Talking about “Face” in Chinese

Last updated on: November 12, 2013 at 8:20 am By Brad Vaughn

How do you use Mandarin to talk about honor and shame (i.e. “face”)? What if you don’t speak Chinese? For those not interested in speaking Chinese, there’s still plenty here to help you learn about how language reveals culture. Some observations may help people think about how to use language to share God’s message, regardless of one’s cultural settings. Presuming to exhaust the depths of Chinese honor-shame language is laughable. There are hundreds of words and idioms that convey variously... Read more

What if the rich, young ruler had been Chinese…?

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 7:49 am By Brad Vaughn

Western Christians make a big deal of the rich young ruler story (Matt. 19:16–29; Mark 10:17-30; Luke 18:18–30). The account has become the quintessential expression of a legalist trying to earn his salvation. Is this interpretation correct or is it just a caricature of the rich man? Our understanding of the story matters significantly because it shapes the way many people perceive a sinner’s problem and thus do evangelism. To explore this question further, let us consider what we would... Read more

Benny Hinn is Coming to China

Last updated on: November 4, 2013 at 8:00 pm By Brad Vaughn

This is a warning for those living anywhere near the Beijing and Shanghai areas. Benny Hinn is coming to China in December. Here is an excerpt from an interview in which he announced his visit. The following comes from an article by CharismaMagazine titled, “Benny Hinn: The Anointing Is Still in Operation.” Hinn: Doors are swinging open. I’m going to China, by the way, if you can believe it. I’ve been invited to preach in two cities, Shanghai and Guangzhou,... Read more

When Short-Term Workers Don’t Contextualize

Last updated on: October 31, 2013 at 8:25 am By Brad Vaughn

Short-term volunteers are a major part of mission strategy. Long-term missionaries have mixed feelings about the benefit and best use of a volunteer team. However, there is broad agreement about one point: short-term volunteers need more pre-field preparation. Although this topic deserves multiple blog posts, for now, I want to focus on one area in particular—contextualization.I am frequently saddened to find long-term workers relatively unconcerned or unfamiliar with the whole notion of contextualization. Therefore, it is not surprising that many... Read more

Contextualization Gone Wrong

Last updated on: October 30, 2013 at 8:20 am By Brad Vaughn

Here’s a beautiful example of what contextualization does not look like. Related articles The Gospel with Chinese Characteristics (www.patheos.com/blogs/jacksonwu) Train Short-term Workers to Do Contextualization (Orientation Packet) (www.patheos.com/blogs/jacksonwu) When Short-Term Workers Don’t Contextualize (www.patheos.com/blogs/jacksonwu) — my next post Read more

How many posts per week? (a poll)

Last updated on: October 28, 2013 at 8:34 am By Brad Vaughn

Help me by taking a quick poll. Someone suggested that they needed more time between my posts in order to digest what all I was saying. Previously, this has been my typical plan: Two posts per week Published on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (East Asia time) I try to make each post substantial Each post averages between 500-800 words However, I’d like to hear from you. Given the kind of posts I write, are two posts per week too... Read more

A Chinese Perspective on Justification

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 7:53 am By Brad Vaughn

How would I outline a Chinese perspective of justification? I could write a book on this, so I’ll have to limit this sketch to a few simple points. Some of these ideas or developed more in chapter 5 of Saving God’s Face.First, I need to make one clarification. I’m prescribing what should be the case. I’m not describing what Chinese pastors actually preach. This is because evangelical pastors in China have thoroughly western theologies. Why is this? Let’s not forget.... Read more

Theology is Like Making a Baby

Last updated on: October 22, 2013 at 8:21 am By Brad Vaughn

In talking about justification, Paul first answers the who-question, then the how-question. That was the point of my last post. Why does it matter? Why order matters Sadly, Western theology rarely stresses the identity question; instead, the greater emphasis is given to the how question (how is one justified?). Why do the Jedi masters of theology confuse the “who?” and “how?” questions? If we only talk about “achieved righteousness” (i.e. works vs. faith), we can quickly lose the historical context... Read more

The "Old Perspective": Right Answer, Wrong Problem?

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 8:07 am By Brad Vaughn

The traditional perspective on justification gives a right answer to the wrong question. As a consequence, many people are teaching a true but nevertheless westernized view of justification. We can do better than this. In the last post, I explained that Paul’s Jewish opponents not only wanted “achieved righteousness” (per traditional Protestant teaching); they also believed in “ascribed righteousness.” That is, they thought the honor of being reckoned righteous was a privilege given only to Jews. Therefore, the Jews confused... Read more

The Problem of "Ascribed Righteousness"

Last updated on: October 15, 2013 at 8:20 am By Brad Vaughn

Chinese culture may help us reconcile the “New Perspective on Paul” (NPP) and the traditional view of justification. Accordingly, we can also expect the NPP debate to have key implications for ministry in China and elsewhere. In a previous post, I offered two graphs that summarize the NPP and the traditional “Old Perspective on Paul (OPP). Now, I want to bring the two together in the graph below. The left side represents the way the OPP understands the Jewish problem... Read more