Date
10-2020
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Chair
Jeff Brawner
Keywords
Hmong, Animism, Christianity, Shaman, Rei-incarnate, Sacrificial Ritual
Disciplines
Christianity | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Recommended Citation
Yang, Lang, "The Hmong Spiritual Formation from Animism to Christianity" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2694.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2694
Abstract
The research project is on the Hmong religion. Hmong people believe in a faith called "Animism – the way of the spirit," which is a created religion that they practiced and passed down from generation to generation. The Hmong like to live in the past and do not want to change their customs, traditions, and cultural practices that their ancestors practiced for centuries. They put all their hope in their dead ancestors' spirits to guide them until a new religion appeared to them, and it is called "the Christian faith." The Christian faith brings new hope to the Hmong people, and it also created divisions and limitations to the Hmong Christians, their families, friends, and relatives. The family would reject those who convert for choosing another religion over the one they worship, and there are some Hmong Christians who still practice the animistic faith to please their family. They would say that it is their custom and tradition, and their way to honor their family. The researcher must survey by interviewing participants who were once an animistic believer and now a Christian why they still hold on to something that cannot give them hope and believe in a faith that is not alive. Christians must present the Gospel effectively to the Hmong people so that they can become a follower of Christ. They must worship only one God and not two to have eternal life because Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (John 14:6).
