The theological imagination of Choan-Seng Song: A constructive study of Christian theology in Asia

The thesis of this study seeks to prove and to demonstrate that the theology of Choan-Seng Song is both valid and relevant as a theological construction for the Asian settings. The validity of Song's theological method is first shown in his use of theological imagination. The study begins by surveying a short history of imagination theory in western philosophy (Hume, Kant, Coleridge, Sartre, and Ricoeur) and in contemporary theology (Kaufman, McFague, and Tracy). As a practical theologian, Song does not develop a theory of imagination but his use of imagination is mutually complementary to the western discourse. Song fully recognizes and reclaims the power of the theological imagination to free theology from the confines of the western tradition and to enter into the concrete settings of Asian history and culture.; If imagination is the formal cause of Song's theology, storytelling can be seen as the material cause of his thought. In reclaiming the non-Christian Asian stories and folktales as theological resources, Song succeeds in expanding his theological vision to the world not shaped by Christianity or the western culture.; Finally, a review of Song's christology demonstrates how Song's theological imagination and his story theology transform in practice the traditional Christian doctrine of Christ into a living faith in Asia. In Song's christology, Jesus becomes the living story of the people. The crucified Jesus reappears himself through a confluence of Jesus stories with people's stories.; This dissertation provides a methodological grounding for and a clear thematization of Song's theological insights, which offer a clear direction for a theological movement that can be shared and acknowledged by all Christian theologians or whoever strive and dedicate themselves for Christ and for Asia.