The Old Testament as One of the Resources for Doing Theology in Asia

Abstract

Belief in the centrality of biblical revelation for our task of doing theology is imperative. There are some misconceptions with regard to certain understandings of some concepts and themes of the Bible. On account of many interpretations coming from Western scholars, some tend to look at the Bible from the Western perspective. This leads to some uneasiness on the part of Asian scholars when using certain biblical data. They appropriate instead their own cultural, social, and personal resources in "doing theology." I think this kind of attitude overlooks the fact that the Scripture has its original setting, which is an Oriental setting—an Asian setting.
In saying that the original setting of the Bible is oriental, the predominant thought is that it is Hebraic in nature. Hebrew thoughts, concepts, and cultures are apparent in the Bible, especially in the OT. This we are forced to recognize.
There is much that can be learned from the OT in our task of doing theology in Asia, for the OT is visibly an Asian book. The cultural setting of the OT is very familiar to those of us who live in Asia because of its resemblance to Asian culture in general.
The OT has been overlooked at times in regard to the application of its themes to some social issues. This is evident in the study of William King that held that the majority of the social gospel apologists, especially in America during the first
half of the twentieth century, based their social theology on the teachings of Jesus, "especially those teachings that dealt with the kingdom of God." Although "they did not ignore the rest of the Bible, they did not devote as much attention to it as they did to the Gospel materials." 
In this paper we shall attempt to see how the OT can contribute to the discussions on doing theology in the Asian context. The subjects we shall study focus on the Hebrew words ābōdâ and ādām and their implications for social issues like relieving the poor and the employer-employee relationship. I have chosen these two Hebrew terms because they are the best representatives of the holistic thought of the Jews, which is very close to the holistic thinking of Filipinos in general, as well as of their Oriental neighbors.