CHRISTOLOGY IN GLOBAL
PERSPECTIVE
Session 8
Question:
• How does our
particular “location” in
life affect our
experience of and
witness to Jesus and
the Gospel?
Objectives:
• To understand how
one’s “location” in life
(social, political,
psychological, etc.)
affects one’s
experience of salvation
and understanding of
who Jesus is.
LIVING BETWEEN TWO AGES
Old age
Crucifixion/Resurrection
JUSTIFICATION
WORD/SACRAMENT
In
Before
God
Before
human
beings
and
creation
New Age
Cross
Resurrection
Creation
New Creation
VOCATION
KINGDOM OF GOD
Incarnation
CHRIST AS DIVINE AND HUMAN
Christ as human
Crucifixion/Resurrection
JUSTIFICATION
WORD/SACRAMENT
In
Before
God
Before
human
beings
and
creation
Christ as divine
Cross
SACRAMENT
Resurrection
CHRISTUS VICTOR
Creation
EXAMPLE
New Creation
THEOSIS
VOCATION
KINGDOM OF GOD
Incarnation
CHRIST AS ONLY HUMAN?
Christ as human
Before
God
Cross
SACRAMENT
Before
human
beings
and
creation
Creation
EXAMPLE
Christ as divine
CHRIST AS ONLY DIVINE?
Christ as human
Christ as divine
Before
God
Resurrection
CHRISTUS VICTOR
Before
human
beings
and
creation
New Creation
THEOSIS
CHRIST AS THEOSIS ONLY?
Christ as human
Christ as divine
Before
God
Before
human
beings
and
creation
New Creation
THEOSIS
CHRIST AS SACRAMENT ONLY?
Christ as human
In
Before
God
Cross
SACRAMENT
Before
human
beings
and
creation
Christ as divine
CHRIST AS EXAMPLE ONLY?
Christ as human
Before
God
Before
human
beings
and
creation
Creation
EXAMPLE
Christ as divine
CHRISTUS VICTOR ONLY?
Before
God
Christ as divine
In
Christ as human
Resurrection
CHRISTUS VICTOR
Before
human
beings
and
creation
ONLY JUSTIFICATION?
Christ as human
Crucifixion/Resurrection
JUSTIFICATION
WORD/SACRAMENT
In
Before
God
Cross
SACRAMENT
Before
human
beings
and
creation
Christ as divine
Resurrection
CHRISTUS VICTOR
ONLY VOCATION?
Christ as human
Christ as divine
Creation
EXAMPLE
New Creation
THEOSIS
Before
God
Before
human
beings
and
creation
VOCATION
KINGDOM OF GOD
Incarnation
CHRISTOLOGY IN GLOBAL
PERSPECTIVE
Overview of Session 8
• ELAINE CRAWFORD:
WOMANIST
CHRISTOLOGY
• OSCAR A. GARCIA-JOHNSON:
THE CROSS IN LATINO/A
PERSPECTIVE
• MARCELLA ATHAUS-REID: “A
CRITICAL CHRISTOLOGY OF
HOPE AMONGST LATIN
AMERICAN WOMEN”
• JOSÉ M. DE MESA: ASIAN
CHRISTOLOGIES
• VICTOR I. EZIGBO: AFRICAN
CHRISTOLOGIES
OUR MULTICULTURAL GOD
• “Our multicultural God calls on the church to
communicate the love of God in Christ—in, with,
and under the rich diversity that embraces us all.
Mutuality of experience intermingles with God’s
divine presence; we’re prepared for great
commission work in our diverse nation and the
world.”
ALICIA VARGAS, director of contextual education at
Pacific
OSCAR A. GARCIA-JOHNSON ON THE
CROSS IN LATINO/A PERSPECTIVE
Where I Stand in
the Story of the Cross
• Put bluntly, the birth of
Latin America is tied to the
imperial program of the
proclamation of the cross
of Jesus Christ. The crucifix
was used as God’s
signature, authorizing the
Iberian campaign of
invasion, cultural
devastation, appropriation
of the land, colonization,
massacring, and
evangelization of the
Americas during and after
the European Conquest.
Trends in Latin American
and Latino/a theology
1. Mimicking western methodologies and
transplanting western ideas, models, and
ambitions into a nonwestern environment
2. A counter-western direction or a postwestern
horizon, in the interest of a theology that
acknowledges the rupture between the old
western ways and the new nonwestern ways.
3. Thinking in transwestern ways—that is,
working to foster transcontextual,
transcultural, transclassical, interdisciplinary,
and ecumenical conversations.
CHRISTOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN
LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINO/A
CONTEXTS
The Conquest—The Cross as the
Beginning
Conquest Christology:
1. Suffering is a God-giving
historical reality and
inevitable
2. Christ illustrates and
invites tragedy
3. God blesses the othersin-power and allows
them to use violence to
accomplish their
mandate.
The Glorious Christ of
Evangelicalism—Where Is the Cross?
A nondocetic Christ of life
and glory over against
the “other Spanish Christ”
of death
– An exit from historical
tragedy, poverty, and
spiritual emptiness, a
Christ of glory
The Liberating Christ—
From Inheriting the Cross to Choosing
It for Life
Christology of Liberation
• The locus theologicus
shifted from the European
categories of reason, Sola
Scriptura, the church, and
individual subjectivism to a
hermeneutics of communal
suffering, poverty, and
injustice in light of Jesus’
way to the cross.
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel: The Latin American Way of the Cross
U.S. Latino/a Christology—The Cross
in the Story of a Pilgrim People
• The Latino/a experience of Mestizaje-Mulatez as a
hermeneutic paradigm for understanding Jesus Christ as
God among us.
• “We know viscerally what it is like to fully embody the
tensions of disparate realities that may seem incongruent
with one another. In a sense, the incarnation is the
ultimate act of mestisaje and mulatez joining together
humanity and divinity in one act. . . . By using the
paradigm of Mestizaje-Mulatez we assert that Jesus
identified with the oppressed and the marginalized,
locating the presence of God in their midst.” (Luis Pedraja)
ELAINE CRAWFORD ON WOMANIST
CHRISTOLOGY
M. L. KING: “I HAVE A DREAM”
Womanist theology
• When the angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness (Gen
16:8), the angel asked her a question that is pertinent to the
theological enterprise today. The angel asked Hagar, "Where have
you come from and where are you going?"
• Womanist theology arose out of the need for a theology that
would take seriously the perspectival lens African American
women's experience brings to the theological enterprise.
Womanist theology critiques the multi-dimensional oppression of
African American women's lives, at a minimum, sexism, racism,
classism, and heterosexism. It challenges structures, symbols, and
socio-political realities that foster oppression/domination of black
women in particular, as well as black men, humanity in general,
and nature.
Questions for womanist theology
• "Can a white, male Jesus serve
as a redemptive symbol for
African American women?"
• "Who is Jesus Christ for the
African American woman?"
• "How does Jesus address the
plight of the marginalized and
oppressed of society?"
The cross and abuse
•
•
•
•
•
Given the historic abuse of black
women's bodies, from Hagar
through today, and the increasing
awareness of domestic violence and
child abuse in American society, how
does one interpret Jesus' death on
the cross?
Does the death on the cross glorify
violence?
Does the cross sacralize abuse?
How are the Academy and the
Church to respond to the symbolism
of the cross, juxtaposed with silence
around the issues of abuse and
violence in most churches?
How does one teach and preach
healing through the life, death,
resurrection of Christ without
romanticizing suffering?
Womanist understandings of God
• The womanist understanding
of God is based upon God's
revelation to them, as well as
through the revelation and
witness of scripture in the
context of their experience.
God is understood as being on
the side of the oppressed.
God is liberator, creator, and
sustainer.
• God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit
are understood as the three
persons of the Trinity and are
used interchangeably,
especially in the prayers of
the African American.
• It is Jesus who is central and
co-sufferer with the
oppressed. African American
women identify with Jesus
because they believe he
identifies with their struggle.
Jesus, who is Immanuel,
friend, present help, and
comforter, is central to
African American women's
theology.
Womanist understandings of God
• Womanists employ a very "high"
Christology. It is high, not in the
typical western perspective
meaning to emphasize his
divinity, but high in the African
American sense, indicating that
Jesus has an integral place, a real
consuming presence that
empowers the life of the
believer.
• To have a "high time" at church,
in the African American
vernacular, means the Spirit was
very present, real, touchable,
and tangible. This is the way
African American women
experience Jesus.
2 Cor 5:21
• As a human (representing both male and
female) dying on the cross, how does Jesus'
death condone violence against women?
• Does this death on the cross also validate the
killing and imprisoning of African American
males?
2 Cor 5:21
• The Bible says that Jesus
became sin for us that we
might experience the
righteousness of God (2 Cor
5:21).
• Though I understand the cross
as the culmination of human
evil, I suggest that Jesus
became abuse, violence,
dehumanization, and
oppression so that we might
experience wholeness, safety,
full humanity, and agency.
• Thus, the cross does not
sacralize abuse but is an
example of it. The cross
represents what God was
willing to sacrifice so that no
others would be sacrificed. It
is not a shrine to violence that
calls for torn flesh and
bleeding bodies, but an
eternal statement that
humans should not be
abused.
The cross mandates a theology of risk
rather than a theology of sacrifice
•
A theology of risk is the God-consciousness
and God-confidence to risk all to fight
against injustice and oppression, even if it
means that one may be called upon to give
one's life. A theology of risk employs a
liberating message of the cross that breaks
the cycle of violence in black women's lives.
The message of the cross is not one of
resignation to violence or demands for
revenge, but it is a passion for justice. It is
an awareness of the Christ-presence in one's
life that empowers one to seize the personal
agency to act against, rather than acquiesce
to, victimization and oppression. A theology
of risk breaks the cycle of violence and
counter-violence by moving one toward a
new humanity that is self-loving, otheraffirming, and community-creating.
JOSÉ M. DE MESA ON ASIAN
CHRISTOLOGIES
THE REALITY OF
JESUS CHRIST
On what an Indian religious
man said to missionaries to
India: “You say that you
bring Jesus and new
humanity to us. But what is
this 'new humanity' you are
proclaiming? We would like
to see it, touch it, taste it,
feel it. Jesus must not be
just a name, but a reality.
Jesus must be illustrated
humanly". Yes! “All human
beings are cultural beings.
Jesus must be culturally
relevant if he is really to be
understood and
appreciated. This is a most
obvious fact unfortunately
only too often overlooked.“
Supper at Emmaus; He Qi; Art in the Christian Tradition
A TRIPLE DIALOGUE
IN ASIAN
THEOLOGIZING
Jesus and . . .
the poor in Asia,
the religions of Asia,
the cultures of Asia.
Oil on Canvas, part of a dyptich of the Dalit Jesus. Collection of
the Missions Prokura sj Nuerenberg.
http://jyotiartashram.blogspot.com
DALIT THEOLOGY
The dalits (from the root word dal in Marathi
language which means to crack, open and
split), especially the women, are poor and
discriminated in society and in the church.
They are forced to live separately from the
common people, they are barred from using
common wells, roads and other common
facilities and dalits converted to Christianity
have separate seats in the church and
separate cemeteries for the dead. Liberation
from the dehumanizing caste system in all
aspects has been and is the deepest longing
of the dalits. Dalit theology provides us with
a vivid description of the marginalization and
depredation of the dalits who are despised
and exploited outcasts within the Hindu caste
system. It unveils the ideology both in the
hierarchical and the ecclesiastical caste
system through social analysis, and
articulates the hope and the struggle of the
dalits for liberation.
Jesus the folk healer. Oil on Canvas. Part of a dyptich of the Dalit Jesus.
Collection of the Missions Prokura sj. Nuerenberg.
http://jyotiartashram.blogspot.com
FILIPINO FOLK
CHRISTOLOGY
In the Philippines this sort of
exchange is taking place
between official and popular
Catholicism. Benigno Beltran,
who looked for elements for
his Christology in the folk
religiosity of scavengers living
and working at a huge dump
site, discovered that the
traditional dogmatic teachings
on Christology have been reinterpreted according to the
local worldview. As a result
Jesus is mainly the Child Jesus
(Santo Niño) on the one hand,
and the Suffering Christ (the
Black Nazarene) on the other.
However, many of the changes
which the people have
introduced into their
Catholicism seem to be closer
to the thinking of the bible
than to the Western dogmatic
tradition. These elements
constitute valuable material for
the construction of a Filipino
Christology in the future.
Ruben Enaje, right, who has been nailed to the cross for 24 times, grimaces as actors
dressed as centurions pound a nail on his feet during yearly religious rituals in San
Pedro Cutud village, San Fernando town, Pampanga province, northern Philippines.
Filipino devotees re-enacted Jesus Christ's suffering by having themselves nailed to
the cross in yearly Good Friday rites frowned upon by church leaders in Asia's
largest predominantly
Roman Catholic nation. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila); http://my.opera.com/irczas/archive
THE ASCENSION
BY BAGONG
KUSSUDIARDJA,
INDONESIA
Jesus said to the disciples:
"When the Holy Spirit comes
upon you, you will be filled
with power, and you will be
witnesses for me in
Jerusalem, in all Judaea and
Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth."
After saying this, he was
taken up to heaven as they
watched him and a cloud hid
him from their sight. Acts 1:8f
Copyright © 2002, Asian Christian Art Association
permission pending from
http://www.asianchristianart.org/
K.C.S. PANIKER'S
“SORROW OF CHRIST”
This sculpture expresses the
compassion of Christ, identifying
with the misery of suffering people.
“His nose is distorted. His mouth is
mis-shapen and his eyes pop out.”
When asked what led [the artist] to
do this sculpture, he replied, "I am a
Hindu. We contemplate, and pray
and fast. We meditate on the way of
compassion. I read the Bible at
Madras Christian College where I
studied. I was impressed to find that
this man, Jesus of Nazareth, not only
prayed for, but actually related
himself to the misery of
marginalized people, such as those
who suffered from leprosy."
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eraKUpaqWhU/SaJj2qm14lI/AAAAAAAAAMo/_jgLtcrUEQI/s3
20/scan0002.jpg
THE CHRISTOLOGICAL PROCESS IN
THE KHASI CONTEXT (INDIA)
“The cock prefigures and
symbolizes Jesus because for
us Christians He is the only
one who is really UBahok who
brings true life, peace,
harmony, righteousness,
justice, truthfulness, right
relationship with God, fellow
human beings and fellow
creatures. Moreover, Jesus is
much, much more than the
rooster or the cock. He is not
only a sacrificial victim who
mediates with God through
signs and oracles, but he is
himself divine and human. He
is not only the ladder or the
‘umbilical cord’ of heaven, but
in him God and people meet.
He is God-with-us,
Emmanuel.”
Kwai trees in the town / Photo credit: Frontline:
http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/rains-a-downer-in-worlds-wettest-place
VICTOR I. EZIGBO ON
AFRICAN CHRISTOLOGIES
AFRICAN
CHRISTOLOGIES
“African Christologies must, in
some intelligible ways, seek to
bridge any gap between an
abstract conception of Jesus
and the pictures of him that
are informed by the
experiences of the African
peoples. The socio-religious
issues facing Africa today are
massive. These include
religious pluralism and
conflicts, political structures
that perpetuate poverty and
dehumanize people, and
constant fears of the
malevolent spirits which those
who are not properly informed
have simply dismissed as
empty superstitions.”
JESUS MAFA. Jesus absolves the pentitent sinner, from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
“The images of Jesus in the
Bible are not divorced
from real life
experiences. The New
Testament authors
wrote their
testimonies about
Jesus from their
personal experience of
him and their society
at large. Like them,
Africans are to seek to
articulate Jesus Christ
not only from the
recorded experiences
of the early Christians
that are recorded in
the New Testament but
also from their own
experiences. The
power of Jesus to
liberate people from
their spiritual and
physical poverty (Luke
4), for instance, needs
to be tested and
approved in African
contexts. This is not to
suggest that the
validity of Jesus' power
depends on the
experiences of African
peoples, but rather
that the Christology
that is designed for
Africa must reflect a
rigorous interaction
with the daily realities
of the peoples of
Africa.”
JESUS AND PEOPLE’S
REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES
The Poor Invited to the Feast
JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
As Laurenti Magesa has
pointed out, “To
consider Jesus as
Liberator in the African
situation is therefore
much more than just a
metaphor. It is
important to present
the only Jesus that can
be comprehensible and
credible among the
African rural masses,
urban poor and
idealistic youth. In the
long run, it is only Jesus
that can evoke the
admiration of the rich
and powerful in the
land. This is Jesus who
actually calls individuals
and peoples to freedom
by his word and action.”
JESUS AS LIBERATOR
The Mission to the World
JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
JESUS AS LIBERATOR
An African christological model that represents
Jesus as a liberator should be located deeply
in the daily struggles of Africans. Speaking of
the specific matters for liberation in Africa
and to which Jesus Christ is to be constructed
to address, the theologian must include
diseases, poverty, torture and all forms of
dehumanization
JESUS AS HEALER
The Possessed
JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
#1: WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL WITNESS TO CHRIST?
(CF. “FAITHFULNESS”)
“The biblical representations of the Christ-Event should function as the parameter within which
the African christological discourses can occur. They should provide an elastic circumference for
testing the validity of Africans' representations of Jesus.”
Jesus and Mary and Martha: JESUS MAFA, Art in the Christian Tradition
#2: WHO IS CHRIST IN AFRICAN TERMS?
(CF. “COHERENCE”)
“While the biblical
portrayals of Jesus
provide us with the
standard to
measure what is
and is not qualified
as the 'Christian
depictions of
Jesus', they do not
limit us from
encountering
newer meanings
and terminologies
to express him.”
Jesus Heals the Paralyed Man
JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
#3: HOW DOES CHRIST CONFRONT
THE ISSUES AFFECTING AFRICAN
CHRISTIANS? (CF. “EFFECTIVENESS”)
Jesus Drives out the Merchants
JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
“Since all interpretations of
Jesus, including the images
of him in the Bible, are not
only culturally laden but also
contextually driven,
constructive African
Christologies must seek
seriously to present Jesus
Christ in the ways that can
allow him to vividly confront
the social injustice, poverty,
genocide, and
dehumanization that stem
from international and local
policies, diseases, and the
challenge of religious
pluralism that African
peoples face.”
MARCELLA ALTHAUS-REID ON
“A CRITICAL CHRISTOLOGY OF HOPE
AMONGST LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN”
CONTEXTUAL
CHRISTOLOGY: LATIN
AMERICAN WOMEN
“To do a contextual
Christology, in this case of
Latin American women,
we must identify the
feminine body as a
privileged place of desire
and its appropriation and
control by the systems of
power. The body of the
poor Latin American
woman, malnourished,
exposed to continuous
pregnancies, violence and
hunger speaks to us of the
community which Christ
came to save and for
which he died, tortured
and thirsty.”
GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA - DECEMBER 2008: The former home of Catherine Michelle, who
died aged 6 after being savagely raped and stoned to death by her 22 year old neighbour. She
who was from a very poor background. Her mother Adriana, 42, had 10 children and a few
grandchildren. The surviving ones live together in this single room, in a slum on the outskirts of
Guatemala City. There is no running tap water, and Sharon, who is Adriana's latest granddaughter,
has to bathe in the sink. Currently, less then 1% of femicide cases are solved in Guatemala, where
2 women are murdered every day. (Photo by Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images)
JESUS AND THE
HEMORRHAGING
WOMAN (MARK 5)
“The text in Mark 5 used by
the women does not give by
title the name of its
protagonist but she is
identified by that which the
text gives us to understand
is an excessive menstrual
flow.”
Fresco of Christ healing the Woman with
an Issue of Blood. Catacomb of Saints
Pietro e Marcellino, late third century,
Rome.
Art in the Christian Tradition
#1: THE BODIES OF WOMEN
AS INTERPRETIVE CLUE
(CF. “FAITHFULNESS”)
Francisca Megia with her her son Daniel, left, along with Graciela Megia and her daughter Isabel, center, and Leonila Sanchez Cruz, work at creating women's
clutches, shoulder bags and hip belts out of candy wrappers, potato chip bags and cookie packages the nonprofit Group for the Promotion of Education and
Sustainable Development, or Grupedsac, an organization that since 1987 has helped poor Mexican Indians become self-sufficient through development
projects that also aim to preserve the environment in the town of La Soledad, Mexico on Feb. 15, 2006. The products they make, are now selling on Web sites
and in upscale U.S. boutiques and department stores for up to $200 apiece. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
#2: A CHRISTOLOGY MUST
BE OPEN AND IN PROCESS
(CF. “COHERENCE”)
“This dialogue between Christ and
real women, that is to say women,
who in this symbolic collocation to
which we have referred previously,
confront the past and in the present
nearly always begin with the
question, 'Who do you say I am?' The
question which Jesus directed to
Peter in the text of Mark 8:29,
however, is the reverse of this; and
now it is the poor women who ask
Jesus, 'Who do you think we are?’”
This is the Virgin of Guadalupe. It's in the public domain because it
dates to the 16th century. This version has been slightly darkened.
Wikipedia Commons
#3: SALVATION MUST BE
UNDERSTOOD AS A
COMMUNITARIAN
PROCESS (CF.
“EFFECTIVENESS”)
“This praxis is a communitarian
praxis where salvation is an integral
concept which includes the
economical polity and respects the
natural dialogical process of the
communities. We should note how
the Latinas always use biblical texts
as referents of the dialogue.
However the shift which has been
produced in recent years amongst
Latina women doing popular
theology goes well beyond the
traditional dialogue between two
situations (the present of the
community and the text where
Jesus speaks), because it challenges
the static and idealistic conception
of Christ. Christ becomes a
communitarian Messiah, made in
the midst of a historical process
and in dialogue with the people,
part of which are the women he
engaged in his ministry.”
Photo from International Indigenous Women's Symposium DECLARATION FOR HEALTH,
LIFE AND DEFENSE OF OUR LANDS, RIGHTS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS
QUESTIONS FOR YOU
• How do you interpret these diverse
christologies in light of Scripture and the
theological traditions you have been exposed
to so far?
• How do your own cultural assumptions
inform what lies at the heart of your
confession of faith in Jesus Christ?
• How have cultural assumptions influenced
the development of the history of theology?