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No Handle on the Cross: An Asian Meditation on the Crucified Mind
Asians, Christian as well as Buddhists and Hindus, are beginning to feel that Western Christianity has both preached and lived a Christianity without the Cross. "Jesus did not carry his cross as a businessman carries his briefcase," or as Christians symbolically carry a well-filled lunch box. Even more seriously, Asians have experienced Christ crucified as crucifying This, concludes Koyama, is the most serious missiological problem facing the Church today. With vivid imagery that marked his Waterbuffalo Theology, Dr. Koyama, one of the most engaging of modern theologians, offers a meditation on Christianity from South East Asia which has much to offer the more formalized life of the Western churches.
119 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1976
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About the author
Kosuke Koyama
13 books29 followersKoyama was born in Tokyo in 1929, of Christian parents. He later moved to New Jersey in the United States, where he completed his B.D. at Drew Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary, the latter on the interpretation of the Psalms of Martin Luther in 1959.[2]
After teaching at a theological seminary in Thailand, he was the executive director of Association of Theological Schools in Southeast Asia with his office in Singapore from 1968 to 1974, and the editor of Southeast Asia Journal of Theology, and the Dean of Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology. After that he worked as Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin in New Zealand, from 1974 to 1979. He later worked at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he stayed until his retirement in 1996 as John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor Emeritus of World Christianity. To his close friends and family, he was known as "Ko". Along with Kazoh Kitamori, he is considered one of the leading Japanese theologians of the twentieth century.
Koyama died at a hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts, of pneumonia complicated by oesophagal cancer, on March 25, 2009.
After teaching at a theological seminary in Thailand, he was the executive director of Association of Theological Schools in Southeast Asia with his office in Singapore from 1968 to 1974, and the editor of Southeast Asia Journal of Theology, and the Dean of Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology. After that he worked as Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin in New Zealand, from 1974 to 1979. He later worked at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he stayed until his retirement in 1996 as John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor Emeritus of World Christianity. To his close friends and family, he was known as "Ko". Along with Kazoh Kitamori, he is considered one of the leading Japanese theologians of the twentieth century.
Koyama died at a hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts, of pneumonia complicated by oesophagal cancer, on March 25, 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 21, 2019
**true rating 4.5
There’s a light-hearted yet explosive quality to Kosuke Koyama’s theology. He’s always a delight to read because he’s such a playful writer. He just doesn’t take himself too seriously. But his playfulness does not shy him away from making incisive claims, especially about Western Christianity and mission practices in South East Asia.
Drawing from his years as a professor at Thailand Theological Seminary and his correspondence with South East Asian theological colleagues, Koyama presented on the kind of Christian theology South East Asia needed and wanted but ultimately did not receive at the 1975 Earl Lecture at Pacific School of Religion, California. From these lectures, No Handle on the Cross was compiled into book form.
Paul said with such audacity that he decided to know nothing but “Christ crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Koyama calls this the ‘crucified-mind,’ or a crucified theology. It is an ‘inefficient’ theology because it is a theology that carries the handle-less cross. It does not boast in its superiority, comprehensiveness, resourcefulness, efficiency, and convenience because it simply refuses to be these things. A handle-less theology is, therefore, a non-grabbing theology. It does not grab God nor people for self-aggrandizement.
Sadly, Koyama thinks much of Western Christian missionary enterprise has been in the past and ongoing present riding on the high-horse of Western superiority with their resourceful ingenuity and efficient technology. It is a Christianity that does not respect other people’s history and, thereby, their culture and religions like how God respects our history. God rules history, yes, but God does not disrespect it. Rather, God comes to history and dwelt among us.
Koyama goes at length of the commonality -- as well as differences -- between Christianity and the other great faiths: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Koyama believes the message of self-denial is what connects all these, and this is a good that should not and cannot be ignored in missiology and inter-religious dialogue. At this point, it’s tempting to think that Koyama is a pluralist or relativist, but I think that is too flat. There’s a difference between “all religions are the same” (pluralism) and “all religions are different” (Koyama). Koyama is comfortable without feeling the need to assert Christianity’s superiority and allowing Christianity to work with other faiths without compromising their own message of Christ crucified. With Barth, Koyama thinks Christianity will also stand under Jesus’ judgment, and Koyama is both comfortable and uncomfortable with this tension.
There’s a light-hearted yet explosive quality to Kosuke Koyama’s theology. He’s always a delight to read because he’s such a playful writer. He just doesn’t take himself too seriously. But his playfulness does not shy him away from making incisive claims, especially about Western Christianity and mission practices in South East Asia.
Drawing from his years as a professor at Thailand Theological Seminary and his correspondence with South East Asian theological colleagues, Koyama presented on the kind of Christian theology South East Asia needed and wanted but ultimately did not receive at the 1975 Earl Lecture at Pacific School of Religion, California. From these lectures, No Handle on the Cross was compiled into book form.
Paul said with such audacity that he decided to know nothing but “Christ crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Koyama calls this the ‘crucified-mind,’ or a crucified theology. It is an ‘inefficient’ theology because it is a theology that carries the handle-less cross. It does not boast in its superiority, comprehensiveness, resourcefulness, efficiency, and convenience because it simply refuses to be these things. A handle-less theology is, therefore, a non-grabbing theology. It does not grab God nor people for self-aggrandizement.
Sadly, Koyama thinks much of Western Christian missionary enterprise has been in the past and ongoing present riding on the high-horse of Western superiority with their resourceful ingenuity and efficient technology. It is a Christianity that does not respect other people’s history and, thereby, their culture and religions like how God respects our history. God rules history, yes, but God does not disrespect it. Rather, God comes to history and dwelt among us.
Koyama goes at length of the commonality -- as well as differences -- between Christianity and the other great faiths: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Koyama believes the message of self-denial is what connects all these, and this is a good that should not and cannot be ignored in missiology and inter-religious dialogue. At this point, it’s tempting to think that Koyama is a pluralist or relativist, but I think that is too flat. There’s a difference between “all religions are the same” (pluralism) and “all religions are different” (Koyama). Koyama is comfortable without feeling the need to assert Christianity’s superiority and allowing Christianity to work with other faiths without compromising their own message of Christ crucified. With Barth, Koyama thinks Christianity will also stand under Jesus’ judgment, and Koyama is both comfortable and uncomfortable with this tension.
July 6, 2020
5 stars, yes, but this is not an easy read for a white North American guy, so well adjusted to one “brand” of Christian Faith. Koyama is alternately brilliant and opaque. I’m so glad his voice reaches us in the North American church today. Be prepared to be challenged.
November 30, 2011
Excellent treatise on mission work in Asia. Could easily be applied to mission work in the US though.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews