Reflection on IASACT 2006 /Mai-Anh Tran

“I invite you to the valley of dry bones!” (Ezekiel 37:1f) David Kwan-Sung Suh declared in his meditations for the opening worship of IASACT on June 11, 2006. Held in an “upper room” chapel of the Theology Building of Chung Chi College in Hong Kong, the 5:00 P.M. service kicked off the fourth six-week Institute for Advanced Study of Asian Theologies and Cultures.

“Perhaps the places that you have come from are valleys of dry bones,” the dean of IASACT continued. “Perhaps you are weary, overextended, or tired of the competitiveness endemic to academic institutions. Come to be replenished,” he invited us. “Come alive as passionate scholars…in search of truth, goodness, and beauty!”

The nineteen scholars of the Institute listened with quiet intensity. Still slightly damp from the afternoon walk around the campus in the midst of heavy rain, we each listened for clues about what is to come in the next six weeks of research and study time together. The format of the Institute was clearly stated, though not yet real in our minds. Of the nineteen scholars present, sixteen were scholars engaged in teaching, researching, and, for some, Ph.D.-dissertation writing from various institutions of higher education in Asia. Four were selected from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. We represented a variety of research interests within various academic disciplines—namely, theology, sociology, history, Christian spirituality, art history. From a variety of academic backgrounds and countries of origins, we each had applied and were accepted to participate in a six-week stay in Hong Kong in order to live together in a college dormitory, to conduct individual research, to write, and to engage in dialogue with one another across languages, cultures, religious affiliations, and disciplines. “What have we gotten ourselves into?”, many of us wondered silently.

 The six weeks unfolded in ways unexpected. After the first week of orientation and opening lectures, we followed an agenda choreographed with intention and precision by Dean David Suh. With D. Preman Niles and Kenan Osborne serving as guiding senior colleagues and “mentors,” we each took a turn to present our respective work every evening for lively conversation. Individual research was conducted during the daytime at our own desired pace. Meals were shared at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After just a week of negotiating bathroom spaces and shower schedules, one came to deeper appreciation of the fact that “dialogue” is often more meaningful—and disagreements genuine, respectful, and intense—when we have to live together, eat together, and can laugh together.

The richness of conversations can be evident in the paper topics presented over the six weeks:

·        a theology of the environment from an Indonesian perspective

·        a cross-cultural look at the “role of the mind in the spiritual life”

·        a Myanmar Christology revisited

·        an argument for the practice of a life-cycle ritual called Sukhwan for Lao-Thai Christians

·        an analysis of contextual theologies for Taiwan

·        a multi-layered study of identity negotiations of Japanese Brazilian migrant workers in Japan

·        a history of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Filipino Independent Church) reclaimed

·        a biographical narrative on the life of a single woman missionary educator in China and India

·        an analysis of contemporary women’s movements in China

·        a case study on Christian pacifism in China and Japan

·        a discussion on the concept of pativrata (ideal womanhood) in India

·        an inquiry into primal religions in the context of globalization

·        a case study of Chinese Christian spirituality

·        an exploration of cultural and religious convergence in art

·        an ethnographic study of Chinese Indonesian Muslims

·        a re-articulation of soteriology through the Filipino concept of ginhawa (total well-being)

·        a sociological study of religion and digital technology

·        a case study of the Chinese Christian indigenization movement in Hong Kong

·        a narrative study of identity negotiations for Vietnamese immigrant women in the U.S.

These topics are but a modest sample of the repertoires of current work and potentials for future study of Asian cultures, religions, and theologies both in Asia and in North America. If anything, IASACT has succeeded in replenishing nineteen more of what theologian David Suh had envisioned as “inspired scholars,” “passionate artists,” and “committed intellectuals,” who have returned home to “give breath” to their respective communities.

(IASACT is sponsored by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, in partnership with the Graduate Theological Union.)