Title: “Folk Christian Community in Kalimantan Evangelical Church (GKE) Congregations of Pendahara Katingan Resort”
Author: Stynie Nova Tumbol, Yane Octavia Rismawati Wainarisi
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
The cultural openness of Dayak society in Central Borneo has enabled the Dayak people to quickly adopt Christian traditions since Christianity came there in the late 1830s. However, not all Christian communities were able to reconcile their faith with their indigenous culture. Many Dayak continue to face the dilemma of living as “true” Christians abandoning all indigenous traditions yet burdened by the extinction of indigenous culture or, on the other hand, living as Christians continuing to observe local traditions while being absorbed in syncretist practices. Katingan Regency is distinctive for the number of Christian communities that continue in adherence to their original religion of Kaharingan. More than religious affiliation, Kaharingan is itself a cultural aspect of the Dayak people in Central Borneo. This qualitative research uses phenomenological methods to study GKE Resort Pendahara Katingan, whose congregations remains actively involved in the practice of Kaharingan ancestral rituals and traditions. Data were collected through direct observations, interviews, and document research, which were then triangulated prior to analysis and final conclusions. Findings of the study suggest that not all indigenous cultures stemming from folk religion are bad in principle, since many of these promote ethical values including ecosystem preservation within the framework of ecotheology. Such localized ethical wisdom supports and aligns with church traditions, as seen in the notion of belom bahadat—a term denoting the upright, virtuous life informed by the truth of tradition—that bespeaks hospitality towards fellow creatures as well as the earth where humanity dwells.
Title: “The Cultural House of Anggrunggondok as a Means to Build the Local Church in the Diocese of Purwokerto, Central Java”
Author: Antonius Galih Arga Wiwin Aryanto, Agustinus Brian Kurniawan, Saptono
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
This article examines the Anggrunggondok cultural house (rumah budaya) as a space of meeting and mutual dialogue between local Javanese values and the Catholic Church, through gamelan, ketoprak, and other traditional Javanese arts. The cultural house is located in Anggrungondok, Kapencar, Wonosobo, Central Java in the Diocese of Purwokerto. Research was conducted by means of in-depth interviews with resident artists. Study findings demonstrate the benefits of the cultural house as an instrument for the Church to develop the local community and become more relevant and significant for people nearby. The Anggrunggondok cultural house does this by helping farmers to be more self-supporting and artists to develop their local culture.
Title: “Understanding Generational Characteristics to Develop an Intergenerational Ministry in the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor (Gereja Masehi Injili di Timor)”
Author: Merensiana Hale
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
The church in its ministry is ever sensitive to respond to the needs of the congregation according to the times. Congregations comprised of several generations often become mired in congregational divisions, stemming from generational gap issues that then foment intergenerational conflicts. To respond to this problem, the church must equip itself with insights into generational characteristics so as to improve generation-based ministries. Therefore, this paper promotes the convergence of generational theory and church ministry, to enrich the church by means of an understanding of generations according to their characteristics. Toward these aims, a methodological literature review yields that generational theory presents a major contribution for the church that seeks to maximize its congregational ministry towards all who belong to God. For Gereja Masehi Injili di Timor, (Evangelical Christian Church in Timor), having a good understanding of generational theory and how it contributes to ministry is useful for developing and implementing strategies involving intergenerational Christian education.
Title: “Constructing a Contextual Theology of Friendship”
Author: Roy Charly Sipahutar
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
Indonesian theologians over the past decade have shown increasing interest in discussing various aspects of friendship. Unfortunately, not many have explored it from the perspective of the Old Testament (OT), in spite of the fact that several OT narratives explicitly depict interpersonal friendship—one of which tells of the close relationship between Jonathan and David as found passim throughout 1 and 2 Samuel. This article seeks both a deeper understanding of as well as fresh insights from the Jonathan-David narrative, which will be re-read through the lens of Batak Toba friendship as represented by marpadan and maraleale. Sociological, anthropological, and spiritual values of friendship are intertwined in these two important terms. In re-reading the Jonathan-David narrative, marpadan (intricate solidarity) and maraleale (deep friendship) are placed in a constructive dialogue with bĕrîth (covenant or testament in biblical Hebrew). The results of this re-reading through a Batak Toba perspective shows that the Jonathan-David relationship was not limited only to their interpersonal relationship but later expands to include intercommunal relations. Friendship is thus the willingness of both parties to open up, blend together, and always be progressively subject to mutual self-evaluation.
Title: “Love, Virginity, and Shame”
Author: Melinda Siahaan, Reymond Pandapotan Sianturi, Agustina Lumbantobing , Rolima Rajagukguk, Cahaya Julita Gea
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
This paper discusses the phenomenon of dating violence, or kekerasan dalam pacaran (KDP). Although a perpetrator evinces threats upon personal safety, victims tend to defend and rationalize a perpetrator's negative behaviour by considering KDP a unique form of love, care, and affection. This stance perpetuates KDP on the one hand, while it hinders advocacy efforts for victims on the other. The authors conducted a study of the experiences of KDP among eleven female undergraduate students in North Tapanuli Regency. Through its use of an intersectional feminist perspective proposed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, this paper finds that cultural, religious, gendered, and economic factors play a pivotal role in a victim’s stance to maintain KDP relations. Such victoms of KDP become trapped in overlapping injustices caused by the KDP perpetrator, cultures of discriminatory gender relations within a patriarchal society, an errant theological interpretation of love and forgiveness, and even poverty. This article offers three points for a theological reconstruction: a (corrective) theology of love and forgiveness, of imago Dei, and of shame and accountability.
Title: “Repentance and Renewal of Mind”
Author: Sugianto
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
Examining the harmony and disharmony between sacred texts and the wisdom tradition of the local community is an important step to develop a peaceful dialogue with the hope of reducing tensions, namely, in the social, cultural, and religious context of Java. In this study, the narrative structures of Romans 12:1-2 and Sastra Jendra Hayuningrat Pangruwating Diyu are placed in cross-textual dialogue. In particular, the author uses the actantial analytic reading method of Algirdas Julien Greimas to bridge an analysis concerning repentance and the renewal of the mind. This approach to cross-textual reading, as it is informed by Greimas' theory, focuses on the main narrative structure of Romans 12:1-2 and Sastra Jendra Hayuningrat Pangruwating Diyu, showing that there is both harmony that becomes the basis for dialogue but also disharmony that enriches the dialogue between these stories.
Title: “Pilgrimage in a Complex and Plural World”
Author: Albertus Bagus Laksana, William Christopher Hariandja, Rezerius Bintang Taruna
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
Through case study research involving several Catholic pilgrimage sites in Java and Bali, this article shows the role of Catholic pilgrimage sites and their assoiated practices. By taking a phenomenological-anthropological approach informed by sacramental theology and a Catholic theology of evangelization, this article examines today’s dynamics of evangelization in an increasingly divided, complex, and pluralistic era. Pilgrimage sites and traditions have a unique role in the process of evangelization, understood as an expansion of the Church’s presence that transforms people and local communities, with pilgrimage sites and practices shown to empower pilgrims by helping them connect with God, themselves, others, and the universe on a personal, spiritual level. The administrators of pilgrimage sites also seek solidarity with a site’s surrounding community. Given that the Catholic pilgrimage tradition helps people to express their religion in personal, interpersonal, cosmic, and inclusive ways vis-à-vis other religions, the pilgrimage tradition helps the Church and society face the dangers of the privatization of religion, the politicization of religion, and the spread of radical and iconoclastic ideologizations of religion. Such is the task of contextual evangelization in a plural and complex society like Indonesia.
Title: “A Forgiving Community”
Author: Yudit Tiwery Weldemina, Vincent Kalvin Wenno
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
Public forgiveness plays a crucial role in efforts to reduce conflicts. In practice, forgiveness performed by a group or community often becomes the subject of diverse discourses. The text of 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 conveys a message about the necessity of forgiveness in a public context. The text is closely associated with the dynamic relationship between Paul, the community, and the individuals considered guilty. Paul makes a demand for the community to forgive those who have committed wrongdoings, following the example of forgiveness that he has demonstrated towards the offenders. Employing an intercontextual method, this study examines the context of public forgiveness in 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 and the forgiveness process that occurs in the post-conflict situation in Maluku. Both contexts are treated as subjects that collectively contribute creatively to determining meaning within this research. Considering both contexts, this study elaborates on the experiences of forgiveness in these two contexts simultaneously. Ultimately, the study deduces that public forgiveness is also important to be considered in reconciliation efforts. Forgiveness is not solely confined to the dimensions of personal piety or personal morality, but it also serves as a moral value that must be implemented by the entire community.
Title: “How to Study Global Christianity: A Short Guide for Students”
Author: Byung Ho Choi
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
A book review of How to Study Global Christianity: A Short Guide for Students.
Title: “Intersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide”
Author: Grant Nixon
Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000
Description:
A book review of Intersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide