Joey posted a very insightful excerpt about Tribal Theology. Here I "steal" from his post. May it inspire us to continue to live a life of justice and love in our broken world.
"Tribal people are the most exploited and divided people in the world. Theirs is a history of defeat, suffering and oppression. Throughout generations they suffered discrimination, genocide, exploitation and alienation. They lost their self-esteem because of conquest and slavery. And in recent years, globalization make the situation worst, it causes further marginalization to their continuity as people.
Longchar cites two example of the causes of the tribal people suffering. First is displacement. In different parts of the world the tribal people have become victims of development. They are evicted from their ancestral land because of mega projects--dam, wildlife sanctuaries, mines, reservoirs among others. And these are being done without due compensation. They are simply ignored, silenced and despised.
Second, indigenous people suffer from suppression. Dominant societies do not listen to their cries and do not acknowledge their human rights and dignity cause them to resort to arm struggle. The dominant government instead of recognizing the movements as a struggle for justice attempts to silence the movements by hostility. Soldiers killed innocent people, raped their women and burned their villages to ashes. One may think that these atrocities are not happening today but such human right violations has been going on and on.
Tribal theology came out of these experiences of various forms of injustice and exploitation. Their theology is an attempt to express Christian faith in socio-cultural, traditional and liturgical thought patterns of people. Tribal theology can be considered as resistance theology. It is a resistance to the destruction of the dignity of life, dances, songs and tribal people's spirituality.
Tribal theology is a contextual theology. Like liberation theology it is a theology from "below" and "underside of history." Longchar says that it seeks to reflect on the faith experience of the tribal and aims to liberate people from their inferiority complex, from oppressions and discriminations. To achieve al this , it attempts to rediscover the liberative motifs in the tribal culture and reinterpret the Bible and Christian traditions. Hence, the focus and goal of tribal theology is liberation. It embraces the social, economic, cultural, political and ecological dimensions. In the process of working their own liberation, the tribal people pursue the liberation of both the oppressors and the oppressed. It is, therefore, a theology that includes liberation of the whole humanity and of God's creation."
A. Wati Longchar, An Emerging Tribal/Indigenous Theology: Prospect for Doing Asian Theology."
"Tribal people are the most exploited and divided people in the world. Theirs is a history of defeat, suffering and oppression. Throughout generations they suffered discrimination, genocide, exploitation and alienation. They lost their self-esteem because of conquest and slavery. And in recent years, globalization make the situation worst, it causes further marginalization to their continuity as people.
Longchar cites two example of the causes of the tribal people suffering. First is displacement. In different parts of the world the tribal people have become victims of development. They are evicted from their ancestral land because of mega projects--dam, wildlife sanctuaries, mines, reservoirs among others. And these are being done without due compensation. They are simply ignored, silenced and despised.
Second, indigenous people suffer from suppression. Dominant societies do not listen to their cries and do not acknowledge their human rights and dignity cause them to resort to arm struggle. The dominant government instead of recognizing the movements as a struggle for justice attempts to silence the movements by hostility. Soldiers killed innocent people, raped their women and burned their villages to ashes. One may think that these atrocities are not happening today but such human right violations has been going on and on.
Tribal theology came out of these experiences of various forms of injustice and exploitation. Their theology is an attempt to express Christian faith in socio-cultural, traditional and liturgical thought patterns of people. Tribal theology can be considered as resistance theology. It is a resistance to the destruction of the dignity of life, dances, songs and tribal people's spirituality.
Tribal theology is a contextual theology. Like liberation theology it is a theology from "below" and "underside of history." Longchar says that it seeks to reflect on the faith experience of the tribal and aims to liberate people from their inferiority complex, from oppressions and discriminations. To achieve al this , it attempts to rediscover the liberative motifs in the tribal culture and reinterpret the Bible and Christian traditions. Hence, the focus and goal of tribal theology is liberation. It embraces the social, economic, cultural, political and ecological dimensions. In the process of working their own liberation, the tribal people pursue the liberation of both the oppressors and the oppressed. It is, therefore, a theology that includes liberation of the whole humanity and of God's creation."
A. Wati Longchar, An Emerging Tribal/Indigenous Theology: Prospect for Doing Asian Theology."
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interesting=)
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