Methodology used: See – Discern – Act A. See – the students have to analyze their experiences as Christians, within the concrete context of their situation. B. Discern – to bring into dialogue their experiences with their Judeo-Christian Tradition (JCT). They do this by asking which aspects of their faith help them to bring “good news” to their life and to their situation. They also have to ask about the aspects in which their Christian heritage falls short in bringing a liberating message. This dialogue is an invitation for them to rediscover and to reformulate the Christian message, within their own context. C. Act – to translate the refocused Christian message into an active / effective action or actions that affect their “head, heart, hands”, bringing well-being to their situations. Always part of such action is celebration. Words To Understand 1. Incarnation – it expresses the Christian faith conviction that God who is the totally Other One is also a God near to people. God is present (incarnated) in our daily lives. 2. Inculturation – it points to the need to communicate the message of faith using the cultural expressions of a people. Humans are cultural beings, totally immersed in a particular culture. 3. Kingdom of God – It is the master symbol used by Jesus in speaking of the well-being that God has always meant for his people. The term did not originate with Jesus. It is rooted in the history of his people. It goes back to the time of David, whose reign was likened to the reign of Yahweh, since it was a time of peace, justice and prosperity. The Jewish people avoided the use of the name of God (Yahweh), hence, ‘heaven’ was used to replace it. 4. Liberation Theology – A particular form of theological thought after the second Vatican council. It was developed by some latin American theologians who, inspired by the council, wanted to bring the good news to their own situation. Good News (Gospel) means for the latin American peoples liberation from poverty, political oppression and slavery. 5. Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) – the worldwide gathering of the Catholic Church called by Pope John XXIII. It was held in Rome from 1962 – 1965. The Council produced 16 documents that were reflections on and concrete proposals for the renewal of the Church. 6. Doing Theology – it expresses the need to broaden the scope of theological reflection. Theology is not only a matter of “reflection about God” (the Greek words theos = God and logos = reason, reflection or study). Rather, it is a reflection that is produced by action and is to lead to action. 7. Anthropological Constant – Value center or dimension that is essential to the process of becoming human. The term is used by the famous theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, who developed a framework of six interconnected dimension to reflect on the process of our becoming human in dialogue with others. 8. Faith (Latin fides, “trust”, “belief”). In the widest sense means freely accepting what a person does and says because of one’s trust in that person. Applied to Christian faith, it is God who is accepted by the person. This implies belief in revelation or that God makes Her/Himself known in history through her/his words and actions. The word faith, then, means not only belief in a personal God, but also belief in God’s message that is expressed in different ways, as in scriptures, doctrines and creeds. 9. Feminism – Movement that attempts to win equal rights for women in the economic and socio-political realms. In developments, it also includes the reflections that are taking place in philosophy and religion about the qualities, specific characteristics, rights, responsibilities and roles of women. 10. Hypocrite (Greek hypotrites, “actor”). Person who pretends to be what s/he is not. In a religious context, it points to a person who pretends to be pious or virtuous without really being so. 11. Kairos – Greek term for a period of crisis, in which a person has to make a historical decision. In scripture, it expresses a time of salvation, in which God decides on our behalf. 12. Oikos (Greek “house”, “habitat”). The Greek word “eco” is used in ecology, eco-ethics, eco-feminism, eco-justice to express the need to develop another attitude towards the environment. The environment is like a house, a habitat for human beings. The destruction of this habitat means the destruction of ourselves. 13. Prophet (Greek prophetes, “one who announces”). In the biblical and Christian Tradition, refers to a person who speaks for God and receives divine guidance. As a spokesperson for God, the prophet interprets the present in the light of God’s plan for human beings. Therefore, the prophet also looks into God’s future intentions for a community. It is for this reason that in common parlance, a prophet is one who, in a way, predicts future events. But, such common understanding betrays the bibilical view of a prophet. 14. Superstition ( Latin superstitio, “excessive fear of the gods”). Any belief, attitude, or action that is based on fear or ignorance and is therefore inconsistent with the accepted truths and worldview in a particular society. In religion, it includes belief in charms, omens, supernatural interventions and the like. 15. Utopia (Greek “not a place”). Any visionary scheme or system that depicts an ideally perfect society. As such, it is often labeled as unrealistic and impractical. 16. Theology (Greek theos, “God”, logos, “speech”). A scientific, methodical attempt to understand God and God’s involvement in creation. It has classically been described as “faith seeking understanding”. 17. Liturgy (Greek leitourgia, “work of the people”). The service of God offered by the people in divine worship. The word also expresses the formal study of the service. 18. Folk Christianity – a collective noun for different popular religious beliefs and practices that exist alongside or in opposition to the dominant religious traditions of “official Christianity”. Faith and Becoming Human Together We, human beings, are different from plants and animals. One of the reason is because we can think. Because we can think, we can raise questions. We can doubt. We can be curious. We are questioning being. Many young Filipinos are afraid to raise questions. They think raising questions is a sign of ignorance, a threat to authority, or a sign of lack of faith. But, raising questions is a parts of being human. We raise questions because we are curious. We raise questions because we have doubts or because we want to know the truth. Contrasting Witnesses of Religious Faith Throughout history, we Christians have often been deaf to God’s voice and blind to God’s presence in people. This lack of faith has prevented us from exercising the prophetic mission that Jesus has given us. We often been silent instead of denouncing injustice and oppression. Instead of working for justice and liberation, we have often remained uninvolved. How shall we explain this silence and uninvolvement, this blindness and unbelief? For some of us, the reason lies in a life that is not confronted by the suffering and struggle of he poor, and therefore a choice of a convenient God who does not challenge us to take part in a movement for change. For others, however, the reason lies in a choice of privilege and power, and a conscious defense of the status quo. In many cases it includes in taking part in attacks against movements for change, in repression and the killing of the poor. In the above text that was copied from the document Road to Damascus: Kairos and Conversion, the writers admit that while many verbally profess their belief in God, their belief is not evident in their lives. They suspect that some believers are not aware, or failed to make themselves aware, of the suffering and the misery of many people. Thus, they do nothing for them. Instead, they choose to defend and protect their own positions of privilege and power, even if it means violence towards and the oppression of the poor. How do we become Human? We can become human only, if we relate. There are many possibilities of relating. And if we analyze the many different ways, we will find a number of dimensions or value centers which are necessary in the process of becoming human. These interconnected dimension can be called Anthropological Constants (the term is used by the famous theologian Edward Schillebeeckx), and they are listed as follows: • Relating with one’s body, nature and cosmos • Relating with other persons • Relating with a community, society, institutions and structures • Relating with my culture and history • Relating with my thoughts and actions • Relating with an Ultimate Faith and Revelation Throughout our attempt to understand faith, describe as an essential characteristic of our becoming human-together-with-others, we only mentioned God at the very end. We, Christians give a name to the Ultimate, which we meet as an indispensable dimension of the human search for a meaningful life. We believe that God is the ultimately source of life and is present in the total process of our becoming human. The Christian God, who is the totally Other, is also the God who is near and goes along with the history of humankind. This God is present at the very core of the human being. We are gracious beings which means that we are sustained by God’s grace and blessing, even when we fail to think, act and love as humans. For a Christian, the whole of history, the whole of history, starting with creation, is a revelatory event. The many experiences of faith and hope in our daily lives should make us aware of the presence and action of God. Revelation is given in and through human faith experiences. Perhaps, a better formulation is that, revelation is the very source and origin of our human experiences of faith.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 07:19:22 +0000
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