THE CHINESE WAY OF DOING THINGS
by Samuel Ling with Clarence Cheuk,
published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, Phillipsburg, NJ, 1999,
230 pages (paperback)
While there are many books which claim to provide answers on the one hand, there are fewer books on the other hand which provide both an analysis of the questions and the well thought out answers to those questions. THE CHINESE WAY OF DOING THINGS is definitely a member of the latter group. Dr. Samuel Ling, who has both a Th.M. from Westminster Theological Seminary and a Ph.D.from Temple University (both schools in Pennsylvania), along with three other contributors, have produced a very, very analytical and insightful book which offers a well-balanced integration of both the theoretical and practical in dealing with the pastoral and the parachurch ministry to the Chinese living in the North American context.
This book is theoretical in that the principles extracted from his analysis of the problems are found in the first seven chapters of this book. The remaining seven chapters offer practical solutions, which although do not provide an immediate solution, will certainly make a substantial improvement for the Chinese Church in North America during the 21st century. In fact, I would not hesitate to say that there is probably no other book in print like this one which so skillfully deals with the unique problems found within the Chinese Church in North America from a historical, cultural, theological, and practical viewpoint. This reviewer particularly found Chapters 9, The Chinese Way of Doing Things, and 10, A Bicultural Profile of Chinese Church Ministry, to be the most interesting chapters in the book. These two chapters in themselves are nearly worth the entire price of the book.The Afterword, The Onion: Receiving the Father's Gift, provides a gospel presentation for the Non-Christian Chinese living in North America which is related to the historical and cultural situation of the 21st century.
Why should such a book as this be written by Dr. Samuel Ling? It must be remembered that Dr. Samuel Ling stands in the Reformed-Calvinistic perspective of Protestant Christianity. Historically, Calvinists have sought to engage all culture to subdue it to the glory of Jesus Christ. Dr. Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch Calvinistic scholar and statesman in Europe during the 19th century, provided a great impetus for what he saw as a cultural mandate for Christians. Others have followed in this mandate; among them were Cornelius Van Til, Herman Dooyeweerd, and Francis Schaeffer.
This book does not draw back from pointing out the weaknesses in both Chinese and Western European cultures in 21st century North America. Traditional Chinese persons may find the book's critique of the traditional Chinese
Confucian humanistic culture to be offensive in the light of Romans 1:18-21. On the other hand, the authors' analysis of the death of Western Culture seems to echo the words of Francis Schaeffer's critique Western European Culture made some three decades ago.
This book is not easy reading. It is definitely written at the level for the college and grad school level since the vocabulary used in this book seems to assume that the reader has had some prior academic background in philosophy, history, and sociology. But for anyone who is going into or who is already in the church or parachurch ministry to the Chinese Christians in North America, this book provides a solid guide through the maze of complexities which one will definitely encounter in this type of ministry...whether OBC or ABC. This book should be required reading for all OBC and ABC church and parachurch workers (who are willing to apply their minds to this book) in North America. Fortunately for both, this book is also available in a Chinese translation.