5. The Paper I Presented
My paper has been published on the Union of Catholic Asian News as follows:

ASIA UCAN Document - 'Living Our Faith in Asia's Social Context'
KUALA LUMPUR (UCAN) - Christians in Asia should not be surprised that part of their calling is to suffer, says Sherman YL Kuek, an adjunct lecturer in systematic and contextual theology at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia.

Kuek shared this insight in a paper he presented on behalf of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) during the fourth seminar of the Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU IV), held June 12-14 in Kuala Lumpur.

Besides the CCA, the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia (EFA) and the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) also took part in AMCU IV.

Kuek's main interests are contextual theological methodologies and the recovery of the "Great Tradition" in the theological thought of the Christian community. He also promotes ecumenism in his travels to speak with Christians of various backgrounds and traditions. He says this helps him to reflect on faith, life, and culture in a profoundly theological and yet simple way.

Besides those involvements, he is currently writing a doctoral thesis on contextual theology with Trinity Theological College in Singapore, and he regularly adds new material to his own blog (www.ShermanKuek.net).

The full text of Kuek's paper at AMCU IV follows:

LIVING OUR FAITH IN ASIA’S SOCIAL CONTEXT
Sherman YL Kuek, OSL

[A brief paper presented on behalf of the Christian Conference of Asia at the fourth seminar of the Asian Movement for Christian Unity held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 11 to 14 June 2007]

I. Suffering - the Most Distinct Social Attribute of Asia
Asia is probably the most difficult area of the world to make generalisations about. It is fraught with a series of diverse realities which the Christian church has to constantly grapple with. 1) Asia experiences economic diversity. The polarity of this economic diversity is incredibly broad, ranging from the poverty of Bangladesh (one of the poorest nations in the world) to the wealth of Japan (one of the economically most affluent nations in the world). The majority of the economies are linked to those of the developed world, particularly the West, in a relationship of dependence. 2) Asia experiences political diversity, for within it we find socialist regimes, monarchies and liberal parliamentary democracies. One important trait of Asian politics (which frequently remains little understood by Western political entities) is that the masses of Asia are generally excluded from the decision-making process of society. 3) Asia experiences cultural and religious diversity. Religion is indelibly entrenched within the life and history of Asia. Asia constitutes the homeland of the great religions of the world - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Other religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism and various less prominent religions also find their birth in Asia.

In attempting a more detail delineation of these various diversities within the social context of Asia, one finds a most distinct attribute of Asia’s social context - suffering. Suffering is inescapably innate within each of the Asian social dimensions identified above. 1) Asia experiences economic suffering. More than 85 percent of Asians are said to be suffering from poverty and oppression of some kind. Within the economic arena, the gap between the rich and the poor is ever escalating rather than decreasing. 2) Asia experiences political suffering. Countries such as North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia have all experienced suffering in the form of wars. Japan has constituted both a source of suffering (particular through the World War II) and a recipient of suffering (for example, through the loss of two major cities from being wiped out by atomic weapons during the World War II). 3) Asia experiences religious suffering. Countless Christians in Asia, for example, are suffering for their faith. In China, underground seminaries train their pastors methods of withstanding persecution in the event that they get arrested. In Muslim-dominated countries, evangelism and conversion are deemed punishable by execution. In such countries, non-Muslims (or dhimis, to apply the traditional designation) are accorded nothing more than a mere second-class status.

(To be continued...)