Bible, Nation, Empire: The use of

the bible by scholars and by local

congregations: 2008 - 2011

The creative phase of our two-year project has drawn to an end. Seven papers were received last year (2010) and then distributed among the other authors for comment. After re-editing, the authors returned their papers to the BISAM convener. Papers hailed from Argentina, Ghana, Kenya, Denmark, and Australia.

Three papers focused on the topic. They are:

Exorcising the Mind: Practicing Justice in a Disordered World by Dario Barolin of the Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In this deeply unjust world, writes Dario, the empire has colonized our desires, our mind, our very being. The most common response to injustice is charity which is essential in emergency situations. Nevertheless, in the longer term charity simply ameliorates rather than changes the situation. To practice justice we need to proclaim the everlasting presence of God in the face of the brutal yet ephemeral empire, we have to decolonize our mind through expressive acts of exorcism, and be willing to express our pain, that is, tears of hope and compassion.

For complete article: http://missionstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/dario-practice-of-justice.pdf

Payment of Taxes to Empires and Governments: The Matthean and Abokobi Communities (Matthew 22: 15-22), by Eric Nii Bortey Anum, Dept. of Religion & Human Values, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa.

Eric Anum explores tensions generated by the imposition of taxes by both the 19^th century colonial government and the twenty-first century independent government of Ghana. This issue is explored through a literary critical reading of Matthew 22:15-22. Communities in Ghana, including the church, were forced to pay tax to the British colonial regime just as the Matthean community was obliged under Roman imperial rule. The colonial case examines how a Christian community in Ghana migrated to areas outside British jurisdiction in order to avoid paying tax. The issue today among the same communities in independent Ghana is whether churches should be classified as companies and so pay tax. The author underlines similarities of power relations in the imperial situation in Matthew’s time and in that of colonial Ghana, while acknowledging marked differences between the reactions of the two communities. The Ghanaian Abokobi community moved away from the jurisdiction of the British while the Matthean community stayed put. This essay concludes by looking at the implications for today concerning the payment of taxes by churches, differentiating between their social and business activities.

For complete article:

http://missionstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/eric-anum-payment-of-taxes-to-empires.pdf

Creating a Space for the Others: The Minorities as a Challenge to Church and State by Johannes Nissen, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Aarhus, Marslevvej 5, DK-8270 Højbjerg, Denmark.

In the face of discrimination towards minorities in Europe and the increasing exclusion of immigrants, Johannes Nissen takes up the Gospel witness of inclusive table fellowship and the multi-voiced and polyphonic voices in Acts. The New Testament shows how the apostolic community shifted from uniformity to pluriformity. The Church, then, is to witness as an inclusive community of hospitality open to ‘the other’ which enriches the Church’s polyphonic identity which cannot be reduced to any single set of ethnic or cultural characteristics. The author then takes up alternative ways in which the Church relates to the State: by assimilation, critical distance (rather than alienation) and critical solidarity (involvement) concluding that the Church needs to live in solidarity with minorities becoming the voice of the voiceless.

For complete article: http://missionstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/johannes-nissen-creating-a-space-for-the-others1.pdf

The other four papers submitted are:

Lectura de la Biblia en contexto Zona popular de Guatemala, by Verónica Pérez, Coordinadora FBT-Cedepca, Pastora Pentecostal, Guatemala.

After describing the “popular community” in Guatemala, Verónica Pérez gives an account of their popular readings of three scripture passages on the theme of “the image of God in us”, namely (Genesis 1: 27-28; John 10:10; Mark 1:14-15). This fascinating paper is in Spanish.

For complete paper: http://missionstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/veronika-perez-lectura-de-la-biblia.pdf

A Conversation with the Bible on the Living Dead, Necromancy and Transfiguration: The case of the Nandi in Kenya, by Susan M. Kilonzo & Christopher K. Rutto, Maseno University Department of Religion, Theology & Philosophy, P.O. Box 333, Maseno-40105, Kenya.

After looking at a few biblical passages where there is communication between the living and the dead, Susan Kilonzo and Christopher Rutto note that, unlike African Initiated Churches and the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church of Kenya limits its communication with the living dead to honouring biblical saint. The authors then go into some detail outlining the Nandi community’s views on death, how they ascend to the ancestral world and the concept of  the soul and of life after death implied by these beliefs and practices. Having shown the vital importance of post-burial rituals among the Nandi, the authors conclude by indicating points of convergence between the worldview and practices of the Nandi and those of the Anglican Church in Kenya and by underlining the need to read biblical narratives with African eyes.

The last two papers form parts 1 and 2 of a single essay:

Commending the Gospel through Praxis. Part 1 Toward a Shared Praxis of Faith beyond Structure and Content. Part 2 Stories from the Mission Field, by D. Paul Dalzell,

Parish priest, Anglican Parish of Alexandra, Victoria Australia.

Becoming a Christian, says Paul Dalzell, is not so much a question of absorbing dogma or knowledge, but rather a matter of experience, of encountering a missional Christian community with its distinctive take on life and the celebration of its values in liturgy, a community that shares the pain of the world. The ‘gospel’ is not a series of doctrines wrapped in ‘worship’ but a congruent unity of ‘medium and message’; the Gospel is a liturgy, a set of actions that transforms our life. Following Thomas Groome, this essay traces the five-step process of conversion: naming present praxis, reflecting critically upon it, encountering the Christian story, blending one’s personal story with the Christian story in a truly dynamic way, which leads to an invitation to renew one’s praxis.

Part two takes looks at one way this approach was put into practice. The essay listens to the experiences of four people who participated in a bible sharing group in Brisbane who followed a seven-step method. Each explains how the experience was life transforming.

The BISAM convener is in contact with the editor of MISSION STUDIES to see if at least some of these papers can be published in our IAMS journal. With permission, all of them could be published online on this BISAM page.

It remains for me to thank the Lord and to thank each one of you for this collaboration across cultures, spanning four continents.

We now turn our attention to the theme of the IAMS 2012 Toronto Conference: Human Migration: God’s mission and the movements of peoples. I shall be in contact shortly.

As we are about to enter the season of Lent, so I wish us all the grace of metanoia and a renewal of our baptismal calling when we died in Christ in order to rise with Him.

3^rd March 2011.

John Prior, svd,

BISAM Convener, 2004 – 2012.