religious pluralism violent context
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Religious pluralism in a violent context
Prof. Victor R. Aguilan
Religion and violence: Contemporary Challenge to Theological Education in Asia
Divinity School Silliman UniversityDumaguete, Philippines
A Paper presented to theATESEA THEOLOGICAL TEACHERS INSTITUTE
Chiangmai, ThailandJune 5-11,2005
INTRODUCTION
How do we do theology in our present context? I believe that doing theology is not
something we do apart from our experiences (socio-cultural, socio-political, socio-economic
and socio-ecological context).1
Hence anyone doing theology in Asia should be sensitive to
the Asian context. I suggest that the hermeneutical principle recommended by SEAGST
(South East Asia Graduate School of Theology) - the Critical Asian Principle,2 be used in
interpreting and understanding our context.
As currently applied, the Critical Asian Principle "seeks to identify what is
distinctively Asian, and uses this distinctiveness as a critical principle of judgment on matters
dealing with the life and mission of the Christian community, theology, and theological
education in Asia." SEAGST sets forth seven characteristics of Asia as a distinct region in
which to do theology:
1 Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology ( Revised and expanded, Maryknoll:Orbis Books, 2002)
2 Critical Asian Principle from the SEAGST Handbook, The Association for TheologicalEducation in South East Asia and The South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, 2002-2003(Philippines: ATESEA 2000), 76-77
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Asia has a plurality and diversity of races, peoples, cultures, social institutions,religions, and ideologies.
Most of the countries have had a colonial experience. Most of the countries are in the process of nation-building, development, and
modernization. The peoples of this region want to achieve authentic self-identity and cultural
integrity in the context of the modern world.
Asia is home of some of the world's great living religions, and these have shapedthe culture and consciousness of most Asians, thus representing alternative waysof life and experience of reality.
Asian peoples are in search of a form of social order beyond the currentalternatives. They are looking for a form of social order which would enable themand humankind to live together in dignity in a planetary world.
The Christian community is a minority in the vast Asian complex.
Out of the 7 characteristics mentioned about Asia, the most important common fact
concerning Asian nations is that, with the exceptions of Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, South
Korea, and Malaysia, they are impoverished or desperately poor nations suffering all the
consequences of poverty, such as hunger, poor health, illiteracy, serious iniquitous social
stratification, and intense competitive struggle for survival.3
But there is another emerging image common to all Asian nations regardless of their
relative poverty. It is a picture of conflict abetted if not aggravated by religions, flaring up in
open armed conflicts and bloody repression as in Indonesia between Muslims and Christians;
the bloody civil war between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and the Tamil Hindu minority
3 As of the year 2003, the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing powerparity (PPP) of North Korea was $1,000, Cambodia $1,700, Nepal $1,400, Myanmar $1,900,Bangladesh $1,900, Laos $1,700, Vietnam $2,500, India $2,900, Indonesia $3,200, Sri Lanka $3,700,China $5,000, the Philippines $4,600, Thailand $7,400, compared with Malaysia at $9,000, SouthKorea at $17,700, Taiwan at $23,400, Japan at $28,000, Singapore at $23,700, seehttp://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908762.html accessed May 4, 2005
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since 1983 in Sri Lanka; the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in India; and,
recently in Southern Thailand between the its military and Muslim militants.4
In my own Philippine context it is sad to say that we too have our share of open
armed conflicts and bloody repression. We have witnessed intermittent conflicts between and
among people who belong to diverse religions. Oftentimes, religions have aggravated some
of these age-old conflicts. The conflicts in Mindanao have been portrayed as Christian-
Muslim conflicts.
The challenge now is how to build a sense of community that goes beyond the
traditional boundaries of clan, tribe, status, class, region and religion. A community with
which each member and group can identify themselves, in which different groups feel
responsible for resolving disputes and solving problems through joint action and dialogue
and whose destiny, therefore, each can regard as its own. This is the context of theological
education in Asia. This is where we do theology
CHALLENGE TO THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION
I would like to focus my paper on the challenge to theological education posed by
religious pluralism in a violent context. Today no theology can be done responsibly without
paying full attention to the fact of the existence of other religions and its implication to world
peace, justice and solidarity of humankind. According to Hans Kung, there is no world peace
without peace among religions and no peace among religions without dialogue between
4 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904550.html accessed May 4, 2005; and CrisisWatch 1May 2005 No. 21 found in http://www.crisisgroup.org accessed May 24, 2005
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religions.5 This reality necessitates the need for focusing theological education in the field of
interfaith relations and dialogue.
Religious pluralism is no longer an academic concept found only in books. It is a
reality that we encounter everyday. People of other religions are our neighbors, our
colleagues, our competitors, our foes, and our friends. Religious pluralism is a flesh-and-
blood reality. The challenge of religious pluralism today comes from the living and believing
people of other faith traditions. We are challenged by people who are different from us and
are demanding recognition. This can create tension. An incident in Metro Manila that
created a tension between Christians and Muslims is just an example.
6
The owner of a
shopping mall agreed to put up a dedicated Muslim prayer area inside the mall. But to some
residents of this wealthy Christian area of Manila, any hint of a mosque in their
neighborhood was tantamount to a Muslim takeover. They lobbied the mall owner to drop his
plans, invoking visions of rising crime, fleeing homeowners, and sliding property values. A
residents group said it was an economic hara-kiri. I thought Metro Manilans would be
more tolerant. I think if a similar plan is proposed in the Silliman University, i.e., granting or
allowing Muslims to have their own prayer room, some Sillimanians would surely protest.
Religious diversity can cause conflict.
Conflict is found in almost every realm of human interaction. But people manage to
settle, even resolve their conflict without violence and to the mutual satisfaction of the parties
5 Hans Kung, Christianity and the World Religions: Paths to Dialogue With Islam, Hinduism,and Buddhism (NY: Doubleday 1986), 440-443.
6 Anthony Vargas, Bishops, ulama call for sobriety on Greenhills mosques, The ManilaTimes 16 October 2004, (www.manilatimes.net) accessed May 10, 2005.
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involved. But there are conflicts that turn deadly and violent. Some of these conflicts have
been inspired by religion.
Established religions have often divided people and nations and given rise to
tensions and conflicts. They have held up scientific progress, resisted social change,supported the rich and powerful against the poor and weak, and have often addedreligious fuel to military conflagrations, making reconciliation more difficult. Of allthe wounds human beings inflict on one another, religious wounds are the mostdifficult to heal.
7
Most people, however, consider religion to be the antithesis of violence and, in many
places and times, religion has been a force for peace and social justice. But because history
and current events show that religion is frequently involved in communal violence raises
intriguing questions about faith, religious organizations, and religious leaders are raised. Why
is it that religious communities that teach about peace and solidarity are engaged in so many
wars and violent conflicts all over the globe? Indeed, religious violence is among the most
pressing and dangerous issues facing the world community.
Religion plays a determining role in many of the violent and deadly conflicts found
around the world, which is not really that surprising considering the fact that religion and
culture are so closely interwoven. Conflicts between ethnic groups often have a religious
dimension. In situations of this kind, religion seems to be Janus-faced. In times of prosperity
religious leaders speak of harmony and compassion, and the believers accept each other
across denominational and religious boundaries. As soon as tension rises, however, religion
presents another face: people dedicate themselves to a sacred cause and offer their lives in
the defense of interests sanctioned by faith and stamped with a religious seal of legitimacy.
Sacred writings often teach love and compassion, but in times of war religious adherents are
7 Stanley J. Samartha,. One Christ Many Religions: Toward a Revised Christology.(Maryhill: Orbis Books. 1991), 37
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very adept at finding other scriptural passages that justify violent confrontation within their
own religion.
It could not be denied that religious pluralism causes conflict. Since religion deals
with the ultimate and what is absolute, diversity of religious traditions generates competition.
A careful analysis of the fundamental texts of various living religions explains how four
resources have figured repeatedly in creating religious violence: competing sacred space
(churches, temples, holy cities, promised land); the creation of holy scriptures (exclusive
revelations, orthodoxy vs. heresy, infidel); group privilege (chosen people, the predestined
select people vs. rejected, reprobate people); and salvation (saints vs. damned). Thus,
competing religious absolutes lead to religious conflict.8
Religion is also a deep source of group identity. It is often used as a rallying point
when a particular group feels economically, socially, or politically oppressed by another
group. Invoking the "good" God on ones side, the other is identified with the evil one.
Destructive violence in the name of God then becomes possible. The war becomes a "holy
war"jihad or crusade. When religion becomes a source of identity in this way it becomes
easy for the leaders to make people believe that a group that shares a particular religion also
shares the same economic and political interests. This phenomenon is called communalism in
South Asia. Economic and political struggles also become religious issues.9
8
Mark Juergensmeyer. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence.(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000); and R. Scott Appleby. TheAmbivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman &Littlefield, 2000).
9 Ashgar Ali Engineer et al (eds) Sowing Hate and Reaping Violence: The Case of GujaratCommunal Carnage. (Mumbai: Center for the Study of Society and Secularism. 2002). And AshgarAli Engineer, Communalism in India (New Delhi: Vikas. 1995)
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Because of the involvement of religious groups in war, genocide and mass hatred,
social activist often call for the abolition of all religions. The existence of social injustice,
oppression and evil as a consequence of religious belief forms one of the primary arguments
in the case made against religion by its critics.10
However, some have argued that it is not religion per se that gives rise to conflict
but rather the followers with powerful vested interests, who manipulate the emotional appeal
for their own purposes. They are the perpetrators of deadly conflicts. In many countries and
areas of the present world, conflict between religious groups is more political than religious,
though religious symbols are used to legitimize it.
11
In the book of Scott Appleby, The
Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation, he repeatedly showed evidence
that religion is susceptible to use, or rather misuse, by ambitious and powerful persons to
attain selfish ends, that religious militancy is usually closely linked with the project of an
individual or group seeking to gain advantage from or power over others.12
Religion though is not always the primary cause of conflict. Some of the most salient
past and present causes of conflict are those that fall into the broad category of violations of
civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights: slavery and colonialism;
apartheid, racism, segregation and casteism; exploitation and oppression of minorities,
women, children, the poor and the vulnerable; the production and trade of arms and weapons
of mass destruction, the harmful role of the entertainment industry, drug trafficking, and so
on. The underlying causes of human conflict are of a chiefly non-religious nature.
10 Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-tung and Sigmund Freud are known critics of religion.
11 Engineer (2002) ibid.
12 R. Scott Appleby. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation.(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.)
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Moreover, religious people have served as agents of peace and reconciliation. They
tender the spiritual wherewithal for the de-escalation of deadly conflict and sectarian
violence; they offer moral and material resources for easing or resolving situations of
contention and for promoting reconciliation, social cohesion and mutually beneficial
communal life. When war ends and the houses lie in ruins and the victims on either side of
the conflict are staggering around in a daze and confusion, religious organizations and
individuals are often among the first to bring aid and solace to the former combatants and
traumatized civilian population in the form of shelter, food, concern, counseling and moral
support. They contribute to reconstruction efforts and are involved in endeavors to establish
and sustain peace and to foster understanding for the other.
Religions are ambiguous. There can be little debate about that. Religion can be used
to sanction deadly and violent conflict but it could also be used to contain and de-escalate
conflicts. The issue that is facing seminaries in Asia is the role of theological/religious
education in violent religious conflict. Since religion is ambiguous, could theological
education contain violent religious conflict? Could our formation programs inspire violent
conflicts? Are we sowing hatred?
The reality of violent religious conflict in Asia is a challenge to the Churches. And
the Seminary in Asia is challenged to ensure that theology does not become a tool that
legitimizes deadly conflict. This issue is very relevant today considering that the official
theme of the WCC is the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).13 The Decade runs from
2001 through 2010. What can Asian seminaries offer to world Christian movements in
meeting the challenge of contemporary religious violence?
13 Margot Kassmann,Overcoming Violence: The Challenge to the Churches in all Places,(WCC Publications: Geneva, 1998)
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Some Suggestions to Asian Theological Education
What can Asian seminaries do when churches exist as minority communities in
pluralistic and often hostile environments? What credentials do we, Christians, have to
proclaim the message of peace when our own histories and theologies are soaked in violent
evangelism14? Why are the churches raising the alarm about the religious violence of others
when they themselves have used violence in the past?
These are the questions that we have to ask before we can teach about peace and the
practice of overcoming violence. I believe that the Christian communities in Asia must
express first their readiness to go through a process of overcoming violence, both within and
outside of themselves, to build a culture of peace. It implies an honest confession of our
failure to be instruments of peace. It means simply that the communities will submit to
correction and go through a process of inner transformation in order to rediscover the full
implications of being churches in a violent world.
Seminaries in Asia will have an important role in this process of confession and
transformation. And what is to be done? I would like to suggest the following theses or
points for us to consider. But before I proceed, I would like to mention that my suggestions
are undergirded by three presuppositions about theological education, namely:
All theology is culturally conditioned and contextual but some context are to betransformed
Context is both global and local; that includes the political, economic and culturalelements of a given context.
14 Luis N. Rivera.A Violent Evangelism: The Political and Religious Conquest of theAmericas(Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press. 1992) See also Kenneth R. Chase &Alan Jacobs (eds.). Must Christianity be Violent?: Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology.(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press. 2003), and Pedro Salgado, O.P. Church and Violence: ThePhilippine Experience CTC Bulletin: Bulletin of the Commission on Theological Concern. Vol. XNo. 1, (April 1991). 35-51.
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Theology is a radical critique of theological suppositions and existing modelsAcknowledging these presuppositions, I suggest the following points for reflection
First, a critical review of the courses, programs, pedagogy and curriculum that we
have in the seminary. I remember being asked questions by a young man I met in a local
church in Manila. He asked we these questions: What do you learn in the seminary? What is
the main thrust of the Divinity School? Well, of course, I answered that students learn about
the Bible, Church doctrines, history, preaching, ethics, counseling, and church administration.
But he was not satisfied with my reply. He expected more from the courses that we, at the
Divinity School, offer. I think theological education in Asia has maintained the historic
fourfold seminary disciplines Bible, theology, church history, and practical theology. In
meeting the challenge of religious pluralism, multiculturalism, globalization and escalating
violence we have to revisit these four theological disciplines. Critical inquiry would help us
see and uncover the hidden code of bigotry and hatred embedded in our disciplines.
In the biblical studies, for example, we need to engage our students in the art of
struggling with the text or narratives that would reveal the hidden oppressive code.
Consider the Exodus and Conquest narratives in the Old Testament, they may have a
liberating message for the oppressed, but may have an opposite message for the indigenous
people. There are also some biblical passages that justify violence and certain
anthropological presuppositions that are used to legitimize the exclusion of people, and the
subjugation of women. How do we deal with these texts (both biblical and Church traditions)
Do we avoid them, ignore them in class?15
There are also attempts to uncover the relationship
15 R.S Sugirtharajah, ed., Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World(Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, New Edition, 1997); Naim Ateek, Justice and Only Justice: APalestinian Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1989; Wesley Ariarajah, The Bible and
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between violence and Christianity by examining aspects of Christian theology. Specifically,
it examines violence and assumptions of violence in the classic formulations of the central
Christian doctrines of atonement and Christology.16 There is a clamor that church history
should be taught without hiding or embellishing its violent history specifically the crusades
and the history of mission from the 16th century of colonization until the early 20th century of
American imperialism17 Seminary students should view church history as their history and
hence appreciate its accomplishments, as well as feel shame in its injustices. And because of
the war on terrorism and the possible use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) there is a
call to revisit and critique the just war theory (JWT)
18
When we begin to question our courses, programs and pedagogy in light of the
contemporary challenges and living faith traditions, the door for reform of the curriculum
may be opened. Critical theology recognizes that all theology is culturally biased and stands
in constant need of reflection and reform.
This brings me to my second point, that there is a need to design a curriculum that
would have integrity. Integrity in theological curriculum means fidelity to our confessional
identity and respectful of other traditions in our courses. We are to be sensitive to the various
People of Other Faiths (Switzerland: World Council of Churches, 1985); and I. J. Mosala, BiblicalHermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,1989)
16 Richard J. Mouw, Violence and Atonement in Must Christianity be Violent?:
Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology. eds. Kenneth R. Chase & Alan Jacobs(Grand Rapids,Michigan: Brazos Press. 2003) 159-171
17 Pedro Salgado, O.P. Church and Violence: The Philippine Experience(1991) pp.35-51.
18 Daniel Kroger, Everything is Changed: Just War Ethics after the War in Iraq (unpublishedpaper, 2005), and his book Disarming Peter: Retrieving a Christian Ethic of Nonviolence in thePhilippine Context. (Manila: De La Salle University Press, 2002)
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traditions of Christianity. We are to present or share those different traditions to our class
with minimal if not without bigotry. We are expected to be critical but not judgmental. It
does not imply that we dont have our prejudices. We have our prejudices as teachers and as
members of distinct community of tradition. But we acknowledge the biases and prejudices
that we have in the courses that we teach, i.e., we are honest in sharing our confessional
identity (Reformed, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox or Catholic); we dont hide our theological
perspective (liberal, conservative or progressive); and we do not avoid, embellish, or distort
traditions, historical events, biblical passages and theologies of the traditions just because of
our confessional identity or preference. This is one way of teaching our students to respect
other traditions.
In addition, we need to ask honest questions whether the four-fold disciplines are
sufficient for a fragmented and violent world. Current students of theology are offered
courses of other religions (comparative religions, philosophy, sociology or psychology of
religion) giving detailed knowledge and their background in antiquity; yet, the contemporary
religious situation in light of cultural, political, and economic realities is often totally
untouched. These courses on religions may not be sufficient to help them appreciate the
diversity of living religious traditions. We become aware of the diversity but there is still a
need to exert effort to be conscious that the phenomenon of religious pluralism is a living
concrete reality, which our students and church members encounter, everyday today. It may
require an understanding of various Christian attitudes towards people of other faith-
traditions. This would entail a theology that deals with religions- a Christian theology of
religions (theologies of religions) or a theology of religious pluralism.19
19 To mention some theologians who have written books and have proposed the need to
incorporate in the present theological curriculum a course in Theology of Religion(s) distinct from
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I realize the significance of developing a theology of religious pluralism when I was
asked by a pastor: Do you still believe that Muslims will be saved with all the kidnapping
and bombings perpetrated by them? What else has to happen before you realize that inter-
religious dialogue is a hopeless enterprise, undertaken and pursued by people who do not see
that religions are the cause of conflict and therefore incapable of bringing about peace and
co-existence among religious communities? What we need today is evangelism! When a
theologically trained person raised these questions I felt the urgency that we need to review
our seminary curriculum together with our Church program on inter-religious dialogue and
evangelism. Our attitudes toward people of other religions must to be rooted theologically.
We need a theological basis and spiritual resources to accept and affirm the whole realm of
human life as the stage of Gods love and activity. The theology we need is one that is not
less but more true to God by being generous and open, a theology not less but more loving
towards the neighbor by being friendly and willing to listen, a theology that does not separate
us from fellow human beings but supports us in our common struggles and hopes. As we live
together with neighbors, what we need today is a theology that refuses to be impregnable but
which is in the spirit of Christ, both ready and willing to be vulnerable.20
Moreover, in order to meet the challenge of religious pluralism, theological education
needs to be genuinely inter-disciplinary. Continuing scientific enquiry into reality has given
Missiology and comparative religions: Paul F. Knitter , Introducing Theologies of Religions
(Maryknoll: Orbis Books 2002) and No Other Name?: A Critical Survey of Christian AttitudesToward the World Religions. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books.1985). Jacques Dupuis. Toward a ChristianTheology of Religious Pluralism (Orbis Books. 1999). Harold Netland,Encountering ReligiousPluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission (Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001), John Hick.A Christian Theology of Religions: The Rainbow of Faiths. (Westminster John Knox Press 1995)
20 Quoted by S. Wesley Ariarajah in Is Jesus the Only Way? International Christian Digest1, 4 (May 1987) p. 33
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rise to many other human and social sciences like psychology, anthropology, sociology,
political science and economics. Today theological reductionism is not adequate to
understand reality. We must realize that homogeneity within theological communities breeds
intellectual myopia and tends to perpetuate a narrow perspective that reflects the dominant
ideology and worldview. An integral (or holistic) analysis and understanding of reality has
to take into account its various aspects studied by the various sciences. Today we look at
reality from the economic, political, psychological (personal), social, cultural and religious
points of view. The method of theology, therefore, becomes inter-disciplinary. Theological
education integrates the perspectives of the other sciences. Today, more than ever, programs
in seminaries need to dialogue with other disciplines like medicine, business, science,
performing arts, media, ecology, and information-technology. I think this will make our
response less fragmented and more holistic.
In addition to the courses or seminary disciplines, I think we need to cultivate the
appropriate attitudes or virtues. These virtues are theological, namely: faith, hope and
charity.21 Faith moves us to engage in learning and dialogue because we trust in a God who
created the universe and all creatures; hope in God enables us to be patient and it also
sustains us to continue even in midst of conflicts, frustration and division; and, charity in
learning allows us to abandon our self-interest, to be humble when a cherished belief is
wrong, and to be generous is receiving the wisdoms from others.
21 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, Question 62, Art. 3. Anton Pegis., ed. , BasicWritings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Vol II. NY: Random House, 1945, p 478. See the works ofStanley Hauerwas, Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics (SanAntonio:Trinity University Monograph Series in Religion, Vol 3); Vision and Virtue: Essays inChristian Ethical Reflection (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1974).
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The third point I wish to mention is that, since theology is an interpretative science,
we need to develop a hermeneutics of suspicion with a hermeneutics of appreciation and a
hermeneutics of appreciation with a hermeneutics of suspicion. We are familiar how the
hermeneutics of suspicion22 is incorporated in doing theology. Its methodology makes its
practitioners conscious and critical of the social and cultural underpinnings of any theology.
With its social analysis component, it brings forth the realization that context - concrete
historical situations - impinge on our understanding, including the way we communicate the
Christian faith.23 A hermeneutics of suspicion gives us the tool to be suspicious of how our
theology has been captivated by violent ideologies. We begin to glorify violence. We
succumbed to the myth of redemptive violence which Walter Wink describes as the belief
that violence saves, that war brings peace, that might makes rightViolence simply appears
to be the nature of things. Its what works. It seems inevitable, the last and, often, the first
resort in conflicts.24
On the other hand, a hermeneutics of suspicion allows us to question whether or not a
pacifist and nonviolent option strengthens that hands of the perpetrators of violence and helps
maintain the status quo. Reinhold Neibuhr insists that a pacifism which really springs from
the Christian faith, without secular accretions and corruptions, ... possesses an alternative for
22 In his highly influential work, Freud and Philosophy, Paul Ricoeur (1970) draws attentionto three key intellectual figures of the twentieth century who, in their different ways, sought tounmask, demystify, and expose the real from the apparent; "Three masters, seemingly mutually
exclusive, dominate the school of suspicion: Marx, Nietzche, and Freud." Yale University Press(1970) .32
23 Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, S.J., Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice (Rev. &enlarged edition; Washington, D.C.: Center of Concern, 1983)
24 Walter Wink. The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millennium (NY: Doubleday.1998) 42
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the conflicts and tensions from which and through which the world must rescue a precarious
justice"25
However hermeneutics of suspicion, although necessary to uncover the ideological
captivity of our theologies, is inadequate to inspire us to engage in a theological
reconstruction to meet changing contexts. There is a need to incorporate in doing theology
a hermeneutics of appreciation. Dr Jose de Mesa, a professor of Systematic Theology at the
Dela Salle University, has expressed the need to integrate a hermeneutics of appreciation to
theological education with regard to cultural identity and integrity, stressing the importance
of self-respect in the colonial setting of the Philippines. Quoting de Mesa at length:
26
This form of hermeneutics includes a number of elements. It embraces a broadunderstanding of culture as a worldview representing the fundamental perspectivesand values of a people, and culture as a set of institutions and structures consisting ofpatterned modes of social relationships of this human community. It incorporates, too,an approach to culture which, methodologically, not only looks at this way of lifeprimarily from the insiders point of view, but also focuses first and foremost on thelife-giving elements that can be found in it. To this end we suggeste[d] a set ofattitudinal principles which those who wish to inculturate the Faith can follow inorder to develop an emphatic listening heart to the strengths of the culture
In interpreting reality, the hermeneutics of appreciation which we envision isone that utilizes a combined cultural and social analyses. Though insight into thewhy of specific behaviors is a sine quo non that cultural analysis provides, present-day understanding of the structural or institutional elements of culture also demandprocedures worked out by social analysis. The emphasis of this integrated form ofscrutinizing reality remains the positive, life-giving elements which are latent equallyin the beliefs, values and customs of people as well as in the social structures of theirsociety.
A hermeneutics of appreciation, moreover, requires also a methodology fordoing theology which ensures that the appreciative stance will the foremost in thedynamics and process of theological reflection
25 Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity and Power Politics, (NY: Charles Scribner's, 1952) 32
26 Jose de Mesa, Why Theology is Never Far form Home (Manila: De La Salle UniversityPress, Inc. 2003)
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Thus in practice a hermeneutics of appreciation would use its own indigenous
resource (myths, symbols, stories, music and vernaculars), embrace the multi-religious
context of ones heritage, and nourish the imagination by listening, seeing and appreciating
the beauty in diversity of ones culture and the culture of others.
Dialogue becomes vital in a hermeneutics of appreciation because the encounter is
between people. And people come from different contexts. Dialogue, a fundamental notion in
human inter-subjectivity, gives form and direction to the interaction between the two. In
dialogue both parties must have a listening attitude, and respectful of each others particular
context. We are expected to bring and share our knowledge, traditions and practices. People
involved in dialogue must be committed to learn from each other. Dialogue does not happen
if one person or group concludes in advance there is nothing for them to learn from the other.
It is analogous to a meal-table fellowship as describe by Antone.27
. like an open mealtable, in the traditional Asian sense. It is lavish, warm andwelcoming to all. Careful preparation would be done to make the sharing joyful andcelebrative of the similarities that may be shared and to begin building a sense of trust
among partakers. In order to make it affirming and respectful of differences amongthose around the mealtable, care and sensitivity would be taken in preparing what isserved on the table, considering the needs of the partakers. As in the literal mealtable,an ecumenical or pluralist Religious Education in Asia would be lavish and abundantin color, smell and taste. It would be nourishing and delightful, offered freely foreveryone to enjoy. In sharing together, partakers celebrate their common need forfood and life. In the moment of sharing, they live out true communion and realcompanionship. Together they build community.
28
Dialogue like mealtable fellowship is a process with the objective of transforming
partakers. In dialogue listening and understanding is not the end; genuine dialogue also aims
27 Hope S. Antone. Religious Education in Context: Of Plurality and Pluralism. (Quezon City:New Day Publishers. 2003) .69-120
28 Hope Antone, ibid. 104
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to transform both parties, to transform relationship and to build something new. Dialogue
like mealtable fellowship creates community
This brings me to the final point that I would like to share which is about the aim or
thrust of theological education. I believe that theology is the work of the whole Church. It is
accepted that a basic task of theological/religious education is to prepare each new generation
for their responsibilities as disciples of Christ and peaceable people of God. Theological
education is not just a matter of learning basic facts about the institutions and procedures of
Christian life. It also involves acquiring a range of dispositions, virtues, and faithfulness that
are intimately bound up with the practice of Christian discipleship. The aim of theological
education affects what subjects are taught, how they are taught, and in what sorts of
classrooms. In this sense, theological education is not an isolated subset of the curriculum,
but rather is one of the ordering goals or thrusts that shapes the entire curriculum.
I believe one of the aims of theological education in the Seminary is to train church
leaders to empower the congregation to sow the seeds of charity, justice and forgiveness in a
pluralist society marred by violence and fragmentation. According to R. Scott Appleby, an
informed laity that knows the scripture and is at home with the sacred texts and traditional
practices can be mobilized as an important resource for deterring extremist groups from
promoting violence and religious confrontation.29 An informed laity can question the
legitimacy of religious violence and can object to religious confrontation on religious
grounds. A pious and committed laity cannot easily be ignored or viewed as outsiders. The
influence of the congregation is in its ability to hold dialogue with and challenge the
extremists from within the theological tradition itself. When we, Christians can show to the
29 R. Scott Appleby. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation.(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000). 284-288
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world that we can dialogue with one another and settle conflicts without violence, I believe
that we will have made a stronger testimony than the many statements on peace that the
Churches have issued. The challenge to the Churches is whether we are preparing and
working for peace while the powers and principalities of this world prepare for war and
domination
CONCLUSION
Religious violence is among the most pressing and dangerous issues facing the world
community. Although religion may contribute to violent conflict, it is not always the main
cause of conflict. There are non-religious factors as well. The challenge to theological
education in Asia is to be an instrument in the promotion of peace and not violence. The
seminary is challenged to ensure that theology does not become a tool that legitimizes deadly
conflict. The discussion above only shows how theological education can meet this challenge.
We need to criticize our own theological curriculum exposing the embedded violent code in
our theology. There is also a need to reform our curriculum incorporating in its design
fidelity to ones confessional identity and respect for the other traditions. It should be
genuinely interdisciplinary. Students need to learn not only the what but how we have taught
them as well. In theological education we need to incorporate a method of doing theology
that combines a hermeneutics of suspicion with a hermeneutics of appreciation. And any
reform in the theological education needs to be aligned with the primary thrust of theological
education which is the empowerment of the laity, the congregation, to transform relationship
and build a pluralist community. It is only an informed laity that can truly sow the seed of
justice, charity and forgiveness with hope that our childrens children shall reap the fruit of
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righteousness, which is peace.30 Today, no theology can be done responsibly without paying
full attention to the fact of the existence of other religions and its implications for world
peace, justice and solidarity of humankind.
30 Isaiah 32:17; James 3:18
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