Wang- A Practical Theology of Christian Spiritual Formation: A Course for Evangelical Chinese American Seminaries

2019·2.2 MB·English

by  Dora Lau Wang

Claremont School of Theology

A Practical Theology of Christian Spiritual Formation:
A Course for Evangelical Chinese American Seminaries

A Dissertation Submitted to
the Faculty of Education and Formation
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Practical Theology

by
Dora Lau Wang

Claremont, California
May 2019
Copyright@2019 by Dora Lau Wang
All rights reserved
To Jesus Christ—Lover of my soul
In loving memory of my beloved husband
John Ling-Fai Wang (1942–2016)
A precious gift from God
To have and to hold
In sickness and in health
For the most memorable forty-six years of my life
Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Abstract 1

Chapter 1 Introduction: The Need and Approach of the Dissertation 4
Identifying the Problem 5
Hypothesis and Structure of the Dissertation 18
Empirical Methods and Original Contribution to Knowledge 21
Scope and Limitations 24

Chapter 2 The Descriptive-Empirical Task: What Is Going On? 26
Introduction: The Lived Experience of Chinese Immigrants 26
Challenges and Responses in the Family 28
Challenges and Responses in the Workplace 43
A Survey on the Spiritual Needs of Chinese Immigrants 52
Conclusion: A Challenge to Authentic Faith 63

Chapter 3 The Interpretive Task: Why Is This Going On? 65
Introduction: Causes of Chinese Immigrants’ Response to Challenges 65
Cultural Tradition and Values of Chinese Immigrants 66
Assimilation Theories on Immigrants in the N. American Context 79
Historical Spiritual Heritage of the Evangelical Chinese Church 92
Conclusion: Implications of Ministry Gaps 115

Chapter 4 The Normative Task: What Ought to be Going On? 117
Introduction: Biblical Foundation on Christian Spiritual Formation 117
Spiritual Formation of God’s People by Yahweh 119
Spiritual Formation of the Disciples by Jesus Christ 144
Spiritual Formation of Christians by the Holy Spirit 157
Conclusion: Implications for Life Transformation 168
Chapter 5 The Pragmatic Task: How Might We Respond? 170
Introduction: Ignatian Spirituality 170
Major Characteristics of Ignatian Spirituality 176
Centrality of Scripture in Ignatian Spirituality 180
Relevance of the Jesuits’ Mission to the Chinese People 187
The Road to Transformation 191
Conclusion: Why Practice Ignatian Spirituality 209

Chapter 6 A Field Test of the Dissertation 215
Introduction: A Seminary Course 215
The Course Syllabus 216
Classroom Instruction and Schedule 220
Silent Retreat and Schedule 233

Chapter 7 Results and Assessments 247
Introduction: Students, Course, and Assessment Criteria 247
Student Evaluation of Classroom Instructions 251
Student Evaluation of the Silent Retreat 253
The Researcher’s Evaluation of Student Assignments 255
The Researcher’s Assessment of the Course 260

Conclusion 263

Bibliography 269

Appendices 277
Acknowledgments

Taking up the pursuit of a PhD at retirement age has been the most challenging journey
in my life academically, emotionally, and spiritually. I am most grateful to China Evangelical
Seminary North America (CESNA) for supporting me throughout the process of this endeavor:
President Dr. Katheryn Leung, who first invited me to teach spiritual formation courses years
ago despite my inadequacies; Dr. Anita Meng Liu, the faculty person who invited me to serve on
the spiritual formation curriculum committee; academic Dean Dr. Gee Lowe, who has given me
the opportunity to teach spiritual formation courses in the last couple of years, and the
permission to offer this course as a field test of my dissertation; and finally, the seminarians
who enthusiastically participated in the course and gave me valuable feedback.
For the five years of my studies at Claremont, I am indebted to Professors Frank Rogers
and Andrew Dreitcer for the excellent courses they taught me in spiritual formation, their
academic guidance throughout the process of my labor for the qualifying exams and the
dissertation, and their understanding and emotional support while I was going through the pain
and loss of my beloved husband John Wang to brain cancer in 2016.
Last but not the least, my gratitude goes to my church family, especially Yan Zhang,
Koral Lam, and Jane Lee for helping me in unique ways; and who along with my God-children
Rene Chee, Kay Tong, Harry Chen, Heidi Xu, and Victor Wong, have given me prayer and
emotional support during the four months of John’s illness and in subsequent years of my
academic pursuit amidst grieving, without which I could hardly have persevered to the end of
this difficult journey!
A PRACTICAL THEOLOGY OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL FORMATION:
A COURSE FOR EVANGELICAL CHINESE AMERICAN SEMINARIES
By Dora Wang
ABSTRACT
This dissertation explores the contemporary need for spiritual formation of first-
generation Chinese American Christians. The concern arises from direct observation of such
Christians, and from published research on the empirically validated phenomenon of “mass
conversion” of North American Chinese immigrants to evangelical Christianity in the last three
decades, and yet their “low retention” in our Chinese American churches, as verified by an
empirical study that followed up on baptismal candidates in a Chinese American church in
California. This suggests that while the evangelistic efforts of churches and college campus
ministries are effective, their spiritual formation ministries are inadequate and urgently need to
be strengthened.
The hypothesis of this dissertation is that a course on A Practical Theology of Christian
Spiritual Formation that applies Richard Osmer’s four-task approach to practical theology can
motivate and equip evangelical Chinese American seminarians to develop more effective
spiritual formation ministries by instructing them on Chinese American Christians’ need for
spiritual formation and, through a silent retreat, by briefly letting them experience spiritual
formation for themselves.
In this setting, the first of Osmer’s tasks that asks, “What is going on?” explores the lived
experience of Chinese Americans and the literature on the topic, and surveys one hundred
Chinese American Christians in seven evangelical Chinese American churches to confirm that
there is inconsistency between their Christian faith and practice.
1
The second task of practical theology that attempts to answer the question “Why is this
going on?” here explores major causes of such inconsistencies between avowed faith and
actual practice, and attempts to discover such Christians’ misinterpretation or superficial
understanding of Confucian philosophy, their eager assimilation into the mainstream North
American society to gain wealth and status though hindered by discriminations, and the
inadequacy of the Chinese American Church’s culture to remedy whatever has created the
ministry gaps for effective nurturing of these Christians’ new-found faith.
The third practical theological task that attempts to answer the question “What ought
to be going on?” explores the biblical foundation on which the evangelical Chinese American
Church professes her faith and develops her ministries. The study reveals that despite the
failures of God’s people to live up to their covenant obligations, God’s covenant faithfulness
prevails; by looking to Jesus (2 Cor 3:18; He 12:2) through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Christians
are progressively transformed into Christ’s image and live out the authentic Christian life.
The fourth task that attempts to answer the question “How might we respond?”
explores how the understanding and practice of Ignatian spirituality with its focus on the
meditation of Christ’s life through Scripture and prayer might fill the ministry gaps of the
evangelical Chinese American Church to nurture her people toward spiritual maturity.
Finally, an integration of Osmer’s 4-task interdisciplinary approach to doing practical
theology of spiritual formation culminated in the development and field-testing at an
evangelical Chinese American Seminary of a seminary course based on the contents of this
dissertation, which consists of classroom instruction followed by an Ignatian-style silent retreat.
2
The student evaluations and the researcher’s evaluation of student achievement in course
assignments affirm the stated hypothesis of this dissertation.

3
Chapter 1
Introduction: The Need for and Approach of the Dissertation

I am a Chinese American who immigrated from Hong Kong to the United States with my
parents and siblings and started my first year of High School in Los Angeles. A few years after
my graduation from college, I was called to vocational Christian ministry. After a few years of
confirming the calling, and upon completion of my first seminary degree in Religious Education
(MRE), in 1984 I began serving on the pastoral staff of my home church in Los Angeles. Between
serving on the pastoral staff of two more evangelical Chinese American churches and receiving
further seminary training in Biblical Studies (MAR), and in OT Genre and Religious Education
(DMin), I served in pastoral ministry for a total of thirty years before my official retirement in
2014.
Since the 1990s, I have observed through my own and my pastoral associates’
experiences that the membership makeup of Chinese American churches in North America has
changed rather rapidly from being mostly immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong to being
those mostly from Mainland China, until at the turn of the twenty-first century the latter
became a majority. I have also noticed that while the number of baptismal candidates in these
churches has greatly increased since then, their drop-out rate has also been high. Even for
those who continue to stay in the local churches, their spiritual development has been very
slow. However, as I tried to verify my observations in the literature, all I found is information on
the so-called “mass conversion” of Mainland Chinese immigrants and scholars to Christianity in
4