Dr. Easten Law | Framing Asian American Discipleship Across Generations: Displacement, Migration, and Belonging in China and America

This lecture was recorded on April 28, 2023, as part of the 2023 Asian American Theology Conference “Multiple Belongings in Transpacific Christianities: Christian Faith and Asian Migration to the US.” Find out more about the conference here: https://pts.events/events/aat-2023-mbtc/. Introduction by Dr. David Chao of Princeton Theological Seminary.

Christian discipleship is defined as the deepening of one’s relationship with Christ and draws from biblical teachings in the context of a church community. This conception is true but inadequate. Discipleship programs generally exclude explicit engagement with the complexities of cultural heritage, family belonging, and migration that characterize Asian American experiences. Utilizing principles of lived theology, this presentation takes the arc of the biblical narrative as a foundation to imagine an expanded vision for Christian discipleship. This expanded account takes the multi-generational and multicultural stories of Asian American families as a fundamental starting point rather than a peripheral concern. The presentation will use the speaker’s own personal and family stories of migration across China, Taiwan, and the United States as a case study.