Soc DigestChallenges to Christian Spirituality in a Globalized World

by Bar 'Eato Briro Dr. D. Babu Paul

 

Let us begin by trying to understand what is different about the modern globalised world. The Internet, the continent that is invisible, has brought us all together to the situation described in Genesis 1:9 when the land was one mass, before it got broken up into continents as we see now. Just as Pentecost was the divine response to Babel the Internet seems to be the irreversible response to the continental drift we speak of in Geology. With this level of communication each man impacts the whole world today. When Alexander invaded India those who lived in what is now Japan or the USA would neither have been influenced by nor even aware of the event, but today CNN would have had a team travelling with him and even Doordarsan would have covered at least the encounter with King Porus. With this level of communication each man impacts, and is in turn impacted by, the whole world today. We are in a borderless world that has become a village through the immediacy of communications.


I call it a borderless world because a subtle change has overtaken the relative emphasis bestowed on cartographic facts. Earlier rivers, roads, railways, ports, mineral resources, national boundaries etc. were what mattered, now it is the extent to which satellites can extend their footprints, the limits to which radio signals will penetrate, the geographic limits which print media can reach. Information has become the most important landscape feature impacting economic activity. Political boundaries are certainly important still, but they are less important than what people know, what people treasure, what people wish to possess. In the ancient society the land where they lived and the social webs which circumscribed them were more important than political boundaries for the people. Today we are back there. People know how other people live, what economic choices are available. In the ultimate analysis this knowledge overcomes the tyranny of physical distance and state edicts. If Soviet Union had not disintegrated before 1997 or so it would have, since then and by now; it is no longer possible for a central authority to impose arbitrary limits. 


Globalisation of taste is a significant reality. In the ancient world the Silk Road or coastal shipping led to universalisation of choices and the consequent crystallization of domestic choices. Today’s Silk Road is the speed of access to global media. From Sao Paulo to Shanghai, from Timbuktu to Trivandrum the same jeans, the same colas, the same shoes, and what is more frightening, the same music form part of the mental horizon of today’s man. This however is only an overlayer of jam spread on the existing butter called culture on the ‘bread of life’. The socio-cultural borders limited the impact once, but no longer. Now information-and-technology-driven processes make social barriers insignificant. Japanese society is an interesting example. As in our own urban middle-class of nuclear families so in Japan the kids no longer hear the folklore on the knees of their grandmothers; the child’s world and the web of culture which the child weaves around it comes from interaction with internet, computer games and cartoon networks. In the process the vertical linkages in society are threatened. Why threatened, the link is broken and in its place is a new link with those sharing similar experiences in other societies. The modern kid no longer depends on family and shared experiences therein as much as it does on other kids from other cultures according to programmed mindsets created by the media. The father may belong to the Marthoma Church but the child belongs to the ORKUT community! One reason for this is the upward mobility of a segment of society, in financial terms, because the acceleration caused by globalisation has gone beyond the critical mass required to convert changes in lifestyle into changes in mindset. Another is the impact of the electronic media. The Kerala society has undergone a change affecting the size, structure and attitude of the family which is not homeless. TV has become the focal point in the living room that has emerged after the joint families gave way to nuclear families. Earlier the Malayalee had his teashop and coffeehouse to minimize the distances created by caste and politics, and the women their churches and temples, the evening skyline was dotted by clusters of human beings. Not any longer. The poor do get out, but they also rush to the Panchayat TV kiosk. Today my grandchildren have more in common with children of their age in America than with my generation in this country. What is challenged in this process is the essential intergenerational continuity.


It is in this background that we have to consider the challenges that spirituality faces today. The Second Vatican Council saw atheism as a major problem and Pope Paul VI formed a Secretariat for Nonbelievers. John Paul II made a Pontifical Council for Culture and later merged it with this Secretariat. The Catholic Church recognized very early the challenge of a culture of unbelief and religious indifference. Yet they found that after atheism ceased to be significant the secularism of the western type, that which negates religion, became the cultural habitat. This has led to some sort of an anthropological nihilism because with no respect for the person human beings get reduced to their instincts and tendencies. Atheism in other words has not “died”; it is invisible, diffused in the cultural landscape: the present Pope when he was a cardinal used the expression “a diffuse presence, almost omnipresent” (sic). At the same time we find the return of the sacred also, but the difficulty is that this is not a return to church and traditional spirituality but the rise of a new religiosity that is defined by a complete refusal to belong, to identify. To understand these phenomena and to discern ways to meet the challenges thereof is an urgent task of the church. The basic problem is that in the globalised world unbelief and bad belief come in pair. We are looking for God in the Technopark. God of course is there. May be some of us see Him there too. But the question is whether those technopark executives see Him, and whether they are interested in searching for Him.


Militant atheism is no serious threat today. The threat comes from the fact that tremendous cultural hostility to religion, especially Christianity, exists. This leads to agnostic platforms for the educated. Perhaps God does not exist, how are we concerned, we have no time to undertake a search for God: this seems to sum up the modern environment. And alongside we have the religious church goers who believe but do not belong. These are the people who finally end up in cults and sects. Their search is spiritual but not religious; they are moved by the inherent desire of man to meet God but they want to find their own solutions.


Let us now try to identify some of the major challenges. The first challenge that I notice is that most of those who end up in unbelief do not do so at the end of any deep or long inner struggle. They reach the platform of indifference because ‘everybody else does it’. This is often because there is inadequate spiritual formation at the family and High School level. Bible is hardly read and catechism is never taken seriously. A second challenge I find is the narcissistic subjectivity of the modern individual. This means that no institution is deemed greater than the individual. The individual becomes the reference point. Church is no longer the authority that it was. Nor other institutions like State or court. Thirdly the adolescent experiences in the church spirituality often leave scars. This could be the protest or rebellion of a moment that is not appropriately tackled at the parish level. Or it may be the frustration at the conduct of the priests and bishops. A priest does not have the freedom that a lay person has but many of us, ordained priests or church leaders, often ignore this fact. Fourthly the family has failed in this globalised world, especially in the urban areas. The pace of work, the fact that both parents work long hours away from home, the influence of television and the total secularization of society are all factors that have contributed to the failure of the family. Children have too much burden in school, too much homework, too much competition, too much isolation due to computer which is of course an unavoidable presence of the day. Fifthly globalization of behaviour. Success, money, competition and individual pleasure are the key words that define life today. There is neither time nor inclination for anything higher than satisfying the least craving. Consumerism that is totally unchristian and unevangelical rules us through the media. The Onam that has just passed saw all people in Kerala going mad: advertisements that tell us what we need had a much greater role this time since economy is booming. This kind of situation automatically would lead to a cultural transformation which threatens faith. Also this can make many crave for spiritual experience. They go to alternative religions that provide emotional participation. If the church does not satisfy you try some ‘brother’ offering pseudo heaven. If the temple rituals do not satisfy you go to Sri Sri Ravisankar whose methods are an imitation of our charismatic movements. This spiritual supermarket from where you can pick and choose is another challenge. People who go to cults seldom return to traditional spirituality: their fascination for the new is an exit point. Sixthly we have to see the media as a challenge. Apart from pornography and hedonism the media generally take a view that detracts from the respect for spirituality. The culture that the media projects shows no need for God. The surrounding culture that is hedonistic, consumerist and competitive makes it difficult for God to be visible. Tolerance is idealized to such an extent that it anaesthetises the conscience. Human sexuality has become a personal question. Seventh: those in search of internal peace feel that it is easier to seek it through re-incarnation or rebirth because it is easier to realize things in this world, be it in this birth or the next. The other side of this coin is that God ceases to be a personal God and becomes just a transcendental super power.


Perhaps we can identify and enumerate more challenges. A challenge is not an obstacle. It is an opportunity that must be used to rediscover transcendent values. It is neither our mission nor our goal to impede the cultural transformation that we see around us. On the other hand it must be our endeavour to ensure that faith in Christ is transmitted in this scenario.


One of the first things that come to mind is the need for extensive intercessory prayers. There is a French group that prays for ‘those distant from God’. When I last heard they had 5000 members around the world who prayed like a chain.


Cultural air that one breathes has a significant bearing on one’s spiritual life. Therefore ongoing evangelical work is significant. What I mean is not so much aimed at convincing as at preparing the ground. A first step would be to identify footholds, even toeholds, and of course if possible points of anchorage for the proclamation of the good news. Public witness that involves youth, city missions that take the mission to the marketplace, Christian movements in the world of the media, prayer groups of college teachers and Government officials, promotion of secular cultural events where we co-operate with unbelievers etc are some of the areas which can be considered for pastoral action. The essential motif must be to say in action, COME AND SEE (John 1: 38).


Family is a crucial area in this context. The family is the first school of the Gospel. It is one place where a lived-out faith can be transmitted to the next generation. My father used to sit down with the Bible and two commentaries (I now know they were Gore and Peake) and my mother used to join him later after she had finished her kitchen cores to learn and discuss. My VEDASABDARATNAKARAM is a result of that example. Of course I do not follow the practices exactly. I modify as I see fit. Yet the seed was sown by my parents. Family is a place of culture where each member learns from others. It is necessary therefore to devote more time to family life. My father spent quality time with me. I did the same. And now my son tries to do that with his small children. Family apostolate is very important to overcome the latter day challenges, of the world as a whole, of consumerism and societal pressure in particular. How do we regulate the time spent by children in front of the TV? How do we instil in them the ability to distinguish between necessity and luxury, between wanting and needing things? How do we make them conscious of the economic disparities in this world? We can go on citing more areas where the family is a crucial unavoidable platform to meet the challenges posed by the globalised world.


To help the family in this regard the parents must have continuing education. The church does play its role in initial spiritual formation but later no effort is seen made to nurture further spiritual growth of the believers. How exactly this is to be attempted is beyond me to identify, but as pastors it should be possible for you to discuss the situation in different places. All I would like to say is that the church that neglects the globalised ‘woman’- I am being gender sensitive here!!- has to correct itself. Ecclesial formation of the adult is a veritable need in this world where everybody except the church is trying to influence them. The joy of believing in Jesus and sharing that belief in church is now restricted to a small segment of church affiliates who are so attached to the faith that nothing can take them away, and whose faith was sown and nurtured by their parents, their Sunday School teachers, their Achans of their childhood; this is a challenge to the present day pastors, especially the younger ones. Pastoral work needs to be redefined. How, I cannot say.


We have a large number of educational institutions. Are they able to transmit spirituality? I remember my first experience of meditation and, since I belong to the Orthodox persuasion, my first confession. And the successive retreats and the Students’ Movements, SCM etc. Even at that time we were not ‘all’ students. And as years went by there must have been many dropouts. Does the church have a programme to help young Technopark executives and young parents and middle aged couples and old people to learn, or relearn, the modes of practical spirituality?


It is crucial to ensure that the leaven acts, but it is more crucial to target the whole dough. I fear that the church runs away from this task by seeking shelter behind the leaven. We cannot ignore the leaven but as I said before they are there more out of their childhood experiences than because you the pastors or people like me who teach Bible have done anything special. Our work lies outside in the whole mass of dough and we take it for granted that the retention of the leaven is a great achievement! To reach out beyond the leaven we need to make use of art, culture, literature, in short all available forms of human activity. Sri Sri Ravisankar uses the methods proved by charismatic Christian movements and Amritanandamayi’s people do discreet advertising. We do not even recognize it. During Ramzan many of us write columns for newspapers. Tomorrow two TV channels are coming home to take my byte about Ramzan which this year commences tomorrow. During last Karkitakam I wrote three columns on Raman, for Manorama, Mathrubhoomi and Kalakaumudi. During the Paschal Lent nobody asks you to write like this! Neither Manorama nor Mathrubhoomi feels the need to have a preparation of two months to meditate on the forthcoming Passion Week. Newspapers carry regular columns of advice from Amma or Swami but nobody seems to have asked any Thirumeni to speak every week! In a major newspaper owned by Christians the writer of a weekly column of consolation and advice was asked by its senior most professional journalist, who incidentally is from the Marthoma Church, to deemphasize Christian imagery despite the fact that when he quoted the Psalms the writer used to refer to David as ‘one Hebrew poet’. When the author refused they commissioned a third rate non Christian. Will the church have time to spare to hold a retreat for Christian writers? Even if we run retreat for all believers, from all religions, it would still be better than not organizing a Retreat. I remember suggesting to Theology students at a Kerala meet held at KUTS in 1978 or so that the church should pastor its young politicians, of all hues. (That paper was published in THARAKA those days when the late A A Paily Achan was its Editor; those BD/BTh students must be fairly senior priests in CSI/ Marthoma now!)True we can be proud of Minister Mathew Thomas, but the credit should go to his parents for his moral formation and to his wife for his continued faith. What is the church doing? Why is it that every Christian is not a Mathew Thomas or a Paul P. Mani or E John Philipose?


Cardinal Newman wrote in his Grammar of Assent about the importance of a twofold approach to evangelism, heart and head, feeling and reason. A large number of people today find the emotional appeal more arresting. They refind the pleasure of believing in this angle but it is the duty of the church to support them with a base of reason as well as a spirituality that goes beyond emotion. The primacy of the person, the other, is important. Personal relationships are important.Inculturating the faith and evangelizing cultures through interpersonal relationships is not a new idea. De Nobili tried it long ago with success. We know that. But we do not realize that the members of the Marthoma Church who are now in their 30s belong to a different culture as distinct and distant from us as the Indians were from De Nobili when he came. To evangelise them a loving and intelligent immersion into their culture is inevitable. We have to understand them in depth. We have to be in their world with true charity.


Spiritual void and homelessness or rootlessness along with institutional defiance demands a new spirituality. This spirituality is to be based on authentic Christian life, life of apostolic creativity (remember Paul who became Jew for Jews and Gentile for Gentiles), life of uprightness. The inter related challenges of unbelief and religious indifference are calls to resurrect and retransmit Christian spirituality to the neopagan neognostic world. Centuries ago St. Augustine said, “brothers, in all earnestness we invite you to this charity, not only to your companions in faith, but also to those outside, be they pagans who do not yet believe in Christ, or be they separated from us….It is time that we show them a largesse of charity, an infinite mercy in supplicating God for them that He finally grant them ideas and sentiments of wisdom to mend their ways…” Yes, prayer is the answer. Let us recognize the importance of witnessing the beauty of being a person loved by God. Let us recognize the urgency of revealing to all who may be indifferent to God but open to human values that to be truly human is to be religious, that the fullness of humanity is to be found in Christ, true God and true man, and that Christianity is good news for all men in all cultures, the globalised culture not excluded. 


Not easy but not impossible with God. The night was disappointing. The instruction of the guru seemed an invitation to futile work. Yet Peter responded without hesitation, Lord at Your word I will cast the nets. (Lk 5:4) The net was filled with so many fish that it almost broke. Today the Lord is inviting the church again to cast out into the deep, far from the banks of human safety and human wisdom. To care for Mathew Thomases and George Samuels and innumerable similar souls less well known and less noticed is good of course but the Church is called to go beyond the leaven to reach the whole dough. The Lord says “Cast your net in the deep waters” and it is time for us to respond, “Yes, at your word we will cast the nets”.

Keynote Address by D. Babu Paul

Annual Diocesan Clergy Conference
Thiruvanantapuram Kollam Diocese, Marthoma Church