A few days ago, Rev. Franklin Graham held a sharing session of gospel with the theme of love, joy and peace in Yangon, Burma. The session lasted three nights, attracting more than 170,000 people. 7600 people decided to believe in God after the session.
The main religion of Burma is Buddhism. Few people believe in Christianity so the session is relatively a success. The churches in China need to learn from the experience of the evangelicals in America. They should also think about whether to select foreign theologies or create their own theology.
As a Christian group with international influence, Franklin Graham has clear positioning of theology and his own views on events at home and abroad.
For example, Franklin Graham encouraged Christians in 50 states to vote in the presidential race of the USA. After Trump was elected, he showed congratulations to Trump and the new vice president Mike Pence.
In this age of information, the church should have a clear attitude towards social issues. It is obvious that the church needs to think about their own theology comprehensively and objectively.
Different kinds of theological thoughts have emerged in the history of Christianity, which has lasted more than 2000 years. The development of theology can be divided into five stages: The early Christian theology, medieval theology, religious reform theology, enlightenment theology, modern and contemporary theology.
In terms of the current trends of theology, there are social theology, liberal theology (which including the theory of evolution, the radical theology, women theology), new orthodox theology (including interpretations of theology, dialectical theological, existentialist theology and crisis theology), Fundamentalist Theology, evangelical theology, localization theology, post-liberal theology. Some new thoughts are also arising such as spiritual theology, ecological theology, cultural theology and public theology.
With the deepening of China's reform and opening-up, all kinds of theological thoughts have entered China. For example, the mission led by Franklin Graham has landed on Mainland China for many times since 1988.
The 88-year-old famous German theologian Jurgen Moltmann had a conversation with six domestic well-known philosophy experts in Renmin university of China on October 15, 2014. Under the theme of "China and political theology" and "Theology of Hope and China's future," they discussed the topic of life, religion, peace, ecological and hope.
Christian groups in Mainland China need to make their own judgment and choice faced with all kinds of new ideas.
There have been fundamentalist theology, religious reform theology, evangelical and Charismatics in the history of Christianity in China.
So we can't say that the church in China lacks its own theological thoughts. However, we need to answer the questions of believers and work out their puzzles.
Furthermore, the selection and innovation of theology are conducted in order to answer the questions in reality and find the solutions. In fact, during the transition period of the society, almost all the Chinese people are faced with many challenges and confusion.
Their pressure, anxiety and confusion come from the problem of children's education, their job, marriage, family affairs and living standards. All these need to be answered from the angle of faith and reality.
At the same time, the church still needs to make judgments and take actions when it comes to some traditional social problems such as disease, poverty, drug abuse and crime.
The church should also show its attitude towards some common phenomena such as abortion and homosexuality. The voice of the church also needs to be heard when major events at home and abroad such as housing price fluctuations and industrial upgrading take place.
These problems and phenomena are rarely involved in the traditional theology or foreign theology. The church in China must take the responsibility of this era through the selection and innovation of theology.
Looking at the evolution of modern and contemporary theology, different theological thoughts emerged to solve the outstanding problems of specific periods and regions. Women theology was to protect women's rights. Ecological theology was to protect the environment. The gospel of success was to solve the problems which emerged during economic growth.
We cannot judge these theology thoughts are right or wrong. What matters most is to give theological solutions to these new problems. We should think deeply about the innovation of theology and make theological response to the reality.
Translated By: Emma Ma
