Being Protestant Christians in Southeast Asian Worlds

Abstract

The five cases of Protestant Christian practice in Indonesia and Thailand presented in this symposium are used to develop a sociology of Protestantism in Southeast Asia. A review is first undertaken of the history of Protestant missionary activity in Southeast Asia. Protestantism, it is observed, insists on the ultimate authority of the Bible. This authority has not been accepted by Southeast Asians until they have access to the Christian message in their own languages and they are motivated to adopt Christian practices as a means to confront deep crises in their lives. The establishment of Protestant Christianity has entailed the interpreting of the Christian message with reference to the non-Christian contexts in which Protestants in Southeast Asia live.

Protestant conversion and social conflict: The case of the Hmong in contemporary Vietnam

“…37 Protestantism's appeal lies precisely in the promise of economic betterment combined with the re-creation of a kin-like voluntary community, which, because of its apolitical stance, creates a 'free cultural space' for these groups. 41 Several scholars share Keyes's view in their analyses of Southeast Asian peoples who convert once they realise that their old beliefs no longer enable them to navigate the new world that they have come to live in. 38 Such a positive assessment is not shared by Charles Keyes in his overview of Protestantism in Southeast Asia.…”

Chapter Seven. The "Short-Waved Faith": Christian Broadcasting And Protestant Conversion Of The Hmong In Vietnam

“…It is said that the Americans tend to be among the most religious people of the world today. 2 Missionary outreach is a strong Christian tendency, but for the Americans it is even more of a life goal (Keyes, 1996). Religious broadcasting since its very beginning has been an integral part of American culture, first domestically and then it was only a matter of time before some organizations would seek to extend this activity to other parts of the world, where Christians were in the minority or even altogether absent.…”

For/Against Hybridity: Religious Entrepreneurships in a Roman Catholic Pilgrimage Shrine in Malaysia

“…In the particular case of missionary (and transnational) Christianity, some of these afore-mentioned themes have informed a number of studies on the changing fortunes of Christian missions in the Southeast Asian geographical region (interalia, David, 1988;Ileto, 1992;England, 1996;Keyes, 1996;Koshy, 2004). Despite being statistically a minority religion in most countries in the region (with the exception of the Philippines), institutional Christianity arguably exerts an infl uence disproportionate to its numbers because of its missionary convictions, organisational strength and transnational connections.…”