Social Transformation Beyond the Church, Says Theologian

TTC professor tells Christians to engage society but at the same time to be realistic about their involvement

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 Posted: 2:19:29AM HKT

Attendants at a lecture conducted yesterday by Dr Roland Chia, Professor of Christian Doctrine at Trinity Theological College, at St Andrew's Cathedral. (Photo: CP)

A prominent local theologian has called on Christians to be realistic about their role vis-a-vis society at large.

It is beyond the ability of the Church to transform the world on a macro, societal level. This is something only God can achieve.

As for Christians, they are called merely to be witnesses, of God’s justice and love in word and service, according to Dr Roland Chia, a professor of Christian doctrine at Trinity Theological College.

The theologian was speaking yesterday at St Andrew’s Cathedral as part of its annual education programme. Around 100 attendants packed the hall where the lecture, on Christians in the public square, was conducted.

Because Christianity is a personal faith and yet with public implications, Christians should engage society on an individual, daily basis in their lives and at their workplaces, and also be involved in public discourse.

Nonetheless, the Church should have a sober view of the extent to which it can impact society, Dr Chia, 49, stressed.

Christians should realise that the social and political order is beyond their ability as humans to change and that “political and social engagement is not the quick way to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth”.

Such thinking has the tendency to degenerate into ‘liberation theology’ where even violence can be justified as a means to the ends of the Church, the theologian warned.

For the record, Christians have brought about societal changes, he admitted, but they have been only of a ‘limited’ and ‘partial’ nature, and even then not without ‘monumental’ struggle.

Rather than attempting to change society through organised effort, Dr Chia urged Christians to accept ‘modest’ gains in the social and political arenas so as to secure the possibility of further improvements.

Christianity, he highlighted, is essentially a form of politics, though not a politics of domination, exclusion and violence, but a politics where Christians are willing to suffer vulnerability, rejection and defeat.

The theologian urged Christians to be willing to compromise on matters of ethics and policy while holding uncompromising principles.

During his talk, Dr Chia also urged believers to be humble and civil in their engagement with people they disagree with. Christians, for instance, should not denigrate others.

In the end, the most important form of engagement Christians could engage in is by falling to their knees in prayer.

More than organising political and social movements in a vain attempt to transform the world, Christians should pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth, the theologian said.

Christians do not need to put on massive public displays. They make a profound political statement just by “going to church every Sunday”.

The St Andrew’s Cathedral Christian Education Programme was started in 2005 to lay the biblical foundations for a holistic spirituality to equip members for service.

“We… want to help our people to be rooted in the Word of God and to know God’s purpose in their lives as [individuals] as well as [members of] a community,” said The Revd Peter Chen, 60, the priest in charge of the 11.15 am congregation that gathers on Sunday and the head of the Christian Education Programme at St Andrew’s Cathedral.

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com