Although Jesus was born in the western part of Asia, it was not until fifteen hundred years later that Asia experienced the full impact of Jesus' personality and teaching. Western missionaries, the primary transmitters of Christianity, left behind a Western understanding of Jesus. Today, Asians are seeking the face of the original Jesus - his Asian face. For them, all understanding of Jesus arise out of their particular contextual needs. Enriching the Western understanding of Jesus, Asians employ new interpretative resources, cultural symbols, and thought patterns as they make sense of Jesus for their own time and place.

Drawing on the twin themes of liberation and inculturation, Peter Phan explicates a new theology forged in the cauldron of the encounter between two vastly different cultures. He devotes particular attention to the meaning of Christ for Asian Americans and the emergence of new christological titles -- Jesus as Eldest Son and Ancestor. Phan also explores his personal roots to sketch the contours of Vietnamese American theology, an expression of faith caught between the Dragon and the Eagle. Book jacket.

Gospel, Culture and Transformation explores the practice of mission especially in relation to transforming cultures and communities. Mission as Transformation has become a mainstream definition of mission in orthodox Christian circles, especially in the Two-Thirds World and among those involved in ministry with the poor. Vinay Samuel has played a leading role in developing this understanding of mission which he defines as follows: Transformation is to enable God's vision of society to be actualized in all relationships, social, economic and spiritual, so that God's will may be reflected in human society and his love be experienced by all communities, especially the poor. Christian faith is faith in the incarnation of God in a particular place in history so all theology should have to do with the particular. This work studies mission in the work of the leading Indian Mission Theologian, Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel between 1984-1996. It is taken from the author's larger work Seeking the Asian Face of Jesus (Wipf and Stock, 2011). Lamin Sanneh (D. Willis Professor of Mission and World Christianity, Yale University) wrote of that book, Dr. Sugden brings a sharp theological focus to bear on issues of context, identity and cultural particularity . . . The literature on contextual theology and situational ethics now has a standard to rise to. A companion volume, Mission as Transformation, is edited by Viney Samuel and Chris Sugden (Wipf and Stock, 2009).

This collection in five volumes tries to realize the desideratum of a comprehensive interdisciplinary work on the manifold faces and images of Jesus in China, which unites the Sinological, mission-historical, theological, art-historical, and other aspects. The first three volumes (vols. L/1-3) contain articles and texts which discuss the faces and images of Jesus Christ from the Tang dynasty to the present time. In a separate volume (vol. L/4) follows an annotated bibliography of the Western and Chinese writings on Jesus Christ in China and a general index with glossary. The iconography, i.e., the attempts of the Western missionaries and the Chinese to portray Jesus in an artistic way, will be presented in the fifth volume of this collection (vol. L/5). "This unique ongoing project continues to open a new, vital lens to learn more about China in its intellectual and cultural dimensions." John Witek in Journal of Asian Studies

This collection in five volumes tries to realize the desideratum of a comprehensive interdisciplinary work on the manifold faces and images of Jesus in China, which unites the Sinological, mission-historical, theological, art-historical, and other aspects. The first three volumes (vols. L/1-3) contain articles and texts which discuss the faces and images of Jesus Christ from the Tang dynasty to the present time. In a separate volume (vol. L/4) follows an annotated bibliography of the Western and Chinese writings on Jesus Christ in China and a general index with glossary. The iconography, i.e., the attempts of the Western missionaries and the Chinese to portray Jesus in an artistic way, will be presented in the fifth volume of this collection (vol. L/5).

This book examines how the Asian Catholic bishops have received and put into practice the reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council. With a good reason the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference can be described as Asia’s continuing Vatican II.