The theology of choan - seng song

Abstract

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 For many mission agencies today, the geographical aspect of the definition of "Third World" has been superseded by that of "an emerging consciousness on the part of deprived and relatively powerless people, wherever they live - an emerging awareness of their condition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.