An Asian Journey Seeking Christian Wholeness: Owning Up to Our Own Metaphors (Theotao)1

We, Asian Christians, should be frank and honest about our own spiritual, religious, and cultural traditions to fully confess that they are important parts of our own identity, functioning as native religious languages or spiritual DNA. Any Christian identity disconnected from one's own people, community, and collective identity is not only inappropriate but also false. To articulate our Christian identity in the fullest way, we should critically appreciate the symbols and the metaphors of our religions and cultures and apply to our theological thinking; namely, owning up of our own metaphors. This does not entail merely a translation of Western Christianity into our religious languages, or a speculative syncretism of multiple religious traditions, but a confession of the integrated Christian selfhood in the network of our own community. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]