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Originally Posted by Paul Chang
The reversal of these erasures is a difficult but rewarding task, one that reveals a fascinating, untold story about a major Asian-American theological figure.
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I feel there is a lot of irony in this attempt to characterize Lee as influential Asian-American figure. No doubt, Chang is attempting to increase awareness of both Nee and Lee, but it seems that the end of result of such efforts will only further cement the existing perceptions that are in place already. As a backdrop to this, I was considering how Nee is likely perceived by those outside the LC. What came to mind is that he might be simply viewed as an influential Christian leader from China. Beyond that, maybe a few here and there have read his books, but that general view obviously doesn't reflect how the LC views him. So if Nee is characterized as a past influential leader of Global Christianity, that's not really saying much as far as the LC is concerned. To get people to view Nee in such a way does nothing to further the purpose of the LC.
Moving to Lee, he was obviously a leader who saw himself as having purpose outside of China/Taiwan. Of course, we know now that part of his coming to the U.S. was because he had little option to stay in Taiwan. For sure, the LC has a distinctive Chinese cultural element to it, but all in all, Lee had a much more grandiose view about his own purpose. He eventually came to see himself as the global leader of a world-wide movement.
Lee’s successors officially engraved his MOTA title, and for anyone in the LC to think anything less of Lee is the equivalent of heresy. Obviously that kind of peculiar view held by the LC could not be arrived at by any amount of scholarly research. The end effect of what Chang is attempting to do will be that Lee is further compartmentalized as nothing more than an influential Asian-American. Even those on this forum could probably say that Lee was an ‘influential’ Asian-American figure (what kind of influence is a different subject). But influential none the less. Anyone could hold such a perception of Lee if they wanted to, and it wouldn't translate into anything more than that.
That's why I’m not so sure that Chang realizes what will be the outcome of what he’s doing. In the academic world it can be expected that there will a great amount of objectivity. Therefore, these attempts to portray Nee/Lee as special and unique figures don’t automatically get any blind ‘amens’ like they would within the LC. If anything Chang might succeed in garnering more interest in studying the two men. And when such studies are undertaken by those outside the LC, there will be different conclusions. That is the true irony of it all.