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Fr.
John Mansford Prior, SVD 1. STATUS QUAESTIONES "We
realise that in dealing with the word of God, the Bible, Guide Schwarz, thank you for the invitation to participate in this first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Area Team for the Biblical Pastoral Ministry. We share a single mission vocation by dedicating ourselves to live by and witness to the Word. "It is by listening to the Word of God and living it that we become co-workers of the Divine Word" (SVD c. 106). More particularly, we are missioners through our involvement in the biblical apostolate. Clearly I am here to listen, to discover where you are now and to where you wish us to move forward in this key mission apostolate. 1.1 The Question: I come with a question. In what way is our biblical apostolate a missionary activity in Asia-Pacific? I would like us to explore together whether there is, or should be, any special missionary characteristic to our biblical apostolate. My concern is that the biblical apostolate may be too exclusively confined to parishes, to Catholic institutions such as schools, or to work with members of other religious congregations. I am anxious that the biblical apostolate does not limit us to traditional pastoral work among Christians but drives us out to the cutting edge of mission. What is your spontaneous reaction - is there anything specifically missionary about the biblical apostolate as we are undertaking it? Is there a particular emphasis or approach that marks out our reading of the Bible from that of pastoral agents? If these questions do not make sense, why not? Let us make a working distinction between apostolates which are primarily "pastoral" and those which are more clearly "missionary". Work that is primarily pastoral is centred upon building up local Church communities. Pastorally-centred work is usually carried out in Diocesan and Parochial communities and institutions. Work that is primarily missionary is focused upon sharing the Good News with the poor (cf. Lk 4:18; Is 61:1-2; Zep 2:3) across cultural and religious barriers. Mission-focused work takes us to the edge of Christian communities in our outreach to others. 1.2 Focusing Mission: The first part of our Constitutions, A Community, Sharing in the Mission of the Divine Word, summaries the origin and purpose of our missionary service (c. 101-105). Certain key concerns give a basic orientation to our mission. First and foremost is the centrality of the Word of God in our life, our witness, our proclamation and our apostolic collaboration (c. 106-109). Mission awareness comes second (c. 110 & 111), followed by Justice and Peace (to which we now add 'and the Integrity of Creation' (c. 112). Next comes the task of building up inculturated local Churches (c. 113) followed by our openness to dialogue with other religious traditions and convictions (c. 114). Finally, this section of the Constitutions refers to the social means of communicating the Good News (c. 115). Recent General Chapters have developed four of these basic thrusts as key mission priorities. They are the Biblical Apostolate, Mission Awareness, Justice and Peace and the Integrity of Creation, and Social Communications. However, it is noticeable that SVD and SSpS Constitutions 113 and 114 - the encounters with other cultures and religions - are missing from this list of priorities. I find this problematic for two reasons. First, because in multi-cultural and multi-religious Asia dialogue is the how of mission. For over 25 years the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) has described mission activity in terms of a threefold dialogue with the marginalised (cf. SVD & SSpS, c. 112), with cultures (cf. SVD & SSpS, c. 113) and - with other faith traditions (cf. SVD & SSpS, c. 114). Second, I think that precisely in the threefold dialogue with the marginalised, cultures and religions we find the missiological key for understanding all our apostolates. The threefold dialogue needs to shape the four priorities of recent General Chapters. Recently missiologists and others have been speaking of a fourth dialogue - with nature. The ecological crisis has become so severe that we are having to re-examine our root attitude to the earth. We need to listen to nature and learn again to co-operate with creation as fellow creatures. In this paper I shall be referring to a fourfold dialogue. 1.3 Contextualising the Biblical Apostolate: How, then, is our biblical apostolate a missionary activity? The apostolate becomes missionary when we read the Bible as Good News in the multidimensional contexts of Asia and the Pacific. That is, in the multicultural, multifaith, multiscriptural contexts of a people who are suffering from structural poverty and ecological devastation. The biblical apostolate becomes missionary when we read the Bible through the prism of the fourfold dialogue. We read the Word of God with the eyes of the marginalised while sharing their life. We read the Word of God with the cultural symbols of the common people while being aware of the cultural dislocation caused by mass migration and rapid social economic change (globalisation, secularisation). Our biblical apostolate is part of our renewed encounter with mother earth, our concern with the looming ecological catastrophe. We listen to the Word of God in conversation with the Scriptures of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and in the great religious traditions of China. We encounter the Word in cosmic cultural and religious traditions. My conviction is that this fourfold dialogue should shape each of our Society's priorities. I am also convinced that each dialogue needs to shape and give direction to the others. The dialogue is but one, its concern and realisation fourfold. Here I confine myself to the biblical apostolate. 2. SVD DOCUMENTS "To
those who did accept the Word For a few moments I would like to seek out the mission dimension of the biblical apostolate as it is presented in recent Society documents. 2.1 Personal Renewal and Community Witness: Clearly, our Constitutions and subsequent Society documents see the living Word of God as source of our personal, community and apostolic life. "People must be able to recognise that we have experienced in our own lives the kingdom that we proclaim to others" (SVD c.106; cf. SSpS c. 106). The gentle meditation of Manfred Mueller published by the Generalate in 1987 as Living by the Word ponders on how Jesus of Nazareth lived out the Scriptures (pp. 16-23). The document then looks at our basic attitude to the Word and its role in our personal life and that of our communities (pp. 29-34). In a final section this rootedness in God's Word is linked to the wider biblical apostolate (pp. 43-50). The fourth document approved by the XIII General Chapter of 1988 is short but significant "We realise that in dealing with the word of God, the Bible, we are talking about the very heart of the Society of the Divine Word... Hence, the XIII General Chapter resolves: that the biblical apostolate be recognised officially as a priority of the Society of the Divine Word; that in accord with this priority, the provinces, when drawing up their plans, favour the biblical apostolate with adequate funds and personnel...". The same Chapter gave official support to the Dei Verbum Biblical Centre at Nemi. In the 1991 Generalate documententitled, "Listen, My People" Wim Wijtten builds upon, while deepening, the 1987 document. He draws upon the reflections of the 1988 XIII General Chapter and the early experience of the Dei Verbum biblical course at Nemi. "Listen, My People" clearly links personal growth in the Word of God to the New Evangelisation framework supplied by the CBF in its fourth Plenary Assembly (Bogota, 1990) and to the threefold dialogue present in our "passing over" mission spirituality. Looking back at these documents from 1987, 1988 and 1991, it strikes me that the encounter between the threefold dialogue and the Bible has blossomed most fruitfully in our mission theology and spirituality. The spotlight is upon personal renewal and community witness. Indeed, we begin with ourselves as we are. This personal and community appropriation of the "passing over" paradigm is being further developed by the Arnold Janssen Spirituality Centre at Steyl and through the extended teams in the Provinces. The same biblical paradigm is also at the centre of our missiological education and research. If we were to implement creatively the suggestions for personal and community prayer as well as for spiritual and academic formation as presented in these documents, we would indeed be, "living by the Word". The challenge we face, I think, is to allow this development to permeate: all areas of our life and mission work, including that of the biblical apostolate. 2.2 Acknowledged without being Amplified: While the XIV General Chapter of 1994 has but few words on the biblical apostolate, those few words are germane to our theme. The recommendation reads: "That in accord with our biblical apostolate priority, provinces give special attention to the Word for ourselves (SVD c. 106, 407) (cf. SSpS c. 106, 409), in living and working with the laity (SVD c. 108, 109) (cf. SSpS c. 109, 110), and to the formation of ministers of the Word". The emphasis upon personal reception of the Word is entirely appropriate. We need to allow the Word to appropriate us (cf. Phil 3:12)! However, we do not find here any suggestion that the biblical apostolate is integral to our missionary evangelisation! Similarly brief, the post-Chapter document, "Toward a Fuller Communion" contains just two sentences. "Deserving a separate paragraph is the affirmation given to the biblical dimension of our spirituality and apostolate. This aspect was spontaneously mentioned wherever the specifically SVD aspect of our presence or missionary service was expressed". I trust I am not being ungracious when I say that I detect little sign here of those two profound meditations of 1987 and 1991! Thus far, we have sensitive considerations on personal and community appropriations of the Word. I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but the Word living in me (cf. Gal 2: 20a). We witness to the overwhelming love of God within us: "For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). In opening up our heart and that of our communities to the Word we also open up our hearts to the mysterious depth found in every person, in every community of faith and in creation as a whole. Living by the Word we become open to what is mysterious, unfathomable and inexplicable in life. Reading the Bible personally and in community develops within us an ability to empathise with "the other" in all their vulnerability. And so, by making our own the recommendations thus far, our communities would be living in faith, faith in the Word of God who loved us and gave himself for us (cf. Gal 2:20b). Precisely how this living by the Word shapes our missionary evangelisation is not amplified. We are aware that the, evangeliser is himself evangelised while witnessing to the Word. In the biblical apostolate the Word we share with others comforts and challenges us also. What implications can we draw from this experience? 2.3 Awareness in Asia-Pacific; The Asia-Pacific Zone is already considering this question. At the 1994 General Chapter two recommendations from the Zone stand out. 1.1 "That formation boards in the zone put greater emphasis in their formation programmes on integrating the riches of Asian spiritual traditions with our customary SVD preparation for international missionary work". 4. "That the dialogue with the religions and the poor in Asia and the Pacific, as well as the task of exploring new ways of mission, be considered as not limited just to scholars, theoretical talk or theological investigation, but as a task which every SVD missionary must pursue on the practical plane". When we turn to the Chiayi Statement written up by the five Aspac interprovincial co-ordinators for the Biblical Pastoral Ministry again we hear of the link between the Bible and mission. The Vision and Mission Statement reads, "to listen and dialogue with our present life situations in the light of the Word of God (different cultures, primal religions, poverty, youth, rapid population growth, women and so on), and try to work together with other concerns in the Asia-Pacific Zone". Later in the same document after looking at the biblical apostolate in the renewal of our personal life and formation, it goes on (quoting the Aspac recommendation from the 1994 General Chapter) to look at the role of the apostolate in serving Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, and in serving dialogue with other religions. However, the Chiayi Statement has no sections on how the biblical apostolate can serve the dialogue with cultures or with creation. Nevertheless, the important point is that both the Aspac Provincials at the 1994 General Chapter and the Biblical Pastoral Area Team in Chiayi the following year are seeing our apostolates as involving the threefold dialogue. This discussion paper is in a reply to the letter of Wim Wijtten of 19 February 1996 which was addressed to confrères participating in the V Plenary Assembly of CBF. Among other points, Wim refers to a report he wrote for the 1994 General Chapter. One heading was, "the biblical pastoral ministry a frontier apostolate: a passing over: some characteristics". I wish to take up Wim's suggestive heading, view it in the light of the Chiayi Statement of 1995, and draw out a few implications. 3. THE BIBLICAL APOSTOLATE AS MISSION "In
the Word was life, 3.1 Reading in Context: Let me rephrase our initial question. Are there specifically Asian-Pacific ways of reading the Bible? In asking this question I am presuming that all readings of the Bible are contextual. Traditionally we have read the Scriptures in contemplative, liturgical, catechetical and academic contexts. Our readings have tended to be centred on the text. Many who take part in Bible sharing still think in terms of uncovering value-free "facts" in the text. This search for universal meaning is a-historical and a-political. In multifaith and multicultural Asia and the Pacific, such value-neutrality is impossible to maintain. What we see depends on where we stand. Where do we stand? Four significant developments are taking place in Bible study. First, we are becoming more aware of the social contexts that gave rise to the original text. We are making use of insights from the social sciences and from cultural and literary studies of the Bible (sociological, anthropological, ideological and literary criticism). Second, we are becoming more attentive to the significance of the context of the reader and interpreter. Our understanding of the relationship between text, the context and the reader/listener has become much more diverse and refined (rhetorical criticism and reader-response criticism). Third, indigenous approaches are mixing with those from western academia. Often enough Asian and Pacific readings of the Bible are intuitive, imaginative and spring to life from the free association of symbols and images. Fourth, we are reading the Bible from within personal, communal and societal involvement. We are reading the Bible not so much in order to uncover ''the truth of the text" as to unfold divine wisdom for practical living. All these developments change the way we use the Bible. In our case the reader and interpreter live in Asia or in the Pacific. 3.2 Reading in an Asian-Pacific Context: What, then, is "the Asian-Pacific context", given that Asia-Pacific realities are fluid and ever changing? Each of us can answer from our own particular experience. In general, we work within multicultural, multifaith settings, where the majority of ordinary people are being marginalised from the benefits of rapid social-economic change which is seriously damaging the planet. The divide between an ever smaller transnational élite that owns and controls the fate of the earth and an uncertain middle class and excluded majority is becoming wider by the hour. In its turn, the resultant social and cultural dislocation has given rise to violence - military violence to bolster up unpopular political regimes and religious violence to preserve group identity. We read the Bible in this turbulent Asia-Pacific world of high economic growth and widening economic, cultural and sexual disparity. Not surprisingly, the non-people who are dislocated economically, politically and culturally seek affirmation. Social ills need social heating. Cultural and religious fundamentalism is a response to the yearning of the marginalised for immediate intervention by God to reassert identity, certainty and stability. Fundamentalism is not the problem, it is an answer. I trust that we are working on alternative answers, less apocalyptic than that of fundamentalist fellow pilgrims. The biblical apostolate is our participation in the "dynamic restlessness" of the most disadvantaged in society, our entering into "the in-built yearning for the total transformation to subvert every structure that dehumanises" the outcast. The Word is shining in the darkness of conflict, and the darkness cannot overpower it (cf. Jn 1:5). Reading the Bible as a missionary activity implies reading the Bible in these Asia-Pacific contexts. We read the Bible in the light of the needs and aspirations of those excluded from economic, political and social-cultural power, of those pushed to the periphery of life. Why? In order that they and ourselves make sense of life and make sense of the Bible. The biblical apostolate among the powerless of Asia-Pacific is an apostolate among people of faith who are searching for purpose and direction in their struggle for "life to the full" (cf. Jn 10:10). 3.3 Listening and Clarifying Together: Giving the Bible back to the people rescues it from being an ideological tool of religious or political institutions. Each person can now read or listen to the Word in the context of their own lives. Liturgical contexts are important in shaping our understanding of the Word. They give us a sense of community, of history, of continuity. They root our faith in that of the prophets and apostles (cf. Eph 2:20) However, if most Christians only hear the Word from a liturgical minister in a one-way homily on Sundays or in one-directional catechetics, then the Bible is easily made captive to a particular ideology, that of the institution. In the biblical apostolate we release the Bible from the narrow confines of one-directional, hierarchical transmission. The top-down, trickle-down frame is being replaced by a plurality of voices, many-directional, multilayered approaches. We allow a sharing to take place where each, as a baptised member of God's people, is both hearer and doer, proclaimer and receiver. 3.4 Professionals and Activists Reading Together: For this to happen, we need to know (as far as research allows us to) the probable social, political, cultural and gender contexts that give rise to the biblical text in the first place. Thus we need to develop "organic reciprocity" between our biblical theologians/exegetes and biblical activists in the field. This relationship is truly reciprocal. The confrère or sister with more formal training in the Bible and the lay/brother/sister/priest activist in the field listen to each other. In this mutual listening, we attempt to discover a common language that can come alive among powerless people who live at the edge of formal religion, in local, perhaps despised cultures, in multi-religious contexts. The ordinary reader/listener reaches out to the text, while the SVD/SSpS biblical theologian identifies him/herself and his/her life with the struggle of the poor and the marginalised. When the biblical theologian lives compassionately with the economically, politically, culturally powerless, this life commitment begins to shape his/her biblical interpretation. When the Bible is read from within the actual life context of vulnerable people then they discover, almost by chance, that they are employing local, cultural tools in their reading of the Bible. The formally trained brother/priest/sister theologian takes note of such indigenous hermeneutics, and shares them with other groups. 4. TOWARDS A FRONTIER APOSTOLATE "The
Word became flesh, 4.1 Stages in the Journey: In eastern Indonesia over the past 25 years we have identified three stages, or more accurately three circles, in the steady expansion of the biblical apostolate. Initially we were busy introducing the Bible to people who had had no previous direct access to the text. The shift was from hearing the Word from priest or teacher during worship and at school to holding the book in one's own hands in one's own home and to hearing the Word being proclaimed in a neighbourhood community. To achieve this we were required to provide Bibles to Basic Ecclesial Communities, schools and other pastoral communities. Facilitators needed to be trained. People requested guidelines for reading, praying, sharing and discussing. Regular opportunities for opening the Bible had to be discovered or created. Since 1977 this routine use of the Bible in the family, Basic Community and in Pastoral Commissions and organisations has received an annual encouragement through the National Bible Month (September). Introducing the Bible to Christian people is a never ending task. However, it is no longer the focus of our activity. We next found that we needed to link our biblical apostolate with the pastoral strategy and priorities of our respective Dioceses. Since the mid-nineteen eighties each Diocese has clarified its vision and mission through a series of regular participative Synods. These Synods employ a See-Judge-Act methodology, beginning with the Base and working towards a concluding collegial meeting of lay and clerical representatives from the whole Diocese. The biblical apostolate has thus become an integral part of the Church's overall apostolate. In the Bible we continually rediscover and reappropriate the vision that inspires our pastoral work, that defines our basic strategy, that directs our efforts, that motivates our communities, and that links our humble efforts with those of our forerunners in the faith. With this understanding the biblical apostolate provides the vision behind and within the pastoral plan of the local Church. At this stage of our development we concentrated our efforts on developing joint programmes with other Diocesan and Parish commissions. In these ways the Bible becomes the soul of the Church's apostolate. This effort continues. Since the early nineties we have increasingly moved out into a wider circle. The global economy is marginalising increasing numbers of people in eastern Indonesia. We are being marginalised economically, politically, culturally and gender-wise. Thus, we are focusing our efforts on how the Word of God can be a transformative power in society. We have been linking up the biblical apostolate with social and cultural analysis. Basic Ecclesial Communities are still important. However, we are also moving into non-ecclesial movements. These "communities of struggle" are where people, whether Christian or Muslim, religiously active or passive, are deciding their fate in the world. Our focus during the present three year regional plan (1995-1998) is on working with credit unions, trading co-operatives and non-governmental organisations. We wish to witness to the power of the Word at work where people are most powerless. We wish to see the Word of life come alive where people are struggling for survival. The light of the Word needs to shine where people are confronted by all the ambiguities, compromises and contradictions of life. This third circle of the biblical apostolate is taking us to the social, religious, cultural and natural frontier. Thus, we have progressed from the narrow - although important - circle of introducing people to the biblical text, through the wider circle of integral pastoral planning to the third circle of the Word as the heart of the daily struggle for survival. This progression parallels developments in the wider biblical movement. Similar developments appear in the Plenary Assemblies of the Catholic Biblical Federation (CBE). When the biblical apostolate allows the power of the Word to transform multi-cultural, multi-faith society, in particular the world of the marginalised who are struggling for survival in a fragile earthly environment, then the biblical apostolate becomes the soul of a missionary evangelisation. 4.2 Reading The Bible with the Eyes of the Marginalised: When the Bible is allowed to become the heart of mission, we allow it to come alive as source of inspiration and motivation in the hands and lives of people at the edge of society. Often enough the disadvantaged have been given their identity by the powerful minority. They are taught that they are failures. Through social-cultural analysis leading to political engagement they become aware of an alternative identity, an identity defined in the crucible of the struggle for dignity. At that point, groups once subjugated to a "colonisation of the mind", who once accepted fate as their vocation, begin to create their own story, their "counter-discourse". The Bible is no longer a recipe from above but the story of their own struggle. The biblical apostolate is missionary when it does not consolidate the oppression of the mind, nor justify unjust social conditions, nor become an ideological tool of the interests of the powerful of this world. Sentimentality for the poor subjugates the mind. Compassion and solidarity energises. In the biblical apostolate we give the Bible - a collection of popular oracles, legends, stories, myths, parables, songs, testimonies - back to the "non-people". The Bible is popular literature and must now be returned to the common people. The incidents, the history, the story that we hear together becomes not just the story of the Hebrew and the Apostolic communities. It becomes our contemporary story. The Bible is retelling our own life and thus shedding light on how to respond to daily and societal challenges. Biblical stories and our Asian-Pacific story become analogous. As in the Bible we learn to read our own history with the eyes of those who fail, of those who have been discarded. In Bible sharing we outline the dream that sustains us, the vision of the society for which we are striving. In such dynamic interaction between text and context, between the theologian and the facilitator, between discernment and implementation we come to know and thus practice the truth that sets the cosmos free (cf. Jn 8:32). An on-going conversation between a dedicated group of the marginalised working for a more just world, for "a place in the sun" and analogous incidents in the Bible gives birth to meaning and identity at once creative, liberative and redemptive. In eastern Indonesia we have developed a four week ecumenical Bible facilitators' workshop which starts with a full week on social and cultural analysis. The most important social concerns of the communities from which the participants come are identified. The participants arrange these concerns into major classes. They seek out the root causes of each class and discover common patterns behind the apparently different categories. Only after we have mapped out the social and cultural terrain of the areas where we live and work do we move on to the Bible. In two weeks of Bible study we seek out stories and incidents - usually from a single book - which highlight the root causes or common patterns. We allow the ever new impact of the creative-liberative biblical events to converse with the contemporary situation. During the final week we work out possible future directions when we return to our respective communities, and viable strategies we wish to propose. We are aware that the meaning of the Bible is most convincingly known by seeing how it is acted out in the community. Reading the Bible with the marginalised draws us into a kenotic spirituality, a life of joy and simplicity (santhosa). Let us share personal experiences of how the marginalised are using the language of the Bible to speak about their own life struggle and to construct meanings to meet the needs of their local situation and the challenges that they are facing. Let us also share experiences of how Bible sharing has contributed to lessening human suffering, to building communities that resist oppression, and to furthering the creative liberation of those among us who are most disadvantaged. What price have we paid for our involvement in the biblical apostolate? The experiences - attitudes, insights, methods - that we learn from Bible sharing with the oppressed, can then shape our biblical apostolate with other social classes. From the poor we learn how to read the Bible with the eyes of the poor - for all. Our preferential option - which is not optional! - is with the marginalised. With them we gain the insights and orientation which we take to work with the non-poor. By spending our time and energy with the poor, we learn how to read the Bible with the privileged. 4.3 Reading The Bible with the Eyes of Local Cultures: Formerly, and perhaps even somewhat today, the biblical apostolate was part of the "civilisation" policy of the West. Even today, Western/northern consumerist culture is the norm of` the powerful cliques who own the transnationals, electronic media and most governments. Ordinary people find that they are defined by the "superior" culture of the West/north. As a Church we no longer wish to conform local cultures to the mainstream Western cultural tradition of Christianity. We are in the process of becoming a multicultural, polycentric community of Catholic Churches. We wish to allow the rich uniqueness of each culture, each with its sets of symbols and distinctive way of thinking, to proclaim the one Word of God. And indeed, people are claiming back the right to look at the Bible with their own eyes. The Bible is being read in local cultural contexts and no longer solely through western, exegetical lenses. Over the years village catechists throughout the region have retold the biblical stories imaginatively within the frame of the pre-conciliar Church. Each episode had its moral ending. This approach fairly successfully domesticated the people into a Western Church. The mission challenge today is to garner the power of the imagination in rereading the Bible with Asian and Pacific eyes. The peoples' myths, legends, stories, proverbs, songs and dance supply us with the local symbolic tools to reread the Bible. Contemporary stories, especially the social biography of the people, furnish us with the tools for interpreting the sets of cultural symbols found in the myths. Each generation has the right and obligation to rediscover its cultural heritage. In retelling legends and myths contemporary values are confirmed or challenged. An ongoing conversation between contemporary values as expressed in the struggle for social justice, the values as displayed in local myths and legends, together with analogous stories from the Bible, can create a liberative community, fully Asian-Pacific, authentically Christian. The cultural resources are all around us. Stories, ancient and modern, have endless power to expand our creativity and invite us to express our own beliefs and aim in life. It is a question of consciously making use of them. God's Word behind the text has the power to sensitise people. If read, proclaimed, recited or sung well the Word of the Bible will be surely heard. The Word can be performed in drama, dance, sculpture, painting. The important point for mission is: which/whose word is coming through?
Share
examples of Bible sharing using Asian-Pacific cultural resources.
Which of our dramatised versions of the Passion draw out sentimentality/pity and which draw out Jesus' solidarity with those who suffer? Do our dramas and songs and pictorial art domesticate or liberate the people? What is the key that decides whether a biblical performance will domesticate or liberate? A culturally contextualised biblical apostolate rescues the Bible from the prison of monocultural thought. More importantly, reading the Bible with Asian and Pacific eyes liberates the Bible from abstract, spiritualised, individualised, indeed neutralised readings. This is the vital difference between purely private or fundamentalist readings of the Bible, and a discerning contextualised approach. We refuse to imprison the Bible in the cell of purely personal and interpersonal (community) relationships, important as they are. When we read the Bible from a purely individual perspective, then reflection on social evils turns into pure sentimentality bereft of real social concern. God's Word needs to be released from the prison of so called "neutrality" which supports an unjust status quo. We wish to allow the power of the Word to speak out in the entirety of our Asian-Pacific contexts: economic, political, cultural, religious, gender. This is not easy. The privatised, spiritualised, "neutered" reading of the Bible from the bourgeois West has already entered the practice of Bible group sharing. Too often our Bible sharing is restricted to personal attitudes unrelated to the social context. Here is one major concern for our SVD and SSpS prioritising of the biblical apostolate. The challenge is to recreate the biblical apostolate as a missionary activity. Perhaps the Aspac Area Team can co-ordinate efforts on discovering, exchanging and promoting every method that allows the Word of God to come alive in our complex Asian-Pacific cultural contexts. In cosmic cultural environments, a culturally contextual strategy is at the same time an inter-religious approach. Even today, it is difficult to make a clear separation between cosmic cultural values, symbols and structures and the values, symbols and structures of cosmic religions. An intercultural entrance into the biblical apostolate opens us up to the fundamental sacramentality of life, that each thing and every event embodies the creative-liberating presence of God. Such an approach in the biblical apostolate focuses on the Bible as an active word, an emotive force, a guide for action. For Confucius language (the Bible) is misused not so much out of intellectual failure (Socrates) but out of selfish and ulterior motives. In Bible sharing we seek wisdom for practical living. In this search there is much room for dialogue and difference. In open Communities many insights are expressed. Each intuition interacts and conditions the others. There is no one single meaning to each text. Meaning is shared in the interchange between contemporary and legendary stories and those of the Bible. Genuine humility and openness support authenticity. 4. 4 Reading the Bible in Multi-scriptural Societies: Each religion has its sacred text. Muslims recite the Qu'ran, Hindus recall the Vedas, Buddhists chant their Sutras, Jews read the Bible, Christians ponder the Apostolic Writings. Each faith tradition has groups of faithful who read their sacred texts in the context of disfranchised people. When the scriptures of the various religions are read in the context of oppression and weakness, they become a source of strength and inspiration in the struggle for a more just society. In each faith tradition there is a liberating core expressed as the central, revelatory Word. The central Word in one tradition does not contradict the central Word in the others. The Word is similar though the cultural symbols and metaphors are very different. Whatever is contradictory is surely of human origin; whatever is complementary in its creative-liberative thrust is of God. "All that is good, all that is perfect, is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light" (Jn 1:17). If the biblical apostolate is to be at the heart of mission in a multi-scriptural society, then the Bible is at the heart of dialogue. "Dialogue is at the core of the missionary activity of our Society. It is an attempt to co-operate with God's plan for the communion of humankind with him and the unity of all peoples of the earth (cf. Eph 1:1-10; Jn 11:52). As missioners engaged in the biblical apostolate we need a 'dialogical imagination', the ability to listen actively, a radical openness to what other faith traditions are saying. We no longer oppose other faith traditions as heathen but welcome all people as fellow pilgrims in a common search for practical wisdom and in an on-going search for truth. To read the Bible with a "dialogical imagination" implies metanoia, an on-going conversion among the religious and cultural partners. With R.S. Sugirtharajah we can say that we are not only discovering how to live as members of multi-faith societies, "but also how to interpret the scriptural texts taking note of the presence anti the spiritual intuitions of people of other faiths". The Bible thus becomes a religious resource for all peoples. With a courageous faith we allow it to be shared, probed and questioned in multifaith communities which are struggling for God's will on earth as in heaven (cf. Mt 6:10). We need the courage to try out different voices, and listen to various versions of the narratives. When we do this, the biblical apostolate becomes an integral part of missionary evangelisation. We do not need to solve all the concomitant theological problems before we accept the Scriptures of other religions as sources of spiritual wealth and inspiration. It is enough to accept that we are living and working in a multiscriptural situation. In reading the Bible and other sacred texts we come to see how they complement each other. For example, certain key words and themes in the Hebrew Bible are enriched by the Christian Apostolic Writings, and in turn are enriched by the Qur'an. We know that the Hebrew and Christian traditions have influenced the Qur'anic tradition. Can we now accept that the Qur'an can enrich the Jewish and Christian faith traditions? In sharing the Bible in Basic Faith Communities, we invite others to share with us their own scriptural insights. In multiscriptural sharing the biblical narrative serves as a "historical prototype", a "formative root-model", a "structuring prototype", an "open-ended paradigm" that sets experience in motion and makes transformation possible. The Bible and other scriptures play a major role in the life of the religious and cultural imagination of Asia and the Pacific. Our scriptural traditions organise ideas, images and emotions. The Bible functions "as an activating symbol". The missiological key is to allow these "activating symbols" to imbue an overwhelming inspiration for hope and liberation. Most of the poor and marginalised in Asia and the Pacific draw from a variety of religious sources for religious sustenance and empowerment. Traditionally we have called this syncretism and fought to "purify the faith". Perhaps a more appropriate strategy would be to enter into the "survival-liberating centred syncretism" of the common people. Often enough this "mix of sources" follows a cultural dynamic of its own. The key missiological question is not "whose source?" but "do the sources creatively liberate or damagingly enslave?" The disadvantaged peoples of Asia and the Pacific turn to their scriptures to draw out religious and moral insights. When the creative-liberative-reconciling thread of the Hebrew-Christian Bible intertwines with the creative-liberative-reconciling threads of scriptures of the majority in Asia-Pacific, then indeed, "dialogue is at the core of the missionary activity of our Society".
Are
we placing the scriptures of major religions beside the Bible in our
chapels and prayer rooms?
What use are we making of the scriptures of other faith traditions in our personal prayer, group sharing, common worship? Are we drawing upon the rich symbols of each other's faith in order to confront the powers of this world? Is anybody revising the traditional SVD prayer books which are still being used by Asian-Pacific communities drawing on the sacred texts of other religions? My impression is that parts of India have long been involved in such an interactive approach across religious traditions. In places of communal tension we can enter multiscriptural sharing in contexts of prayer and spirituality as part of a spirituality of involvement and struggle. 4.5 Reading the Bible in the Midst of Environmental Degradation: Living in Asia-Pacific with some of the highest and most prolonged economic growth rates in the world over the past 20 years, we are aware of the ecological devastation that the present model of development is bringing in its wake. In 1995 the SVD Asia-Pacific Area Team for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation drew up a statement that succinctly outlines the causes of the ecological crisis. It is the "result of the collusion of economic, political and cultural forces leading to exploitation, domination and alienation... We recognise that at the heart of environmental degradation is a wrong attitudinal system. Greed has created the myth that the world's resources are ours to exploit without regard for the future and the needs of others. We recognise that environmental degradation is a consequence of oppressive socio-economic, structures that it is precisely the same values and structures that give rise both to the destructive exploitation of nature and to oppression of the poor. The CBF concludes, "we need a critical re-reading of Genesis 1-11 and other biblical texts in order to rediscover the relationship between humanity and nature". In the small scale cosmic societies of a few generations ago, much of Asia and the Pacific lived on friendly terms with the environment. The global, market economy pits humankind against nature. Veni, vidi, mamona vicit: I came, I saw, Mammon conquered. Reading the Bible from this context, we envision ourselves as an integral part of God's creation (Jb 38-39; Prv 8:22-31). The Hebrews celebrated the goodness of creation (Gn 1:1-2:4; Ps 8, 104, 148; Jb 36:22, 37:24). The biblical story of redemption and liberation is set within the framework of creation with which the Bible opens (Genesis) and closes (Revelation). The whole drama of redemption-liberation is a quest for recovering an equitable balance and just harmony between humans themselves and between humans and creation (cf. Is 65:17-25; 43:16-21; Rv 21:1-22;15). Ecological harmony is a vision for this world in the here and now (cf. Is 11:6-9). Key words and themes of the Bible, central hopes and aspirations of the Hebrew people and prophets focus on shalom, "the integral well-being of the whole person, right relationships among peoples, and harmony with nature. We understand this as entailing sustainable and holistic human development" (cf. Ps 85:10-13). Obedience to God's Word leads to sustainable economic development and a balanced relation with the land (Dt 11:13-17). Balance between clans and between humans and the earth is re-addressed every 50 years through the year of Yobel, Jubilee, when each family returns to their ancestral lands and all debts are cancelled (Lv 25:8-17, also Lk 4:19). God wills that biological diversity be preserved at times of cosmic catastrophe (Gn 6:5-9:17) and through routine cultural norms and laws (Lv 11, 19; Dt 14, 22). Cosmic shalom and human shalom are integral parts of a common vision of the new heavens and earth where, "every race, language, people and nation" belong to one people (Rv 5:6-10), a new creation (cf. 2 Cor 5:17-19). The God of the Bible is a God of the living (Mk 12:27) a God of tenderness and compassion (cf. Mt 9:36, 23:23; Lk 6:27-36; Jn 5:11 ). "The world is built on mercy" (Ps 89:12). This biblical vision dovetails into the ecological vision of society. This vision comes from a new understanding of the relational quality of all life. Visionaries like Augustine of Hippo intuitively experienced this interrelational unity and interdependence of each unit of the cosmos. "Deus, dona hominibus videre in parvo communes notitias rerum parvarum atque magnarum". The world is a web of all-inclusive relations. "Ecology reaffirms the interdependence of beings, interprets all hierarchies as a matter function, and repudiates the so-called right of the strongest". None of this is foreign to the indigenous cosmic, religious-cultural vision of Asia and the Pacific. Reading the Bible at the heart of a vulnerable creation, we are urged to restore-redeem-liberate the earth from the political domination and the limitless greed of the few and return the world to a friendly co-existence with the human race based on love, compassion, solidarity and communion. How is the "ecotheology" of our cosmic cultures influencing our reading of the Bible?
Is
it possible to connect the relational world of local cosmic cultures
with creation themes in the Bible in order to promote a spirituality
of life?
What challenges are grass-root ecological movements raising for the biblical apostolate? Which methods are you finding most appropriate in developing a biblical ecospirituality? 5. MOVING FORWARD "From
the Word's fullness we have, all of us, received - Reading the Bible across social, cultural, religious and ecological boundaries brings the Bible to the heart of mission today. As the Bible is becoming the centre of our personal and community life, so it should be at the centre of our missionary evangelisation. As the fourfold dialogue shapes our mission in the Asia-Pacific Zone, so it should increasingly shape our biblical apostolate. We are learning to read the Bible with new eyes, the eyes of the disadvantaged class at the edge of society, the eyes of our rich Asian-Pacific cultures, the eyes of the majority faith traditions among whom we live and witness. We are learning to read the Bible as a Word spoken in the midst of a vibrant world filled with the Spirit. I would like to conclude with an image at once biblical and Asian-Pacific. The image is that of the sadhu, the pilgrim, the wanderer. I envision the Aspac Area Team for the Biblical Pastoral Ministry as a group of pilgrims wandering to-and-fro between a variety of cultures and faith traditions where you feel equally at home. You share the home of your Asian or Pacific cultural and religious roots; you are at home in your Western Ecclesial and academic heritage; you are heirs both to the biblical narrative and your own narrative as Asian and Pacific people. We are middle class by education, opportunity and lifestyle yet at home with the non-people who are pushed out to the periphery. At home everywhere, yet a lifelong stranger too (cf. 1 Cor 9:19-23, also Rom 12:2). Mission involves bringing these homes into an ongoing transcultural and transscriptural conversation. Together with the outcasts of society we are happily "peripheral", transposing what is both old and new (cf. Mt 13:52), rearranging life's habits, changing old routines, opening up new frontiers. As interfaith and intercultural pilgrims we pray: "May
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ledalero, 22 June 1996.
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