Madang - bookstore

Madang is a Korean term that denotes a courtyard in a traditional Korean home. The madang serves as a space for encounter and sharing. The WCC madang plays the same role, with the opportunity to experience the ecumenical fellowship of churches in all its richness and diversity. The madang includes exhibitions, performances, talks, theatre, music and culture.

Today I took the opportunity to really explore the Madang hall at WCC, with booths representing areas of work of the WCC, as well as member organisations and affiliations, and local Korean organisations. First stop, of course, was the bookshop. I limited myself to 3 books – ‘Religion, Power, Politics’ by Konrad Kaiser, which explores ways the church may engage in critical self-reflection about their action in the public sphere; Christian solidarity in the Cross of Christ by the WCC General Secretary, Olav Fykse Tveit, which explores the way the cross ‘offers Christians a specific lens on reality, opens us up to the world, and provides a key for discerning the world’s needs, genuine discipleship and true agency in an imperilled world; and Property: for people, not for profit – alternatives to the global tyranny of capital, in which the authors argue that to rethink globalization we must reshape notions of private property in accordance with a wider vision which includes people’s real lives and the common good. The cover blurb says ‘it is difficult to exaggerate the philosophical and political importance of this pioneering book’.
These books are in addition to three I bought yesterday for Geoff: the just published book by S. Wesley Ariarajah, ‘Your God, My God, Our God: rethinking Christian theology for religious plurality’, and by the same author, ‘Not without my neighbour: issues in interfaith relations’.  I also bought a WCC publication, ‘Changing the present, Dreaming the future: A critical moment in Interreligious dialogue, edited by Hans Ucko. It is a collection of papers from the ‘Critical Moment’ conference and to give food for thought and action to all involved in interfaith dialogue and cooperation. The book also includes a study guide, meant for practical use in the local community.

I also picked up, to add to the weight of my luggage, three WCC journals available for free – ‘A Century of Ecumenical Missiology’ (produced in relation to the centenary anniversary of Edinburgh 1910), ‘Greed and local politics’, and ‘New ecumenical affirmation on mission and evangelism’ (April 2012) with documents leading to the current statement, Together Towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes.