Western Christianity in Search of Wholeness and Renewal

Abstract

Many emotionally starved westerners who are only marginally acquainted with the essence of the Christian movement are looking eastward. “Their East may be totally strange to the East; it may be a western religious projection,” says Professor Spae. Nevertheless, much of western Christianity may well need to learn from the East in order to experience its own wholeness. One is reminded of Eliade's analogy: the discovery of exotic and primitive arts in Africa half a century ago opened up new perspectives for European art. In the current East-West encounter, the author suggests seven possible directions that theologians, missiologists and educators might advocate.