# 445: BOOK OF THE WEEK — “Discovering the Bible in the Non-Biblical World”
Story behind the Book Choice
Reading a book for a class on the History of Mission is something I could not have imagined a fear years ago. Maybe that is a sign that things are moving. That I am moving. Maybe a sign that I am also moving other people with who I am and what I do. Doing what is right is full of obstacles nowadays. Institutions corrupt. They tear your heart apart. They make you forget that you have a body because feeling that body causes too much pain. But some of us are lucky and blessed. We learn that there is more than ego and greed. We learn that a thing such as “unconditional love” does exist. We learn to trust in the unknown; in something that is much bigger than we can ever be.
Missionaries have been motivated by the inner calling to bring this message and the fulfilment it brings to people all over the world. Much of this is part of a very dark history of imperialism and oppression. But as we learn day by day, the world is not black and white. It has many different colors and shapes. And Christianity is not just black and white either. Most importantly: You need to learn to find your own “God,” your own faith, your own sense of belonging to something bigger. And hearing about the Bible and the wisdom it brings can be start, I guess. It can be the beginning of a new life.
I do not know where I would be if I had not been given this new life more than ten years ago.
Still, it has been a long path ever since.
And there is a rocky road ahead of me.
1. Unacademic
Pui-lan Kwok is an academic. Yes, she was born in Hongkong but educated in the U.S. We should not forget about this. Still, it is her “mission” to teach the world about Christianity in the “East,” in Asia, above all, in China. When I traveled to China more than ten years ago, it was a fascinating experience. I only got a short taste of the country. And it did not affect me in a way that I went back there. Still, I can see what Kwok means by “non-biblical” world. Yes, we are complaining about how everyone is turning away from religion and our Christian roots. Still, the traces of this past are everywhere. Just drive through a town and you will see many churches, our calendar is filled with Christian holidays and our values are shaped by the Bible — like it or not.
It is remarkable to read how an academic catches herself judging articles by other women from Asia in an Asian journal as “unacademic.” That is the legacy of university education in the West. It is shameful — not only because it changes your set of values. It untrains you from being human, from feeling compassion, from being emotional and thus YOURSELF — the way God wanted you to be. Kwok realizes this about herself. That is great. Most academics forget that. They have to — otherwise they would not be and remain where they are. It is up to them to assess whether they are happy and fulfilled where they are. I can only assess where I am now. And I can say that I thank God for saving me from becoming what others have become.
2. Spoken word
How far have we moved away from our human roots that we have forgotten about the fact that the words we speak are most powerful? How can it be that writing and the mass production of texts that hardly anybody reads can determine the master narrative of education? I feel so blessed that I was able to go to all these places in the world where people hardly read because they cannot read. This is why they tell each other stories. This is how stories survive. This is how people survive because these stories give them strength and comfort when there is nobody else. This is what the Bible has been doing for millennia. I still feel ashamed to have discovered all this so late. I had to read hundreds of books to discover that all the stories have already been told in one “big story.”
But it is never too late to start a new life.
“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10,39)
3. Multi-faith hermeneutics
The Knower and the Known can never be separated. We are our own stories. Everything that has happened to us in life has become part of our bodies and souls. It is stored there for ever but it is not there to bind us. It is supposed to liberate us from our own chains. What we learn becomes wisdom at some point. But only if we allow spirituality to touch us, to polish and order everything that is already there. Above all, that means saying good bye to our ego. That takes many loops. But at some point that process takes you to a new place in life. It is a place where you just enact your knowledge; you live what you know without having to speak any word because you can pass on this knowledge which becomes wisdom by just smiling or touching — in sum, by just being YOU.
Reflection Questions
1) Did you ever catch yourself adopting and applying the value judgement of an institution? If yes, what did you do when you noticed it?
2) How do you think about missionaries? Do they bring more good than harm to foreign countries?
3) What do you think differentiates knowledge and truth? Do you think knowledge helps one find “the truth”?