1

Religious pluralism in a violent context

Religion and violence: Contemporary Challenge to Theological Education in Asia

Prof. Victor R. Aguilan
Divinity School Silliman University
Dumaguete, Philippines

A Paper presented to the

ATESEA THEOLOGICAL TEACHERS’ INSTITUTE
Chiangmai, Thailand
June 5-11,2005

INTRODUCTION

How do we do theology in our present context? I believe that doing theology is not

something we do apart from our experiences (socio-cultural, socio-political, socio-economic

and socio-ecological context).1 Hence anyone doing theology in Asia should be sensitive to

the Asian context. I suggest that the hermeneutical principle recommended by SEAGST

(South East Asia Graduate School of Theology) - the Critical Asian Principle,2 be used in

interpreting and understanding our context.

As currently applied, the Critical Asian Principle "seeks to identify what is

distinctively Asian, and uses this distinctiveness as a critical principle of judgment on matters

dealing with the life and mission of the Christian community, theology, and theological

education in Asia." SEAGST sets forth seven characteristics of Asia as a distinct region in

which to do theology:

1
Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology ( Revised and expanded, Maryknoll:
Orbis Books, 2002)
2
Critical Asian Principle from the SEAGST Handbook, The Association for Theological
Education in South East Asia and The South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, 2002-2003
(Philippines: ATESEA 2000), 76-77
 2

• Asia has a plurality and diversity of races, peoples, cultures, social institutions,
religions, and ideologies.
• Most of the countries have had a colonial experience.
• Most of the countries are in the process of nation-building, development, and
modernization.
• The peoples of this region want to achieve authentic self-identity and cultural
integrity in the context of the modern world.
• Asia is home of some of the world's great living religions, and these have shaped
the culture and consciousness of most Asians, thus representing alternative ways
of life and experience of reality.
• Asian peoples are in search of a form of social order beyond the current
alternatives. They are looking for a form of social order which would enable them
and humankind to live together in dignity in a planetary world.
• The Christian community is a minority in the vast Asian complex.

Out of the 7 characteristics mentioned about Asia, the most important common fact

concerning Asian nations is that, with the exceptions of Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, South

Korea, and Malaysia, they are impoverished or desperately poor nations suffering all the

consequences of poverty, such as hunger, poor health, illiteracy, serious iniquitous social

stratification, and intense competitive struggle for survival.3

But there is another emerging image common to all Asian nations regardless of their

relative poverty. It is a picture of conflict abetted if not aggravated by religions, flaring up in

open armed conflicts and bloody repression as in Indonesia between Muslims and Christians;

the bloody civil war between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and the Tamil Hindu minority

3
As of the year 2003, the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power
parity (PPP) of North Korea was $1,000, Cambodia $1,700, Nepal $1,400, Myanmar $1,900,
Bangladesh $1,900, Laos $1,700, Vietnam $2,500, India $2,900, Indonesia $3,200, Sri Lanka $3,700,
China $5,000, the Philippines $4,600, Thailand $7,400, compared with Malaysia at $9,000, South
Korea at $17,700, Taiwan at $23,400, Japan at $28,000, Singapore at $23,700, see
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908762.html accessed May 4, 2005
 3

since 1983 in Sri Lanka; the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in India; and,

recently in Southern Thailand between the its military and Muslim militants.4

In my own Philippine context it is sad to say that we too have our share of open

armed conflicts and bloody repression. We have witnessed intermittent conflicts between and

among people who belong to diverse religions. Oftentimes, religions have aggravated some

of these age-old conflicts. The conflicts in Mindanao have been portrayed as Christian-

Muslim conflicts.

The challenge now is how to build a sense of community that goes beyond the

traditional boundaries of clan, tribe, status, class, region and religion. A community with

which each member and group can identify themselves, in which different groups feel

responsible for resolving disputes and solving problems through joint action and dialogue

and whose destiny, therefore, each can regard as its own. This is the context of theological

education in Asia. This is where we do theology

CHALLENGE TO THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

I would like to focus my paper on the challenge to theological education posed by

religious pluralism in a violent context. Today no theology can be done responsibly without

paying full attention to the fact of the existence of other religions and its implication to world

peace, justice and solidarity of humankind. According to Hans Kung, there is no world peace

without peace among religions and no peace among religions without dialogue between

4
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904550.html accessed May 4, 2005; and CrisisWatch 1
May 2005 No. 21 found in http://www.crisisgroup.org accessed May 24, 2005
 4

religions.5 This reality necessitates the need for focusing theological education in the field of

interfaith relations and dialogue.

Religious pluralism is no longer an academic concept found only in books. It is a

reality that we encounter everyday. People of other religions are our neighbors, our

colleagues, our competitors, our foes, and our friends. Religious pluralism is a flesh-and-

blood reality. The challenge of religious pluralism today comes from the living and believing

people of other faith traditions. We are challenged by people who are different from us and

are demanding recognition. This can create tension. An incident in Metro Manila that

created a tension between Christians and Muslims is just an example. 6 The owner of a

shopping mall agreed to put up a dedicated Muslim prayer area inside the mall. But to some

residents of this wealthy Christian area of Manila, any hint of a mosque in their

neighborhood was tantamount to a Muslim takeover. They lobbied the mall owner to drop his

plans, invoking visions of rising crime, fleeing homeowners, and sliding property values. A

residents group said it was “an economic hara-kiri.” I thought Metro Manilans would be

more tolerant. I think if a similar plan is proposed in the Silliman University, i.e., granting or

allowing Muslims to have their own prayer room, some Sillimanians would surely protest.

Religious diversity can cause conflict.

Conflict is found in almost every realm of human interaction. But people manage to

settle, even resolve their conflict without violence and to the mutual satisfaction of the parties

5
Hans Kung, Christianity and the World Religions: Paths to Dialogue With Islam, Hinduism,
and Buddhism (NY: Doubleday 1986), 440-443.
6
Anthony Vargas, “Bishops, ulama call for sobriety on Greenhills mosques,” The Manila
Times 16 October 2004, (www.manilatimes.net) accessed May 10, 2005.
 5

involved. But there are conflicts that turn deadly and violent. Some of these conflicts have

been inspired by religion.

Established religions have often divided people and nations and given rise to
tensions and conflicts. They have held up scientific progress, resisted social change,
supported the rich and powerful against the poor and weak, and have often added
religious fuel to military conflagrations, making reconciliation more difficult. Of all
the wounds human beings inflict on one another, religious wounds are the most
difficult to heal.7
Most people, however, consider religion to be the antithesis of violence and, in many

places and times, religion has been a force for peace and social justice. But because history

and current events show that religion is frequently involved in communal violence raises

intriguing questions about faith, religious organizations, and religious leaders are raised. Why

is it that religious communities that teach about peace and solidarity are engaged in so many

wars and violent conflicts all over the globe? Indeed, religious violence is among the most

pressing and dangerous issues facing the world community.

Religion plays a determining role in many of the violent and deadly conflicts found

around the world, which is not really that surprising considering the fact that religion and

culture are so closely interwoven. Conflicts between ethnic groups often have a religious

dimension. In situations of this kind, religion seems to be Janus-faced. In times of prosperity

religious leaders speak of harmony and compassion, and the believers accept each other

across denominational and religious boundaries. As soon as tension rises, however, religion

presents another face: people dedicate themselves to a sacred cause and offer their lives in

the defense of interests sanctioned by faith and stamped with a religious seal of legitimacy.

Sacred writings often teach love and compassion, but in times of war religious adherents are

7
Stanley J. Samartha,. One Christ – Many Religions: Toward a Revised Christology.
(Maryhill: Orbis Books. 1991), 37
 6

very adept at finding other scriptural passages that justify violent confrontation within their

own religion.

It could not be denied that religious pluralism causes conflict. Since religion deals

with the ultimate and what is absolute, diversity of religious traditions generates competition.

A careful analysis of the fundamental texts of various living religions explains how four

resources have figured repeatedly in creating religious violence: competing sacred space

(churches, temples, holy cities, promised land); the creation of holy scriptures (exclusive

revelations, orthodoxy vs. heresy, infidel); group privilege (chosen people, the predestined

select people vs. rejected, reprobate people); and salvation (saints vs. damned). Thus,

competing religious absolutes lead to religious conflict.8

Religion is also a deep source of group identity. It is often used as a rallying point

when a particular group feels economically, socially, or politically oppressed by another

group. Invoking the "good" God on one’s side, the other is identified with the evil one.

Destructive violence in the name of God then becomes possible. The war becomes a "holy

war"—jihad or crusade. When religion becomes a source of identity in this way it becomes

easy for the leaders to make people believe that a group that shares a particular religion also

shares the same economic and political interests. This phenomenon is called communalism in

South Asia. Economic and political struggles also become religious issues.9

8
Mark Juergensmeyer. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence.
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000); and R. Scott Appleby. The
Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2000).
9
Ashgar Ali Engineer et al (eds) Sowing Hate and Reaping Violence: The Case of Gujarat
Communal Carnage. (Mumbai: Center for the Study of Society and Secularism. 2002). And Ashgar
Ali Engineer, Communalism in India (New Delhi: Vikas. 1995)
 7

Because of the involvement of religious groups in war, genocide and mass hatred,

social activist often call for the abolition of all religions. The existence of social injustice,

oppression and evil as a consequence of religious belief forms one of the primary arguments

in the case made against religion by its critics.10

However, some have argued that “it is not religion per se” that gives rise to conflict

but rather the followers with powerful vested interests, who manipulate the emotional appeal

for their own purposes. They are the perpetrators of deadly conflicts. In many countries and

areas of the present world, conflict between religious groups “is more political than religious,

though religious symbols are used” to legitimize it.11 In the book of Scott Appleby, The

Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation, he repeatedly showed evidence

that religion is susceptible to use, or rather misuse, by ambitious and powerful persons to

attain selfish ends, that religious militancy is usually closely linked with the project of an

individual or group seeking to gain advantage from or power over others.12

Religion though is not always the primary cause of conflict. Some of the most salient

past and present causes of conflict are those that fall into the broad category of violations of

civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights: slavery and colonialism;

apartheid, racism, segregation and casteism; exploitation and oppression of minorities,

women, children, the poor and the vulnerable; the production and trade of arms and weapons

of mass destruction, the harmful role of the entertainment industry, drug trafficking, and so

on. The underlying causes of human conflict are of a chiefly non-religious nature.

10
Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-tung and Sigmund Freud are known critics of religion.
11
Engineer (2002) ibid.
12
R. Scott Appleby. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation.
(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.)
 8

Moreover, religious people have served as agents of peace and reconciliation. They

tender the spiritual wherewithal for the de-escalation of deadly conflict and sectarian

violence; they offer moral and material resources for easing or resolving situations of

contention and for promoting reconciliation, social cohesion and mutually beneficial

communal life. When war ends and the houses lie in ruins and the victims on either side of

the conflict are staggering around in a daze and confusion, religious organizations and

individuals are often among the first to bring aid and solace to the former combatants and

traumatized civilian population in the form of shelter, food, concern, counseling and moral

support. They contribute to reconstruction efforts and are involved in endeavors to establish

and sustain peace and to foster understanding for the other.

Religions are ambiguous. There can be little debate about that. Religion can be used

to sanction deadly and violent conflict but it could also be used to contain and de-escalate

conflicts. The issue that is facing seminaries in Asia is the role of theological/religious

education in violent religious conflict. Since religion is ambiguous, could theological

education contain violent religious conflict? Could our formation programs inspire violent

conflicts? Are we sowing hatred?

The reality of violent religious conflict in Asia is a challenge to the Churches. And

the Seminary in Asia is challenged to ensure that theology does not become a tool that

legitimizes deadly conflict. This issue is very relevant today considering that the official

theme of the WCC is the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).13 The Decade runs from

2001 through 2010. What can Asian seminaries offer to world Christian movements in

meeting the challenge of contemporary religious violence?

13
Margot Kassmann, Overcoming Violence: The Challenge to the Churches in all Places,
(WCC Publications: Geneva, 1998)
 9

Some Suggestions to Asian Theological Education

What can Asian seminaries do when churches exist as minority communities in

pluralistic and often hostile environments? What credentials do we, Christians, have to

proclaim the message of peace when our own histories and theologies are soaked in “violent

evangelism”14? Why are the churches raising the alarm about the religious violence of others

when they themselves have used violence in the past?

These are the questions that we have to ask before we can teach about peace and the

practice of overcoming violence. I believe that the Christian communities in Asia must

express first their readiness to go through a process of overcoming violence, both within and

outside of themselves, to build a culture of peace. It implies an honest confession of our

failure to be instruments of peace. It means simply that the communities will submit to

correction and go through a process of inner transformation in order to rediscover the full

implications of being churches in a violent world.

Seminaries in Asia will have an important role in this process of confession and

transformation. And what is to be done? I would like to suggest the following theses or

points for us to consider. But before I proceed, I would like to mention that my suggestions

are undergirded by three presuppositions about theological education, namely:

• All theology is culturally conditioned and contextual but some context are to be
transformed
• Context is both global and local; that includes the political, economic and cultural
elements of a given context.

14
Luis N. Rivera. A Violent Evangelism: The Political and Religious Conquest of the
Americas (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press. 1992) See also Kenneth R. Chase &
Alan Jacobs (eds.). Must Christianity be Violent?: Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology.
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press. 2003), and Pedro Salgado, O.P. “Church and Violence: The
Philippine Experience” CTC Bulletin: Bulletin of the Commission on Theological Concern. Vol. X
No. 1, (April 1991). 35-51.
 10

• Theology is a radical critique of theological suppositions and existing models

Acknowledging these presuppositions, I suggest the following points for reflection

First, a critical review of the courses, programs, pedagogy and curriculum that we

have in the seminary. I remember being asked questions by a young man I met in a local

church in Manila. He asked we these questions: “What do you learn in the seminary? What is

the main thrust of the Divinity School?” Well, of course, I answered that students learn about

the Bible, Church doctrines, history, preaching, ethics, counseling, and church administration.

But he was not satisfied with my reply. He expected more from the courses that we, at the

Divinity School, offer. I think theological education in Asia has maintained the historic

fourfold seminary disciplines – Bible, theology, church history, and practical theology. In

meeting the challenge of religious pluralism, multiculturalism, globalization and escalating

violence we have to revisit these four theological disciplines. Critical inquiry would help us

see and uncover the hidden code of bigotry and hatred embedded in our disciplines.

In the biblical studies, for example, we need to engage our students in the art of

struggling with the text or narratives that would reveal the “hidden oppressive code.”

Consider the Exodus and Conquest narratives in the Old Testament, they may have a

liberating message for the oppressed, but may have an opposite message for the indigenous

people. There are also some biblical passages that justify violence and certain

anthropological presuppositions that are used to legitimize the exclusion of people, and the

subjugation of women. How do we deal with these texts (both biblical and Church traditions)

Do we avoid them, ignore them in class?15 There are also attempts to uncover the relationship

15
R.S Sugirtharajah, ed., Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World
(Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, New Edition, 1997); Naim Ateek, Justice and Only Justice: A
Palestinian Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1989; Wesley Ariarajah, The Bible and
 11

between violence and Christianity by examining aspects of Christian theology. Specifically,

it examines violence and assumptions of violence in the classic formulations of the central

Christian doctrines of atonement and Christology.16 There is a clamor that church history

should be taught without hiding or embellishing its violent history specifically the crusades

and the history of mission from the 16th century of colonization until the early 20th century of

American imperialism17 Seminary students should view church history as their history and

hence appreciate its accomplishments, as well as feel shame in its injustices. And because of

the war on terrorism and the possible use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) there is a

call to revisit and critique the just war theory (JWT)18

When we begin to question our courses, programs and pedagogy in light of the

contemporary challenges and living faith traditions, the door for reform of the curriculum

may be opened. Critical theology recognizes that all theology is culturally biased and stands

in constant need of reflection and reform.

This brings me to my second point, that there is a need to design a curriculum that

would have integrity. Integrity in theological curriculum means fidelity to our confessional

identity and respectful of other traditions in our courses. We are to be sensitive to the various

People of Other Faiths (Switzerland: World Council of Churches, 1985); and I. J. Mosala, Biblical
Hermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1989)
16
Richard J. Mouw, “Violence and Atonement” in Must Christianity be Violent?:
Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology. eds. Kenneth R. Chase & Alan Jacobs (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Brazos Press. 2003) 159-171
17
Pedro Salgado, O.P. Church and Violence: The Philippine Experience (1991) pp.35-51.
18
Daniel Kroger, Everything is Changed: Just War Ethics after the War in Iraq (unpublished
paper, 2005), and his book Disarming Peter: Retrieving a Christian Ethic of Nonviolence in the
Philippine Context. (Manila: De La Salle University Press, 2002)
 12

traditions of Christianity. We are to present or share those different traditions to our class

with minimal if not without bigotry. We are expected to be critical but not judgmental. It

does not imply that we don’t have our prejudices. We have our prejudices as teachers and as

members of distinct community of tradition. But we acknowledge the biases and prejudices

that we have in the courses that we teach, i.e., we are honest in sharing our confessional

identity (Reformed, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox or Catholic); we don’t hide our theological

perspective (liberal, conservative or progressive); and we do not avoid, embellish, or distort

traditions, historical events, biblical passages and theologies of the traditions just because of

our confessional identity or preference. This is one way of teaching our students to respect

other traditions.

In addition, we need to ask honest questions whether the four-fold disciplines are

sufficient for a fragmented and violent world. Current students of theology are offered

courses of other religions (comparative religions, philosophy, sociology or psychology of

religion) giving detailed knowledge and their background in antiquity; yet, the contemporary

religious situation in light of cultural, political, and economic realities is often totally

untouched. These courses on religions may not be sufficient to help them appreciate the

diversity of living religious traditions. We become aware of the diversity but there is still a

need to exert effort to be conscious that the phenomenon of religious pluralism is a living

concrete reality, which our students and church members encounter, everyday today. It may

require an understanding of various Christian attitudes towards people of other faith-

traditions. This would entail a theology that deals with religions- a Christian theology of

religions (theologies of religions) or a theology of religious pluralism.19

19
To mention some theologians who have written books and have proposed the need to
incorporate in the present theological curriculum a course in Theology of Religion(s) distinct from
 13

I realize the significance of developing a theology of religious pluralism when I was

asked by a pastor: “Do you still believe that Muslims will be saved with all the kidnapping

and bombings perpetrated by them? What else has to happen before you realize that inter-

religious dialogue is a hopeless enterprise, undertaken and pursued by people who do not see

that religions are the cause of conflict and therefore incapable of bringing about peace and

co-existence among religious communities? What we need today is evangelism!” When a

theologically trained person raised these questions I felt the urgency that we need to review

our seminary curriculum together with our Church program on inter-religious dialogue and

evangelism. Our attitudes toward people of other religions must to be rooted theologically.

We need a theological basis and spiritual resources to accept and affirm the whole realm of

human life as the stage of God’s love and activity. The theology we need is one “that is not

less but more true to God by being generous and open, a theology not less but more loving

towards the neighbor by being friendly and willing to listen, a theology that does not separate

us from fellow human beings but supports us in our common struggles and hopes. As we live

together with neighbors, what we need today is a theology that refuses to be impregnable but

which is in the spirit of Christ, both ready and willing to be vulnerable.”20

Moreover, in order to meet the challenge of religious pluralism, theological education

needs to be genuinely inter-disciplinary. Continuing scientific enquiry into reality has given

Missiology and comparative religions: Paul F. Knitter , Introducing Theologies of Religions

(Maryknoll: Orbis Books 2002) and No Other Name?: A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes
Toward the World Religions. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books.1985). Jacques Dupuis. Toward a Christian
Theology of Religious Pluralism (Orbis Books. 1999). Harold Netland, Encountering Religious
Pluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission (Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001), John Hick.
A Christian Theology of Religions: The Rainbow of Faiths. (Westminster John Knox Press 1995)
20
Quoted by S. Wesley Ariarajah in “Is Jesus the Only Way?” International Christian Digest
1, 4 (May 1987) p. 33
 14

rise to many other human and social sciences like psychology, anthropology, sociology,

political science and economics. Today theological reductionism is not adequate to

understand reality. We must realize that homogeneity within theological communities breeds

intellectual myopia and tends to perpetuate a narrow perspective that reflects the dominant

ideology and worldview. An integral (or holistic) analysis and understanding of reality has

to take into account its various aspects studied by the various sciences. Today we look at

reality from the economic, political, psychological (personal), social, cultural and religious

points of view. The method of theology, therefore, becomes inter-disciplinary. Theological

education integrates the perspectives of the other sciences. Today, more than ever, programs

in seminaries need to dialogue with other disciplines like medicine, business, science,

performing arts, media, ecology, and information-technology. I think this will make our

response less fragmented and more holistic.

In addition to the courses or seminary disciplines, I think we need to cultivate the

appropriate attitudes or virtues. These virtues are theological, namely: faith, hope and

charity.21 Faith moves us to engage in learning and dialogue because we trust in a God who

created the universe and all creatures; hope in God enables us to be patient and it also

sustains us to continue even in midst of conflicts, frustration and division; and, charity in

learning allows us to abandon our self-interest, to be humble when a cherished belief is

wrong, and to be generous is receiving the wisdoms from others.

21
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, Question 62, Art. 3. Anton Pegis., ed. , Basic
Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Vol II. NY: Random House, 1945, p 478. See the works of
Stanley Hauerwas, Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics (San
Antonio:Trinity University Monograph Series in Religion, Vol 3); Vision and Virtue: Essays in
Christian Ethical Reflection (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1974).
 15

The third point I wish to mention is that, since theology is an interpretative science,

we need to develop a hermeneutics of suspicion with a hermeneutics of appreciation and a

hermeneutics of appreciation with a hermeneutics of suspicion. We are familiar how the

hermeneutics of suspicion22 is incorporated in “doing theology”. Its methodology makes its

practitioners conscious and critical of the social and cultural underpinnings of any theology.

With its social analysis component, it brings forth the realization that context - concrete

historical situations - impinge on our understanding, including the way we communicate the

Christian faith.23 A hermeneutics of suspicion gives us the tool to be suspicious of how our

theology has been captivated by violent ideologies. We begin to glorify violence. We

succumbed to the myth of redemptive violence which Walter Wink describes as “the belief

that violence saves, that war brings peace, that might makes right…Violence simply appears

to be the nature of things. It’s what works. It seems inevitable, the last and, often, the first

resort in conflicts.”24

On the other hand, a hermeneutics of suspicion allows us to question whether or not a

pacifist and nonviolent option strengthens that hands of the perpetrators of violence and helps

maintain the status quo. Reinhold Neibuhr insists that “a pacifism which really springs from

the Christian faith, without secular accretions and corruptions, ... possesses an alternative for

22
In his highly influential work, Freud and Philosophy, Paul Ricoeur (1970) draws attention
to three key intellectual figures of the twentieth century who, in their different ways, sought to
unmask, demystify, and expose the real from the apparent; "Three masters, seemingly mutually
exclusive, dominate the school of suspicion: Marx, Nietzche, and Freud." Yale University Press
(1970) .32
23
Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, S.J., Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice (Rev. &
enlarged edition; Washington, D.C.: Center of Concern, 1983)
24
Walter Wink. The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millennium (NY: Doubleday.
1998) 42
 16

the conflicts and tensions from which and through which the world must rescue a precarious

justice"25

However hermeneutics of suspicion, although necessary to uncover the ideological

captivity of our theologies, is inadequate to inspire us to engage in a theological

reconstruction to meet changing contexts. There is a need to incorporate in “doing theology”

a hermeneutics of appreciation. Dr Jose de Mesa, a professor of Systematic Theology at the

Dela Salle University, has expressed the need to integrate a hermeneutics of appreciation to

theological education with regard to cultural identity and integrity, stressing the importance

of self-respect in the colonial setting of the Philippines. Quoting de Mesa at length:26

This form of hermeneutics includes a number of elements. It embraces a broad

understanding of culture as a worldview representing the fundamental perspectives
and values of a people, and culture as a set of institutions and structures consisting of
patterned modes of social relationships of this human community. It incorporates, too,
an approach to culture which, methodologically, not only looks at this way of life
primarily from the insider’s point of view, but also focuses first and foremost on the
life-giving elements that can be found in it. To this end we suggeste[d] a set of
attitudinal principles which those who wish to inculturate the Faith can follow in
order to develop an emphatic “listening heart” to the strengths of the culture…
In interpreting reality, the hermeneutics of appreciation which we envision is
one that utilizes a combined cultural and social analyses. Though insight into the
why of specific behaviors is a sine quo non that cultural analysis provides, present-
day understanding of the structural or institutional elements of culture also demand
procedures worked out by social analysis. The emphasis of this integrated form of
scrutinizing reality remains the positive, life-giving elements which are latent equally
in the beliefs, values and customs of people as well as in the social structures of their
society.
A hermeneutics of appreciation, moreover, requires also a methodology for
“doing theology” which ensures that the appreciative stance will the foremost in the
dynamics and process of theological reflection…

25
Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity and Power Politics, (NY: Charles Scribner's, 1952) 32
26
Jose de Mesa, Why Theology is Never Far form Home (Manila: De La Salle University
Press, Inc. 2003)
 17

Thus in practice a hermeneutics of appreciation would use its own indigenous

resource (myths, symbols, stories, music and vernaculars), embrace the multi-religious

context of one’s heritage, and nourish the imagination by listening, seeing and appreciating

the beauty in diversity of one’s culture and the culture of others.

Dialogue becomes vital in a hermeneutics of appreciation because the encounter is

between people. And people come from different contexts. Dialogue, a fundamental notion in

human inter-subjectivity, gives form and direction to the interaction between the two. In

dialogue both parties must have a listening attitude, and respectful of each other’s particular

context. We are expected to bring and share our knowledge, traditions and practices. People

involved in dialogue must be committed to learn from each other. Dialogue does not happen

if one person or group concludes in advance there is nothing for them to learn from the other.

It is analogous to a meal-table fellowship as describe by Antone.27

…. like an open mealtable, in the traditional Asian sense. It is lavish, warm and
welcoming to all. Careful preparation would be done to make the sharing joyful and
celebrative of the similarities that may be shared and to begin building a sense of trust
among partakers. In order to make it affirming and respectful of differences among
those around the mealtable, care and sensitivity would be taken in preparing what is
served on the table, considering the needs of the partakers. As in the literal mealtable,
an ecumenical or pluralist Religious Education in Asia would be lavish and abundant
in color, smell and taste. It would be nourishing and delightful, offered freely for
everyone to enjoy. In sharing together, partakers celebrate their common need for
food and life. In the moment of sharing, they live out true communion and real
companionship. Together they build community.28

Dialogue like mealtable fellowship is a process with the objective of transforming

partakers. In dialogue listening and understanding is not the end; genuine dialogue also aims

27
Hope S. Antone. Religious Education in Context: Of Plurality and Pluralism. (Quezon City:
New Day Publishers. 2003) .69-120
28
Hope Antone, ibid. 104
 18

to transform both parties, to transform relationship and to build something new. Dialogue

like mealtable fellowship creates community

This brings me to the final point that I would like to share which is about the aim or

thrust of theological education. I believe that theology is the work of the whole Church. It is

accepted that a basic task of theological/religious education is to prepare each new generation

for their responsibilities as disciples of Christ and peaceable people of God. Theological

education is not just a matter of learning basic facts about the institutions and procedures of

Christian life. It also involves acquiring a range of dispositions, virtues, and faithfulness that

are intimately bound up with the practice of Christian discipleship. The aim of theological

education affects what subjects are taught, how they are taught, and in what sorts of

classrooms. In this sense, theological education is not an isolated subset of the curriculum,

but rather is one of the ordering goals or thrusts that shapes the entire curriculum.

I believe one of the aims of theological education in the Seminary is to train church

leaders to empower the congregation to sow the seeds of charity, justice and forgiveness in a

pluralist society marred by violence and fragmentation. According to R. Scott Appleby, an

informed laity that knows the scripture and is at home with the sacred texts and traditional

practices can be mobilized as an important resource for deterring extremist groups from

promoting violence and religious confrontation.29 An informed laity can question the

legitimacy of religious violence and can object to religious confrontation on religious

grounds. A pious and committed laity cannot easily be ignored or viewed as outsiders. The

influence of the congregation is in its ability to hold dialogue with and challenge the

extremists from within the theological tradition itself. When we, Christians can show to the
29
R. Scott Appleby. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation.
(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000). 284-288
 19

world that we can dialogue with one another and settle conflicts without violence, I believe

that we will have made a stronger testimony than the many statements on peace that the

Churches have issued. The challenge to the Churches is whether we are preparing and

working for peace while the “powers and principalities” of this world prepare for war and

domination

CONCLUSION

Religious violence is among the most pressing and dangerous issues facing the world

community. Although religion may contribute to violent conflict, it is not always the main

cause of conflict. There are non-religious factors as well. The challenge to theological

education in Asia is to be an instrument in the promotion of peace and not violence. The

seminary is challenged to ensure that theology does not become a tool that legitimizes deadly

conflict. The discussion above only shows how theological education can meet this challenge.

We need to criticize our own theological curriculum exposing the embedded violent code in

our theology. There is also a need to reform our curriculum incorporating in its design

fidelity to one’s confessional identity and respect for the other traditions. It should be

genuinely interdisciplinary. Students need to learn not only the what but how we have taught

them as well. In theological education we need to incorporate a method of doing theology

that combines a hermeneutics of suspicion with a hermeneutics of appreciation. And any

reform in the theological education needs to be aligned with the primary thrust of theological

education which is the empowerment of the laity, the congregation, to transform relationship

and build a pluralist community. It is only an informed laity that can truly sow the seed of

justice, charity and forgiveness with hope that our children’s children shall reap the fruit of
 20

righteousness, which is peace.30 Today, no theology can be done responsibly without paying

full attention to the fact of the existence of other religions and its implications for world

peace, justice and solidarity of humankind.

30
Isaiah 32:17; James 3:18
 21

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Antone, Hope S. Religious Education in Context: Of Plurality and Pluralism. Quezon City: New
Day Publishers. 2003

Appleby, R. Scott. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation.
Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.

Aquinas, St. Thomas, Summa Theologiae ed. Anton Pegis. Basic Writings of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, Vol II. NY: Random House, 1945, p 478.

Ariarajah, Wesley. “Is Jesus the Only Way?” International Christian Digest 1, 4 (May 1987)

-----------------. The Bible and People of Other Faiths Switzerland: World Council of Churches,
1985

Ateek, Naim, Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation Maryknoll, N.Y.:
Orbis, 1989;

Bevans, Stephen B., Models of Contextual Theology Revised and expanded, Maryknoll, New
York: Orbis Books, 2002.

Chase, Kenneth R. & Jacobs, Alan eds. Must Christianity be Violent?: Reflections on History,
Practice, and Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press. 2003.

De Mesa, Jose. Why Theology is Never Far form Home, Manila: De La Salle University Press,
Inc. 2003.

Dupuis, Jacques. Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism Maryknoll, NY: Orbis
Books. 1999.

Engineer, Ashgar Ali, Shama Dalwai and Sandhaya Mhatre Sowing Hate and Reaping Violence:
The Case of Gujarat Communal Carnage. Mumbai. Center for the Study of Society and
Secularism. 2002.

Engineer, Ashgar Ali. Communalism in India. New Delhi: Vikas, 1995.

Hauerwas, Stanley. Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics. San
Antonio: Trinity University Monograph Series in Religion, Vol 3.

--------------------- Vision and Virtue: Essays in Christian Ethical Reflection. Notre Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press 1974.

Hick, John. A Christian Theology of Religions: The Rainbow of Faiths. Westminster John Knox
Press 1995.
 22

Holland, Joe and Henriot, Peter. Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice Rev. & enlarged
edition; Washington, D.C.: Center of Concern, 1983

Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000

Kassmann, Margot. Overcoming Violence: The Challenge to the Churches in all Places, WCC
Publications: Geneva, 1998

Knitter, Paul F. No Other Name?: A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes Toward the World
Religions. Maryknoll,NY: Orbis Books.1985.

----------------- Introducing Theologies of Religions Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books 2002.

Kroger, Daniel, Disarming Peter: Retrieving a Christian Ethic of Nonviolence in the Philippine
Context. Manila: De La Salle University Press, 2002.

-----------------, Everything is Changed: Just War Ethics after the War in Iraq unpublished paper,
2005

Kung, Hans. Christianity and the World Religions: Paths to Dialogue With Islam, Hinduism, and
Buddhism NY: Doubleday 1986

Mosala, I. J. Biblical Hermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989.

Netland, Harold. Encountering Religious Pluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission
Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001.

Niebuhr, Reinhold. Christianity and Power Politics New York, Charles Scribner's, 1952.

Ricoeur, Paul. Freud and Philosophy Yale University Press 1970.

Rivera, Luis N. A Violent Evangelism: The Political and Religious Conquest of the Americas
Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press. 1992.

Salgado, Pedro, O.P. Church and Violence: The Philippine Experience CTC Bulletin: Bulletin
of the Commission on Theological Concern . (HK: Christian Conference of Asia. Vol X
No. 1, April 1991) 35-51

Samartha, Stanley J. One Christ – Many Religions: Toward a Revised Christology. Maryknoll
NY: Orbis Books. 1991

Sugirtharajah, R.S, ed., Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books New Edition, 1997.

Wink, Walter. The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millennium NY: Doubleday. 1998