austraLasia 1016
China: Fr Savio Hon Tai Fai addresses Pontifical Theological Academy
ROME: 28th January 2005 -- On January 27th, the eve of the annual liturgical memorial of St Thomas Aquinas, Fr Savio Hon Tai Fai, Provincial of China Province found himself in Rome addressing the Pontifical Theological Academy on the subject of a Confucian reading of Christ. It was an appropriate address given the vigil of a Saint and theologian who engaged in inter-religious dialogue with the Arab and Hebrew thought of his day.
Fr Savio's theological bent has been precisely in the area of Christian dialogue with the Asian mind - and in his case through the prism of Confucian thinking. His is an example of the 'new paths of research' envisaged in the Papal declaration Dominus Jesus 2000 (DI 3), which provoked quite some discussion in the area of inter-religious dialogue.
The exact topic of Fr Savio's address on this occasion was 'proclaiming Christ in multiple contexts', and his main point of reference was not so much DI as EA or Ecclesia in Asia, the Papal statement following the Asian Bishops Synod in 2002.
In what is not easy bed-time reading, Fr Savio examines the legitimacy of a Confucian reading of Jesus: "For Christians, such a tool is meant to enlighten or deepen the understanding of the mystery of Christ with its pastoral and missionary implications. For Confucians, such a reading of Jesus is meant to confirm and share their beliefs", he says.
In simpler terms, a Christian would like to present Jesus as a sage that Chinese would be willing to accept, while Confucians would present him as one who confirms their beliefs.
The debate on how best to present Jesus in inter-religious dialogue has been very much alive since Dominus Jesus, and has had some casualties along the way. But Fr Savio is convinced that if Christ is to be proclaimed in a Confucian context, theology has to find a way to let the reading of Jesus' life suit Confucian sensitivities.
And again, with reference to the memorial of Thomas Aquinas, whose philosophical approach dominated Catholic philosophy for so many centuries, to the point where it may have been seen by many as the 'only' philosophy, EA did say that the Church should 'remain open to new and surprising ways in which the face of Jesus might be presented in Asia' (EA 20). Is Confucian philosophy a candidate? Fr Savio may be one person to offer a response to that question.
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