Introduction
I had an opportunity to visit a NGO
called ‘Society for Peoples’ Education and Economical Change’ (SPEECH) at Tamil
Nadu, Virudhu Nagar district, in my first year BD during intensive field
education. It works for the empowerment of Dalit women and the development of
the community. I visited the ‘Arunthathiar’ people who are the so called ‘Dalits
among Dalits’. The women of this community have really challenged me by their
faith even in their vulnerable status in caste, gender and oppression by the
dominant structures of the society. Their faith in God made me to locate the
same in a pluralistic context. Women in those villages are basically struggling
against caste, patriarchal domination and economic exploitation. These experiences
include aspects of the divine, of oneself, of the relationship to society and
to the world, in an interacting tension. Many times we fail to connect
colonialism, women’s life and faith pluralism.
This is my
attempt to see the connectivity of these aspects which is essential to
understand our context and to act on it.
Kamala Bhasin says, the “Other half of God’s creation”,
in which the wholeness of humankind has to be celebrated, is totally ignored,
neglected and made vulnerable – that is, women. And they are labeled as the
‘other’ not only based on gender but also caste, ethnic, religion and so on. In
my opinion the theologies from the vulnerable communities have more richness
and a deep cutting edge since they involve experience. Vulnerable women’s experience can
be used as a model for divine-human relationships when it reaches for a new
style of relationship neither a ranked model that weakens the potential of the ‘other’
nor an ‘equality’ defined by dominant groups but rather a mutuality that allows
us to affirm different ways of being. From the read texts, let us grapple with how the
mothers of the ‘other’ faiths are articulating their faith in God and in
Christ.
1. The
Wilderness Theology of Hagar (Gen 16:10-14)
Hagar was an Egyptian slave girl or
maid of Sarah. The maids are given as part of their dowry
in ancient days, are treated as the property of the owners and were
exploited in all possible manners. Sarah would have brought Hagar from Egypt as
her maid or slave girl. Hagar is a Semitic name and in Arabic ‘hegira’ means
‘flight’ or ‘driving out’, which shows the narrator’s intention to expose her
action rather than giving her a name. The text is narrated from the vantage
point of the dominant, patriarchal societal pattern. But our task is to
liberate the Word of God and to view it from the vulnerable ‘other’ vantage point.
Anthony G. Reddie says, “Societal and global ills such as racism, exclusivism,
sexism, classism, world poverty and economic exploitation must be addressed
through a liberation reading of the Bible”. Liberation reading is discerning
the explicit patriarchal bias and the andro-centrism in the worldview of the
biblical author.
In Genesis 16:10-14, Hagar encounters
an angel like many of the Israelite men and women. She is an Egyptian but not
out of the reach of God’s revelation. The entire 16th chapter is one
narrative and chapter 21:8-21 also speaks about Hagar and her son Ismael. In
16:10 Hagar is receiving the promise regarding her future generations. In v.11
“The Lord has given heed to your affliction” is as when God intervened in the
sufferings of the Israelites to liberate them. In v.13 she is naming God the
One who spoke to her; based on her life experience; she is making a faith
statement here, “You are El-Roi”. This is a common Semitic name meaning, “El
(God) has heard the parents” or “May El (God) hear the boy and help him”. Some
other English translations say it as “You the God who sees”.
The naming of God was done according
to the understanding of Hagar, but the narrator is explaining from the view
point of the Israelites, equating the EL with YAHWEH. The dominant theology,
faith in God and exclusive claims are seriously challenged by Hagar’s faith and
theology. Liberation reading places Hagar as an example to learn how to live
with human dignity, self-esteem, transformative experiences, convictions,
individuality and capability even in the midst of constant struggles of life in
the wilderness. She aspired for freedom and one day it was achieved by her and
owned by her future generations. The individual autonomy and a capacity for
free will shows that women should be viewed as “ends” not as mere “means”. She
gave life and hope for her son and future generations through her faith
articulation in a lonely, dry life, which proves she is a mother of faith. In
chapter 21:14-21 we see her life and how she finally got a wife for Ismael from
the land of Egypt, which shows her identity as an Egyptian. But she lived her
faith in a God of all and practiced her theology in wilderness. Hagar gives a theology born out of her
life experience. In Sally McFague’s words, Hagar sees God as lover or
companion, friend and liberator, which can be a model for all vulnerable
‘other’ women and communities.
2. The Widening
Christology of the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk 7:24-30)
The Gospel of Mark sounds many
postcolonial concerns as it was molded under the socio-political milieu of
Roman colonialism. Kwok Pui-lan promotes a new way of doing theology by placing
the Bible in the larger context of the religious plurality of Asia. The geo-political
setting of the text and the marginalized position of the women are the two key
factors in the context of the passage. We can place this pericope in the larger
section of Mark 7:1-23 where the discussion is about ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’
which can easily be connected with our Indian religious thought pattern, the so
called low caste and gender ‘impurity’ notions. In a Greco-Roman social context
the very appearance of the Syro-Phoenician woman before Jesus is a shameful
act. She was a woman and she had a daughter with ‘unclean spirit’ and she was a
non-Jew. All these and her geo-political status project her as vulnerable
‘other’ from Jesus. But she crossed the boundary of religion and gender to
approach Jesus, a Jewish man, for her daughter’s healing. And also Jesus
crossed the geographical boundary from Jewish to non-Jewish territory. In Greek
‘de’ denotes the topographical shift in the narrative.
Her encounter with Jesus is widening
her Christological idea, which she had when she heard about Jesus. She crossed
her religious boundary and reached Jesus not for herself but for her daughter
and future generations. Historical, cultural experience of discrimination and
oppression, socio-political, cultural construct of gender identities are
challenged by her Christology. She saw Jesus as the Christ, the representative
of liberated humanity and the liberating Word of God: kenosis of patriarchy and
disregard of hierarchical privileges – the liberator speaks on behalf of the lowly.
Domesticating the gospel to one’s exclusive view point and to protect the
Christ, who is familiar and safe, from the Christ, who upsets us, is challenged
here. Her Christology comes out of painful human interactions and gives life
and freedom. The ones who consider themselves as privileged people in social or
religious terms are many times struggling to comprehend the Christ who offends
them, but the “poor”- the economically poor and socially outcast, the sick, the
oppressed, the rejected respond joyfully to the good news of God’s reign.
We can conclude her Christology is Relational Christology, Christ as
incarnate Logos: his experience is to be affirmed and the concept of
incarnation has to be broadened. Heyward calls this Christic experience in
terms of a passionate, liberating, Christian humanism. This woman moved the
foundations of Christology to the praxis of relational particularity and
co-operation in the process of justice making. She relates her experience with
Christ’s experience of vulnerable ‘other’.
The widening Christology of this mother of faith can be applicable to the
rural, Dalit, Tribal and Adivasi women of our country. She struggled to give
hope and life with dignity to her daughter and future generations. She put a
check to the triumphalist, exclusive Christology of the colonizers and
oppressors which used to subjugate the colonized and the powerless. The
vulnerable woman, who stood as mother of faith in this text, spoke and she
continues to speak.
Conclusion
As followers of Jesus Christ, what
is our responsible reaction in locating the faith of the vulnerable ‘other’ in a
pluralistic society? We need to be open and sensitive to the theologies and
Christologies, so that we can provide space for those who are on the underside
of history. We can ask them orally, write those faith statements and have
informal dialogues to know and learn their aspirations for justice and
equality. The challenge before us is from three arenas of our public witness,
as David Tracy says, “They are church, society and academia”. In the Indian
context, we cannot deny the reality of pluralism by saying this is not our
concern. Exclusivism and suppressing the voices of faith of the weak and marginalized
is to be challenged. Our desire should be to learn from and live with the
vulnerable ‘other’. Let the God of Hagar and the Syro-Phoenician woman help us
in this endeavour. Amen
P. Archana
B.D. IV
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