Jackson Wu - Page 62 of 62 - Doing Theology. Thinking Mission.

Death By a Thousand Cuts

November 14, 2012 By Jackson Wu

When people think about the cost of being a missionary, they typically think about being martyred, thrown in prison, or something like that. On the other extreme, many never become missionaries because they can’t imagine “suffering” without iPhones and college sports on the TV. In reality, missionaries leave the field because of what I call “death by a thousand cuts.” The daily stresses of living cross culturally are like numerous small cuts upon the mind an emotions. Some things include… Read more

Premarital Counseling for Arranged "Left Overs"?

November 12, 2012 By Jackson Wu

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I could use your suggestions on a matter. We recently met with a couple soon to be married. First, there are a few things one needs to understand about how Chinese view the “getting married” process. Chinese faced extreme pressure to get married by the age of 30. There’s even a word for unmarried women 30 or older––剩女, which means a “left over woman.” Men face similar pestering though it’s a bit less intense. For Chinese believers, the pressure is… Read more

(Mis)understanding Honor, Shame, or Face? (Part 1)

November 9, 2012 By Jackson Wu

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I quickly found out when writing my dissertation that Westerners have very little grasp for concepts like honor, shame, and face. Today, I begin to address this problem. Future posts will hopefully shed a little better light in the matter. Westerner really don’t “get” honor and shame. This is really unfortunate for multiple reasons. 1. These are human ideas, not merely eastern or medieval notions. 2. The Bible is saturated with honor-shame language. To understand so much of Scripture, one… Read more

The Chinese Way––Contextualizing the Gospel for the Chinese (book review)

November 8, 2012 By Jackson Wu

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Read a new book recently and posted my thoughts on it under book reviews. I’ve included below some of what I say in my review: “The Chinese Way––Contextualizing the Gospel for the Chinese is based on a Master of Theology dissertation written by Tan Hann Tzuu, a researcher and the Director of the Malaysia Baptist Centre for Christianity and Malaysia Studies. At present, The Chinese Way is only available as an eBook from Amazon. This short, easy to read book… Read more

Context is King

November 6, 2012 By Jackson Wu

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“Context is King” is should be the first thing Christians learn as soon as they start reading the Bible. My family and friends can recite this adage in their sleep because they hear me say it all the time. Unfortunately, I have found I shouldn’t expect even seminarians to grasp the significance of this majestic phrase. “Surely you exaggerate,” you might say, “what is all that significant about a simple little three word phrase?” Let me first explain what the… Read more