GOSPEL OF JOHN AS A MODEL FOR CULTURAL INTEGRATION OF PROTESTANTISM IN VIETNAM

Abstract

Spreading the Christian doctrine makes the problem of its relationship with the national cultural tradition important. Today, new cultural trends and problems of the era of globalization, urbanization and informatization require from Protestantism not only to find the right vector for its spreading, but also to recognize the positive contribution of different cultures to its expression. In this context, integration of cultures is considered to be one of the ways allowing Protestant to fulfill its mission of spreading the doctrine among people from different traditions. By analyzing philosophical views on Logos in ancient Greek philosophy and in the Gospel of John the author shows that in searching for forms of Christian faith expression in the early stages of its formation, Greek culture plays a crucial role to find out the answers for philosophical and intellectual questions of Christian theology. In Asian culture, the concept of Tao is as important as the concept of the Logos for ancient Greeks. Analyzing the Tao as the «Logos of the East» helps Protestantism in Vietnam to realize the applicability of the model used by John.