Globalization and Asian Theology:
 A Burmese Christian Perspective

Samuel Ngun Ling ^[1]

Prologue

The globalization of the present world's economy, combined with other secular forces, has shaken the very foundations of religious societies all over the world, making our global relations less spiritual and even unethical. Economic globalization has also affected the moral and socio-cultural integrity of the Asian rural masses, especially the rural "youth bulge", to borrow a phrase from Huntington, in a column of Newsweek International Magazine^[2]. These Asian rural youth, whose ages are between 16 and 30, are products of this rapidly changing global technological-information age. Due to rapid changes and challenges in the global economy and technology, it is necessary for Asian Christian thinkers today to keep pace in order to theologically deal with their impact on youth values and culture. In other words, as globalization is impacting life and living, it is important for Asian Christian thinkers to provide some theological reflections. A great question for theological educators in Asia today is whether theological education provided in Asian seminaries is qualitatively relevant in this globalized situation.

Over the past decades, higher education in America shifted from having been grounded in the Christian faith to being secular. Such a secularized model of education is not fit for nations where spirituality or religiosity is deeply entrenched. Needless to say, the spiritual and moral inspiration of many religious bodies worldwide has been dealt a severe blow by economic globalization. In their co-authored book, The Abandoned Generation: Rethinking Higher Education^[3], William H. Willimon and Thomas H. Nayler, chapel dean and economic professor of Duke University, point out how American education has failed to invest in the student's life a sound spirituality. Theological education as such is like a "soul-less education", that is, "an education without sound moral character"^[4], to borrow the terms of Martin Luther King.

How Globalization Affects Life in Asia

Many leaders in Asian countries these days assume that in spite of some considerable benefits, globalization has created social disintegration, inequality, poverty and endangerment to the human environment. Through a vast network of marketing systems, globalization has brought about the widening income gap between the rich and the poor both at national and international levels. The richest quarter of the world's population saw its per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) increase nearly six times during the 20th century, while the poorest quarter of the world's population had a per capita increase of only three times^[5]. A third world country like Myanmar is still not included in this reference of income growth. Myanmar is far behind the global competition. She is ranked along with Laos as one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Because of its long-standing exclusion from the international community and global market relations, Myanmar impoverished herself almost to the point of socio-cultural, educational, economic, and political collapse.

Isolationism has provided Myanmar with two inter-linking consequences. The first is being detached religiously and culturally from the demonizing forces of globalization that would bring about mono-cultural homogenization to the country. The second is being detached economically from the global market competition. The former apparently resulted in the revitalization of Buddhist faith and practices made possible through renovation of old and construction of new Buddhist pagodas, temples, and meditation centers, and the veneration by the country's leaders of Buddhist monks and their merit works at Buddhist pagodas. It is reported that the number of Buddhist meditation centers has increased this year in cities like Yangon and Mandalay, and that these are mostly for commercial (i.e., tourism) rather than for spiritual purposes. Myanmar has the largest number of meditation centers in the world, with a total of 28 this year^[6]. She is "benefiting from a worldwide trend because increasing number of foreigners (468 in 2002 and 471 in 2003) have been coming here to learn meditation techniques."^[7] Amazingly, one can also see in recent years an increasing number of Christian orphanages, centers for the blind and disabled, nursery schools and small Bible schools in Yangon, many of which were founded for commercial purposes. The latter consequence (economic detachment) can be explicitly seen through acts of many foreign investors withdrawing from the country and the imposition of economic sanctions upon Myanmar by the European Union (EU) since March 2003.

The key question here has to do not with the impact of globalization but with the technical know-how to deal with this new and forceful phenomenon in the most responsible way. As for Myanmar, can Burmese Buddhism or Christianity respond to it in the Burmese way as it responded to socialism in the past as the �Burmese Way to Socialism�? Can the religious forces of the Burmese way resist or curve the trends of globalization as Vinay Samuel, executive director of the Oxford Center for Mission Study, asked in a recent keynote address?^[8] Is the Buddhist or Christian theology in Myanmar a �candidate�, to employ the terms of Vinay Samuel, to resist globalization? Are the Buddhist and Christian religious leaders in Myanmar getting ready to boldly face or to meaningfully redirect the homogenized streams of globalization? As a matter of fact, globalization has already turned Myanmar into a tool of cultural homogenization in a very limited and unpleasant way. It provides opportunities only for the power holders or a few elite who are a minority, leaving the majority hopeless in their abject condition. Again, it has directly benefited only the ruling class, while continually reinforcing the legitimacy of military power in the country.

The open market system that is controlled by the few elite has brought about moral corruption, disintegration of socio-cultural life, collapse of educational system, and instability in political life. Due to a lack of competent management skills, Myanmar continues to suffer from abject poverty. Its severely restricted �open-door� policy to the world has worsened the condition of people�s lives, ranging from economic and political injustices to religious exploitation. As one example, at the levels of high school and primary school, many teachers spend more of their teaching hours doing private home tuition than school instruction simply because of low income paid by the government. Private tuition gets them to earn three, four or more times than their monthly salaries paid by the government. As a result, basic school education in Myanmar today has gradually become centered on home-based paid system, which many poor families from minority groups cannot afford^[9]. All these factors show how restricted access to globalization affects life in Myanmar.^[10]

New Shifts in Asian Theological Thinking

In the globalized culture of today, the effects of capitalism have become a determining factor in many aspects of human life. Communism, fascism, socialism and monarchism have collapsed and global-oriented economic forces, with neo-democratic ideologies, seem to be making headway in various parts of the world. Globalization produces a life philosophy of profit and loss (winners and losers). Everywhere money is being deified as the supreme god of our age. We are almost silent on the issues of refugees, migration, illegal workers, child labor, forced labor, trafficking of women and children, environmental crises, and so on. People talk more about opportunities and preferences elsewhere, but less about liberating the suffering people. We cannot be concerned only about a small group of our people but for all people. We cannot be concerned only about our religious practices but also with business, trade, mass media, communication and technology as these have become part of our reality. With this in mind, the orientation of our theological education and the methods of doing theology in Asia and Myanmar must be reconsidered in relation to the changing global outlook and context. Any Asian theology that does not tackle the relative global context and which is not itself affected by the changing global context would not be effective or relevant to the Asian context.

C. S. Song, who wrote about the 'global village', said that nations and peoples become interdependent for better or for worse so that people are expected "to think globally, strategize globally, even dream globally."^[11] In this sense, the emergence of new shifts in Asian theological thinking that can appeal convincingly to the neo-context of globalization is highly demanded. We need to develop a new approach in Asian theology that can address the various issues and challenges brought about by the present global reality. For Christians in Myanmar, any theology developed out of today's changing context must have global relevance; it must critically transform the traditional patterns of Christian and Asian values. Such a transformed shift in Christian theology may be pursued without undermining either the existing Asian cultural values or the emerging global forces with their ideological inspirations. Globalization has come to be, whether we welcome it or not, a neo-context for doing theology in Asia and Myanmar today. Hence, a new methodology for doing theology in Asia and Myanmar needs to be sought out.

Expanded Critical Asian Principle

The �critical Asian principle�^[12] strongly advocated by Emerito P. Nacpil, former dean of Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology, and other Asian theologians and adopted by consensus at a Taiwan meeting of the Association of Theological Schools in Southeast Asia in 1975, needs to be reaffirmed and expanded for today's changing Asian-global context. The reason is that Asia today no longer exists for Asia alone, but is part of the global village. The �critical Asian principle� which was adopted almost 30 years ago by Asian theologians to be used for contextualization in Asia needs now to be expanded in order to cope with the rapid changing situation of Asia and her relation to the global world. We need a new principle, an �Expanded Critical Asian Principle� with a global reference. The earlier �critical Asian principle� adopted by Asian theologians was mainly confined to its theological focus on Asian territory and Asian religions, cultures, experiences and histories. It "seeks to identify what is distinctively Asian and uses this distinctiveness as a critical principle of judgment on matters dealing with the life and mission of the Christian community, theology, and theological education in Asia."^[13] But the theological focus of the �Expanded Critical Asian Principle� must be on a wider global frontier or arena, taking into account all that is happening around Asia and outside Asia to help articulate a new relevant theology for Asia and the world.

In Myanmar, globalization affects the urban and rural communities through a limited scale of open market system, which creates only a limited chance of exploring individual freedom, choice, and preference. This means that the positive aspects of globalization come to the poor masses in a way that is very competitive and limited, benefiting only the powerful and the rich. With such limited impact, young people from many poor families in rural areas are leaving their home villages for the cities or other countries with the hope of finding better jobs for the survival of their families.

In view of all this, Myanmar Christians and theological educators need to move to new stages of theological thinking. The first stage is to shift theological thinking from the missionary pattern to more indigenous ways of theological expression. This stage can be seen explicitly in the various literary and socio-cultural works being carried out by each indigenous church in the urban and rural areas. The second stage is towards an ecumenical way of thinking and praxis. This is still in the process of implementation under the leadership of the Myanmar Council of Churches. These two theological trends have played a dominant role in theological education in seminaries and Bible schools and in the faith-expressions of indigenous churches. The third stage is towards a broader global concern, including that of inter-religious dialogue and of the environment. This can be actualized with the participation of church leaders at institutional levels. This stage is emerging steadily, with no strong impact yet, in the theological soil of churches in Myanmar.

It is time for churches in Myanmar to talk about the fourth stage: how globalization affects the lives of poor families, how it is changing the directions of Myanmar Christian thinking, and how these changes need to be responsibly addressed by churches in Myanmar and Asia.

Globalization and Missionary Models of Asian Theology

Much of Asian theological thinking and tasks were done in the past with our inherited western scholarship and thought forms. Christianity itself grew and was shaped in western socio-cultural religious norms and forms. There is no doubt that Christian theology in Asia was deliberately imported from the west and its theological forms and structures were explicitly an imitation of the west. Doing theology in Asia in the past had been a monopoly of western Christian thinkers and intelligentsia. Many typical Asian Christians, including the first generation of Christians in Myanmar, still remain loyal to the milky teachings of the missionaries.^[14] These Christians often oppose new theological ideas or teachings that seem to them unthinkable and unrelated to what they had heard or learnt from their missionaries. For them, following verbatim what their missionaries taught them is the same as obeying the divine will, and doing whatever would honor their missionaries and missionary-trained church leaders is like honoring Godself. Therefore, they hold a one-sided view that whatever comes from the west is good and absolute. Indoctrinated as such by western missionaries, their usual responses to globalization tend to be positive and accepting rather than questioning and resisting. They see only the advantages of globalization while ignoring its negative effects. This however does not mean that the other Christians are all resistant to globalization. For globalization is an economic force to which different people respond differently regardless of age and faith.

With the end of the missionary era, the monopoly of Asian Christian thinking by the west has already been minimized and replaced with a broader concept of ecumenical theology through the phrase, "wider ecumenism," to borrow a term from John Macquarrie.^[15] This 'wider ecumenism' should not mean "a leveling down to uniformity or some sickly syncretism, but a loyal pursuit of the vision of the kingdom as given to each of us, with the recognition that others are advancing to the same goal by different routes."^[16] In the light of this concept of 'wider ecumenism,' the claim of Adolf von Harnack, a leading figure of traditional theology, that "The man who knows Christianity knows all religion,"^[17] has no more validity. The reality of Asian plurality has affirmed the fact that Christianity is one among many voices. Asia herself is, culturally speaking, not one but many. Furthermore, Asia exists not only for Asia but also for and in relation to the rest of the world.

The point here is not to have a one-sided or uncritical theological point of view, that is either too much western or only eastern, but a broader view that is all embracing and is globally valid in the Asian-global context. My vision is not necessarily to get confused with the relativist conception of �world theology�,^[18] but to travel with Christ in his ongoing journey of global salvation. What needs to be clarified here is this: just as constructing a Christian theology in the western context produced a theology fashioned in western style and form,^[19] constructing a theology in the eastern context would produce a theology fashioned in eastern form. Hence, both theologies (western and eastern) need a global paradigm towards a critical world theology. The issue is not the message (kerygma) of theology but the contexts (global and Asia) of theology.

Globalization and Indigenous Responses of Christian Theology

Different in thought and view from traditional Christians, the second Christian group in Asia and Myanmar, those who are strongly in favor of indigenous ways of doing Christian theology, is deliberately opposed to forces of globalization today. Comprising mainly of patriotic and nationalistic Christians, they see globalization as a political tool of western neo-colonialists. They often minimize the positive impact of globalization and view it with full suspicion in terms of its homogenizing cultural forces. The theological outlook that these indigenous people often hold tends to be provincial in their scope. In fact, many consider globalization nothing more than economic exploitation. In contrast to the first group, this group assumes that whatever comes from the west is tainted with selfish and exploitative agendas, hence, it is not good for Asia and other third world countries.

As a result of this negative view or attitude towards the west, there is also a decrease in interest in the study of western philosophy and theology among Asians today. Globalization therefore has brought about more anti-western rather than pro-western spirit in Asia. This is happening among Asian Christian leaders and seminary students. Training Asian Christian scholars only in Asia will produce in the long-run an attitude of 'Asia for Asia alone' among future Asian Christian theologians and church leaders, and it will widen the intellectual gap between Asia and the West in the future. Such 'we for us' attitudes will not only limit the scope of our Asian theological outlook but will also alienate Asia from the rest of the world, especially the west.

In my view, neither the west nor the east can do what is right and best for the world and for itself. One will be valued only when it is related to the other. Western theology will have more value only when it is studied in relation to Asian theology, and vice versa. But today, just as only a few seminary students in the west have interest in the study of Asian theology, there are also less and less seminary students in Asia with interest in the study of western philosophy and theology. The first reason for this in Asia may have to do with the painful experiences of western imperialism in the past. The second may be because of the increasing loss of confidence in western Christianity itself. This may have to do more with western theologians and Christians. Many people of other faith today argue that since western theologians and Christians have lost confidence in their own religion, i.e. Christianity, they are now turning to the Orient for new spirituality, making academic inquiries on eastern religions and philosophies, expecting that they would become enlightened by them.^[20] The third reason could be the aggressive resurgence of Asian religions (e.g., during U Nu and Ne Win periods in post-independent Burma) and the rise of nationalistic movements in Asia in the past fifty years.

These factors, among many others, have enabled Asian theologians and Christians to begin formulating a theology that is free from "neo-teutonic captivity"^[21], the captivity to the new western global world (especially European and American) theology. Myanmar has a different historical condition especially in relation to western imperialism and globalization. Many of the Christians in Myanmar belong to different national ethnic groups such as Karen, Chin and Kachin, with the main and largest ethnic group, Burmans, as Buddhists. In terms of their response and attitude to Christian mission, tribal Christians tend to be seen as more pro-western than the Burman Buddhists. Nevertheless, as Burman Buddhists view Christianity as part of western cultural imperialism, so the tribal Christians see any process of western movements such as globalization as endangering to their cultural identities. For tribal Christians, to become Christian does not and never has meant being westernized or shedding identity.

To conclude, it is important to note that neither Asian theology nor western theology exists alone. No theology stands alone. De-westernized Asian theology could be one-sidedly absorbed into what Hendrick Kraemer called "formidable opponents"^[22] of religions in the east. The point here for Asian Christians is neither to confuse with indigenous values the construction of Asian theology nor to ignore the significant values of the changing global realities in the formulation of Asian theology. The questions to ask ourselves here are: Do we rely too much on western approaches to eastern religions in order to develop Asian contextual theology out of Asian resources? Do we take into account today's changing global resources in order to update our Asian theology? Do we pay too much attention to Asian problems while ignoring important global issues in Asia and the world?

In this respect, church doctrines such as doctrines of God, Christ, sin and human predicament, which are crucial and fundamental in traditional Christian theology, may need to be redefined or recast in relation to the changing Asian plural context. Values of such Christian doctrines need not be minimized, though their outer western cultural accessories need to be purged or removed.

Finally, if we are to follow the critical Asian principle which Emerito P. Nacpil proposed, we must be critical of our own Asian context, and then of its relation to the global context. Both localization and globalization must be significant components of our ongoing theological inquiry so that we may develop a living theology that is not confined or dead-locked to any particular time and context but is ever relevant to the changing global and Asian contexts. Then theology becomes something that is for all times and for all contexts.

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