About Face

Christopher L. Flanders

Description

"For Thais, face is a fact," writes Flanders. However, "whether in theology, evangelism, or issues involving sin, salvation, or atonement, Thai Christians and missionaries alike seem either uninterested in or possibly incapable of addressing issues related to face. This glaring incongruity between the value of face for Thais and the lack of intentional engagement within the Thai Christian community is deeply troubling.
"Surely, such a lack of careful attention to face is a dangerous posture. Uncritical views of face, furtively attaching to the theology of the Thai church, are potentially detrimental for its life and mission. Such seems to be an unavoidable situation without proper attention to face. Additionally, to ignore face is to run the risk of missing valuable cultural resources, implicit in the Thai experience of face, for the critical task of authentic Thai theological reflection.
"This lack of engagement with face raises critical issues with which we must wrestle. How is it that such a central sociocultural issue has not been a more significant part of the Thai Christian vocabulary or experience? How pervasive are these negative attitudes regarding face? What lies behind them? Might this lack of self-conscious engagement with face have any relationship to the persistent Thai perception of Christianity as a foreign, Western religion? How should Christians understand this notion of face and how it relates to the ways we understand and proclaim the gospel?"

Sujets

• Religion
• About Face
• Christianity
• Theology
• Denomination
• Christian Church
• Group
• Christian Theology
• Denominations

Informations

• Publié par: Wipf and Stock Publishers
• Date de parution: 07 mars 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781498275323
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

About Face


Rethinking Face for 21st-Century Mission





Christopher L. Flanders



American Society of Missiology Monograph Series
vol. 9








ABOUT FACE
Rethinking Face for 21 st-Century Mission

American Society of Missiology Monograph Series 9

Copyright © 20 11 Christopher L. Flanders. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8 th Ave., Suite 3 , Eugene, OR 97401 .

Pickwick Publications
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8 th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

isbn 13 : 978 - 1 - 60899 - 523 - 3
eisbn 13 : 978-1-4982-7532-3

Cataloging-in-Publication data:

Flanders, Christopher L.

About face : rethinking face for 21 st-century mission / Christopher L. Flanders

x + 312 p. ; 2 3 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

American Society of Missiology Monograph Series 9

isbn 13: 978-1-60899-5 23-3

1 . Interpersonal relations—Religious aspects. 2 . Interpersonal communications—Religious aspects. 3 . Interpersonal conflict—Religious aspects. 4 . Missions. I. Title. II. Series.

BV601.8 F45 2011


Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Books published in the American Society of Missiology Monograph Series are chosen on the basis of their academic quality as responsible contributions to debate and dialogue about issues in mission studies. The opinions expressed in the books are those of the authors and are not represented to be those of the American Society of Missiology or its members.
Table of Contents Title Page Introduction Part One: The Loss of Face Chapter 1: Cultural Disconnect and the Foreignness of Thai Christianity Chapter 2: Sources of Prosopagnosia (Loss of Face): The Modern Western Self Chapter 3: Sources of Prosopagnosia (Loss of Face) Part Two: Recovering Face Chapter 4: Face and Facework Theory Chapter 5: Theoretical Reflections on Thai Face Chapter 6: A Description of Thai Face Part Three: Preserving Face Chapter 7: Theological Anthropology and a Christian Understanding of Face Chapter 8: A Theological Framework to Orient Face Chapter 9: Reconceiving the Soteriological Task Chapter 10: Salvation in the Context of Thai Face Chapter 11: Conclusions and Recommendations Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F Appendix G Appendix H Appendix I Bibliography



American Society of Missiology Monograph Series
The ASM Monograph Series provides a forum for publishing quality dissertations and studies in the field of missiology. Collaborating with Pickwick Publications—a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Oregon—the American Society of Missiology selects high quality dissertations and other monographic studies that offer research materials in mission studies for scholars, mission and church leaders, and the academic community at large. The ASM seeks scholarly work for publication in the Series that throws light on issues confronting Christian world mission in its cultural, social, historical, biblical, and theological dimensions.
Missiology is an academic field that brings together scholars whose professional training ranges from doctoral-level preparation in areas such as scripture, history and sociology of religions, anthropology, theology, international relations, interreligious interchange, mission history, inculturation, and church law. The American Society of Missiology, which sponsors this series, is an ecumenical body drawing members from Independent and Ecumenical Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and other traditions. Members of the ASM are united by their commitment to reflect on and do scholarly work relating to both mission history and the present-day mission of the church. The ASM Monograph Series aims to publish works of exceptional merit on specialized topics, with particular attention given to work by younger scholars, the dissemination and publication of which is difficult under the economic pressures of standard publishing models.
Persons seeking information about the ASM or the guidelines for having their dissertations considered for publication in the ASM Monograph Series should consult the Society’s website—www.asmweb.org.
Members of the ASM Monograph Committee who approved this book are:
Michael A. Rynkiewich, Arbury Theological Seminary
Judith Lingenfelter, Biola University
Roger Schroeder, SVD, Catholic Theological Union
Previously Published in the ASM Monograph Series
David J. Endres, American Crusade: Catholic Youth in the World Mission Movement from World War l through Vatican ll
W. Jay Moon, African Proverbs Reveal Christianity in Culture: A Narrative Portrayal of Builsa Proverbs Contextualizing Christianity in Ghana
E. Paul Balisky, Wolaitta Evangelists: A Study of Religious Innovation in Southern Ethiopia, 1937–1975
Auli Vähäkangas, Christian Couples Coping with Childlessness: Narratives from Machame, Kilimanjaro
To Cara







Introduction
For Thais, face is a fact. 1 Indeed, the issue of face represents a basic concern for many, perhaps most Thai people. 2 Even Thais who self-consciously resist playing the face “game” 3 still must live their lives in a society that remains profoundly attached to face. Face, however, constitutes a problematic, particularly for Thai Christianity. Such a problem rests in the fact that Thai Christians and non-Thai missionaries alike have generally failed to engage the issue of face. Yet face, as a critical and central issue in Thai culture, demands such an engagement.
During ten years as a missionary in Thailand, I increasingly became aware of this fact, noting a disturbing tendency of missionaries who would inevitably underestimate the importance of face and face-related issues in Thai culture. Given the critical importance face holds for many Thais, this lack of awareness was alarming. Some seemed nearly oblivious to Thai face issues and certainly unaware of the salience of face in everyday Thai life. Yet, even those more aware of the importance of face in Thai culture held unhelpful postures. Such attitudes often took the shape of either uncomfortable ambivalence about, or at times, outright hostility toward, face.
This might not have been so troubling if simply a missionary deficiency. Yet, even Thais, who as a whole are profoundly occupied with face, did not appear to reflect on this issue in a substantive way. Such neglect was apparent in Thai Christian literature. One looked in vain to find any critical discussion or reflection upon the topic, either by missionaries or by Thai Christians. Also, in classes, sermons, and informal discussions with Thai Christians, the issue of face did not seem to constitute an area of focal attention. 4 Even when addressed, the topic paralleled the more negative assessment of the missionary community. Thai believers did not make face a point of explicit and intentional engagement from a Christian perspective.
Thus, whether in theology, evangelism, or issues involving sin, salvation, or atonement, Thai Christians and missionaries alike seem either uninterested in or possibly incapable of addressing issues related to face. This glaring incongruity between the value of face for Thais and the lack of intentional engagement within the Thai Christian community is deeply troubling.
Surely, such a lack of careful attention to face is a dangerous posture. Uncritical views of face, furtively attaching to the theology of the Thai church, are potentially detrimental for its life and mission. Such seems to be an unavoidable situation without proper attention to face. Additionally, to ignore face is to run the risk of missing valuable cultural resources, implicit in the Thai experience of face, for the critical task of authentic Thai theological reflection.
This lack of engagement with face raises critical issues with which we must wrestle. How is it that such a central sociocultural issue has not been a more significant part of the Thai Christian vocabulary or experience? How pervasive are these negative attitudes regarding face? What lies behind them? Might this lack of self-conscious engagement with face have any relationship to the persistent Thai perception of Christianity as a foreign, Western religion? How should Christians understand this notion of face and how it relates to the ways we understand and proclaim the gospel?
In this book, I contend that this lack of adequate attention to face illustrates a significant dimension of a cultural disconnect between the life of the Thai church and the broader cultural context in which it exists. That face has not been on the theological “radar screen” in Thailand is attributable partly to missionaries who have often been oblivious of or significantly averse to face. This has had the effect, I believe, of engendering the same type of lack of concern for face among Thai Christians. The theological concerns of missionaries, which Thai Christians subsequently adopted, did not contain a place for face and thus ultimately subverted face questions. It seems a Western theological agenda has subtly but effectively inoculated the Thai church against face.
In an unpublished monograph written nearly three decades ago, Joseph R. Cooke ( 1978 ) suggested that t