งานวิจัยและบทความ

Western culture has historically been assimilated in Thailand, with objects, organizations and ideas being transformed to accommodate the Thai way of life. This article aims to answer if Western Christianity has also been assimilated to Thai culture, focusing specifically on Thai Protestantism and its soteriological patterns—the patterns of belief and behavior through which people seek total or partial salvation. Specifically, the article aims to determine if the soteriological patterns of Christianity in Thailand more closely align with those of Western missionaries or instead reflect ones found within Thai Buddhism. Research was conducted through a three-year study involving literature on Thai culture, interviews with Thai Christians and Buddists, analysis of sermons from both religions, researcher-distributed questionnaires, and a study of the historical development of Christianity in Thailand. It is concluded that there are two major soteriological patterns in general Thai religious thinking: karmatic pattern and spiritual power, both of which are found in Thai Christianity under different terminology. Furthermore, research determined that the Western concept of salvation is not comprehended by Thai Christians as a result of the aforementioned soteriological patterns. Thus, despite Thai Christians having their own distinctive religious resources and terminology, their soteriological patterns more closely align with the patterns in Thai Buddhism and animism in the ways in which they are conceived. Ultimately, Western Christianity has not produced a new culture among the Christians in Thailand, rather it has introduced a new set of institutions and some new ideas, particularly the idea of a powerful and loving God.