1. History

The Beginnings

In this brief historical sketch, I would like to draw your attention to some of the less remembered facts and events in the history of the missions in Asia. The evangelisation of Asia did not begin with St. Francis Xavier. It did not begin during the Vasco da Gama era. It began on that glorious day when Christ came on the shores of the Sea of Galilee announcing, "The kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mk1:15). It took another step forward when he sent out his disciples two by two saying, "Preach as you go …. Heal the sick, raise the dead…You received without paying, give without pay" (Mt 10:7-9).

His disciples continued this mighty undertaking, beginning with Peter and the other Apostles on Pentecost day. Some of them fleeing persecution settled in Antioch, where they came to be known as 'Christians' for the first time, and where again for the first time they began presenting their Master as 'Lord Jesus' in order to make his figure intelligible to the Greeks. Early steps in Inculturation!

It is from Antioch that the Evangelisation of the world begins, the Christian community sending out Paul and Barnabas to carry the Good News to new areas. Paul was to become the first Asian missionary to Europe at the call of the Macedonian. And he was not the last¹. Peter

During the next generation, Asian Irenaeus, moving Westwards from Asia Minor to Lyons, is described as having learned the language of the "despised barbarians" and emerged as a great evangeliser, church organizer, and prominent theologian in the Western world. Christianity is Asian. "Founded in the Near East, Christianity for its first thousand years was stronger in Asia and North Africa than in Europe, and only after about 1400 did Europe (and Europeanized North America) decisively become the Christian heartland" (Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, New York, Oxford University Press 2002, 15).

went to Rome, James to Spain, Mark to Alexandria. In the same way, Bartholomew and Thomas came Eastwards to Persia and India.

The evangelical zeal of the first generation Christians was picked up in later times by persons of the monastic tradition. It was through them that the radical living of the Gospel, which the martyrs had stood for earlier, became visible again in the Church when a life of compromise made its way into the Christian community with the freedom that Constantine gave. In the monks we have also the prototype of the religious missionaries of later days. While the ascetics of Egypt withdrew into the deserts seeking isolation, those of Syria chose to become wandering missionaries. Even as early as 225, Syrian monks had reached out across the Persian Empire and set up Christian communities as far as today's Afghanistan (Bevans 78).

With these monks began various forms of inculturation. They "borrowed from the storehouse of indigenous languages, cultures, religions, and ideas that they found around them. The results were new and sometimes creative expressions of faith that reflected the living nature of the Christ whom they worshipped" (Irvin 115). They also advanced in theological thinking. The theological writers of this period were inspired mostly by a missionary motivation. And Christianity spread. What is interesting for the religious in Asia today is to take special note of the fact that it was precisely hermits and “monks” that took the Christian message to the heart of Asia those days (Bevans 79-80)².

²The Church in Persia, called the East Syrian church, with its headquarters at Seleucia-Ctesiphon flourished from 226 when the liberal Sassanid dynasty took over power from the Parthians. Strongly under semitic cultural influence, it did not use images in the churches, but a bare wooden cross. One of its weaknesses was that it continued to use Syriac as its church language, possibly because its early membership was confined to Syriac-using people. It moved its theological centre from Syrian Edessa to Persian Nisibis (Bevans 78), which became “the most famous centre of learning in all Asia outside China” with courses in philosophy and medicine (Ibid 103). While merchants, migrants, slaves, travellers, soldiers “gossiped the Gospel” wherever they went, there were a

Persia, India

It is said that Constantine wrote to the Persian emperor (Shah of Shahs) pleading for benevolent treatment for Christians. Whether the message was received or not, the declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire made it appear to the Persians that the Christian religion was closely allied to Rome, Persia’s chief rival and enemy. An image of having alien loyalties would cling to the Churches in parts of Asia during the entire colonial period, making it appear like an unrooted and unreliable community in the larger Asian society, to be constantly watched. As the Zoroastrian priests in Persia looked at Christian missionary endeavours with an unfriendly eye, religious and cultural zealots within Asian communities would warn their people to keep a strict watch on Christian activities. Hostile governments would victimise this minority community. Much misunderstanding would linger on to our own days³.

large number of fulltime evangelists too like Addai, Tatian, Gregory Illuminator and Pantaenus who spent their entire energies for the spread of the Gospel. Thus Christianity spread in Asia. The first nation to call itself Christian was an Asian country, Armenia (around 301). The new religion made an immediate appeal to the masses (Ibid 89). Women felt their position enhanced in the Christian community. Widows and orphans found security. Travellers and migrants were given a sense of belonging. Within a short time half of Asia Minor had become Christian.

³The plight of the Christians was very similar both in the East and West in the early days. A second century document describes the Christian situation thus: “They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens they share all things with others; but like aliens suffer all things…. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished by evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens, and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility” (Letter to Diognetus).

Persecution, far more severe than the one in the Roman empire, weakened the Persian Church. Many fled East and West. A significant group of 400 Christians, under the leadership of Thomas of Cana, possibly a merchant of Armenian origin, migrated to South India (Kerala) around 350. Their arrival strengthened the existing community there, known as “St.Thomas Christians”. We have an account from an Egyptian monk of the sixth century, known as Cosmas the Indian Navigator, who noticed on the Kerala coast a community with strong Semitic cultural links under a bishop from Persia, and in Sri Lanka also Christians of Persian origin (Bevans 104).

In the midst of varying vicissitudes, “monasteries became important centres for preserving Christian identity and life” in Persia and central Asia (Ibid. 101). Monastic centres became fortresses of theology and spirituality⁴.

In those days, Asia was the centre whence learning emanated. It is very interesting to note how much Greece, which was the chief civilizing force in the Western world, had borrowed from Asia. Clement of Alexandria argues that the Greeks had plagiarized the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Indians, and a host of others (Irvin 124). Tatian said that the Greeks had “learned the art of astronomy from Babylon, magic from the Persians, geometry from the Egyptians, the alphabet itself from the Phoenicians” (Ibid 143).

⁴From the 4^th to the 10^th century, a network of monasteries arose all along the road to India and along the ‘silk route’ to China, serving the interests of the Christian missions and offering hospitality to “Christian merchants, artisans, physicians and administrators” (Bevans 102). But, more particularly, their contribution to civilization deserves special attention. It was precisely these monks who passed on Greek philosophy, science and medicine to the Arab world. “One of the greatest contributions of the Asian Church to the history of human thought was its key role in transmitting to the Arab empire the heritage of the Greek classics and, through the Arabs, preserving them for rediscovery and transformation of the West in the Renaissance and Reformation” (Moffet, Christianity in Asia, 354).

The distances that grew between the Christian communities of Asia, Africa and Europe due to the Christological debates preceding the Council of Chalcedon (451), were not all for theological reasons, but also for political, cultural, nationalistic and other reasons as well. The resulting mutual alienation was the chief cause of the decline of the Eastern churches.

China, Central Asia

In 635 an East Syrian missionary team under Alouben reached Chang’an (now Xian), the T’ang capital of China (Palmer 39). The emperor financed the construction of the first Christian church in China. Other churches and monasteries came up in due course. Several Christian works were published, among them ‘Jesus-Messiah Sutra’⁵. A certain bishop Adam was known for his proficiency in the Chinese language, and even Buddhist missionaries came to consult him. It is said that he helped a group of Indian and Japanese Buddhist monks to translate seven volumes of Buddhist Sutras into Chinese (Bevans 105).

This offers us a very early example of inter-faith cooperation. Undoubtedly Christian monks had to interact with Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Manichaeans, Taoists, Confucians, Hindus, Muslims, and leaders of tribal religions among the Turks, Huns, Mongols, during their peregrinations (Ibid 101).There was much mutual borrowing. We find certain Buddhist and Taoist expressions being used to articulate Christian teachings (Irvin 314). And the Christian community continued to grow.

Under Islam

Within a century of the death of Muhammad, half of the world’s Christians were under Muslim political rule (Irvin 271). Christian

⁵The Jesus-Messiah Sutra speaks of the “compassionate joyous lamb” who will “free us of the karma of our lives, bring us back to our original nature”. The worshippers pray that God will “hear our prayers, send Your raft of salvation to save us from the burning streams” (Palmer 202).

leaders had little choice but develop the skill for dialogue. Caliph Mahdi of the Abbasid dynasty, we are told, invited the Persian patriarch Timothy I for a debate on Christology and the Christian understanding of Muhammad. Both approached the question with absolute seriousness and mutual respect ⁶. Indian emperor Akbar was to attempt similar inter-religious dialogue in later times. Living and working with people of many religious persuasions is nothing new for Asian Christians. That is the only experience they are familiar with. But they never failed to witness to the Gospel ⁷.

By 1000, Christianity had reached the Kerait Turks in Mongolia and probably Korea and Japan (Bevans 109). However, with the fall of the tolerant T’ang dynasty, Christian fortunes waned. But the East Syrian monks continued to serve as a mighty force for evangelisation (Ibid 121). They did what the Irish monks did in the West, whose ‘Peregrinatio pro Christo’ took the faith to new areas and new ethnic groups. Carrying the Gospel to new people is not a by-product of colonialism nor a sign of a conquest mentality; it is a sign of the believers’ love for people. The Syrian monks also offered medical, pastoral and educational assistance to Christian communities and to the neighbourhood, much like what the religious do today in different parts of Asia.

⁶Patriarch Timothy seems to have been an amazing missionary strategist. We are told that he was preparing to consecrate a bishop for Tibet. Christian monasteries continued to spread to areas that are today Uzbekistan, Kazhakstan, Tajikistan, Tibet and West China (Bevans 109).

⁷Speaking of dialogue with Muslims, we may recall the example of St. Francis of Assissi, whose encounter with the Sultan brought a war to an end. It is said that the Christian saint admired the Muslim periodic call for prayer. Dialogue benefits both parties. It is not that Francis did not preach. His unfailing message was, “Preach always, and, if necessary, use words.”

The impact of Christian monasticism on the Muslim society was so great, that it prompted the development of a distinctive form of Islamic mystical and ecstatic tradition known as Sufism (Irvin 283).

The minority status of the East Syrian church in many nations, the need they felt for dialogue, and their determination to preserve their identity and share the Gospel with others in the face of all odds, the great role the monks played in all this…offer great lessons for the religious working in Asia today.

John of Monte Corvino, a papal delegate, claims to have baptized 6,000 persons by 1305 among the Turks. Then there were the tolerant Mongols who had established a short-lived empire stretching from the Pacific to the Polish borders, a veritable Eurasian empire. During their rule in China, the Franciscans led several missionary expeditions to that country: in 1313, 1322, 1342. But this venture came to an end in 1369 with the overthrow of the Mongols. Scholars have speculated how different Asia’s history would have been if the Mongols had accepted Christianity instead of Islam during those crucial years.

A Brief Sketch of More Recent Times

St.Francis Xavier’s mass baptism of fisher-folk on the shores of South India and Sri Lanka, his work among the people of the Malay Peninsula and Japan are too well known to be retold. He converted some Buddhist monks in Japan, who provided leadership to the young Christian community there. With the adoption of the local cultural models of the ‘ministry of the word’ by Alessandro Valignano the community stabilised (Bevans 186).

Matteo Ricci’s approach to Chinese scholars and Robert di Nobili’s efforts to come to terms with the caste-system in India, have

While we admire the early Christian efforts for dialogue in Central Asia, we must also admit that some isolated Christian communities merging in thought and religious expressions with other religious groups, lost their separate identities. We have no trace of them. Something similar happened towards the end of the first millennium in India when the Hindu and Buddhist thought and lifestyles came so close to each other, that most Indian Buddhists were absorbed into Hinduism. This is happening in our own days, when a group of Hindus, who had accepted Buddhism under Ambedkar during the last century, have become hardly distinguishable from neighbouring Hindus. Multiple belonging is not uncommon in Asia. But it obscures identities.

received much attention from mission historians. Likewise, Alexander de Rhodes’ skill in empowering lay evangelisers in Vietnam is greatly remembered. It would be too long here to recount the achievements of Fr. Lievens in Chotanagpur, the recent progress of the Church among the tribals of North-East India, and similar advance of the Christian Church in Korea, Indonesia, and mainland China. And much of this work was done by various religious congregations.

It must be admitted that during the colonial period, the national rivalries among imperial powers played an undue role in determining the fortunes of the infant Christian communities. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the present Church in Asia today (except for the oriental Churches) is the fruit of the apostolic labours of the very many generous missionaries of this period. Unfortunately there is a school of thought that is far too critical of this most dynamic era of Mission history, alleging that that the evangelisation efforts in those days were too closely associated with imperialism. This is an unfair way of looking at things.

The reason is that the missionary team in that period of history lived and worked under several compulsions. Just as in modern times we have learned to judge people of other cultures kindly, because they are used to other ways of thinking and acting, we ought to judge people of an earlier era of history according to their own understanding of what was proper and good. Again, as we have special sympathy for Christian communities who labour under totalitarian regimes, or excessively nationalistic governments, or a fundamentalistic administration, it is helpful for us to remember that so many of our missionary pioneers during the last half a millennium worked under hostile governments, anti-clerical authorities, heartless adventurers, and insensitive empire-builders. There were times when many of their missionary societies were struggling for very existence in their own homeland. It would have been impossible for them to move to mission territories, much less become effective in the field, without some measure of accommodation to the demands of those hard-hearted colonial authorities. In spite of all that, the miracles they worked under such a tyrannical dispensation amazes us today⁸.

Despite insurmountable difficulties, those heroic souls penetrated the most inaccessible places, confronted the most unwelcoming rulers, transcended immense cultural barriers, announced the Gospel, built up communities, put languages into writing, provided literature to linguistic groups, pursued ethnological studies, presented unknown communities to the wider world, created interest in anthropological reflections, intervened in behalf of oppressed communities, offered services in the field of health and education setting up impressive institutions, pressed for social reforms, introduced entire societies to modernity, and planted ideas into the hearts of people to guide their society to freedom and offer leadership in the Church and in the wider society. They initiated theological reflection in different cultural contexts, with an edifying measure of self-criticism, that laid the foundation of today’s missiological thinking. We ought to be proud of these and other accomplishments. If the Church in Asia has emerged today as a force to reckon with, the credit is greatly due to these valiant men and women.

⁸It is persons who are excessively nationalistic in their outlook today that find it most difficult to understand persons of a similar nationalistic vision in an earlier era. They suffer from the same sort of narcissism that they accuse others of. But people who read history insightfully and cultivate a broader outlook and truly Catholic view of the human reality, discover people of the same attitude in every period of Church history in every society. It is they who build up the Universal Church and give continuity to the story of believers. They find it easy too to empathize with people of every persuasion in every age of history and of our times. All that I am saying is not to deny that there are many historic wounds that need to be healed. In fact, it is part of the mission of the Evangeliser to work for the healing of the historic memories of the society in which he/she lives. We need to get over our post-

Conclusions

Profiting by the insights of Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder in their Constants in Context, I would like to draw a few conclusions from what we have said above: 1. the need to enter into the world of other communities with respect, 2. to communicate with people in a way intelligible within a local culture, 3. recognise the Gospel values already present in that culture, and thus continue the tradition of Origen, Justin, Cyril and Methodius⁹.

“While we witness to the Lordship of Christ, we also pay due respect to the wonderful power of human reason, human experience and human culture” (Bevans 54). It means listening attentively to cultures in order to notice the presence of God and activity of the spirit, to discover the hidden treasure of Christ in cultural patterns and values, to call cultures to their deepest identity through the message of the Gospel (Ibid 60), to draw people to fulfil their deepest human potentiality, and answer their most profound desires. It means to keep learning all the time, which someone has described as ‘mission in reverse’. This type of learning attitude implies a ‘missio inter gentes’.

colonial complexes, and reacquire the serenity typical of the Asian wise man/woman to be able to engage ourselves creatively in fresh theological and missiological thinking.

Schibinger speaking of that era says, “The collision that occurred in the sixteenth century was not just between opposing cultures, or between races, or between different historical products; it was not between ‘more advanced’ and ‘backward’ cultures, or ‘civilized’ peoples and ‘barbarians’. It was, essentially, between two states of consciousness, and this is perhaps why it is so painful” (Bevans 175).

⁹For Clement of Alexandria philosophy was a stepping stone to Christ. Origen said, “Every wise man to the extent that he is wise participates in Christ who is Wisdom” (Commentary on the Gospel of St. John). For him, it is the work of the Christians to take materials out of the secular world and fashion from them objects for the worship and glorification of God (Philokalia, xiii).

2. The Present Context

There have been changes since those days. The change from the colonial period to an era of free nations was so radical that we have hardly got over it. In the meantime the world has changed again in an unforeseen manner from the 1980’s: the demise of Communism that had held so many unrealistic hopes to the poor of the world, the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, change of economic balance due to the rise of oil prices, emergence of Islamic nations as a world force often confronting the West, resulting situation of confrontation in many parts of the world and the new phenomenon of global terrorism, rise of the so-called Asian Tigers and the unexpected crisis they faced, growing power of multinational companies and the globalisation of market economy, transition of third world countries from political dependence to economic dependence (often called neo-colonialism), hardening of the neo-liberal ideologies, formation of the European Union, rapid growth of China as an economic giant.

There are other trends more specific of Asia in recent years: population growth running ahead of economic growth in many countries; starvation deaths (it is said that 35,000 children die every day of starvation, Asia Focus, August 8, 2003); urbanization on a gigantic scale; consequent sense of uprootedness of people rushing into the cities for jobs; mass migration of Asians to Western countries or to Japan or the oil-rich countries of West Asia, which makes an impact also on their home-countries; fragmentation of rural societies; xenophobic, ethnocentric and racist attitudes of countries receiving migrants and guest workers; political mobilization of people using religious symbolisms; self-assertion of Asian nations in search of a place in the newly emerging political scenario; arms race between neighbouring countries¹⁰; political exploitation of religious sentiments of people;

¹⁰For all the self-assertion of Asians, individual Asian countries prefer to keep close to those Western nations that they are comfortable with, and are

conflicts between neighbouring countries that are redefining their roles in a regional power-alignment or over-claiming their boundaries; persistence of personality cult and dynastic rule, perpetuating feudalism in new forms; democratic forms not yielding democratic values; identity-affirmation of minority ethnic groups within nation-states leading to secession-struggle or ethnic conflicts; threat to the integrity of God’s creation and to biodiversity, i.e. violence to nature in a massive scale to serve the new economy.

There are more problems still directly affecting our value-systems: violence coming to be accepted as a respectable way of pressing one’s point of view, and state violence in response; all pervasive corruption becoming recognised as normal to public life; popular religious movements like Falun Gong (China) and Sangh Parivar (India) winning an impressive following; weakening of ideologies that promoted social commitment; a sense of helplessness before mighty problems like HIV/AIDS or SARS, TB, malaria, drug addiction, illiteracy, unemployment, pornography, urban violence ; increase in the number of street children, divorcees, unwed mothers, prostitutes, handicapped persons, exploited women, untrained youth, gambling (casino) centres; idealism vanishing from the ranks under pressure from the harsh realities of the new economy.

Looking at the changes in the Christian world, we notice a decline of Christianity in the West (especially in Western Europe) and the

largely indifferent to the fortunes of neighbouring countries, thus losing many opportunities for mutual assistance. There are tensions in many zones: Kashmir, Kurdistan, Tibet, Iraq, Kuwait, Aceh, Mindanao, Laos, East Timor, etc. Crude pragmatism seems to be all that counts. The triumph of cut-throat competition keeps eroding the Asian values of harmony and solidarity. The recent popularity of the biographies of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the presentation of their military strategies to business executives as though they are the models to be followed in an effort towards the elimination of rivals, can make us wonder in what direction our world is moving.

shift in the centre of gravity of Christianity to the non-Western world. The Catholic population in Africa, for example, has trebled during the last twenty-five years. There are more than 100 million Catholics in Asia today¹¹.

We notice new tensions building up too: as the economy is being globalized, so are poverty and uneven distribution of wealth; and in response, a perception of injustice grows deeper, and terrorist trends grow wider; in the face of the secularisation of life and media, people seek the security ensured by exaggerated forms of religiosity and fundamentalism; as mighty nations interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign nations in the name of democracy and human rights, the weaker ones respond with terrorism and violence in the name of religion and culture; as the former try to impose mono-civilizational solutions upon a multi-civilizational world and seek to homogenise cultures, the latter confront the trend by an exaggerated reaffirmation of local and subaltern cultures.

In this complex world, the mission of Evangelisation too has become complex. An air of helplessness seems to come upon us as we observe humanity moving round in circles searching for an answer. It is not that justice is more important than peace, or vice versa. It is not that cultivated selfishness will solve the problem of imposed equality. It is not that we have no choice between a crassly materialistic outlook

¹¹Religious communities too are realizing that “The geographic and cultural shifts can become a new stage of refoundation and of evangelical radicality, revisited with new eyes”(Congress on Consecrated life, “Passion for Christ…, Religious Life: Asia, October-December, 2004, pg.29).

Year WesternSouthern

190077%23%

197049%51%

198042%58%

200030%70%

(Religious Life: Asia, April 1999)

There is a growing perception that the future of Christianity will not depend on

on life and fiercely fanatic forms of religious self-expression. It is not as though an economic boom is a supreme value even at the risk of damaging persons, local communities, natural environment, cultural identities, and human relationships. It is not as though irresponsible consumerism is the only alternative to absolute poverty. It is not that theologies that ignored justice is best confronted by theologies that condone violence. It is not that we can promote the values of the Kingdom and pretend that the King does not exist. It is not that the wrong done by those who believed in Jesus as the unique saviour of mankind will be rectified by placing him in a wider pantheon.

No, we can be sure that there is an answer to every problem, though we cannot pretend that we have readymade answers, or that all the answers have already been given centuries ago, or that we do not need to search and reflect and discuss and discover and rediscover in every human context what we ought to do, where we can find

the speculations of the intellectuals of the declining Churches, but on the life experiences of the growing Churches. These latter Churches have not put their experiences, perceptions, reflections and convictions into writing as yet. They have not become vocal as yet. But one day they will. Anyone who wishes to have an insight into the future, must observe thoughts and events there. They seem to lean towards what others describe as ‘conservative’. Many of them are inclined to Pentecostal and charismatic styles of belief and worship.

For many people in Asia, conversion to God does not take place during a brilliant lecture, but during a deep prayer-experience with a believing community. These growing communities have a vision that is clearly Christ-centred. They are dynamic; they seem to give life and energy to various ecclesial movements. Historically speaking, all growing Churches manifested these traits in the period of their expansion. The charismatics keep growing in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and other places. Surprisingly, the post-modern culture in the West too seems to be open to Pentecostal and charismatic forms of worship. Is the world moving towards the new Pentecost that John Paul II foresaw?

wisdom, whence we can derive strength. So often we keep answering questions that were asked centuries ago which no one is asking now, and are deaf to those that keep arising in today’s society. We need to think anew how we may respond to today’s searcher. “… reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have” (1 Pet 3:15).

Our starting point for search is always the human situation where we are, where we work. The themes for reflection are pressing human needs. The solutions we are searching for may arise from the insights that our culture/civilization provides. But when darkness deepens, we look for light. May be, we will find light through Him Who said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). Did He not also say, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. Was his name Jesus of Nazareth?

For a believer, these are certainties. But others may be invited, “Come and see”. “Who is this Jesus about whom we have heard so much?”, asks my Asian friend. Is he a healer? A wonder worker? A social activist? An exceptional guru? An insightful teacher? A great prophet? Someone who has the words of eternal life? Is He really the Son of the Living God? The Only Redeemer of humankind? If you have found Him to be Master, Saviour and Lord, you will want to tell of Him to others so that they too may have the same joy. That is what evangelisation is all about. There is a wise pedagogy in the teaching, and graduality in the discovery. In the West, Plato spoke of the philosopher-king. In the East, our civilizations believe in the wise man, the sage, the seer, the guru, the holy man who can teach. Will the religious of today rise to that great vocation?

Discovery of our way through life, amelioration of the human condition, and the manner in which we find our role in human history and the path to our ultimate destiny is not something that we can attain without assistance. This assistance is what may be described as Evangelisation. It is a complex reality. It involves serving human needs in the varied situations described above, healing and teaching, organizing social assistance and inspiring social change, defending the environment and standing by weaker communities, witnessing and speaking of God and his marvellous ways among people, dialoguing and persuading, eliciting conviction, evoking faith and commitment.

Evangelisation includes being involved in human development and living through the painful realities of social tension, bringing about reconciliation and peace, building up human communities in the context of their cultures, tapping the resources of their civilizational heritage, unravelling the mysteries of human existence, accompanying people on their pilgrimage to God, wounded and constantly searching as we ourselves are. It calls for respect for people’s traditions and religious experiences and being prepared to be a co-pilgrim, a humble searcher, while offering guidance based on faith. It calls for courage, it calls for humility, it calls for daring, it calls for preparedness to offer the ultimate form of witness: death. Such persons of evangelical boldness have become icons of God’s love for his people like Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa and John Paul II.

3. Religious Life in the Asian Context

The great cultural changes that came upon the Western world during the last half a century have so affected religious life that members are no more merely seeking to restructure community life and redimension apostolic activities, but questioning the very foundational principles on which this form of life was built up. Some are asking whether it has a future at all. In this crucial period of religious history, may be it is time that we looked at religious life in the Asian context itself quite independently of the reflection that is going on in another part of the world. And if we have to pay attention to the cultural realities that have an impact on religious life, it is right that we study carefully those of Asia and the image of the religious person in our own cultural world. For, it is a mistake to take up for reflection repeatedly themes that are thrown up for public discussion by the rapidly changing cultural scene in the West, almost from decade to decade, and reorganize our life and ministry in answer to the problems that are severely felt elsewhere. For examples, see¹².

¹² Sandra Schneiders shows how many religious have hooked their boats on to ideologies that have collapsed. She says, “Anthropocentrism, individualism, consumerism, masculinism, materialism, scientism, progressivism and much of the rest of the modern heritage is socially, politically, and morally bankrupt” (Schneiders 116). She adds, “Religious have found themselves without theological resources for dealing with the emerging questions. Religious are not alone in this theological wilderness. The ‘death of God’ controversies in the 1950’s, the liberation and process theologies arising in the 1960’s, the feminist theological challenges of the 1970’s, the ecological and interreligious problematics of the 1980’s and 1990’s have kept professional theologians struggling with a constantly lengthening agenda confronted through an epistemological and methodological kaleidoscope in which the pieces never assume the same position twice” (Ibid 147). Again, “Ad hoc spiritualities, often pieced together from elements borrowed from Eastern religions, decontextualized Native American practices, New Age philosophies, and therapeutic techniques did not seem to need the theological foundation or communitarian framework that traditional religion had. Generation X is a kind

There needs to be no identity crisis for the religious working on this continent, unless it is imported from elsewhere, and unless we make ourselves culturally uprooted. Here, religious life is understood, its relevance is recognised, its contribution is appreciated, its representatives are respected; for, we Christian religious are not the only ones in the field; there are native models of religious life belonging to other Asian religions. History tells us that monasticism flourished in Ireland and certain parts of Germany soon after their acceptance of Christianity, because such a form of life had native models. In the same way, in Asia vocations are on the rise today (except where the culture has changed very substantially), new congregations come into existence, new religious initiatives are launched, because such a trend corresponds to the general atmosphere prevailing in the larger society, where every religion is renewing itself, and where religious “virtuosos” are convinced of their identity and not lost in constant self-questioning.

While vicariously participating in the anxieties of other parts of the world, we should be careful not to think that all their problems have a universal application. And while studying ourselves in the context of the recent changes in religious life, we need not adhere too closely to the self-descriptions of religious elsewhere as medieval, pre-modern, modern, late modern, post-modern and post-post-modern, as though our own Asian society has gone through the same historic experiences that another society has gone through and thought the same thoughts

of incarnation of this rather rootless approach to life as a moment-by-moment invention of coping strategies that make no claims to validity beyond their aesthetic appeal and pragmatic efficacy” (Ibid 148). “Communities struggled over Eucharist, inclusive language, innovative forms of prayer, times and places for prayer, common retreats, and even art and music. Nothing pleased most people even some of the time. Desperate for spiritual nourishment, many religious found themselves in a virtual desert no matter where they turned and what they tried” (Ibid 173).

that intellectuals elsewhere have thought. Unless we resist the temptation to slide towards developing this ‘carbon-copy syndrome’, and specialize in what Arnold Toynbee has described as mimesis, we will swing like a pendulum with the changing cultural moods elsewhere. We need to look at our own histories, observe native models, stand close to the indigenous religious identities and austerities, and build up and preserve values, attitudes, relationships, traditions and symbols that make meaning in our own context. For example, in Asia what people admire more in a religious person is renunciation than efficiency, moral authority than mobilizing skill, God-experience than political correctness.

Historically speaking, most of our orders and congregations were born in the West. We need to be extremely grateful. They were founded in an era when the Western society did not differ very greatly from the Asian—both were rural, agricultural, very attached to the family, to tradition, very loyal to religion; in that period both societies enjoyed an impressive measure of inner cohesion. During the extension of the activities of these orders and congregations to Asia, the Asian members found it easy to identify themselves with their founding stories, documents, charisms, emphases, thrusts, and priorities. This is not to deny the differences that existed even those days.

However, more particularly during the last half a century the Western cultural world has undergone such radical changes, that religious life, in an effort to respond to those changes has rightly set itself on a process of on-going transformation. But since all those changes have not taken place in the same manner in Asia, it has not been easy for Asians, (while recognising the significant value of many of those reflections and changes), to identify themselves with all the debates that have arisen within the societies whose leadership and membership live and work largely in another hemisphere of the world. Asian problems, possibilities, anxieties and ambitions are different. Most congregations recognise the need for reflection in the context of different cultures; which means Asian religious need to be aware of and respond to the religious traditions of the Asian people and the cultural changes that are taking place here, if they wish to play a meaningful role as religious on the Asian continent. In this area, we may have failed¹³.

This is not to claim superiority for the Eastern over the Western, or vice versa, or to assert an Asian identity in an arrogant, aggressive, chauvinistic or grievance-ridden manner, much less to build up an Asian lobby of regional interests, or to seek special importance or special exemptions for the Asian sector. Nor do I claim this reflection can be done in isolation, or that it has nothing to do with similar efforts being made in the West. In fact, we shall soon be using insights drawn from

¹³To take one or two example, when we introduced with absolute enthusiasm various forms of freedoms into our renewal programmes that stood for special respect for the individual, we responded correctly to the cultural wave that had been sweeping the West during the last few generations. We did a good thing. But meanwhile we distanced ourselves from the general communitarian ethos that prevailed in Asian societies. Individualistic undertakings and subjective spiritualities can be alienating in Asia. If at that time we had tried to renew and strengthen community bonds in our religious communities, we would have retained an organic relationship with the culture around us. Pressing fervently for inculturation while we are inattentive to the organic nature of culture does not reveal perceptive depth. In the same way, when we began to emphasize the secular dimension of our services, and our discussions and interests moved in the direction of a perfectly secularised academic world (of work, thought, journalism, research), we came on the wavelength of academicians in the West, but meantime we moved away from the local society that was steeped in religiosity, with which we became incapable of dialoguing, in whose name we were taking up issues. Meanwhile we were becoming more and more strident in our criticism against missionary pioneers, crying hoarse against slow steps in inculturation and imposition of ‘western ideas’ by the highest Church authorities on accommodating Asians. My argument is not that Asian values are absolute, but they deserve attention even while we are welcoming new ideas.

certain Western authors who have set in motion a deeper study of religious life in Asia. If the type of reflection I am suggesting has to be of any value, it has to done with a deep sense of responsibility to the Universal Church, avoiding anything that sounds like excessively nationalistic or regionalistic. It is undertaken only for deepening the core values of religious life itself and ensuring greater pastoral effectiveness in various cultural contexts. It seeks to draw from the

As the criticisms grew harsher in fighting for an Asian identity and respect for Asian civilizations, what became most evident was that the themes of discussion, approach to problems, styles of communicating, quality of relationships were all non-Asian. Vocabulary used was closer to Voltaire, Nietzsche, Hegel, Sartre, Marx, and Darwin than to the Buddha, Panchshila, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Asian concepts of harmony. We spoke in two voices. Some of those who spoke louder in Asia’s interests seemed culturally unrooted people, over-concerned with issues marginal to the consciousness of the Asian masses, though in keeping with the interests of equally unrooted Asians. Meanwhile other most relevant themes received too little attention: themes like cultural identities of Asian societies, continuity and change in Asian cultures and civilizations, revival of Asian religions, ways of preventing communal conflicts and inter-ethnic strifes, possibility of tapping the resource of religion for ethical behaviour and social commitment, correct understanding of what is described as Asian forms of religious “fundamentalism”; and if at all, it was always from an outsider’s point of view. There was too little depth, perception, creativity, and cultural insertion. An insider’s understanding was missing. Thus, too much of Asian energy was running waste in negative exercises.

There were for a while debates on ‘Asian Values’. But as they were proposed by persons who wanted to justify their authoritarian regimes, the proposal did not make much headway. This little note is an invitation to the study of the nature of our cultures at depth, retaining an Asian quality about the entire debate. We know for certain that the cultural values of the Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Shinto, Islamic, and tribal societies have something to offer to world civilization, e.g., sense of the sacred, solidarity, community, renunciation, respect for life, attachment to family and tradition, love for mysticism.

ancient resources of Asian’s religious traditions. Asia, with its profound ‘sense of the sacred’ may have something to offer to the world¹⁴.

It is true that the West has set the whole world rethinking¹⁵. With greater economic and technological development in the different countries of Asia, some of the Western experience may be repeated here. However, no matter how profound the impact of the West, Asian

¹⁴The use of the term ‘Western’ with a negative connotation is unfair. It is as unfair as using phrases like ‘oriental despotism’, or ‘Asian decadence’. There is nothing negative about being Eastern or Western, Asian or European. Every form of stereotyping is odious. We feel hurt when Christians are stereotyped in Hindi films as unprincipled villains. In the same way, Muslims can feel hurt if they are pictured as terrorists, indigenous communities (tribals) can feel humiliated if they are presented as uncivilized people. Our friends from the West can feel uncomfortable, if we constantly refer to ‘Western’ things with a tone of the ‘negative-other’. The fact is that both Eastern and Western civilizations are two mighty streams of human experience which have frequently overflowed one into the other, and in which many rivulets of each are very close to those of the other. What is important is that there be respectful sharing, intelligent and selective acceptance and organic assimilation.

¹⁵Civilizations grow and diversify for a multiplicity of reasons: varied geographical settings, climatic differences, diverse historical experiences. Every civilization has something unique to offer to humanity even though its vision of life and insights are specific to its own historic experience: (a) Thus, the European society in its struggle against monarchy and various other forms of absolute power, developed a deep understanding of and appreciation for democracy and individual freedoms. We might say a very specific contribution of the Western society to humankind has been the concept of ‘the individual’s rights’ as against every sort of interfering authority. (b) On the African continent, on the contrary, tribal and village solidarity was found to be the greatest strength of the society in its struggle for survival both against natural elements and threatening communities. A powerful ‘sense of community’, continues to characterize the African society, along with an attitude of mutual dependence and mutual assistance. (c) It may be argued that a distinct contribution of the Asian society to humanity is its belief in ‘strong family bonds’. They help to keep clear of exaggerated individualism popular in modern times and excessive subordination to the larger society (tribe, class, village, etc.) as seen in some contexts. But there is no perfect balance in any of them. Humanity will be wise, if it learns to profit from these different insights without absolutizing any one in particular. A dialogue of civilizations must go on.

societies seem serenely determined to preserve their identities and strengthen them further with insights derived from the Western experience. Religious personnel on this continent will need therefore to walk with these societies, understand the religious psychology of these communities, draw from the inherited religious sturdiness of the Asian peoples, while guarding against their in-built weaknesses. For, we have examples of renounced and contemplative traditions in Asia, going back to the earliest times, especially because this was the continent where a radical living of religion took a certain definitive shape¹⁶.

Nor can we deny very basic differences among the various civilizational and cultural zones of Asia itself, nor ignore the cultural changes that are taking place in all Asian societies. As the Western society, coming under the full impact of Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment, totally renewed itself over centuries, Asian societies coming under the impact of the Western thought and experience are trying to rediscover and redefine themselves. This impact is not undifferentiated. For example, the pace of change has been different from one society to another. Each has also opted for that stream of the Western thought that pleased it best. For Example, while Japan opted for Western technology from its earliest days of exposure to the West, India indicated its special preference for a democratic polity; while China was deeply impressed by the egalitarian ideas that sprang up in the West (Marxist and others), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea were affected by the Western economic experience; other countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia were also influenced in the same way; Philippines by the Western lifestyles. While most accepted the concept of nationalism that developed in the West, a few were contended with forging an opportunistic alliance with it while retaining Machiavellian ruling styles. In this way, the countries of Asia deriving inspiration from opposing schools of thought from the West have become even more differentiated.

For all the legitimate pride that we have in our ancient civilizations, an external stimulus was necessary for Asia in a particular period of history. To societies that had grown complacent and self-absorbed, a stimulus from outside came as a major shock. The less the openness to others, the greater the shock when it comes. Self-universalisation is the greatest weakness of any civilization, even of the modern one. Criticisms that come from outside may be painful, but are beneficial.

¹⁶Sandra Schneiders asks, “How, for example, are religious related to their obvious analogues in other religions such as Buddhist or Hindu monastics or Islamic Sufis?” (Schneiders xiv). She claims that monasticism arises “from the constellation of a human archetype across time, in many cultures and in both

1. Historically speaking, Hinduism is the oldest world religion, dating from about 2,500 B.C, and presently claiming over 820 million adherents. “It is the seedbed of formal religious life….Today, there is an estimated one million monastics in India alone” (O’Murch 16). In the Hindu tradition, there is a great deal of freedom and flexibility, marked by a vast variety of lifestyles and spiritualities. There are hundreds of thousands of God-seekers and world-renouncers in India. “Hinduism has always differentiated between the priest and the monk” (Ibid 21). “The monks and nuns take three vows: poverty, chastity and reverence

genders, which has given rise to both eremitical and cenobitical forms of monasticism in virtually all the great literate religious traditions” (Ibid xxiii).We notice some form of radical living of religious values in every culture and ethnic group that we know in history. Despite differences, it always tends “to be a lifestyle of simplicity and austerity, of prayer and devotion, and frequently an apostolic commitment to the poor…” (O’Murch 33). ). Max Weber too notices that nearly all cultures had people who wanted to go beyond the religious requirements of their societies and who thus become ‘experts’ in religion or spirituality and serve a social function as models or embodiments of the religious and spiritual ideals of the society.

“The recluses who lived in the temples of Sarapis around the Mediterranean basin in pre-Christian antiquity, the Alexandrian schools of philosophy in the second and third centuries, the Greek Pythagoreans, the Orphic communities in ancient Greece , Italy, Africa and Gaul, and the Celtic Druids, all exhibited features of monastic life. Among the Jews, the Essenes who lived in the area of the Dead Sea in the two centuries before the Common Era, the Therapeutae whose life Philo described, the Nazirites and the Rechabites lived ascetical community lives that would today be recognized as monastic. In the East, the religion of Jainism gave rise to what is probably the oldest known form of monasticism, dating back to 1500 B.C.E. in its solitary form and to the sixth century B.C.E. in its cenobitic form. Hinduism gave rise to Brahmanic monasticism, and Buddhist monasticism spread throughout India, Japan, Korea, China, Sri Lanka and Tibet. Islam also has its form of monasticism in Sufism. In short, Christian monasticism is actually not only not sui generis; it is a fairly late version of a very ancient and widespread religious phenomenon. The roots of this phenomenon seem to lie deep in human nature itself” (Schneiders 5).

for elders….They are accountable to a spiritual master….” Their spiritual guidance is sought after. Some are celibates. Some are involved in education and healthcare.

2. “Buddhism originated as a monastic religion. The Buddha himself was a monk and passed on to his followers a well developed monastic system which took its main ideas from the Hindu Sannyasi” (O’Murch 19). Buddhist monks follow a communal lifestyle. They are subject to authority. They are considered sources of wisdom and inspiration. They have a long tradition of begging and ascetical practices. “Buddhist monks do not recruit; the people try to ensure that there is a constant supply of candidates” (Ibid 22).Though, today, we notice Buddhist monks (like Hindu Sanyasis) getting involved in politics, it is a departure from sound tradition.

3. Sufism arose in Islam as a counter-cultural movement, emphasizing prayer and contemplation, simple and frugal lifestyle. They follow a hierarchic structure, pledging strict obedience. Some are celibate. “They have a strong reputation for holiness and learning on a par with many of the great orders of Christianity” (Ibid 14).

4. There are other traditions too. Jain monks propagate non-violence. Religious professionals in Sikhism and Judaism do not seek to live a life of celibacy. But austerity of life is a hallmark of all persons professing a deeper commitment to religion.

Sandra Schneiders says that there are many things in common between the Catholic religious life and monasticism in other religions¹⁷. She argues

¹⁷Here are a few quotations from the scriptures of different religions on Religious Life:- They who practice austerity and faith in the forest, the peaceful knowers who live on alms, depart passionless through the door of the sun to where is that important Person, even the imperishable Spirit (Hinduism Mundaka Upanishad I.2.11). Revile not, harm not, live by rule restrained; of food take little; sleep and sit alone; keep thy mind bent upon the higher thought—such is the message of the awakened ones (Buddhism, Udana 43). In the first place the sage should relinquish attachment to objects, whether animate or inanimate; he should then subdue his mind and senses; and finally he should resort to

that ours is the historical realization of the “monastic archetype” that is always present in the collective unconscious of every society. She emphasizes further, “Monasticism as the single-minded concern with the God-quest, institutionalised in a distinct lifeform, is at the heart of Religious Life….” (Schneiders 13). She sees a common desire to go apart, “aloneness” (Ibid 9)¹⁸.

Certain things emerge in this brief study of religious life in Asia: intense God-search, simplicity of life, a tradition of renunciation and asceticism, concepts approximating the Christian practice of poverty

mortification of the flesh in progressively increasing intensity (Jainism, Acarangasutra 4.40.45). Yogis and celibates have practiced austerities and adopted ochre robes….The devotees questing after Thee have renounced home. Mansions luxurious, elephants and chargers, and sojourned into strange lands. Saints and prophets, seekers and devotees—such have renounced the world and met with Thy acceptance. They renounced pleasures, comfort, joys of the palate; gave up clothing and wrapped themselves in hides (Sikhism, Adi Granth, Asa, M.1,p.358). He who forsakes his home in the cause of God, finds in the earth many a refuge, wide and spacious; should he die as a refugee from home for God and His Apostle, his reward becomes due and sure with God (Islam, Quran, 4.100).

¹⁸Among the religious professionals of other religions too we notice that candidates discern their vocation, elders advise and assist, go through to temporary and more permanent commitment, accept a life of poverty even of an extreme nature and adhere to a simplicity of life. This form of life almost always includes some form of submission to an authority, regulated by a fixed schedule conducive to orderly and disciplined lifestyle (Schneiders 10). “…asceticism in the form of silence and solitude, fasting, restriction of sleep, and exposure to the elements; meditation and chanting; confession and public penances for infractions of the rules; study of the sacred texts of the tradition. Very often the monastic community becomes a centre of learning and of transmission of culture, both sacred and profane” (Ibid 10-11).

“Interestingly enough, an increasing number of secular leaders, such as CEO’s of successful corporations, are learning from their experiences and observation

and obedience in more radical form, celibacy for those who have chosen celibacy, disciplined community life for those who have opted for that form of life, witness to God’s holiness and compassion, source of wisdom and inspiration, moral authority in the contemporary world, propagation of religious teachings in society¹⁹. It is important to remember that these elements do not depend on the recent General Chapter or the Revised Constitutions, since they do not have any such authorities. But when one fails to be true to these traditions, one ceases to be a religious person in the estimation of Asian society.

that spiritual values are necessary elements in leadership. For instance, the virtue of humility…” (Religious Life: Asia, October-December, 2004, pg. 70).

(a) Interestingly, dialogue is easier between persons who have a lived experience of spirituality than others who are conversant more with dogma, church order, or institutional structure. Sandra Schneiders says, “Not surprisingly it was usually not the ecclesiastical officials, that is, the clergy or even the professional theologians, who were most competent in these dialogues, but rather the most intense practitioners of the spirituality who, in most cases, were the monastics. Monasticism, surprisingly similar in the great religions of the world, is an institutionalised, full-time living of the characteristic spirituality of the religion and thus provides a point of articulation and encounter among the world’s great spiritualities” (Schneiders 5-6). Thomas Merton died in Bangkok while engaged in such a dialogue.

¹⁹I may add one more helpful point. Most Asians have always lived in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural situation. Living with people who are very different from oneself is nothing new for Asians. That is why Asians could make a useful contribution to the reflection on the emerging multi-cultural situation in religious life and in the larger society in many parts of the world today.

4. Evangelisation

In presenting this paper, it is not my aim to go through all the recent church documents on evangelisation and present you a summary of the material. I would rather adopt an experiential approach. But I do hope that the most important topics that are usually discussed in relationship to evangelisation are presented here in some manner or the other.

What Evangelisation is not

There are so many misconceptions about evangelisation that I must begin by saying a few words about what it is not. Evangelisation is not a form of political campaign, a commercial advertisement, an ideological propaganda, a refute-all debate, a ridiculing contest, an arrogant claim of superiority, a religious Jihad. It is not a spiritual boxing match to knock out every other person in the ring. It is not a threat to people’s cultural heritage, ethnic identities, national heritage, healthy traditions, anthropological diversity, ancient wisdom, inherited bonds and kinships, heirloom of ideas, civilizational archetypes, nor people’s native religious genius. Christ comes to affirm and uplift, to fulfil and perfect, to heal and empower; not to damage and destroy, to denounce and derail, to deny and reject everything of value. “He will not argue or shout, or make loud speeches in the street. He will not break off a bent reed, nor put out a flickering lamp. He will persist until he causes justice to triumph, and on him all peoples will put their hope” (Mt 12:18—Is 42:1-4).

Good Muslims will tell you that the real meaning of Jihad is a ‘struggle for peace’. They will even say that there is an inner Jihad, a spiritual struggle, leading to a ‘conversion of heart’ to God.

I do not deny that the work of evangelisation may be carried on in a hurtful manner. That is why a study of culture is very important. In this paper I can no more than hint at certain areas where care may be required. It is clear that constant vigilance and self-criticism are required when we are offering any kind of cross-cultural service, whether it be in the field of education, health or social assistance. The work of evangelisation, like any other human service, can be handled wrongly.

The fact is that we are no more than limited human beings, and all that we do have the mark of human frailty. But we must not be discouraged. A mother, reaching out with love for her child, may not hold a degree in childcare. She may be at an imperfect task. But her services are required to sustain life, and for the continuity of the human race. Evangelisation is the central mission of the Church. It is that activity that keeps the Christian community alive and effective in serving the Lord and humanity. Apart from it, the Church ceases to be relevant, to have energies; she even ceases to exist. Evangelisation represents God’s loving kindness reaching out to every person in human society through human agencies and his caring concern for the whole of creation. It is the hand of a loving friend stretched out in help; it is an encouraging and reassuring word from a brother/sister who cares. That is why the religious have a special role in this noble mission. It is a privilege to be called to assist in this work.

Come into the Lives of People

The first thing to be done, if we are earnest about evangelisation, is to come into the lives of people. We cannot stand aloof and organize this important work from a distance. We may be able to keep a mighty organizational machine going by remote control, but that would be a lifeless structure. That is why some of our parishes and institutions have become lifeless. It is when things happen in this manner, that our works lack the vibrancy and energy of a living organism. They fail to grow, and they fail to yield the desired fruits.

We are amazed at the way that Jesus kept walking into the lives of people. He takes people by surprise. He enters into the lives of Andrew and Peter, James and John while they are busy fishing; he calls Levi from the tax-collector’s desk; he summons Philip and Nathaniel on the wayside; he surprises Zacchaeus by inviting himself to his house. He is ever sensitive to the needs of people. He goes into the house of Peter and cures his mother-in-law. He calls up a man with a paralysed hand and cures him, unasked. He cleanses lepers, cures people of all kinds of diseases; he raises the dead. What stands out evident is his keen interest in the other person: his warmth, his relationship. It is not that he is offering help all the time, he asks for help too. He asks for a drink from the Samaritan woman. He seeks to stay with Zacchaeus. He relaxes at the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. He dines with Simon the leper. He accepts invitation from Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7:36). He takes part in a wedding feast at Cana (Jn 2:1-2).

If you wish to be a good missionary, you must be involved in the lives of people. You will be happy to welcome people into your house, make them feel at home. You will be equally happy to visit them, enter into a dialogue with them, discuss matters of common interest; you will be interested in their children and their education, their fields and their crops, their economic problems and their uncertainties, their domestic tensions and their search for peace, their spiritual struggles and their religious aspirations. Your conversation may move to deeper levels and to areas of self-understanding, and the presence of God in their lives. It is at such moments that God reveals his face quite unexpectedly to new persons and communities. And miracles take place.

Among the more educated persons today you are likely to come across individuals who live by a philosophy of undefined pluralism, vague openness to everything, eclectic spirituality, inner ambiguity and indeterminism, preparedness for multiple religious-belonging, lack of enthusiasm about any form of organised religion, resistance to the establishment. Attitudes that we call post-modern were never absent in the Asian tradition. For one thing, Asian elite in general cannot be said to be secularised. There is an openness to the spiritual, though not to specific affiliations.

However, simpler societies have less inhibitions, especially indigenous (tribal) communities and those of primal religions. And miracles do take place in unexpected areas. There was a sixfold increase of Christians in Wuan, North China, in less than a decade, 1996-2003 through the work of lay evangelists (Asia Focus, November 14, 2003). Inchon diocese in Korea witnessed a tenfold increase during the pastoral ministry of a single bishop (Asia Focus, May 10, 2002).

What is important is that we keep going out, not merely to new geographical areas, not only to new individuals and communities, but to new areas of human life and activities. We need to explore the ‘frontiers’ of every human thought, ambition and commitment; and explore the line that divides the possible from the impossible! Yes, we should keep ‘going’.

Remove barriers

When you are initiating a work in a new place or coming into contact with a new community for the first time, some people may look hostile. But when you enter into dialogue with them, you realize that they are just ordinary people with ordinary human goals and ambitions. If you are planning some beneficial work in their area, you may be sure that they too are interested; they too want their place and their community to develop. However, they want to know what this ‘outsider’ is all about. You need to explain to them your intentions, associate yourself with the good they are already doing in the neighbourhood, recognize the role of the local leaders and keep up a stimulating dialogue with the local community as your work develops. There is a dialogue that is meant to solve the immediate problems. There is another form of dialogue oriented towards joining hands with people of different cultures and religions for the development of the local community and for the promotion of genuinely human values. There is still another type of dialogue at a deeper level in search of what is true and good, ultimate sources of your inspiration and strength, with an eagerness to discover God present in various cultures and operative in various societies, and active in human hearts, with an openness to where he will lead us.

Dialogue is a learning process. Francis of Assissi was deeply impressed with the prayer habits in Islamic society. Charles de Foucauld rediscovered his Christian faith in the Sahara living among his Muslim friends. But you also have an opportunity to share your own perception of truth, your own understanding of God and His plan for the wellbeing of the human race. Dialogue ultimately is about relationship, common commitment to what is good, not about argumentation, ideological subtleties. It is oriented towards a sense of mutual belonging which everyone is longing for²⁰.

When you begin discussing with them more at length, you discover that their starting point is different from yours. Their mental makeup is not influenced by Aristotelian intellectual discipline, Thomistic theology, Catholic Catechetical tradition, or the type of spiritualities and metaphysical concepts that you have inherited from a Christian tradition. The words you use, especially about religious realities, have other connotations. The symbolisms you are familiar with may not evoke the same response. The hymns you sing may not stir the same religious sentiments. If you refer to the mass and other sacraments, they may remain nebulous realities to them. Some of the rules of the Church may appear to them arbitrary and unrelated to anything religious (e.g. Church contributions, records, regulations regarding marriage, etc.). Words like ‘Catholic’, ‘Apostolic’ have different meanings in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Christian concepts of God and afterlife differ from those of our Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist brothers and sisters. A

²⁰Having absolute respect for the faith of another person does not mean that you need to hold your convictions in abeyance during the dialogue. If dialogue partners had no convictions, they would cease to have identities, they would have nothing to offer. It is a person with deep convictions that recognises and respects another person with convictions. It is the genuine believer that recognises and respects another believer.

missiologist remembers how when “Lord have mercy” was translated into a dialect of Ghana, it sounded like “Lord be miserable”!!²¹

Build Bridges

Some recent converts have seen a relationship between the Buddha’s eightfold paths and the Beatitudes. Today what we need most are people who can build bridges between communities and their varying visions of realities. As the world is globalizing itself, we are becoming acutely conscious of the sharp differences of points of view, collective interests, political perceptions, cultural identities (in dialogue with the “ cultures of Asia” as an earlier FABC document says), philosophical outlooks, civilizational mental slants. We remember how even in early Church there were differences between the Hellenist and Hebrew Christians (Acts 6:1 ff). We need people who can interpret one to another, who can cross such barriers with ease, and help others to negotiate their way through the contradictory stands that people

²¹It is extremely important for an evangeliser working among the subaltern communities of Asia to understand folk-culture and be sensitive to folk perception of religious mysteries. The so-called scientific surveys and political mobilizations usually remain totally innocent of the potentiality of such realities. One must learn to enter into the world of myth and mystery among the indigenous (tribal) communities before one can communicate Christ. A recent study showed that belief in the spirits was popular among the young Japanese (Asia Focus, October 1, 2004), and that Shamanistic religiosity had a hold in Korea still. Social anthropology, more practical than theoretical, more unctional than academic, ought to play a big role in his/her life. Religious psychology of communities will be equally important.

All theology was contextual in its origin. Further indigenisation in different contexts is important; but it should not be a mild form of the xenophobia and cultural nationalism that characterise many of our societies in our times.

Referring to culture’s relationship to evangelisation, it has been suggested that the inculturation model would be more suitable for Asia and Africa, where cultures have been devalued and disparaged by anthropologists, and the counter-cultural model for Europe, where culture has departed from the Gospel (Bevans). The fact, of course, is that both attitudes are necessary in every place, with shades of differences to respond to each situation.

often take, and lead them to mutual understanding. We in Asia have to deal simultaneously with people of different religions (in dialogue with the different “religions of Asia”).

When thinkers of different civilizations, reflecting on the historic experiences of their respective societies, propose solutions to certain human problems, they are tempted to hold them up as universaly valid principles. They may very well be! However, one will easily notice that psychological and social theories that have developed in a particular cultural context in a particular period of history will need to be modified and changed when applied to another cultural and historical context.

Words have different meanings, ideas have different connotations, images provoke different sensitivities in different situatons. St. Paul insisted in his own times, “Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting, and you should know how to give the right answer to everyone” (Col 4:6).

Only when we are aware of subtle differences in words and meanings, shall we, as evangelisers, be able to build bridges between different ways of thinking. Take, for example, words like ‘democracy’, ‘progress’, ‘discipline’ in the mouths of a Stalin, a Mao, a Gandhi or a Nehru. Each would have a different understanding of the concept.

“John used the methods of Hellenistic Jewish propoganda in order to transmit the, originally Semitic, content of primitive Christianity to the Greek world” (C.K. Barrett, The Gospel according to St. John, London, 1978, pg. 126). The Semitic Saul was also the Roman Paul. Paul was accused of saying ‘yes, yes and no, no at the same time’ (2 Cor 1:17). It is evidently a reference to his accomodative ways to different communities, trying to become all things to all people.

In the Councils of Nicea, Chalcedon and Ephesus we see the inculturation efforts of the early Church trying to define doctrine in a vocabulary suited for the Greek world.

The Evangeliser in Asia today should be truly Asian and deeply Christian. Being truly Asian does not mean using aggressive language to defend Asia’s interests, much less taking aggressive postures. It does not mean revelling in exaggerated forms of nationalism, which unfortunately finds even a theological expression not entirely in good taste. Becoming bridge-builders is something very different.

Structures that developed in a particular civilization, like the Westminster form parliamentary democracy, need not necessarily function well in another cultural context. In India we have been fairly lucky in being able to preserve the model that we inherited from the British. When adopting practises prevalent in another society to solve a social problem, the entire approach may need to be different, emphasis changed, and priorities redrawn. The Japanese way of tackling problems of economy amazes people who grew up with the Anglo-Saxon economic traditions. Sophisticated and highly developed plans of action derived from alien inspiration may need to be indigenised and reformulated, and even replaced. Globalisation has made people more and more to realize the fact that people from the Western, Confucian, South Asian (Hindu-Buddhist), and Islamic civilizations differ a great deal in outlook. Such global classifications are also deceptive, because there are further internal differences within these general groupings that need to be attended to.

What we have discussed above has lessons for the evangeliser as well. He needs to adapt and shape ways of approach which he has studied and read about, or heard described or seen with his own eyes elsewhere. After working with one ethnic group when he moves on to another, he may have to learn all over again how to relate with this new community and how to offer effective service to its people. In India we have to deal simultaneously with people of different religious and cultural traditions.

In India there is an Indian way of thinking and acting. Sadhu Sunder Singh said, “Give us the water of life in the Indian cup”, in a way that makes sense to the Indian mind²². However, there is nothing like a single approach to communities that are believed to belong to the Hindu tradition. Some totally ignore, though not necessarily reject, the texts that are held by the upper castes. Each community

²²A radical detachment from possessions and family ties has a special attraction to people in India. For Asians in general, a life of renunciation and fierce fidelity to one’s religious convictions have a convincing power. Poverty and powerlessness are good starting points for initiating the work of evangelisation. Excessive dependence on human resources, intellectual and material, can be a drawback than an advantage. The danger in such case is that people can be made mere objects to be used and manipulated than treated as colleagues and friends with whom one shares one’s convictions. A renounced person has great power of endurance in trials and failures, a readiness to accept criticism, joy in serving and optimism amidst misunderstandings and oppositions.

has its own beliefs, practices, and celebrations that differ greatly from those of others. Some may be said to be Hindu only in the sense they have accepted a position in the Hindu caste hierarchy. Historically the case has been that they were driven to accepting such a position to obtain a place in the larger society in which they had to live. They cling to their caste traditions (for them that is dharma) as a way of fiercely asserting their identity and distinctness on the one hand, and affirming their superiority over some other communities on the other. Contrary to their sturdiest desire, they may have to concede superiority to some other castes. Such inter-caste strifes have been going on all the time in our national history. But what I want to emphasize here is that there is no single approach to the Hindu society as a whole. Rather, there is a different approach to each community having an inner identity and cohesion of its own, living in a specific geographical and social situation.

It is interesting to note how the religious sensitivity of different communities differ. Our Hindu friends from a high caste background, especially of Brahmin origin, will be attracted by the religious depth of the Christian message, its emphasis on interiority, contemplation, silence, renunciation, spiritual discipline, asceticism. But those of the middle castes would have more of a pragmatic outlook and admire the efficiency of Christian works in the field of education, health and similar areas. Those of the humblest castes and tribal background find encouragement in the disinterested service of Christian workers in the area of social uplift, development, relief and rehabilitation. They would identify themselves with popular piety, not so much with sophisticated spiritual dissertations or mystic contemplation. The real skill of the evangeliser is to find out where his interlocutor is in his heart and mind, in his aspirations, ambitions and life struggles, and make it the starting point of his dialogue.

Give attention to the Needs of Individuals and Communities

Solidarity with the needy is central to the work of evangelisation. One should consider it the path to egolessness and to God. A true evangeliser seeks to keep close to the suffering, the sick, old, handicapped, prisoners, exiles, migrants, slum-dwellers, orphans. He attends to alcoholics, drug-addicts, AIDS victims. He enjoys the mysticism of generous service.

Vincent de Paul experienced ectasy in being centred outside himself in the poor. He considered it as an encounter with God. He said ‘In this the Father will be glorified, if you produce abundant fruit’ (Jn 15:18). He encouraged his sisters to take a rented room for their cell in order to be close to the people and to consider the streets of the city as their cloister. “The poor are our patrons”, he would say, ‘they are our kings. We should obey them”. Mother Teresa used similar expressions. If the evangeliser wishes to be deeply spiritual, he should keep close to the poor. That is the place of encounter with God. Vincent de Paul considered mysticism without service pointless. He was distrustful of mystic swoonings and escapist spiritualities. Exaggerated forms of penance, fasting, prophetic utterances, visions and the search for the miraculous and sensational have nothing to do with genuine spirituality.

As you will find individuals in special need, so you will also come across communities that are under undue stress. St. Francis Xavier came to the aid of fisher-folk who were being exploited, Fr. Lievens to the rescue of Chotanagpur tribals who were losing their land. Today dalits and tribals are under great pressure: loss of land, weakening of identity, damage to culture, diminishment of dignity, alienation from tradition, sense of rootlessness, marginalization in society, lack of space in economy, a sense of being used by the powerful as a tool for their own ends. An evangeliser cannot remain indifferent before such a situation of tribal/dalit helplessness.

People crowding into the great cities of Asia call for attention and assistance. John Naisbitt says that seven of the thirteen mega-cities in the world are in Asia. These people, uprooted as they are from their own specific culture in the villages and being herded together into urban agglomerations, have a psychology of their own. Hungering for the solidarity that they miss, they tend to re-create a ‘village’ in their urban surroundings²³ . In the same way, Migrants (some called ‘illegal’) in search of better fortunes, land up in similar situations of helplessness. They too seek solidarity and guidance. The evangeliser can help them

²³None of the problems we experience in cities today is totally new to Christian experience. In fact, in early history, it was Christianity that courageously addressed some of the distressing situations in urban life. “Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems….To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing care”, says Stark

in their effort to eke out an existence and struggle for justice. Political refugees, likewise, need encouragement and assistance. Then there are specific problems of individual countries, e.g. Cambodia has the problem of exploding landmines. It is said that there are in Asia more than 100,000 amputees and disabled due to landmines, and that 200 to 300 people fall victim every month. They need to be assisted and rehabilitated.

This sense of responsibility will lead the evangeliser to enter into a vast variety of activities. What they ought to be, can only be determined by the needs of the situation. Among the tasks that have received central attention in recent years are: peace initiatives in contexts of inter-ethnic and communal tensions (Mt 5:9; Col 3:15; Phil 4:7; Eph 2:1 ff); ecumenical collaboration; struggle against local forms of unfairness; support of development programmes; activities of advocacy; assistance to schools that don’t run; health programmes; intervention for government efficiency; work for gender equality, struggle against female foeticide

(Bevans 89). Curiously, some of the conversions took place among the sicarii, people engaged in urban violence, and among zealots, armed rebels against Rome (Irvin 15).

Among the other pressing needs that call for special attention in Asia are: peace initiatives in contexts of inter-ethnic and communal tensions; education to prejudice reduction; ecumenical collaboration; inter-religious dialogue and collaboration in local issues; building up the self-esteem and self-confidence of marginalized communities; activities of advocacy; assistance to neighbourhood schools and health centres that do not function properly; intervention for government efficiency; intervention against corruption, state violence, abuse of human rights, kidnappings, extortion; promotion of prisoners’ rights; strengthening of civil society ( contribution to a democracy that works!); defence of life, opposition to euthanasia; work for gender equality, struggle against abortion, female foeticide and infanticide, child marriage, dowry system, domestic violence, trafficking in women; care of unwed mothers and neglected children; service in schools, hospitals, old age homes, social centres, literacy centres, places of prayer; education to ecological concerns like deforestation, extermination of living species, pollution, disposal of toxic wastes, global warming, deterioration of the ozone layer; cleanliness drives; assistance to AIDS/HIV patients; promotion of street children; assistance to physically and mentally challenged persons; counselling for those suffering from depression, victims of violence, persons who attempted suicide; literacy programmes, slum work, self-help groups, micro-financing schemes, economic empowerment; promotion of culture; encouragement to freedom struggle, anti-caste struggle, human rights struggle.

and infanticide, child marriage, dowry system, domestic violence, state violence; care for unwed mothers and children; education to ecological concerns like deforestation, cleanliness drives; assistance to AIDS /HIV patients; promotion of children, literacy programmes, slum work, self-help groups, micro-financing, economic empowerment; promotion of culture; encouragement to freedom struggle, anti-case struggle, human rights contention. However, the struggle should not grow into hostility and end up in conflict.

Further, we must remember that “The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus caritas Est, 28 a)

Zeal for doing good should not lead us into exaggerations: e.g., during the early colonial period over-zealous people went in for conversion by force or for holy wars; during late colonial era colonial propagandists justified imperialism with the professed intention of ‘civilizing’ the ‘natives’ through conquest and imperial rule; currently human rights are invoked to camouflage various forms of egoism , personal and collective; self-interested leaders take communities to violence voicing justice claims, leaving no room for compassion and with the exclusion of the transcendent.

However, the evangeliser’s intervention in behalf of communities differs from that of the social worker. He feels the power of God acting through him. He seeks to be an icon of God’s love for His people. He dialogues with the thinking and dynamic element in a community and addresses the Gospel to its soul. Some central learning is hidden in these words that I have just said. It is the evangeliser with a profound grasp of the inner identity of a community that knows how to get close to its deeper self and stir it to life with the power of God’s word and the touch of Jesus Christ.

Developing Strategies and Plans, Media

In this paper, my emphasis is on the spirit that should invest the entire effort for bringing the message of Jesus to people. I do not intend to go into the organizational dimension of announcing the Gospel through parish work, schools, hospitals, social work, etc. Specialized attention to catechists, teachers; services to women, family; mobilizing the services of associations, lay volunteers, SCC’s; tapping the resources of youth who form two thirds of Asia’s population; taking evangelisation to the universities, the world of sports, business, professions…these activities have great importance. Remembering that what thinkers, writers, artists, poets and other intellectuals think today, society will think tomorrow, it is most exciting for Evangelisers to dialogue with them; they will be able to address the Gospel to the collective psyche of a nation. Such mighty undertakings will call for an entry into the “linguistic, literary, scriptural, artistic, cultural and ideological heritage” of a nation, and interaction with the various dimensions of the national identity of one’s country. It will include exploring the universal spiritual values inherent in various religious traditions and opening out to secular ideologies.

While I greatly appreciate the great role played by the media in sharing the Gospel: news agencies (like UCAN, SAR News), literature, correspondence course, Radio (like Radio Veritas), TV, Internet, I will have to leave the development of such themes to others. On-line evangelisation has been announced. Possibilities are enormous.

As those who exercise authority should exercise it with a sense of responsibility, as people who command material resources should administer things in the spirit of Christian stewardship, those who control media ought to have a great sense of responsibility to society as well. In an effort to give voice to the voiceless and to the dissenting person, one should not banish from public consciousness persons who guide the destinies of entire societies, or thoughts or events or images that stand for continuity while pointing to the future. Over-concentration on the rare and the exceptional may not contribute to the emergence of a balanced point view. Demonisation of people of other perspectives and promotion of polarisations are not helpful activities. Sensationalism in journalism, or ideological or theological speculations may be a commercially effective, but can distort the vision of the readership. Ideas that de-motivate individuals and fragment societies cause damage. But on the contrary, the media can inform, educate, build up, heal, reconcile, and evangelise.

Building up a Future for People who Suffer Injustice

With all our proud boast of rapid development in parts of Asia, we notice that power and resources come speedily to be concentrated in the hands of a few. This happens in situations of state socialism, irresponsible capitalism, or monarchic/oligarchic rule. For the weaker sections in society, ethnic and religious minorities, life means a constant struggle against injustice under regimes that may be described as semi-military, civil-authoritarian, elitist-democratic, or majoritarian.

But even in fighting for what is right, there is an evangelical style. God’s justice is a justice that defends, not destroys. Zeal for justice that is not an expression of love can become an untameable monster. Denunciation that does not end with a word of blessing can prove to be effectively a curse. Severe criticism, even when well deserved, should have a touch of encouragement somewhere. Accusations will end well only if there are words of affirmation as well. True prophets are not inspired by anger, but by love. Gustavo Guttierrez, the father of Liberation Theology, says that if the task of the Church is denunciation, it is also annunciation.

In our struggle for justice then, one form of collective selfishness is not fought with another form of equally selfish collective self-affirmation, but the spiritual energies that proceed from the ‘mystical blending’ of strong self-assertion and claim for rights with gentle self-renunciation and eager concern for others; fierce loyalty to one’s own community with radical commitment to the long term good of the larger society. So, to take a small example, Euro-centrism is not confronted by Indo-centrism or Sino-centrism or Asia-centrism, but by universal brotherhood/sisterhood.

A happy blending of what looks like opposites is neither impossible nor undesirable. It is generally considered a part of the Asian genius to harmonize opposites. It is the failure to work out a happy synthesis and attain a new harmony²⁴, a new balance in thought,

²⁴Apparent paradoxes that confront human existence should be harmonized: “transcendence and immanence, emptiness and fullness, death and life, suffering and joy, the finite and the infinite, poverty and riches, the temporal

that leads human processes to swing from one exaggeration to another, from one radical position to another. It was Paulo Freire who said, that, once liberated, the oppressed becomes an oppressor. The pendulum will keep swinging as long as there is a calculated imbalance on either side. One has to plant moderating influences into the mechanisms built up for pressing for one’s rights or fighting for one’s community’s interests. Such an attitude springs from one’s concern for others and firm confidence that the future belongs to the ‘victims of history’.

The Beatitudes offer the most reliable assurance of better times to history’s victims. Blessed are those who suffer….But when the victims seek to punish the oppressors too severely instead of entering into critical dialogue with him, and begin to act aggressively with the aggressor, ‘the future’ slips too fast from their hands in favour of the new victims of history. In other words, unless we work out a situation of ‘stimulating harmony’ and usher in a ‘culture of responsibility’ to each other, society will not take a single step forward. One group will keep dragging the other behind.

and the eternal, the historical and the cosmic” (Relatio ante Disceptationem, L’Osservatore Romano, April 17-29, 1998,9); justice and peace, proclamation and silence, claiming and renouncing one’s rights, giving and receiving forgiveness.

The Superiors General gathered in Rome in November 2004 on the theme “Passion for Christ, Passion for humanity” felt that in order that such attitudes may be developed, “Humanity needs to meet men and women who are moved passionately in the mystical dimension of life, who know how to hear the voice of silence, who are in contact with the flow of existence common to all, and whose word resonates with their life in God. The world needs to see living persons, who assume the sentiments of Jesus Christ in daily life (Phil 2:5), and are witnesses through justice, peace, pardon, mercy, tenderness, freedom, beauty, gratitude, solidarity, meekness, love…” (Vita Consecrata 27, as quoted in Religious Life: Asia October-December 2004, pg. 25). There is therefore need of “a new spirituality that integrates the spiritual and the corporal, the feminine and the masculine, the personal and the communal, the natural and the cultural, the temporal and the eschatological, and is with us in all our living and doing”. (Religious Life: Asia, October-December 2004 pg.6). “Consecrated life must preserve its identity and irreducibility even as far as finding itself in a paradox (Ibid pg.19).

Tapping the Creativity that Shows itself at the Periphery

We are in search of creative and innovative ways of sharing the Gospel. Amazingly, in many areas of life, creativity does not lie with the dominant groups or intellectual leaders, but with people at the margins of society; not with the elite who are in search of fulfilment or suffer from hurt egos, but with the feebler groups who are striving for sheer existence and are serenely confident of their destinies; not with those who present ready-made answers, whose reflections are lost in stereotypes and worn-out jargon, but with those who are contending with actual human problems in real life with their multi-faceted manifestations; not with those who are rule-bound and contended with established patterns of functioning, but with those who take risks and venture out in new directions; not with those who place all their trust in their abundant resources and limitless resourcefulness, but with those who simply fall back on God.

When engaged in justice-struggle, one need to remember that the creativity of the poor is expressed most of all not in anger and aggressiveness, but in forgiveness and faith. It is the ability to forgive

that enhances the personhood of diminished persons, invests them with special dignity, and equips them with a sense of equality with even the mightiest powers on earth. The cry of the poor is not a war-cry spurred on by social activists, but the expression of a spiritual hunger, of trust and confidence in the One Who, they know, will intervene in their behalf without fail. It is the creativity of the poor that gives new directions to human history. Arnold Toynbee in his voluminous ‘A Study of History’ continuously refers to the creative contribution of the poor (‘internal proletariat’ as he calls them) in the field of religion and the growth of civilization.

Indeed, we need to discuss, as we do today, concepts and approaches related to Evangelisation, Dialogue, Inculturation, organization of health and education, struggle for justice and similar topics. But creativity will reveal itself only in concrete situations: a missionary trying out new ways of sharing the Gospel with amazing results, with no precedent, no sophisticated equipments or methods, no elaborate plans or training; a local Christian team achieving unforeseen results in the area of justice, development, reconciliation, or peace. We can only encourage the initiators of such ventures, learn from their experiences, and propose worthy models for imitation. Even so, some will always remain inimitable.

Cultural diversity itself is a source of creativity. Young people think up more new ideas than those whose thoughts have begun to freeze. Women have a unique style of innovating. ‘Outsiders’ present fresh points of view. Enthusiasm about the goals stirs new thinking. Information about the success of recent creative ventures stimulates further creativity.

Call People to the Central Concerns of Humanity

Give Attention to the Core Values of Religious Faith

Whatever great service you render to society in the material order, people are touched ultimately only by the respect you show to their person, to their dignity. They may admire your efficiency or financial sturdiness, but they are moved only when you manifest the ability to lead and guide them along life’s uncertain ways to humanity’s nobler ideals. They will go with you when they see that you are not lost in the midst of theologies, ideologies, structures, laws, traditions, practices; that you do not absolutize your pet theories or devotions or favourite programmes; but that you have at heart central human concerns: justice and peace, mercy, love and forgiveness, family values so typical of Asia, neighbourhood relationships, honesty and uprightness in a corrupt society, sincerity and authenticity, solidarity and generosity, faith and prayerfulness, respect for life and concern for the poor and a profound sense of responsibility for human affairs. These are virtues that have a universal appeal, they provide us with the language everyone understands, they have a marvellous motivating power.

Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, bishop of Shanghai, said recently, “The core of the Gospel is not hate, it is unity and not division, it is concern for the little ones and the poor” (30 Days, No.12, 2004).

When we divert too far from these central concerns, we are moving on unsure grounds, no matter how well motivated we may look. As soon as we are aware of the distance that has grown between us and these core concerns of humanity, we must hasten to return. Jesus himself severely rebuked the leaders in Israel who allowed people to bypass their obligations to care for their parents by having recourse to pious-looking religious legalism, or to get rid of a spouse adhering to the letter of the law.

Since I put justice first in this list of virtues, I have a word of caution. I have never been over-enthusiastic about justice-struggles that excluded charity. Zeal for justice that is not an expression of love can become an untameable monster. Denunciation that does not end with a word of blessing can prove to be effectively a curse. Severe criticism, even when well deserved, should have a touch of encouragement somewhere. Accusations will end well only if there are words of affirmation too.

It is too much to claim that all of us can all the time be sure where the right and the wrong lies in every situation. All human actions cannot easily be classified as ‘black and white’ without danger of serious mistakes and without running the risk of fostering a great measure of self-righteousnss in oneself. Fanatic justice-denouncers look like true descendents of ancient inquisitors, heresy-hunters and burners of itches at the stake. However, I do not mean to deny that there are very clear cases of injustice which need to be seriously opposed. In fact, when injustice is evident and serious, we ought to stake even our life for the restoration of justice. What I fail to appreciate is the trivializing of justice issues and taking shelter under such a glorious title to hide one’s contentious ways. Nor is it a healthy trend to shift from the inter-religious conflict of the old days to inter-ideological conflicts in our times.

It is equally important that every form of religious fervour keeps referring back to the central concerns of religious faith: encounter with God, repentance, sacrifice, renunciation, faith, fidelity, prayer experience, authenticity, love. If we are not careful, we may be lost in the midst of theologies, argumentations, social struggles, fashionable trends of the day and even a multitude of devotions, and find ourselves distant from true God experience, spiritual depth, Christian authenticity, earnest religious search, transparent charity, genuine zeal, spiritual unction, evangelical persuasiveness.

Resist Inner Secularisation

A book has come out studying the internal secularisation of the Church (Edward Norman, Secularisation, Continuum, London, 2002). The study is immediately concerned with the Church of England, but it has lessons for all churches. The author argues that the Church is in decline in the West due “its own internal secularisation, from its voluntary and largely unconscious adoption of the ideas and practices of the benign adversaries who came to it with friendly countenances and largely innocent intentions” (pg. ix). The reasons he gives is that “in modern times culture has become secularised, and the leaders of the Church, in persisting to follow its ideals, are becoming themselves secularised in the process” (pg. 33). He warns us against accepting secular Humanism in an inarticulate and unrecognised form as a permanent orientation of life and thought. He feels that Church leaders are making a big mistake in trying to present “secular enthusiasm for humanity as core Christianity”. And so, he says, that the Church now has little to declare that is distinctive in a secularised society, “Institutional Christianity has lost the capacity to influence the culture on the one hand, and the culture is progressively secularised on the other” (pg. ix). He calls it “death by one’s own hand”.

In the history of Israel we notice the opposite trend. Events like the exodus from Egypt and the settlement in Palestine, and celebrations like the harvest feast, all secular in nature, became part of Israel’s faith and worship. They became sacred experiences in their memory. We are moving in the other direction.

Edward Norman points out that a little earlier this weakness was expressed in the politicisation of the Church, today it may be in an exaggerated enthusiasm for welfare materialism and other secular goals. The eternal destinies of human beings hardly ever receive attention. Apparently we are moving towards total blindness to the transcedant. Even for pre-Christian Greeks and Romans, the finer aspects of human culture included the intelluctual, moral and spiritual. Today we are caught up in a discourse of the most pragmatic nature, mere material welfare, economic development, egalitarian property distribution, as though those who are already developed in the material sphere and enjoy somewhat equitable sharing of wealth have attained bliss. On the contrary, the real fact is that the global society has reached the age of vulgar materialism, consumerism, possessiveness, hedonistic self-interest, fierce competition for immediate satisfaction, leading to war and violence in every form. There is much opportunism and self-interest in religious persons ardently advocating secular humanism. What remains ultimately is a religionless religion, and for us Christians a Christless Christianity.

The Church of England noticed that even when their Episcopal leadership remained in the hands of persons who attached importance to tradition, education (training of clergy) was slipping into the hands of liberal thinkers. This has led to tension within the Church. But the direction is clear: movement towards a sort of neo-puritanism with justice-issues dominating the discourse, combined with liberalistic dogmas, and the consecration of a secularised view of life. Once we thought that if human hearts were changed, life would be changed for better. Then we thought if structures were changed, the world would rid itself of all evil. Today we have come to the point of not believing in evil at all; what was considered evil is taken to be just normal. We religious too can come to think that rhetoric about the poor can compensate for our total ignoring of the obligations of religious life. Rather than be faithful to inherited religious traditions, faith-supported services, and the responsibilities that have been given to us, we can escape into self-seeking secular humanism.

The World Council of Churches have been worried about such trends. “We have lifted up humanization as the goal of mission... In another time the goal of God’s redemptive work might best have been described in terms of man turning to God.... The fundamental question was that of the true God.... Today the fundamental question is much more that of the true man” (Draft for Section: Uppsala 1968). Roger E. Hedlund says, “Although it has several variations, generally liberation theology tends to identity the kingdom of God with movements for justice in society” (Evangelisation and Church Growth Issue from the Asian Context, Madras CGRC, 1992).

In this connection it is interesting to note what Cardinal Ersilio Tonini said recently, “Christ did not come to make men honest, Socrates was enough for that. To admire man, to speak well of his spirituality, Socrates and the great thinkers were enough. It’s different . Christ is a taste of God, that is the point” (30 days No.11, 2004).

In another context, Christodoulos, the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens said, “The secularisation of the Church is seen among other things in its aspiration to acquire secular power, in its subjection to nationalistic aims, or in its reduction to a tool of propoganda of whatever kind...local Churches...must not lose their universal openness by misrepresenting the nature of their own mission...it is called to stand before the people and point the way to salvation...not to promote the development of a vast social system” (30 days No. 11, 2004).

Secularisation has consequences. According to a report published in Telegraph October 24, 2004, Chris Cranmer, a naval technician, serving in the frigate Cumberland, is now allowed to perform Satanic rituals on board ship. Satanism is growing in the UK, USA and many European countries. And so are other occult religions and spiritualities. In his ‘The Strange death of Moral Britain’, he argues that increase in crime, drug use, illegitimacy, abortion, homosexuality, etc. is linked to the declining influence of Christian morality.

The Western churches still declare their truths from the world views, thoughts and images supplied by the Mediterranean cultures. Edward Norman feels that Christian essentials have to be rescued from the ruins of a collapsed cultural world and rendered in the emerging images and symbols of the new.

The word spirituality once referred to human capacity for a “comunion with the divine”. “Now it is employed to describe merely human aesthetic or emotional experience, the celebration of human artistic or literary accomplishment, an exposition of the finer qualities of individual perception of creativity” (pg. 2). Once cathedrals and churches were considered embodiments of faith, today they are merely symbols of cultural heritage (catering to middle class aesthetic taste). For some again, religion is no more than a therapy.

If Jesus was concerned about justice and welfare, he was also concerned about sin and corruption. We in India have noticed that, while we are developing economic skills and apparently making a convincing breakthrough to modern life, we are unable to contain the rapid growth of violence and corruption. Corruption is a universal phenomenon, said Indira Gandhi, as though it is normal. One immediately thinks of W. B. Yeats’ words, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”. Value-systems have collapsed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking at the Red Fort on Independence day 2004, called for an ‘ethics code’! Khuswant Singh attempts answer, “I have come to the conclusion that the only hope for a poor people to remain immune to corrupton is the revival of the right kind of religion” (Sentinel 6.11.04). That would be valid for the rich as well.

We religious too are in danger of being led into the empty middle-class rhetoric about doing heroic things for the deprived with no evidence of generosity to go with, and into being merely ‘politically correct’-- speaking of “sexual equality, disabled rights, inclusive social structures, racial integration, cultural parity and so forth”, and never about adoration, silence, renunciation, fidelity to vows, rules, charisms, wonder, awe and surrender in faith. It has something to do with the rebirth of classical Puritanism in our own days. In our country, it has the appearance of a new version of Indian Brahminism.

We become like the ‘drawing-room revolutionaries’ of Indira Gandhi’s days (someone has called them Bhadralok subalternists) who revelled in radical rhetoric. No radical action was meant. Persons who develop this way of thinking seem to be liberal, but they are very dogmatic about their ideological stands. They claim to voice the grievances of the poorer communities, but are often out of touch with the poor people’s sense of religion. They claim to be fighting for the working class, but are unacquainted with working class culture and have not developed the skill for responding to their hunger for God. Consequently they are unable to dialogue with people who take their religion seriously. They consider them fundamentalists, whether Christian, Hindu or Muslim. Indeed, we need to be on our guard against being inwardly secularised.

Avoid Theological Sensationalism

We have often seen media persons who are all eager for cheap, controversial, and hurtful sensationalism in reporting events. We can carry such an attitude to theological reflection as well. While speaking to the faithful or teaching our juniors we may be more eager to surprise (and even shock) people than to edify and build up their faith. This is mere sensationalism. The last article or book we read or the latest opinion expressed by a maverick thinker need not be presented as the core substance of our next week’s teaching. As ideas mature, we graft the new to the old. We emphasize the continuity of thought in the collective thinking of the believing community than the contrast. Even what is new, has a rootedness in the old. Such teaching, such religious instruction builds up the community, strengthens further sturdiness in faith, and completes and corrects what needed to be completed or corrected.

In the same way it is not a helpful thing to discredit the Christian past. Everyone knows that there are lights and shadows in our collective history. As no family is made up of heroes only, so too no human society is made up of only exceptionally great men/women of ability and virtue. Even nation, ethnic group, civilization, and religious tradition is trying its best today to depict its past in glowing terms and are eager to explain the less glorious events in its history with immensely persuasive power. Even what looks like archaic or obscurantist in its tradition is being so interpreted in today’s vocabulary as to be intelligible to modern society. In this context, it is a sad thing to see Christian intellectuals being hyper-critical of the Christian community’s past and holding the entire community responsible for its failure in some distant part of the world in the distant past²⁵.

²⁵We are not asking that we should to be proud of the crusades or the inquisition. Just as we judge people of other cultures kindly because they have other ways of thinking, we ought to judge people of earlier ages according to their own understanding of what was proper and good. The Christian society in West Asia and Europe had been yielding ground to advancing Islamic forces for

It is painful indeed, similarly, when we see religious persons underestimating the formation they received, underrating the pioneers and the people who have gone before them (calling their missionary zeal a ‘conquest mentality’), hastily discarding the lived traditions of our charism related to religious commitment and apostolate, unreflectively borrowing concepts that have not proved their validity in our own context.

Missionaries have been hastily accused of westernising their converts. It is important to look at the events of those days with contemporaary eyes. People from the depressed classes saw the western way of life offering them a superior identity compared to the humble position in which they were held by the Brahminic culture they were abandoning. “Far from being a weak concession to domineering missionaries, Westernisation represented a symbolic challenge by long suppressed lower classes to an oppressive indigenous social order.” (Susan B. Harper, Ironies of Indigenization, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol 19/1, pp. 13-20).

Totally discrediting the past can shake the self-confidence of communities. It can weaken the faith of juniors and kill the enthusiasm for sharing a message which, if lived out in reality, brings salvation. It is the depth of faith that communicates, persuades, convinces. If we are

nearly a thousand years before it was able to bring the advance to a halt. Meantime it had lost two-thirds of its communities, its intellectual centres, and its shrines and holy places. If a small remnant of the society in the West, adopting a weak imitation of the Islamic Jihad (crusades), tried to recapture some of the lost areas with limited success, all the blame cannot to be put to one side. (Similar examples we have in India are Shivaji and the Marathas in the West and the Ahoms in the East pushing back the Mughals). The institution of slavery too was re-introduced to the West from Islamic traditions and those prevailing in Africa. Spanish society’s eagerness to maintain the gain they had made, led them to the excesses of forced conversions and Inquisition for which the Christians in the rest of the world need not be held responsible. With Islamic re-invasion continuing to threaten the Spanish shores, we can understand the anxiety that pressed the leaders to make a political use of the Inquisition. These are not glorious pages in that nation’s history, but they need to be understood in their own contexts. Self-criticism is legitimate, self-destruction is not.

There are times when we need to be rightly proud of our history, even as

embarrassed and apologetic about the Church, her teachings, her history, it is impossible to draw people closer to her.

we apologize. While the crusades are remembered with resentment, one should not forget the many centuries of collaboration between the Islamic and Christian societies. Islam, newly emerging from the deserts of Arabia, greatly benefited from the services of Christian teachers, thinkers and artists schooled for generations in Greek philosophy and art. Greek thought and art learned from Christian teachers from the East were taken to Spain by its Arab conquerers, where it flourished. Western Christians were introduced to Greek civilization by these Arab masters in Spain, and this encounter between the Islamic and Western world was the immediate cause of European Renaissance. Christian artisans in the service of Muslim ruling class too made a major contribution to the development of Islamic art and architecture. Many lived traditions of the Christian West Asia were absorbed into the Islamic culture of the middle east.

We may add a word about certain Church traditions and practices that came in for severe criticism a few decades ago. When we criticize them excessively under the influence of Enlightenment values we are being unfair to our predecessors. We are dishonouring our ancestry. Moreover, in the light of the current re-evaluation of Enlightenment assumptions, such criticisms have proved to be wrong or at least greatly exaggerated. The Catholic Church that thinks in terms of centuries, may not be quick in her decisions, but she has the patience to wait for re-thinking in society of its own hasty reactions and conclusions. One interesting example is the Church’s approach to population control. Curiously, a new school of economists argue that population is not a problem, but an asset. In history, all rising nations had rising populations. Healthy, literate, and well trained persons are productive workers. People with purchasing power make the market. Population in such situations is an asset. Due to declining population, many countries of the West, and again Japan, Korea, Singapore and other countries are offering incentives for bigger family. When India will have made a breakthrough to successful population control, she will be compelled to offer the same incentives, but too late. Philip Longman, a senior fellow at the New American Foundation asserts that people with strong religious convictions are going to have an advantage over the others in the demographic front. The future belongs to them, he argues (Jeevotsav Oct-Dec 2004). Sparsely populated countries like North Korea, Myanmar, Kenya, Nicaragua or Sudan have not made a breakthrough. Nor are states like Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan ahead of the others. Putting slow growth to large populations, as the mainstream economists do, is only a partial answer. The Church always thought so.

5. The Religious in the Field of

Evangelisation in Asia

There are certain areas where the religious are at their best. If God-quest is the central goal of religious life in itself, pointing to God is a related obligation. It is the absolute joy of the religious Evangeliser to speak about God and his wonderful plan for the ultimate good of his people. That is what Asians expect from a religious teacher.

Have Answers for those who Ask Serious Questions

In spite of an apparent appetite for superficial things in life (money, pleasures, excitement, continuous change), humanity has not lost taste for something more serious: something deeper in meaning, higher in destiny. That is precisely the area where religious persons are expected to be specially competent. If you know how to come on the wavelength of individuals and communities, you win a hearing. Speak of something that touches their lives closely, no matter how serious the topic, there will be listeners. Even as some seek distance from such messages because of their own superficiality, others draw close. Even in the very rejection of the transcendent by some, you will notice a hunger for the invisible in their deeper selves.

The age of religion is not over, it is just beginning. When people give up formal religious practices, reject excessively organized religion, and go for religious experiences and devotional thrills, they are not giving up religion; they are only manifesting their religious earnestness and spiritual hunger for what constitutes the core concern of religion. Unconsciously they are also exposing the lack of authenticity and seriousness in too many of our religious practices. Give these practices and traditions depth, meaning and relevance, and people will return. They will rush back when they actually find genuineness and true encounter with God in our traditional observances. Asian pilgrimage places are crowded. New temples and mosques keep coming up.

Lengthy discussion about the uniqueness of Christ, opinions for and against the theology of ‘outside the Church there is no salvation’, ‘demythologisation’ etc. can be totally irrelevant to a dialogue between a Searcher and an Evangeliser. Quite independent of the theological discussion about the uniqueness of Christ, it is precisely his ‘uniqueness’ that draws people to the faith. He remains a compelling figure in all human history. His words hold you by their power, and stun you into a new realization of reality. We should never be hesitant to present the person of Christ to people. It is he who gives meaning to everything Christian.

There is something like ‘faith language’. An average Muslim believes that there is no salvation outside Islam. For a Krishna devotee, Krishna is everything. For a devout Buddhist, everything is destined to Buddhahood. A Christian does not look on other people’s faith as a threat, but as a resource. Genuine believers in other religions look to Christian faith statements with respect. It is the politically motivated person that objects sharply to faith statements of others. It is the secularly motivated religious person that hastens to apologize for his faith.

People Search for Depth, Admire Renunciation

In Asia, we are not living in a secularised world, but in a society that takes religion seriously. It is not a ‘death-of-God’ theology that is gaining ground here, but ‘God-is-alive’ conviction. What we have to struggle against is not godlessness, but the misuse of religion for political and partisan purposes. Our task is not to plant faith in human hearts, (it is already there), but to channel people’s faith-fed energies towards human growth the way Jesus did. For, this, we point the Jesus way. For he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

In order to be able to do this we need to be people of deep faith. It is in this area that the religious can be experts. But it happens that when an inquirer comes to an Evangeliser, he is surprised to find that the bearer of so profound a message is totally lacking in depth: depth as a person, depth in conversation, depth in relationships, depth in understanding God’s word, depth in relationship with God. Some evangelisers are lost in administration, some in debates over concepts, and some in self-display. Where is the man of God, the inquirer asks. Where is the committed person?

Certainly, one universally accepted trait of a committed person in Asia is a measure of renunciation. In Eastern cultures, this is considered the touchstone of the genuineness of a man of God. Silence, self-possession, calm inner serenity, gentleness, quiet joy, humble service, respectful approach to persons and traditions--these and many other qualities are expected in the lives of ‘God-realized persons’. How else would you describe the religious? Even the busiest missionary must make space, like Mother Teresa, for contemplative closeness to God.

Tagore sang, “Fill my mind with the music of silence to last through the desert of noise.”

As religious persons, we need to take our religious life seriously. Soon after the Vatican Council, congregations were updating themselves and redimensioning their communities. The questions they were asking were about time-tables, structures, relaxation of rules, extension of freedoms, etc. Today the religious are asking far profounder questions: what is religious life? What do people of all races and religious faiths expect from persons who are fully given to their religion (consecrated, dedicated persons, sanyasins, monks, religious professionals)? If they expect spiritual depth, religious seriousness, detachment, apartness, sacrifice, there is no way of bypassing these without renouncing our identity. It is no more a question of negotiating with Rome, mobilizing opinions within chapters and councils or bulldozing some religious authority. It is a question of accepting or denying one’s religious identity before Asian society.

Announcing the Message through Symbols