Doing Theology from a Christian Woman’s Perspective
It is an honor to reflect on the theme of “Serving Together to Build a Civil and Just Society in Pakistan,” as a woman deeply rooted in Christian faith.
I belong to a priestly family which has been serving the church for four + generations. I also feel blessed to have had the opportunity to study theology and to be able to use this life enriching and inspiring discipline in my everyday life experience of working with abused, neglected and disabled children, women and religious minorities. Studying and doing theology as a woman has been a life changing experience for me. Today, I stand here humbled, honored and proud as an ordained priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, sharing my reflection on a theme which is very close to my heart.
I believe this theme will not only stir and stimulate the dynamic faith we have received from our ancestors, but will also challenge us to put our faith into practice, thus achieving our goal and mission: to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as Christ has loved us; And to strive for justice and dignity of every human being created in the divine image of God.
In today’s introductory seminar, we will barely begin to scratch the surface of our theme. And hope that in the near future we will come back at a later date to further reflect and expound upon this theme.
The theme of this seminar is action oriented. It expresses our deep conviction, our desire and mission of serving together…to build a civil and just society. The very fact that the theme calls us to build a just society asserts or emphasizes that the society we currently live in is not a just society. Since I am asked to speak from a Christian woman’s perspective, let us take a moment to look at the current status and role of women in our society. It is a fact that women have excelled in various areas of life as compared with women 30-40 years ago. However, there is still a lot of work needed to uplift the poor and oppressed, both men and women in our much segregated and broken society.
According to ‘The Human Rights Watch’- Pakistan Event of 2018, “Women, religious minorities, and transgender people face violent attacks, discrimination, and government persecution, with authorities failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators accountable.” Another report that was published last year by the United Nations Population Fund-Pakistan on April 23, states, and I quote, “It is a sad reality that Pakistan is one of the worst countries for women to live in, which can be seen in the denial of social rights to women, discrimination, honor killings, brutal rapes and abductions, marital rapes, forced marriages, and induced abortions.” It is in this context that we have gathered today, to reflect on the theme of building a civil and just society.
Building a just society is fundamentally part of our Christian faith. Both Old and New Testaments speak of God who is just…who executes justice for the oppressed and shows His love for the stranger. God not only speaks and acts on behalf of oppressed, God mandates or instructs us to end systems that allow the dispossession and impoverishment of one community by the powerful. (Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17 &3:14-15, Deut. 10:18)
How do we accomplish this mandate? What role does theology play to promote and build Justice? Theology, I believe is a robust and a constructive tool in addressing injustice prevalent in our society. It conscientizes and empowers people to know and serve God. It has the potential to building a beloved community. Theology literally means ‘thinking about God’ and in practice it means studying the sources of Christian belief like the Bible and the Creeds, and exploring the meaning of Christianity for today.
Paul Tillich, a renowned German Protestant Theologian, while defining theology said, “Theology must honestly deal with the actual conditions of humanity.” Apostle Paul’s letters are beautiful examples of doing theology. He constantly grappled with the issues and challenges of everyday life in the light of his Hebrew faith, Jesus’ teaching, and his own personal experience and encounter with Jesus Christ.
“Theology, I believe is a robust and a constructive tool in addressing injustice in our society”
Rev. Dr. Khushnud Azariah
The liberation theology, a religious movement, arising in Latin America in the 1960s and ’70s maintains that the church must have “a preferential option for the poor.” This Christian theological approach emphasizes Church’s mission as both evangelism and social responsibility Liberation theologians believed that God speaks particularly through the poor and that the Bible can be understood only when seen from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed. It involves the oppressed community in their own liberation and offers a tool towards a more civil and just society. This paradigm shift in doing theology teaches us that if we want to bring about any change, we need to focus on grass-root movements (bottom up movements) for change and translate these movements into a real structural reform.
Since theology has and can play a vital role in building a just society, women of Pakistan who comprise more than 50% of the Christian population are challenged to step forward to doing theology from women’s perspective to realize our shared vision of building a just society. Along with women, I also urge the church and its related institutions which are predominantly run by our male counterparts to also make an intentional effort to broaden their base to include and empower women and many other marginalized communities to play their rightful role in the total life and ministries of the church.
In my own theological journey, I have been greatly motivated by the stories of many courageous, wise and faithful women heroes of the Bible. Zipporah, Deborah, Huldah, Esther, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary & Martha, Mary Magdalene, the Canaanite and the Samaritan women have inspired numerous women around the world including me to do theology from women’s perspective.
One of the women which has greatly influenced my life and ministry is the unnamed woman in the gospels who suffered for twelve long years with an issue of blood. ‘Knowing that she is considered socially and ritually impure, and prohibited by the Jewish law to touch another Jew, and unquestionably a rabbi, she quietly comes up behind Jesus and touches the hem of his garment. Her faith moves her to take charge of her
life and healing against all obstacles and handicaps to claim: her rightful place in her prejudiced, and unjust society; her status as a daughter; and her goal, i.e. to be “made well.” In other words to be restored back into her community. Even though she knows that this act would make her the target of hate, condemnation and criticism as she was certainly going against the teaching of Torah, she quietly and prudently performs a forbidden act to “pick-pocket” divine healing power. And in doing so she performs what we call the “promethean act.”2 If we, the Pakistani Christian women, truly wish to build a just society, let us march forward with hope and courage to take and when necessary to pick-pocket the Divine mercy and the life giving power from Jesus trusting that in this struggle, Jesus will embrace us with love; that he will claim us as daughters and sons; that he will bless and send us forward with God’s peace.
Many a times we fail to act and hesitate to claim our commitment and conviction because we are intimated by our religious and civic leaders…by our cultural and ritualist attitudes and practices. To embark on this journey, we are called to be prudent, bold, creative, and willing, never giving up hope in claiming our rightful place in the religious institutions and society to doing theology that is liberative, transformative and life giving. And which offers services to the poor and marginalized.
Doing theology from women’s perspective empowers women and gives them the tools to describe their understanding of God and provides a world view as perceived in everyday life situation. It challenges all women, especially theologically trained women to raise their collaborative voice to question the existing dominant structures that are silent on inclusion and participation of women in the various ministries of the church. It encourages women to read, write and share stories of many named and unnamed women of the Bible and in our modern day history, learning from their life experiences. It calls Pakistani Christian women to initiate a grass-root movement, forming a platform, a safe place to share their faith stories, their lives’ struggles, creating an awareness of women’s oppression/ marginalization at all levels: in society, in church, at work, and within the family.
The word “Serving” in our theme is an important word. It calls us all, especially women doing theology, to study the meaning and function of Service/ Ministry “Diakonia” in recognizing our call and purpose to serve. Apostle Paul, while talking about the five-fold ministries of the church, in Ephesian 4:11 & 12 clearly states, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”(NIV). The Scriptures tell us clearly that both men and women are called to serve. They are called to the Five-Fold Ministry for a specific reason, i.e. to build the church, which is just and honors the dignity of all people.
The word apostle means, “One sent forth”. An apostle is sent forth by God to minister with God given authority. The criteria for being an apostle according to Paul, who also calls himself an apostle, seems to be the person who had seen the risen Lord Jesus, and secondly, who had been commissioned by Jesus himself to preach the good news. (1 Cor.9:1). Dr. Christine Amjad Ali, a New Testament scholar and a former director of CSC, while speaking at a Theological Education Seminar organized by Women’s Synodical of the Church of Pakistan in 1995 pointed out the fact that the writer of St. John’s gospel instead of using the title “apostle”, talks about the tasks and functions of an apostle. While elaborating on this point, Christine said, “The first Resurrection appearance of Jesus in John’s Gospel contains the commissioning of a particular disciple (Mary Magdalene) as the first apostle in exactly the same terms as Paul uses to describe an apostle, ie. to see the risen Lord Jesus, and to be sent by the risen Jesus to preach the good news. “3 This larger group of apostles in the early church, both women and men, were missionaries and evangelists, whose direct commissioning by Christ gave them authority and status not for the purpose of self-serving, but to change and transform society for better…to build a love filled just society.
Finally, the word “Together” in the theme is another important word to study and reflect upon. It calls us to be an Inclusive community. This means learning to see each other as part of one race, the human race created in God’s image, and learning to see the differences not as reasons to divide or oppress but as reasons to learn, appreciate, and build one another.
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, our great shepherd and wise counsellor, mingled and reached out to people of diverse background, i.e. the poor, disabled, children, women, the outcastes, people of other faith, and many other marginalized communities. He publicly challenged and demolished all religious and cultural practices, traditions, and attitudes that were oppressive and detrimental to building a beloved community…which he often referred to as Kingdom of God. And he calls us all to do the same.
In closing: As we continue to move forward, reflecting upon this theme in the context God has placed us, I invite us all to critically examine the prevailing dominant theology and mission of the church in Pakistan in the light of the two questions. The questions are: Are women allowed to serve in leadership or service roles according to their gifts? Which leadership or service roles are restricted for women?
In this ongoing work of Action and Reflection, it is my earnest prayer that may the Spirit of Truth guide and lead each one of us to realize our individual and shared commitment and calling to building a just society.
(This article was printed in Al-Mushir (2021, Vol. 63 No. 2), a theological journal of The Christian Study Center, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.)