Christianity in Southeast Asia

Faith without boundaries

John Roxborogh

Readings (STM course 2006)

Session  

Module One : Introduction, historiography and methodology

1 Introductions and expectations. Making sense of the assignments.
Identity and Geography: "Whose idea is Southeast Asia?"

Benda, H J. "The Structure of Southeast Asian History: Some Preliminary Observations." Journal of Southeast Asian History 3, no. 1 (1962): 106-38.

Keyes, Charles F. "Being Protestant Christians in Southeast Asian Worlds." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27, no. 2 (1996): 280-92.

Smail, J R W. "On the Possibility of an Autonomous History of Modern Southeast Asia." Journal of Southeast Asian History  2, no. 2 (1961): 72-102.

2 "What has mattered and how do we decide?" Timelines and Themes

Gillman, Ian, and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Christians in Asia before 1500. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999, 307-313.

3 How has the story been told; how does it need to be told?
Reviewing the literature and other resources and identifying what is needed

Roxborogh, John. "Contextualisation and Re-Contextualisation: Regional Patterns in the History of Southeast Asian Christianity." Asia Journal of Theology 9(1) (1995): 30-46.

Steenbrink, Karel A. "The Rehabilitation of the Indigenous. A Survey of Recent Research on the History of Christianity in Indonesia." Exchange. Journal of Missiological and Ecumenical Research 22, no. 3 (1993): 250-63.

   

Module Two : Telling the story : a tale of two centuries

4 SEA Christianity in the 19th century

Roxborogh, John. Early nineteenth-century foundations of Christianity in Malaya : churches and missions in Penang, Melaka and Singapore from 1786-1842. Asia Journal of Theology 6 Ap 1992, p 54-72.

5 SEA Christianity in the 20th century

Roxborogh, John. "Christianity in South-East Asia, 1914-2000." In The Cambridge History of Christianity World Christianities C.1914-C.2000, edited by Hugh McLeod, 436-49. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

 

   

Module Three : Common Experiences and Recurring Issues

6 Continuity, Syncretism and Power in Primal Societies

Amster, Matthew. "New Sacred Lands. The Making of a Christian Prayer Mountain in Highland Borneo." In Sacred Places and Modern Landscapes : Sacred Geography and Social-Religious Transformations in South and Southeast Asia, edited by Ronald A Luckens-bull, 131-60. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, 2003.

Aragon, Lorraine V. Fields of the Lord : Animism, Christian Minorities, and State Development in Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000, chapter 6 "Sacrificial dialogues and Christian ritual qualifications" pp.202-239.

Cohen, Erik. "Christianization and Indigenization: Contrasting Processes of Religious Adaptation in Thailand." In Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity, edited by Steven Kaplan, 29-55. New York: New York University Press, 1995.

Russell, A. Sue. Conversion, Identity, and Power : The Impact of Christianity on Power Relationships and Social Exchanges. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999, pp1-14.

 7 Christian faith in the context of Buddhism and Chinese folk religion

DeBernardi, Jean. "The Localization of Christianity among Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia." In Chinese Populations in Contemporary Southeast Asian Societies : Identities, Interdependence and International Influence, edited by M. Jocelyn Armstrong, R. Warwick Armstrong and K. Mulliner, 123-50. Richmond: Curzon, 2001.

Keyes, Charles F. "Why the Thai Are Not Christians: Buddhist and Christian Conversion in Thailand." In Conversion to Christianity : Historical and Anthropological Perspectives on a Great Transformation, edited by Robert W Hefner, 259-83. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1993.

Ngata, Judith. "World Religions as a Source of Power among Chinese Women in Malaysia." In Chinese Populations in Contemporary Southeast Asian Societies : Identities, Interdependence and International Influence, edited by M. Jocelyn Armstrong, R. Warwick Armstrong and K. Mulliner, 151-87. Richmond: Curzon, 2001.

Phan, Peter C. "The missionary strategies of Alexandre de Rhodes." In Mission and Catechesis : Alexandre De Rhodes and Inculturation in Seventeenth-Century Vietnam, Faith and Cultures Series. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1998, chapter 3, pp.69-106.

Tamney, Joseph B., and Linda Hsueh-Ling Chiang. (2002). "The religious market in Sinitic societies" in Modernization, globalization, and Confucianism in Chinese societies, Religion in the age of transformation,. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, chapter 6, pp155-185, 221-224.

8 Christianity in the environments of Island SEA

Hefner, Robert W. (1993). "Of faith and commitment: Christian Conversion in Java." In Conversion to Christianity : historical and anthropological perspectives on a great transformation. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, chapter 4, 99-125.

   

Module Four : Institutions and Identity

9 The CCA and FABC

Fox, Thomas C. (2002). Pentecost in Asia : a new way of being church. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 7-21.

Philip, T V. "Christian Conference of Asia: A Historical Overview." Asia Journal of Theology 9, no. 1 (1995): 2-29.

10 Theological Education and the Future of the Church

Yeow Choo, Lak. "Theological Education in South East Asia, 1957-2002." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 28, no. 1 (2004): 26-29.

Other articles included in the Reader for the STM 2006 course

Chareonwongsak, Kriengsak. "Megachurches for Christian Minorities: Hope of Bangkok." In Planting and Growing Urban Churches. From Dream to Reality, edited by Harvie M Conn, 211-21. Grand Rapids MI: Baker, 1997.

Francisco, José Mario C. "Christianity as Church and Story and the Birth of the Filipino Nation in the Nineteenth Century." In World Christianities, c. 1815-1914, edited by Sheridan Gilley and Brian Stanley, 528-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Holtrop, Pieter. "The Governor a Missionary? Dutch Colonial Rule and Christianization During Idenburg's Term of Office as Governor of Indonesia (1909-16)." In Missions and Missionaries, Studies in Church History. Subsidia 13, edited by Pieter Holtrop and Hugh McLeod, 142-56. Woodbridge: Published for the Ecclesiastical History Society by the Boydell Press, 2000.

Keyes, Charles F. "Why the Thai Are Not Christians: Buddhist and Christian Conversion in Thailand." In Conversion to Christianity : Historical and Anthropological Perspectives on a Great Transformation, edited by Robert W Hefner, 259-83. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1993.

Koschorke, Klaus. "The World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh 1910 and the Rise of National Church Movements in Asia and Africa." In Transkontinentale Beziehungen in Der Geschichte Des Aussereuropèaischen Christentums. Transcontinental Links in the History of Non-Western Christianity, edited by Klaus Koschorke, 203-17. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002.

Phan, Peter C. "Christianity in Indochina." In World Christianities, C.1815 - C.1914, edited by Sheridan Gilley and Brian Stanley, 513-27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Roxborogh, John. "Ministry to All the People? The Anglican Church in Malaysia." In The Ministry: Clerical and Lay, edited by W. J. Shiels and Diana Wood, 423-31. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.

Sakhong Lian, H. Religion and Politics among the Chin People in Burma (1896-1949), Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia ; 80. Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2000, chapter 5, "The coming of Christianity to East Chinram" pp.191-229.

Steenbrink, Karel. "Five Catholic Theologians of Indonesia in Search of an International or Local Identity." Exchange. Journal of Missiological and Ecumenical Research 29, no. 1 (2000): 2-22.

Widiasih, Ester Pudjo. "A Survey of Reformed Worship in Indonesia." In Christian Worship in Reformed Churches Past and Present, edited by Lukas Vischer, 175-93. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.