chan on chinese leadership
Aug 4th, 2009 by Sade
i found his comment on chinese leadership intriguing and almost directly relevant to the indonesian-chinese church I ministered a few years ago. here is the quote:
“… in both the asian state and the asian church it is not uncommon for leaders to continue to exert considerable moral authority after they have formally retired from office and have lost their effectiveness as leaders. the deep irony is that usually the old leader himself would be the first to acknowledge the need for ‘new blood’ in the institution. but the new blood is incapable of rejuvenating the institution as long as the old blood remains. in such a context the perfection of virtue would seem to require the cultivation of a certain kind of kenosis, the willingness to make oneself to become literally nothing, so that the ruled and the younger leaders would not be obliged to constantly defer to the moral authority of the ‘the grand old sage’,” simon chan, spiritual theology, p. 96
any other comment?
