Doing Theology with Humility, Generosity, and Wonder

A Christian Theology of Pluralism

Damayanthi Niles

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781506433592
• eBook ISBN:
  9781506433608
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

This book looks at how Christians can think about their own theology in a manner that will allow them to not only be more open to interfaith dialogue but also to see that conversation as essential to what it means to be a Christian. For much of history, Christian theology has been used to undergird and justify imperial power. This has required a theological construction that advances a vision of belief that stands above and against the world and other faiths, or at the very least acts as the one vision under which all the others must unite. Empire and the colonizing enterprise do not lend themselves well to plural ways of understanding Christian faith, let alone a plurality of religious faiths. To take plurality seriously, we need a Christian theology that sees itself as a participant in that plurality.

Chapter 2

CHRIST IN A PLURALISTIC WORLD

The way for Christians to enter into the mystery of and relationship with God is through Christology. Christology is all about incarnation, which God made clear in a particular place and time. Steven Bevans states that doing theology contextually is imperative and part of the very nature of theology itself.^[1] Theology out of context is vacuous. It does not take seriously the situation the theology is being articulated in and as a result, becomes unintelligible. Bevans tells the story of preparing an Advent liturgy using the metaphor of the sun, which brings light and warmth to the darkness, to describe how Christ brings light and warmth to the world. This evocative image from a temperate climate was lost on his Indian colleague, for whom the sun is not connected to renewal in the same way. For his colleague, the sun was a source of punishing, baking heat from which one needed to escape. It caused thirst and sunstroke.^[2] Although, the historical use of Christ as a colonizing tool might indeed have made this a perfect image for how Christ came to his shores!

Universalized theological language is susceptible to becoming a tool of the powerful. It is imposed on situations by the powerful. The symbol of Christ, the cross, has been used time after time to colonize land, people, resources, and even ideas in the name of the powerful. Douglas Hall in The Cross in Our Context tells the story of Jacques Cartier sailing up the St Lawrence River in what is now Canada and planting a cross on the top of a small mountain on the site of a Mohawk village and claiming it for the king of France.^[3] For this story, there are thousands more like it. Universal theological language is unhelpful at best and dangerous at its worst.

That being said, the fear of those who cling to universal absolutes is that without such absolutes one falls into relativism. The worry is that if you do not have a single clear idea, you have chaos or nothing. The truth is, as we have seen in the previous chapter, chaos is the source of creative possibility. It is at the heart of mystery. It is also only when you have multiplicity (whether it be creatures, contexts, or ideas) that they can relate to each other. Perhaps that is why we place a multiplicity in the very heart of the Godhead. The question then becomes, how do these multiplicities relate and inform each other? This question will be addressed later in the chapter.

If universalism is a problem for theology in general, it is much more for Christology since this doctrine is about how God becomes finite in a context. Indian theologian Justice P. Chenchiah argues against universalism saying that it, by its very nature, thwarts the historical reality that is at the very heart of the Christological idea.^[4] Why is it we abstract and universalize what we have learned about Christ among particular people and turn it into universal ideological principles? We too often look at the work of Christ in terms of what it does for all. In so doing, we fail to see how the context from which any wisdom arises shapes that ideal vision in a particular way.

The value of Christology is that it is about incarnation. God is immanent in particular ways such that we who are finite can have access to the infinite. In Christology, God is made contextual and therefore is best understood in the contexts in which God is manifest.

African theologians use indigenous metaphors to contextualize Christological themes. Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike outlines five basic Christological themes found in the African context.^[5] The first theme is the eschatological, which understands Christ as the one who comes to die in an alienated world. In the act of resurrection, he shows he is victor over the forces that alienate the world. The second theme is the anthropological, which sees Christ as called and calling us to a lifestyle that is dedicated to love of neighbor as a means to nurture life. The third theme is the liberator. Here, Christ is the one who works to eliminate suffering and create a better world for all. The fourth theme is that of cosmological restorer, where Christ is viewed as one who restores everything to God. In the broken world, humanity has moved out of its place and dominates the world. Once the world is reconciled, humanity moves back to its appropriate cosmological place. The fifth model is healer. Here, Christ is understood as the one who restores individuals and communities to health.^[6]

These themes become even richer as they become indigenized. Anselme Sanon talks about the idea of Jesus as the eldest brother who goes through the initiation rite on behalf of all his siblings so that he can help guide the others through them. ^[7] We can look at the themes put forward by Nasimiyu-Wasike through this indigenous vision of Christ. The initiation is a ritualized death that overcomes forces that kept the initiate in old ways so that they can step into something new, a symbol system that grounds Nasimiyu-Wasike’s eschatological model. The initiation can also be seen as restoring the correct cosmic order. Sanon’s exploration of Jesus as the big brother initiate who goes through the initiation rite and therefore is able to guide others through it fleshes out what it means to see Jesus as the one who calls us to love the neighbor, nurture and heal life, and eliminate suffering.

Another indigenous image of Christ, put forward by François Kabasélé, is the metaphor of Jesus as the fully realized Chief.^[8] The chief is the son of the Chief and holds authority and governs. The language of chief is also connected with language about heroes. A hero in this vision of chief is one who conquers evil and never flees, a pillar of support for the community and emissary of the Chief, God. This is another indigenous way of elucidating the metaphor of the cosmic restorer. The chief also proves his power by being able to provide for his people by feeding them, interpreting what it means to be liberator and healer as well.^[9]

To put it simply, these are African metaphors for Christ that give substance and breadth to Christological themes that are not possible to see as well in abstract universal forms. The function of metaphor is very much the same as the function of symbol discussed in the chapter about God. Metaphors imply a relationship to the context in which they are used. They say as much about the one making the reference as the reference itself. When speaking about incarnation, this is of critical importance because it grounds the themes in a place. The previous ways the metaphor was used in multiple contexts inform each other and the metaphor itself. The big brother initiate speaks to the theme of the eschatological Christ and the ways the theme was picked up in other metaphors like the Anselmian atonement metaphor from eleventh-century Europe. It deepens, disturbs, and questions both the theme of the eschatological Christ and the other metaphors used to address that theme. As does the incarnate Christ it describes, the metaphor allows the context to illuminate the theme and the theme to illuminate the context.

The other thing one sees when looking at the African metaphors for describing Christ is the focus on community. The work of the Christological figures is for the purpose of the community and making it whole. This communal sensibility is obvious in the theme of Christ the healer but is present in all the other themes also. The eschatological Christ comes to champion an alienated world and break the alienating forces by overcoming the death they induce. The anthropological Christ’s function is to reconnect neighbors in love and nurture life. The same can be said of the liberator Christ and the eschatological Christ. The communal nature of Christ’s work is a key emphasis of the African context and an important contribution to the discussion of Christology as a whole.

Latin Americans, rather than turning to indigenous metaphors to contextualize Christology, turn to social analysis. Leonardo Boff states that there are two types of social analysis.^[10] One from the dominant class has a functionalist vision of society, which reinforces the status quo. It talks about society as a healthy organic whole that naturally...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table Of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• God in a Pluralistic World
• Christ in a Pluralistic World
• Holy Spirit in a Pluralistic World
• The Human Being as a Dialogical Creature
• Churches as Champions of Dialogue
• A Concluding Invitation
• Index