Making Asians Great Again

By now, many would be waking up to the news of the election of the new Pope Leo XIV. The result was highly unexpected by pundits.

While it is too soon for us to make any comments on the new pope, over at our podcast Awkward Asian Theologians, we did drop our episode on the previous pontificate of Pope Francis.

In addition, Daniel and I dropped another episode over the weekend. This time, it is a two part series on faith.

This episode was spurred on by a 2023 post on Daniel’s blog Time of the Church, entitled “Bearing Witness in Asia”. Reflecting on Daniel’s experience of an Alpha Conference specifically catering to the Asian region, and with my tongue firmly in my cheek, I asked Dan if Asian faith was any different from the faith in general.

Regular listeners to the podcast would probably know the answer to this question. If the faith is one centred on the incarnate Lord, then that incarnate Lord (as John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Redemptor Hominis) would have walked down every conceivable path of man. If this is the case, whilst there is a faith universal, there is no “faith in general” because a faith incarnate would be incarnated in specific times and places, and thus experienced differently in various times and places.

Against this backdrop, we discussed some of the contours of the experience of the Church in Asia, particularly its minority status in most of the region, which then makes matters like interreligious dialogue, considered an unnecessary luxury in the West, a priority that has implications for the very existence of the Church. We also turned our attention to some preconceptions about faith in the region, especially the oft touted connection between the spread of the faith and the role of the colonial powers.

Listen to the episode in full, entitled “Making Asians Great Again”, with part 2 following next Saturday.

Support Awkward Asian Theologian on Patreon, and help make a change to the theological web.