The Confucian Veneration of Ancestors

However much the Japanese and Koreans wish to be distinguished from each other, they are very much alike in one area: their veneration of ancestors. The section on the role of Jesus in the veneration of ancestors in Japan and Korea that now follows forms the transition between the previous discussion on the role of Jesus in Japanese theology and the discussion on the “Korean Jesus.”

In both countries, the veneration of ancestors confronts us with an anthropological given that we, as theologians, cannot go into in depth but is worth pointing out. In Chapter 3 we established via Pieris' observations that a new religion can catch on in an existing religious culture only if there is more or less room for it in the form of a lacuna or a credibility crisis in the existing religions. In Asia – and we will see in Part VIII that this also holds for Africa – new religions catch on only if they, in the eyes of the new believers, have something useful to say about the fate of those who die. Apparently, the fate of those who die is so strongly connected to the basic insights of religion mentioned in Chapter 1 that this theme cannot be ignored or declared taboo without penalty.