Asian Case Studies on Translating Christianity brings historical expressions of Asian Christianity into contemporary theological conversation. The book offers case studies of Jingjiao Christianity in Tang China, the Jesuit mission in Ming China, indigenous theology in colonial Korea, and contemporary Asian-American theology. The case studies especially examine how the names and understandings of the Trinity have been changed in the processes of borrowing, erasing, and elevating the meanings of Eastern local concepts to translate the message of Christianity. Not only are these diverse expressions of Christianity unique and valuable in and of themselves, but they testify that diverse understandings are a God-given phenomenon. Heejun Yang draws on contemporary theological hermeneutics to argue that it is the self-communicative nature of God that helps articulate the diverse understandings of God in these cases. Yang posits the Triune God as both the starting and ending points of the Christian hermeneutic process and claims that this understanding can be a way for the church to embrace different Christian communities while moving forward in their own unique complexities.
Heejun Yang is adjunct professor at Greensboro College.
By weaving together the theological insights of Jingjiao Christianity, the Jesuit mission in Ming China, Indigenous theology in colonial Korea, and contemporary Asian-American theology in the postcolonial era, Dr. Yang articulates an Asian Trinitarian theology that is historically informed, systematically rich, pastorally sensitive, and culturally appropriate to the Asian context. Dr. Yang's work is a splendid addition to the growing corpus of Asian theology and is a solid contribution to Trinitarian theology. I strongly recommend it not only for courses on Asian theology but also for courses on the Trinity in general. --Peter C. Phan, Georgetown University Hee Jun Yang has not only given us a fascinating demonstration of the continuing vitality of Trinitarian theology as it has impacted Asian theology. Yang also shows how the Trinity, encountered through Asian theology, has relevance for all Christian thought about God who comes to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. --Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School If the distinctively Christian deity is self-revealed as Trinity, Heejun Yang is emerging as a significant voice for a robustly trinitarian understanding of God in the global theological conversation. This, his second book, extends the argument that Christian theology is inculturatable only if trinitarianism is the beginning and end of theological reflection as well as the hermeneutical method that unlocks how Christian faith makes sense of secularism, culture, and history. These Asian case studies confirm the power of this trinitarian lens for theology, whether West or East, or wherever in our migrational and globalizing world. --Amos Yong, Fuller Theological Seminary
