Thursday 21st January 2016 , Heythrop College, London
Kristian Girling is to be congratulated on obtaining his doctorate. The Theology Group were pleased to receive from him a paper with a reflection on dialogue and ecumenical engagement between the Roman Catholic, Chaldean Catholic Church and Church of the East. The divisions between the Roman church and the Syriac churches were over the divinity of Christ...was Mary the Mother of God (Roman church) or the Mother of Christ (Syriac churches)?...was Christ wholly human or God in human form?...can a Christ who is God in human form be as vulnerable as a 'normal' human being? Was the distinction a matter of definitive vocabulary and/or a matter of essential liturgy? This was the moot point of the Council of Ephesus in 431. Over 1500 years later, a part of the Syriac community of Churches is in communion with Rome, the Chaldean Catholic Church. However not the Church of the East which was by far the largest missionary church several hundred years ago with congregations throughout Asia and India; with a claim to be the first Christian Church to establish itself in China. The Iraq-Iran war and the many troubles that followed led the decline in the power and influence of the two churches as the diaspora grew apace and power and influence shifted to the Americas. The Chaldean Church, with the backing of a more prosperous western Church Community, weathered the political storms more safely and the relative influence of the two churches have adjusted to this new reality. It is not suprising then that closer union has been more pressingly on the agenda of the two churches and considerable progress has been made towards union between the Roman and Chaldean Catholic churches and discussion at least begun with the Church of the East. Apart from the exigencies of hte political and social circumstance of the Middle East today, the role that patriarchal leadership has played in the movement towards union has been significant and the relative stress of one aspect of this increasing fellowship compared with another has been dependent on the particular strengths of four of the more recent patriarchs; Louis Raphael I Sako, Rpahael I Bidawid, Emmanuel III Delly of the Chaldean Catholic Church and Patriarch Dinkha IV of the Church of the East. Survival of the Christian Church in Iraq and Syria has focused around the need for a clearer national and united Christian identity in Iraq and the Middle East in general. This continues to be a significant driver towards greater unity of the Syriac churches.
Kristian asked nine questons of our understanding of ecumenism in this context.
The questions posed by Kristian were about the nature of the ecumenical movement itself in this context; 1. How does ecumenism benefit us? what are its goals? 2. Is ecumenism a politically expedient response to internal strife and civil war? 3. Is it a populist movement rather than one that necessarily has patriarchal leadership? Non-denominationalism as opposed to ecumenism. 4. What part does migration and dispersal of the church play as a driver towards ecumenism? 5. What gifts do the successes of the Syriac movement towards ecumenism bring to other ecumenical movements elsewhere? 6. What is Pope Francis's vision for the Church as a whole...for the Syriac churches in particular? 7. With all the internal strife in Christian churches, does the drive towards ecumenism with other churches lack a degree of integrity? 8. What role does the interest in or lack of interest in the Church of the East in the rest of the world play in the drive towards ecumenism? 9. What is the ecumenical vision of the newly installed patriarch Gegwargis III of the Church of the East?
Not all of these questions were addressed in a long and empassioned discussion but many were. The lack of leadership and inappropriate leadership supporting militarism in the face of conflict were impediments to any visible signs of a recovering church in the Middle East. Leadership in the rest of the world in the face of the Middle East conflict was largely absent but Leadership requires information as a basic requirement and that is missing...Pope Francis, for example, coming from a South American background has little understanding of the political world of Islam. Perhaps information is not the answer or only part of the answer. Do we have the spiritual resources, the spiritual depth to have the courage to recognise weakness as strength and a base to seek and find new solutions. Is diversity of creed and liturgy an obstacle to ecumenism or a gift to be treasured as we all seek to grow together? Are we all hidebound by prejudice and past history and do not see beyong these obstacles to progress. Do we all need to listen to each other more carefully and sensitively?
Friday, 22 January 2016
Christian Muslim Relations in the light of Nostra Aetate
Thursday 10th December, Jesuit Centre, Mount Street, London
With thanks to Kristian Girling whose summary is below;
The Holy See's declaration on the Relationship of the Catholic Church with non-Christian religions published in 1965 by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council. In the fifty years since NA's publication it has perhaps been one of the most significant in its impact of all the documents published and as to its effects on Catholic teaching extending as it does the concept of God's plan of salvation to communities outside of the Catholic Church including to Muslims in light of a shared monotheism. A key outcome of NA's publication has been extensive research and discussion on Christian-Muslim relations and also as to the extent of shared spiritual connections and perceived shared patrimony between the so-called Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Our discussion ranged widely but focused on four main points:
- Concepts of authority in Islam and their effects on the direction of inter-religious dialogue.
Unlike the Catholic Church, for example, and its relatively centralised structure with --- at least in theory --- an authoritative governing figure to direct the community, Sunni Islam has lacked an equivalent since the end of the Ottoman Empire in the office of the Sultan-Caliph. A significant issue in the context of dialogue with a strong diversity of opinions within the Sunni community as to the best approach to engaging with Christian communities and as to the degree of interaction which is regarded as acceptable.
- The figure of Jesus Christ/Isa in Christianity and Islam as a point of discussion
Given the shared appreciation of Jesus as a central figure to both Christianity and Islam --- albeit for substantially differing reasons --- that reflection on Him can be a key point of engagement between Christians and Muslims. To what extent this is a useful path of discussion is difficult to determine insofar as Islam strongly denies the notion of the possibility of the Divinity of Christ whilst this is the ``ultimate" fact for Christian believers. Nonetheless, shared awareness of Jesus as central to both Christianity and Islam underlines that engagement between the two religions takes place in a context distinct to that between Christianity or Islam and Buddhism by way of comparison.
- How Muslims meet the challenge of being a ``minority"?
Insofar as Christians have extensive experience of being a minority --- whether numerically, politically or socially --- the same cannot always be said of Muslims who especially in the Middle East have enjoyed superior political status and numerical majority size for at least the last six centuries.[1] For Muslims resident in the ``West" (Europe, North America, Australasia) living in such an environment presents a challenge in lacking a social structure or religious paradigm which they had previously enjoyed: Pakistan and Iran, for example, are both explicitly Islamic Republics. In these circumstances is it possible that inter-communal discussion with Christian communities is useful as a means to anchor their shared sense of religious life as an obligation in environments which are increasingly ambivalent to public displays of religion or with religion as outside the frame of reference of the conduct of private and public affairs for many. Can Muslim communities ``learn" how to adapt in such circumstances in the same way that Christian communities have often learnt to cope with being ``minorities" over the last 2,000 years?
- The continuing merits of Christian-Muslim dialogue
Aside from the intellectual curiosity in and engagement with topics arising from the study of Christianity and Islam is there a consensus as to the tangible and practical benefits of continuing to engage in inter-religious dialogue for both religions? Is there instead a greater need and better use of resources dedicated to a dialogue between communities than a particular dialogue of theology and speculation on shared spiritualities? In many instances inter-religious dialogue already exists as a ``thing" or aspect of societies especially in the Middle East and where dialogue is a dialogue of a shared lived reality than an engagement with ideas on a more academic level.[2]
End notes
[1] Although this experience is not uniform given the numerical minority position of Muslims to China and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, for example.
[2] One example of a dialogue of life given in discussion was the attendance of Muslim students at Christian schools and universities in the Middle East.
With thanks to Kristian Girling whose summary is below;
The Holy See's declaration on the Relationship of the Catholic Church with non-Christian religions published in 1965 by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council. In the fifty years since NA's publication it has perhaps been one of the most significant in its impact of all the documents published and as to its effects on Catholic teaching extending as it does the concept of God's plan of salvation to communities outside of the Catholic Church including to Muslims in light of a shared monotheism. A key outcome of NA's publication has been extensive research and discussion on Christian-Muslim relations and also as to the extent of shared spiritual connections and perceived shared patrimony between the so-called Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Our discussion ranged widely but focused on four main points:
- Concepts of authority in Islam and their effects on the direction of inter-religious dialogue.
Unlike the Catholic Church, for example, and its relatively centralised structure with --- at least in theory --- an authoritative governing figure to direct the community, Sunni Islam has lacked an equivalent since the end of the Ottoman Empire in the office of the Sultan-Caliph. A significant issue in the context of dialogue with a strong diversity of opinions within the Sunni community as to the best approach to engaging with Christian communities and as to the degree of interaction which is regarded as acceptable.
- The figure of Jesus Christ/Isa in Christianity and Islam as a point of discussion
Given the shared appreciation of Jesus as a central figure to both Christianity and Islam --- albeit for substantially differing reasons --- that reflection on Him can be a key point of engagement between Christians and Muslims. To what extent this is a useful path of discussion is difficult to determine insofar as Islam strongly denies the notion of the possibility of the Divinity of Christ whilst this is the ``ultimate" fact for Christian believers. Nonetheless, shared awareness of Jesus as central to both Christianity and Islam underlines that engagement between the two religions takes place in a context distinct to that between Christianity or Islam and Buddhism by way of comparison.
- How Muslims meet the challenge of being a ``minority"?
Insofar as Christians have extensive experience of being a minority --- whether numerically, politically or socially --- the same cannot always be said of Muslims who especially in the Middle East have enjoyed superior political status and numerical majority size for at least the last six centuries.[1] For Muslims resident in the ``West" (Europe, North America, Australasia) living in such an environment presents a challenge in lacking a social structure or religious paradigm which they had previously enjoyed: Pakistan and Iran, for example, are both explicitly Islamic Republics. In these circumstances is it possible that inter-communal discussion with Christian communities is useful as a means to anchor their shared sense of religious life as an obligation in environments which are increasingly ambivalent to public displays of religion or with religion as outside the frame of reference of the conduct of private and public affairs for many. Can Muslim communities ``learn" how to adapt in such circumstances in the same way that Christian communities have often learnt to cope with being ``minorities" over the last 2,000 years?
- The continuing merits of Christian-Muslim dialogue
Aside from the intellectual curiosity in and engagement with topics arising from the study of Christianity and Islam is there a consensus as to the tangible and practical benefits of continuing to engage in inter-religious dialogue for both religions? Is there instead a greater need and better use of resources dedicated to a dialogue between communities than a particular dialogue of theology and speculation on shared spiritualities? In many instances inter-religious dialogue already exists as a ``thing" or aspect of societies especially in the Middle East and where dialogue is a dialogue of a shared lived reality than an engagement with ideas on a more academic level.[2]
End notes
[1] Although this experience is not uniform given the numerical minority position of Muslims to China and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, for example.
[2] One example of a dialogue of life given in discussion was the attendance of Muslim students at Christian schools and universities in the Middle East.
Friday, 9 October 2015
Armenians and Other Christians at the end of the Ottoman Empire and 100 years later
Thursday 8th October 2015
Len Harrow presented an overview of the history of the subjugation and persecution of Armenians and Syriac speaking Christian groups on the boundaries between Persia and Ottoman Turkey. The genocidal 'cleansing' of Armenians from Turkey after the first World War played out against the background of the power struggles between Russia, France and the UK. Between 500,000 and 1.3 million Armenians perished in that period. The Kurds were also part of the militias terrorising local Christian populations in the period where the Kurds were vying for statehood with Turkey and the surrounding powers.A Syrian civil war and the dislocation of central government in northern Iraq also caused the displacement of whole communities in this region one hundred years earlier. It was instructive to learn that the mass displacement of populations including Christians in this region has a long history that underlies the tensions in the Middle East today and has contributed to the contemporary mass movement of refugees towards Europe.
A lively discussion drew on personal stories of Christian families today who had lived in Mosul and had been driven out eventually. They were now living on charitable handouts in Northern Iraq, now an aspirational Kurdistan. Referred to as Internally Displaced Persons rather than refugees they live in a political black hole without the protection of international recognition as refugees which they clearly are. The Kurds are generous with their protection of Christian minorities. There may be a touch of self interest as an embryionic nation states seeks the skills that it might need. It may be more political expediancy in the hope for international recognition by the United Nations as a nation state given its hospitality to persecuted political minorities. The selective protection afforded the Chrsitian community in relation to the Kurdish security forces may yet cause further tension between Christians and Muslims but this is a safe port in a storm for the time being. There may be a suspicion that this generosity is only paper thin and could be reversed at a drop of a hat but the Christian community is thankful.
Further threads to our discussion related to the nature of Islam as an orthodox faith tradition compared with Christianity and Judaism. Is it a misnomer to talk of 'theology' in Islam which is more accurately a 'jurisprudence'. Theology is about the nature of God and religious belief but Jurisprudence is about the theory of law; in the case of Islam, God's Law as laid down explicitly in the Koran and intepreted and customarily expanded in the Hadith. Christianity is about the person of Jesus and implications of the birth, life and death of Jesus for interpretations of God's Love in the daily lives of its adherents. Judaism sits between a jurisprudence and a theology. Judaism, Christianity and Islam track antecedents from Abraham, the mythical father of our faiths and the Judaism of the prophets and of Jesus who is variously interpreted as a prophet, a son of God or the Son of God.
Islam with its jurisprudence locked into the Koran tolerates Judaism and Christianity as 'people of the Book' but is clear that Christianity, at least, is an aberration and a lesser instrument in obedience to God's Law...Islam is the revelation of the final prophet. Christians and Jews must be helped to understand the lesser significance of their faith by the imposition of dhimmi status and payment of the jizya tax in any community holding fast to God's law.
In this context, what is the value of dialogue. What is the outcome of dialogue when parties are not held equal in the conversation. There can be no place for dialogue with followers of Islam....is that actually the case in practice.? Often it might feel like that but not always so. When Christians and Muslims enter dialogue together, isnt it the case that both would hope that the other will eventually see sense and convert but more realistically there is hope that both parties will have an accurate understanding of each other's position and find respect for each other at a new level which might allow them to live peacefully together.
Orthodox views of Islam or any other faith tradition blank out the reality of the experience of most adherents of a more nuanced interpretation of their faith. Whether they are true followers of a particular faith or merely weak charlatans may be a matter of interpretation and a usurping of God's ultimate judgement. However, the fact is that there is an experience of the numinous among some Muslims, an experience of reality of God's presence, a personal encounter. The Sufi tradition for example is one such rich human story. Personal experiences of dialogue are not felt fruitless on every occasion and sometimes help each party deepen their own faith....I can think of a personal example where Muslims in Ramallah who send their children to Friends School, Ramallah (a Quaker School) describe their experience as making their children 'better Muslims'.
A rich and varied discussion among a committed and informed group of people...what a blessing.
Len Harrow presented an overview of the history of the subjugation and persecution of Armenians and Syriac speaking Christian groups on the boundaries between Persia and Ottoman Turkey. The genocidal 'cleansing' of Armenians from Turkey after the first World War played out against the background of the power struggles between Russia, France and the UK. Between 500,000 and 1.3 million Armenians perished in that period. The Kurds were also part of the militias terrorising local Christian populations in the period where the Kurds were vying for statehood with Turkey and the surrounding powers.A Syrian civil war and the dislocation of central government in northern Iraq also caused the displacement of whole communities in this region one hundred years earlier. It was instructive to learn that the mass displacement of populations including Christians in this region has a long history that underlies the tensions in the Middle East today and has contributed to the contemporary mass movement of refugees towards Europe.
A lively discussion drew on personal stories of Christian families today who had lived in Mosul and had been driven out eventually. They were now living on charitable handouts in Northern Iraq, now an aspirational Kurdistan. Referred to as Internally Displaced Persons rather than refugees they live in a political black hole without the protection of international recognition as refugees which they clearly are. The Kurds are generous with their protection of Christian minorities. There may be a touch of self interest as an embryionic nation states seeks the skills that it might need. It may be more political expediancy in the hope for international recognition by the United Nations as a nation state given its hospitality to persecuted political minorities. The selective protection afforded the Chrsitian community in relation to the Kurdish security forces may yet cause further tension between Christians and Muslims but this is a safe port in a storm for the time being. There may be a suspicion that this generosity is only paper thin and could be reversed at a drop of a hat but the Christian community is thankful.
Further threads to our discussion related to the nature of Islam as an orthodox faith tradition compared with Christianity and Judaism. Is it a misnomer to talk of 'theology' in Islam which is more accurately a 'jurisprudence'. Theology is about the nature of God and religious belief but Jurisprudence is about the theory of law; in the case of Islam, God's Law as laid down explicitly in the Koran and intepreted and customarily expanded in the Hadith. Christianity is about the person of Jesus and implications of the birth, life and death of Jesus for interpretations of God's Love in the daily lives of its adherents. Judaism sits between a jurisprudence and a theology. Judaism, Christianity and Islam track antecedents from Abraham, the mythical father of our faiths and the Judaism of the prophets and of Jesus who is variously interpreted as a prophet, a son of God or the Son of God.
Islam with its jurisprudence locked into the Koran tolerates Judaism and Christianity as 'people of the Book' but is clear that Christianity, at least, is an aberration and a lesser instrument in obedience to God's Law...Islam is the revelation of the final prophet. Christians and Jews must be helped to understand the lesser significance of their faith by the imposition of dhimmi status and payment of the jizya tax in any community holding fast to God's law.
In this context, what is the value of dialogue. What is the outcome of dialogue when parties are not held equal in the conversation. There can be no place for dialogue with followers of Islam....is that actually the case in practice.? Often it might feel like that but not always so. When Christians and Muslims enter dialogue together, isnt it the case that both would hope that the other will eventually see sense and convert but more realistically there is hope that both parties will have an accurate understanding of each other's position and find respect for each other at a new level which might allow them to live peacefully together.
Orthodox views of Islam or any other faith tradition blank out the reality of the experience of most adherents of a more nuanced interpretation of their faith. Whether they are true followers of a particular faith or merely weak charlatans may be a matter of interpretation and a usurping of God's ultimate judgement. However, the fact is that there is an experience of the numinous among some Muslims, an experience of reality of God's presence, a personal encounter. The Sufi tradition for example is one such rich human story. Personal experiences of dialogue are not felt fruitless on every occasion and sometimes help each party deepen their own faith....I can think of a personal example where Muslims in Ramallah who send their children to Friends School, Ramallah (a Quaker School) describe their experience as making their children 'better Muslims'.
A rich and varied discussion among a committed and informed group of people...what a blessing.
Monday, 10 August 2015
Zionism, Anti-Semitism and the Bible.
June 24th 2015
Rev. Dr. Duncan Macpherson presented this paper to us on June 24th. Duncan has an impeccable pedigree academically and
theologically in a discussion of this topic. He was a personal friend of
Michael Prior who was a scholar who tackled head on the legitimacy of a modern
Israel founded on the biblical promise of land and, of course, one of the
founding members, like Duncan, of Living Stones of the Holy Land Trust. Duncan
too has an informed interest in the growth of quasi-political religious
movements arising out of the historical, sociological and economic drivers in
recent centuries.
Who better then to track the various ambiguities around the
notion of return to a ‘promised land’ by European Jews and its relationship to
interpretations of the responsibility of ‘Jews’ for the persecution and death
of Jesus Christ and for persecution of the early Christian Church? Who better to explore the synergies that from
time to time bolstered relationships between Zionism and Semitism and Zionism
and anti Semitism?
Averred to are the political
intrigues that established the State of Israel and the vested interests of the
protagonists in the First World War and the Second World War in the growth
towards the reality of a nascent state.
With a serious look in are the Christian Zionist enthusiasts who would
have Jews return to biblical Israel to hasten the second coming.
So who are the anti Semites, the Jew Haters and the pro
Zionists and where do the Palestinians fit in to a world history which does not
seem to care much for the person of the Palestinian or the Jew in the
historical, political, social, economic and religious argument.
This was the stuff of the lecture presented to us and it led to a stimulating and thoughtful debate about many issues including the role that a State plays in delegitimising and marginalising groups of people that it sees as a problem in its own society.
This was the stuff of the lecture presented to us and it led to a stimulating and thoughtful debate about many issues including the role that a State plays in delegitimising and marginalising groups of people that it sees as a problem in its own society.
Colin South
Monday, 11 May 2015
Modern History of the Maronite Church
Wednesday 22 April 2015
Joelle Richa, a research student of the Centre for Eastern Christianity, Heythrop College spoke on the modern history of the Maronite Church especially concerning the development of spirituality among the laity since the Second Vatican Council.Joella provided an introduction to the history of the Maronites from their origins in the Levant to the contemporary period. Of especial importance to Maronite identity were the links maintained with the Holy See and Latin church communities in the medieval period --- such as during the Crusades --- and the Syriac liturgical and spiritual traditions which informed the lay and monastic Maronite communities.
Today, although there is a general awareness about the Maronite spiritual traditions and the monastic life this is not necessarily well understood either within or outside the Maronite community with the need for greater sources of information to increase knowledge and practical engagement with the spiritual heritage. As the Maronite tradition retains significant examples of eremetical and coenobitic religious life it is something with which other Christian traditions should engage.
As the Maronites have incarnated their faith in the Lebanon and through the use of Arabic and Syriac languages for much of their history so this faith has also spread further throughout the Maronite diaspora to South America, the USA and Europe. Joelle noted that in this international context that not only do vocations to the eremetical life come from the Middle East but also as far afield as Columbia.
This is important towards a sense of maintaining the particular spiritual life of the Maronites in a globalised environment which is not always welcoming to local traditions. The hermits offering an example of how to live a complete Maronite Christian life giving oneself entirely to God. As they are perceived as such examples the ``people" seek to a strong bond with them: evidenced strongly in the retreats which Christian political leaders make to the Qadisha valley in the Lebanon which are facilitated by the hermits.
Maronite social and religious contributions should not just be seen in and for their own communities, however. Through establishing schools throughout the Lebanon Maronites strongly supported the modern Arab renaissance in concert with the Druze, Sunni and Shia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This process of building up the Lebanon arguably resulting from their access to Western ideology and philosophy through their long standing links with the Holy See. Yet into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries the ease with which the Maronites engage with the West has complicated the direction of the Maronite Church as whole as many young Maronites travel abroad to pursue business opportunities and to gain higher and further education. Whilst many return many also choose to stay in their new location and continue their entrepreneurial efforts.
The trend for migration expedited in many instances by the effects of the Lebanese civil war and the wider instability which has affected the Middle East especially since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The difficulties of conflict causing often physical and mental scars to the population but also creating opportunities for people to rise above and out of their comfort zone obliging them to reconsider their faith and as to how they can contribute to wider society and the Church through becoming peacemakers.
Joelle concluded her paper by noting the very active engagement with the spiritual life which many young Maronite laypeople pursue. This considered to be a very important hope for the future development of the Maronite church as a whole and to the broader recognition of the Maronite contributions to Christian spiritual life through the recognition of the saints in the global Christian community especially through the mediation of the Holy See in encouraging such a procedure in the Catholic churches.
Summary prepared by Kristian
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Being there/Being with: Reflections on interntational accompaniment in Palestine.
Thursday 22nd January 2015
It was good to have the reflections of Alwyn Knight on ten years of association with Hebron in the West Bank with visits to the small village off At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Alwyn first visited through the accompaniment programme of theWCC Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Israel and Palestine and then more substantially through many sustained tours of duty with the Christian Peacemaker's Team.
Many readers will be familiar with the political situation in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills . Both communities have experienced the general effects of prolonged occupation but also the particular effect of living in close proximity to Israeli settlements.20% of the settlers in both places could be described as 'ideological' as opposed to 'economic' settlers. With the ideology of the minority comes a propensity for violence, protection by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), and almost total impunity.
The World Council of Churches' EAPPI and CPT programmes both provide 'accompaniment seeking to provide an effective presence whose functions are three fold; deterrence by 'being there as a witness' and thus inhibiting or constraining abusers from carrying out attacks, encouragement by encouraging civil society's capacity to protect itself non violently and influence by supporting progressive voices inside abusive or negligent institutions.
Accompaniers live in the Old City of Hebron. IDF soldiers are posted on the roof of derelict buildings opposite. CPTers seek to respond quickly with news of house invasions by the military, arrests,especially of children, clashes at vital checkpoints and protests by Palestinians which invariably result in the use of tear-gas and percussion grenades, oftne escalating inot the use of rubber-coated bullets, and even live ammunition. All of this taking place in an urban setting where children are trying to go to school, and adults are tyring to go about their everyday lives.
CPTers used to live in a simple block built, tin roofed dwelling in At Tuwani drawing water from the well, relying on no more than four hours of electricity a day and accompanying children from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed to shcool, spending hours on the hills with Palestinian shepherds - eyes and ears alert to the ever-present threat of attack by masked and armed setlers usually carrying heavy wooden staves, or stones. CPT no longer has a presence there but this description is not untypical of similar situations in placements with EAPPI or CPT.
Such is the stuff of accompaniment. Mennonites provided the intiative in the founding of CPT. A characteristic of Mennonite spirituality is non resistance. Historically they had suffered persecution by other Protestants and Catholics in the 16th Century. Thousands were killed and some burnt at the stake, drowned or beheaded. Many died in prison. This was the seed corn to a rejection to all forms of force or coercion and of military service...indeed many Mennonites had historically as little to do with the 'world' as possible.
John Howard Yoder in publishing 'The Politics of Jesus' in 1972, helped address the theological challenges faced by Mennonites as they adapted to the world of the twentieth century. Jesus was characterised as ' a model of radical political action' amd this was endorsed by the Mennonite community as the model that they felt they had practiced for some time. This activist stance now owned and celebrated could be considered to be a driving force behind the foundation of CPT. Dianne Row, CPTeer, accompanying Paelstinian children to school in Hebron a those very first beginnings in 1995, in response to settler violence experienced by herself and her colleague, Wendy Lehman, created a banner depicting a pair of sandaled feet walking along the barbed-wire strewn path with the slogan 'Getting in the Way'. This declared that their witness was travelling the path Jesus trod, given that Jesus' ministry was increasingly understood as non-violent restistance to the powers-that-be, religious and political, of his own day. John Vincent of the Seffiled Urban Thology Unit said 'Christian discipleship is mainly a question of what you do with your feet!' Get your feet moving in the right direction and heard and head are bound to follow.
Liam Mahony in 'Protective Presence: Field Strategies for Civilian Protection' published in 2006 points out that 'every decision is affected by a series of calculations and perceptions' and that a field mission 'can influence these decisions by creating circumstances in which perpetrators recalculate the consequences and make a different choice'. International presence moves the border and tends to shrink the space in which the perpetrator feels he or she can 'get away with' his or her actions.
The being there and seeing and sometimes experiencing first-hand what is happening, is a vital resource for what Mahony calls the most traditional tool of protection; advocacy. ' 'Public exposure is a political cost to an abuser' he suggests. So one of the tasks of the accompanier is to monitor and report violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The second function of effective presence, Mahony suggests, is encouragement by encouraging civil society's capacity to protect itself. One of the most impressive facts of the experience of accompaniment is illustrated by the arabic word 'samud' or steadfastness. In the face of oppression, Palestinians have many strategies for keeping safe without accepting the normalisation of the occupation. The decision to 'stay put' regardless of the intimidation to do otherwise. The determination to find a way around senseless barriers and a determination to lead as normal a life as possible despite the obstacles to that put in their path. So Palestinians are no inept by any means at protecting themselves but as the head of a village council stated ' Harassment has decreased...the reason is that foreignoers are in the village. The presence in Yanoun of people from peace groups is what changed the situation'.
The third function was influence by supporting progressive voices inside abusive or negligent institutions. CPTees and EAPPI both concur with a statement made by EAPPI of principled impartiality, ' we do not want to take sides in this conflict and we do not want to discriminate against anyone, but we are not neutral in terms of prinicples of human rights and international humanitarian law. We stand faithfully with the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised. We want to serve all parties in this conflict in a fair and unbiased manner, in word and action.'.
Alongside the work of many progressive individual voices within Israel and especially within Israeli organisations seeking reform, CPT and EAPPI ask both sides to do a reality check seeking to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian popuation on a daily basis, and are in engaged in the control of that population's everyday life.
The Sermon on the Mount provides many a proof text, some of which have become proverbial such as 'turning the other cheek', 'going the second mile' but also 'love your enemy', 'pray for those who persecute you', and perhaps more controversially 'do not resist the evildoer'. When you have just seem an eighteen year old Israeli soldier humiliate a seventy year old Palestinian, it is difficult to just 'pass the time of day' and ignore what has happened. It's at times like these that it is worth remembering what the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, George Fox, said about 'answering that of God in every person'.
CPT's challenge is to 'devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war' Its members are now drawn form many Christian traditions. There are Muslim and Jewish members and those with no religious faith but who are committed to CPT's values.
It was good to have the reflections of Alwyn Knight on ten years of association with Hebron in the West Bank with visits to the small village off At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Alwyn first visited through the accompaniment programme of theWCC Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Israel and Palestine and then more substantially through many sustained tours of duty with the Christian Peacemaker's Team.
Many readers will be familiar with the political situation in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills . Both communities have experienced the general effects of prolonged occupation but also the particular effect of living in close proximity to Israeli settlements.20% of the settlers in both places could be described as 'ideological' as opposed to 'economic' settlers. With the ideology of the minority comes a propensity for violence, protection by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), and almost total impunity.
The World Council of Churches' EAPPI and CPT programmes both provide 'accompaniment seeking to provide an effective presence whose functions are three fold; deterrence by 'being there as a witness' and thus inhibiting or constraining abusers from carrying out attacks, encouragement by encouraging civil society's capacity to protect itself non violently and influence by supporting progressive voices inside abusive or negligent institutions.
Accompaniers live in the Old City of Hebron. IDF soldiers are posted on the roof of derelict buildings opposite. CPTers seek to respond quickly with news of house invasions by the military, arrests,especially of children, clashes at vital checkpoints and protests by Palestinians which invariably result in the use of tear-gas and percussion grenades, oftne escalating inot the use of rubber-coated bullets, and even live ammunition. All of this taking place in an urban setting where children are trying to go to school, and adults are tyring to go about their everyday lives.
CPTers used to live in a simple block built, tin roofed dwelling in At Tuwani drawing water from the well, relying on no more than four hours of electricity a day and accompanying children from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed to shcool, spending hours on the hills with Palestinian shepherds - eyes and ears alert to the ever-present threat of attack by masked and armed setlers usually carrying heavy wooden staves, or stones. CPT no longer has a presence there but this description is not untypical of similar situations in placements with EAPPI or CPT.
Such is the stuff of accompaniment. Mennonites provided the intiative in the founding of CPT. A characteristic of Mennonite spirituality is non resistance. Historically they had suffered persecution by other Protestants and Catholics in the 16th Century. Thousands were killed and some burnt at the stake, drowned or beheaded. Many died in prison. This was the seed corn to a rejection to all forms of force or coercion and of military service...indeed many Mennonites had historically as little to do with the 'world' as possible.
John Howard Yoder in publishing 'The Politics of Jesus' in 1972, helped address the theological challenges faced by Mennonites as they adapted to the world of the twentieth century. Jesus was characterised as ' a model of radical political action' amd this was endorsed by the Mennonite community as the model that they felt they had practiced for some time. This activist stance now owned and celebrated could be considered to be a driving force behind the foundation of CPT. Dianne Row, CPTeer, accompanying Paelstinian children to school in Hebron a those very first beginnings in 1995, in response to settler violence experienced by herself and her colleague, Wendy Lehman, created a banner depicting a pair of sandaled feet walking along the barbed-wire strewn path with the slogan 'Getting in the Way'. This declared that their witness was travelling the path Jesus trod, given that Jesus' ministry was increasingly understood as non-violent restistance to the powers-that-be, religious and political, of his own day. John Vincent of the Seffiled Urban Thology Unit said 'Christian discipleship is mainly a question of what you do with your feet!' Get your feet moving in the right direction and heard and head are bound to follow.
Liam Mahony in 'Protective Presence: Field Strategies for Civilian Protection' published in 2006 points out that 'every decision is affected by a series of calculations and perceptions' and that a field mission 'can influence these decisions by creating circumstances in which perpetrators recalculate the consequences and make a different choice'. International presence moves the border and tends to shrink the space in which the perpetrator feels he or she can 'get away with' his or her actions.
The being there and seeing and sometimes experiencing first-hand what is happening, is a vital resource for what Mahony calls the most traditional tool of protection; advocacy. ' 'Public exposure is a political cost to an abuser' he suggests. So one of the tasks of the accompanier is to monitor and report violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The second function of effective presence, Mahony suggests, is encouragement by encouraging civil society's capacity to protect itself. One of the most impressive facts of the experience of accompaniment is illustrated by the arabic word 'samud' or steadfastness. In the face of oppression, Palestinians have many strategies for keeping safe without accepting the normalisation of the occupation. The decision to 'stay put' regardless of the intimidation to do otherwise. The determination to find a way around senseless barriers and a determination to lead as normal a life as possible despite the obstacles to that put in their path. So Palestinians are no inept by any means at protecting themselves but as the head of a village council stated ' Harassment has decreased...the reason is that foreignoers are in the village. The presence in Yanoun of people from peace groups is what changed the situation'.
The third function was influence by supporting progressive voices inside abusive or negligent institutions. CPTees and EAPPI both concur with a statement made by EAPPI of principled impartiality, ' we do not want to take sides in this conflict and we do not want to discriminate against anyone, but we are not neutral in terms of prinicples of human rights and international humanitarian law. We stand faithfully with the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised. We want to serve all parties in this conflict in a fair and unbiased manner, in word and action.'.
Alongside the work of many progressive individual voices within Israel and especially within Israeli organisations seeking reform, CPT and EAPPI ask both sides to do a reality check seeking to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian popuation on a daily basis, and are in engaged in the control of that population's everyday life.
The Sermon on the Mount provides many a proof text, some of which have become proverbial such as 'turning the other cheek', 'going the second mile' but also 'love your enemy', 'pray for those who persecute you', and perhaps more controversially 'do not resist the evildoer'. When you have just seem an eighteen year old Israeli soldier humiliate a seventy year old Palestinian, it is difficult to just 'pass the time of day' and ignore what has happened. It's at times like these that it is worth remembering what the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, George Fox, said about 'answering that of God in every person'.
CPT's challenge is to 'devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war' Its members are now drawn form many Christian traditions. There are Muslim and Jewish members and those with no religious faith but who are committed to CPT's values.
Thursday, 16 January 2014
The Dhimmi - Dhimmi and Dhimmitude in the Ottoman Empire
Robin presented his paper to the Theology Group on Tuesday 14th January, 2014. The paper and the ensuing discussion were both challenging and excellent contributions to our understanding of the status of a non muslim within the long heritage of the Ottoman Empire. The sweep of the Ottoman empire is from the beginning of the 14th Century through to the foundation of Modern Turkey in 1922. England, Scotland and Wales in the 14th Century were much preoccupied with the struggle for power and control among themselves.
The legacy of the Ottoman Empire is alive and well in the 21st Century and still colours and, in many places, controls the relationship between Muslim, Christian and Jew in muslim majority lands in the Middle East. There is a contemporary tendency to see the three faith relationship within the Ottoman Empire through rose tinted spectacles both in academic circles and in popular culture and the time has come for a more factual and less romantic view of the realities of these relationships. There has been a tendency too to censure the record of Christian Europe with regard to Christian- Jewish relationships and to make a negative comparison with the the Muslim - Jewish relationship within the Ottoman empire. Robin's paper served to challenge these broadly based assumptions and to introduce a more nuanced and critical analysis. Robin has the intention of developing this paper and the Theology Group hopes to see such a paper published in the Living Stones Yearbook in autumn 2014.
Robin discussed the dhimmi and dhimmitude. Words are used differently in different contexts but the focus here is of a dhimmi people and an attitude to the experience of being a dhimmi people as 'dhimmitude'. The dhimmi are those peoples that were subject to a particular legal construct that defined the relationship between the Dhimmi and the muslim majority. The relationship should be understood in the context of jihad as the intention of an imposition of Islam on a subject people either by assent or by conquest.The rapid conquest of the peoples of the Middle East through relationships with people of other faiths into a sharp focus in the light of jihad. The Dhimmi relationship was a structured response to a recognition of other faiths as a subject people, a lesser people in that they had not yet recognised Mohammad as the last and final Prophet of their God. A Dhimmi people did not enjoy the rights of full citizens, had to acknowledge Islam's domination and pay a poll tax unique to the Dhimmi people. Certain aspects of government were denied access to a Dhimmi people in this theocratic state i.e. religion and the law. Access to employment in stagecraft and bureaucracy was possible and sometimes welcomed.
Robin also discussed Millet system which identified particular faiths as belonging to self governing groups within limits. For example the Greek Orthodox community were granted millet status which meant that the community would be allowed to practice its religion in peace but the election of the Patriarch was supervised by the Sultan. The Patriarch would then be responsible 'for collecting the poll tax, for hearing court cases, imprisoning criminals and other legal activities'. The Patriarch became an instrument of the State. The Jewish community in Istanbul formed another millet and a third broader cluster of faith communities under the Armenian millett.
Another aspect of being a Dhimmi people was the Devshirme and Ghulam systems. In the divershirme system, there was a levy of Christian boys who were enslaved into the Sultan's service Such boys were taken between the ages of 14 and 18, forced to convert to Islam and then used for a variety of purposes at the Sultan's pleasure. Some were made eunuchs protecting the Sultan's harem; some drafted as soldiers, some children treated as prostitutes. The Janissary were an elite group which were given hereditary rights. This system eventually collapsed before the Ottoman Empire itself collapsed.
The evidence contradicts statements that the Christian community were complicit or agreed with devshirme being seen as a way of social advancement for their children. This is denied and there is documentary evidence to demonstrate the resentment and opposition to this practice.
There is much work to be done but essentially the difference between Christian understandings of evangelism as support in recognition of the Kingdom of God present within you as well as among you compared with jihad as political conquest and submission to the Prophet is seminal to the discussion.
Dhimmitude as an attitude of mind born of years of discrimination is intriguing and is seen too in the rose tinted perspectives of some Westermn politicians and theologians on Ottoman relationships to their non muslim communities.
The legacy of the Ottoman Empire is alive and well in the 21st Century and still colours and, in many places, controls the relationship between Muslim, Christian and Jew in muslim majority lands in the Middle East. There is a contemporary tendency to see the three faith relationship within the Ottoman Empire through rose tinted spectacles both in academic circles and in popular culture and the time has come for a more factual and less romantic view of the realities of these relationships. There has been a tendency too to censure the record of Christian Europe with regard to Christian- Jewish relationships and to make a negative comparison with the the Muslim - Jewish relationship within the Ottoman empire. Robin's paper served to challenge these broadly based assumptions and to introduce a more nuanced and critical analysis. Robin has the intention of developing this paper and the Theology Group hopes to see such a paper published in the Living Stones Yearbook in autumn 2014.
Robin discussed the dhimmi and dhimmitude. Words are used differently in different contexts but the focus here is of a dhimmi people and an attitude to the experience of being a dhimmi people as 'dhimmitude'. The dhimmi are those peoples that were subject to a particular legal construct that defined the relationship between the Dhimmi and the muslim majority. The relationship should be understood in the context of jihad as the intention of an imposition of Islam on a subject people either by assent or by conquest.The rapid conquest of the peoples of the Middle East through relationships with people of other faiths into a sharp focus in the light of jihad. The Dhimmi relationship was a structured response to a recognition of other faiths as a subject people, a lesser people in that they had not yet recognised Mohammad as the last and final Prophet of their God. A Dhimmi people did not enjoy the rights of full citizens, had to acknowledge Islam's domination and pay a poll tax unique to the Dhimmi people. Certain aspects of government were denied access to a Dhimmi people in this theocratic state i.e. religion and the law. Access to employment in stagecraft and bureaucracy was possible and sometimes welcomed.
Robin also discussed Millet system which identified particular faiths as belonging to self governing groups within limits. For example the Greek Orthodox community were granted millet status which meant that the community would be allowed to practice its religion in peace but the election of the Patriarch was supervised by the Sultan. The Patriarch would then be responsible 'for collecting the poll tax, for hearing court cases, imprisoning criminals and other legal activities'. The Patriarch became an instrument of the State. The Jewish community in Istanbul formed another millet and a third broader cluster of faith communities under the Armenian millett.
Another aspect of being a Dhimmi people was the Devshirme and Ghulam systems. In the divershirme system, there was a levy of Christian boys who were enslaved into the Sultan's service Such boys were taken between the ages of 14 and 18, forced to convert to Islam and then used for a variety of purposes at the Sultan's pleasure. Some were made eunuchs protecting the Sultan's harem; some drafted as soldiers, some children treated as prostitutes. The Janissary were an elite group which were given hereditary rights. This system eventually collapsed before the Ottoman Empire itself collapsed.
The evidence contradicts statements that the Christian community were complicit or agreed with devshirme being seen as a way of social advancement for their children. This is denied and there is documentary evidence to demonstrate the resentment and opposition to this practice.
There is much work to be done but essentially the difference between Christian understandings of evangelism as support in recognition of the Kingdom of God present within you as well as among you compared with jihad as political conquest and submission to the Prophet is seminal to the discussion.
Dhimmitude as an attitude of mind born of years of discrimination is intriguing and is seen too in the rose tinted perspectives of some Westermn politicians and theologians on Ottoman relationships to their non muslim communities.
Zoughbi Zoughbi founder and director of WI'AM, Bethlehem 8th January 2014
Speaking to an audience of about 100 people at Heythrop College, London, Zoughbi spoke at the invitation of Living Stones about the role of the Palestinian Christian Community today in Palestine/Israel. Zoughbi spoke as the Director and founder of WI'AM, a centre for conflict transformation and was well received and followed by an informed discussion among people representing many different UK charities concerned about the situation. Zoughbi was in England as a guest speaker at the Christians Aware conference following later that week.
The Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities recognise that the solution to the present impasse is to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank including
East Jerusalem and its control over Gaza. Jerusalem should serve as the capital for two states and spiritual capital for all lbrahamic religions.It is understood that this is in the interest of all parties including the Jewish and Arab Israelis of Israel itself. The Christian community has played a major part in the lives of all indigenous peoples of the West Bank and historic Palestine since Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They are recognised as the leaven that has made the loaf whole and relationships between the three faiths has been generally positive over the years only today the strains are showing as a direct result of the social upheaval caused by the occupation. The Christian comunity is dwindling largely through outward migration as a consequence of the economic situation and the continuous Israeli occupation.The Christian community that remains still plays it part as the salt of the community offering a sign of diversity and pluralism essential for any future development. They are part of the transformation of the society and offer a necessary, different and sometimes contrasting view.
In general the Christian community promotes assertiveness and not aggressiveness in the face of the occupation. They seek justice but restorative and not punitive justice. It is clear that the occupation needs to be challenged by the international community through, for example, Boycott, Divestment and Sanction to help the State of Israel face the reality of the situation. The Truth as experienced by the Palestinian community should be spoken out clearly and loudly. Political progress in the UN and among other institutions needs to be made in recognising Palestine and its legitmate rights and there should be a greater insistence on the observance of UN resolutions. Negotiation is important but without compromising the dignity of those people who have been victims in this situation over many years since 1947. Institutions need to be built and established to give greater stability to the Palestinian and Israeli communities as they find themsellves today.
Above all we need to stop blaming each other but begin to accept our collective responsibilities for the situation that exists today.
The Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities recognise that the solution to the present impasse is to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank including
East Jerusalem and its control over Gaza. Jerusalem should serve as the capital for two states and spiritual capital for all lbrahamic religions.It is understood that this is in the interest of all parties including the Jewish and Arab Israelis of Israel itself. The Christian community has played a major part in the lives of all indigenous peoples of the West Bank and historic Palestine since Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They are recognised as the leaven that has made the loaf whole and relationships between the three faiths has been generally positive over the years only today the strains are showing as a direct result of the social upheaval caused by the occupation. The Christian comunity is dwindling largely through outward migration as a consequence of the economic situation and the continuous Israeli occupation.The Christian community that remains still plays it part as the salt of the community offering a sign of diversity and pluralism essential for any future development. They are part of the transformation of the society and offer a necessary, different and sometimes contrasting view.
In general the Christian community promotes assertiveness and not aggressiveness in the face of the occupation. They seek justice but restorative and not punitive justice. It is clear that the occupation needs to be challenged by the international community through, for example, Boycott, Divestment and Sanction to help the State of Israel face the reality of the situation. The Truth as experienced by the Palestinian community should be spoken out clearly and loudly. Political progress in the UN and among other institutions needs to be made in recognising Palestine and its legitmate rights and there should be a greater insistence on the observance of UN resolutions. Negotiation is important but without compromising the dignity of those people who have been victims in this situation over many years since 1947. Institutions need to be built and established to give greater stability to the Palestinian and Israeli communities as they find themsellves today.
Above all we need to stop blaming each other but begin to accept our collective responsibilities for the situation that exists today.
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Challenges of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Greek Minority
Wednesday 17th October 2013
Rev'd Archimandrite Nikodemos Anagnostopoulos spoke to the group from his paper on 'The Present Status and the Challenges of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Greek Minority of Turkey int eh context of Muslim-Christian relations in Modern Turkey' It was well received and supported by some thought provoking questions and a good discussion. Nikodemos focused on the modern era from October, 1923 (the date of the founding of the Turkish Republic) to the present day.
The issues discussed and referred to during our Meeting were as follows;
The Orthodox community had to adapt to living as part of the majority Christian community in the first centuries A.D., to living within the Ottoman Empire for over 600 years with dimmi status as determined by sharia law and then to 'minority status' within the Turkish Republic. The population of Christians was reduced by the population exchanges on the founding of the Republic between Greece and Turkey as part of the Treaty of Lausanne. Over a million Christians were forcibly transferred to Greece and over 500,000 Muslims transferred from Greece to Turkey. The City of Constantinople in Turkey and the Province of Western Thrace in Greece were excluded from this requirement and so the Ecumenical Patriarchate remained in Constantinople and a Muslim majority is present in Western Thrace in Greece. Over the years under the Republic, the number of Christians in Constantinople has diminished as discrimination in employment and property rights has made it more difficult to live comfortably and occasional anti Christian riots (e.g. 1955) have destabilized the community. Today there are about 3,000 Christians in Constantinople compared with perhaps 200,000 in 1955. As with Iraq, Syria and Palestine, we are witnessing an continuing exodus of the Christian community from the region and the region is becoming increasingly that of nation states all of one faith which historically has been to its detriment.
Modern Turkey espouses an 'active' secular society rather than a 'passive' secular society which the rest of Europe and the United States encourages. It is active in the sense that state ultimately sanctions and manages the life of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP) in Turkey. The EP is not a legal person under Turkish Law and cannot therefore own property. Christian churches and other buildings have been expropriated by the State ,under a law enacted in 1935, without compensation and are placed under the direct control of a Minority Foundation outside the control of the Patriarchate. The Ecumenical Patriarch has to be a Turkish citizen and the list of candidates for the election of the Patriarch has to be approved by the State and the State has the right to remove a candidate. Matters came to a head recently which with the diminishing Christian population in Constantinople threatening the continuity of the Patriarchate. An agreement was made with the Turkish Government.The State decided that twelve heads of the autocephalous orthodox community in Europe and the United States that is in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and recognises the Patriarch as the 'first among equals' within the Orthodox Community should be Turkish citizens and therefore eligible for the list of candidates to be approved by the State. Secularism, in Turkey, requires the faith communities ultimately to be accountable to the State for their organisation and behaviour as a faith community. This can be seen as a stranglehold on the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the ultimate goal of squeezing the Christian community in its entirety from Turkey. Passive secularism on the other hand accords a much greater degree of freedom of belief, organisation and behaviour of faith communities in the nation state.
The other controlling factor of the Christian Communities is education. Although education and theological training was provided for under the Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish authorities illegally closed the Theological Academy of Halki in Turkey in 1971 which meant that all Theological training had to be undertaken outside Turkey. The Turkish Government have required Greece to establish a mosque in Athens in order to allow the re-opening of the Halki Theological Academy. This matter is still under discussion today.
Nikodemos says that he has often heard in 'Arab' countries in the Middle East that the Turkish management of other faith communities is a model which might help them in resolving the status of the Christian communities in their situation. The justification for such a claim is difficult to justify in the light of this paper and this discussion.
Rev'd Archimandrite Nikodemos Anagnostopoulos spoke to the group from his paper on 'The Present Status and the Challenges of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Greek Minority of Turkey int eh context of Muslim-Christian relations in Modern Turkey' It was well received and supported by some thought provoking questions and a good discussion. Nikodemos focused on the modern era from October, 1923 (the date of the founding of the Turkish Republic) to the present day.
The issues discussed and referred to during our Meeting were as follows;
The Orthodox community had to adapt to living as part of the majority Christian community in the first centuries A.D., to living within the Ottoman Empire for over 600 years with dimmi status as determined by sharia law and then to 'minority status' within the Turkish Republic. The population of Christians was reduced by the population exchanges on the founding of the Republic between Greece and Turkey as part of the Treaty of Lausanne. Over a million Christians were forcibly transferred to Greece and over 500,000 Muslims transferred from Greece to Turkey. The City of Constantinople in Turkey and the Province of Western Thrace in Greece were excluded from this requirement and so the Ecumenical Patriarchate remained in Constantinople and a Muslim majority is present in Western Thrace in Greece. Over the years under the Republic, the number of Christians in Constantinople has diminished as discrimination in employment and property rights has made it more difficult to live comfortably and occasional anti Christian riots (e.g. 1955) have destabilized the community. Today there are about 3,000 Christians in Constantinople compared with perhaps 200,000 in 1955. As with Iraq, Syria and Palestine, we are witnessing an continuing exodus of the Christian community from the region and the region is becoming increasingly that of nation states all of one faith which historically has been to its detriment.
Modern Turkey espouses an 'active' secular society rather than a 'passive' secular society which the rest of Europe and the United States encourages. It is active in the sense that state ultimately sanctions and manages the life of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP) in Turkey. The EP is not a legal person under Turkish Law and cannot therefore own property. Christian churches and other buildings have been expropriated by the State ,under a law enacted in 1935, without compensation and are placed under the direct control of a Minority Foundation outside the control of the Patriarchate. The Ecumenical Patriarch has to be a Turkish citizen and the list of candidates for the election of the Patriarch has to be approved by the State and the State has the right to remove a candidate. Matters came to a head recently which with the diminishing Christian population in Constantinople threatening the continuity of the Patriarchate. An agreement was made with the Turkish Government.The State decided that twelve heads of the autocephalous orthodox community in Europe and the United States that is in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and recognises the Patriarch as the 'first among equals' within the Orthodox Community should be Turkish citizens and therefore eligible for the list of candidates to be approved by the State. Secularism, in Turkey, requires the faith communities ultimately to be accountable to the State for their organisation and behaviour as a faith community. This can be seen as a stranglehold on the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the ultimate goal of squeezing the Christian community in its entirety from Turkey. Passive secularism on the other hand accords a much greater degree of freedom of belief, organisation and behaviour of faith communities in the nation state.
The other controlling factor of the Christian Communities is education. Although education and theological training was provided for under the Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish authorities illegally closed the Theological Academy of Halki in Turkey in 1971 which meant that all Theological training had to be undertaken outside Turkey. The Turkish Government have required Greece to establish a mosque in Athens in order to allow the re-opening of the Halki Theological Academy. This matter is still under discussion today.
Nikodemos says that he has often heard in 'Arab' countries in the Middle East that the Turkish management of other faith communities is a model which might help them in resolving the status of the Christian communities in their situation. The justification for such a claim is difficult to justify in the light of this paper and this discussion.
Friday, 21 June 2013
Seasons of Hope and Trial for the Middle East
Revd Nadim Nassar of the Awareness Foundation spoke to the Theology Group on Thursday 20th June, 2013. His subject was the Arab Spring, the Relgiious Winter and the Summer of Hope. Huda Nassar and Nadim Nassar are by representatives of the Syrian Christian community and their helpful reflections were evidenced from personal experience.
This blog is my personal reaction to the presentations and the discussion that followed and nothing that is written below should be attributed to anyone else other than me...so any criticism of content should come in my direction. The principle thesis was that the Arab Spring arose because of i. lack of freedom of expression and of movement, ii. corruption, incompetence and lack of accountabiltity in local and national government, iii. poverty and unemployment particularly among the young and iv. the explosion of communications technology which allows information about comparative freedom, wealth and justice to spread globally. The Religious Winter is prescribed by Religious Fanaticism which does not believe in dialogue nor compromise, considers co-existence to be a weakness and diversity a threat to true religion. Religious Fundamentalism in Islam has its roots in i. globalisation and reaction to western and US dominance in the affairs of mankind, ii. the need to unite Islam, to link alliances and solve problems through unity under Islam shadowing an original impulse in the birth of Islam through the unity of argumentative and hostile nomadic tribes in the Arabian peninsula. The Summer of Hope is a breakthrough beyond the Apring and the Winter into the dawn of a new age which learns to listen to one another, to expect diversity and celebrate it and to respect difference. Our conversation about this analysis related to the Christian community and the Christian message in the midst of this cradle of change and pit of despair. The message of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the suffering servant who is raised from the dead as the resurrected Christ offering humanity the chance of forgiveness through grace and fulfillment through love and compassion and the assuredness of the wholly sufficient presence of the one true God now and forever...this is the summer of Hope fulfilled in our time. The blog is now open for comment and I will contribute to that as I reflect further. Do join in.
This blog is my personal reaction to the presentations and the discussion that followed and nothing that is written below should be attributed to anyone else other than me...so any criticism of content should come in my direction. The principle thesis was that the Arab Spring arose because of i. lack of freedom of expression and of movement, ii. corruption, incompetence and lack of accountabiltity in local and national government, iii. poverty and unemployment particularly among the young and iv. the explosion of communications technology which allows information about comparative freedom, wealth and justice to spread globally. The Religious Winter is prescribed by Religious Fanaticism which does not believe in dialogue nor compromise, considers co-existence to be a weakness and diversity a threat to true religion. Religious Fundamentalism in Islam has its roots in i. globalisation and reaction to western and US dominance in the affairs of mankind, ii. the need to unite Islam, to link alliances and solve problems through unity under Islam shadowing an original impulse in the birth of Islam through the unity of argumentative and hostile nomadic tribes in the Arabian peninsula. The Summer of Hope is a breakthrough beyond the Apring and the Winter into the dawn of a new age which learns to listen to one another, to expect diversity and celebrate it and to respect difference. Our conversation about this analysis related to the Christian community and the Christian message in the midst of this cradle of change and pit of despair. The message of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the suffering servant who is raised from the dead as the resurrected Christ offering humanity the chance of forgiveness through grace and fulfillment through love and compassion and the assuredness of the wholly sufficient presence of the one true God now and forever...this is the summer of Hope fulfilled in our time. The blog is now open for comment and I will contribute to that as I reflect further. Do join in.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Chaldean Catholic Church - Contemporary Issues
Kristian spoke of the history in Iraq of the Chaldean
Catholic Church and its progenitor, the Church of the East. Kristian recognises
the religious, social and political contributions of the Chaldean Catholic
community to Iraqi Society during the 20th Century which are far greater than
its minority demographic status might suggest. His paper describes the range of
issues which have shaped the contribution of the Chaldean Church;
- the rise of Assyrian nationalism in the Church of the East and its affects on political stability in the Christian community both in Iraq and Kurdistan.
- the challenge in an Islamic society to remain safe where association with the West suggests a lack of commitment to Iraqi ideals of pan Arabism and dominance of Islam.
- the power politics played out between the Sunni Kurdish peoples, the Shia' majority and the Southern Sunni minority of Iraqi particularly with the rise and fall of the Baath party.
- the drive towards ecumenical relationships between the Roman Catholic and Chaldean Catholic churches and Church of the East in discussion over theology and liturgy as the increasing exodus of Christians from Iraq reduces political influence and ecclesial viability
- the challenge to Church identities in the
contemporary Middle East
and the growth and development of eastern churches in the diaspora in North America and Europe.
Kristian and others also commented on the woeful and damaging
ignorance of international church and political leadership of the existence and
challenge of the historical and contemporary churches whose origin is in the
Middle East and the part that this community does continue to play in the lives
of ordinary people.
At our Meeting 20th March 2013
Monday, 4 March 2013
Ethnocide Thursday December 6th 2012
S. 10TH DECEMBER 2012
1. There is no reason at all to consider the Jewish Holocaut as a prototype. If there have to be a prototype, it should be the Armenian(together with other Christians of Turkey) before , during and after World War I by Turkey. The reason being that it is the earliest holocaust within living memory that is well documented and as we all know is not popularized for political reasons. This being a good reason to bring it to the forefront by scholars so that more western countries may acknowledge it.
2. I was very interested in bringing to the fore front the concept that intended extermination of a group of people can be executed without mass killings ie genocide. However the term ethnocide is not an adequate one to cover all forms of extermination of certain communities. May be we should speak of ethnic cleansing, religious cleansing, sectarian cleansing...etc.
3. I was disappointed that the Iraqi model was not brought to the fore front, not because I am Iraqi but because it has unfolded in front of our eyes over the last ten years. During these ten years there has been sectarian cleansing, ethnic cleansing and religious cleansing of different communities. The cleansing of the Christian community irrespective of sect has been the most tragic for various reasons. To explain why needs a long discussion and I enclose a paper I presented at Frieburg last year to describe how in different ways the Christians were made to leave the country. As for its being planned and by whom, there is a lot of evidence that Muslim radicals have made it their duty to achieve it. I fear that what is happening in Syria may lead to similar result but I am more hopeful that Egypt will not go the same way.
COLIN DECEMBER 7TH 2012
The Holocaust or Shoah as prototype: There has been a tendency to insist that the Jewish Holocaust is unique and to use this supposedly extreme prototype as a way of blocking any comparison of Israeli Government excesses in the occupied territories. There are striking similarities in some of the
actions that the Israeli Government through the IDF have taken in the West Bank..in their destruction and theft of land and property, their treatment of children in detention, their treatment of young men in custody (I
remember the young men of the town being rounded up and branded on their arms with indelible ink as they arrived at temporary detention centres in Ramallah in 2001/2 as a minor illustration), in the ongoing dehumanisation of people in most encounters between Palestinians and Israeli organisation. However, to call this genocide on the same level as the Shoah would be a stretch, to my mind.
Weighing impacts: I would agree that there is little to be achieved by 'weighing' the tragedy of genocide as if it were possible, in some objective way, to determine that genocide 1 is worse than genocide 2. At one level any such weighting would be essentially personal....would be it be ethical, possible , useful, necessary to determine the extent of the impact of genocide on the individual caught up in any such disaster..the picture of
the naked young woman running away from the inferno behind her on the path between the rice paddies in the Vietnam war..would be enough to deny any value in 'weighting' of such tragedy in comparison to that of e.g. images of individuals in a gas chamber in a Nazi concentration camp....both are horrific examples of humankind's inhumanity to humankind and are equally inexcusable. In what sense does multiplying the number of such incidents increase the 'weight' of such a tragedy. There could be a weighting related to community impact but once you have acknowledged the intention to destroy such a community, what more is there to be said...is it about the size of the community, I dont think so.
The concept of ethnocide: This has more mileage and could be a way of labelling the deliberate policies of depopulation of a Palestinian Jersualem, the continual squeezing of the Palestinian Arab Israeli from the
institution of the state of Israel and the squeezing of the livlihoods of Palestinian people in the West Bank as well as the imprisoning of people in Gaza. It is a deliberate policy of depopulation (or welcomed
emigration...related to constructive dismissal) and it would be very diffcult to deny that. There are many other potential applications of ethnocide rather than genocide..as applied to for example the killing of all the pigs in Egypt to help constructively dismiss the Christian population.
The word ethnocide doesn't quite fit though, in my view. It may be too narrow. If ethnicity is about common national and cultural traditions...it is not wide enough to include religious tradition which is often the subject
of 'constructive and destructive dismissal' or wide enough to include all examples of physical difference like skin colour or facial features (sometimes associated with race) which can feature in prejudicial action or
indeed any associated economic advantage or class characteristics which might be important. Religion and culture are, of course, easy bedfellows but they are not the same. Too often, our secular society insists that religion is simply a matter of choice of interest...like a set of clothes to be worn or discarded..it is not normally like that for most people of faith. Difference in belief is not necessarily related to differences in culture
although they often are.
Core Personality Traits: I warm to the concept of core personality trait which might highlight the difference...but would have difficulty though in being clear whether religion would be core for everyone..what would you die for? might be an uncomfortable question to ask.....not for every religious person is the answer religion...think of the thousands who convert/have converted from faith A to faith B to reduce societal pressure and enjoy the benefits of the switch...but it is true for some...history is 'seasoned' with the story of many a martyr.
Causes and Effects: In our discussion, I was not clear when we were talking about reasons for 'ethnocide' and 'genocide' or when were talking about definitions. Whether we were talking about 'cause' or 'effect'...and I am not sure we were clear. Wealth, status and power are often closely related and are as unstable as a cluster as each of these characteristics are in their own right. In other words power is associated with status and wealth...lose one and you are just as likely to lose the others. It seems that minorities that become successful at surviving in communities and acquire these three may get along well with the majority whilst the
privilege of the these three characteristics is tolerated. If circumstances arise that destabilize one of those three, all become vulnerable. The 'Arab Spring' has been this key instability in the relationship between Muslim majorities and the comparatively better educated, economically successful, status aware Christian communities and perhaps we are now seeing something of the politics of envy.That is a comment on the economic aspect of the victimisation of Christian minorities and it is not deny that any such economic effect could well be wrapped in religious, cultural, national papers.
Christian responses: Mary's question about Christian response and what now then...are for me questions about attitudes to our own wealth, status and power...can we afford as a western Christian community not to hear the prophetic voice of the 'Arab Spring'. Effective stewardship of our resources must mean some reckoning with the relative poverty of the world around us. We must get our house in order, we must recognise our own need to apologise and to take action that demonstrates our need for forgiveness. We might then have a more effective contribution to make to world peace and have some credibility as we seek reconciliation and compromise with others with whom we differ. i would love to be able to suggest actions 1, 2 and 3...but I am not sure, even if I could, that my heart is ready yet.
1. There is no reason at all to consider the Jewish Holocaut as a prototype. If there have to be a prototype, it should be the Armenian(together with other Christians of Turkey) before , during and after World War I by Turkey. The reason being that it is the earliest holocaust within living memory that is well documented and as we all know is not popularized for political reasons. This being a good reason to bring it to the forefront by scholars so that more western countries may acknowledge it.
2. I was very interested in bringing to the fore front the concept that intended extermination of a group of people can be executed without mass killings ie genocide. However the term ethnocide is not an adequate one to cover all forms of extermination of certain communities. May be we should speak of ethnic cleansing, religious cleansing, sectarian cleansing...etc.
3. I was disappointed that the Iraqi model was not brought to the fore front, not because I am Iraqi but because it has unfolded in front of our eyes over the last ten years. During these ten years there has been sectarian cleansing, ethnic cleansing and religious cleansing of different communities. The cleansing of the Christian community irrespective of sect has been the most tragic for various reasons. To explain why needs a long discussion and I enclose a paper I presented at Frieburg last year to describe how in different ways the Christians were made to leave the country. As for its being planned and by whom, there is a lot of evidence that Muslim radicals have made it their duty to achieve it. I fear that what is happening in Syria may lead to similar result but I am more hopeful that Egypt will not go the same way.
COLIN DECEMBER 7TH 2012
The Holocaust or Shoah as prototype: There has been a tendency to insist that the Jewish Holocaust is unique and to use this supposedly extreme prototype as a way of blocking any comparison of Israeli Government excesses in the occupied territories. There are striking similarities in some of the
actions that the Israeli Government through the IDF have taken in the West Bank..in their destruction and theft of land and property, their treatment of children in detention, their treatment of young men in custody (I
remember the young men of the town being rounded up and branded on their arms with indelible ink as they arrived at temporary detention centres in Ramallah in 2001/2 as a minor illustration), in the ongoing dehumanisation of people in most encounters between Palestinians and Israeli organisation. However, to call this genocide on the same level as the Shoah would be a stretch, to my mind.
Weighing impacts: I would agree that there is little to be achieved by 'weighing' the tragedy of genocide as if it were possible, in some objective way, to determine that genocide 1 is worse than genocide 2. At one level any such weighting would be essentially personal....would be it be ethical, possible , useful, necessary to determine the extent of the impact of genocide on the individual caught up in any such disaster..the picture of
the naked young woman running away from the inferno behind her on the path between the rice paddies in the Vietnam war..would be enough to deny any value in 'weighting' of such tragedy in comparison to that of e.g. images of individuals in a gas chamber in a Nazi concentration camp....both are horrific examples of humankind's inhumanity to humankind and are equally inexcusable. In what sense does multiplying the number of such incidents increase the 'weight' of such a tragedy. There could be a weighting related to community impact but once you have acknowledged the intention to destroy such a community, what more is there to be said...is it about the size of the community, I dont think so.
The concept of ethnocide: This has more mileage and could be a way of labelling the deliberate policies of depopulation of a Palestinian Jersualem, the continual squeezing of the Palestinian Arab Israeli from the
institution of the state of Israel and the squeezing of the livlihoods of Palestinian people in the West Bank as well as the imprisoning of people in Gaza. It is a deliberate policy of depopulation (or welcomed
emigration...related to constructive dismissal) and it would be very diffcult to deny that. There are many other potential applications of ethnocide rather than genocide..as applied to for example the killing of all the pigs in Egypt to help constructively dismiss the Christian population.
The word ethnocide doesn't quite fit though, in my view. It may be too narrow. If ethnicity is about common national and cultural traditions...it is not wide enough to include religious tradition which is often the subject
of 'constructive and destructive dismissal' or wide enough to include all examples of physical difference like skin colour or facial features (sometimes associated with race) which can feature in prejudicial action or
indeed any associated economic advantage or class characteristics which might be important. Religion and culture are, of course, easy bedfellows but they are not the same. Too often, our secular society insists that religion is simply a matter of choice of interest...like a set of clothes to be worn or discarded..it is not normally like that for most people of faith. Difference in belief is not necessarily related to differences in culture
although they often are.
Core Personality Traits: I warm to the concept of core personality trait which might highlight the difference...but would have difficulty though in being clear whether religion would be core for everyone..what would you die for? might be an uncomfortable question to ask.....not for every religious person is the answer religion...think of the thousands who convert/have converted from faith A to faith B to reduce societal pressure and enjoy the benefits of the switch...but it is true for some...history is 'seasoned' with the story of many a martyr.
Causes and Effects: In our discussion, I was not clear when we were talking about reasons for 'ethnocide' and 'genocide' or when were talking about definitions. Whether we were talking about 'cause' or 'effect'...and I am not sure we were clear. Wealth, status and power are often closely related and are as unstable as a cluster as each of these characteristics are in their own right. In other words power is associated with status and wealth...lose one and you are just as likely to lose the others. It seems that minorities that become successful at surviving in communities and acquire these three may get along well with the majority whilst the
privilege of the these three characteristics is tolerated. If circumstances arise that destabilize one of those three, all become vulnerable. The 'Arab Spring' has been this key instability in the relationship between Muslim majorities and the comparatively better educated, economically successful, status aware Christian communities and perhaps we are now seeing something of the politics of envy.That is a comment on the economic aspect of the victimisation of Christian minorities and it is not deny that any such economic effect could well be wrapped in religious, cultural, national papers.
Christian responses: Mary's question about Christian response and what now then...are for me questions about attitudes to our own wealth, status and power...can we afford as a western Christian community not to hear the prophetic voice of the 'Arab Spring'. Effective stewardship of our resources must mean some reckoning with the relative poverty of the world around us. We must get our house in order, we must recognise our own need to apologise and to take action that demonstrates our need for forgiveness. We might then have a more effective contribution to make to world peace and have some credibility as we seek reconciliation and compromise with others with whom we differ. i would love to be able to suggest actions 1, 2 and 3...but I am not sure, even if I could, that my heart is ready yet.
What is the point of dialogue? - Thursday 20th September Meeting 2012
L. 25TH SEPTEMBER 2O12 SOME TYPES OF ISLAM INIMICAL
H. 22ND SEPTEMBER 2012 THEOLOGY OF CHANGE
From my point of view what was interesting was not only what colleagues did raise but the various issues with which we did not engage, especially in relation to a theology of change and that through the Holy Spirit God may be present in moving our dialogue into new directions. How do we discern this?
M. 22ND SEPTEMBER 2102 SIMILAR VIEW
Wanted to say reading what you wrote I feel very similarly and am often disturbed by the generalisations or labels we put on others.
COLIN 21ST SEPTEMBER 2012 CONTEXTUAL ISSUES
I think this relates to something that Hugh had said at the beginning about the different levels at which dialogue takes place...personal, local, national and indeed international levels and the nature of dialogue as based on theological exchange, friendship, action and sharing religious experience.
Someone
needs to say the unsayable, that there is a type of Islam which needs to be seen
as inimical. I say this as someone who has been involved with and an admirer of
Islamic culture for 45 years +.
I
don’t agree with what you say about Sufism and when you have a few hours/days,
I’ll tell you why.
H. 22ND SEPTEMBER 2012 THEOLOGY OF CHANGE
From my point of view what was interesting was not only what colleagues did raise but the various issues with which we did not engage, especially in relation to a theology of change and that through the Holy Spirit God may be present in moving our dialogue into new directions. How do we discern this?
M. 22ND SEPTEMBER 2102 SIMILAR VIEW
Wanted to say reading what you wrote I feel very similarly and am often disturbed by the generalisations or labels we put on others.
COLIN 21ST SEPTEMBER 2012 CONTEXTUAL ISSUES
I think this relates to something that Hugh had said at the beginning about the different levels at which dialogue takes place...personal, local, national and indeed international levels and the nature of dialogue as based on theological exchange, friendship, action and sharing religious experience.
I accept that Judaism and Islam maybe best considered as legal systems and you might contrast this with Christianity which is based much more on interpretation of religious experience and personal relationship with God but I feel that this analysis runs the risk of a dangerous generalisation as we approach dialogue. I might be tilting at windmills but I wanted to make it clear for myself that this distinction does not helpfully provide the context for Muslim-Christian dialogue as I have experienced it. The deep conversations that I have had which could best be described as dialogue have been significant for me but few in number...probably I could count them on the fingers of one hand...in Britain, the USA and in Palestine. I have many conversations with Muslim where religion has played its part but deep philosophical spiritual conversations have been rare.
I have been aware of an Islam within Sufism that spans Sunni and Shia understandings of Islam and may be considered widespread if you think of the influence of some aspects of Sufism. Certainly I have heard it said that 80% of British Muslims would accept a Sufi label in their approach to God and that Sufi Islam is widely practised and understood particularly in village communities in Palestine. It would be difficult for me to dismiss those that embrace an Inner Teacher and seek a closer more initmate relationship with God as only concerned with outer religion as a legal system.
In fact, my experience of Christianity as practiced in some parts of the United States particularly would lead me to believe that Christianity is as much a legal system as Judaism and Islam is in some circumstances...particularly on the international plane and in relationship to Israel/Palesitne. Christians often present an agenda in what they might term as dialogue or conversation with people of other faiths which is just as constrained and closed as any other...indeed, I acknowledge it can be very difficult to think that one might be mistaken and that one can learn from another's faith tradition. For me to be confident about your own understanding and practice of your faith is not the same as to be closed to new understandings and new richness from which you may learn from another's faith practice and belief. Dialogue is at least also about vulnerability and I think that is as difficult for a Muslim as it is for a Jew or a Christian. The tension between credal statements and personal experience of the Spirit of God is as much a reality for many Christians as it is for any Muslim.
I think that we must be careful not to generalise about another's tradition...my experience is that the differences are not insignificant (can cause violence, persecution, changes in government etc.) but are more symbolic of power struggle than they are of an intimate and more personal experience of faith. Dialogue is not possible when a struggle for control or domination is at issue. It is rich when a sharing of personal experience of God is enabled where each party is willing to learn from the other...a notion of respect which is becoming increasingly popular as a working goal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)