The Believing Heart: An Invitation to Story
Theology by C S Song
(Augsburg Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1999)
Choan-Seng Song is Professor of Theology
and Asian Cultures at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkley
and Regional Professor of Theology at Southeast Asia Graduate
School of Theology in Singapore. He is originally from Taiwan
and his theology is grounded in the reality of Asia. This book
offers a powerful challenge to all who take their Christianity
for granted. Song explains that the God that Christianity often
portrays is a very limited God. One of his major challenges is
to enable God to be a God for all and not just for Christians.
He challenges the churches, the theologians and all who belong
to Christian communities to re-examine who God is and where God
is operating. Song believes that Jesus, in proclaiming the reign
of God, consists of human dramas. The reign of God happens
in the life and history of people as individuals and as a community
(p 42).
Hence, as the sub-title indicates, Professor Song
situates his theology in human stories, human dramas. From these
stories, he reflects on the meaning of such concepts as hope,
love, faith. He maintains that these concepts are to be situated
within the lives of people, rather than be debated in theoretical
terms. When the latter happens, God becomes removed from the lives
of people. God becomes an abstract concept, rather than a creating,
nurturing being involved in the pain and the joys of all people.
Professor Song writes beautifully, engrossingly
and with a deep concern that the God he loves becomes the God
to whom all people can meet in the reality of their lives. This
book asks many questions that Western Christians may never have
encountered before. It invites Christians to explore new ways
of reflecting on the Jesus story and how non-Western cultures
can relate to this most significant of Christian stories.
C S Song has written several works exploring contemporary
Asian theology including Theology from the Womb of Asia
(1986) and Third-Eye Theology (1979).
