Reiterating the point stated above: “Contextual theology...is the biblical theology that speaks to the people and their needs.” In Minahasa, borrowing Bediako's words, this must be a theology that speaks to the needs of the Minahasans “in a way that assures us that we can be authentic [Minahasans] and true Christians.”1 Christianity, first of all, is not a religion of mere theory, for Christ eats and drinks with sinners and call them into repentance. He speaks of the ethics of the Kingdom and washes the feet of His disciples. He heals the sick, raises the dead, opens the eyes of the blind, feeds the hungry, and lays down His life for each and everyone of us. He shows that He is worthy to receive our highest loyalty and our worship as One risen from the dead. Understanding that the Gospel bears significance in our daily lives, contextualization requires theological applications in the life of the community of believers according to their time, space, and contexts.
It is obvious that Minahasa today is no longer the same as Minahasa in the past. This is something every society must expect. Yet Wenas' alarming statement that Minahasan cultures have gone far away from their original forms2 must be taken seriously with the concern that we are losing the good traditions that were passed down from generation to generation. This situation is an invitation as well as a challenge for the Church in Minahasa to reflect theologically and culturally, and from there to come up with a proposal for action.
Following Hunsberger's position on cultures and Gospel, the Church has a task to spell out how “cultures illumine and incarnate the [G]ospel” and at the same time how the “[G]ospel illumines and transforms a culture.” This is to be held with an understanding that culture is not “the proper telos” for theological and cultural reflection, but rather the humanity that bears the image of God (imago Dei) for whom Christ has died and is risen plus the rest of the creation that bears the glory of God. Drawing from the local wisdom of si tou timou tumou tou, the Minahasan Church needs to be the salt in preserving the ideals of the communal traditions, at the same time, the light in bringing forth love, peace, joy, righteousness and justice (dikaiosune) into the life of the community at large.3
Here I attempt to exemplify how theology and the community of believers are interconnected and how the relationship between Christianity, local culture and ethnic identity may occur. For this purpose, I choose mapalus (discussed in Chapter Four of this thesis) because it is part of the Minahasan sense of ethnicity, yet at the same time it has become a special concern in Minahasan society today. I perceive that this traditional practice has something to offer in our discussion on the topic of ethnicity in the Body of Christ.
In mapalus, individual autonomy as well as collective good are held together. The question of what is just and right when it comes to working together and building each other up is very important in mapalus, where success depends on how all members discipline and prepare themselves to work together in harmony. Another aspect in mapalus is that, with the coming together of different people into one organic group in order to work and strive together, a medium is born where love, peace and joy are to be exercised together with the principles of dikaiosune. From here, it becomes obvious that mapalus features some ideal characteristics compatible with Christian faith. Unfortunately, this traditional practice has been in retreat, which has to be a grave concern for the Minahasan churches.
The practice of mutual cooperation, mapalus, was born with the formation of Minahasan agricultural communities.4 Yet, while this practice has survived to this day, the complex struggle in connection to this practice reaches back into the 19th century. Graafland observed:
The ancestral custom [i.e. mapalus] is gradually disappearing . . . because in Minahasa some people began to become egoistic. Also there was instruction to jettison the practice. It may also due to the fact that the organization was handed to the people, whereas it should be the role of the community leaders. Or it may be because people are no longer free to use their time.5
The “colonial oppression,” as Schouten points out, indeed transformed Minahasan cultures.6 The effect of political and economic dominion, including the presence of Christianity and the schools in Minahasa, altered the centuries old traditions, for better and for worse. Schouten makes a conclusion that with the spiritual integration of Minahasa into the world religion, “[b]eliefs and rituals of the newly accepted religion [i.e., Christianity] continued, linked with those of ethnic religion,” extrapolating, sometimes in a “syncretic” way.7 It is important to consider fully, even in the present day, how our traditional piety has traveled together with our Christian traditions.
In the meanwhile, the social challenge as the result of such radical changes is alarming. As Schouten writes:
Social diversification was one of the results of cultural change. The internal dynamics of Minahasan society before the colonial era involved a flexible, ever-changing hierarchy. Under the colonial administrative system, this principles of ordering was largely dismantled, and social mobility according to the old pattern, based on the display of courage and generosity, was blocked. But the urge to get ahead persisted, not only due to cultural factors, but also as a result of repressive political and economic conditions.8
This social transformation that produces “the urge to get ahead” at the expense of others and the environment is at the core of Rambet's critique towards both the absence and the misuse of mapalus.9 He laments the reality that self-interest and egoism are becoming more prevalent in Minahasan society, which then finds its own expression popularized as “si tou tumou tumongko' tou” (lit. a person lives to prey on others).
The situation seems to be made even more complex with the influence of globalization,10 economic demands brought about by new social development, and technological advancement, including the revolution in social interaction through online social networking. While these can be seen as an opportunity, they may also pose further threats to local cultures and social values such as mapalus that is now, in a greater sense, endangered because of the prevailing social constructions inherited from colonialism.
To start with, as a social and cultural preservation, mapalus has been replaced by the later European education system in model and essence. The youngsters in general are no longer participating in the communal effort to tend the land or gather the harvest, where songs, proverbs, poems, and stories are shared, containing the wisdom of the old. Now the young go to school, which is good, and the community needs to ensure that the children receive holistic, constructive and cultural-based education for the sake of the children and their community. But the sad thing is the excess of the model of education in contemporary Minahasa, so that even working in the fields has been unpopular. Education is often meant to save children from working in the fields in the future. Minahasans have become staunch supporters of education, perhaps unaware that their approach has often estranged them from their own culture and from their own land. In many cases, in order to get a university degree, parents sell their land, with the hope that the son or daughter will get a job that later will pay off. Perhaps this contributes to the high degree of corruption in Minahasa and Indonesia in general.
In Minahasa, mapalus is generally neither taught at school nor are the native languages; if these are taught now, they are still in the margins. In addition, teaching about the history of Minahasa has been almost entirety absent in the local educational curriculum. All this contributes to the setback of mapalus. In terms of mapalus as an economic strategy, the struggle with this traditional institution reveals a deeper problem. The absence of this practice, especially in urbanized areas but no less in remote areas, poses a real threat to the vulnerable. The poor farmers who cannot afford to take care of their fields will eventually lose their land and become landless farmers. This segment of the society is prone to exploitation in the monetarized system of today's world. The inability to access services so basic to human needs, like education, health services, and adequate housing, has dire consequences; the crime rate rises alongside the level of alcohol abuse, the spread of human trafficking and HIV/AIDS, including forest encroachment that causes environmental crises (especially around the Lake of Tondano).
In the midst of this bad news, there is good news. In certain places in Minahasa, where mapalus has deeper roots, the traditional institution is still preserved. Also, as Turang has indicated, mapalus today possesses different forms and functions according to the needs. Say that all of these forms of mapalus, including a communal awareness of the importance of this practice, represent a trunk of a tree, where new shoots may grow into many trees. Now, a hand to cultivate (tumou = to grow) these shoots into vigorous trees is needed. The Church has to play its role to bring shalom to the land where it is sent and beyond.
In this thesis, I propose five practical actions regarding mapalus as a strategic socio-cultural preservation in Minahasa:
- For the churches to encourage and facilitate training leadership in line with the traditional wisdom (ngaasan/sigha', nieatean, mawai/keter).11 This is also what Rambet suggests as an effort to revive mapalus as social capital for Minahasa development.12
- For the churches to initiate Mapalus Mesiani (Messianic Mapalus), a term coined by Prof. Roeroe,13 that members of the churches may nourish communal life in the community, to work together for the good of all members of the society, regardless of denominations or religious affiliations.
- For the churches to join together in partnership with other religious communities, cultural organizations, and the local government to promote cultural-based education, whether formal or informal, emphasizing local wisdom, local knowledge, and mother-tongue based curriculum (mother tongue as the medium language of education), and to facilitate and support mapalus groups.
- For the youth organizations to take initiative in forming community-based or organization-based mapalus groups and to promote different activities such as football (soccer), social and spiritual activities, etc. to nurture the spirit of mapalus and creativity among the youth.
- Pioneering a media communication among the mapalus groups, aimed at peer-training and information exchange; this may also be instrumental as a motivating tool for the preservation of the traditional institutions.
The main goal of these five recommendations is to further contextualize and develop mapalus as contemporary practice, not just for the Church community but also for the community at large. At this point, I have to be content in saying that time and further research will be required to speak more on these practical actions. These five recommended actions demand further analysis and strategic implementation. Yet the trace has been made and a hope has been planted. It is my conviction that with the re-invigoration of this traditional institution by all elements of the society, mapalus may be a stronghold to curve the negative impact of globalization and to mend the social disorder resulting from colonialism and upheaval situations that have taken place in Minahasa, and in the wider context of North Sulawesi. Mapalus can replenish the ideals of our ancestors and reinforce Christian teaching based on egalitarianism, compassion, and solidarity. There is a hope that with the preservation of mapalus as our cultural heritage, tou Minahasa may enjoy the blessings of the land and, with it, the sustainability of the environment along with the preservation of our local languages. These proposals may come as good news, but they are not the Gospel itself. The Gospel is once and for all the call into repentance and faith in Jesus Christ who has died, is risen, and will come again. With Him greater is our freedom than any independence from a colonial power.
At the end of this preliminary study on Christianity and ethnicity in Minahasa, I conclude that Minahasans may remain Minahasans to respond to God's call in Christ Jesus, Urang ni Opo' Empung. He is our Opo'/Empung/Kasuruan who has conquered our worst enemy that is death, and set an example, as in the path of the tradition of our ancestors, to live a life-giving life, extending beyond our own kawanua. Hence Empung Yesus, Si Tou Timou Tumou Tou Paripurna, is the only Lord, to whom our ancestors' and our puyun's (offspring) worship is due.
Minahasan Christianity is not an alien concept to the Minahasan Christians, discontinuous from our traditional piety in the form of our ethnic religion. Rather it is a tradition born out of religious experiences through the historical pilgrimage from our ancestors to the present puyun of Minahasa to the day when together with all the believers “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands...[all] cr[y] out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ (Revelation 7:9-10)
Following Bediako, our dotu-dotu (forebears) who embraced Christ as their ultimate loyalty, “like the apostle Paul, handed to us the assurance that with our Christian conversion, we are not introduced to a new God unrelated to the traditions of our past, but to One who brings to fulfillment all the highest religious and cultural aspirations of our heritage.” Therefore, being Minahasan-Christians, we are to respect and preserve our cultural heritage; we are to respect our ancestors by carrying out their ideals to protect and give life to their puyun; to tend, cultivate (apar), and to care for the land which Si Opo' Empung gave to the children of Toar and Lumimuut. Through the transformation of our heart and mind, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, this shall be the Good News for all peoples. Euangelion.
1 Bediako, Jesus and the Gospel in Africa, 23.
2 See Chapter Two on Culture, religion and ethnic identity.
3 See Chapter Three and Six above.
4 Graafland and Montolalu, Minahasa, 43; Sonny Rambet, “Mapalus Sebagai Kapital Sosial Pembangunan di Minahasa” (paper in the Philosophy of Science, Doctorate Program, Bogor Agricultural University [Institut Pertanian Bogor], 2004:4).
5 Graafland and Montolalu, Minahasa, 42-43 (translation mine).
6 Schouten, Leadership and Social Mobility in a Southeast Asian Society, 105.
7 Schouten, Leadership and Social Mobility in a Southeast Asian Society, 124; See Sanneh's discussion on the topic of Conversion, Syncretism, and Cross-Cultural Horizons in Whose Religion Is Christianity?, 41ff.
8 Schouten, Leadership and Social Mobility in a Southeast Asian Society, 124.
9 Rambet, “Mapalus Sebagai Kapital Sosial Pembangunan di Minahasa,” 8-9.
10 For further discussion on this topic, see Goudzwaard, Vennen, and Heemst, “Globalization,” in Hope in Troubled Times, 139-155.
11 For leadership principles see Chapter Four, political organization.
12 Rambet, “Mapalus Sebagai Kapital Sosial Pembangunan di Minahasa,” 5.
13 Mapalus Mesiani is the baptism of the traditional practice into Christian [religious] practice. As Prof. Roeroe explains: “Mapalus is a religious event – a form of communal cooperation and struggle to overcome the powers of nature. Human beings cannot survive without the help of Opo' Wailan, [other title] Opo' Empung, and the ancestors, therefore it is a Mapalus Messiani which embraces all the members of the society” (W. A. Roeroe, “Hidup ber-Mapalus Messiani,” sermon at the opening of the 61th Synod Assembly in Seretan Lembean, March 28 - 31, 1983, as quoted in Saruan, “Profil Etnik Minahasa,” in Etnik Minahasa Dalam Akselerasi Perubahan, 386). Prof. Roeroe succeeded Rev. A. Z. R. Wenas, the first Minahasan pastor to serve as the chair of the synod, and long served as as the moderator of GMIM.
13 Mapalus Mesiani is the baptism of the traditional practice into Christian [religious] practice. As Prof. Roeroe explains: “Mapalus is a religious event – a form of communal cooperation and struggle to overcome the powers of nature. Human beings cannot survive without the help of Opo' Wailan, [other title] Opo' Empung, and the ancestors, therefore it is a Mapalus Messiani which embraces all the members of the society” (W. A. Roeroe, “Hidup ber-Mapalus Messiani,” sermon at the opening of the 61th Synod Assembly in Seretan Lembean, March 28 - 31, 1983, as quoted in Saruan, “Profil Etnik Minahasa,” in Etnik Minahasa Dalam Akselerasi Perubahan, 386). Prof. Roeroe succeeded Rev. A. Z. R. Wenas, the first Minahasan pastor to serve as the chair of the synod, and long served as as the moderator of GMIM.
No comments:
Post a Comment