the main body of this thesis. Song explained that until very recently "doing theology" has primarily been confined to the West and the mode has largely been monolithic. The hegemony of Western theology has come under serious question in Third World theologies where Christian thinkers have been obliged to see, understand and interpret how the world sees the Church and how society challenges the Church within its own context, to re-examine the message of the Bible and restate the nature of Christian faith. For Song "today" is the context of doing theology for contemporary Christians. This will drive theologians into a more diversified way of doing theology. He visualized today's theology as a stage with an orchestra of players performing various melodies at the same time, without a single conductor, to form a modern symphony. Some theologians have yet to appreciate the subtleties of this Asian harmony. Introduction Thu, 01 Jan 1981 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/4039 1981-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3999 Give us this day our daily bread: Yap, Delson L. In the given economic instability, poverty, and struggle of individual for life - existence, people in all aspects of society have the difficulty to link their faith on God to every bread they eat. Bread represents the material components that oftentimes dominate the motivation of all human endeavors and influence the pursuit of human behavior. The phrase "Give us this day our daily bread." becomes the passion of the Filipino people now a days and the object of commotion in the Jewish society during the time of Jesus However, this extreme devotion for personal and corporate material sufficiency in the present world of Hunger and Poverty must he purified by another saying of Jesus, “Man does not live by bread alone . . ( Lk. 4:4)"Looking for a vivid clarification to the above predicament, the thesis writer ventures to relate Christology to Economy in the light of the Luke ' s Gospel. This study focuses on Jesus’ reaction and attitude related to the economic life of his earthly parents, the power groups, and the marginalized Jewish people in Palestine. The author also examines the economic principles of Jesus and the economic essence of the Good News to His movement during the public ministry. The Jews were well-oriented about the provision and intervention of God in their everyday material needs. In fact, they observed a theocratic form of government because their nation was established through the covenant with God. Their strict observance of the Law of God through the leadership of Prophet Moses was not isolated from their socio- economic life. Tribute and taxation became a big issue both in the religious and political arena of their times. The Roman occupation of Palestine did not only threaten their faith and fate. But first and foremost, if deprived them of their natural and economic resources which led the majority of them to poverty, beggary, and banditry. In the highlight of the Jewish history, they considered imperialism as a direct violation of the First Commandment of God. l or them, colonization was inconsistent with the realization of the Year of the Lord Lk. 4:19) - the imminent actualization of the shalom. The Gospel of Luke presented Jesus as the implementer of new form of economy which is consistent with the essence of the Jubilee Year and the material aspect of the kingdom of God. Luke- the evangelist described the economic principles, teachings, and practices of Jesus as the immediate solution to the major socio-economic and political issues during that time. It was interpreted by the religious authorities and political leaders as an act of seduction against Roman’s economic and foreign policy. Jesus preferential for the poor and marginalized people of the land gave Him a mark as one among their national revolutionists. However, Luke maintained the view that Jesus did not agree with the principle of arm struggle as the only mean to achieve socio-economic reforms, for him, Jesus inaugurated the existence of borderless community through His movement where everyone who is willing to repent and to become His disciple is welcome. In this Gospel, Luke recorded many historical accounts related to the socio- economic and political condition of the Jews that were directly challenged by Jesus. He elaborated the economic background of Jesus and his parents as in the lineage of the 1Anawin the economic principles of Jesus were both counter-culture and pragmatic in nature. Many crowds and members of the local elite were attached to join in Jesus’ movement because they found his economic principles and programs as nationalistic, pro-masses, humanitarian, and egalitarian. Indeed, no doubt that Jesus' economic principles and programs were very effective and successful so that even though he was not with his disciples (because of his ascension), still Jesus’ movement continued to live with that economic principles and growing in its membership as of these days (Acts 6:11ff). The economic principles of Jesus actualized the given provision of God in the Scriptures about how the people of God will live economically and materially especially on the most crucial stage of the socio-economic condition of those people who remained faithful to their covenant with God. It served as a viable paradigm for those who want to make a great difference to the economic life of others. And in his encounter with the power groups, Jesus stood among them as prophet, priest and servant of God. He ministered and taught them to live within the economics of God’s kingdom where everyone served as brother, friend, and good neighbor to each other. Moreover, the marginalized and disinherited of the land found him as their champion and Messiah who challenged the governance of the Romans and rebuked the inconsistence administration of the ruling elite. The historical and biblical findings helped the thesis writer in making his theological reflections as something relevant and commendable for the present government, Christian churches, and Ministers of God. His Christological study would like to break the dividing line between Theology and Economy, between Materialism and Spirituality which only law theologians have enough courage and wisdom to pursue. It is also the deepest prayer of the author that his theological reflections and findings will inspire and convince every reader to live within the economic principles of Jesus and become his powerful agent in creating the kind of economy (economic life) wherein everyone can enjoy, share and live in the true spirit of egalitarianism and brotherhood amidst the existing life difficulties and differences. Abstract only Fri, 01 Mar 2002 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3999 2002-03-01T00:00:00Z