Similarly,
the recognition of Mara traditional culture for theological interpretation is a
new contribution in the Mara context because the Mara culture was considered as
an invalid basis for doing theology. However, this establishes the principle
that Mara culture is not nonsense, but has a mixture of good and negative aspects.
The task here is to reject the enslaving aspects and critically enlist the
liberating aspects and utilize them for theological hermeneutics. Therefore,
Mara Christian theology must continue to recognize the validity of the Mara
culture in constructing a Mara Christian theology of mission.
2.1.Church
theology and academic theology
The
expectation of the author is that this work will narrow the gap between church
theology and academic theology in Maraland. As already mentioned in the
previous section, with the inherited western traditional theology, the Mara
theologians and leaders of the church rejected and neglected the traditional
religio-cultural and it was not utilized for theological interpretation. But
today new ways of doing theology have emerged and the theological colleges have
re-read the Mara traditional culture and religion and have started developing
theology of their own. To this the church criticized theological colleges for
being unspiritual and of course liberal while the theological colleges branded
the church as conservative. This creates a gap between the institutionalised
church and the theological colleges.
The
author believed that this research has contributed a new way of narrowing the
gap between the church and the theological institutions. By interaction between
the Gospel and the Mara culture, a relevant contextual theology which is
faithful to the gospel and to the Mara culture emerges to respond the present
realities meaningfully. This will not only bridge the gap between the church
theology and the academic theology, but also bring mutual recognition and understanding,
mutual enrichment and peaceful transformation in Mara theological education in
the Mara context.[1]
3.
Evaluation
and prospect of the Future
Under
Pre-Colonial Mara Religion and Culture, an explanation was given of the
concept of the Supreme Being (Khazohpa), who was worshipped by the Maras
by performing different social and religious sacrificial ceremonies. However,
due to the inclusion of drinking rice-beer in their religious worship, the
western missionaries, without having proper and critical assessment of the
concepts and teachings of Mara religion, branded the Mara traditional religion
as heathenism. In addition, there were some practices in the Mara primal
religion which were described as animistic because they offered sacrifices to
evil spirits for healing from illness and sicknesses. The then missionaries
failed to understand that in the Mara primal religious practices, there was
worshipping God and propitiating evil spirits. These two religious practices
should be clearly differentiated if we aim to do theological hermeneutics in
the present Mara context.
The
author view is that when the missionaries branded the Mara primal religion as
animism, there were concrete elements of worshipping the Supreme Being in the
Mara traditional religion. This study substantiated the claim that Mara
traditional religion did not end with animism, but with the worship of Khazohpa
(God). The concept the Supreme Being and celestial god, and the concept of Khazohno,
Paw Khazo pave the way to accept the classical Christian doctrine of
trinity. Moreover, the concept of Khazohno brings new images to the
female model and this contributes relevant theological interpretation for the
Maras. The male-female model is useful to substantiate equality between male
and female in feminist theology in the Mara context.
The
Advent of Colonialism and Christian Mission dealt with the
transformations of the religious, social, political and cultural life of the
Mara society in many ways. Despite the fact that the life of the Mara society
had been paralysed by the imposition of laws and orders by the British rule, it
also liberated the Maras from injustice social and cultural structures and
oppression in various ways. It can be seen that the impact of the British
government and the Christian missionaries was both constructive and
destructive, resulting not only physical transformation but also psychological
and intellectual change. One result of these changes was that the Maras started
to develop the idea that all that was associated with Mara traditional religion
and culture was pagan, profane and secular and not fit for the newly converted
Mara Christians. As a result, they abandoned valuable social and cultural
elements and regarded them as secular and worldly and even profane while western
culture and traditions were automatically adopted as sacred, religious and
pious. They began to look at their traditional values from the perspective of
their new European masters. If we look at all these in the light of the
postcolonial perspective, we find evidence of pseudo-European Maras, who had
been proselytized to the western traditionalism and ways of living.
The
vision of the author for the Mara theological future will be that conversion to
Christianity will no longer be an enslaving experience for the Maras, rather it
will be a liberating and enriching experience which gives new religious culture
and new identity in the Mara context. The Mara Christians will begin re-rooting
their traditional practices like festivals and others to transform the
contemporary Mara society.
In
Revival Movement: Cultural Response to Westernisation, we see that as
soon as the British subjugated Maraland, they imposed new laws and regulations,
and divided the land and the people to suit its administrative convenience. To
worsen the confused state of mind of the people Christian mission came to
propagate a new religion. The Mara people suffered the loss of their land,
identity and selfhood. In the midst of this chaotic confusion, the revival
movement took place. It tended to be a cultural revival and turned out to be an
antidote to the prevailing process of westernisation. The revival movement
saved the Maras from complete British assimilation. It thus provided the people
with a setting for regaining and maintaining their identity and selfhood.
Several Mara cultural elements have been incorporated into Mara Christianity by
the revival movement.
To
re-establish the lost identity, the accommodation of Mara culture has been
taking place. Firstly, rediscovery of the value of Mara poetical words is a
radical paradigm shift because Mara poetical words which were totally rejected
as anti-Christian elements are retrieved to composed hymns. A new type of hymn
called ‘indigenous Mara Christian hymn’ was born from the revival movement with
traditional Mara tunes. These new indigenous hymns quenched the spiritual
thirst of the Mara Christians and gave new identity to the Mara Christians.
Secondly, the Mission Church strictly forbade the traditional and cultural
dances, which were considered as pagan and worldly, but these dances gradually
reappeared within the church in a modified form when the spiritual revival
broke out. Therefore dance was no longer seen as sinful, unchristian and
manifestation of evil spirits, but as a spiritual manifestation of God.
Thirdly, the drum played a very important role in the religious and cultural
life of the Mara society, but when the Maras embraced Christianity they
abandoned the traditional drum and using the drum was seen as unchristian. However,
inspired by the revival movement, when the traditional drum interacted with the
new indigenous Christian hymns, the drum became more meaningful and a new type
of singing emerged. Therefore, using the drum in the church and social
gathering is no more seen as unchristian but rather as more spiritual and
expressing Mara Christian identity.
In reinterpreting and
reclaiming these traditional elements, the Gospel and Mara culture enriching
each other and the question which remains is to what extent the Mara Christians
are going to reinterpret their religio-cultural elements in contemporary Mara
Christianity.
[1] R.S. Sugirtharajah, Postcolonial
Reconfigurations: An Alternative Way of Reading The Bible and Doing Theology (London:
SCM Press, 2003), 121.
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