Go on your way...

Jesus sends out his disciples two-by-two (Luke 10: 1-9).  As he sees them off, he instructs them to carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals... From an Indian context this would not be a very very difficult task.  However for an Englishman, it would be quite impossible.  As Fr John during his introduction to the Mass stated, "He'd not get much further than the main door!"

Thanks to the cold of England, it would not be possible to travel outside one's home without sufficient warm clothes, and certainly not without some protective footwear.  So for an Englishman to try to live the gospel in its call to set off for evangelisation as per this passage would indeed be a radical choice.  Very well aware of the danger of reading the Bible as solitary passages, this call of Jesus certainly challenges the Englishman much more than an Indian.

Perhaps, if this Gospel passage were to be written in an English context, it would read:

Go on your way; behold I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no wallet, no picnic, take not your car, walk through the bylanes, greet every person you meet...

Context lag

Our new spiritual director, arrived yesterday in the wee hours of the morning.  Having spent the last seven years in Europe and the States, the whole thing of Kondadaba was a bit new to him - though he did spend two years of his early life in this very institution as a student.  Our discussions with him are interesting, especially given the fact that he is noticing things we take for granted.  Coming from a very different set up, certain things are difficult to understand the how and why of.   The culture/context lag will take much longer than the jet lag.

As we entered the seminary, one had to get off the vehicle to open the gate and he innocently asked if it is not on power and the remote. When I told him that it isn't, he suggested that we could go for it.  I could not but laugh.  Who on earth would want an electric, fortified gate and that too of all places on earth, for Kondadaba seminary. Anyway, I politely told him that we barely have power and an electric-powered gate is totally out of the question.

During lunch he was sharing how he felt odd when asked to share his reserved seat with a couple of other people (most of whom did not even have an ordinary ticket!), in spite of him have a certified reserved seat in the train.  For us this is not something new or out of the way, for him it was.  However, he has been very accommodative and has not made any fuss regarding anything so far, though I know that he does feel awkward at times.

Anyway, wish to see more of things that I have taken for granted, from the eyes of someone who sees it differently.  

Early state of indigenous Churches

Another hard-hitting fact, about indigenous Churches and their origin, from the book The Gospel Among the Nations: A Documentary History of Inculturation:

A sense of their own superiority, rising educational standards in their home countries, an increasing emphasis on doctrinal purity and fear of syncretism, and even the prospect of losing their own sense of purpose led most missions and missionaries to keep indigenous churches in a state of dependence. Missions within colonial empires had become colonial missions within ecclesial empires.

[Hunt, Robert A. The Gospel Among the Nations: A Documentary History of Inculturation (New York: Orbis Books, 2010) 22.]

Imperialism and piracy

Another daring accusation the book levels against the early missionary tactics is that of partaking, if not directly but certainly, in the imperialism and piracy of colonialism.

Initially unable to participate directly in the looting of South and Central America, and controlling lands in North America with no obvious treasure hordes, the English and Dutch engage in piracy, which is the logical complement of imperialism in that it consists of simply looting another person's goods for the sake of wealth, power, and prestige. Similar patterns occured in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Asia. Where Europeans were able they conquered territory and removed whatever was of value for use in Europe. When they couldn't they stole from one another.

Missionaries were not unaware of the moral and practical implications of being so closely related to the colonial enterprise, ... but believed that the benefits of reaching non-Christians with the gospel outweighed the risks. ... Many missionaries, like the pioneer David Livingstone, embraced colonialism believing that "Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization" constituted a package that would "lift up" lives trapped in supposed darkness. ... they accepted the proposition that Western civilization and Christian faith represented what humankind needed. They rarely questioned whether the civilization they brought was a fitting expression of Christ's message, or colonialism a fit means of enacting it.

[Hunt, Robert A. The Gospel Among the Nations: A Documentary History of Inculturation (New York: Orbis Books, 2010) 21-22.]

Birth of administration

Yesterday I started reading a book on the roots of inculturation in the Church and was very surprised to see the book, chronicle the mission history of the Church in all its aspects, positive as well as negative. The Gospel Among the Nations: A Documentary History of Inculturation by Robert A. Hunt is virtually an encyclopedia of Church documents on mission and inculturation. But what I liked most of the book is its frank presentation of facts, quite a few of which are not so moral - or even Christian - but that's only retrospectively how we look at it. Those involved in the proclamation of the Gospel in its early days, went ahead thinking that what they did was the best.

I always kept wondering what could have been the root of this whole administration bit of it in the Church. This book offers a possible and quite convincing answer: When Europeans, convinced of sharing their personal faith through an individual witness, landed on the Asian soil, they found that personal faith made no sense to the people here. In most cultures, the European-style individualism simply did not exist. Hence early missionaries were pioneers in education, agriculture, development and creating small industries because these were both necessary to create an environment in which converts could survive, and because they helped fund the mission. This created tension as missionaries found themselves distracted from what they regarded as their primary evangelistic task in order to care for infrastructure development.

I guess that's how this whole process of 'administration' is today in indispensable element of religious life.