God is the story of Jesus, and Jesus is the story of the people. Jesus and the Reign of God is a powerful and compelling evocation of the vision and reality of God's reign and its possibilities for the "transfiguration of life" in faith. Song's search for a "vision of life in God," inaugurated in his previous volume, Jesus, the Crucified People, takes him from ancient Egypt and China to modern Singapore, from Gethsemane to Tiananmen Square and always pulls him back to the Gospel stories. In its earnest and intense quest for religious integrity in a world no longer dominated or defined by Christianity, Song's theology is a startling rebuke to Christologies centered either in historical-critical searches or church doctrines. For him theology is the biography of God, and Jesus' message of God's reign is evident in the densely packed histories of strangers and outcasts: in an Egyptian Muslim who composed a Christmas carol, in a Korean woman in Japan, in an old musician in a ruined church i

"Taking the analysis of worldwide Christianity to a deeper level of detail, this volume focuses on Christianity in East and Southeast Asia, covering every country and offering both reliable demographic information and original interpretative essays by indigenous scholars and practitioners. It maps patterns of growth and decline, assesses major traditions and movements, analyzes key themes, and examines current trends. As a comprehensive account of the presence of Christianity in every country in East and Southeast Asia, this volume is set to become a standard work of reference in its field. Combines empirical data and original analysis to give a uniquely detailed account of Christianity in East and Southeast Asia: Profiles the leading features and current trends of each of the major Christian traditions in every country in East and Southeast Asia; Written by indigenous scholars with expertise in their field; Assesses the direction of Christian faith in East and Southeast Asia in relati

Communist revolutions in this century have suppressed existing ritual and symbolic structures and invented new ones. Armed with new flags, new national celebrations, or new school textbooks, they have attempted to reconstruct social memory. This fascinating work of political anthropology examines the case of Laos from the heady days of the 1975 revolution to the more sober "post-socialist" present. Grant Evans traces the attempt at ritual and symbolic change in Laos, and the recent reemergence of older and deeper cultural structures, while identifying what has perhaps been irretrievably lost. In this challenging study of the cultural consequences of failed total revolution, Evans reaches some striking conclusions concerning the nature of social memory, cultural possibilities foregone, and the need for cultural continuity.

Christianity in Asia explores the history, development, and current state of Christianity across the world's largest and most populous continent. This book: offers detailed coverage of the growth of Christianity within South Asia, among the thousands of islands comprising Southeast Asia, and across countries whose Christian origins were historically linked, including Vietnam, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea; brings together a truly international team of contributors, many of whom are natives of the countries they are writing about; Considers the Middle Eastern countries whose Christian roots are deepest, yet have turbulent histories and uncertain futures; Explores the ways in which Christians in Asian countries have received and transformed Christianity into their local or indigenous religion; Shows Christianity to be a vibrant contemporary movement in many Asian countries, despite its comparatively minority status in these regions. - Publisher.