Dreaming Shalom：Journeying Together For Peace in Asia

本書論文出於2020年12月10-11日的以Dialogue on Religions and Cultures for Peace in Asia為主題的國際會議。 序 The Asian continent is different from other continents. Its nations are spread over the Pacific Ocean and segregated by the waters. Its lands gave birth to almost all world religions, and lead to the creation of a multitude cultures with splendid spiritual and material recourses. It is a continent containing countries who have commonly experienced colonization, poverty, and threats from hegemonic neighbors as well as coercion by world empires. Asian people are religious people, and they have been shaped by different religions to become peace–loving peoples despite having had very little time to truly enjoy authentic peace along their histories. Recent political and military experts have predicted that Asia, particularly Eastern Asia (Korean Peninsula, Taiwan strait, and the Southern Sea area), is the likely hot zone for military conflicts that may indeed become the spark that ignites the third world war. The United States has announced deployment of two thirds of its naval forces to this area to counter potential threats from China’s hegemonic ambitions and activities. Thus dreaming peace for Asian people is not simply a theoretical consideration, but a concrete life–and–death reality. Yet, how do we realize that dream and how to dream it from different religious and theological perspectives are urgent issues to be dealt with. The contents of this collection are papers borne out of the hard labors of many theological scholars from over thirteen Asian countries and beyond which were presented at our international theological conference on December 10-11, 2020. The actual participants stretch over many more countries. It was a hybrid virtual conference held via Internet on site at the campus of Chang Jung Christian University, Taiwan. It was held cooperatively by 5 Asian theological movements and institutions: Asian Forum for Theological Movement (AFTM), Programme for Theology and Cultures in Asia (PTCA), Asian Theological Academy (ATA), Chang Jung Christian University (CJCU), and Academy for Contextual Theologies in Taiwan (ACTT). It was an unprecedented theological event that joined so many organizations as hosts, and attracted scholars from diverse background and so many countries. I am deeply thankful to the leadership of all these organizations for their support and cooperation. The hybrid style of online and on–site virtual conferencing may be considered a peculiar contribution of the Covid Virus pandemic. It certainly will be a new normal to be practiced continually even after the virus pandemic is over. Besides all these, the product of this book is a contribution and salute of ACTT to all those churches and Christian fellows in Asia who have done tremendous efforts to materialize the Shalom dream to our people and our land. Glory be to God. Huang Po Ho Director, Academy for Contextual Theologies in Taiwan March 10, 2021