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
--------
24:56
--------
24:56
S2E6 Lotus in the Fire: Suffering (Part I)
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
--------
35:34
--------
35:34
S2E5 Love in Translation: Feels
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
--------
22:44
--------
22:44
S2E4 Bubble Tea After Mass: Migrants
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
--------
33:46
--------
33:46
S2E3 There Is No Asian, Only Duty! Mission
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
Awkward Asian Theologians is the audio project of AwkwardAsianTheologian.com, and is a collaboration between Matthew Tan (Dean of Studies at Vianney College Seminary in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga) and Daniel Ang (Director of the Archdiocese of Sydney's Centre for Evangelisation).
Each fortnight, the podcast brings academic theology to lived life as seen through the eyes of two Australian Catholic laymen, and doing so asianly.
Ireland