Dreaming of Dumplings
Daniel and I dropped our final episode of Season 2 of Awkward Asian Theologians over the weekend, tackling the theme of nostalgia.
I have written about in a two part series (here and here) and had also touched on the topic slightly in a presentation to the Dawson Society on the vice of Acedia some years ago. I did give a presentation squarely on nostalgia as a vice at a recent conference of seminary rectors in Brisbane, though in my eagerness to present it, I neglected to record it.
However, Daniel and I did tackle nostalgia head on, and we talked about this in two respects.
In the first instance, we tackled it as a tendency within new migrants, particularly in their tendency to compare the host country with the country of origin (and finding the former wanting). In the second instance, we tackled it as something that Christians, in particular those from Churches with rich historical heritages, can entertain, though in a manner that might present with spiritual problems.
In a manner similar to the migrant, the Christian stricken by nostalgia will compare the past heritage with the present situation in the Church and find the present wanting. More to the point, where it becomes a particularly spiritual issue is when, as a subset of the vice of Sloth, the person stricken by nostalgia will look to the present and consider it either a mistake made by God or abandoned by God altogether.
Ultimately, as we pointed out in the podcast episode, nostalgia has less to do with the past as with the present, and even more to the point, our own disposition with respect to the present.
You could listen to our episode on nostalgia in full here. Following a break, we will return with season 3 in January 2026.
In the meantime, you could walk down memory lane and revisit past episodes of the season or even our very first season.
As an aside, if you have been enjoying our episodes of Awkward Asian Theologians, could I ask you to consider doing one of, if not all of, these possible actions:
Follow our show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, to stay updated on new episodes as they come.
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While our quantitative listenership has been somewhat down in numbers in Season 2 compared with Season 1, we remain encouraged by the qualitative fact that our listeners in Season 2 are more engaged with our material, and we are incredibly grateful for your feedback and reviews.
We look forward to providing you with all new content in January 2026.
