The Pen is Mightier than the Sword 

The above phrase first appeared in the English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s work, Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy, in 1839. Since then, it has been used to express non-violent protest through one’s writings.  

ATA has been actively publishing journals, articles, consultation summaries, commentaries, and books since its inception and fighting its wars to keep the purity of the gospel. Dr. Bruce Nicholls, one of the founding scholars of ATA and the grandfather of publications, wrote in detail about it in the book New Era New Visions: Celebrating 40 Years of the Asia Theological Association. The first writing was called Asia Theological News and went to hundreds of Asian seminaries. By reading it, the seminaries expressed the need for an accrediting agency, which gave birth to ATA, which has grown to be the largest theological accrediting agency in the world!  

When Dr. Nicholls stepped down, the board appointed Dr. Rico Villanueva as the Publications Secretary and General Editor of the Asia Bible Commentary Series. I was the Publications Chairman. In the following years, Dr. Villanueva stepped down from ATA to serve as the Regional Commissioning Editor for Langham Publishing and Scholar Care Coordinator of current Asian Langham scholars, and the responsibility of leading the publications fell on my lap. The ATA Executive Committee appointed me as the Publications Chairman and Dr. Steve T. Pardue as the Associate Publications Chairman. Together, we’ve led the publications for the past several years.  

We use the pen (or publications) to promote God’s rule and the Lord’s lordship through our writings, especially for the benefit of Asian churches and Christians. By Asian, we mean “people who love Asia,” regardless of their ethnicity or citizenship. As such, we have Asian editors and authors of books, series, and journals. We try to make the books, journals, and articles relevant to Asian churches and Christians.  

So, what do we publish? The flagship of ATA publications has been the Asia Bible Commentary Series. Dr. Bruce Nicholls edited the original series. Dr. Rico Villanueva edited the subsequent series until he stepped down, and I took over as the General Editor. We have published 23 commentaries within seven years, starting with Judges in 2016 and 2 Peter & Jude just a month ago. We had hoped that all fifty commentaries would be finished within ten years, but we might have to wait a few more years to complete the project.  

A few years ago, the Executive Board appointed Dr. Steve Pardue as the editor of the non-commentary series and stand-alone books. Since then, he has started three non-commentary series: FACTS, Logia, and Missions. The FACT series exposes the audience to topics within a particular field, like a taste of various flavors of ice cream. For example, the first volume was Asian Christian Theology. This highly academic and well-received edited work has essays on divine revelation, the doctrine of scripture, the trinity in Asian contexts, Christology, evangelical ecclesiology, and eschatology, to name a few. In contrast, the Logia series takes the readers to a deeper level of understanding in a particular area. For example, Jerry Hwang’s Contextualization and the Old Testament: Between Asian and Western Perspectives examines various aspects of contextualization. We look forward to several scholarly books coming in this series. The Missions series explores how the mission is carried out in different Asian countries. The first volume was on Southeast Countries. Future volumes will focus on missions in other Asian regions, such as East and South Asia.  

Besides books, ATA also publishes three journals. These peer-reviewed scholarly journals address the area of theology, missions, education, and spiritual formation. The first is the Journal of Asian Evangelical Theology (JAET), co-edited by Drs. Steve Pardue and Beatrice Ang. It aims to advance biblical and theological reflection in the Asian evangelical contexts. The second is the Journal of Asia Missions (JAM), co-edited by Drs. Cameron Armstrong and Jojo Manzano. It provides a forum to assess theories and practices of mission applied in the past or proposed for the future. The third journal is in progress: Journal of Asian Theological Education and Spiritual Formation (JATES), co-edited by Drs. Sooi Ling Tan and Justin Peter. This journal seeks to enhance the practice of theological education and spiritual formation in Asian theological institutions through stimulating reflective thinking, integration, and application. These journals collectively address a wide range of fields – areas where Asian Christians and churches have questions.  

In addition to these above publications, ATA also regularly puts out ATA News, Webinars, and online debates and discussions. Nearly 70 leaders work behind the scenes as project editors, English editors, board members, consulting editors, and advisors. God has richly blessed ATA with women and men who often volunteer their time and energy for publications.  

None of us do these publications for our glory (God forbid if we do). We have two goals: glorifying God through the Lord Jesus and making materials available for the Asian churches and Christians. To that end, we work diligently in our respective fields.  

You can do us one favor: read and promote our works in your churches, schools, and among fellow Christians. Further, if you have some beautiful ideas or relevant research, contact me or the editors. The journals will have their emails, and my email is ataeditorialteam@gmail.com.  

May the Lord richly bless you in this season of remembering our Lord’s birth. He came not to be served but to serve and lay down his life for others. May that be our motto: “Live to serve others,” as with the ATA Publications.