Understanding Folk Religion

G. Hiebert Paul, Daniel Shaw R.

Description

Provides a model for examining the beliefs folk religions around the world and suggests biblical principles missionaries can use to deal with them.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Comparative religion

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781585584529
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

© 1999 by Paul G. Hiebert, R. Daniel Shaw, and Tite Tiénou
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Book House Company P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
eISBN 978-1-5855-8452-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
To: Frances, Karen, Marie Coworkers with us in the Lord’s ministry.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
S ECTION O NE: D EVELOPING AN A NALYTICAL M ODEL
1 Split-Level Christianity
2 Phenomenology of Religion
3 Analyzing Belief Systems
4 Folk and Formal Religions
S ECTION T WO: F OLK R ELIGIOUS B ELIEFS
5 The Meaning of Life and Death
6 Human Well-Being and Misfortune
7 Guidance and the Unknown
8 Right and Wrong
S ECTION T HREE: F OLK R ELIGIOUS P RACTICES
9 The World of Sacred Signs
10 Sacred Myths
11 Religious Rituals
12 Religious Leaders and Institutions
13 Religious Movements
S ECTION F OUR: C HRISTIAN R ESPONSES TO F OLK R ELIGION
14 Theological Responses to Folk Religion
15 Missiological Responses

References
Index
About the Authors
Notes
Back Cover
PREFACE
Many books are born out of life experiences. This is one of them. We, the authors, have been involved in church planting ministries around the world, and we have faced similar problems in the lives of many Christians. Paul Hiebert served in South India. He studied Hinduism to communicate the gospel more effectively in rural India, but he found that most villagers knew little more than the rudiments of Hindu theology. He found himself teaching them their theology in order to present Christ as the better way. He also found that much of village religion has little to do with Hinduism. Hinduism stresses ahimsa , not taking life, but many of the village ceremonies involved blood ceremonies. Hinduism has high-caste priests, but many of the priests in local rites are from the low castes and untouchables. Hinduism deals with cosmic gods, but village beliefs focus on the many local spirits that reside in trees, rivers, rocks, and hills. He found that new converts to Christianity left the Hindu temples and attended churches, but they still struggled with the questions of spirits, magic, divination, and ancestors. It became increasingly clear that missionaries must not only study Scripture and the formal religions of the people they serve, but also the day-to-day religious beliefs and practices that rule the people’s lives if they wanted to communicate the gospel as an answer to all the people’s hopes and fears.
Daniel Shaw served as a Bible translator among the Samo in Papua New Guinea. As an International Anthropology consultant for the Summer Institute of Linguistics, he studied the religious beliefs and practices of people in the many small-scale societies of Melanesia to assist translators to communicate God’s word effectively in communities in which local beliefs often center around spirits, magic, divination, and ancestors, and are accompanied by ritual and ceremony designed to bring comfort and security. He sought to understand cargo cults with their focus on a local messiah who often led people to their destruction rather than to the salvation they so eagerly sought. He wrestled with translating the cosmic truths of the gospel for people living in highly particularist religious communities into languages where there was no name for an all encompassing creator God. It became clear that translators had to relate closely to people who held to animistic beliefs, and to demonstrate through their own life experience that God’s power is stronger and more mighty than the strongest sorcerers and evil spirits.
Tite Tiénou has extensive experience in theological education and ministerial formation in Africa and the United States. He is the founding director of a Bible school in Burkina Faso, and the founding President and Dean of a seminary in Côte d’Ivoire. He taught world religions and African religions for more than a decade in various settings: a Bible school in Burkina Faso, study centers and seminars in Africa, and seminaries in Côte d’Ivoire and the United States.
Some books are matured in classes. This is one of them. We have tested many of the ideas in this book in classes and doctoral seminars on folk religion, folk Islam, folk Hinduism, African Traditional Religions, and religions of the Pacific Islands. We owe much to the many participants in these classes and seminars, who contributed immeasurably to our thinking. We also profited greatly from reading the doctoral dissertations on the subject written by missionaries and church leaders serving around the world. Many of them will recognize the results of class discussions in which they participated. Others will see their works cited in the text. To all of them, we offer our deep thanks for their contributions to our thinking.
Much has been written in recent years on various aspects of folk religions, such as demon possession, spiritual warfare, witchcraft, divination, and power encounters. Most of it has approached the subject taxonomically looking at the different kinds of spirits, powers, divination, and ancestors found around the world. These studies introduce the reader to the bewildering array of beliefs found in folk religions, but they do not help us understand why faithful Christians persist in turning to traditional practices in times of crisis. For this, we need to understand the reasons why people return to old ways. This book is an attempt to look beneath the surface of taxonomies to examine folk religions as legitimate belief systems that do, in some measure, answer the longing of human hearts. This does not mean we believe them to be true or biblical in nature. It does mean we must take them seriously and provide better answers if we want the old ways to die out.
The purpose of this book is not to present ready answers to the questions folk religions pose. Rather, it is to sensitize Christians to the need to deal with folk religions, and to understand them. It is to challenge Christian leaders to think biblically in responding to them. Most attention is given to understanding the nature of folk religions and the reasons why they persist despite centuries of church censure. Some guidelines for theological responses are offered, but more attention is given to analyzing the questions folk religions seek to answer because most church leaders have more knowledge of biblical truths than of human beliefs and practices.
Every book is based on implicit systems of belief. This one is no exception. It is important to make these explicit so that readers know where the authors are coming from, and to keep readers from expecting more than is intended and faulting the authors for not including materials not promised. The writers are committed evangelicals who believe that God has called all people to follow Jesus Christ. Their theological convictions shape the way they respond to folk religions. The authors are committed to the mission that God is carrying out through his church in the world, and they view mission in certain ways.
First, mission is about people, not programs. It is not projects to be accomplished through human engineering and action. It begins with learning to understand people deeply, identifying with them, and building relationships of love and trust. It is to communicate the gospel to them in ways they understand that can help them to critique their old religious ways, and to think biblically in their everyday lives. Those who expect in this book to find formulas or strategies for quick solutions to the problems raised by folk religions will be disappointed.
Second, mission is about principles, not pragmatic answers. It is easy to try alternative solutions to see which works, but to do so is to reduce missions to problem solving. Christianity is about truth and righteousness, not only in the ends it seeks, but also the means it uses to achieve those ends. The medium is an essential part of the biblical message. There is no easy shortcut to the goals of Christian ministry.
Third, mission has to do with the particular, not only the universal. When God spoke, he spoke to Moses on the Mount, David in the field, and Esther in the palace. He addressed them in their languages and contexts. The gospel is not truth in general. It is truth for people who live in specific places and times, and are caught in particular straits in life. In dealing with folk religions it is important to remember that they are incredibly diverse. Models for analysis, such as the one offered in this book, provide broad guidelines for the study of folk religions, but church leaders and missionaries must move beyond these models to understandings and answers specific to their contexts. There are no standard answers that fit all, or even most, of the cases.
Finally, mission is a process, not a task to complete. It is calling people to faith, discipling them, organizing them into living congregations, encouraging them to do theological reflection in their contexts, and sharing with them the vision of God’s mission to the world. It must continue as new fields of ministry are opened, new generations are born, and cultures and societies change. Each generation of Christians in each location must discover for themselves the message of the gospel for themselves and their times and places.
The book is divided into four sections. The first examines theories of religion and develops a model for use in examining folk religions. The second looks at the key questions of folk religions and the