Meaning and Controversy within Chinese Ancestor Religion

240 Pages·2018·2.29 MB·English

by  Paulin Batairwa Kubuya (auth.)

ASIAN CHRISTIANITY
IN THE DIASPORA
MEANING AND
CONTROVERSY WITHIN
CHINESE ANCESTOR
RELIGION
PAULIN BATAIRWA KUBUYA
Asian Christianity in the Diaspora
Series editors
Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Earlham School of Religion
Richmond, IN, USA
Joseph Cheah
University of Saint Joseph
West Hartford, CT, USA
Asian American theology is still at its nascent stage. It began in the 1980’s
with just a handful of scholars who were recent immigrants to the United
States. Now with the rise in Asian American population and the rise of
Asian American theologians, this new community is an ever-important
voice within theological discourse and Asian American cultural studies.
This new series seeks to bring to the forefront some of the important,
provocative new voices within Asian American Theology. The series aims
to provide Asian American theological responses to the complex process
of migration and resettlement process of Asian immigrants and refugees.
We will address theoretical works on the meaning of diaspora, exile, and
social memory, and the foundational works concerning the ways in which
displaced communities remember and narrate their experiences. Such an
interdisciplinary approach entails intersectional analysis between Asian
American contextual theology and one other factor; be it sexuality,
gender, race/ethnicity, and/or cultural studies. This series also addresses
Christianity from Asian perspectives. We welcome manuscripts that
examine the identity and internal coherence of the Christian faith in its
encounters with different Asian cultures, with Asian people, the majority
of whom are poor, and with non-Christian religions that predominate
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in which Christianity has re-centered itself in the Global South and
among the racialized minorities in the United States, it behooves us to
listen to the rich, diverse and engaging voices of Asian and Asian American
theologians.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14781
Paulin Batairwa Kubuya
Meaning and
Controversy within
Chinese Ancestor
Religion
Paulin Batairwa Kubuya
Fu Jen Catholic University
Taipei, Taiwan
Asian Christianity in the Diaspora
ISBN 978-3-319-70523-1 ISBN 978-3-319-70524-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70524-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017959109
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P
reface
This work focuses on ancestor-related praxes, specifically their riddles in
the context of a hermeneutic of contacts between cultures and religions.
Chinese ancestor-related praxes gave rise to numerous interpretations by
foreign interpreters. In China, they triggered a controversy whose conse-
quences are believed to affect the reception and rooting of Christianity on
Chinese soil. Elsewhere, they were regarded as merely pagan practices and
so condemned by missionaries, who nevertheless failed to eradicate them.
They resisted in subtle ways until they were identified as the nucleus of
so-called animism and/or African traditional religion. The aim of this
book is not only to present the available interpretations but to ponder
them in a way that directs us to the necessity of identifying other explana-
tions and hence broaden the hermeneutic field of the considered phenom-
ena. This broadening is made possible by applying a critical method
involving intrusive reading that is aware of the structural reins of power
which condition any effort to understand. An intrusive reader is not con-
tent to know what is said, what is apparent but also seeks to know what the
apparent is attempting to hide.
This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the perceptions and
interpretations of foreign observers—explorers, missionaries and scholars—
of Chinese ancestor-related praxes. The act of reading intrusively enables us
to situate each explanation in its original context. In this way, it sheds light
on the dynamics that determined the importance of a question and condi-
tioned the answer that was offered. The process shows the extent to which
the act of interpreting is dependent on the context in which it occurs.
v
vi PREFACE
There are no pure and completely disinterested explanations. Moreover,
explanations are answers in that they solve the inquirer’s riddles. This being
the case, the fundamental question regarding existing hermeneutics of
ancestor-related praxes is “whose questions do they answer?”
The exploration of this fundamental question leads us to acknowledge
two types of dynamics regarding the investigation of these phenomena.
Interest in ancestor-related praxes is driven by two different motives. The
first is an effort to provide a rational and systematic description of the behav-
iors of indigenous peoples vis-à-vis their dead relatives. The second motive
is to remain connected to and in harmony with the nucleus that nurtures
one’s existence. This desire is in fact what makes of ancestor-related praxes
a religion. The referential place of ancestors in the rites or liturgies and the
controversies surrounding their interpretation justify the title of this book.
One who looks deeply at this second form of hermeneutics will understand
why it is important to let go of generic terminology such as “ancestor wor-
ship,” “ancestor veneration,” “ancestor rites,” and even “traditional reli-
gions,” as if any religion in existence were not deeply “traditional.”
Taipei, Taiwan Paulin Batairwa Kubuya
a
cknowledgments
One of the assertions of this book is that people are continuously searching
for meaning and that ancestor-related practices answer an existential
desire for significance. I would like to take this opportunity to thank
those who have helped me formulate my thoughts and bring this project
to a conclusion.
I thank Albert Poulet-Mathis SJ, Luigi Menegazzo SX and the Xaverian
Family who first encouraged me to undertake the academic study of reli-
gion and gave me the confidence to persevere. I am thankful for the sup-
port of my colleagues, Xaverian Missionaries of the Chinese Delegation.
I am also grateful to Fr Joseph Kim Chinh Vu for his advice and guid-
ance in the writing of this book. I also thank Pierre Diarra, Nicolas
Standaert, Mark Fang 房志榮, and Tsai Yi-Chia 蔡怡佳. They provided
helpful comments and professional assistance whenever I needed it.
I am grateful to the faculty members of the Department of Religious
Studies of Fu Jen Catholic University, as well as to those of Fu Jen
Academia Catholica. They provided the academic environment for this
research.
My gratitude goes to our study group in Chinese Confucian classics,
especially to Liu I-chun 劉怡君 and Chen Yi-yun 陳藝勻 for their insight-
ful comments and constant and unconditional support.
I am extremely thankful to Julian Perozzi SX and Edmund Ryden SJ
for editing and proofreading the first draft of this work; and to Vicky
Tseng for finalizing the manuscript. I am also grateful to Dan Bauer SVD
and Joseph Cheah OSM, who saw the value of this work and encouraged
its publication.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I express my deep appreciation to everyone whose friendship has been
so important to me throughout this period. I think especially of my family
members, companions, colleagues and friends; this work would not have
seen the light of day without their silent support and curiosity about what
I was doing.
Finally, I dedicate this book to all the deceased relatives and friends
whom I look to as ancestors, and to the missionaries and researchers work-
ing in cross-cultural contexts: may the awareness arising from this work
enrich their handling of the human quest for meaning.
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Are Ancestors a Problem? 1
2 The Hermeneutic Challenge of Ancestor-Related Practices 11
3 The Conflict of Interpretation of Chinese Ancestor Rites 55
4 “Our” Perspective: The Indigenous Explanation
of Ancestor Rites 125
5 Existential Practical Hermeneutics of Ancestor Religion 167
6 Conclusion 211
Bibliography 219
Index 229
ix