by Carlos H. Abesamis

(1) Prelude: Theology has been my vocation for most of my life. I went about it quietly, according to my best lights. I let others go about theirs. I avoided debate or polemics about the meaning of theology and its method. It was a matter of the wise use of energies. Shall I argue with others about theology? Or should I just do it? I opted to just do it. I kept my own counsel. I did not let aloneness be a problem. Religious superiors, gifted as they have been with vision and heart, have given me space to accept invitations wherever there was a call for a more usable theology2. Recent events - particularly strong negative reactions coming from foreign-born colleagues to the possible birthing of an alternative theology - have raised a wake-up call. The gong has sounded. It is time to speak. The issue is the theological enterprise and vocation. For this is what one can offer the Church through the Society of Jesus.

(2) What is the theological enterprise? I will now articulate my understanding of it - not by defining it with “clear and distinct ideas” nor by giving an exhaustive list of its features. Rather I want to look at facets that have invited attention for a long time now in my own life3. After I had finished the last sentence of this essay, I realized that it ran more along the lines of questions about or problems with the present state of theology in our institution, the BBL School of Theology4. And indeed the first question/problem is the hegemony that classical theology5 has exercised over us and our need to liberate ourselves from it. A task devoutly not to be wished for. For are not one’s energies put to better use in building rather than tearing down? But a few of us Filipinos and Asians, together with some foreign-born kapatids6, have long felt the heavy burden on our shoulders. Has the Lord finally heard our quiet groanings under taskmasters? Is this the Jordan prior to the theological land of milk and honey . . .or the prelude to the fate of Jeremiah? Will David prove strong enough to state his case in the hefty presence of Goliath? Or is it a time only for inner thoughts to be revealed? No matter...

(3) That we in BBL have fine professors and courses cannot be gainsaid. At this juncture, however, I will largely pass this over in silence. I am here principally taking issue with the mind-set of several colleagues. Fine friends and brothers in the Lord. But professionally -our theological perceptions are North-to-South apart. For them I use the catch-phrase “classical theology” - for convenience. The name is not important. There are other theologians in our school, a number of whom command my admiration and respect. They need not feel addressed. Yet, bato-bato sa langit....

I. Ang Kusina sa Penthaws
Theology: Out Of Touch, as in “Ivory Tower” and “Armchair”.

(4) A significant number of us are out of touch with reality. That is the plain fact of life. We need not belabor this.

(5) That to be out-of-touch with life-and-reality is to miss out on an essential component in the theological undertaking is an equally plain fact that needs no demonstration. Or should not. For all good theology has always been about God’s drama with “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men7 of this age.” Life-and-reality is a theological locus.

(6) Back in the 1970s, a Philippine group had this insight: “The principal focus and... ‘raw material’ of theology.., is contemporary Philippine Third World history and life itself... We must take a long meditative look at our own Asian life and history (in fact be involved in its total life), and let this be the conditioning and source of our theological insight and formulation.”8 This was pronounced “untheological” in BBL at the time. Will there now be a change of heart? Once more with feeling?

(7) But is not theology an intellectual enterprise? Yes, definitely - and intensely so. It is intellectual in the full sense of the word - knowing, perceiving, understanding, comprehension. You need all the faculties of the human being grappling with the totality of life and experience. Its tools are books, libraries, researches, experiments, the computer, cyberspace9 and the like, AND on the other hand, the Christian’s “particular social context.., in world history itself.”10 Let there then be a sharing of life with flesh-and-blood people, life-situations and cultures. What is called “immersion” is essential. Let there be no ivory-tower scholars here.

(8) What a boon to the Church if theology professors and formators were to leave the armchair, forego the tower for a significant duration and participate in an immersion program! What a face-lift that would give to theology! A little discomfort. Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Here we are in touch with live people. And the setting could be:
pastoral (Manny Flores; Casals), charismatic (Schneider), socio-politicalpastoral (Roy Cosca, Jack Carroll), an “apostolate of presence,”(Little Brothers), NGOs (Malasmas; Fernandez; Ysaac), folk spirituality (Marasigan), family (Tanseco), OCWs (Tanalega), street-children (Arrupe House; Urrutia) people’s organizations(Intengan; Tabora), in short, anything where we balance books with people. And preferably, where we learn rather than teach.11 A quick entrance to say a Sunday mass, preach a homily, and a polite exit after the final hymn will not suffice. Substantial contact - in a supportive, not master, role - with the organized poor would be the ideal.

(9) What are printed books without the book of life?

(10) The theology student should likewise undergo this baptism by immersion. Any authentic theological study must include “immersion,” “exposure,” “involvement,” inserted communities,” “field study.” Give it any name. It matters little. But be in touch.

(11) Further, it is not enough for the students to go out there, come back to the classroom and - single-handedly without assistance - do theological reflection. Normally, the professor must be out there too where the student is12. For at least a few hours - enough to help the student (and the professor too) to make the connection between life and study. When this accompaniment and collaboration is in place, we can realistically expect the theological school to be a workshop for theological reflection.

(12) It is well-known that our theologate in Indonesia does a theological reflection based on the experience of the students with the people.13 Recently we had a whiff of fresh air: -Dr. Paul14 Parathazham from our theologate in Pune, India, describes a “reality-based” theology. “About five years ago, the Pontifical Institute for Philosophy and Theology, Pune, India, introduced the “Field Study” as a component of its theological program in an innovative effort to make theological education experienced-based and reality centred.” As a sociologist, Paul guides the students in their “field-study” of “reality” and “experience” which later feeds into their theological reflection. Classroom and the village, theologian and sociologist are brought together.

(13) In the Philippines, the clearest attempt is made by the Inter-Congregational Theological Center (ICTC). The students are in “inserted communities.” And the pastoral involvement they have is an integral part of their theologizing. There are problems. Not the least is the search for the correct formula to link classroom and barrio. This cannot be denied. But these problems are worth one’s energies compared to artificial ones of classical theology.15 Real problems are indicators that out yonder beyond one’s present horizon is something worth discovering.

(14) This kind of linkage should help theology graduates handle with care and competence the real - not presumed - issues of the people to whom they are missioned.16

(15) At times I have felt that we were fiddling while the city was burning - the city of slum-dwellers in the hands of demolition squads. (In some other theologate, as occasion offers, classes are suspended, and students help to house, feed and clothe the victims of fire and demolition.)

(16) The horizons of our theological imagination have been more or less marked out by the high-rises, subdivisions, townhouses and memorial parks around us. The far-away coconut fronds, rice paddies and bamboo huts are only a vague haze beyond. Farther away are the forests, corals, fishes, birds. Some of us theologians might not even know that they are no longer there. The people are no longer there either. They have changed their postal address: Athens, Singapore, Bahrain.

(17) When we are out of touch, we tend to supply all the answers, while not quite knowing the questions! I personally am no exception to this.

(18) In a lapidary way of speaking, the first theological act is commitment - commitment to God’s concern in the world, which is life for people, with a particular attention to the poor and the oppressed. The first investment then is that of self. And having thus staked the self, the theologian lovingly deals with life-data; the theologian has to be in touch. Life in today’s world and the biblical data are the theologian’s two principal loci - which the authentic theologian handles with (1)serious understanding (2)judicious judgment (3)silent contemplation..., all of which lead to (4)committed pastoral action.

II. Samantala .. Ang Buhay sa Talipapa at sa Home Along da Riles Life-And-Death Issues of Our Time

(19) Theology thus takes seriously the burning issues of our time. The theologian or Church historian who can discuss Pelagius should also be at ease discussing Lord John Maynard Keynes17. Why be at home with the Council of Nicea and not with Bretton Woods? With the Constantines and Henry Vs of the past, and not with Presidents and Prime Ministers today? In the past - expeditions for God and gold and glory18 today -transnationals and the dollar in whom we trust. With indulgences before, with international debt now. That international debt and similar “social questions are a theological issue, who will doubt? Some of my colleagues give the impression that they do. But Pope John Paul II does not!.19 A non-Asian scholar of the classical mode in BBL made this pronouncement: “How ridiculous.., the idea of western nations making reparation to the third world!” A pity! - not so much for us Asians as for the scholar. The window through which he views the expanse of world history would seem to be no wider than the proverbial mouth of the well.20

(20) Who will doubt that “the enormous gap between North and South” is a theological concern?” (TMA #38)21 - so that where sin abounds, there, instead, the grace of God may abound the more. I do not know of a serious treatment - in a moral theology of a certain type, in Church history, in systematic theology, in classes on the Church’s social teachings -of neo-liberalism in a globalized world, comparable to a collective document, awash with scholarship and passion, produced by Latin American Provincials and their social scientists and theologians. Feel the inspiring cadences of even the title: “El Neoliberalismo En America Latina,” Carta de los Provinciales Latinoamericanos de la Compania de Jesus. Ciudad de Mexico, 14 de noviembre de 1996.

(21) Indeed, real theology puts value on contemporary life-and-death issues for humankind and the cosmos. And note that these are not only issues for moral theology. They are not merely about right-or-wrong, what to do or what to avoid. Rather they are about no less than the presence, absence or lack of the Reign-Kingdom of God in our time. They deal therefore with highly soteriological questions and thus belong rightly to what classical theology would call “dogmatic theology”.

(22) Nearer to home are the burning questions of GATT. Of APEC. Of the medium-term plan or “Philippines 2000.” Of the mining act which is nipping the lives of indigenous peoples and nature. Of US scientists wanting to patent not only the fauna and flora but the DNA’s of our tribal peoples as well. Of the displacement of peasants and land conversion into golf-courses, industrial estates. . . . Of conversations, of the non-dogmatic type, with ancient Asian religions.

(23) Some of my colleagues seem to think that women’s issues and similar ones are passing fads22 by fringe theologians. Again our worthy theologian, John Paul II, disagrees23. Is the WTO, in which North dominates South and destroys the environment, an issue for theology? It should be unless John Paul II is fond of abstract platitudes.24 Oh, for a whiff of that intriguing Jesus: now the Franciscan Jesus with the lilies of the field, on another occasion, the Jesus of the “woes” vis-a-vis the power-wielders of his day.

(24) One may also ask in passing: in the face of these problems, what social ferment did/does our theological education generate? In our professors? In our students because of their professors? And as for the students who might have felt a ferment and acted on it -was this because of their theology or in spite of it? Were they given fuel to sustain their interest? Or were they made to feel foreign bodies in the dominant formula of the academe? More on this later.

(25) Theology should look to the past, be concerned for the present and look forward to the future. But definitely it must place weight on the present and on the future. And the past? Who would ever think of doing theology without a Jesus or a Paul of the past?25 Or without the traditions of the Latin West and the Orthodox East? It is a story of light and shadows.26 (Or in fact, without the silent and silenced women of the past.) Yes, in the Philippines, we know only too well “ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.”27 But the fixation on some facets of the past to the detriment of the present and the’ future - especially in terms of action and commitment - that is what must be questioned. Accountability in this area is what the people of God must exact from the theologian.

(26) Awareness of contemporary issues? There are the dailies, aren’t there? “Bible in one hand; new paper in the other.” That is the way to do theology. How insightful. So thought I. How pathetic, I now realize. The abused children and hospitality women become a “newspaper report” to be ingested together with my mug of cold beer as I rock in my favorite chair, reading my choice newspaper. No less pathetic is the theologian for whom he closest proximity to life is the newspaper report.

(27) It is then but natural that classical theology tends to drive a wedge between classroom and streets. Streets - that is where our Christian forebears staged “theological raffles” for the Motherhood of God. Ah, the streets of Mendiola, of Escalante, of Lupao, of Edsa - sacred as the Wailing Wall - where Maganda’s children raise their cries in Rama for rice, water, oil, women, children, land, wages and for martyrs who are no more!

(28) Let us take up one lingering question. Is theology scholarly? Again, of course - to a fault. But who will define scholarship for us? I would hesitate to assign the task to certain reputed scholars of the classical tradition. A big preoccupation of a scholar should be text and context. His/her vocation is to illuminate a text in context. Text refers to any reality that is calling for elucidation. Text can be a literary text, archaeological artifact, a scientific finding in the natural sciences. It can also be the life-story of a street-child or of the Pentagon, or anything under and with the sun. Thus a real scholar will critique a book like Tissa Balasuriya’s Mary and Human Liberation by at least reading the book itself and, if possible, be familiar, at least to a sufficient degree, with the contexts in which it was written. Instead, as has happened, one finds a classical scholar’s condemnation of Tissa’s book based only on a study of the list of charges against Tissa and on the list of Tissa’s responses!28 Had the critic read the book? No. Academic rigor, academic competence, professionalism - by all means, and let us add, of the serious and responsible variety.

(29) Classical theology calls for excellence and scholarship. Is scholarship a vanguard of barrel-chested text, a host of footnotes, and a rear guard of bibliography mostly of secondary sources, plus other critical paraphernalia? Yes to all of this - when and insofar as they are germane. But the scholarship of a Karl Rahner goes beyond this. (1) He studied the primary sources well, particularly the Sacred Scripture and the Conciliar documents (2) he assiduously grappled with the diaspora situation of Catholics in Germany and Europe. He wove these two into a creative and scholarly theology worthy of its name. A model deserving emulation - specifically in grappling with concrete historical contexts.

III. Ros Bif, Poteytos en Greyvi The Americanization of Theology

(30) Theology in BBL is heavily North American theology. This again is a self-evident fact. To prove the opposite is to have the burden of proof. It is enough to take a look at the heavyweight personalities, the references, the handouts, the teaching method, the method of examination - to mention some superficial indicators. I will content myself with the following random remarks:

(31) What is the state of theology in places which are no longer mission lands? How do you solve a problem like the Asian Church in the grip of classical theology! I personally would find it well nigh impossible to be a theological missionary to a social group other than mine: e.g. to Papua New Guineans, to Filipina factory workers, to indigenous peoples. For to that group I must say: (1) You are not me. I am not you. I might learn your language well, I might study your culture and history well. But the bottom line is - you are you and I am I. Therefore (2) I listen - very, very, very intently. (3) I let you be. I let you grow. I will offer my gifts29, I will enter into critical dialogue with you, but from start to finish it is my missionary vocation to let you be. This is how missionaries truly make a gift of themselves. Oversight of either (1) or (2) is disaster for (3). (1) is the most obvious but the trickiest.

(32) When life-realities invite to some form of religious formulation, theology’s responsibility is to reach out for analogies, images and words taken from and making sense to the people and culture. When this does not happen, the study of theology instead of being a one-step inculturated process, or a zero-step of wordless contemplation, becomes a two-step operation: first learn the language and categories of the foreign author or professor, then know God.

(33) Historiography and its sources have - by and large - not been authored by the victims of history but by explorers, colonizers, missionaries, intellectual elite and the like. Real theology is aware of and distressed by the writing of history in our time. Much of today’s history - including Church history - has to be subjected to “hermeneutical suspicion” by the Church of the Poor. We should begin to ask the buko-juice30 vendors, the descendants of the defeated, how they would evaluate a carbonated version of history, Faith and life.

(34) Our story has been told for us and to us by people other than ourselves. Thus patrons, saviors, well-meaning friends: “I have studied your history. I am narrating it to you now out of my deepest concern for you.” Let us see through this statement. I am saying this with some hesitation because the deep concern is genuine. I am constrained to say it because the history is questionable. It is time to define ourselves. Let us detect what others had exported to us about our own selves. It is time to let go of the patron’s hand and no longer allow others to tell us who we are or how we should think.

(35) There is a patron theology. Ward theology tends to be a photocopy of patron theology. Unless we douse it with a measure of critical sense, the ward-version of patron theology is what - with significant exceptions - we take home from graduate theological studies in foreign universities31. Pardon the co-optation of a popular, if not vulgar, phrase: it is easy for us to be little brown Americans in theology. The patron must let the ward go. But this is not enough. The ward must let go of the patron’s hand as well.

(36) Moral theology has a rather direct import on practical life. Because of this, a certain caution is called for when professor, books and other materials are foreign. The moral theologian will have to take pains to deal not with “human nature” in the abstract but with the human nature of the Asian, the Filipino, the woman, the child, the indigenous people, the OCW. This is not a call for relativism. It is plea for that oft-invoked item in our little used theological kit, contextualization.

(37) George Tinker, a native American Indian, is planted in the central power-house of the contemporary world. He warns: “How easily we internalize the assumption that Western, Euro-American philosophical, theological, economic, social, spiritual and political systems are necessarily definitive of any and all conceivable ‘real’ worlds.” A matter for reflection:
The “Western, Euro-American” - how much of it have we “internalized” in our blood streams? I personally am not immune.

(38) How then have we, Filipinos, conducted ourselves in a patron-ward situation? Generally speaking, by being patient, kind, tolerant, long-suffering. We can add to 1 Cor. 13:
mortified, obedient, loyal, submissive. And worse: unreflective, co-opted. Have we not been one or more of the above? I have been one of the offenders.

(39) With all of us, Filipinos and Americans, some of this Euro-Americanizing process has been “unconscious,” “a matter of course,” “with the best of intentions.” While this circumstance may indeed diminish culpability, it all the more intensifies the responsibility to turn it all around - energetically.

(40) Language: Pilipino or English? At this juncture, practicality suggests both. We have not yet sufficiently developed a viable theological language in Pilipino. This is an important task for the incoming generation of Filipino theologians. Communication with the rest of the theological world - universal, Asian, Two-Thirds World32 and even among our multi-languaged selves - still makes English one of the practical media of communication. However, in the substantive levels of the theological discourse, we can take stock of the following: “I have often wondered how much of the wealth of the theologizing process is lost simply because our students are being trained to think, feel, imagine and theologize in a language that is not their mother tongue.... I cringe at the thought that the more we train our students, the further they are drawn from the poetry and the arts, thought forms and patterns1 the hermeneutics, the sentiments and feelings, and the imaginative and visioning processes of their people. And yet the very purpose of their training is that they might go back and theologize, serve, train, educate, disciple their own people, and participate in transforming their communities.” These are the words of the dean of studies of the Sabah Theological Seminary, Dr. Romeo del Rosario. His sentiments resonate strongly with me.

(41) A year ago, a proposal was made (and approved by BBL) for a “propaedeutic year” to improve English communication skills, reading, comprehension, writing. I made this counterproposal at the time: “If language is a concern in our communication of the faith, let professors learn and improve Pilipino communication skills, comprehension, writing. Let professors produce their materials in Pilipino and communicate in Pilipino. If need be, let the professors see to it that their material is translated into Pilipino.

(42) “I exaggerate these fantastic and unrealistic proposals to stress an important principle, subscribed to by theology and GC34 today, namely inculturation. Why should English be the theological medium? Do the Taiwanese have to learn English to do theology? Let us have the courage, like the Chinese, to put a stop to a colonial practice in theology. Should not students of theology learn their theology in the language which they will later use to announce the faith: mostly English or our own native tongues?”

(43) A word about translations. Translating German, French, English theology into Piipino? Jacob is Jacob, notwithstanding the garments of Esau. English is English notwithstanding the Filipino barong. Translation can be misleading. This is quite obvious to me. Although indeed a case could be made for universal elements in human nature, there are enough significant differences in culture to make a translation a risky project. In undiscerning hands, translation could entail the not-so-subtle infusion or perpetuation of a foreign life-view. It suggests that the insights and feelings of another culture need only to find their equivalent words, expressions or even their dynamic equivalences in another. Translations can lead us away from, instead of to, authentic inculturation. CNN opens the front door; translations can open the backdoor, for London, Paris, New York, to enter our living rooms.

(44) Another issue: foreign-born or native-born, we may not allow ourselves to forget that our theology is the theology of the typical middle class intelligentsia - and male to boot. [The maleness - the suppression, downgrading, neglect of the feminine in our theology - is in fact, the problem. This is the perception of a friend.] Let us be clear about this. The average theologian today must be acutely aware of the difference between the theologian and the average community for which the theologian theologizes. We are out of step with the typical Filipino. I am afraid that here the accused is guilty until proven innocent. We will tend to impose our cosmopolitan theology on the poor, the women, the indigenous peoples -even on the trees, rocks and planets. And please, let us not glibly assume the role of the voice of the voiceless. They have their own voice. Mute and inarticulate perhaps. But it is theirs. And it is there. Ours is to help to enable it.

(45) All these reflections - on immersion, inculturation, language - gain all the more weight when we recognize the simple wisdom of a friend’s observation. He says that our first problem is quite simply physical location. Splendid isolation on top of a hill, handsome massive buildings within a university for the elite, a comfortable life-style - these hardly constitute, for a normal human being, the best theological work-place in the service of an Asian Third World Church. Not impossible, but difficult and risky. And engaging the most honest strivings and the most generous resources of our hearts.

(46) Before we end this section, here is a sobering phenomenon for all of us - classical or progressive theologies: Mike Velarde and the enthralled millions of El Shaddai devotees. Demagoguery? I think not. The Holy Spirit? Without discussing the various pros and cons, I merely wish to point out one thing: - Velarde stands as a monument to our - to my - failure to offer (as much) meaning, community and nourishment to the poorest of the poor.” The ability to communicate in English is indeed an asset in today’s world, including the theological world. And blessed are those who have this equipment to bring to their theological studies. But to supply this need for those who don’t is hardly the task of a theological school. Nor is the solution to ask the native to spend much of a year adjusting to a foreign language. Surely, there must be other creative ways. Let us look for them.”

IV. Kapag Malusog ang Pagkain Fruits of Theology: Holiness And Social Commitment

(47) One challenge to theology is its fruits, for indeed by their fruit you shall know them. Fruits of a theology in the Two-Thirds World? I would say at least two: personal holiness and social commitment.

(48) I do not have the qualifications to gauge the personal holiness of the professors and/or graduates of classical theology nor has it occurred to me to do so. I will only say that the separation of “systematic theology” from “spirituality or spiritual theology” is symptomatic and is sending ambiguous signals to the students. It is suggesting that these are two different and separate realities.

(49) In moral theology, where the title would lead people to expect guidance in Christian spirituality, where does the accent fall: scholastic reason (even casuistry?) or spiritual discernment, if at all? I am glad to be told that this neo-scholastic habit is on the way out.33

(50) In any case, a highly cerebral, bookish theology seldom inspires to zesfful spirituality. Those of us who have gone through the mold are the best witnesses to this. We have spiritual directors. And one of the tasks of this much-sought-after person is to provide some unction to what otherwise is a cut-and-dried religious construct.

(51) Theology in the Two-Thirds World should be dedicated to the formation of conscience, of (counter-) values and alternative spirituality in the Two-Thirds World. Here is an intentionally banal test: Is it second nature to us, students and teachers, to ask our “employees” in religious houses - janitors, laundry woman, gardener, table-waiter, kitchen crew of our religious houses: “Is our religious community giving you a living wage?” Of what use is the breaking up of abstract justice into commutative, distributive, social, etc.? Of what use is our image-of-God theology? What for are the mega-hours devoted to the social teachings? Let our laundry-woman teach us a simple spirituality for the Two-Thirds World -with the help of Hosea, Amos, Jesus, Laborem Exercens. In teaching the art of shriving people, do we have practice questions like this one: “I am a religious. I ignored a malnourished child at our convent door while the community and I enjoyed a first-class meal.” Why not? See the Jesus of Mark 6:37ff; Matthew 25:31ff.

(52) Ideally the theological enterprise ought to produce people who are babad sa Dios, babad sa tao, babad sa tunay na sarili. Immersed in God, immersed in people, immersed in the true self.34

(53) As to social commitment, I prefer to leave this as a matter for honest reflection. Has BBL theology inspired people to action - preferably passionate action? The level of complacency, passivity, inaction - is it high or low among us? For instance, what stakes, in terms of action or even just stance (for or against), did we invest in the removal of the US bases - a life-issue in our country? An issue for the academe, if I ever saw one. We witness a theology that begins with “On one hand” and proceeds to “on the other hand” and eventually leads to paralysis and inaction. Such a theology is a few miles removed from the “yes-no’ theology of an action-loving Jesus. “On the one hand, the foreign colonizers plundered the gold and resources of Asia; but on the other hand, your local Asian rajahs had also been oppressive masters; therefore, let us turn a blind eye to the former theft of the former colonizers!”35 Let us do a theology that inspires people to engage in thorough study, serious discernment, staking options, risking committed action - with enthusiasm!

(54) In this age of people’s organizations towards social transformation, I wonder whether the organized poor will consider our deeds to be in solidarity with them in their struggle to change society - a speculation worth our time, if speculate we must. I am afraid that if we were to actually ask the organized poor, we will encounter not only embarrassing answers but some unsettling ones as well. They will most likely see us researching and lecturing on Gomez, Burgos, Zamora of the past, while failing to notice and join hands with the Rudy Romano’s and the Tullio Favalli’s of our day.

(55) I hasten to note though that there is only one thing worse than inaction. It is cerebral commitment.

(56) The action and commitment I am looking for have been pronounced theological, not by the fiat of the ivory tower but by the testimony of contemporary martyrs - filling out perhaps the longest martyrology in history.

Sangkap Lamang Po
Scripture: Behold the Handmaid.

(57) Here I gather some observations about the state of Scripture in BBL. Through my looking glass...

(58) Overheard from systematic theologians and pastors: “This aspect of Jesus? I do not know. I am not a biblical exegete.” Amusing or tragic? Jesus and the Bible - should these not be household possessions of a pastor or theologian, something he should be familiar with more than any other bit of information? Let me exaggerate to drive home a point: - No systematics without passing biblical studies.

(59) Some are more daring. They do the Bible with Leon Dufour or some Bible dictionary. That, of course, is like teaching literature with Webster’s dictionary!

(60) Ours is a theological curriculum in which Scripture (the Word of God!) is still, by and large, a handmaid of dogmatics. We have indeed somewhat overcome the habit of text-proofing, i.e., using biblical texts as source-book to prove a doctrinal point. But we still have to find a mature way of appropriating our foundational Text. Scripture is still in the service of dogma. And during all these years, we biblicists in the faculty, including myself, have said ‘aye’ to this anomaly.

(61) I am grateful for biblical studies. Otherwise I would still be a well-intentioned but unfortunate prisoner of classical theology, or at least a victim of the latest in the super-agora of theological speculations. Biblical theology is less a prey than systematic theology. This is because biblical studies have to take the historical, not the philosophical, route. The study of Scripture helped to liberate me from the claims of a non-biblical dogmatic theology. And should I add, it is a trustworthy guide to a Jesus-rooted spirituality. What I personally still have to do is incorporate a serious way of integrating the feminist in biblical interpretation.

(62) The concern of the classical historian is the body of doctrine. The biblicist sees what Jesus and Paul saw: a history of salvation. But, you say, is not the body of doctrine all about a history of salvation? Would that it were. I refer to the history of salvation of the Scripture, not what some dogmatists have made it out to be.

(63) For Jesus and contemporary dogmatics to meet in a getting-acquainted party is not a facetious wish. Those who are most aware that one cannot teach Jesus outside the context of Jesus’ “social world” do not need this party.36

(64) One full semester is given to the Trinity. Are we out, pray, to take issue with the Unitarians? The student spends hours on end on Revelation, Faith, Inspiration37. Why? Can we look for more creative ways of dealing with fundamentals? Matthew, Mark and Luke -these are our only source for knowing the Jesus before he died on the cross. One lonely semester is given to the three evangelists. This translates to 12-15 class-hours per evangelist, or the equivalent of half a day in a four year theology course! A systematic treatment? Hardly possible. An exegetical treatment - impossible. On the other hand, several generous semesters are given to various tracts of speculative theology, some of which is indeed Church doctrine. But much of it is theologoumena38 of contemporary foreign theologians. Nothing is the matter with foreigners doing foreign theology (for themselves). The issue is the disproportionate amount of space and time in an Asian school of theology.39 A student could very well graduate with the subconscious understanding that Jesus, Paul and the Bible are secondary to a systematic theology, a good portion of which are largely speculations of contemporary foreign theologians. Again a whimsical wish: More attention to the Word of God and less to the words of foreign men?

(65) We live in this theological city. And as we stand on it, we long to hear the fullthroated song of the Word of God, uncaged from classical theology. We still have to hear its soul-full duet with the chant of Third World peoples.

VI. Ang Menu sa Penthaws The Systematization of Theology

(66) Alternative theology invites classical theology to review the compartmentalization of theology (biblical, systematic, liturgical, moral, etc.) and to work towards its revision. These divisions evidently started only in the 18th century. What is gained by this chopping up, except to punish the students with the task of putting it all together at the end? What gain -except to suggest that life and spirituality are cut up into different pieces, instead of seeing it as a cloak of colors that range from deepest black to purest white? Let us move on from the 18th - forward to the 21st century!

(67) Classical theology is rich - as it should be - in “what the Church teaches.” It is conspicuously poor in “what Jesus taught and proclaimed.” Thus, the list of theses for comprehensive examination, has only a passing reference to the “words and works” of Jesus’ ministry. I hardly see an explicit connection between Jesus and the Reign-Kingdom of God, the primordial reality around which his ministry revolved and for which he died, Why? The choice of framework might be the problem. The theses-list is framed within the parameters of what is known as the Apostolic Creed. This Creed, honed in the 4th and 5th centuries C.E., has this to say about the ministry of Jesus: nothing. “Born of the Virgin Mary... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.” The theological hiatus, if ever there was one! It is possible to have this syncopated reading based on Hebrews, Paul and possibly John, but not on the basis of Matthew, Mark and Luke. You will pardon the musing of an intelligent inter-planetary visitor: “This person Jesus either did nothing worth remembering during his life time, or is a neurotic nursing a death-wish.” This Jesus is hardly born and sent off to his death!40

(68) Other questions arise about this particular way of systematizing theology. Why not use the latest Ecumenical Council for framework, then fit in Nicea, Constantinople, etc. within it? Why is the Council of present times less apt to be the structure with which our students view the Faith?

(69) Or: - in looking for a frame: why not one which is both biblical and contemporary; why choose that which is basically reactions to heresies? Why opt for a 4th century one? Could it not create the impression that the Christian religion and theology began only in the 4th century - after Jesus and the biblical revelation? Was there not something more foundational? Some subtle psychological effect can be at work here. I have encountered a popular version of it: a devout Catholic no longer wanted to attend mass in the vernacular “because the Church no longer uses the language of Jesus”! How easy it is to be trapped in one’s own history! What about allowing ourselves to be beguiled by Jesus and start with the simple creed proposed by him: “The Reign-Kingdom of God is at hand! Change your lives and believe.” It seems to me that the ‘yes’ of faith is to be given not only to what Nestorius and Anus did not believe. It should be given also to what Jesus asked us to believe!

(70) In this classical systematics, the main proclamation of Jesus, the Reign-Kingdom of God, from which all theology should be derived, is sidetracked. And further, Jesus, the originator of the Christian religion, becomes a sub-heading in a theological program starred in by Anus, Nestorius, Jansenius and the Church’s dramatic reactions to heretics and heresies. Jesus’ life and ministry deserve more than a mention of his “works and words” -seen through the optic of dogmatic theology.

(71) The Bible loses its integrity and is distributed - a leg here, an arm there, a torso here - in this body of classical dogmatics.

(72) In another school of theology in the Philippines, the comprehensive exam has four well-defined sections: Holy Scripture, systematics, morals and sacraments. Now, that sounds nearer to real life in the world, does it not? One of our former students remarked: “Bible is the only thing I find useful for my spiritual and pastoral life. The rest is forgotten or forgettable.” He is not alone with such an outlook.

VII. Ang Puso at Ubod The Core of Theology

(73) An interactive dialogue between the biblical Jesus and today’s life-realities: - that for me is the core of the theological enterprise. The biblical Jesus, is the total Jesus:

• the Jesus of Galilee, the proclaimer of the Reign-Kingdom of God
  (This highly important Jesus - the final reference point of all Christian theology - was lost in the dead files of traditional theology. Alternative theology retrieves and reanimates him.)
• the Jesus of the Cross
• the Risen Jesus and the Cosmic Jesus
• the Jesus who is expected to “come again” for the culmination of the Reign-Kingdom of God.

(74) This interactive dialogue between the biblical Jesus and today’s realities takes place within the broad, broad story that begins with the first heaven-and-earth and culminates in the “new heaven and new earth”.

(75) I would invite anyone to offer a better “definition’ of the core of theology. Again, there will be problems, not least of which is “Well, in the first place, how do you know what Jesus said and did... ?“ Granted. But at least they will not be pseudo-problems of a myopic theology.

(76) Are we in search for the formula to link barrio and books? I would propose that overarching story. It is the story of God’s drama with humanity and the rest of creation -from Alpha to Omega. Within that total story, you situate your immersion experience and classroom work. Thus situated, you are firmly within the flow of the salvation story that Jesus, Paul, John, the other Evangelists talked about.

VIII. Patuioy tungo sa Makabagong Panlasa Going Beyond...

(77) We glory in the reputation of being liberal. In people’s minds, this is the opposite of “conservative”. . . And it is generally meant to be a compliment. (The ugly side of “liberalism” is slowly beginning to be unmasked elsewhere, even in the academe. And it seems somewhat slow in reaching a good number of us, by whom the word “liberal” is still held in benediction.) They say we are progressive. To a certain extent this is deserved, because of, for example, our more tolerant stand on some areas of ethics. Yet we know that good bit of this is myth - especially as regards dogmatic theology. And by not disenchanting people, we play the myth.

(78) Paradigm shift. By now this is a worn-out cliché. Classical theology is certainly aware of it but not willing to come to terms with it. Strange, because this is the normal path: - fro biblical through patristic, scholastic, neo-scholastic, to contemporary theology. Why the resistance? I will not hazard a guess about members of our faculty. But in the wider Church one may observe a certain type of mind that finds its security in itself and its formulations. This mind is the zealous warden of a willing prisoner, its own self.

(79) The average lay person seems to move with more freedom in a world of shifts. “Hin pala totoong mansanas at baha iyon.” “Paano daw ba tayo nanggaling kay Adan at kay Eba?” “Maari na palang maligtas ang hindi katoliko (o kristiano).” “Naniniwala na pala ang Papa na an mundo ang siyang umiikot sa araw.” The infancy narratives pala are not necessarily historical.41 The “Pala” disposition!42

(80) This shift is happening in many disciplines - psychology, physics, philosophy, politics and theology, to name a few. Here we encounter the refreshing and salutary insight that reality - a child, a flower, a teaching - cannot be treated as museum fossils or artifacts but the beautiful subject of life and growth. Yes, even teachings have their own life, Discussions on the hypostatic union and efficacious-or-inefficacious grace were once alive and well; they now graciously allow space to questions of patriarchy and feminism - if and where classical theology permits.

(81) Doctorates anyone? What is the place of doctorates in the theological enterprise? In the teaching of theology? Doctorate in the classical tradition will be a stumbling block rather than a stepping stone. “Knowing more and more about less and less”. This is more than just a witticism as everyone knows. It is a sad truth. But who has taken it seriously Learning for the medievals was indeed “about all things knowable . . . “ But did that endearing ability to laugh at oneself prompt them to add, presumably tongue-in-cheek: “. and about a few other things besides!”? Indeed there are more things in heaven and ear than are dreamt of in your philosophy. . . and theology! But do we need deep learning the theological enterprise? A loud yes. In fact, beyond learning to wisdom. Again here, the warning to discern between scholarship and pseudo-scholarship.

(82) Fides quaerens intellectum. This seems to be taken to mean “faith seeking rationality.” I this not the disease of the rational mind? It wants to know what it is not designed to know. You may be able to cup moonbeams in your hand, but how does your rational mind do it with your God? Why try to dress up the great God in baby clothes? How can you circumscribe God and the things of God behind the bars of limited concepts? How dissect the Divine in your theological laboratory and put under your microscope? Intellectus quaerens fidem would seem to make better sense. Only you will have to let “intellectus” mean the whole human being. Let the human then humbly set out to seek faith - and this includes the journey of contemplation, silence, communion. There are indeed things for the mind. There are also, oh, so many more beautiful things beyond it!

(83) There is a whole world “beyond the mind.” This is a realization that is beginning to seep - fast or slow - even into western civilization. Slow - among transnationals, including, it seems, if I may allow myself the liberty, theological transnationals. In the West, this world beyond the mind is being confirmed by a natural science that is transcending the atomistic worldview of Newton, Descartes and John Locke. In the East, it has been a household heirloom from time immemorial. In the Philippines, where western culture has had deeper inroads, we have the greater task. It is the task of re-appropriation. To shirk this task is to renege on our Asian patrimony.

(84) True theology applies the sharpest tools of analytical reason where it is called fot It gives in to intellectual sloth in the face of mysteries. It yields to the temptation of asking the right questions. It performs the mortification of not always wanting to give all-knowing answers. It treats providence not as an intellectual puzzle43 but invites to an experience of the Flow in one’s inner journey, the journey of peoples and the world, and the pilgrimage of the universe. And when it approaches the sanctuary of mysteries, it takes a sabbatical rest, drops the tools, resists the urge to pry open the holy of holies, picks up the incense bowl and offers a fragrant worship.

(85) Let’s call for a theology that Jesus, Paul, et al. will recognize as of one cloth with their religious insights, practice and commitments. Will Jesus pass a theological quiz, let alone a comprehensive these days? This is not an idle question. I mean it in all seriousness. Would he even want to enter a Christian school of theology? Theology should have the hallmarks of the simplicity and concreteness of Jesus and the depth and cosmic reach of Paul and John. A further word about Paul. How ironic that Pauline theology, in the hands of classical systematics, has become a smorgasbord of doctrines and dogmas. Paul’s44 more important concern is to offer a table - an altar-table really - where the contemplative is invited to a personal union with Christ and the Spirit (Gal 2:20; 4:6) which grows into human (1 Cor 15:20 ff) and cosmic transformafion... and oneness with that tremendous Mystery which unites all things in heaven and on earth (Col 1: 15-20; Eph 1:9-10; 1 Cor 15:24-28; Rom 8:19-23). As for Jesus, he would perhaps look at some of our contemporary portraits of him and ask: “How much of this is me? How much of me is not in this?” I am grateful that certain professors have become aware of this dysfunction in classical theology and have moved in to heal it. But there is still much to be done, judging from the homilies and favorite songs45 of our graduates and students. Still shades of the neo-scholastic or classical Jesus! Perhaps what we need are christologies and theologies authored by people -preferably the poor - who are babad46 in a milieu similar to that of Jesus, the milieu of the anawim.

(86) Theology is for the enterprising. Willing to risk. Humble retreats. But always geared up to explore. Would Vatican II have happened without previous soundings and explorations? We gaze with gratitude at the free and great spirits of a Lagrange, a Karl Rahner, a Congar, even a Teilhard and others - suspected for a time, eventually vindicated and accepted, perhaps later outdated. So seems to operate the Spirit of God. For enterprising theologians it is ground-breaking work - tedious, dangerous. But thus progress the faith and your theology. Previous probings - attended by light and shadow - lead to new realizations, insights, and even to later official teachings. Today’s heresies are tomorrow’s dogmas. So goes at times the tantalizing tango of history! And what is the role of the resourceful theologian? In acceptance and rejectipn, these theologians let go and let themselves, with some playfulness, be carried by the twists and turns in the flow of Church and world history. What an exciting vocation!

(87) Of course, Pope John Paul issues warnings about “erroneous theological views, the spread of which is abetted by the crisis of obedience vis-a-vis the church’s magisterium.” (TMA #3647) The ordination of women is a focal point of tension between the Holy Father and some theologians. Time, study, dialogue, patience, prayer, the Spirit - these or some combination of these seem frequently enough to take us by the hand toward resolutions. At times it is thumbs down for a Feeney and a Le Febvre, at others, thumbs up for a Galileo and a Darwin(?) At all times we are called to authentic loyalty - to Jesus, the teaching Church, the authentic tradition, the sensus fidelium, and the signs of the times - for which alas, though devoutly to be desired - a facile formula is not at hand. The gropings and stumblings to which mortal flesh is heir to?

(88) This is the exciting happening that theology is or can be. Theology is broad, tolerant, ecumenical, willing to drink from sources of authentic wisdom that God has laid out before us. It goes beyond classical theology - treasuring the pearls in it - and moving on... That is the journey of theology and faith. We need not fear. Only one thing need happen:
growth.

(89) And together with all the strivings of the mind, heart, imagination, after all the academic researches and activism, what is theology ultimately about? It is about a child rapt in wonder, wrapped in mystery. The mystery is about the human in his/her terrestrial and eschatological liberation, about birds, rocks, the street child, about the galaxies, about the universe - all in the embrace of the Mother-Father Mystery. It is play and it is tears. By comparison, anything short of it is a joyless trip to heaven48 of retired army generals. This Numinous Mother-Father - penetrating our sub-atomic cells, our political rallies, library researches, and the biggest galaxies, now and in the eschaton - is a reality familiar to Oriental religions and re-visited by the New Physics. But you say, this is not Christian theology! Oh, but yes, it was, if we go back beyond the 18th century, beyond the 4th. Back to Jesus and Paul (cf. Mk 1:14-15; Eph. 1:1-10; Col. 1:1-10, Rev. 21:-5, etc).

(90) And so what is it all about, Juanito? It is about the dance of the molecules, the death of contradictions, the rising to eternal life. And truth to tell, it is, at the very end, the obsolescence of all theologies...49

IX. Isang Sulyap sa Loob ng Mangkok What Is Inside the Wooden Bowl?

(91) A handful of friends and I were concerned about all this. We watched our students -hungry minds, expectant eyes, wonderful beings - queuing up for their daily fare of theological studies. We would look into the wooden bowls in their outstretched hands. There was indeed some nourishing contents, contributed by some fine professors. But gazing at the bowl as a whole, we had to keep our pity under lock and key50. In the face of this, we, the marginated minority, shared various degrees of resignation. We looked beyond to the even hungrier parishioners in Philippine barrios, to the equally expectant students in Catholic schools - and watched the same bowl being shared. The content looked the same -except in the hands of a creative pastor or a resourceful religion teacher. Double the lock! Should we have broken the lock sooner? Perhaps. Well, we did drop hints. Little rattlings of the lock here and there. We watched those little sounds dissipate in the non-too-friendly halls of the established academe. Should we have made bigger noises? Perhaps. But there was one thing we lacked: spiritual stamina. Do we have it now? I dare say so - at least enough to make this confessional declaration. But whether yes or no, the gong has sounded.

(92) In our association with classical theologians, we have indeed mined precious ore. I refer to their dedication, sacrifice and friendship. Let us treasure these. Now we invite them to move on, this time further up the river. Other gold dust to pan. And note - It is now a cooperative51. The natives, I hope, have learned the lessons of the past, have come of age and will brook no juvenile ways of doing theology. (Do I detect some hopeful signals in the coming generation of theology professors?)

(93)These are some convictions, motivated, I pray, by the love of God, of creation, of people
- especially the poor. I have never wanted to spend time articulating them to myself or others. But I suppose there is time to be silent and a must-time to speak. It had to be said -by someone, sometime. I speak then my professional credo, advisedly, not as inert letters on paper but, as all credos must be, written in, and spoken from, the mind and heart. This is my articulation52 - to the colleagues who have struck a gong in my consciousness and to whom I am grateful. And to many who will not resonate with me... and to anyone who may. Has it been harsh, lacking in polish, uncharitable? I beg indulgence. How measure the appropriateness of strong statements on theology? By one thing: our love for theology, for people, especially the poor, for history, for the Church, for creation. During the time I wrote these lines I have made a brave attempt - with feeble results most likely - to penetrate beyond the ego and to touch the Jesus within. Perhaps I failed to access the meek, humble and kind-hearted Jesus. Perhaps I got hold of the protesting and activist Jesus. So be it. It is my limitation. Still these lines may fihd some kindred spirits, here or elsewhere, now or m the future - especially those who would like to move beyond classical theology and explore alternatives. In the spirit of Vatican II (and beyond). In the spirit of the Jesus of Alternatives.

Part II is a modest and rough attempt in more or less outline form, to take first tentative steps towards an alternative theology. Here are the broad strokes.

(1) The theologian (professor and student) shares life with flesh-and-blood people, life-situations and cultures. What is called “immersion” is essential. No ivory-tower scholar here.
(2) Social analysis uncovers social systems which produce the poor, marginalized women, destruction of the environment, etc.
(3) I refer to the history of salvation of the Scripture, not what some dogmatists have made it out to be.
(4) Study of the human psyche - with a bias for Asian sources.
(5) A familiarity with the history, culture, religions, philosophies of one’s people.
(6) A familiarity with Asian history, religions, culture, philosophies.
(7) Any other branch of knowledge which will help to understand reality.
(8) Theology must lead to transforming action.
(9) Theology is not just a rational exercise. It must go “beyond the mind.” Contemplation / Meditation is an integral part of the theological enterprise.
(10) Pastoral skills, e.g., organizing, management, etc.
(11) Other subjects, topics, disciplines — as needed.

The interplay of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10 is theological reflection; theology;
“theologizing”.
It can take various forms, including stories, music, dance, etc.
The following are histories and surveys:

(12) History of the Church
(13) History of Doctrine and Theology
(14) Other Contemporary Asian, African, Latin American Theologies
(15) Survey of Contemporary Western Theological Production
(16) Survey of Western Philosophical Tradition

1. = “What is Inside the Wooden Bowl?” The desirable addressees of this confessional essay are (1)my Roman Catholic theological community at BBL School of Theology (2)other theological communities or individuals whose experiences are similar to mine.
   
2. Thus my involvement with NASSA (National Secretariat for Social Action) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and later with the SPI (Socio-Pastoral Institute). I also have taught in other theological schools.
   
3. May I be presumptuous to say that this exercise could have some bearing as well on theology in the Philippines and Asia?
   
4. The BBL School of Theology is a fictitious desgination for an existing theological institution in the Philippines.
   
5. Its vestiges or some form of it.
   
6. Kapatids= brothers and sisters
   
7. In the ‘90’s please add: “and women.”
   
8. See “Faith and Life Reflections from the Grassroots in the Philippines” in a book edited by Virginia Fabella, Asia’s Struggle for Full Humanity. pp. 124-125.
   
9. With one stroke of the key, all ecclesiastical documents unfold before your eyes.
   
10. A phrase taken from Tertio Millennio Adveniente of Pope John Paul II, #46.
    
11. Some of us may lack this direct contact due to health and similar reasons but they seem to make up for it by a big heart and an inner fire. But the normal size of mind among us would need this immersion.
    
12. Old Testament professor of the Salesian theologate, who is at the same time the Rector, has been accompanying his students, at least part of the time, in their two-month summer immersion during the past two years.
    
13. This Indonesian experience has now been systematized and recorded in Kontextuelle Sozialtheolgie, authored by J.B. Banawiratma and J. Mueller, and published by Herder/Freiburg, 1993.
    
14. Paul was in the Philippines recently to make contact with people of similar concerns.
    
15. In this discussion, you might want to take a look at a chart, “Seminary Formation. Proposed Program for Philisophy and Theology, found in my Salvation: Historical and Total, p. 56-57. This was presented to BBL in the 1970’s It was shot down, and practically DOA..
    
16. I was amazed to find the many references to “immersion” neatly tucked away in our PCPII (Pastoral Council of the Philippines II) documents. Samples: “Church leaders should, by way for instance of pastoral immersion, be directly knowledgeable of the life situation of the pooi among their flock.” (#129) “A true People of God in the Philippines, this Church must be a fully participating community of faith rooted in Christ and immersed in the life of the Filipino people, a servant Church in solidarity with Filipino concerns.”(#191) “Inculturation requires evangelizers to immerse themselves in the cultural milieu of those to whom they are sent..” (#206). “Seminarians, religious in formation, and lay people should be educated in the social teaching of the Church, and where appropriate especially through a process of exposureimmersion-reflection, in order for them to realize the social implications of the Word of God.” (Decrees, Article 21. #1.) I was amazed at two things: (1)the abundance of citations (2)our sad neglect of this “teaching of the Church” and the selectivity that this seems to imply.
    
17. Keynes, the guru of modern economics proposes the following as the law of modern economics,: “For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair. .. for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still. For only they can lead us out of the tunnel of economic necessity into daylight.”
    
18. Or Commerce, Civilization, Christianity.
    
19. “Christians will have to raise their voice on behalf of all the poor of the world, proposing the jubilee as an appropriate time to give thought, among other things, to reducing substantially. if not canceling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations. (TMA #51) (Underlining: mine). Words of a theologian worth his name -- his conservative reputation notwithstanding!
    
20. Contrast the statements of another non-Asian missionary-scholar: “The foundations of Northern prosperity were built on four centuries of colonialism, during which Westerners had control over the resources and the people living in the Two-Thirds World.” p. 39 “Having for centuries abused their resources and human labour, the First World is now completing the circle of exploitation by dumping its toxic waste on unsuspecting Third World people.” p.55 -Sean McDonagh, Passion for the Earth.
    
21. In this essay, I will be citing Tertio Millennio Adveniente (TMA) with some frequency. It is the most contemporary Church document among us Roman Catholics. I hope that my choice of citations will not be found to be too selective. I have not discussed what is familiar to most Christians, and highlighted what could be new.
    
22. I have gone out of my way to explicitate these issues because they have been labeled ‘fads’ by certain colleagues.
    
23. The list of challenges for the jubilee year has: dialogue between different cultures, problems connected with respect for women’s rights and the promotion of the family and marriage. (TMA #51) As “signs of hope”, the Pope enumerates: “scientific, technological and especially medical progress in the service of human life... In the church they include a greater attention to the voice of the Spirit through the acceptance of charisms and the promotion of the laity, a deeper commitment to the cause of Christian unity and the increased interest in dialogue with other religions and with contemporary culture.” Classical theology will probably make a head bow to all of this before settling back in again.
    
24. “. . . a greater awareness of our responsibility for the environment, efforts to restore peace and justice wherever they have been violated, a desire for reconciliation and solidarity amongdifferent peoples, particularly in the complex relationship between the North and the South of the world.” (TMA#46)
    
25. In fact it is surprising that classical theologians can do theology knowing only the neo-scholastic caricature of the biblical Jesus or Paul.
    
26. See the humble acknowledgment of TMA: “Hence it is appropriate that as the second millennium of Christianity draws to a close the church should become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counterwitness and scandal.” (#33) He mentions: “acquiescence given, especially in certain centuries, to intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of truth” (#35)”suppressing the opinions of others or at least paying no attention to them (#35).
    
27. One who does not know how to look back to the past, cannot get to the final destination.
    
28. Aloysius Pieris, tongue in cheek, reminds us of an elementary counsel .1... do not spare him [the author] any question or objection. But remember: only if you have read honestly and carefully, do you have the right to engage in public debate. That is the Christian way to doing things.” For a pinch of wit, read the rest of the article. Samples: “The priest ... who drafted the admonition may have had the wrong concern in mind: “How do you solve a problem like Bala?” Once you have that mind-set, you read into the author what you wish to condemn him for.” “When you read the book, ask yourself the right question, the question which the author is trying to answer, namely, “How do you solve a problem like Maria and the problem that we are as church?” Otherwise you will make a problem out of Fr. Bala!” Source: Social Justice 1997 (vol? No?)
    
29. As Sean McDonagh does. Sean was a Columban missionary to the Philippines and a sociologist. His writings, “To Care for the Earth”, “The Greening of the Church”, “Passion for the Earth”, to name a few, are gifts of concern and scholarship for us in the Third World. I think of our Vic Helly in another area of mission dedication. Art Shea and Richie Fernando also come to mind.
    
30. coconut juice
    
31. Louvain is the good news, it seems. Its theological graduates seem to come back home, knowing how to re-integrate into the family fold.
    
32. I use “Third World” and “Two Thirds World” interchangeably.
    
33. In this context, I will not even mention legalism in the life of faith — something which I hope we have transcended, and which Jesus certainly eschewed in favor of human life, human needs and human beings.
    
34. The true self is the opposite of the ego.
    
35. This is a paraphrase, not a caricature, of an actual statement made by a non-Asian scholar in BBL.
    
36. For example, Ando Macalinao. See his “Servant Leaders of the Year 2000,” in Timon. pp. 1-17 of vol 1. No.1, 1995.
    
37. These are but some of many examples...
    
38. Theological speculations, not Church doctrine.
    
39. A related issue, of course, is: are we not entitled to our own theologoumena?
    
40. Thank God the thesis-list has at least some reference to the Cosmic Christ, who by the way, dates past beyond Teilhard and back to Paul, John and Revelation.
    
41. “The apple and the flood are not real after all.” “How did we descend from Adam and Eve?” “The non-Catholic (non-Christian) can be saved after all”.” So the Pope now believes that it is the earth that revolves around the sun.”
    
42. “Ah, Oh, I see” disposition.
    
43. Other examples: the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the divine-human consciousness of Jesus...
    
44. The Pauline corpus.
    
45. For example, Dan Schutte’s inadequate rendering of Phil 3:7-16:
    Only This I want: but to know the Lord,
    And to bear his cross, so to wear the crown he wore.
    I will run the race. I will fight a good fight.
    So to win the prize of the kingdom of my Lord.
    
46. = immersed and soaked.
    
47. Other warnings: Religious indifference; widespread loss of the transcendent sense of human life and confusion in the ethical sphere; secularism and ethical relativism; lack of religion [#36]
    
48. A parlor game.
    
49. ...and theologians.
    
50. student puts it: “Theology does not talk about life and faith, rather it talks about how to accept the “deposits of faith”.
    
51. A learning and teaching that is dialogical, evocative, inter-active, participative, creative, initiative-oriented.
    
52. I have raised the following issues: (1)We are out of touch. (2)Theology should deal with lifeissues. (3)Our theology is American. (3)Holiness and social commitment should be fruits of the theological enterprise. (4)Scripture is not given its due. (5)The present systematization of theology is to be questioned. (6)The core of theology: an interactive dialogue between the biblical Jesus and today’s life — realities. (7)Theology must move beyond some of its present (heavily mental) parameters.