Thursday, September 15, 2011

A Critique of Koinonia from the Chinese Perspective

I'm currently reading the book Introducing Asian American Theologies by Jonathan Y. Tan.  As I was reading, this passage that Tan quotes from Asian American theologian, David Ng, really stuck out to me in light of the in-fighting between Christian groups and even within congregations.
To capture the richness of the New Testament sense of community the Chinese borrowed terms from Chinese understandings of family and community. These terms carry no sentimental sense of camaraderie and unity of like-minded agreeable folks who choose and create their own "fellowship," as is often the case in North American churches...The Confucian sense of family is that this unit is bonded together. But the bond is not by choice - we do not choose our parents or siblings, we are simply family and always will be - family is a "given". Were we to disagree or fail to get along, or even if one of us is a horse-thief (or a heretic), we continue to relate to each other and continue to be in solidarity. And, as a family, we are responsible to each other and for each other.
All I could think of was... wow... he gets it.. and here we sit arguing about music styles, specific doctrines, liturgical standards, etc...  I am shamed.
What do you think?  Does Ng have it right?  Or is he missing the point?

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