xgenesisrei

[xgenesisrei]

Christian Responsibility to Care for Creation

Below are notes of what I shared in an online webinar on caring for the environment and the commitment of the church to this issue organized by Movement with Children and Adolescents of Latin American and the Caribbean.

Creation care is a no-brainer. What is at stake is not only the sustainability of the planet but also the very survival of the people that populate it and the future of their children as well. 

But as desperate times call for desperate measures, other options have been put forward. For example, Elon Musk flaunted the possibility of exploring life elsewhere -an extra-planetary settlement. The brain behind Tesla Motors is convinced that the only way to make sure that the next generation of human beings will survive for the future is to build a self-sustaining colony on Mars. 

Should the global climate emergency continue unabated and life on earth become a far more hazardous option, Musk’s big idea is to make human beings a multi-planetary species and save human civilization from extinction. 

While the suggestion may literally be a shot to the moon and beyond, NASA’s Perseverance rover did land on Mars in February of 2021 animating a fresh dose of curiosity toward supporting human life on another planet.

Unless something is done to halt the deterioration and increasing danger of life on earth, the idea of exploring Planet B shall more and more turn from being a mere sci-fi imaginary into an issue of realistic urgency. Building a case of hope for a sustainable life on the current planet we call ‘home’ all the more will become a pressing endeavor. 

Why salvage something (i.e., Earth) if discovering and pushing for an alternative starts to be a potential option if not actually a more plausible one? This is a question that puts the best of theology, as a discipline, to task in offering a compelling answer. 

The Original Commission

The Bible tells a story of a God who has created a beautiful dwelling place, a home, to be shared by Him, humanity, and all the other living beings. But while God’s work finished on the sixth day, human beings were given a continuous task of looking after this wonderful home. 

Created in God’s very image (Genesis 1:26-28), they were given the authority, and with it also the responsibility, to ensure that life on earth not only will flourish but also be dutifully safeguarded (Genesis 2:15). 

If we are to take the suggestion that Genesis 2 is the accompanying commentary of Genesis 1, then the language of the task “nurture and protect” in Genesis 2:15 supplies the meaning necessary to understand the mandate “to rule” in Genesis 1:26-28.

This work of carrying on where God left off is often called the "creation mandate" (A. Wolters) which basically is humankind's part in the project of filling and forming even more the beautiful home God has made." Some other theologians have suggested calling it the "ecological mandate" (Dave Bookless) or still for others, actually, the original "Great Commission." 

Suffice it to say that as far as the story that we read in Genesis is concerned, people’s wellbeing is very much closely linked to the welfare of the planet in which they live.

Both have to come together and can only be put asunder with fatal consequences tilted primarily towards humanity’s loss. 

Unfortunately, the role of Christians in ‘caring for creation’ has not always been at the front and center of the church’s preoccupation. Roderick Nash, in his book The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics, pointed out that “Christianity has done too little to discourage and too much to encourage the exploitation of nature.” Indictments such as this paint Christianity as the exact opposite of what we read in the pages of Genesis.

How did Christians end up in such an awkward position? 

The Great ‘Omission’

I began with a reference to an escapist mentality (i.e., Elon Musk) wherein hope is pinned in abandoning earth and looking elsewhere to secure humanity’s salvation. It would be an eerie comparison but a very similar spiritual consolation has been what the church has offered in its long history. 

Part of the problem can be traced to certain versions of ‘escapist’ theologizing that developed in the history of the church. While Elon Musk had his eyes on Mars, the eyes of Christians have been turned away from the earth and tilted towards finally being ‘home’ in heaven. For a very long time, hymns were sung on how this world is not our home and we are merely passing through.

This idea is reinforced by popular appeals to selected New Testament passages such as Philippians 3:20 on citizenship in heaven; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 on being caught up in the clouds; and 2 Peter 3:10-12 on everything on earth being burned up in the last days. 

A kind of theological thinking wherein the world is beyond saving for the exact reason that it is meant to be destroyed eventually. The only prospect of hope proclaimed is a mass migration to the heavenlies and making sure that there would be as many people as possible who would secure the ticket to join the blessed evacuation.

In some circles of the Christian community, it is even thought that the more planetary devastation happening, the better as it signals that the world is finally coming to an end with Jesus' blessed return looming closely on the horizon.

But not only that this kind of Bible teaching forms an escapist mentality, it also resulted in ‘contra-creation care’ theological convictions that results in the gross negligence of Christians to look after the earth. Convictions revealed in social media posts as the following:

“There is no reward in heaven for recycling, picking up trash, or planting trees.”

“We are called to save souls, not trees!”

“The earth will be destroyed in the end, no matter whether you polish it up or abuse it. It does not matter; it is not a church issue!”

The Broader Vision

The good news is that today, more and more theologians have been more vocal about the devastating impact such escapist and contra-creation care theologies have wrought. 

Prof. Katsuomi Shimasaki, a Japanese theologian, observed that, 

“There might be a theological reason why we Protestant Christians, especially evangelical Christians, have difficulty finding true value in everyday life and in good works. If we believe that the world around us will disappear someday, it follows that we ought not to labor to preserve the planet. If we believe that Christian salvation means the soul would fly away from the world to heaven, our attitude towards life on earth would naturally be indifference.”

In my region here in Asia, Hyunte Shin, a Korean scholar, in her research work tracing the impact of Dispensational theology to Korean Christianity, concluded with this observation, 

“The tremendous influence of certain brands of Western theology brought by Western missionaries from their home countries are the ultimate root of the apathetic stance of South Korean Christians towards environmental issues.”

And so, we see, these kinds of theologies are not just bad, they are harmful, and most of all incongruent with a more careful reading of the Bible’s teaching about the place of ‘creation care’ in the life and mission of God’s people. 

When we read the New Testament, it goes full circle to the splendid vision of a beautiful home in Genesis 1. It is quite clear that the Christian hope is not only about people’s liberation from everything that enslaves them but also the liberation of the planet from everything that has caused its pain.

Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:19-22 that the redemption of human beings is closely bound together with the renewal of the earth and everything in it. 

Furthermore, John the Beloved paints a beautiful portrait of the kingdom of God in a new heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21) complete with bees, rivers, and trees. 

In the end, I think Albert Wolters is on point when he said that “God does not make junk, and he does not junk what he has made.”

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (April 25, 2024) *Note: this reflection is taken from a chapter on creation care in the book 'God's Heart for Children: Practical Theology from a Global Perspective' published by Langham.

#creationcare #integralmission #earth day

[xgenesisrei]

The article I've written on 'Missional Community 101' to help prepare the delegates for the 4th Lausanne Congress in Seoul, South Korea later this year.

#mission #integralmission #missiology #ecclessiology #discipleship #community

[xgenesisrei]

What Defines Filipino Food?

What defines "Filipino food"? Some misguided purists argue that true Filipino cuisine comprises only dishes eaten by locals before the influx of foreign influences. However, our history is far more intricate than just the pre-colonial era. It's a rich tapestry woven from pre-colonial, colonial, and external influences. Philippine cuisine is as diverse as our islands.

If we were to apply the logic that authentic Filipino food is solely native to our land, then Italian cuisine couldn't claim many of its dishes because the tomato, a staple ingredient, is not indigenous to Italy. The truth is, the majority of cuisines worldwide borrow, exchange, and adapt elements from other cultures.

The Philippines, situated in a strategically significant location, has a long history of interaction with traders, colonizers, refugees, and neighboring countries. From these interactions, we assimilate aspects of their culture, a process known as indigenization. What starts as foreign can become truly Filipino when embraced by locals. Numerous examples of indigenization exist in Philippine cuisine.

Perhaps the most famous example of indigenization is Filipino Spaghetti. Its distinct sweetness is far from that of Italian spaghetti. We use sweet-style tomato sauce or the more local banana ketchup, which is also an example of indigenization (replacing tomatoes with bananas).

There are more cases of indigenization. Take champorado, for instance. In Mexico, it's known as "champurrado," a hot beverage made from chocolate and masa de maiz. Filipinos transformed the Mexican champurrado, which was introduced via Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, into Philippine champorado by replacing corn with glutinous rice, creating a sweet chocolate rice porridge. In return, we shared our knowledge of tuba making and varieties of mangoes with Mexico.

Another example is avocado, an introduced species, regarded as a dessert fruit by Filipinos. It's often eaten with milk and sugar or added to ice cream, ice candies, and shakes—a contrast to its use in savory dishes in the Americas.

In Palawan, chao long, a localized version of Vietnamese pho, was introduced by refugees from Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Adapted to suit local tastes, this soup boasts a hint of sweetness and is served with a localized version of Vietnamese Banh mi known as 'French bread', sourced from local panaderias.

In Sulu, Zamboanga, and other parts of Mindanao, satti, a skewered grilled meat dish, is our local take on satay or sate, influenced by neighboring Southeast Asian countries. Unlike the traditional peanut sauce served with satay, ours comes with a thick, spicy orange sauce.

Chinese influence permeates our culture, evident in our celebration of Chinese New Year as a national holiday, portrayal in popular media, and a significant portion of the population with Chinese ancestry. If I may add, did you know that chopsticks, which we traditionally call "sipit," were used by locals long ago; it's not a recent fad.

One of many Chinese influences on our cuisine is the introduction of noodles. Since then, noodle dishes have undergone a remarkable evolution, giving rise to diverse regional variations that incorporate locally available ingredients.

For example, Malabon boasts pancit malabon, renowned for its seafood toppings, reflecting the area's abundance of marine resources. In Quezon Province, a leading coconut producer, locals enjoy pancit buko, a unique creation that substitutes young strips of coconut meat for noodles. There are more pancits like pancit pusit, pancit dinuguan, pancit habhab, pancit cabagan, pancit puti, and others . We've crafted numerous exceptionally unique variations that would likely be unrecognizable to a native of China.

While we actually have pre-colonial dishes like kinilaw and budbod kabog, it's crucial to recognize that dishes like morcon, empanadas, and lumpia, though influenced by foreign cultures, are also Filipino. These foods are intertwined in our culture and cherished as part of our collective memory and shared heritage. They are part of our birthdays, weddings, diet, sold in our markets, or perhaps a specialty of our beloved mothers. They are undeniably Filipino. -John Sherwin Felix (Facebook Post, April 4, 2024)

[xgenesisrei]

A Second Look at Forgiveness

Those who attended the traditional 'Seven Last Words' sermon marathon this Holy Week, not a few would surely have heard the depiction of an angry God whose hatred of sin can only be appeased by the bloody murder of His very own and only son.

A popular retelling has it that God could not stomach the sight of Jesus on the cross, at the moment covered with, and carrying upon him, all the sins of the whole wide world in past history and the future to come (in Tagalog, "..ni hindi magawang tingnan..."). If I am not mistaken, not a few pastors got this idea from Warren Wiersbe's red book on the Seven Last Words. The idea includes the turning away of the Father being so severe that Jesus released a grim cry of absolute abandonment, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" Sometimes this will come with an illustration of a father who lets his son get crushed under a bridge so that a boatful of people won't. A sacrifice that can leave people in tears, sometimes of gratitude, other times of shock and bewilderment. Stories can be so double-eged, way more than people who rely on it for communication would realize.

But what if there are other ways to think of what exactly was happening at the cross on the afternoon that we now call as Good Friday?

[At this point, it is good to distinguish the Gospel from theology. Accepting God's forgiveness is experiencing the Gospel. Making sense of how God forgives, the explanatory logic of it, is theology. The latter, and all its complex explanations, need not get in the way of the former, the reality of experience. However, there are times that people settle for the experience despite of, even against, the 'explanation' they were given. Blessed are those who have taken a bet on the mystery of grace instead of simply taking the offered clarity of doctrine.]

And so what if...

What if the meaning of the cross need not be necessarily limited to the logic of substitution (Jesus' life for our own, essentially, Lex Talionis) but one of comparison? That is, the cross tells the story of how the ultimate 'crime against divinity' (the grim murder of God's begotten Son) can actually be subjected to forgiveness? In the words of Jesus himself, "Father, why don't you forgive them? It is obvious, they have no idea what they were doing..."

What if the message has more to with the realization that the worst thing people can ever inflict upon God Himself is in itself unable to quench the depth of divine grace and mercy?

And if this blasphemy is forgiveable, anything else, lesser in magnitude by way of comparison, shall also be as well. In other words, if this 'sin' can be forgiven, all sin can surely be forgiven. Though not by subjecting God to a schema of how he can be loving but by embracing the very identity of a loving God.

Brian Zahnd said something like: The cross is not where Jesus 'changes' how God feels about us but where Jesus 'reveals' how God's love for us has remained unchanged.

If, just if, there can be a way to reimagine the cross as a symbol of 'affirmation,' rather than a 'condition,' of God's love, then, who knows, there might be people out there who might start to reconsider again the goodness that is at the heart of Good Friday...

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (March 29, 2024)

#good friday #holy week #atonement #forgiveness

[xgenesisrei]

"Why we are not stewards of the environment? One of the key problems with the notion of 'stewardship' is that there is an inherent separation from the steward and that which is stewarded: as stewards we are separate from ‘the creation’, and in a way that implies our superiority. When we look at the terrible problems facing the wider natural world, we know they have come about because we have failed to see ourselves as part of that world. We have believed ourselves to be separate and superior, with ‘the environment’ an inanimate object that exists only to serve us. In one way, biblically speaking, we are separate, as the only species to have been made ‘in God’s image’, and there does seem to be a voice within Scripture that highlights that (Psalm 8 is the obvious referent). But overall, the Bible is clear that the human creature is exactly that – a creature; part of creation, interwoven into the natural processes of life, and one voice in the orchestra of creation that exists to worship Creator God." -Ruth Valerio

#creation care

[xgenesisrei]

Non-Christian Idioms for Theologizing in Asia

The 1970s was the period when contextual theology began in Asia. Taiwanese theological educator Shoki Coe coined the term “contextualizing theology.” There was a conscious attempt to develop theology relevant to the socio-political changes happening in many Asian countries. Various Asian theological movements, such as Minjung Theology in South Korea, Homeland Theology in Taiwan, and Theology of Struggle in the Philippines, emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Similar to [Gustavo] Gutiérrez’s work [A Theology of Liberation], Asian contextual theologies began with critical analyses of the socio-political contexts. But except in the Philippines, Asian countries have not been shaped by the Christian tradition. Thus, the kind of living theology emerging from Asia could not rely on the Christian paradigm alone but had to take into consideration religious and cultural elements of Asian peoples. It was eye-opening for me to see that Asian mask dance, poems of dissidents, folk idioms, stories, protest songs, and shamanistic practices found their way into theologizing for the first time.

In An Asian Theology of Liberation, the Sri Lankan theologian Aloysius Pieris writes, “The irruption of the Third World is also the irruption of the non-Christian world. The vast majority of God's poor perceive their ultimate concern and symbolize their struggle for liberation in the idiom of non-Christian religions and cultures.”* Pieris argues that Jesus needs to be baptized not only in Jordan but also in the Ganges and other Asian rivers. -Kwok Pui-Lan (from the blog article 'In the Same Option') *Aloysius Pieris, An Asian Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988), 87.

[xgenesisrei]

Gospel Alumni?

NOBODY, no one, really 'graduates" from the Gospel.

It is an unfortunate development that people have identified the gospel too closely with evangelism which has been taken to mean as that point of making a decision to follow Jesus and being 'saved.' But the Gospel is relevant both to people who have yet to follow Christ and those who claim to have committed their lives to the cause of the cross. Evangelism is basically proclaiming the Gospel and the Gospel needs to be heard anew and continously even, and perhaps most especially, by those who have already decided to follow Jesus.

The Gospel is the wellspring of transformation that God is bringing to the world and transformation in a person's life is an ever on-going thing.

One of the most unfortunate things that happened over the years is that people have taken evangelism and discipleship as two different things which happens one after the other. And this is unhelpful. Disciples, even the strong mature ones, needs to hear the Gospel anew because the Gospel is not just about 'securing one's life for eternity' but also about living one's life in the foosteps of Christ every day. Evangelism has to be re-lived not something to be relieved of because one is 'saved' already.

And even the category of 'saved' and salvation has been reducted as well. Salvation has a past, present, and future reality. Followers of Jesus are people who have been saved, continously being saved, and still shall be saved. And throughout this life-long experience of salvation, the Gospel has to be heard anew. And for it to be heard anew, it has to be proclaimed anew, and its message accepted anew.

There are no alumni as far as the Gospel is concerned.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (February 28, 2024)

#evangelism #discipleship #salvation #transformation #missiology #soteriology

[xgenesisrei]

"You want to prove that the Bible is right? You don't do this by pinpointing to self-fulfilling prophecy or by pointing to world events as prophecy fulfillment. This is not how you prove that the Bible is right. We prove that the Bible is right by radical obedience to the teachings of Jesus -by proving that Jesus' teachings actually work and that they can make the world a better place. Let us love our enemies. Forgive those who sin against us. Let us feed the poor. Care for the oppressed. Walk the extra mile. Be inclusive, not exclusive. Turn the other cheek. And maybe, and only maybe then, the world will start to take us seriously and believing in our Bible."  -Rev. Dr. Munther Isacc, Palestinian theologian

[xgenesisrei]

Rebooting the Reformation

In not a few times, the slogan 'semper reformanda' has been taken to mean as the need to reform with the theological system forged in the 16th century as the inerrant mold.

No question that the reformers of that period emphasized an important facet of the Gospel message (justification). A facet that is badly needed given the context and conditions brought about by the abuses and excesses of the medieval Roman Catholic Church. No question that it freed the people of God to experience the faith anew.

But there is more to the Gospel than the formulations of the protest against the Vatican of old. This will include facets such as the one emphasized by John Wesley in the 18th century (sanctification), or the one insisted by Karl Barth in the 19th century (the living Word) or the one recaptured by the Latin Americans in the 20th century (liberation and integral mission) and the Pentecostal movement (realm of the supernatural). All these have freed the people of God to experience the Christian faith anew and away from entrapments that have boxed the gospel of Christ.

In the 21st century, there are distortions and dysfunctions in the church that badly need confronting, a clear demand for a present day reformation.

This includes the issues of power and injustice in society resulting to discrimination, exclusion, and marginalization that have crept in and have taken root within the fold of the faith community itself.

Furthermore, today's global church includes new centers developing in the Majority World but grappling with issues of colonisation and resonating to the need for re-rooting the Gospel in local cultures and contexts. The church has yet to come to terms with the implications of an increasing experience of a polycentric Christianity with sensibility for that which remains at the edges and the margins. Lamin Sanneh of Yale Divinity School remarked,

"The Gospel suffers from a form of cultural captivity in the West. But, the renewal of World Christianity has lessons to teach us all. The de-Westernization of Christianity may, if we allow it, help us address the Western cultural captivity of the Gospel. Thanks to the grace and power and sovereignty of the Spirit of Christ, this de-Westernization of the global church may help us find freedom from our cultural captivity. The astonishing growth and vitality of movements in World Christianity will make this truth even more evident to us, over the following decades."

The spirit of 'semper reformanda' has to recognize these new wineskins that are taking shape if it is to continue in the ministry of setting free the people of God to re-encounter the Gospel and re-cognize the transforming work of the Spirit.

Apostle Paul has shown us the way forward when he refused to bring the ways of Jewish Christianity to the non-Jewish people of the cities of Greece and the empire of Rome. He wrote epistles that engages deeply their culture, in their language, with the implications of the Gospel to their life. The good apostle has opened the door for people of other cities and cultures, elsewhere in the world, to do the same. The task involves planting the seed of the gospel in their own soil and embrace what shall come out of it.

Sri Lankan theologian DT Niles has left us with this reminder and challenge,

"The Gospel is like a seed, but when it is sown, the plant that grows up is Christianity. The plant must bear the marks of the seed as well as of the soil. There is only one Gospel, but there are many Christianities, each indigenous to the soil in which it grows . . .. We must resist the attempt of those who would treat the Gospel as manure for the trees that are already growing in the various lands . . . . . . When you sow the seed of the Gospel in Israel, a plant that can be called Jewish Christianity grows. When you sow it in Rome, a plant of Roman Christianity grows. You sow the Gospel in Great Britain and you get British Christianity. The seed of the Gospel is later brought to America, and a plant grows of American Christianity. Now, when missionaries came to our lands they brought not only the seed of the Gospel, but their own plant of Christianity, flower pot included! So, what we have to do is to break the flowerpot, take out the seed of the Gospel, sow it in our own cultural soil, and let our own version of Christianity grow."

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

[xgenesisrei]

A Theology of Thriving

A theology of thriving looks like Acts 2:42-47. This is the image of a community of Christ-followers co-creating New Creation. 

In this earliest expression of a local church there is no separation of word, sign, and deed. There was no need for talk of holistic mission, no integral mission, because their sense of mission had never been disintegrated. “Make disciples” was understood as collaborating to co-create New Creation, and sanctification flowed from participation in this new covenant commitment. I hear much talk in the global missions community of the need to “make disciples”, and rightly so. But if I probe why, most often the response is that of multiplication—make disciples who make disciples. Yes, but why? Uh…

The correct answer is to manifest New Creation (or the Kingdom of God if you prefer that terminology). Disciples (those who fear God) are known as such by what we do (what is right). As many others have said before me, you cannot have the one without the other. To separate word, sign, and deed is biblically untenable. Bringing people to the cross, to receive atonement, is merely the beginning of a new life. It is just the threshold of our new walk with Christ, the entrance to a new reality with a new type of humanity in loving community.

Our evangelistic fervour to bring people to the point of repentance and choosing to follow Jesus sells them short if it does not include some indication of the new life that follows, with all its family of faith communal and wider societal and environmental responsibilities. The primary purpose for us remaining on this earth once we are secure in-Christ is to bless our contexts—to seek the wellbeing of our societies (cf. Jeremiah 29:7).

Reciprocal relationships are fundamental to a theology of thriving. It is a theology of generosity and collaboration with all for the good of all (inside and outside of the faith). The chief mandate for the family of God is to be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3), and, I will add from New Testament evidence, with all the families of the earth...

There is no place for an atomised missiology in a world experiencing an intensified “polycrisis”.

God’s purposes call for the proclamation of the gospel and the demonstration of the real-world power of the gospel to reinforce our witness in this world. For the care of creation, the wellbeing of impoverished people, the welcoming of people on the move, the cessation of conflict, the dignity of disadvantaged local people, the blessing of virtual communities, or whatever crisis is on your heart, let us continue to find ways to collaborate and co-create New Creation there, for the glory of God everywhere, for ever and ever, amen.

-Jay Matenga, executive director of the WEA Mission Commission

*Source: Leader's Mission Forecast 2023

#mission #missional #integralmission

[xgenesisrei]

WARY OF BEING BIBLICAL

“One of the most important contributions contextual theologies can make to U.S. evangelical theology is to help it name itself as a contextual theology. Because of the outsized influence of U.S. evangelicalism, it will be particularly difficult for it to name its theologies as contextual. But until that happens all ‘minority’ theologies will be marginalized.” -Juan Martínez

Contextualized expressions of the Christian faith, such as those coming out of the United States of America, may well consider the virtue of 'epistemic humility' as a cornerstone of theologizing. While it will be good to work towards being Christ-centric and being firmly anchored in the narratives of Scriptures, it has to resist regarding itself as 'THE' (most) biblical version of Christianity that the rest of the world ought to follow and emulate.

In so many ways, the idea of being 'biblical' has been deployed to 'sacralize' (read as 'privilege') a certain perspective that was shaped and centered in fact by the specifics of a given context and time. And with that 'sacralization' followed a kind of 'normalization' for the rest of the world, e.g., "West is best" theological imaginary. An unfortunate move, no matter how well-intentioned, considering the debilitating impact of the spread of such a 'norm' to Christianity in many parts of the world. To this day, Christian communities in the Majority World, especially those that went through a painful experience of colonialism, have to wrestle with how to untangle the imperialistic form of Christianity that ravaged their lands and people from Jesus whose life and message speaks of liberation.

Another example is the brand of evangelicalism that developed mostly, though not exclusively, in the mold of influential churches from the United States of America (USA). It bears a pattern of religiosity and spirituality that has been closely woven to a culture reared in the intersectional matrix of individualism, consumerism, materialism, and lately a skewed form of 'Christian nationalism.' Aided by a global digital infrastructure, this normative brand of 'biblical' Christianity from the US continues to be 'exported' to and emulated by the rest of the world. The technical word for this, I guess, is neo-colonialism. The antidote to which is resisting this mono-centric (read as hegemonic) impulse and exploring its opposite, i.e., poly-centricity, and alternatives, i.e., the undoing of the very idea of having centers which perpetuates the continues phenomenon of marginalization. In both, the process demanded is what 'decoloniality' is basically about.

In other words, a deeper exploration of the story of the incarnation will challenge people to pivot from the language of 'centricity' towards 'contextuality' and ultimately from 'biblical' to 'incarnational.' Hopefully, it will also save 'contextual theologies' from the tragic phenomenon of mimicry, of extending to other people the pain that it has borne from its colonized (or imperial) experience.

To close, it will be well to reflect upon the words of, Mekdes Haddis, a missiologist from Ethiopia:

“One of the struggles for Western Christianity is that it is dominated by the theology of white men and the study of God from their perspective. Only that perspective is deemed worthy of being taught and is spread around the globe as 'correct theology' without regard to the context and culture of the people it seeks to reach. Thus it colonizes the theology of the world and erects a modern-day tower of Babel, proclaiming Western theology as supreme and the standard to be built upon by all cultures... Cultural and theological assimilation devalues the diversity of the global church and silences the voices of local leaders by assigning only one Western theological authority as superior. How can we expect local leaders to take ownership of an imported theology and strategy that works fine in the West but has no fertile context to grow and bear fruit outside of it?”

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

[xgenesisrei]

Very helpful insights and challenges posed in this article by Prof. Todd Johnson especially on the section about the Western face of evangelicalism. I have one point of clarification though with regard to this line:

"The gospel for all peoples is hampered by its overidentification with the West. Unreached peoples should encounter a global Jesus, not a Western Jesus."The gospel for all peoples is hampered by its overidentification with the West. Unreached peoples should encounter a global Jesus, not a Western Jesus."

On the contrary, I think, people will be better off encountering Jesus as a man born in the Middle-East, a very particular human being with a very particular culture and a language, and a very specific identification with the poor and the weak. A very particular person you can pin down in geography and history but whose significance is of global (even cosmic) proportions.

Yes, 'Jesus' needs to be de-Westernized, a very urgent task as Christianity continues to bloom (again) in the Majority world, and also because Christianity started off as a non-Western movement and has a rich non-Western roots. But undoing this Westernization by 'universalizing' him, like a 'free-floating cosmopolitan global human being' (not saying that this is what Prof. Todd implies), shall still bear the same 'colonial' problems borne by the 'Westernized white Jesus' propagated to the rest of the world.

And here is where, I think, a deep exploration of 'incarnation' can unlock the mystery of how people encounters Jesus in the very specific contours of their local context and culture. Those working in what has been called nowadays as 'insider movements' will have lots and lots to share on this.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

#globalchristianity #contextualtheology #decoloniality

[xgenesisrei]

Plenary talk on 'Rethinking Missions' for the Emerging Leaders Summit 2023 (Jakarta, Indonesia)

#integralmission #missiology #mission #missional #decoloniality #Youtube

[xgenesisrei]

Who exactly is an 'evangelical' today?

This is the question that The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge (KLC) sought to explore in a recent webinar.

Starting off with the classic 'quadrilateral' first proposed by David Bebbington in 1989, a select group of panelists from both the WEA and KLC looked into Bebbington's proposal, its continuing relevance, some possible expansion or addition, and how it sits with the on-going shift of Christianity's center of gravity from Europe and North America towards the re/emerging Christian hubs in the Majority World.

The conversation yielded a list of helpful insights which provides for a good initial step of inquiry, made possible by the superb hosting and moderation by Darrell Bock. Some personal notes below:

Brian C Stiller proposed 'Spirit-empowered' and being a 'global movement' as important hallmarks of evangelicalism today. A participant from Zoom also points to its 'trans-denominational' and 'trans-confessional' character.

Peirong Lin was quick to issue a reminder that come with its global reach are the very human and context-based dimensions of the movement. This explains the diversity and differences across countries and regions.

Craig Bartholomew noted how evangelicals find themselves as a 'minority' in Europe with a reputation for being anti-progressive and irrelevant amidst a secular society. He also emphasized a very likely Christ-centered impulse among evangelicals with pneumatology strongly linked to Christ-ology.

My own personal contribution focused on how in Asia, for example, evangelicalism continues to be seen as a foreign religion with a distinctively Western face and 'colonial' taste, and what can be done about it along the lines of #decoloniality.

How about you, what will you revise or add to Bebbington's quadrilateral? What defines evangelicals in your part of the world?

You can WATCH the video recording of the webinar here.

This conversation is part of an on-going project by the KLC and WEA which explores what evangelicalism means for the 21st century. More info about this initiative here. Round two of the conversations is set on January 31, 2024. Please keep posted for details of how to join.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

#evangelicals #evangelicalism

[xgenesisrei]

Crime Scene or Canvass?

“In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art." -Susan Sontag

It might be that disillusionment has finally caught up with me that I am feeling the weight of wisdom behind these words from her book 'Against Interpretation.' As more and more of this young generation, becomes less and less literate of the Bible, and them diving deeper and deeper into 'reels' that knows no end, the challenge of getting the future community of the church 'hooked' to the Word of Life becomes even more daunting.

I personally feel that it would be a terrible mistake to get them to approach the Bible with a disposition of a surgeon, a forensic investigator, or much worse an undertaker. To intimate an imaginary of Christianity's holy book as something that is on the verge of dying, or one that mysteriously has been murdered, or one worth burying for good, is for the most part of it an act of suicide. It does not help that the image of a solitary dead Christ on the cross, minus the risen Christ with his friends, can only get one so far in terms of encountering a religion that is supposed to be animated by a spirit that is very much alive.

Yes, the Bible is definitely not an easy book. But not for the exegetical problems and hermeneutical complexity that were the subject of most books 'about' the Bible. It is a hard book because it is a work of art, a complex piece of creative work so intricate that it demands to be 'experienced' in an ever deepening degree. A choice really of being on a crime scene or seeing a canvass come to life.

Pretty much like how Juan Luna's 'Spoliarium' could incite several layers of responses, the Bible if 'entered' as one would the door to Narnia, can transport a person beyond the limits of time and space. And this is the 'magic' of artworks that defies the processes of approaches akin to the 'academic' and the 'scientific.' It is one thing to read a literary analysis of Tolkien's magnum opus or attend a forum on the biological elements of Isayama's 'titans', it is quite another to get lost in the trails of Middle-earth or to capture the moment of Eren's first transformation. Not to necessarily pitch one against the other but just to emphasize how the former is lost without the prior mesmerizement caused by the latter. Stories are powerful in as much as they are free to be enchanting, haunting, and terrifying.

Or to use another metaphor, it is one thing to read about the details of how Sumatran coffee differs in notes and texture from the beans of Ethiopia or Colombia, and quiet another to actually 'experience' a cup of each. CS Lewis used an older metaphor of a map and an island whereas the former can be substituted for the actual setting of foot on the latter. One has to feel the grains of sand and hear the waves crashing like being sucked in a dream played on a loop, not just be familiar with the exactness of the latitudes and longitudes.

So, what I am saying here is that it would do well for God's Word to be reintroduced more as an art form than a textbook. And for this undertaking, it would be worthwhile to get creatives of different sorts to have some space to do what they do best -give people an 'experience' of what the Bible could be about.

And hopefully it will awaken an irresistible desire...

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (December 4, 2023)

#hermeneutics #sontag #interpretation

[xgenesisrei]

Stop, Sit, and Sabbath

What difference does the ancient Hebrew notion of 'Sabbath' make to our lives today?

What a big question to address in a short blog. Maybe it will be helpful to begin with some definitions. The word ‘Sabbath’ comes from the Hebrew verb ‘shabat’, which means basically to rest or stop working. We first encounter this word in the Bible as the culmination of the story of God creating the world (Genesis chapters 1-2). We are told at the end of chapter 1 that God marvelled at how his creation came out. Everything was described as ‘very good’ in English which unfortunately is hardly an adequate rendition of the Hebrew ‘tov.’ Bible scholars say that it would do well for us to imagine what God saw as ‘delightful’ or ‘incredible.’ In the story, God culminates this amazing work with ‘sabbath.’ Genesis 2:2 tells us, “God rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done (ESV).” 

A pattern for life. A lot of interpretations have been offered on the implications of this curious act by God. One of the more important contributions is the suggestion of Al Wolters that God must be laying down a rhythm, a divine pattern, which he calls as ‘creational norms.’ That is, work is to be punctuated with rest. For those of us here who are into music, immediately, this makes sense because melody is made possible by the combination of notes and rest, of sounds and silence. Wolters suggests that this ‘norm’ is at work in different facets of our lives. Health professionals always insist that the amount of sleep we take is as important as the amount of vitamins and medicines that we can intake. Our bodies simply follow the same creational norm.

By now, we can possibly all agree that this is a much needed truth in a world that is so preoccupied with activity and productivity. So, hooked to it that by the time the pandemic finally forced everything and everyone to stop, it is at a loss on how to react. Even Christians! Everyone is so anxious about when and how we can go back to normal. Those with a more futuristic outlook of course talk about a ‘new normal.’ Both basically are locked into the concern of when and how this planetary pause shall be put to end.

And it is this mental wiring that Sabbath disrupts and confronts with an altogether different logic. 

I remember Ched Myers once wrote,

“Genesis 2:2-3 establishes a primal pattern: good work is followed by Sabbath. It is important to note that this cosmic Sabbath is not for the purpose of resting in order to work more; there is no Monday in the Creation narrative. The purpose of this Sabbath is not utilitarian. Instead, it is to enjoy the world forever, which is why it is ‘blessed’ (Gen. 2:3), just like the creation itself (1:22, 28).”

Understood this way, it makes sense why Sabbath is a most wonderful gift. One that God himself enjoyed. 

A reminder of providence. But of course, good theology will tell us that the world became radically different after the story of Genesis 3. In a world tainted by the power of sin and the works of evil, the gift became a command. 

For the Israelites, Sabbath appeared in the Ten Commandments as a regulation to “shut down all operations” after a week of working. A law that carries deep wisdom of course as it is God’s way of reminding them of His sovereignty and providence on one hand, and a way of teaching them how to trust and live by faith on the other. Hebrew Bible scholar Richard Lowery, put is so clearly when he said:

“Sabbath observance requires a leap of faith, a firm confidence that the world will continue to operate benevolently without human labor for a day, that God is willing and able to provide enough for the good life.”

If I may add that the Sabbath actually liberates people from the curse of their sustainability mechanisms. It is a way to learn how to transform our notion of ‘rest’ to ‘resting in God.’

I don’t have much time left but let me mention two more implications of the Sabbath.

1. Sabbatical for the planet. The first Sabbath includes rest as well for the non-human creation of God. Repeatedly we read in chapter 1, “let the earth, let the land, let the waters…” and not a few Bible scholars have observed that this language, while definitely a command, is framed as an invitation to participate and collaborate. Not that there are other co-creators aside from God but that even creation itself is given a role by God to cooperate with Him. And so, when God ceased from working on the seventh day, the earth, the seas, the land, rested as well.

Which is a very important element of the Sabbath law as given to Israel. Sabbath is made not only for people but also for the rest of the planet. Because as much as the land enjoys its Sabbath and so shall its inhabitants as well. This is very clear in Exodus 23:10, for example, wherein we would read:

“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.”

For a year, the land is free from the control and bondage of human beings. Even able to take care of those who are hungry and in need. The groanings of creations find a momentary liberation in the Sabbath year.

2. A promise of justice. Lastly, Sabbath points us to the demands of social justice. In Leviticus 25, we are told of the Sabbath’s Sabbath -the year of Jubilee, to be proclaimed at the end of the 49th year. We do not have time to read the amazing chapter but it speaks of debts being cancelled, land being restored to the original families, slaves being set free. This is a kind of a nationwide social reboot. For the Israelites to grant rest to all of those who have fallen off the cracks in society and to all those who made it happen. A fresh hope to end both the grips of poverty and the greed of affluence. Whether this grand ‘Sabbath’ is utopic or not, let me just point you to the amazing set of reflections put together by the theology team of Tearfund two years ago in the Transformation Journal.

But one thing is for sure. When Jesus announced his missional calling in Luke 4:18-19, the culmination is his proclamation that the Year of the Lord’s Favor -the Sabbath of all the Sabbaths, the Jubilee, has finally come. And it is with such an announcement that all the admonitions in the New Testament shall make perfect sense - “to let tomorrow worry about itself,” “to not be anxious about anything,” “to cast our cares upon Him,” “to be a cheerful giver,” and to have the boldness of praying for a kingdom coming “on earth as it is in heaven.”

May this vision of the Sabbath ever haunt us all.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (originally delivered for Tearfund's Sabbath Day observance in 2021)

#sabbath #rest

[xgenesisrei]

Rethinking Mission

My grandfather was an evangelist. Like apostle Paul, he didn't marry so he can devote his time and his life for the sake of the Gospel. I remember, when I was a child, he would have two things that he treasured dearly. One is his motorcycle which serves as his ride for visiting people and telling them about Jesus. My grandfather believed with his whole heart that Jesus alone can change people's lives for the better. Then he has his notebook, with a long list of names of people he has encountered, shared the Good News, and engaged repeatedly so that they will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. As a child, it looked to me like the "Book of Life" described in the Apocalypse of John. Every night he will pray for the names, one by one. For those who were 'born again' that they will continue to mature in faith, for those who haven't yet that they will one day surrender their lives to Christ, and for those who have forsaken the faith that they will realize the error of their ways and like the prodigal son return once more to the loving embrace of the Father. For quite a while, this vivid image is what I have of a life fully-devoted to the cause of mission.

Then I also have a grandmother. She was not an evangelist like my grandfather. She was an entrepreneur who raised two kids whom she sent to college as a single mother. While my grandfather mastered the Bible, my grandmother specialized in business. I remember when I was a child, day by day, my grandmother would hustle her way in the market, trying to crack the secrets of making money. She was convinced that the only way she can help others is by making sure she can help herself and help herself so well that she would have enough to spare and share with other people. But unlike my grandfather, she did not keep a notebook. She didn't have a list of names who borrowed money from her. She gave as she is able to whoever is in need. As a child, it looked to me like my grandmother was fashioning her life after the story of the feeding of the five thousand whom Jesus refused to send home with an empty stomach. But it will take me a while to understand that my grandmother’s life is in itself a vivid image of what it means to do mission.

I studied theology but it did not so much help me to realize that "giving a glass of water" is also an indispensable part of sharing the Gospel. You may wonder why. It is not that theology in itself is unhelpful, otherwise I would have stayed away from the Theological Commission of the WEA. But I realized that it is a certain kind of mission theology that restricted my peripheral vision. John Stott identified it as the 'Great Reversal' among the conservative side of Protestants. Ron Sider calls it the 'uneasy conscience' of evangelical Christianity. Or more recently, Richard Stearns spoke of the 'hole in the Gospel'. But what helped me the most to see the real face of the problem is what Carlos Rene Padilla, an evangelical theologian from Ecuador, described as a mission that is 'mutilada' (or 'mutilated' in English). A kind of mission that has been so refined that in the process it also loses much of its essential ingredients. Just like refined sugar or bread made from refined flour, it may be tasty but it sure is lacking already the things that can make it healthy. Likewise, mission can be so mutilated that it hardly resembles the multi-faceted character of Jesus' ministry. Or it can be so refined that it neglects the one thing that Peter, James, and John reminded Apostle Paul when he was reconfiguring how missions would look like for the non-Jews, that he should continue to "remember the poor" (and you can read that in Galatians 2:9-10).

As an alternative to 'misión mutilada ', Padilla spoke of mission that is complete, not missing any component. In Spanish, he calls it 'misión integral' after a familiar bread among his people, 'pan integral' or 'whole wheat bread' which he himself often bakes at home. This he does as the necessary response to the specific context and need of Latin America at that time. As campus workers doing student ministry, together with Samuel Escobar and Pedro Arana, they could not possibly dismiss the deep questions of poverty, injustice, and oppression that were probed deeply in the universities of Latin America. They need to give their young people a vision of life that is as compelling if not even more convincing than the promise of armed revolution. What they did in Latin America was mine the Bible for the breadth and depth of what it means to follow Jesus in the most trying condition of their nations. And the Word of God led them to rediscover the revolutionary edge of the Gospel, so radical that it exposes how mutilated mission has unfortunately been in the Christianity of the Western world and how it would be so out of context for them to adopt that paradigm of mission.

Today, 'misión integral' has been embraced more and more by evangelicals globally. Sometimes translated as integral mission. Sometimes as holistic transformation. And it has been a tragedy.

Yes, a sad tragedy. ‘Misión integral’ could have been an invitation for the other regions of the world to reimagine missions as demanded by the very specific contours of their respective contexts. But what started as a solid example of local or context-rooted way of doing mission has been 'globalized' or should I say hijacked into the mold of 'Western-oriented missiology.' You see, 'integrate' in English can mean so differently from 'integral' in Spanish. Integrate can be used in the sense of fusing things that were otherwise taken apart like evangelism and social action or proclamation and demonstration. But integrating two things does not necessarily equate to being whole. You can integrate things together and still be missing something essential. And so the whole debate in the past two decades or so about whether political engagement or creation care should be part of the church's mission actually missed the bigger picture. The question rather is what else are we missing aside from these two that shall make our grasp of mission even more whole and complete?

Is beautiful poetry mission? How about health-conscious culinary? Or responsible artificial intelligence? For sure there is more to mission than water, gender, and fair trade coffee. But there can't be mission without all these because the Gospel best comes across as good news when it confronts the composite dilemma of human existence, social ills, and historical evils. Jesus was good news to the Samaritan woman, to Nicodemus, and the Garasene demoniac. But he was bad news to the Sanhedrin, to Herod, and eventually to the Roman Empire. So terrible a news that the people who are called by his name were put in jail, fed to the lions, and burned as torches in the Coliseum of Rome. They were caught defying Caesar’s decree by saying that there is another king, the one called Jesus" (Acts 17:7). Someone once said, "well, if everything is mission, then nothing is mission." I think this is an unfortunate case of mixing categories. It is like asking, Is violet delicious? Are roses compassionate? Do elephants short-circuit? For how can mission not be about a lot of different things if God is in the work of reconciling all things back to Himself through the peace accomplished at the cross by our Lord Jesus? (Colossians 1:19-20). And so this means that shalom is coming not only to people but to the whole planet, bees, rivers, and trees included, and all the rest of what Apostle Paul called as “things invisible.”

If that is so, then let us push the envelope further as we might still be missing something important. Bishop Hwa Yung of Malaysia often issued a reminder that one of the unfortunate impact of having Christianity that is molded in the worldview of Western Enlightenment is being blind to the supernatural realm that is very much a part of the world we inhabit. And unless we are able to shake off this deficient worldview, our mission will not gain traction in most parts of the world that remains to be attuned to the reality of the spirit world. To this day, Christianity remains to be a tiny fraction of the population in Asia. I will not forget a trek to the mountains that I had when I was traveling a few months ago in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand. The driver was telling me how interested he is in many religions. But what he found most fascinating is Christianity. I can still hear him saying, "You see Christianity has been here in Thailand for more than 100 years and yet the number of Christians remains to be less than 1% of the population. There must be something wrong in how you are doing Christianity in this country."

So, what am I saying here? There is a clear and present danger when we fail to undo the 'single-story' of how to do missions. A hegemonic narrative that leaves little space to the likes of my grandmother. But Rene Padila and his Latin American friends have shown us what it takes to do a decolonial approach to mission. Likewise, how can we, in our time today, encourage the crafting of multiple stories of doing mission that is rooted in the specifics of different cultures, languages, and contexts? How can we undo the logic of copy-paste missiology in the new landscape of re/emerging centers of Christianity in the Majority World?

Maybe, we can get started with some more gastronomic reimagination... How about khao soi missions in Thailand? Phin coffee missions in Vietnam? Or 'sapin-sapin' mission, as suggested by Ian de Ocampo, when in the Philippines? The possibilities are exciting!

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (delivered as plenary talk for the Emerging Leaders Summit 2023, Sentul City, Indonesia) *Watch the video recording here.

#integralmission #missiology #transformation #mission #renepadilla