Awkward Asian Theologians

Matt and Dan begin, as serious Asians often do, over a bowl of pho - debating broth, coriander, and the hierarchy of condiments - before realising they’re circling a deeper question: what actually feeds a Catholic? From Vietnamese comfort food, they pivot to the stranger, more demanding meal - the Eucharist. They reflect on the parish as the place where Catholics fulfil their most primordial vocation: worship. But worship, they insist, is not first something we do. It is divine initiative.As Dan shares, the Church is not merely a congregation (a self-assembled crowd), but a convocation — a people summoned, like clans gathered before the ancestral altar. We don’t just “go to Mass”; we are called into it. Along the way, Matt confesses to having not white privilege, but blue-and-yellow privilege — shaped by particular liturgical cultures and assumptions about what “counts” as reverent. His story becomes a reminder that our inherited tastes are not the measure of the mystery. In the end, the Eucharist is not spiritual comfort food. It is heaven’s initiative - a sacred meal and sacrifice we did not cook up for ourselves, but hosted and given in love by the One who calls us. The small gestures of the liturgy turn out to be bigger than we imagine. The parish is not a religious food court, but the place where the summoned gather, and where God moves first.ResourcesSt John Paul II: Ecclesia de Eucharistia

Matt and Dan begin with a mid-Lent wrist inspection, checking for spiritual pulse and early signs of influencer disease. It’s that penitential time of year when you ask: am I fasting from meat, or am I fasting from relevance?This episode they turn to celebrity, especially the Christian habit of baptising it and calling it evangelisation. Platform equals influence equals Gospel. Simple math but suspicious theology.The Asians suggest celebrity isn’t a neutral bamboo steamer. It’s more like hotpot broth: everything you drop in starts tasting like the algorithm. The influencer world doesn’t just spread the message; it reformats reality around visibility, scale, and engagement. Authority becomes follower count and community becomes audience.​While recognising  technology can serve the Church, platform tempts us to believe that big means blessed, instant means intimate, and online means incarnational enough.The deeper pastoral problem isn’t scandal or bad takes but that the Church’s imagination gets quietly rewired, reconfiguring even the conception of faith within the Church. The Body of Christ risks becoming a network. In the end, they offer the unfashionable answer: what nurtures Christian faith isn’t celebrity. It’s Word, Sacrament, and a stubbornly local people gathered in the flesh Asian style. The Gospel doesn’t need to trend; it needs to leaven.ResourcesMatthew Tan: Bobblehead Church Sherry Turkle: Alone TogetherJodi Dean: Blog Theory

On the cusp of Lent, with a culture and a world sparring with itself like an uncoordinated kung fu film, Matt and Dan cheerfully wander into very heavy territory: world pain. (Yes, that escalated quickly).Is world pain just regular pain with a global subscription? Or is it something else entirely, like a low-grade ache in the bones of the world, humming beneath the headlines, moving through us the way qi moves through a body, impossible to localise and hard to ignore?Along the way, Matt and Dan poke at some of our default assumptions about pain, especially the modern instinct to bottle it up like it’s a private prescription. Drawing on the Romantics, philosophers like Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and theologians such as Joseph Ratzinger, they explore a more classical (and frankly more Chinese) intuition: that we are not sealed units but porous beings, caught in a web of relationships. When the world’s balance is off, we feel it. When creation groans, it’s not just background noise - it’s in our joints, our sleep, our prayers. For Christians, the conversation sharpens further. How does the Cross have to say about world pain? This isn’t a moody stroll through melancholy, nor an invitation to wallow in sadness like a tragic Asian poet by a riverbank. It’s closer to an ancient physician’s diagnosis: paying attention to what hurts, not to despair, but to learn how healing might begin = even as we live in the world without finally being of it. Heavy stuff and a little awkward. Slightly unsettling but something we are all feeling. And, somehow, we hope, quietly hopeful.ResourcesTim Brinkoff: Is the State of the World Causing You Pain?Sally Davies: The Body as Mediator

In this hot and saucy episode, Matt and Dan talk about the body, clearing their throats and looking briefly at the floor. They note how ideas of the body have arranged our thinking the way ancestors arrange furniture: without asking, and in ways that are hard to undo.The Asians begin with flesh and posture, with the inconvenience of weight and the awkwardness of taking up space. But the body does not stay singular for long. It multiplies. It becomes social, cultural, ritual—something trained into us like table manners, learned before we know we are learning.Embodiment, they suggest, is not only biological but also borrowed, practiced, and remembered. Without bodies of this kind, life resembles calligraphy written in the air: conceptually elegant, existentially useless.They wrap things up by turning, somewhat carefully, to the Body of Christ. Here the body is neither obstacle nor escape hatch, but vocation: many bodies, uneven and ordinary, arranged like bowls at a communal table, held together by a dignity that is both transcendent and stubbornly human.ResourcesJeffrey Bishop: The Anticipatory Corpse Matthew John Paul Tan: Pornography & Christology

Welcome to our third season.The Asians (no longer Matt and Dan as unique individuals) look at racism, not so much as a political issue, but an issue that is finding its way into the life of the Church. As such, they look at the question of racism as a theological issue, and ask if racism can be a form of heresy. To answer this, they look to the Christological debates in the early Church, and highlight how the heresies that drove those debates back then are finding their way in modern form. In doing so, they reemphasise how a proper attention to key facets of the Christological dogmas - such as the hypostatic union and the incarnation - can inform a properly theological response to racism, insofar as racism takes up Christological heresies and applies them to anthropology. Conversely, they also highlight how a proper Christology can give salvific effect to all particularities - including the particularities of faith - insofar as they have all been relativised in Christ.Flowing from that, the Asians look at how racism then has a spillover effect to the ecclesial dimension of faith, and wounds the Body of Christ by attacking its unity.ResourcesPius XI: Mit Brennender Sorge

Matt and Dan sit down with a pot of oolong and a question: What happens when people move – and the Church moves with them? In this episode, they poke around the tangled roots between migration and the makeup of the global and local Church. Like a bamboo grove shaped by wind and soil, the Church grows along the fault lines of human movement, and it’s anything but static. They also untangle a very awkward knot: What does it mean to do things “Asianly” and do things “Christianly”? Are these two different tea leaves, or the same leaves steeped in different water? From shifting migration trends to the ache of nostalgia and the theology of loss (because Auntie’s dumplings are gone and so is the neighbourhood church), they reflect on how migrant Christians carry faith not just in their luggage, but in their longing. All this while trying to avoid getting trapped in the usual political hotpot. No easy soundbites here. Just some awkward theology with a side of rice.ResourcesPew Research Center: The Religious Composition of the World’s MigrantsCatholic Voice: It's All in the Numbers

Matt and Dan go meta, like two lost dumplings floating in a bowl of hot broth, trying to figure out what it means to do things “Asianly.” They untangle the knots of representation and the elusive “Asian standpoint”, confess to using a smorgasbord of labels - the made-up tags that others love to slap on them - and wonder: could we swap these out for something purely Asian? Maybe a porcelain teapot? Or a bamboo shoot? Somewhere in the chaos, they explore the theological weight of navigating these sticky, pre-packaged labels and how it all messes with Christian identity when divine revelation insists on being bigger than any box we try to squeeze it into.ResourcesPeter C Phan: Asian Christianities

Matt and Dan close out the season by steaming up a conversation on nostalgia. They start with food (of course) and how something as simple as a bowl of congee or a forgotten jar of Lao Gan Ma can open the floodgates of memory. But nostalgia isn’t just about taste - it’s about longing for a home, a church, a culture that might never have existed the way we remember it. From there, they stir-fry their way through questions of identity: Why do so many of us romanticize worlds we’ve never actually known - including “golden age” Catholicism filtered through incense and Instagram filters? They also tackle the Catholic nostalgia industrial complex—that sense that the Church was somehow “more real” when everyone spoke Latin and the incense was thicker than hotpot steam. Matt and Dan ask what happens when we crave spiritual authenticity the way our aunties crave imported soy sauce: maybe we start worshiping the memory instead of the mystery. Drawing inspiration from a fourth-century monastic text, the Asians explore how nostalgia can paralyse the soul. When we misremember the past, we risk rejecting God’s presence in the messy, beautiful now. Because maybe holiness isn’t in chasing the lost imperial banquet – it’s in finding grace in the leftover dumplings we have today.Evagrius of Pontus: Eight Logismoi

In this episode, Matt and Dan do what good Catholics do: overthink their vocations. But this time, they’re not just being Catholic laymen but being Chinese Catholic laymen (yes, it matters, and yes, we’ll unpack that). Matt goes off about the Church’s unspoken two-track economy - one clerical and another lay, while Dan wonders aloud if theology has a built-in side-eye for the laity as “the non-ordained”.Then the two wander into the papal magisterium (because we contain multitudes) and discover not just a grudging nod toward the idea of a theologically trained laity, but an actual theology of the laity. Wild. So why, they ask, do we still act like being lay is a consolation prize and not an actual calling? Finally, in a rare moment of optimism, they look back at moments in Church history when it was precisely the laity who held things together - the unsung, unpaid, unordained backbone of Catholic life – and they ask what that history might mean for how the laity live out the Church’s mission today. Come for the ecclesiology, stay for the low-key identity crisis.Resources:John Paul II: Christafidelis LaiciLumen Gentium Ch. IV: The Laity

Matt and Dan (yes, the Asians) go full Catholic and talk about Mary, “the tigerest of tiger mums”. The one who said “yes” to God with the kind of fierce loyalty that only an Asian mum could pull off. They dive into how Mary's fiat isn't just a theological yes, it’s the ultimate immigrant mum move: sacrificial, strategic, and quietly revolutionary. From knockoff Marian statues in Chinatown shrines to Our Lady rocking hanfu, we unpack how Mary becomes a cultural chameleon, enfleshing the Gospel in a thousand tongues and ten thousand images. They also chop through some of the bad theology out there: no, Mary isn't the fourth person of the Trinity. Yes, she matters deeply in salvation history. And yes, Protestant friends, you can talk about her without spontaneously combusting. In the end, we find that Mary is the kind of figure who doesn't just belong in Catholic kitsch or incense-soaked altars - she offers Good News to all Christians. With tiger stripes and tenderness, Mary mothers us into mystery.ResourcesDicastry for Promoting Christian Unity: Mary - Grace and Hope in Christ

Matt and Dan are back at it again — stir-frying their brains in the theological wok of suffering. This week, they dig deeper into Pope John Paul II’s Salvifici Doloris, a document with more spiritual depth than your Ah Ma’s silent judgment. Why do humans not just suffer, but also spiral into deep thoughts about suffering? Is this a grace, or just another form of divine trolling?Matt and Dan chew over how pain forces us to ask life’s big, messy questions — like char kway teow: greasy, satisfying, but maybe a little too real at 2am. And here's the kicker - suffering, when seen through Christ, isn’t just a pit of despair; it becomes part of our salvation.So, grab a plate, bring your chilli oil, and join these two Awkward Asian Theologians as they sweat through the divine mystery of pain - one existential noodle strand at a time.Resources:John Paul II: Salvifici Doloris

It’s September which, as every Chinese auntie knows, means ghost month is over but the suffering of the long year has just begun. In this episode, Matt and Dan slip into the bitter oolong of theological reflection and sip slowly on the paradox of suffering: the kind that doesn’t go away when you pray harder, and the kind that doesn’t get prettier when you quote Romans 8 at it. Framing the conversation between the minimisers, who deny the pangs in stoic detachment, and the maximisers, who build Chinese altars to their affliction, we look at suffering as an inevitable and indispensable dimension of the Christian journey. What does Christ’s victory on the cross actually do with our pain – and what does it very much not do? Matt and Dan warn the Christian against making a fetish of suffering or pretending it doesn't exist at all. Instead, they suggest something stranger and more relational: suffering as a place of encounter. A furnace, yes, but one where another stands with you. So boil your tea, light your incense, and prepare to get awkward. Suffering is on the table in this double episode bonanza, and maybe, just maybe, grace is hiding in the steam.ResourcesJohn Paul II: Salvifici Doloris

Welcome to Awkward Asian Theologians, where Matt and Dan embark on their most swoon-worthy, heart-fluttering episode yet - a theological deep dive into love.  They unpack why a band called Foreigner penned the immortal anthem “I Want to Know What Love Is” - because, spoiler alert, someone else might just have a better grip on love than we do. But beyond the catchy chorus and cheesy 80s power ballads, Matt and Dan plunge headfirst into the depths of Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est — his first encyclical, the love letter to love itself.They’ll swirl through the poetic Chinese brushstrokes ofecstasy, eros and agape, revealing how divine love is essentially ecstatic in structure, a dance that lifts us beyond ourselves like a kite caught in a sudden breeze over a lotus pond. This ecstatic love is not just heavenly fluff; it’s the blueprint for how Christians should love,  in a way that embraces paradox and mystery. So, get ready for a journey that’s equal parts romance and theology, awkward confessions and ecstatic revelations. Because how we understand love — or fail to — shapes the very way we follow Jesus and live as disciples in this messy, beautiful world.ResourcesBenedict XVI: Deus Caritas EstJohn Paul II: Redemptor Hominis

Matt and Dan kick things off by casually showing off their wristwear, channelling peak Asian salaryman energy, before limping valiantly into the Church’s missionary posture (not that posture, you degenerate). Along the way, they acknowledge the burnout risk faced by missionaries, like it’s Lunar New Year and they’re the last firecracker still sparking. In a move bound to disappoint the ancestors, they float a spicy proposition: maybe mission isn’t just about divine task completion and unquestioning obedience. Maybe faith is more than duty. They even dare to talk about love and relationships, concepts completely foreign to the Asian, toasting the joy of divine filiation with a schooner of Yakult. ResourcesOpus Dei: What is Divine FiliationFor Watches: Lemonsha in Ginza

Matt and Dan kick off the new season by going full ying-yang – back to the basics. And by basics, we mean Jesus. That’s right: before we talk Resurrection, redemption, or rewatching Wong Kar-wai films for spiritual insight, we’re starting at the source. Who is Jesus? What’s up with his name? And why does it matter that he’s both God and human, king and servant, fully divine and yet creating awkwardness at first century dinner parties? Related to this, the Asians grapple with the beautiful, frustrating paradox at the heart of Christian faith: the coexistence of objective truth with subjective experience and culture. Should the Gospel come with a side of hot pot? Along the way, Matt has a spiritual flashback to his younger, more foolish theology days where he found unexpected Christological wisdom in reruns of The Golden Girls. Dan, as always, keeps things grounded, wielding paradox like a wok and frying up some tasty insights on Jesus, the Asian Way.  ResourcesJohn Paul II: Salvifici DolorisGraham Ward: Christ & CultureHenri de Lubac: The Church

In this second instalment of the two-part meditation on faith, Matt and Dan move from Asia’s unique spiritual terrain toward a more universal grammar of belief.Defying the expectations of tiger mums, they explore faith not as a possession or passport, but as a living rhythm—more pilgrimage than property. Along the way, they challenge some sticky assumptions: that faith is an identity badge, a doctrinal treasure chest, or a battleground of truth claims.They also sit with the Church’s role as a kind of guardian - both temple gatekeeper and maternal presence - preserving the sacred ember of faith amid the flux of ages, East and West.Alain Badiou: St Paul - The Foundations of UniversalismAvery Dulles: The Ecclesial Dimension of Faith

Our most Asian episode yet! Matt extols the hidden mystery of Australian country Chinese cuisine, while Dan riffs on the situation of Christians across Asia. He debunks the myth that Christian faith in the region has simply been a proxy for colonialism or a late addition to the Chinese religious menu. They end by asking what it means to be fully Christian and fully Asian, concluding it is an increasing urgent question for Asians and non-Asians (and likely has something to do with steaming fish).Daniel Ang: Bearing Witness in Asia

Matt and Dan light a joss stick for the ancestors and crack open a very special (and slightly spicy) episode of Awkward Asian Theologians - this time, in memory of the dearly departed Pope Francis. Yes, the Argentinian Pope who said “Pachamama” out loud in the Vatican and lived to tell the tale. They reflect on a papacy that was as chaotically beautiful as your auntie's home altar: a bit cluttered, deeply sincere, occasionally controversial, and full of incendiary content. Matt takes a detour into the legacy of Luigi Giussani - no, not a K-drama villain, but close - while Dan channels the virtue of presence, something Pope Francis quietly re-centred in the Catholic tradition. Like the yum cha trolley that shows up with you need it most, this special episode of Awkward Asian Theologians is steaming hot and smells of the sheep. ResourcesPope Francis: Evangelii GaudiumDaniel Ang: Spiritual Director of the Universal Church

This is the second installment of a two-parter on the theme of mystery.Matt and Dan use more big words to talk about how divine mystery makes itself incarnate into our experience. They also talk about how Christian grappling of divine mystery should lead to a certain posture, one that brings us to our knees rather than inflates our heads.Look out for the use of the term "sacramental ontology".

Matt and Dan begin a two-parter on what mystery is and entails. They use big words like "epistemology", and warn us about the risk of reducing mystery to a jingoistic stopping of further reflection on the life of faith. They also warn us about the conceit of thinking one's way to salvation, instead of truly encountering the complexity of reality and God's working his way through our lived experience.Graham Ward: The UnimaginablePope Francis: Address to Participants in the International Congress on the Future of Theology