The fifth Being Lutheran webinar explores the impact of the “democratization of the Spirit” in India’s multi-faith context
What does the “priesthood of all the baptized” mean for Christians living in today’s secular or multi-religious societies? How does this teaching, which lay at the heart of the Reformation agenda five hundred years ago, relate to present-day relations between church and state? How do Lutherans live out this call to holiness and take part in God’s mission of reconciliation in an increasingly polarized world?
These questions were posed on 4 November at the Being Lutheran webinar on 4 November. This was the fifth monthly webinar bringing together theologians and people exploring Lutheran identities of our time. The webinar was led by the head of the Lutheran World Federation’s Identity, Communion and Formation program, the Rev. Dr Chad Rimmer.
The Rev. Caroline Christopher of the Arcot Lutheran Church in India was the keynote speaker. She spoke about how great an impact the teaching of the priesthood of all the baptized had when the first Lutheran missionaries arrived in India in the 18th century. Within the rigid system of social stratification (caste), Luther’s democratic doctrine challenged not only the religious identity of the Brahmins — the Hindu priests and teachers — but also the socio-political structures that had governed people’s lives and livelihoods since ancient times.
The impact on the traditional caste system
She stressed that this reform agenda had a profound effect on the most marginalized, the Dalit communities, who were originally called the “untouchables” and were regarded as falling outside the traditional caste system. The majority of Dalits and Adivasis, India’s indigenous ethnic minority communities, are still “deprived of everything,” she said, including health care, education, political representation and participation in religious life.
The Rev. Christopher explained how the early missionaries “wanted to bring about justice” in line with the new teaching that all baptized people have direct access to God’s grace and need no priest as an intermediary. “They taught the Bible to the uneducated through stories and songs,” she said, adding that “this work continues in the church and in society” to mobilize Dalit and other poor communities. Hindu officials increasingly challenge Christian ministry among indigenous peoples and have launched a movement to “bring people back to their native religion.”
Today the Rev. Christopher noted that roughly 90 percent of the members of India’s Lutheran churches are Dalits, yet work toward a true “democracy of the Spirit” still meets resistance from those who nostalgically advocate for a more rigid hierarchical system. She said that in the Arcot Lutheran Church people are often put in charge of teams that go out to marginalized communities to share the Good News, but that “there are also other churches that do not allow the laity to take on such responsibility.”
Spirituality and prophetic ministry
In a cultural context where notions of “purity and defilement” continue to shape attitudes toward women, the Rev. Christopher pointed out that there are many churches in India where women are still excluded from the ministry of Word and Sacrament. “Major debates are taking place across all of India’s religious communities,” she added, “women are struggling and studying, but there is still a long way to go.”
Another contemporary challenge for Lutherans in India and elsewhere is the belief that the true holiness of all believers is to be found only in the evangelical churches. “There is a perception that the traditional churches lack” spirituality, the Rev. Christopher acknowledged, and it is “really difficult to help them recognize spiritual gifts within themselves.”
The Rev. Christopher spoke about her experience working as the warden of a large student hostel in Chennai, providing a “safe place to stay” for many orphans, single mothers and women in need from a variety of religious backgrounds. In the discussion that followed her presentation, participants reflected on what “prophetic diakonia” means as a Lutheran witness in secular or multi-religious societies.
The priesthood of the baptized is a radical idea that places the way we understand power in a new context. We feel empowered to take part in transformation. LWF Program Executive for Identity, Communion and Formation, Rev. Dr Chad Rimmer
Participants noted that everyday acts of love can be the only mark of the church that people may ever experience. The Rev. Dr Chad Rimmer said: “The priesthood of the baptized is a radical idea that places the way we understand power in a new context. We feel empowered to take part in transformation. It is a way of saying that whatever your occupation or interests in life, the Spirit enables you to share Christ’s love in every sector of society.”
Rimmer concluded: “This webinar took place 500 years after the day Luther published his treatise on the freedom of a Christian. It describes God’s love as a gift that frees us from the bonds of injustice, and a calling that compels us to serve our neighbor in the economic, social, religious, political and — I would add — ecological spheres.”
Watch the archive of the Being Lutheran webinar series here (in English).
GENEVA, Switzerland
09.11.2020.
Source: Lutheran World Federation News
Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert