NEW YEAR 2008
True friendship is a shelte, a haven for the heart, it’s always there sosteady and so sure, in this world of changes, it’s a warm, familiar place, and it’s a wonderful feeling to know, true friendship will endure.
And, for a friend like you who’s simply terrific, may the New Year be a grace-filled one and full of happy surprises for you and for many many through you!
Lots of love
Benji
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Prof. S.K.George
An Unknown Gandhian and an unknown Christian
By P N Benjamin
SUNDAY HERALD, 22 OCTOBER 2000
When a young theologian stepped out of the portals of the Bishop’s College Calcutta in 1932, little did he
realize that the teachings of Christ would be religiously followed by an ‘unbeliever’. Much to the shock of
his relatives and friends w ho expected him to be conventional parson of the Anglican Church,
Srampickal Kuruvilla George by the message and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
George saw in Gandhi, a person who dared to live the Christian life and even called others to do so.
Never had he seen anyone who treated the Gita and the Sermon on the Mount as Gospels. His conviction
to follow the Gandhian way also gave him enough audacity to express theological doubts pertaining to
the exclusive Divinity of Christ. Theologians, who were taken by surprise at George’s affirmations,
postponed his ordination as a priest of the Church, hoping that he would come back to the real faith of the
Church.
Since the irrevocable had happened, George became a social leper in theological circles. Unmindful of the
hostility, George went a step further. In the 1930s, when the Church in India did not show any sympathy
towards the national movement, George urged the Christians to join the Civil Disobedience Movement for
he firmly believed that the ‘satyagraha’ ‘was the Cross in action’. He published an appeal to all Indian
Christians and the Church to join in and act as custodians of non-violence as a community which claimed
to believe in the supreme instance of the triumphant satyagraha the world has seen, viz, the Cross of Jesus
of Nazareth. The Bengal Government took objection to this statement and two Calcutta papers were
penalized. George himself escaped Government prosecution. But this sympathy with Indian nationalism
was regarded as disloyalty to the Church and the Government.
The then head of the Anglican Church in India, Metropolitan Foss Westcott, had condemned the
Disobedience Movement as unchristian and even justified the British law comparing it to the law of
Nature. However, George confronted his stand by drawing a parallel between the revolt of Israelites
mentioned in the Bible to the Disobedience Movement what followed was a theological battle.
George said: " One striking biblical parallel suggests itself to me whenever I think of Gandhiji, namely
that of Moses leading the revolt of the Israelites, creating disaffection among them against constituted
authority and leading them to independence. Moses would stand condemned by your Lordship’s argument
from the analogy of the laws of Nature.
In this reply the Metropolitan stated: I always understood that Moses went with the full permission of
Pharaoh… but his pursuit was arrested not by the violence of Moses but by what is recorded as an act of
God". And in his reply to this, George said: "You say our Lord kept out of politics, but we are not to
bring Him into our politics if He is to be the Lord of all life?… And I challenge anyone to say that in
principle the war of non-violent disobedience to an unjust law is against the teaching of Christ." George’s theological stand was in fact simple. In this book " Gandhi’s challenge to Christianity, he said the hope of
the Kingdom of God was the central thing in Christianity. George’s target was not to destroy the icons of
the Church but to bring in the message of the Kingdom of God. He believed that the way to the realization of that Kingdom is the way to the cross- that of suffering love. And much to his amazement this principle was
followed to its hilt by Gandhi in India.
George says in his book " I do not claim to be a great anything but I do claim to be a Gandhiite and a
Christian. That combination is to me vital and significant for the world today and especially so for India.
The conviction came to me as a young man in the beginning of the Gandhian era in Indian politics, a
conviction that has only been deepened by the passage of years and greater understanding of the message
of both Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi, that a true Christian in India today must necessarily be a Gandhian.
The corollary to that, that a Gandhian must also be a Christian, is understood in its widest, perhaps its truest sense in which Gandhi with his life-long devotion to Hinduism, is himself a Christian." George’s proposition that
a true Christian in Indian must necessarily be a Gandhian was borne out of his conviction that Gandhi was
giving a practical demonstration of the applicability of the teachings of Jesus to modern problems. That
was a sorely needed demonstration.
In his foreword to the first edition of George’s book, Gandhi’s Challenge to Christianity,
Dr S Radhakrishnan wrote on 8 June, 1939 from Oxford that Mr. S K George "represents the increasing
number of Christians who are alive to the currents of modern Indian life and aspirations and are anxious
to bring their faith into an understanding with India’s spiritual heritage…"
George’s radical stand not only ostracized him further in the Christian circles, but he also lost his job.
His personal life was also in turmoil as his wife had to stay with her parents with their two small children
while George went to Gandhi’s Ashram at Sabarmathi. That was the time when Gandhi was in prison. In
one of his letters to George, Gandhi wrote… "Only do not give me up in despair…" This appeal not to
give him up in despair touched George and humiliated him. He wrote later: Not only have I not given
him (Gandhi) up, but I continue to draw inspiration from that fountainhead of light to humanity, groping
and floundering along the path of violence in this age of atomic powers…"
George had to return to Kerala shortly afterwards following the death of his daughter to look after his wife who suffered from a sudden shock following the tragedy. It was the time when Gandhi had come to
Trivandrum to preside over the celebrations of the Travancore Temple Entry. He made it a point to visit
the ailing Mary George after the function inspiring her with his mere presence.
For George the going was not easy. He spent much of his time struggling to maintain his intellectual
integrity and his right to exist even as an independent and unattached Christian. Many of the
church-controlled institutions refused to provide him a job because of his freethinking religious ideas.
In 1942 George produced a small book Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ. Reviewing this book Sir C P Ramaswami Iyer w rote: It is impossible to improve on Mr. George’s account that the modern mind sees
the evidence of Jesus Christ’s divinity not in his miracles in the fragrance of his sacrificial living…I have
learnt more about the real character of Jesus from this book than from any other. Sir C P was the then
Diwan of Travancore.
Gandhiji appointed Mrs. George as his prathinidhi in the Kasturba Trust for Kerala, which started
functioning in 1946, with a training centre at Trichur in the house and land belonging to the George
family. Mrs. George worked as a prathinidhi for about 8 years.
From 1947-1950, George was in Viswa Bharati, Shantiniketan, as editor of Sino-Indian Journal and
professor of English in their college and then as Adyaksha C F Andrews Memorial Hall for Christian and Western Studies. During this time George wrote several articles for newspapers and periodicals.
The June 26, 1949 issue of the Illustrated Weekly of India, published an essay Can we evolve a basic
religion? by George in which he discussed how the different religious systems have failed in the past to
establish the brotherhood of man. Prof. George suggested in it that Mahatma Gandhi’s definition of God
as Truth and his (Gandhi’s) insistence that religion must permeate every activity of man, might point the
way to a basic religion free and constraints and conflicts.
Sri C Rajagopalachari, Governor-General read the essay and immediately wrote an affectionate letter to
George from Simla on 30 June, 1949… " I have thought over this idea of a basic religion founded on
unswerving loyalty to Truth…Truth plus something is wanted. Love must take shape and add itself to
Truth…The richness and power of Christianity would be lost if we exclude the life of Christ and the love
and compassion that make it up. I am not, I know, quite logical, but I am thinking aloud as I scribble this
out to be typed out…"
In 1950,George accepted an invitation from Sriman Narayan to take up the job as Professor of English,
G S College, Wardha, the centre of Gandhian activities. In 1951 he wrote the book The Story of the Bible,
with a foreword by Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.
In 1954, the then Madhya Pradesh Government appointed the Christian Missionaries Activities Enquiry
Committee with Justice N B Niyogi as its chairman with five members. Prof S K George was one of them,
the only Christian on the committee. A storm of protest was raised by a certain section of people against
the very appointment of the enquiry committee, and specially directed against George.
The force of opposition to George’s appointment can be well gauged by the necessity felt by the
Government of issuing a press note to justify the appointment of the Committee. With reference to George,
the press note stated: " As regards Shri S K George, he is a devout Christian and a nationalist, belonging
to the oldest Church in India- the Syrian Christian Church-and has been an educationist and a public
worker of more than twenty five years’ standing. He has pursued Theological studies both in India and
Oxford, and was also working in Shantiniketan. He has published several books on Christianity.
Commenting on his appointment, one of the outstanding Christian leaders in the country described it as a
‘wise’and ‘correct’ choice. The "outstanding Christian leader" was no less than the late lamented Dr H C Mookerjee, the saintly Governor of West Bengal in the 1950s
It was the unanimous opinion of all non- Christian members of the Niyogi Committee that George should
be asked to enunciate his own view on the future course of Christianity in India. Accordingly he revealed
his mind in unequivocal terms as follows:
" An Indian today, high caste or Adivasi, Hindu or Christian whose heart does not glow with love and
devotion to his motherland, which is making such tremendous advance, is untrue to his genius and
disloyal to his nation. It was not sufficiently realized that Western Christianity is the result of a marriage
between Hebraism, the Semitic heritage, and Greco Roman culture. A real wielding of Indian spirituality
and Hebrew ethics might result in Christianity that might enrich the whole world.The Indian Christianity
that is really Indian and truly Christian, might give a lead to World Christianity. An Indian Christianity
that emphasizes its essential and holds lightly to its trappings, mainly of Western devising, will find a
welcome from India that is awakening from its lethargy under centuries of foreign domination…
If Missionaries from the West with their specialized training and aptitudes are willing to serve in India
without the ulterior motive of adding to the numerical strength of the denominations they belong to, they
will truly be representative of their Master and be doing their best to win for Him the heart of India. We
have come across a few such who find in disinterested service to India their true reward, who have been
taken into the hearts of the people…We wish Christianity in India to become truly Indian and truly
Christian and the religions of India to come together in genuine co-operation giving a lead to the nations in peaceful co-existence…"
That these faithfully reflect the spiritual genius of this land is amply borne out by the comment of the
Vedant Kesari (October 1956) that " they evidence the creative and generous spirit" of the Enquiry
Committee.
The work of the Enquiry Committee proved too much for George. The nervous strain of
serving on such a commission could be imagined. " A very tired man", as he said to himself. He was
suffering from Parkinson’s disease. There was no definite treatment for this progressive disease in those
days. His health deteriorated. Meanwhile his wife died on 19th December 1959.
George followed his wife a few months later on 4th May, 1960. He was sixty years old then.
To those who knew the man personally, it was a great loss. As Rev. R. R. Keithahn said: "George was
ahead of most of us. He had rid himself of that which binds the spirit. He could look at another man,
another religion, another thought as few men ever do. As a result, he could at once make the truth his
own fettered by no dogma or ritual or prejudice…surely he was a man of God."
Prof. S K George was gentle as a saint but firm as a rock on all matters of principle, that was what had
made his life’s pilgrimage such a difficult one. With his scholarship and flawless English he could so
easily have led a peaceful and happy life in the pleasant backwaters of Christian colleges, had he been
prepared to turn a deaf ear to what he called, in the title of his first book, Gandhi’s Challenge to
Christianity and to hold aloof from national struggle. But these things he could not do, and only those
who knew him well could ever realize how great was the sacrifice he made when he turned his back on
the academic career for which he was by nature and nurture so eminently fitted. Gentle and self-effacing
and accommodating in all personal matters, to compromise on any matter of principle was the one thing
he could not do.
P.N.BENJAMIN
By P N Benjamin
SUNDAY HERALD, 22 OCTOBER 2000
When a young theologian stepped out of the portals of the Bishop’s College Calcutta in 1932, little did he
realize that the teachings of Christ would be religiously followed by an ‘unbeliever’. Much to the shock of
his relatives and friends w ho expected him to be conventional parson of the Anglican Church,
Srampickal Kuruvilla George by the message and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
George saw in Gandhi, a person who dared to live the Christian life and even called others to do so.
Never had he seen anyone who treated the Gita and the Sermon on the Mount as Gospels. His conviction
to follow the Gandhian way also gave him enough audacity to express theological doubts pertaining to
the exclusive Divinity of Christ. Theologians, who were taken by surprise at George’s affirmations,
postponed his ordination as a priest of the Church, hoping that he would come back to the real faith of the
Church.
Since the irrevocable had happened, George became a social leper in theological circles. Unmindful of the
hostility, George went a step further. In the 1930s, when the Church in India did not show any sympathy
towards the national movement, George urged the Christians to join the Civil Disobedience Movement for
he firmly believed that the ‘satyagraha’ ‘was the Cross in action’. He published an appeal to all Indian
Christians and the Church to join in and act as custodians of non-violence as a community which claimed
to believe in the supreme instance of the triumphant satyagraha the world has seen, viz, the Cross of Jesus
of Nazareth. The Bengal Government took objection to this statement and two Calcutta papers were
penalized. George himself escaped Government prosecution. But this sympathy with Indian nationalism
was regarded as disloyalty to the Church and the Government.
The then head of the Anglican Church in India, Metropolitan Foss Westcott, had condemned the
Disobedience Movement as unchristian and even justified the British law comparing it to the law of
Nature. However, George confronted his stand by drawing a parallel between the revolt of Israelites
mentioned in the Bible to the Disobedience Movement what followed was a theological battle.
George said: " One striking biblical parallel suggests itself to me whenever I think of Gandhiji, namely
that of Moses leading the revolt of the Israelites, creating disaffection among them against constituted
authority and leading them to independence. Moses would stand condemned by your Lordship’s argument
from the analogy of the laws of Nature.
In this reply the Metropolitan stated: I always understood that Moses went with the full permission of
Pharaoh… but his pursuit was arrested not by the violence of Moses but by what is recorded as an act of
God". And in his reply to this, George said: "You say our Lord kept out of politics, but we are not to
bring Him into our politics if He is to be the Lord of all life?… And I challenge anyone to say that in
principle the war of non-violent disobedience to an unjust law is against the teaching of Christ." George’s theological stand was in fact simple. In this book " Gandhi’s challenge to Christianity, he said the hope of
the Kingdom of God was the central thing in Christianity. George’s target was not to destroy the icons of
the Church but to bring in the message of the Kingdom of God. He believed that the way to the realization of that Kingdom is the way to the cross- that of suffering love. And much to his amazement this principle was
followed to its hilt by Gandhi in India.
George says in his book " I do not claim to be a great anything but I do claim to be a Gandhiite and a
Christian. That combination is to me vital and significant for the world today and especially so for India.
The conviction came to me as a young man in the beginning of the Gandhian era in Indian politics, a
conviction that has only been deepened by the passage of years and greater understanding of the message
of both Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi, that a true Christian in India today must necessarily be a Gandhian.
The corollary to that, that a Gandhian must also be a Christian, is understood in its widest, perhaps its truest sense in which Gandhi with his life-long devotion to Hinduism, is himself a Christian." George’s proposition that
a true Christian in Indian must necessarily be a Gandhian was borne out of his conviction that Gandhi was
giving a practical demonstration of the applicability of the teachings of Jesus to modern problems. That
was a sorely needed demonstration.
In his foreword to the first edition of George’s book, Gandhi’s Challenge to Christianity,
Dr S Radhakrishnan wrote on 8 June, 1939 from Oxford that Mr. S K George "represents the increasing
number of Christians who are alive to the currents of modern Indian life and aspirations and are anxious
to bring their faith into an understanding with India’s spiritual heritage…"
George’s radical stand not only ostracized him further in the Christian circles, but he also lost his job.
His personal life was also in turmoil as his wife had to stay with her parents with their two small children
while George went to Gandhi’s Ashram at Sabarmathi. That was the time when Gandhi was in prison. In
one of his letters to George, Gandhi wrote… "Only do not give me up in despair…" This appeal not to
give him up in despair touched George and humiliated him. He wrote later: Not only have I not given
him (Gandhi) up, but I continue to draw inspiration from that fountainhead of light to humanity, groping
and floundering along the path of violence in this age of atomic powers…"
George had to return to Kerala shortly afterwards following the death of his daughter to look after his wife who suffered from a sudden shock following the tragedy. It was the time when Gandhi had come to
Trivandrum to preside over the celebrations of the Travancore Temple Entry. He made it a point to visit
the ailing Mary George after the function inspiring her with his mere presence.
For George the going was not easy. He spent much of his time struggling to maintain his intellectual
integrity and his right to exist even as an independent and unattached Christian. Many of the
church-controlled institutions refused to provide him a job because of his freethinking religious ideas.
In 1942 George produced a small book Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ. Reviewing this book Sir C P Ramaswami Iyer w rote: It is impossible to improve on Mr. George’s account that the modern mind sees
the evidence of Jesus Christ’s divinity not in his miracles in the fragrance of his sacrificial living…I have
learnt more about the real character of Jesus from this book than from any other. Sir C P was the then
Diwan of Travancore.
Gandhiji appointed Mrs. George as his prathinidhi in the Kasturba Trust for Kerala, which started
functioning in 1946, with a training centre at Trichur in the house and land belonging to the George
family. Mrs. George worked as a prathinidhi for about 8 years.
From 1947-1950, George was in Viswa Bharati, Shantiniketan, as editor of Sino-Indian Journal and
professor of English in their college and then as Adyaksha C F Andrews Memorial Hall for Christian and Western Studies. During this time George wrote several articles for newspapers and periodicals.
The June 26, 1949 issue of the Illustrated Weekly of India, published an essay Can we evolve a basic
religion? by George in which he discussed how the different religious systems have failed in the past to
establish the brotherhood of man. Prof. George suggested in it that Mahatma Gandhi’s definition of God
as Truth and his (Gandhi’s) insistence that religion must permeate every activity of man, might point the
way to a basic religion free and constraints and conflicts.
Sri C Rajagopalachari, Governor-General read the essay and immediately wrote an affectionate letter to
George from Simla on 30 June, 1949… " I have thought over this idea of a basic religion founded on
unswerving loyalty to Truth…Truth plus something is wanted. Love must take shape and add itself to
Truth…The richness and power of Christianity would be lost if we exclude the life of Christ and the love
and compassion that make it up. I am not, I know, quite logical, but I am thinking aloud as I scribble this
out to be typed out…"
In 1950,George accepted an invitation from Sriman Narayan to take up the job as Professor of English,
G S College, Wardha, the centre of Gandhian activities. In 1951 he wrote the book The Story of the Bible,
with a foreword by Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.
In 1954, the then Madhya Pradesh Government appointed the Christian Missionaries Activities Enquiry
Committee with Justice N B Niyogi as its chairman with five members. Prof S K George was one of them,
the only Christian on the committee. A storm of protest was raised by a certain section of people against
the very appointment of the enquiry committee, and specially directed against George.
The force of opposition to George’s appointment can be well gauged by the necessity felt by the
Government of issuing a press note to justify the appointment of the Committee. With reference to George,
the press note stated: " As regards Shri S K George, he is a devout Christian and a nationalist, belonging
to the oldest Church in India- the Syrian Christian Church-and has been an educationist and a public
worker of more than twenty five years’ standing. He has pursued Theological studies both in India and
Oxford, and was also working in Shantiniketan. He has published several books on Christianity.
Commenting on his appointment, one of the outstanding Christian leaders in the country described it as a
‘wise’and ‘correct’ choice. The "outstanding Christian leader" was no less than the late lamented Dr H C Mookerjee, the saintly Governor of West Bengal in the 1950s
It was the unanimous opinion of all non- Christian members of the Niyogi Committee that George should
be asked to enunciate his own view on the future course of Christianity in India. Accordingly he revealed
his mind in unequivocal terms as follows:
" An Indian today, high caste or Adivasi, Hindu or Christian whose heart does not glow with love and
devotion to his motherland, which is making such tremendous advance, is untrue to his genius and
disloyal to his nation. It was not sufficiently realized that Western Christianity is the result of a marriage
between Hebraism, the Semitic heritage, and Greco Roman culture. A real wielding of Indian spirituality
and Hebrew ethics might result in Christianity that might enrich the whole world.The Indian Christianity
that is really Indian and truly Christian, might give a lead to World Christianity. An Indian Christianity
that emphasizes its essential and holds lightly to its trappings, mainly of Western devising, will find a
welcome from India that is awakening from its lethargy under centuries of foreign domination…
If Missionaries from the West with their specialized training and aptitudes are willing to serve in India
without the ulterior motive of adding to the numerical strength of the denominations they belong to, they
will truly be representative of their Master and be doing their best to win for Him the heart of India. We
have come across a few such who find in disinterested service to India their true reward, who have been
taken into the hearts of the people…We wish Christianity in India to become truly Indian and truly
Christian and the religions of India to come together in genuine co-operation giving a lead to the nations in peaceful co-existence…"
That these faithfully reflect the spiritual genius of this land is amply borne out by the comment of the
Vedant Kesari (October 1956) that " they evidence the creative and generous spirit" of the Enquiry
Committee.
The work of the Enquiry Committee proved too much for George. The nervous strain of
serving on such a commission could be imagined. " A very tired man", as he said to himself. He was
suffering from Parkinson’s disease. There was no definite treatment for this progressive disease in those
days. His health deteriorated. Meanwhile his wife died on 19th December 1959.
George followed his wife a few months later on 4th May, 1960. He was sixty years old then.
To those who knew the man personally, it was a great loss. As Rev. R. R. Keithahn said: "George was
ahead of most of us. He had rid himself of that which binds the spirit. He could look at another man,
another religion, another thought as few men ever do. As a result, he could at once make the truth his
own fettered by no dogma or ritual or prejudice…surely he was a man of God."
Prof. S K George was gentle as a saint but firm as a rock on all matters of principle, that was what had
made his life’s pilgrimage such a difficult one. With his scholarship and flawless English he could so
easily have led a peaceful and happy life in the pleasant backwaters of Christian colleges, had he been
prepared to turn a deaf ear to what he called, in the title of his first book, Gandhi’s Challenge to
Christianity and to hold aloof from national struggle. But these things he could not do, and only those
who knew him well could ever realize how great was the sacrifice he made when he turned his back on
the academic career for which he was by nature and nurture so eminently fitted. Gentle and self-effacing
and accommodating in all personal matters, to compromise on any matter of principle was the one thing
he could not do.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Paulose Mar Gregorios
ALIENATION FROM GOD
A Proud Indian
T. V. R. Shenoy
Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya - Let me go from the dark unto the light. It is not a bad prayer for 1997. Both literally (I'm writing this by candlelight) and metaphorically.
That latter task has been made just a bit harder by the loss of one of our guides, Paulos Mar Gregorios, Metropolitan of Delhi and the North in the Malankara Orthodox Church (I should have written a tribute to him earlier, but wasn't in India when he died).Six months ago, we saw and heard our elected representatives come up with varying definitions of `secularism' in the LokSabha. Perhaps we should also see what a man of God and a proud Indian thought of all such subjects.
Let it be said that the Bishop possessed a truly fine intellect. But if his brilliance was unchallenged, his integrity was a little more suspect. I think it is fair to say he wilted in the Emergency.Again, he flirted closer to Communism than was needed (There by earning the nickname of the `Red Bishop'). Towards the end, however, he confessed that they too became "dogmatic, corrupt, and power hungry" as anyone else.
But it isn't for his dubious politics that the Bishop should be remembered. It is for his research and his writings in his own chosen field of religion.
I would like everyone to read and ponder over two pieces in particular, an article for the prestigious India International Quarterly and an essay for the book Ultimate Visions entitled why am I an Eastern Orthodox Christian?
This is what Mar Gregorios wrote of the concept of `tolerance' when speaking of Inter-faith relations. It was "condescending", something like saying, "I know I'm right, yet I tolerate you."This wasn't anything really new (It was propounded by Swami Vivekananda, who pointed out that there is no Sanskrit equivalent for the word `tolerance').
And on `secularism'? "I am convinced that until humanity sees that the secular civilisation, which denies the centrality of God, has been the greatest mistake in our history, it cannot find the way forward" (This from the same man who once opined that being anti - communist was to be anti - Christ!).
So was he a fanatic Christian? Not in the least. He gloomily described the Christians of the west as "shameful, narrow-minded men of European Christianity." And those were charitable words compared to what he wrote of his own orthodox version. What Mar Gregorios demanded was something far subtler. He didn't want `tolerance' but `respect.' And he damned `secularism' altogether, correctly identifying it as an alienation from God.
The Bishop practised what he preached. Having lived in the Christian tradition for half a lifetime, he set about studying other faiths. And in the seventy third year of his life, he wrote what he called "a confession of my faith."
He spoke of all that he had learned from them - the concept of ekam advitiyam from the Hindu tradition, the anekanthavada of the Jains, of the Buddhist concept of reality, and from all the other faiths. All this seemed to make him a better Christian.
I hope every Indian, Christian or otherwise, takes the time to read the Bishop (Westerners too, of course!). In the months to come, I am sure we are going to hear more about `secularism' and its virtues. Let us recognise it for what it is - a divisive force that separates man from God.
Paulos Mar Gregorios died too soon. "I hope I am still learning", he wrote in his seventies, "and will continue to do so until the end." What a change from those know - it - all secularists!
(Courtsey: The Week, January 1997)T. V. R. Shenoy: Columist and Journalist.
A Proud Indian
T. V. R. Shenoy
Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya - Let me go from the dark unto the light. It is not a bad prayer for 1997. Both literally (I'm writing this by candlelight) and metaphorically.
That latter task has been made just a bit harder by the loss of one of our guides, Paulos Mar Gregorios, Metropolitan of Delhi and the North in the Malankara Orthodox Church (I should have written a tribute to him earlier, but wasn't in India when he died).Six months ago, we saw and heard our elected representatives come up with varying definitions of `secularism' in the LokSabha. Perhaps we should also see what a man of God and a proud Indian thought of all such subjects.
Let it be said that the Bishop possessed a truly fine intellect. But if his brilliance was unchallenged, his integrity was a little more suspect. I think it is fair to say he wilted in the Emergency.Again, he flirted closer to Communism than was needed (There by earning the nickname of the `Red Bishop'). Towards the end, however, he confessed that they too became "dogmatic, corrupt, and power hungry" as anyone else.
But it isn't for his dubious politics that the Bishop should be remembered. It is for his research and his writings in his own chosen field of religion.
I would like everyone to read and ponder over two pieces in particular, an article for the prestigious India International Quarterly and an essay for the book Ultimate Visions entitled why am I an Eastern Orthodox Christian?
This is what Mar Gregorios wrote of the concept of `tolerance' when speaking of Inter-faith relations. It was "condescending", something like saying, "I know I'm right, yet I tolerate you."This wasn't anything really new (It was propounded by Swami Vivekananda, who pointed out that there is no Sanskrit equivalent for the word `tolerance').
And on `secularism'? "I am convinced that until humanity sees that the secular civilisation, which denies the centrality of God, has been the greatest mistake in our history, it cannot find the way forward" (This from the same man who once opined that being anti - communist was to be anti - Christ!).
So was he a fanatic Christian? Not in the least. He gloomily described the Christians of the west as "shameful, narrow-minded men of European Christianity." And those were charitable words compared to what he wrote of his own orthodox version. What Mar Gregorios demanded was something far subtler. He didn't want `tolerance' but `respect.' And he damned `secularism' altogether, correctly identifying it as an alienation from God.
The Bishop practised what he preached. Having lived in the Christian tradition for half a lifetime, he set about studying other faiths. And in the seventy third year of his life, he wrote what he called "a confession of my faith."
He spoke of all that he had learned from them - the concept of ekam advitiyam from the Hindu tradition, the anekanthavada of the Jains, of the Buddhist concept of reality, and from all the other faiths. All this seemed to make him a better Christian.
I hope every Indian, Christian or otherwise, takes the time to read the Bishop (Westerners too, of course!). In the months to come, I am sure we are going to hear more about `secularism' and its virtues. Let us recognise it for what it is - a divisive force that separates man from God.
Paulos Mar Gregorios died too soon. "I hope I am still learning", he wrote in his seventies, "and will continue to do so until the end." What a change from those know - it - all secularists!
(Courtsey: The Week, January 1997)T. V. R. Shenoy: Columist and Journalist.
DALITS' PLIGHT
A long road lies ahead of Dalits
(DECCAN HERALD, April 15, 2004)Considering the fact that oppressed Dalits cannot hope for support from others, they have to fight for their own rightsBY P N BENJAMINAt the beginning of the 21st century, caste in India is as significant in understanding the social matrix as it was a century ago.
The birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar signifies the need for a continued struggle against caste oppression in Indian society today.Dalit children are being segregated from the children of other caste backgrounds in schools.Dalits are fined by village elders for violating caste norms by entering a temple. And Dalits are denied burial grounds. The Dalit can be killed, his mother and sisters raped and murdered. But the state, society and intellectuals and NGOs who fight for Dalit rights hardly struggle to uproot the causes that breed it.Shameful situation
The enormous pain and frustrations suffered by the Dalit population in our country must make every sensitive citizen to hang his head in shame. The tragedy is that not only have we not eradicated untouchability during the last five decade despite the good intentions of the founding fathers of independent India, but also have created newer and subtler forms of untouchability. India is as far away from being a civilised casteless society as ever.Long ago, Tolstoy acidly observed: "The abolition of slavery has gone on for a long time. Rome abolished slavery. America abolished and we did, but only the words were abolished, not the thing." We in India have performed a similar feat of verbalism vis a vis the Dalit victims. The colonial masters called this social proletariat ‘depressed classes’ and Gandhiji called them ‘Harijans’, a Sanskritic, sophistic substitute to upgrade at least in name this subhumanised category. Their status substantially remained the same and "Harijan" became a blend of the pejorative and the sanctimonious, without the higher castes integrating them, with egalitarian passion, into a casteless Hindu fold.Dr Ambedkar, himself a Dalit, fought this malignant degradation and tried his best to set his brethren free as equal members of the Indian society. He battled and wrote into the Constitution purposeful provisions to prevent caste victimisation and promote the Dalits’ socio-economic status. Dr Ambedkar was a human catalyst of social action against injustice to the suppressed sector of the Indian people – the Dalits. He was a dynamic figure who devoted himself to the cause of justice, freedom and dignity to the lowliest, the lost and the last in the socio-economic hierarchy. He rightly believed that political democracy without social and economic democracy is a double deception.Ambedkar’s legacy has not succeeded in breaking the status quo. He had felt that organisation, education and agitation would enable the Dalits to reverse caste prejudices. As it has turned out, Dalit political groups are totally disorganised. Education has only led to the emergence of an elite class, which has slowly distanced itself from agitational Dalit politics. Dalit movements have either been absorbed into mainstream parties or have degenerated into negative militancy.Activists bereft of any ideology are unwilling to disturb the existing caste equations.Almost all Dalit political leaders have showered only lip sympathy to the blood, sweat and tears of the Dalits, in order to get their votes, but with no intention of doing anything to ameliorate their conditions. These leaders and the elite among Dalits swallow the few jobs in the government and admissions to professional courses. Dalit politicians and leaders holding very high political posts have in practice proved to be "Uncle Toms" because of the compulsions of Indian polity. These self-seeking status quoits have only aided in pushing the outcasts out of our society, out of the mainstream.Ambedkar’s truth
What Dr Ambedkar said long ago about the Dalit leaders being ‘selfish’ and quarrelsome on ‘petty matters’ is still true. Dalit activists 30 or 40 years ago may have been expected to launch agitations to create public awareness against atrocities against them in various parts of the country. The deification of Dr Ambedkar by building Ambedkar Bhavans and statues in every village appears to have taken precedence over any fight for equal rights. The real protection of the Dalits and other underprivileged sections in the community lies in their being organised and led in active mass movement committed to awaken them in defence of their interests. Guts at the political level and a willingness of the Dalit leaders to dirty their hands while organising the wretched of the Indian earth offer the only valid answer to the plight of Dalits in this country.Given the developing trend, the Dalits should stand up and fight for their rights. It would be futile to expect others to give them support with real change of heart. This can only be achieved by following intelligently Ambedkar’s exhortation: Educate, organise and agitate. A long, tortuous road lies ahead of the Dalits of India. And it is not an easy road either.
(DECCAN HERALD, April 15, 2004)Considering the fact that oppressed Dalits cannot hope for support from others, they have to fight for their own rightsBY P N BENJAMINAt the beginning of the 21st century, caste in India is as significant in understanding the social matrix as it was a century ago.
The birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar signifies the need for a continued struggle against caste oppression in Indian society today.Dalit children are being segregated from the children of other caste backgrounds in schools.Dalits are fined by village elders for violating caste norms by entering a temple. And Dalits are denied burial grounds. The Dalit can be killed, his mother and sisters raped and murdered. But the state, society and intellectuals and NGOs who fight for Dalit rights hardly struggle to uproot the causes that breed it.Shameful situation
The enormous pain and frustrations suffered by the Dalit population in our country must make every sensitive citizen to hang his head in shame. The tragedy is that not only have we not eradicated untouchability during the last five decade despite the good intentions of the founding fathers of independent India, but also have created newer and subtler forms of untouchability. India is as far away from being a civilised casteless society as ever.Long ago, Tolstoy acidly observed: "The abolition of slavery has gone on for a long time. Rome abolished slavery. America abolished and we did, but only the words were abolished, not the thing." We in India have performed a similar feat of verbalism vis a vis the Dalit victims. The colonial masters called this social proletariat ‘depressed classes’ and Gandhiji called them ‘Harijans’, a Sanskritic, sophistic substitute to upgrade at least in name this subhumanised category. Their status substantially remained the same and "Harijan" became a blend of the pejorative and the sanctimonious, without the higher castes integrating them, with egalitarian passion, into a casteless Hindu fold.Dr Ambedkar, himself a Dalit, fought this malignant degradation and tried his best to set his brethren free as equal members of the Indian society. He battled and wrote into the Constitution purposeful provisions to prevent caste victimisation and promote the Dalits’ socio-economic status. Dr Ambedkar was a human catalyst of social action against injustice to the suppressed sector of the Indian people – the Dalits. He was a dynamic figure who devoted himself to the cause of justice, freedom and dignity to the lowliest, the lost and the last in the socio-economic hierarchy. He rightly believed that political democracy without social and economic democracy is a double deception.Ambedkar’s legacy has not succeeded in breaking the status quo. He had felt that organisation, education and agitation would enable the Dalits to reverse caste prejudices. As it has turned out, Dalit political groups are totally disorganised. Education has only led to the emergence of an elite class, which has slowly distanced itself from agitational Dalit politics. Dalit movements have either been absorbed into mainstream parties or have degenerated into negative militancy.Activists bereft of any ideology are unwilling to disturb the existing caste equations.Almost all Dalit political leaders have showered only lip sympathy to the blood, sweat and tears of the Dalits, in order to get their votes, but with no intention of doing anything to ameliorate their conditions. These leaders and the elite among Dalits swallow the few jobs in the government and admissions to professional courses. Dalit politicians and leaders holding very high political posts have in practice proved to be "Uncle Toms" because of the compulsions of Indian polity. These self-seeking status quoits have only aided in pushing the outcasts out of our society, out of the mainstream.Ambedkar’s truth
What Dr Ambedkar said long ago about the Dalit leaders being ‘selfish’ and quarrelsome on ‘petty matters’ is still true. Dalit activists 30 or 40 years ago may have been expected to launch agitations to create public awareness against atrocities against them in various parts of the country. The deification of Dr Ambedkar by building Ambedkar Bhavans and statues in every village appears to have taken precedence over any fight for equal rights. The real protection of the Dalits and other underprivileged sections in the community lies in their being organised and led in active mass movement committed to awaken them in defence of their interests. Guts at the political level and a willingness of the Dalit leaders to dirty their hands while organising the wretched of the Indian earth offer the only valid answer to the plight of Dalits in this country.Given the developing trend, the Dalits should stand up and fight for their rights. It would be futile to expect others to give them support with real change of heart. This can only be achieved by following intelligently Ambedkar’s exhortation: Educate, organise and agitate. A long, tortuous road lies ahead of the Dalits of India. And it is not an easy road either.
BIRD
AN INTER-FAITH VOYAGE
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is a little lamp, lit and kept burning, by a group of kindred souls and fellow pilgrims. Theirs is an inter-faith voyage of discovery, sailing on the winds of near-identical views on people and events signifying that whatever the darkness, however profound the sense of lostness, the light of God’s love – be it Ram, Allah or Jesus - will continue to shine, for those who have the eyes to see, a heart to love and a soul to believe. BIRD’s premise is simplicity itself -striking a match in a dark immense cavern, to dispel the surrounding gloom.We are convinced that only through inter- religious dialogue can we diffuse the recurring tension between religious groups and communities. We believe in strengthening of inter-faith dialogue in order to elevate communal and religious harmony to the level of a practicing doctrine. In any such dialogues there is need for a full and free exchange of our differing religious experiences, in a spirit of mutual respect, appreciation and sympathy. An exchange of individual or collective experiences will lead to enrichment of each others religious life, purifying and strengthening the religious attitude of mind against irreligious and materialistic attitudes from which stem our personal, social and national problems.
BIRD came into being in 2001 as a response to the growing communal and inter-religious tensions that prevailed in the country at that time. As a first step, it organized a lecture to honour the memory of the late Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha on 7th Oct. that year. Francois Gautier, who delivered the lecture, described Samartha as "the Christian prophet of religious pluralism".
Immediately after the lecture, the Hindu leaders who attended the programme, expressed their desire to enter into dialogue with Christians and the first meeting took place at the Dharmaram Vidya Shektram in the last week of October 2001. Since then there has been no turning back and we have been in constant touch with the so-called "Hindu fanatics".
BIRD organises a series Samartha Memorial Lectures every year in October. Prof. C.T. Kurien and Prof. M.V.Nadkarni, former vice chancellor of Gulbarga University delivered the second and third lectures respectively in 2003 and 2004. While the theme for the second lecture was "Communal Harmony – A societal Perspective, the third was on "Religion in 21st Century: A Perspective of Hope". His Grace Philipose Mar Chrysotom, Mar Thoma Metropolitan, delivered the fourth one in the St. Mark’s Cathedral, Bangalore on 12 Oct, 2005. He spoke on "Courage for Dialogue"
In the beginning we heard a voice - a voice of sanity. That was Mahatma Gandhi telling us: "Show a little humility and a little diffidence about the correctness of one's conduct and a little receptiveness. He reminded us "not to seek to satisfy our thirst for ego by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred and jealousy. We should cease to be merchants of hate. We have to teach ourselves that consideration for others is nobler than muscling our way to the front".
Our experience has proved that peace can be achieved only through talking to our perceived enemies because they are the ones supposed to be creating problems for us. Disarm them with a broad smile. Talk to them with sincerity and honesty. They are receptive to reason. That has been our experience. That has been our strategy.
BIRD's achievements are nothing to write home about. But, who can deny that we do not hear about violent attacks on Christians in India after the publication of the report of BIRD-RSS fact-finding and peace mission to Mysore following the alleged attack on the Holy Family Church at Hinkal in 2002? BIRD has also played a minor role two years ago in the release of Ian Stillman, an invalid, British social worker, from Shimla jail.
Since its inception in 2001, BIRD has been providing a platform for addressing those issues, which are the causes for religious tension and resentment. We propose to organize more meetings and dialogues between religious and community leaders to ensure harmony between followers of different faiths. We will also conduct public lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences and meetings on topics useful to the people at large.The road ahead of the fellow pilgrims of inter-faith dialogue and peacemakers is long, narrow and arduous. We seek your guidance and support – moral, material and financial.
For further details please contact:
P.N.BENJAMIN, Coordinator, Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
E-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is a little lamp, lit and kept burning, by a group of kindred souls and fellow pilgrims. Theirs is an inter-faith voyage of discovery, sailing on the winds of near-identical views on people and events signifying that whatever the darkness, however profound the sense of lostness, the light of God’s love – be it Ram, Allah or Jesus - will continue to shine, for those who have the eyes to see, a heart to love and a soul to believe. BIRD’s premise is simplicity itself -striking a match in a dark immense cavern, to dispel the surrounding gloom.We are convinced that only through inter- religious dialogue can we diffuse the recurring tension between religious groups and communities. We believe in strengthening of inter-faith dialogue in order to elevate communal and religious harmony to the level of a practicing doctrine. In any such dialogues there is need for a full and free exchange of our differing religious experiences, in a spirit of mutual respect, appreciation and sympathy. An exchange of individual or collective experiences will lead to enrichment of each others religious life, purifying and strengthening the religious attitude of mind against irreligious and materialistic attitudes from which stem our personal, social and national problems.
BIRD came into being in 2001 as a response to the growing communal and inter-religious tensions that prevailed in the country at that time. As a first step, it organized a lecture to honour the memory of the late Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha on 7th Oct. that year. Francois Gautier, who delivered the lecture, described Samartha as "the Christian prophet of religious pluralism".
Immediately after the lecture, the Hindu leaders who attended the programme, expressed their desire to enter into dialogue with Christians and the first meeting took place at the Dharmaram Vidya Shektram in the last week of October 2001. Since then there has been no turning back and we have been in constant touch with the so-called "Hindu fanatics".
BIRD organises a series Samartha Memorial Lectures every year in October. Prof. C.T. Kurien and Prof. M.V.Nadkarni, former vice chancellor of Gulbarga University delivered the second and third lectures respectively in 2003 and 2004. While the theme for the second lecture was "Communal Harmony – A societal Perspective, the third was on "Religion in 21st Century: A Perspective of Hope". His Grace Philipose Mar Chrysotom, Mar Thoma Metropolitan, delivered the fourth one in the St. Mark’s Cathedral, Bangalore on 12 Oct, 2005. He spoke on "Courage for Dialogue"
In the beginning we heard a voice - a voice of sanity. That was Mahatma Gandhi telling us: "Show a little humility and a little diffidence about the correctness of one's conduct and a little receptiveness. He reminded us "not to seek to satisfy our thirst for ego by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred and jealousy. We should cease to be merchants of hate. We have to teach ourselves that consideration for others is nobler than muscling our way to the front".
Our experience has proved that peace can be achieved only through talking to our perceived enemies because they are the ones supposed to be creating problems for us. Disarm them with a broad smile. Talk to them with sincerity and honesty. They are receptive to reason. That has been our experience. That has been our strategy.
BIRD's achievements are nothing to write home about. But, who can deny that we do not hear about violent attacks on Christians in India after the publication of the report of BIRD-RSS fact-finding and peace mission to Mysore following the alleged attack on the Holy Family Church at Hinkal in 2002? BIRD has also played a minor role two years ago in the release of Ian Stillman, an invalid, British social worker, from Shimla jail.
Since its inception in 2001, BIRD has been providing a platform for addressing those issues, which are the causes for religious tension and resentment. We propose to organize more meetings and dialogues between religious and community leaders to ensure harmony between followers of different faiths. We will also conduct public lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences and meetings on topics useful to the people at large.The road ahead of the fellow pilgrims of inter-faith dialogue and peacemakers is long, narrow and arduous. We seek your guidance and support – moral, material and financial.
For further details please contact:
P.N.BENJAMIN, Coordinator, Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
E-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com
Jawaharlal Nehru
NEHRU GLIMPSED WORLD HISTORY, DISCOVERED INDIA
By P.N.BENJAMIN
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru epitomized the spirit of the new India. He was a dreamer. His "dream was of a world free of fear and hunger; the song of a great epic resonant with the spirit of Gita and as fragrant as a rose, the flame of a candle which burnt all night long, showing us the way." (Atal Behari Vajpayee). Nehru glimpsed world history and discovered India. He gave us sermon after sermon on parliamentary democracy and secularism, five-year plans, public sector and socialist pattern of society. He led us, way out in front. We could not really keep pace, even with each other.
Some of the glimpses from Nehru provide remarkable insights into his approach to the building of Indian democracy. "I entirely agree with you that as a people we have lost the public sense of social justice. To put it differently, our standards have fallen greatly. Indeed, we have hardly any standards left except not to be found out…We drift along calmly accepting things as they are. We see the mote in other people’s eyes and not the beam in our own or friends’ eyes. We are strong in condemnation of those who are our opponents, but we try not to see the obvious faults of our friends. What are we to do? I confess my mind is not clear, although I have thought of this a great deal," wrote Nehru to B.G.Kher on July 26, 1949.
In a letter to Mehr Chand Khanna on June 6, 1949, Nehru said: "I have viewed with dismay and sorrow the narrow and communal outlook that has progressively grown in the country and which shows itself in a variety of ways. I shall cease to be Prime Minister the moment I realize that this outlook has come to stay and that I cannot do my duty as I conceive it."
On October 2, 1951 he said in a speech in Delhi: "If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life, both as the head of the Government and from outside".
"It is fairly easy to make a list of what we would like to have. It is more difficult to get that done in the proper order of priority. To attempt to do many things at the same time sometimes results in nothing being done", he wrote to Jayaprakash Narayan on March 17, 1953.
Nehru used to regularly write a fortnightly letter to the Chief Ministers of the States. These fortnightly communications were in the nature of Nehru’s survey of prevailing national and international scene. In a sense, they amounted to a remarkable correspondence course for continuing political education imparted by him to his colleagues – so necessary for a unified understanding of the fast changing reality that confronted and still confronts those at the helm of affairs of this great country. His letters to the CMs are a treasure chest of raw material for the contemporary history of India.
"I travel about a great deal in India and see vast crowds of people. They are friendly crowds and they give me a feeling of basic strength. And yet the sight of a child or a boy or a girl without adequate food or clothing or house to live in always produces a sense of shock in me as well as a sense of shame. I compare my own comfort and well-being with that child of India who is our responsibility." (Letter to Chief Ministers, November 1953).
Nehru was convinced that the only system of government, which could hold so vast and diverse a land together was democracy. He brushed aside arguments that it was unwise to give the vote to India’s illiterate masses.
Nehru himself showed a deep understanding of and respect for parliamentary government even when it meant tolerating vitriolic attacks by his opponents.
For example, once Ram Manohar Lohia got up and said in the Lok Sabha: ‘I’m sick and tired of hearing about the aristocracy of the Nehrus. I know for a fact that Nehru’s grandfather was a peon at the Mughal court.’ The Congress benches were up in arms, shrieking at him. Nehru was sitting there; and he slowly got up and said: ‘I’d like to thank the Honourable Member for proving what I’ve been trying to prove, that I’m one with the people.’
Nehru had attached enormous importance to parliament. He didn’t miss a day; he was always there, with that red rose in his button-hole. He enjoyed the cut and thrust of parliamentary debates. Nehru would be deeply disappointed if he could see the decline in Indian parliamentary standards today. But his faith in democracy has been vindicated by several free elections and remarkably smooth changes of government through the ballot-box. Despite mass illiteracy, the Indian voter has shown a robust common sense that is quite capable of seeing through the promises of politicians.
It is said: "Nehru was a prophet frustrated, with his hopes unfulfilled". But, to the end he laboured, taking on burdens that would have broken the back of most other people. And he worried that he had ‘promises to keep’ to his people and to posterity, and there were miles and miles to go before he could call it a day. No less than his critics he was conscious of vast tasks still undone, but he knew no way, consistently with his convictions and his view of men and things, along which he could go ahead faster and without damage to values that he cherished. Here, indeed, lay his historic failure – the failure to achieve change for fear of the price that might have had to be paid and in deep concern for the right means so that the future was not to be garish and crude.
He knew when society was purged of the dross and ages, one wakes, as it were, into a common world of air and light, a world which is the patented preserve of no elite but belongs to all. He knew also that the transition was difficult and prolonged and painful and yet had to be made, for the very meaning of history lay in such human, and often necessarily fallible, endeavour. He knew he had great authority and this authority needed to be wielded for helping vast majority of Indians. But, if he shrank from jobs set him relentlessly by history, he did it not by reason of guile and petty calculation but by reason of the love he bore for mankind.
Nehru guided India with vision and integrity. When he passed from the scene, the devaluation of public life began. A cultural revolution changed all values. "Panditji, thou shouldst be living at this hour! India hath need of thee!"
P.N.BENJAMIN
By P.N.BENJAMIN
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru epitomized the spirit of the new India. He was a dreamer. His "dream was of a world free of fear and hunger; the song of a great epic resonant with the spirit of Gita and as fragrant as a rose, the flame of a candle which burnt all night long, showing us the way." (Atal Behari Vajpayee). Nehru glimpsed world history and discovered India. He gave us sermon after sermon on parliamentary democracy and secularism, five-year plans, public sector and socialist pattern of society. He led us, way out in front. We could not really keep pace, even with each other.
Some of the glimpses from Nehru provide remarkable insights into his approach to the building of Indian democracy. "I entirely agree with you that as a people we have lost the public sense of social justice. To put it differently, our standards have fallen greatly. Indeed, we have hardly any standards left except not to be found out…We drift along calmly accepting things as they are. We see the mote in other people’s eyes and not the beam in our own or friends’ eyes. We are strong in condemnation of those who are our opponents, but we try not to see the obvious faults of our friends. What are we to do? I confess my mind is not clear, although I have thought of this a great deal," wrote Nehru to B.G.Kher on July 26, 1949.
In a letter to Mehr Chand Khanna on June 6, 1949, Nehru said: "I have viewed with dismay and sorrow the narrow and communal outlook that has progressively grown in the country and which shows itself in a variety of ways. I shall cease to be Prime Minister the moment I realize that this outlook has come to stay and that I cannot do my duty as I conceive it."
On October 2, 1951 he said in a speech in Delhi: "If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life, both as the head of the Government and from outside".
"It is fairly easy to make a list of what we would like to have. It is more difficult to get that done in the proper order of priority. To attempt to do many things at the same time sometimes results in nothing being done", he wrote to Jayaprakash Narayan on March 17, 1953.
Nehru used to regularly write a fortnightly letter to the Chief Ministers of the States. These fortnightly communications were in the nature of Nehru’s survey of prevailing national and international scene. In a sense, they amounted to a remarkable correspondence course for continuing political education imparted by him to his colleagues – so necessary for a unified understanding of the fast changing reality that confronted and still confronts those at the helm of affairs of this great country. His letters to the CMs are a treasure chest of raw material for the contemporary history of India.
"I travel about a great deal in India and see vast crowds of people. They are friendly crowds and they give me a feeling of basic strength. And yet the sight of a child or a boy or a girl without adequate food or clothing or house to live in always produces a sense of shock in me as well as a sense of shame. I compare my own comfort and well-being with that child of India who is our responsibility." (Letter to Chief Ministers, November 1953).
Nehru was convinced that the only system of government, which could hold so vast and diverse a land together was democracy. He brushed aside arguments that it was unwise to give the vote to India’s illiterate masses.
Nehru himself showed a deep understanding of and respect for parliamentary government even when it meant tolerating vitriolic attacks by his opponents.
For example, once Ram Manohar Lohia got up and said in the Lok Sabha: ‘I’m sick and tired of hearing about the aristocracy of the Nehrus. I know for a fact that Nehru’s grandfather was a peon at the Mughal court.’ The Congress benches were up in arms, shrieking at him. Nehru was sitting there; and he slowly got up and said: ‘I’d like to thank the Honourable Member for proving what I’ve been trying to prove, that I’m one with the people.’
Nehru had attached enormous importance to parliament. He didn’t miss a day; he was always there, with that red rose in his button-hole. He enjoyed the cut and thrust of parliamentary debates. Nehru would be deeply disappointed if he could see the decline in Indian parliamentary standards today. But his faith in democracy has been vindicated by several free elections and remarkably smooth changes of government through the ballot-box. Despite mass illiteracy, the Indian voter has shown a robust common sense that is quite capable of seeing through the promises of politicians.
It is said: "Nehru was a prophet frustrated, with his hopes unfulfilled". But, to the end he laboured, taking on burdens that would have broken the back of most other people. And he worried that he had ‘promises to keep’ to his people and to posterity, and there were miles and miles to go before he could call it a day. No less than his critics he was conscious of vast tasks still undone, but he knew no way, consistently with his convictions and his view of men and things, along which he could go ahead faster and without damage to values that he cherished. Here, indeed, lay his historic failure – the failure to achieve change for fear of the price that might have had to be paid and in deep concern for the right means so that the future was not to be garish and crude.
He knew when society was purged of the dross and ages, one wakes, as it were, into a common world of air and light, a world which is the patented preserve of no elite but belongs to all. He knew also that the transition was difficult and prolonged and painful and yet had to be made, for the very meaning of history lay in such human, and often necessarily fallible, endeavour. He knew he had great authority and this authority needed to be wielded for helping vast majority of Indians. But, if he shrank from jobs set him relentlessly by history, he did it not by reason of guile and petty calculation but by reason of the love he bore for mankind.
Nehru guided India with vision and integrity. When he passed from the scene, the devaluation of public life began. A cultural revolution changed all values. "Panditji, thou shouldst be living at this hour! India hath need of thee!"
P.N.BENJAMIN
IAN STILLMAN
BANGALORE INITIATIVE FOR RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE (BIRD)
PRESS RELEASE 25 June 2002
An appeal to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen
A delegation consisting of Dr. Ken R.Gnanakan, P.N.Benjamin, Bishop R. Paulraj and Dr. Thomas George met and handed over an appeal addressed to Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee, to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen, who has been languishing in the Kanda jail near Shimla for the last two years, to Union Minister Uma Bharati on 24 June in Bangalore.
The minister told the delegation that she was moved by the plight of Stillman and she would do everything possible to help him out. She also asked the delegation to inform Stillman’s wife to personally meet her (Uma Bharati) in New Delhi.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
June 24, 2002To: Respected Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpaiyeecc: Respected Home Minister, L.K. AdvaniPer kind favour : Respected Union Minister, Uma BharatiAn appeal to free the deaf Briton from jailWe write this appeal on behalf of Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen, whohas been languishing in the Kanda jail near Shimla for the last two years.He was arrested for allegedly possessing 20 kilos of cannabis and sentencedto 10 years in jail. His appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed on May6.Stillman came to India in 1972. Appalled by the plight of the deaf people inIndia he decided stay back in South India and work for them. He wanted toprove to the world that given the right training, there was nothing the deafpersons could not do.August 2000, when Ian was on a trip to Manali forsetting up IT camps for deaf people, the police arrested him under theNarcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for the aforesaid crime.Here are the facts which we would request you to consider. Ian got a liftfrom an Israeli tourist who was going back to Manali. When the policestopped the car the Israeli ran away. The taxi driver and his assistant werewitnesses but the court declared that they had turned hostile. More than200 British MPs have recently petitioned the Indian government for Stillman's freedom.Ian Stillman's health is reportedly failing. The phantom pain in hisamputated leg has resurfaced and he suffers from diabetes. The doctors havewarned him that he could lose his other leg too. As he languishes in jail,he reads whatever he can lay his hands on and is well on his way to writinga children's book.Ian Stillman longs to get back to the deaf camp he opened in Kanyakumari andthe Nambikkai, and the Foundation set up in Chennai in 1978. We appeal tothe Government of India to show mercy on Ian Stillman and free him fromprison and permit him to resume his work among the deaf persons.We urge your timely action to set Stillman free and help him continue hisnoble work.Dr. Ken R. GnanakanChristian Alliance for Communal Harmonyand ACTS MinistriesMIG 54, KHB Colony, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 095.P.N.BENJAMINCoordinator,Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue(BIRD)43/2 Promenade Road, Bangalore 560 005Bishop Elia Peter,Methodist Church, BangaloreBishop S. PaulrajChurch of South India, Triuchirapalli, TamilnaduDr. Thomas GeorgeAsian Council for Communal Harmony
PRESS RELEASE 25 June 2002
Appeal to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen
A delegation consisting of Dr. Ken R.Gnanakan, P.N.Benjamin, Bishop R. Paulraj and Dr. Thomas George met and handed over an appeal addressed to Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee, to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen, who has been languishing in the Kanda jail near Shimla for the last two years, to Union Minister Uma Bharati on 24 June in Bangalore.
The minister told the delegation that she was moved by the plight of Stillman and she would do everything possible to help him out. She also asked the delegation to inform Stillman’s wife to personally meet her (Uma Bharati) in New Delhi.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
PRESS RELEASE 25 June 2002
An appeal to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen
A delegation consisting of Dr. Ken R.Gnanakan, P.N.Benjamin, Bishop R. Paulraj and Dr. Thomas George met and handed over an appeal addressed to Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee, to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen, who has been languishing in the Kanda jail near Shimla for the last two years, to Union Minister Uma Bharati on 24 June in Bangalore.
The minister told the delegation that she was moved by the plight of Stillman and she would do everything possible to help him out. She also asked the delegation to inform Stillman’s wife to personally meet her (Uma Bharati) in New Delhi.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
June 24, 2002To: Respected Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpaiyeecc: Respected Home Minister, L.K. AdvaniPer kind favour : Respected Union Minister, Uma BharatiAn appeal to free the deaf Briton from jailWe write this appeal on behalf of Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen, whohas been languishing in the Kanda jail near Shimla for the last two years.He was arrested for allegedly possessing 20 kilos of cannabis and sentencedto 10 years in jail. His appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed on May6.Stillman came to India in 1972. Appalled by the plight of the deaf people inIndia he decided stay back in South India and work for them. He wanted toprove to the world that given the right training, there was nothing the deafpersons could not do.August 2000, when Ian was on a trip to Manali forsetting up IT camps for deaf people, the police arrested him under theNarcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for the aforesaid crime.Here are the facts which we would request you to consider. Ian got a liftfrom an Israeli tourist who was going back to Manali. When the policestopped the car the Israeli ran away. The taxi driver and his assistant werewitnesses but the court declared that they had turned hostile. More than200 British MPs have recently petitioned the Indian government for Stillman's freedom.Ian Stillman's health is reportedly failing. The phantom pain in hisamputated leg has resurfaced and he suffers from diabetes. The doctors havewarned him that he could lose his other leg too. As he languishes in jail,he reads whatever he can lay his hands on and is well on his way to writinga children's book.Ian Stillman longs to get back to the deaf camp he opened in Kanyakumari andthe Nambikkai, and the Foundation set up in Chennai in 1978. We appeal tothe Government of India to show mercy on Ian Stillman and free him fromprison and permit him to resume his work among the deaf persons.We urge your timely action to set Stillman free and help him continue hisnoble work.Dr. Ken R. GnanakanChristian Alliance for Communal Harmonyand ACTS MinistriesMIG 54, KHB Colony, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 095.P.N.BENJAMINCoordinator,Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue(BIRD)43/2 Promenade Road, Bangalore 560 005Bishop Elia Peter,Methodist Church, BangaloreBishop S. PaulrajChurch of South India, Triuchirapalli, TamilnaduDr. Thomas GeorgeAsian Council for Communal Harmony
PRESS RELEASE 25 June 2002
Appeal to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen
A delegation consisting of Dr. Ken R.Gnanakan, P.N.Benjamin, Bishop R. Paulraj and Dr. Thomas George met and handed over an appeal addressed to Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee, to free Ian Stillman, a deaf British citizen, who has been languishing in the Kanda jail near Shimla for the last two years, to Union Minister Uma Bharati on 24 June in Bangalore.
The minister told the delegation that she was moved by the plight of Stillman and she would do everything possible to help him out. She also asked the delegation to inform Stillman’s wife to personally meet her (Uma Bharati) in New Delhi.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
HIREN MUKERJEE
A Communist rishi By Gopal Gandhi A tribute to Hiren Mukherjee, lifelong Communist, accomplished Parliamentarian and scholar, who passed away on July 30. I BEGAN a letter sent to Professor Hiren Mukerjee in December 1998 with the traditional `Pujya Hirenbabu'. I was not sure whether the veteran Marxist leader would like that worshipful form of address. Came the reply written in his distinctive hand: "You were right in guessing that I do not take kindly to being addressed as `Pujya', but of course I am grateful for the generosity behind it." There was no generosity operating there. I had just then read the remarkable text of his speech on `The Glory of Sanskrit And Its Relevance To Our Life Today'. A more erudite work on the subject could not have been expected or received from any pandit of ancient religious lore. Nor one with a more critically contemporary ring to it. And I wanted to tell him how much I had benefited from it. Hirenbabu had quoted Vidura in the speech: apriyasya cha satyasya, vakta srota cha durlabha (for the unpleasing and the truthful, speakers as well as listeners are scarce). And the equally timeless: puranamityena na sadhu sarvam (whatever is old is not, for that reason alone, necessarily right). "I was reminded," Hirenbabu continued in his letter, "of Motilal Nehru once writing to Jawaharlal about his impatience with the Mahatma's `worshipful friend' - the Mahamana Pandit Malaviya." Disdaining the attitude and profession of worship in my letter, he went on to treat me (as on earlier occasions) to a repast of wit, wisdom and rare historical evocation. "I have been in my own way a Gandhi devotee, in spite of my unrepentant communism," he said. "I present to you from out of my memory, a piece of rhyme in The New Statesman And Nation (circa 1935) by `Sagittarius': "De Valera and his Green Shirts with their back to the wall, Hitler with his Brown Shirts riding for a fall, Mussolini with his Black Shirts lording over it all, Three Cheers for Mahatma Gandhi with no shirt at all!." "I am sure you have inherited something of his sense of fun," Hirenbabu continued, " didn't he order once a new set of false teeth while starting on a `fast unto death'!" My not having inherited a sense of fun (or indeed anything else) from the Mahatma did not prevent me from doubling up in laughter at that anecdote. Just as my lack of scholarly credentials had not prevented me from seeing the penetrating connections Hirenbabu had established in his lecture on Sanskrit. Citing the idyllic visions of our ancient texts, he drew attention in that address to the deviations from the ideal. He cited Kalidasa's description of a woman: grihini, sachiva, sakhi, mithah, priya-sishya lalite kalavidhau ( housewife, yes, but also keeper of secrets, companion, one-of-a-pair, favoured student, adept in fine arts so numerous..." And gave time-honoured descriptions of some current-day types such as: dharma-vanijyaka (purveyor of religion). Quoting ancient descriptions of Bharatavarsha such as Himavatsetu-paryanta (from the Himalaya to the sea), Devanirmita-desam (country raised by the Gods) and the beautiful Ganga-mauktika-harini (adorned by the necklace that is Ganga), he also gave the starkly contrastive smasana-vairagya (the desolation-isolation of a smouldering crematorium). My generation of students at University was stirred by his description in a speech in the Lok Sabha of urban squalor: "Does the Hon'ble Prime Minister know that men vie with dogs in the streets of our cities for leavings from the rich man's table?" It was given to two professors to be the goads to Parliament's conscience - Acharya J.B. Kripalani and Acharya Hiren Mukerjee. Both were unsparing in their criticism of government and of the social organisations that held India in their vice-like grip. And both veterans of debate received the most undivided attention of the Treasury benches headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. Hirenbabu's study of Nehru, The Gentle Colossus, is as much a tribute to the objectivity and receptivity of the politics of those times as it is a critique of India's first Prime Ministership. Hirenbabu had another interest (besides Sanskrit) outside of his Marxist commitment: archaeology. His speeches in the Lok Sabha on the subject were remarkable for their knowledge of the contributions to Indian historical research by individuals like Sir Leonard Woolley and Sir Mortimer Wheeler and contained the most valuable suggestions for the future work of the Archaeological Survey of India. My late uncle C.R. Narasimhan, MP for Krishnagiri, who was an enthusiast for the preservation of the fresco-secco panels in the Brihadisvara temple at Tanjore, looked upon Hirenbabu as a mentor on the subject. The Communist and Congress members of the second Lok Sabha collaborated effortlessly in the matter. And so when Hirenbabu wrote an impassioned piece at the destruction of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, he was writing as one whose historical sensibility had been shaken no less than his secular sensitivity. It was a privilege, years later, to have heard from Hirenbabu while as I was working in Pretoria after he had come across a report of President Mandela's conferment on Gandhi, posthumously, of the keys to the city of Pietermaritzburg where in 1893 the future Mahatma had been pitched out of the train and into destiny. It was Hirenbabu who was being generous in that communication about some observations I had made on that occasion. Hirenbabu asked me to send his greetings to my brother Rajmohan adding "although he and I have a different weltanschauung, I have a soft corner for him." (He underlined the German word meticulously to signify an italicisation). A couple of years later I accompanied President Narayanan, as the President's secretary, when he went to call on Hirenbabu at his Ballygunge residence. That was Mr. Narayanan's first visit to Calcutta as President. The event was unforgettable. It was reminiscent of President Prasad's calls on Acharya Narendra Deva or President Radhakrishnan's on Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Some months later, I recall, President Narayanan received a hand-written letter from Hirenbabu, one of several that had been exchanged by the two. He urged the President, as a former student of Harold Laski, to help carry the dynamics of socialist ideology from "contract to relations" even as, earlier, it had been taken from "status to contract." I cite this from memory but the words were more or less to that effect. To my mind this showed a remarkable ability on the part of the Marxist nonagenarian to hold fast to the core of his ideas but without denying the impact or significance of the world outside that core. Hirenbabu had just crossed 90 at that time and was recovering from an episode of ill health. He ended that letter to the President with an anecdote. Lord Palmerston, Hirenbabu recounted, told his doctor who had predicted the death of his patient if he did not listen to medical advice: " Die? My dear doctor, that is the last thing I will do!"
To how many is given the privilege of doing the `last thing' with the physical, intellectual and spiritual dignity of Professor Hiren Mukerjee? And with a laughter that could check tears? (The writer is Ambassador of India in Norway.)
To how many is given the privilege of doing the `last thing' with the physical, intellectual and spiritual dignity of Professor Hiren Mukerjee? And with a laughter that could check tears? (The writer is Ambassador of India in Norway.)
JOHN GALBRAiTH
A cloud over civilisationCorporate power is the driving force behind US foreign policy - andthe slaughter in IraqJK GalbraithThursday July 15, 2004The GuardianAt the end of the second world war, I was the director for overalleffects of the United States strategic bombing survey - Usbus, as itwas known. I led a large professional economic staff in assessment ofthe industrial and military effects of the bombing of Germany. Thestrategic bombing of German industry, transportation and cities, wasgravely disappointing. Attacks on factories that made such seeminglycrucial components as ball bearings, and even attacks on aircraftplants, were sadly useless. With plant and machinery relocation andmore determined management, fighter aircraft production actuallyincreased in early 1944 after major bombing. In the cities, the randomcruelty and death inflicted from the sky had no appreciable effect onwar production or the war.These findings were vigorously resisted by the Allied armed services -especially, needless to say, the air command, even though they werethe work of the most capable scholars and were supported by Germanindustry officials and impeccable German statistics, as well as by thedirector of German arms production, Albert Speer. All our conclusionswere cast aside. The air command's public and academic allies unitedto arrest my appointment to a Harvard professorship and succeeded indoing so for a year.Nor is this all. The greatest military misadventure in Americanhistory until Iraq was the war in Vietnam. When I was sent there on afact-finding mission in the early 60s, I had a full view of themilitary dominance of foreign policy, a dominance that has nowextended to the replacement of the presumed civilian authority. InIndia, where I was ambassador, in Washington, where I had access toPresident Kennedy, and in Saigon, I developed a strongly negative viewof the conflict. Later, I encouraged the anti-war campaign of EugeneMcCarthy in 1968. His candidacy was first announced in our house inCambridge.At this time the military establishment in Washington was in supportof the war. Indeed, it was taken for granted that both the armedservices and the weapons industries should accept and endorsehostilities - Dwight Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex".In 2003, close to half the total US government discretionaryexpenditure was used for military purposes. A large part was forweapons procurement or development. Nuclear-powered submarines run tobillions of dollars, individual planes to tens of millions each.Such expenditure is not the result of detached analysis. From therelevant industrial firms come proposed designs for new weapons, andto them are awarded production and profit. In an impressive flow ofinfluence and command, the weapons industry accords valued employment,management pay and profit in its political constituency, andindirectly it is a treasured source of political funds. The gratitudeand the promise of political help go to Washington and to the defencebudget. And to foreign policy or, as in Vietnam and Iraq, to war. Thatthe private sector moves to a dominant public-sector role is apparent.None will doubt that the modern corporation is a dominant force in thepresent-day economy. Once in the US there were capitalists. Steel byCarnegie, oil by Rockefeller, tobacco by Duke, railroads variously andoften incompetently controlled by the moneyed few. In its marketposition and political influence, modern corporate management, unlikethe capitalist, has public acceptance. A dominant role in the militaryestablishment, in public finance and the environment is assumed. Otherpublic authority is also taken for granted. Adverse social flaws andtheir effect do, however, require attention.One, as just observed, is the way the corporate power has shaped thepublic purpose to its own needs. It ordains that social success ismore automobiles, more television sets, a greater volume of all otherconsumer goods - and more lethal weaponry. Negative social effects -pollution, destruction of the landscape, the unprotected health of thecitizenry, the threat of military action and death - do not count assuch.The corporate appropriation of public initiative and authority isunpleasantly visible in its effect on the environment, and dangerousas regards military and foreign policy. Wars are a major threat tocivilised existence, and a corporate commitment to weapons procurementand use nurtures this threat. It accords legitimacy, and even heroicvirtue, to devastation and death.Power in the modern great corporation belongs to the management. Theboard of directors is an amiable entity, meeting with self-approvalbut fully subordinate to the real power of the managers. Therelationship resembles that of an honorary degree recipient to amember of a university faculty.The myths of investor authority, the ritual meetings of directors andthe annual stockholder meeting persist, but no mentally viableobserver of the modern corporation can escape the reality. Corporatepower lies with management - a bureaucracy in control of its task andits compensation. Rewards can verge on larceny. On frequent recentoccasions, it has been referred to as the corporate scandal.As the corporate interest moves to power in what was the publicsector, it serves the corporate interest. It is most clearly evidentin the largest such movement, that of nominally private firms into thedefence establishment. From this comes a primary influence on themilitary budget, on foreign policy, military commitment and,ultimately, military action. War. Although this is a normal andexpected use of money and its power, the full effect is disguised byalmost all conventional expression.Given its authority in the modern corporation it was natural thatmanagement would extend its role to politics and to government. Oncethere was the public reach of capitalism; now it is that of corporatemanagement. In the US, corporate managers are in close alliance withthe president, the vice-president and the secretary of defence. Majorcorporate figures are also in senior positions elsewhere in thefederal government; one came from the bankrupt and thieving Enron topreside over the army.Defence and weapons development are motivating forces in foreignpolicy. For some years, there has also been recognised corporatecontrol of the Treasury. And of environmental policy.We cherish the progress in civilisation since biblical times and longbefore. But there is a needed and, indeed, accepted qualification. TheUS and Britain are in the bitter aftermath of a war in Iraq. We areaccepting programmed death for the young and random slaughter for menand women of all ages. So it was in the first and second world wars,and is still so in Iraq. Civilised life, as it is called, is a greatwhite tower celebrating human achievements, but at the top there ispermanently a large black cloud. Human progress dominated byunimaginable cruelty and death.Civilisation has made great strides over the centuries in science,healthcare, the arts and most, if not all, economic well-being. But ithas also given a privileged position to the development of weapons andthe threat and reality of war. Mass slaughter has become the ultimatecivilised achievement.The facts of war are inescapable - death and random cruelty,suspension of civilised values, a disordered aftermath. Thus the humancondition and prospect as now supremely evident. The economic andsocial problems here described can, with thought and action, beaddressed. So they have already been. War remains the decisive humanfailure.· This is an edited extract from The Economics of Innocent Fraud:Truth for Our Time, by JK Galbraith, published by Allen Lane.http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4971252-103677,00.html
A Christmas story
LOVE’S SACRIFICE ON CHRISTMAS DAY
CHRISTMAS is here again. How quickly a year has fled! One would fain like Lamb, lay a finger upon the spoke of the great wheel! It is the feast of everyman – the feast when barriers break down that divide man from man. Even if you don’t believe in Christ you can still celebrate Christmas. It has come to be the season of goodwill.
Many myths have gathered around the birth of Christ, myths, which do no not falsify but rather illuminate the basic belief that God became man and dwelt among us, to show us in His life and His death on the cross, how costly a life of love can be.
One myth is that of the simple shepherds who were sitting on a hillside in Palestine watching their sheep on a clear cold night. Suddenly a light shone around them and they heard angels singing a song they had never heard before. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill among men".
Well, no one can quarrel with this message. So we have the message of goodwill, a humble, earthy and practical virtue. To love one another is a pretty tall order. Most of us are so unutterably unloveable that only God and his saints can bestow love upon us.
Considering how the story of Christmas has been embedded in folk imagination it is not surprising that it has been a frequent theme in English literature. The three wise men from the East brought the first Christmas gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and placed them at the feet of Infant Jesus. O. Henry uses this legend as a parable of love, in his famous short story, THE GIFT OF MAGI.
A young couple loves each other very dearly. It is Christmas eve and they long to give each other gifts but they have no money. The girl glances at herself in a mirror and an idea seizes her. She has long wavy auburn hair that falls in cascade down her back. She had always wanted a tortoiseshell comb to hold it up in place. She knew she could never afford this. Why not sell her hair and buy a chain for the watch, which is her beloved’s most precious possession?
The young husband also faces a dilemma. He longs to buy a tortoiseshell comb to hold up the beautiful flowing tresses of his wife. How often he has buried his face in its luxuriance. His watch was precious but useless without a chain. Why not sell it and buy the comb? He could anticipate the rapture in the eys of his beloved.
So they follow the impulses. They meet in the evening and one may imagine their plight – a chain without a watch. A comb, without the lovely cascade. But in O. Henry’s words, "let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest." They are gifts as precious as those of the Magi because they are symbols of Love’s sacrifice on Christmas Day.
PNB
CHRISTMAS is here again. How quickly a year has fled! One would fain like Lamb, lay a finger upon the spoke of the great wheel! It is the feast of everyman – the feast when barriers break down that divide man from man. Even if you don’t believe in Christ you can still celebrate Christmas. It has come to be the season of goodwill.
Many myths have gathered around the birth of Christ, myths, which do no not falsify but rather illuminate the basic belief that God became man and dwelt among us, to show us in His life and His death on the cross, how costly a life of love can be.
One myth is that of the simple shepherds who were sitting on a hillside in Palestine watching their sheep on a clear cold night. Suddenly a light shone around them and they heard angels singing a song they had never heard before. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill among men".
Well, no one can quarrel with this message. So we have the message of goodwill, a humble, earthy and practical virtue. To love one another is a pretty tall order. Most of us are so unutterably unloveable that only God and his saints can bestow love upon us.
Considering how the story of Christmas has been embedded in folk imagination it is not surprising that it has been a frequent theme in English literature. The three wise men from the East brought the first Christmas gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and placed them at the feet of Infant Jesus. O. Henry uses this legend as a parable of love, in his famous short story, THE GIFT OF MAGI.
A young couple loves each other very dearly. It is Christmas eve and they long to give each other gifts but they have no money. The girl glances at herself in a mirror and an idea seizes her. She has long wavy auburn hair that falls in cascade down her back. She had always wanted a tortoiseshell comb to hold it up in place. She knew she could never afford this. Why not sell her hair and buy a chain for the watch, which is her beloved’s most precious possession?
The young husband also faces a dilemma. He longs to buy a tortoiseshell comb to hold up the beautiful flowing tresses of his wife. How often he has buried his face in its luxuriance. His watch was precious but useless without a chain. Why not sell it and buy the comb? He could anticipate the rapture in the eys of his beloved.
So they follow the impulses. They meet in the evening and one may imagine their plight – a chain without a watch. A comb, without the lovely cascade. But in O. Henry’s words, "let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest." They are gifts as precious as those of the Magi because they are symbols of Love’s sacrifice on Christmas Day.
PNB
On dialogue
A Call to Join Efforts with Other Religions in the Search for Peace and theIntegrity of CreationInterview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr Christian KrauseGENEVA, 10 July 2003 (LWI) - The global communion of Lutheranchurches is faced with challenging task of seeking, together withother religions, "paths toward peace and the integrity ofcreation," the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),Bishop emeritus Dr Christian Krause said in an interview withLutheran World Information (LWI).Krause reminded Christian churches and other religiouscommunities of their obligation to be actively engaged in thefight against poverty, injustice and all forms of violence insociety.The interview was a reflection on his six-year term in office.Krause was appointed as LWF President at the 1997 Ninth Assemblyin Hong Kong, China. His term ends after the 21-31 July 2003Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada.He pointed out that on the basis of its unique experience, theLWF should explore in interreligious dialogue, the extent towhich the model of reconciled diversity is possible beyond thefellowship of Christians - in the fellowship among religions. Heexpressed hope that the LWF together with the other confessionalworld communions, and the World Council of Churches would be ableto combine the critical functions of theology with the missionaryrevival of the more charismatic churches and communities.The full text of the interview with LWF President Krause follows:Interview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr ChristianKrauseLWI: Dr Krause, in July 1997, at the Ninth Assembly of theLutheran World Federation (LWF) in Hong Kong, you were electedLWF President. What hopes, desires and visions did you have asyou took office six years ago, at the 50th anniversary of theLWF?Krause: I had already been close to the Lutheran World Federationfor a good part of its 50 years, since 1966, when I becameresearch assistant in the Department for Theology in Geneva. Iwas aware of the great variety of the LWF's tasks from my ownexperience, not only in its theological work but also later as astaff person of the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service, andfinally in my position on the LWF National Committee in Germany.Thus my desires and visions were concentrated on progress atthese different levels. Of course I especially had the dialoguewith the Roman Catholic Church in mind, with the hope that therewould be steps forward there as well as throughout the ecumenicalmovement.It has always been a particular concern of mine to see the LWF,not as fenced off from the other confessions or the ecumenicalcommunity, but rather in all its openness, and to develop theecumenical dimension of the confessional body. Of course thisincluded the particular situation in the world. The NinthAssembly took place relatively soon after the great revolutionarychange of 1989-90, which resulted in a new openness and removingboundaries, and this brought us the new challenges emerging fromconcerns such as globalization. We were confronted on one handwith numerous dangers, on the other, with new opportunitiesthrough electronic communications and cross-border trade.What was especially present to me in Hong Kong was the world-widenetwork of the LWF with its emphasis on direct diaconal action,its missionary approach to the Gospel, its theological profileand, as I said, especially its ecumenical breadth and openness.LWI: At your first press conference as LWF President, on 14 July1997 in Hong Kong, you said that confessional communities such asthe LWF had become more important than ever for the ecumenicalmovement. You warned against a pullback, since dialogues such asthe one on the doctrine of justification with the Roman CatholicChurch in particular are only possible between confessionalfamilies. What would your judgment be today?Krause: There is of course no question that, obviously,confessional issues have to be discussed and clarified betweenconfessional churches. Thus in reassessing the history oftheology and the church, dialogue between the historic churchesand confessions is extraordinarily important. To me it isespecially significant that the confessional world communionshave become more visible in recent years, and are reaching outmore to one another.The Roman Catholic Church, the churches of the Reformation, thatis the Reformed and Lutheran world bodies, the AnglicanCommunion, the Orthodox churches - these are important andindispensable poles especially for interconfessionalconversations, for seeking together, for the ecumenicalfellowship as a whole and thus also for the World Council ofChurches.LWI: On 31 October 1999 you were in Augsburg, Germany as one ofthe signatories to the Official Common Statement with which theJoint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was solemnlyrecognized by the LWF and Roman Catholic Church. The dialoguewhich finally led to the Joint Declaration had lasted over 30years. Was this signing ceremony a high point of your presidency?Krause: For me, the 31 October 1999 is an extraordinarilyimportant date. The 30 years of dialogue show not only itssignificance, but also that it was high time for theseconversations, for at least a start towards overcoming thisalmost 500-year-old division. Augsburg was the place where, in1530, the rejection of the Confessio Augustana marked the failureof the last attempt at bridge-building. The dispute that followedcaused immeasurable suffering, enmities, the Counter-Reformation,the Thirty Years' War - one could go on and on. There was misuseof power in all sorts of ways, the Reformation was made aninstrument of politics and especially of conflict between thechurches of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church.What is remarkable is that the two sides in the dialogue havereached a consensus on basic truths. We are not trying tomonopolize the truth over against one another, but rather namingtogether that which is at the core of the Gospel, that is,justification by grace alone through faith, which is the centralsignificance of God's act of salvation. Nevertheless, the signingof the Joint Declaration does not mark a full stop, but rather acolon: we now have a basis on which to go further, and we must doso. The concept of reconciled diversity underlines our newrelationship after the long age of enmity.The signing of the Joint Declaration also showed that thecommunity within the LWF stands firmly together and, can take aunanimous position even in the face of differing opinions.LWI: What did the signing of the Joint Declaration change forLutheran and Catholic Christians? Just recently, at your farewellvisit to Pope John Paul II, you urged once again more intensiveefforts toward at least ecumenical hospitality at the Eucharist.Had you expected visible results to come sooner?Krause: My exhortation to move toward sharing the Eucharist, atleast in the sense of mutual ecumenical hospitality at the Lord'sTable, still stands. This is such a central witness to theChristian faith we share that I think we have reason to keepmentioning it. But I think it is completely wrong to concentrateexclusively on that which we do not yet have.We ought also to recognize all that which has already beenachieved. It is absolutely crucial that we are able to meettogether and have dealings with one another in mutual respect andalso in mutual trust. There will always continue to be setbacks,as is the nature of things among human beings and humaninstitutions. But I must say that the consensus on the basictruths of the faith has brought about a reconciliation andreadiness to meet one another which I can only describe asgratifying. In spite of all the differences which still remain,we must not lose sight of what we have in common.During my farewell visit in April with Pope John Paul II in Rome,and in my conversations with Walter Cardinal Kasper, I not onlyput a full emphasis on the question of the Eucharist, but alsoexpressly thanked them for standing with us on peace issues, forexample in our common actions with regard to the Iraq War and ourcommon stand on peace in the Middle East.In many countries in the world, Lutheran churches arecomparatively small compared to the Roman Catholic Church. Oftenthey have deliberately distanced themselves from one another inthe past. Since the signing of the Joint Declaration on theDoctrine of Justification I have experienced on many of mytravels throughout the world, that people now are no longerafraid to approach one another, and haven't simply filed away theJoint Declaration but are actively making use of it. They areholding joint worship services, and the churches are making theeffort to establish joint positions on political and socialissues which have to do with people's lives. I consider thesedevelopments as extraordinarily important.LWI: When you took office in 1997, the LWF had 122 memberchurches in 70 countries, with a total membership of about 57million; today it represents 136 member churches in 76 countries,with over 61.7 million members. What do you see as the continuingappeal that the LWF has?Krause: What is even more impressive is the number of foundingchurches. The LWF was founded in 1947 by 47 churches in 23countries. It then means that with regard to numbers of bothmember churches and countries, the LWF has almost tripled insize. But these figures also represent massive shifts insubstance. With few exceptions, the founding churches wereEuropean and North American, thus almost exclusively northAtlantic. Since 1947 the LWF's global network has extendedsubstantially to churches and countries in the southernhemisphere; there has been a shift in its center of gravity fromthe North toward the South. This seems to me to be the reallyserious difference, with considerable consequences for substance,both theological and ecclesiological.Our member churches are all looking for community, and the LWFoffers a community. Many of them are small, are isolated, andhave to find their way in their own countries and surroundings.For guidance, they look to their sister churches in neighboringcountries and throughout the world. In responding to the socialchallenges in their own local contexts, these churches alsoreceive support just like their governments do, and they canemphatically say, "We may be small, but we belong to a greatworld-wide communion."LWI: Since the 1984 Seventh Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, theLWF no longer sees itself as a loose federation, but as acommunion of churches. The new LWF Constitution adopted in 1990in Curitiba, Brazil says so. Is the LWF doing justice to thispurpose, and what are the consequences of thisself-understanding?Krause: That's an exciting question. That a greater degree ofcommunion, or of commitment, has been reached became visible in asustained way with regard to the signing of the Joint Declarationon the Doctrine of Justification. The LWF had to ask all themember churches, and they in turn had to involve their synods, ifthey were so constituted. And the vote was not absolutelyunanimous among all the member churches. The question then was,who decides? The recommendation of the overwhelming majority tothe LWF Council, after a careful theological evaluation of thevotes received, was to sign the Joint Declaration. The Councilthen voted unanimously in favor, and not one of the memberchurches protested. The communion stood the test.The question may be asked, how much authority is entrusted to acommunion by its individual churches. This was certainly a pointon which it became clear that here a stronger obligation was notonly desired; it was also possible. With regard to the discussionas to whether the LWF should call itself a communio, I am of theopinion that this needs to be defined very carefully. A higherdegree of commitment and of obligation to the LWF Communionshould in no case be expressed, first of all, in a strongercentralization in Geneva. We don't want and don't need a"Lutheran Rome."For me the critical questions are rather: can we take a stand onthe challenging issues of our day, and in doing so rely on oneanother and sustain our commitment to and for one another? Willour churches and people, in the midst of such bitter poverty aswe see reigning in two-thirds of the world, be willing to makestatements as a community - can they and should they haveconfidence in such a process? Or are these just emptydeclarations? It will be important to give a clear theologicalanswer to the question of what is the basis of our communio andwhether everyone shares in this. It is my impression that thegrowing differences between North and South, the economic gapbetween the winners and victims of globalization, as well as whatwe see in the ecumenical gap between the historic churches andthe charismatic communities, are the decisive test for such acommunio.LWI: While the Lutheran churches of the South are growing, someof them considerably, the membership figures of almost all thebig Lutheran churches in North America and Europe are continuingto decrease. What do you think is the cause of these contrastingdevelopments, and what can the churches learn from one another?Krause: In the churches of the North, our existential questionsare either very individualistic or out of touch with public life.In the South it's different. Questions of faith are alwaysdirected to the community and its life in common, and itssurvival. There is also a very natural relationship to themission of the church, and a totally natural way of carrying itout. Talking about one's own position as a believer, and livingaccording to it, is a matter of course and is not questioned inthe South.Many of the churches that have recently joined the LWF have grownout of the missions in Africa, for example the mission of thechurch in Tanzania or Namibia. This also plays a role in theirsocieties, in making the witness to Christ public, includingclear statements of one's positions; in expressing it in lively,colorful worship, and in taking for granted the witness to one'spersonal Christianity. This is what we in the North have oftenlost.Currently, the fastest growing Lutheran churches, and otherhistoric churches are those which succeed in integrating thecharismatic movements into their church lives. In the same periodof 30 years, the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church inBrunswick, Germany has dropped nearly 40 per cent, from about670,000 to 420,000, while in Ethiopia it has multiplied sixtimes, starting from 670,000, to over four million.Of course this raises the question of who is changing whom andwhat this means for the confessional world communion. The greatawakening of the charismatic faith movements in the southernhemisphere can only be seen, in my opinion, in the context ofpoverty and suffering. The Gospel is the Gospel of the poor, andthe cross is the sign of the church. It is in suffering that hopeappears, hope of overcoming sorrow and poverty. Entering into newlife through the cross - that is precisely opposed to thepleasure-seeking society.Moreover, we are faced today with the central task of finding ourway to an interreligious dialogue, of seeking, together withother religions, paths towards peace and the valuing of thecreation, and involving ourselves together in overcoming poverty,injustice and violence. It's the famous triad of justice, peaceand the integrity of creation. Here it is imperative that wereach out to one another with respect, with eagerness, and withthe desire to know one another. Equally important is to clarifyour own position: what do we actually stand for? And that'ssomething we can learn from the churches of the South - to takeour stand quite naturally on our own faith convictions, which arerooted in our own hearts, in public as well. In interreligiousdialogue, the LWF on the basis of its unique experience, shouldexplore to what extent the model of reconciled diversity ispossible beyond the fellowship of Christians, in the fellowshipamong religions.LWI: In the past six years you in person have visited many LWFmember churches. You have been to churches in every continent, inalmost every country of central and eastern Europe, and you werethe first LWF President to visit the churches of Papua NewGuinea. What impression have you gained of the world-wideLutheran community, and what have you been able to set in motionduring your travels?Krause: I have again and again experienced a great feeling thatwe all belong together, a downright family feeling, andunbelievable hospitality. To be at home everywhere where thereare Lutheran churches was a great, a marvelous feeling, for whichI am deeply grateful.The second point is that during my travels I have been ableemphasize over and over again to people that: You are part of agreater whole. In central and eastern Europe that has played amost important role at a practical level, there where the smallLutheran churches in the former countries behind the Iron Curtainhave to get their bearings all over again in post-communistsocieties. This touches almost all aspects of church life. Itincludes rebuilding their diaconal work, which in not a fewplaces was prohibited; pastoral work in prisons and the military,religious teaching in schools, church festivals and much more.Here the churches are also beginning to look at their role in thenew process of Europe's reunification.In many countries the visit of the LWF President was a time forconversations at the highest political level. This presented anopportunity to strengthen the governments' and political leaders'awareness of the important bridge-building function whichchurches can have within their own countries. One example isIndonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in theworld and not inconsiderable tensions between Christians andMuslims. Here I was able to speak both with President Megawatiand with the leaders of Islamic organizations. Doors could beopened in a way, often not possible locally for the smallerchurches. These experiences gave me a feel for the importance,for these churches, of belonging to a world communion and ofmaking its presence known.I have always thought of my visits also as expressly pastoral. Itwas clear that I could not accept every invitation. But I gavepriority to those from churches which were going through adifficult time or faced immediate challenges, for exampleLutheran churches which were or are threatened with schism. Hereit is important that we from the world-wide communion can atleast offer a table at which the parties to the conflict can sitdown together.LWI: The Ninth Assembly in 1997 had the theme "In Christ - Calledto Witness" - it was the last Assembly of the 20th century andthe first on the continent of Asia. What do you hope will be theimpetus of the Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, July 21-31, onthe theme "For the Healing of the World"?Krause: The theme of the Tenth Assembly is surprisingly andextraordinarily relevant for today. After the revolution of1989-90, we hoped we had come closer together. The East-Westconflict was over, walls had fallen down and thresholds werebeing lowered. And then burst forth those things which weprobably hadn't noticed properly, hidden under the crust of theEast-West conflict - the huge rift between rich and poor,disregard for human rights, conflicts between religions and newoutbreaks of violence. This means that "For the Healing of theWorld" must be an occasion for us to see where the decisivebreaks, wounds and cracks are which weigh us down and demand ourattention.The second very crucial point is to make it clear whence our helpcomes. Here the doctrine of justification will again play anessential role, also in its social ethics aspect: there is nojustice without grace. We must truly pray to God for the healingof the world, hope for it and expect it from God, and thus setout together to be Jesus' disciples.LWI: How do you see the future? In the year 2017 the Lutherancommunion will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginningof the Reformation: in 2022 the LWF will celebrate its 75thanniversary. Where will the LWF be by then; how may it havechanged and developed?Krause: Well, there we can only speak in terms of a vision. Isuspect that the movements of the South will cause parochial waysof being church, with their institutions and structures, torecede further in favor of spiritual movements. Even thetraditional well-ordered Lutheran churches will become more likespiritual revival churches. They may become smaller in theprocess, but I think they will come to have more the character ofmovements. Here a Lutheran World Federation must be first of allthe linking place, and have a serving function, to makeworld-wide communion possible in such a process.This will go together with a reduction in the role of the LWF asan inter-church service organization. The main question will be,what can each of us contribute, from our situation, that we canshare with others? And how do we preserve our communio on thecommon foundation of Reformation theology? More use must be madeof the global aspect of this tool we have in our hands, the LWF.This will also help to promote communion amongst our ecumenicalpartners.How the WCC changes will also make a lot of difference. It toowill have to take in more of the charismatic, spiritualistmovements, as it is already making efforts to do. I hope that astronger association will be possible with them, and that the LWFtogether with the other confessional world communions and the WCCwill be able to combine the critical functions of theology withthe missionary revival of the more charismatic churches andcommunities.What I also hope for is that we can sit down at one table withpeople of the different religions and seek ways to peace. In thisconnection I hope that a Lutheran World Federation, however itmay be put together as an organization, will contribute to thedefense against every form of fundamentalism, and will help topromote common positions for world peace. So it is there that Isee the future of the LWF: to serve as a platform for dialogue,but not just for dialogue's sake, but for the sake of life. Thatwould be a changed, a very active Lutheran World Federation, andcertainly no longer a primarily North Atlantic one.(LWI Editor Dirk-Michael Groetzsch, conducted the original Germanlanguage interview with the LWF President, Bishop emeritus DrChristian Krause.)(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in theLutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF nowhas 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts onbehalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such asecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarianassistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspectsof mission and development work. Its secretariat is located inGeneva, Switzerland.)[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.Unless specifically noted, material presented does not representpositions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Wherethe dateline of a article contains the notation (LWI), thematerial may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]* * *LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATIONPO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, SwitzerlandEnglish Editor: Pauline MumiaE-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.orgTel: (41.22) 791.63.54Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30http://www.lutheranworld.org/
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A Call to Join Efforts with Other Religions in the Search for Peace and theIntegrity of CreationInterview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr Christian KrauseGENEVA, 10 July 2003 (LWI) - The global communion of Lutheranchurches is faced with challenging task of seeking, together withother religions, "paths toward peace and the integrity ofcreation," the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),Bishop emeritus Dr Christian Krause said in an interview withLutheran World Information (LWI).Krause reminded Christian churches and other religiouscommunities of their obligation to be actively engaged in thefight against poverty, injustice and all forms of violence insociety.The interview was a reflection on his six-year term in office.Krause was appointed as LWF President at the 1997 Ninth Assemblyin Hong Kong, China. His term ends after the 21-31 July 2003Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada.He pointed out that on the basis of its unique experience, theLWF should explore in interreligious dialogue, the extent towhich the model of reconciled diversity is possible beyond thefellowship of Christians - in the fellowship among religions. Heexpressed hope that the LWF together with the other confessionalworld communions, and the World Council of Churches would be ableto combine the critical functions of theology with the missionaryrevival of the more charismatic churches and communities.The full text of the interview with LWF President Krause follows:Interview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr ChristianKrauseLWI: Dr Krause, in July 1997, at the Ninth Assembly of theLutheran World Federation (LWF) in Hong Kong, you were electedLWF President. What hopes, desires and visions did you have asyou took office six years ago, at the 50th anniversary of theLWF?Krause: I had already been close to the Lutheran World Federationfor a good part of its 50 years, since 1966, when I becameresearch assistant in the Department for Theology in Geneva. Iwas aware of the great variety of the LWF's tasks from my ownexperience, not only in its theological work but also later as astaff person of the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service, andfinally in my position on the LWF National Committee in Germany.Thus my desires and visions were concentrated on progress atthese different levels. Of course I especially had the dialoguewith the Roman Catholic Church in mind, with the hope that therewould be steps forward there as well as throughout the ecumenicalmovement.It has always been a particular concern of mine to see the LWF,not as fenced off from the other confessions or the ecumenicalcommunity, but rather in all its openness, and to develop theecumenical dimension of the confessional body. Of course thisincluded the particular situation in the world. The NinthAssembly took place relatively soon after the great revolutionarychange of 1989-90, which resulted in a new openness and removingboundaries, and this brought us the new challenges emerging fromconcerns such as globalization. We were confronted on one handwith numerous dangers, on the other, with new opportunitiesthrough electronic communications and cross-border trade.What was especially present to me in Hong Kong was the world-widenetwork of the LWF with its emphasis on direct diaconal action,its missionary approach to the Gospel, its theological profileand, as I said, especially its ecumenical breadth and openness.LWI: At your first press conference as LWF President, on 14 July1997 in Hong Kong, you said that confessional communities such asthe LWF had become more important than ever for the ecumenicalmovement. You warned against a pullback, since dialogues such asthe one on the doctrine of justification with the Roman CatholicChurch in particular are only possible between confessionalfamilies. What would your judgment be today?Krause: There is of course no question that, obviously,confessional issues have to be discussed and clarified betweenconfessional churches. Thus in reassessing the history oftheology and the church, dialogue between the historic churchesand confessions is extraordinarily important. To me it isespecially significant that the confessional world communionshave become more visible in recent years, and are reaching outmore to one another.The Roman Catholic Church, the churches of the Reformation, thatis the Reformed and Lutheran world bodies, the AnglicanCommunion, the Orthodox churches - these are important andindispensable poles especially for interconfessionalconversations, for seeking together, for the ecumenicalfellowship as a whole and thus also for the World Council ofChurches.LWI: On 31 October 1999 you were in Augsburg, Germany as one ofthe signatories to the Official Common Statement with which theJoint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was solemnlyrecognized by the LWF and Roman Catholic Church. The dialoguewhich finally led to the Joint Declaration had lasted over 30years. Was this signing ceremony a high point of your presidency?Krause: For me, the 31 October 1999 is an extraordinarilyimportant date. The 30 years of dialogue show not only itssignificance, but also that it was high time for theseconversations, for at least a start towards overcoming thisalmost 500-year-old division. Augsburg was the place where, in1530, the rejection of the Confessio Augustana marked the failureof the last attempt at bridge-building. The dispute that followedcaused immeasurable suffering, enmities, the Counter-Reformation,the Thirty Years' War - one could go on and on. There was misuseof power in all sorts of ways, the Reformation was made aninstrument of politics and especially of conflict between thechurches of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church.What is remarkable is that the two sides in the dialogue havereached a consensus on basic truths. We are not trying tomonopolize the truth over against one another, but rather namingtogether that which is at the core of the Gospel, that is,justification by grace alone through faith, which is the centralsignificance of God's act of salvation. Nevertheless, the signingof the Joint Declaration does not mark a full stop, but rather acolon: we now have a basis on which to go further, and we must doso. The concept of reconciled diversity underlines our newrelationship after the long age of enmity.The signing of the Joint Declaration also showed that thecommunity within the LWF stands firmly together and, can take aunanimous position even in the face of differing opinions.LWI: What did the signing of the Joint Declaration change forLutheran and Catholic Christians? Just recently, at your farewellvisit to Pope John Paul II, you urged once again more intensiveefforts toward at least ecumenical hospitality at the Eucharist.Had you expected visible results to come sooner?Krause: My exhortation to move toward sharing the Eucharist, atleast in the sense of mutual ecumenical hospitality at the Lord'sTable, still stands. This is such a central witness to theChristian faith we share that I think we have reason to keepmentioning it. But I think it is completely wrong to concentrateexclusively on that which we do not yet have.We ought also to recognize all that which has already beenachieved. It is absolutely crucial that we are able to meettogether and have dealings with one another in mutual respect andalso in mutual trust. There will always continue to be setbacks,as is the nature of things among human beings and humaninstitutions. But I must say that the consensus on the basictruths of the faith has brought about a reconciliation andreadiness to meet one another which I can only describe asgratifying. In spite of all the differences which still remain,we must not lose sight of what we have in common.During my farewell visit in April with Pope John Paul II in Rome,and in my conversations with Walter Cardinal Kasper, I not onlyput a full emphasis on the question of the Eucharist, but alsoexpressly thanked them for standing with us on peace issues, forexample in our common actions with regard to the Iraq War and ourcommon stand on peace in the Middle East.In many countries in the world, Lutheran churches arecomparatively small compared to the Roman Catholic Church. Oftenthey have deliberately distanced themselves from one another inthe past. Since the signing of the Joint Declaration on theDoctrine of Justification I have experienced on many of mytravels throughout the world, that people now are no longerafraid to approach one another, and haven't simply filed away theJoint Declaration but are actively making use of it. They areholding joint worship services, and the churches are making theeffort to establish joint positions on political and socialissues which have to do with people's lives. I consider thesedevelopments as extraordinarily important.LWI: When you took office in 1997, the LWF had 122 memberchurches in 70 countries, with a total membership of about 57million; today it represents 136 member churches in 76 countries,with over 61.7 million members. What do you see as the continuingappeal that the LWF has?Krause: What is even more impressive is the number of foundingchurches. The LWF was founded in 1947 by 47 churches in 23countries. It then means that with regard to numbers of bothmember churches and countries, the LWF has almost tripled insize. But these figures also represent massive shifts insubstance. With few exceptions, the founding churches wereEuropean and North American, thus almost exclusively northAtlantic. Since 1947 the LWF's global network has extendedsubstantially to churches and countries in the southernhemisphere; there has been a shift in its center of gravity fromthe North toward the South. This seems to me to be the reallyserious difference, with considerable consequences for substance,both theological and ecclesiological.Our member churches are all looking for community, and the LWFoffers a community. Many of them are small, are isolated, andhave to find their way in their own countries and surroundings.For guidance, they look to their sister churches in neighboringcountries and throughout the world. In responding to the socialchallenges in their own local contexts, these churches alsoreceive support just like their governments do, and they canemphatically say, "We may be small, but we belong to a greatworld-wide communion."LWI: Since the 1984 Seventh Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, theLWF no longer sees itself as a loose federation, but as acommunion of churches. The new LWF Constitution adopted in 1990in Curitiba, Brazil says so. Is the LWF doing justice to thispurpose, and what are the consequences of thisself-understanding?Krause: That's an exciting question. That a greater degree ofcommunion, or of commitment, has been reached became visible in asustained way with regard to the signing of the Joint Declarationon the Doctrine of Justification. The LWF had to ask all themember churches, and they in turn had to involve their synods, ifthey were so constituted. And the vote was not absolutelyunanimous among all the member churches. The question then was,who decides? The recommendation of the overwhelming majority tothe LWF Council, after a careful theological evaluation of thevotes received, was to sign the Joint Declaration. The Councilthen voted unanimously in favor, and not one of the memberchurches protested. The communion stood the test.The question may be asked, how much authority is entrusted to acommunion by its individual churches. This was certainly a pointon which it became clear that here a stronger obligation was notonly desired; it was also possible. With regard to the discussionas to whether the LWF should call itself a communio, I am of theopinion that this needs to be defined very carefully. A higherdegree of commitment and of obligation to the LWF Communionshould in no case be expressed, first of all, in a strongercentralization in Geneva. We don't want and don't need a"Lutheran Rome."For me the critical questions are rather: can we take a stand onthe challenging issues of our day, and in doing so rely on oneanother and sustain our commitment to and for one another? Willour churches and people, in the midst of such bitter poverty aswe see reigning in two-thirds of the world, be willing to makestatements as a community - can they and should they haveconfidence in such a process? Or are these just emptydeclarations? It will be important to give a clear theologicalanswer to the question of what is the basis of our communio andwhether everyone shares in this. It is my impression that thegrowing differences between North and South, the economic gapbetween the winners and victims of globalization, as well as whatwe see in the ecumenical gap between the historic churches andthe charismatic communities, are the decisive test for such acommunio.LWI: While the Lutheran churches of the South are growing, someof them considerably, the membership figures of almost all thebig Lutheran churches in North America and Europe are continuingto decrease. What do you think is the cause of these contrastingdevelopments, and what can the churches learn from one another?Krause: In the churches of the North, our existential questionsare either very individualistic or out of touch with public life.In the South it's different. Questions of faith are alwaysdirected to the community and its life in common, and itssurvival. There is also a very natural relationship to themission of the church, and a totally natural way of carrying itout. Talking about one's own position as a believer, and livingaccording to it, is a matter of course and is not questioned inthe South.Many of the churches that have recently joined the LWF have grownout of the missions in Africa, for example the mission of thechurch in Tanzania or Namibia. This also plays a role in theirsocieties, in making the witness to Christ public, includingclear statements of one's positions; in expressing it in lively,colorful worship, and in taking for granted the witness to one'spersonal Christianity. This is what we in the North have oftenlost.Currently, the fastest growing Lutheran churches, and otherhistoric churches are those which succeed in integrating thecharismatic movements into their church lives. In the same periodof 30 years, the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church inBrunswick, Germany has dropped nearly 40 per cent, from about670,000 to 420,000, while in Ethiopia it has multiplied sixtimes, starting from 670,000, to over four million.Of course this raises the question of who is changing whom andwhat this means for the confessional world communion. The greatawakening of the charismatic faith movements in the southernhemisphere can only be seen, in my opinion, in the context ofpoverty and suffering. The Gospel is the Gospel of the poor, andthe cross is the sign of the church. It is in suffering that hopeappears, hope of overcoming sorrow and poverty. Entering into newlife through the cross - that is precisely opposed to thepleasure-seeking society.Moreover, we are faced today with the central task of finding ourway to an interreligious dialogue, of seeking, together withother religions, paths towards peace and the valuing of thecreation, and involving ourselves together in overcoming poverty,injustice and violence. It's the famous triad of justice, peaceand the integrity of creation. Here it is imperative that wereach out to one another with respect, with eagerness, and withthe desire to know one another. Equally important is to clarifyour own position: what do we actually stand for? And that'ssomething we can learn from the churches of the South - to takeour stand quite naturally on our own faith convictions, which arerooted in our own hearts, in public as well. In interreligiousdialogue, the LWF on the basis of its unique experience, shouldexplore to what extent the model of reconciled diversity ispossible beyond the fellowship of Christians, in the fellowshipamong religions.LWI: In the past six years you in person have visited many LWFmember churches. You have been to churches in every continent, inalmost every country of central and eastern Europe, and you werethe first LWF President to visit the churches of Papua NewGuinea. What impression have you gained of the world-wideLutheran community, and what have you been able to set in motionduring your travels?Krause: I have again and again experienced a great feeling thatwe all belong together, a downright family feeling, andunbelievable hospitality. To be at home everywhere where thereare Lutheran churches was a great, a marvelous feeling, for whichI am deeply grateful.The second point is that during my travels I have been ableemphasize over and over again to people that: You are part of agreater whole. In central and eastern Europe that has played amost important role at a practical level, there where the smallLutheran churches in the former countries behind the Iron Curtainhave to get their bearings all over again in post-communistsocieties. This touches almost all aspects of church life. Itincludes rebuilding their diaconal work, which in not a fewplaces was prohibited; pastoral work in prisons and the military,religious teaching in schools, church festivals and much more.Here the churches are also beginning to look at their role in thenew process of Europe's reunification.In many countries the visit of the LWF President was a time forconversations at the highest political level. This presented anopportunity to strengthen the governments' and political leaders'awareness of the important bridge-building function whichchurches can have within their own countries. One example isIndonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in theworld and not inconsiderable tensions between Christians andMuslims. Here I was able to speak both with President Megawatiand with the leaders of Islamic organizations. Doors could beopened in a way, often not possible locally for the smallerchurches. These experiences gave me a feel for the importance,for these churches, of belonging to a world communion and ofmaking its presence known.I have always thought of my visits also as expressly pastoral. Itwas clear that I could not accept every invitation. But I gavepriority to those from churches which were going through adifficult time or faced immediate challenges, for exampleLutheran churches which were or are threatened with schism. Hereit is important that we from the world-wide communion can atleast offer a table at which the parties to the conflict can sitdown together.LWI: The Ninth Assembly in 1997 had the theme "In Christ - Calledto Witness" - it was the last Assembly of the 20th century andthe first on the continent of Asia. What do you hope will be theimpetus of the Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, July 21-31, onthe theme "For the Healing of the World"?Krause: The theme of the Tenth Assembly is surprisingly andextraordinarily relevant for today. After the revolution of1989-90, we hoped we had come closer together. The East-Westconflict was over, walls had fallen down and thresholds werebeing lowered. And then burst forth those things which weprobably hadn't noticed properly, hidden under the crust of theEast-West conflict - the huge rift between rich and poor,disregard for human rights, conflicts between religions and newoutbreaks of violence. This means that "For the Healing of theWorld" must be an occasion for us to see where the decisivebreaks, wounds and cracks are which weigh us down and demand ourattention.The second very crucial point is to make it clear whence our helpcomes. Here the doctrine of justification will again play anessential role, also in its social ethics aspect: there is nojustice without grace. We must truly pray to God for the healingof the world, hope for it and expect it from God, and thus setout together to be Jesus' disciples.LWI: How do you see the future? In the year 2017 the Lutherancommunion will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginningof the Reformation: in 2022 the LWF will celebrate its 75thanniversary. Where will the LWF be by then; how may it havechanged and developed?Krause: Well, there we can only speak in terms of a vision. Isuspect that the movements of the South will cause parochial waysof being church, with their institutions and structures, torecede further in favor of spiritual movements. Even thetraditional well-ordered Lutheran churches will become more likespiritual revival churches. They may become smaller in theprocess, but I think they will come to have more the character ofmovements. Here a Lutheran World Federation must be first of allthe linking place, and have a serving function, to makeworld-wide communion possible in such a process.This will go together with a reduction in the role of the LWF asan inter-church service organization. The main question will be,what can each of us contribute, from our situation, that we canshare with others? And how do we preserve our communio on thecommon foundation of Reformation theology? More use must be madeof the global aspect of this tool we have in our hands, the LWF.This will also help to promote communion amongst our ecumenicalpartners.How the WCC changes will also make a lot of difference. It toowill have to take in more of the charismatic, spiritualistmovements, as it is already making efforts to do. I hope that astronger association will be possible with them, and that the LWFtogether with the other confessional world communions and the WCCwill be able to combine the critical functions of theology withthe missionary revival of the more charismatic churches andcommunities.What I also hope for is that we can sit down at one table withpeople of the different religions and seek ways to peace. In thisconnection I hope that a Lutheran World Federation, however itmay be put together as an organization, will contribute to thedefense against every form of fundamentalism, and will help topromote common positions for world peace. So it is there that Isee the future of the LWF: to serve as a platform for dialogue,but not just for dialogue's sake, but for the sake of life. Thatwould be a changed, a very active Lutheran World Federation, andcertainly no longer a primarily North Atlantic one.(LWI Editor Dirk-Michael Groetzsch, conducted the original Germanlanguage interview with the LWF President, Bishop emeritus DrChristian Krause.)(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in theLutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF nowhas 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts onbehalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such asecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarianassistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspectsof mission and development work. Its secretariat is located inGeneva, Switzerland.)[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.Unless specifically noted, material presented does not representpositions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Wherethe dateline of a article contains the notation (LWI), thematerial may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]* * *LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATIONPO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, SwitzerlandEnglish Editor: Pauline MumiaE-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.orgTel: (41.22) 791.63.54Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30http://www.lutheranworld.org/
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A Call to Join Efforts with Other Religions in the Search for Peace and theIntegrity of CreationInterview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr Christian KrauseGENEVA, 10 July 2003 (LWI) - The global communion of Lutheranchurches is faced with challenging task of seeking, together withother religions, "paths toward peace and the integrity ofcreation," the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),Bishop emeritus Dr Christian Krause said in an interview withLutheran World Information (LWI).Krause reminded Christian churches and other religiouscommunities of their obligation to be actively engaged in thefight against poverty, injustice and all forms of violence insociety.The interview was a reflection on his six-year term in office.Krause was appointed as LWF President at the 1997 Ninth Assemblyin Hong Kong, China. His term ends after the 21-31 July 2003Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada.He pointed out that on the basis of its unique experience, theLWF should explore in interreligious dialogue, the extent towhich the model of reconciled diversity is possible beyond thefellowship of Christians - in the fellowship among religions. Heexpressed hope that the LWF together with the other confessionalworld communions, and the World Council of Churches would be ableto combine the critical functions of theology with the missionaryrevival of the more charismatic churches and communities.The full text of the interview with LWF President Krause follows:Interview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr ChristianKrauseLWI: Dr Krause, in July 1997, at the Ninth Assembly of theLutheran World Federation (LWF) in Hong Kong, you were electedLWF President. What hopes, desires and visions did you have asyou took office six years ago, at the 50th anniversary of theLWF?Krause: I had already been close to the Lutheran World Federationfor a good part of its 50 years, since 1966, when I becameresearch assistant in the Department for Theology in Geneva. Iwas aware of the great variety of the LWF's tasks from my ownexperience, not only in its theological work but also later as astaff person of the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service, andfinally in my position on the LWF National Committee in Germany.Thus my desires and visions were concentrated on progress atthese different levels. Of course I especially had the dialoguewith the Roman Catholic Church in mind, with the hope that therewould be steps forward there as well as throughout the ecumenicalmovement.It has always been a particular concern of mine to see the LWF,not as fenced off from the other confessions or the ecumenicalcommunity, but rather in all its openness, and to develop theecumenical dimension of the confessional body. Of course thisincluded the particular situation in the world. The NinthAssembly took place relatively soon after the great revolutionarychange of 1989-90, which resulted in a new openness and removingboundaries, and this brought us the new challenges emerging fromconcerns such as globalization. We were confronted on one handwith numerous dangers, on the other, with new opportunitiesthrough electronic communications and cross-border trade.What was especially present to me in Hong Kong was the world-widenetwork of the LWF with its emphasis on direct diaconal action,its missionary approach to the Gospel, its theological profileand, as I said, especially its ecumenical breadth and openness.LWI: At your first press conference as LWF President, on 14 July1997 in Hong Kong, you said that confessional communities such asthe LWF had become more important than ever for the ecumenicalmovement. You warned against a pullback, since dialogues such asthe one on the doctrine of justification with the Roman CatholicChurch in particular are only possible between confessionalfamilies. What would your judgment be today?Krause: There is of course no question that, obviously,confessional issues have to be discussed and clarified betweenconfessional churches. Thus in reassessing the history oftheology and the church, dialogue between the historic churchesand confessions is extraordinarily important. To me it isespecially significant that the confessional world communionshave become more visible in recent years, and are reaching outmore to one another.The Roman Catholic Church, the churches of the Reformation, thatis the Reformed and Lutheran world bodies, the AnglicanCommunion, the Orthodox churches - these are important andindispensable poles especially for interconfessionalconversations, for seeking together, for the ecumenicalfellowship as a whole and thus also for the World Council ofChurches.LWI: On 31 October 1999 you were in Augsburg, Germany as one ofthe signatories to the Official Common Statement with which theJoint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was solemnlyrecognized by the LWF and Roman Catholic Church. The dialoguewhich finally led to the Joint Declaration had lasted over 30years. Was this signing ceremony a high point of your presidency?Krause: For me, the 31 October 1999 is an extraordinarilyimportant date. The 30 years of dialogue show not only itssignificance, but also that it was high time for theseconversations, for at least a start towards overcoming thisalmost 500-year-old division. Augsburg was the place where, in1530, the rejection of the Confessio Augustana marked the failureof the last attempt at bridge-building. The dispute that followedcaused immeasurable suffering, enmities, the Counter-Reformation,the Thirty Years' War - one could go on and on. There was misuseof power in all sorts of ways, the Reformation was made aninstrument of politics and especially of conflict between thechurches of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church.What is remarkable is that the two sides in the dialogue havereached a consensus on basic truths. We are not trying tomonopolize the truth over against one another, but rather namingtogether that which is at the core of the Gospel, that is,justification by grace alone through faith, which is the centralsignificance of God's act of salvation. Nevertheless, the signingof the Joint Declaration does not mark a full stop, but rather acolon: we now have a basis on which to go further, and we must doso. The concept of reconciled diversity underlines our newrelationship after the long age of enmity.The signing of the Joint Declaration also showed that thecommunity within the LWF stands firmly together and, can take aunanimous position even in the face of differing opinions.LWI: What did the signing of the Joint Declaration change forLutheran and Catholic Christians? Just recently, at your farewellvisit to Pope John Paul II, you urged once again more intensiveefforts toward at least ecumenical hospitality at the Eucharist.Had you expected visible results to come sooner?Krause: My exhortation to move toward sharing the Eucharist, atleast in the sense of mutual ecumenical hospitality at the Lord'sTable, still stands. This is such a central witness to theChristian faith we share that I think we have reason to keepmentioning it. But I think it is completely wrong to concentrateexclusively on that which we do not yet have.We ought also to recognize all that which has already beenachieved. It is absolutely crucial that we are able to meettogether and have dealings with one another in mutual respect andalso in mutual trust. There will always continue to be setbacks,as is the nature of things among human beings and humaninstitutions. But I must say that the consensus on the basictruths of the faith has brought about a reconciliation andreadiness to meet one another which I can only describe asgratifying. In spite of all the differences which still remain,we must not lose sight of what we have in common.During my farewell visit in April with Pope John Paul II in Rome,and in my conversations with Walter Cardinal Kasper, I not onlyput a full emphasis on the question of the Eucharist, but alsoexpressly thanked them for standing with us on peace issues, forexample in our common actions with regard to the Iraq War and ourcommon stand on peace in the Middle East.In many countries in the world, Lutheran churches arecomparatively small compared to the Roman Catholic Church. Oftenthey have deliberately distanced themselves from one another inthe past. Since the signing of the Joint Declaration on theDoctrine of Justification I have experienced on many of mytravels throughout the world, that people now are no longerafraid to approach one another, and haven't simply filed away theJoint Declaration but are actively making use of it. They areholding joint worship services, and the churches are making theeffort to establish joint positions on political and socialissues which have to do with people's lives. I consider thesedevelopments as extraordinarily important.LWI: When you took office in 1997, the LWF had 122 memberchurches in 70 countries, with a total membership of about 57million; today it represents 136 member churches in 76 countries,with over 61.7 million members. What do you see as the continuingappeal that the LWF has?Krause: What is even more impressive is the number of foundingchurches. The LWF was founded in 1947 by 47 churches in 23countries. It then means that with regard to numbers of bothmember churches and countries, the LWF has almost tripled insize. But these figures also represent massive shifts insubstance. With few exceptions, the founding churches wereEuropean and North American, thus almost exclusively northAtlantic. Since 1947 the LWF's global network has extendedsubstantially to churches and countries in the southernhemisphere; there has been a shift in its center of gravity fromthe North toward the South. This seems to me to be the reallyserious difference, with considerable consequences for substance,both theological and ecclesiological.Our member churches are all looking for community, and the LWFoffers a community. Many of them are small, are isolated, andhave to find their way in their own countries and surroundings.For guidance, they look to their sister churches in neighboringcountries and throughout the world. In responding to the socialchallenges in their own local contexts, these churches alsoreceive support just like their governments do, and they canemphatically say, "We may be small, but we belong to a greatworld-wide communion."LWI: Since the 1984 Seventh Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, theLWF no longer sees itself as a loose federation, but as acommunion of churches. The new LWF Constitution adopted in 1990in Curitiba, Brazil says so. Is the LWF doing justice to thispurpose, and what are the consequences of thisself-understanding?Krause: That's an exciting question. That a greater degree ofcommunion, or of commitment, has been reached became visible in asustained way with regard to the signing of the Joint Declarationon the Doctrine of Justification. The LWF had to ask all themember churches, and they in turn had to involve their synods, ifthey were so constituted. And the vote was not absolutelyunanimous among all the member churches. The question then was,who decides? The recommendation of the overwhelming majority tothe LWF Council, after a careful theological evaluation of thevotes received, was to sign the Joint Declaration. The Councilthen voted unanimously in favor, and not one of the memberchurches protested. The communion stood the test.The question may be asked, how much authority is entrusted to acommunion by its individual churches. This was certainly a pointon which it became clear that here a stronger obligation was notonly desired; it was also possible. With regard to the discussionas to whether the LWF should call itself a communio, I am of theopinion that this needs to be defined very carefully. A higherdegree of commitment and of obligation to the LWF Communionshould in no case be expressed, first of all, in a strongercentralization in Geneva. We don't want and don't need a"Lutheran Rome."For me the critical questions are rather: can we take a stand onthe challenging issues of our day, and in doing so rely on oneanother and sustain our commitment to and for one another? Willour churches and people, in the midst of such bitter poverty aswe see reigning in two-thirds of the world, be willing to makestatements as a community - can they and should they haveconfidence in such a process? Or are these just emptydeclarations? It will be important to give a clear theologicalanswer to the question of what is the basis of our communio andwhether everyone shares in this. It is my impression that thegrowing differences between North and South, the economic gapbetween the winners and victims of globalization, as well as whatwe see in the ecumenical gap between the historic churches andthe charismatic communities, are the decisive test for such acommunio.LWI: While the Lutheran churches of the South are growing, someof them considerably, the membership figures of almost all thebig Lutheran churches in North America and Europe are continuingto decrease. What do you think is the cause of these contrastingdevelopments, and what can the churches learn from one another?Krause: In the churches of the North, our existential questionsare either very individualistic or out of touch with public life.In the South it's different. Questions of faith are alwaysdirected to the community and its life in common, and itssurvival. There is also a very natural relationship to themission of the church, and a totally natural way of carrying itout. Talking about one's own position as a believer, and livingaccording to it, is a matter of course and is not questioned inthe South.Many of the churches that have recently joined the LWF have grownout of the missions in Africa, for example the mission of thechurch in Tanzania or Namibia. This also plays a role in theirsocieties, in making the witness to Christ public, includingclear statements of one's positions; in expressing it in lively,colorful worship, and in taking for granted the witness to one'spersonal Christianity. This is what we in the North have oftenlost.Currently, the fastest growing Lutheran churches, and otherhistoric churches are those which succeed in integrating thecharismatic movements into their church lives. In the same periodof 30 years, the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church inBrunswick, Germany has dropped nearly 40 per cent, from about670,000 to 420,000, while in Ethiopia it has multiplied sixtimes, starting from 670,000, to over four million.Of course this raises the question of who is changing whom andwhat this means for the confessional world communion. The greatawakening of the charismatic faith movements in the southernhemisphere can only be seen, in my opinion, in the context ofpoverty and suffering. The Gospel is the Gospel of the poor, andthe cross is the sign of the church. It is in suffering that hopeappears, hope of overcoming sorrow and poverty. Entering into newlife through the cross - that is precisely opposed to thepleasure-seeking society.Moreover, we are faced today with the central task of finding ourway to an interreligious dialogue, of seeking, together withother religions, paths towards peace and the valuing of thecreation, and involving ourselves together in overcoming poverty,injustice and violence. It's the famous triad of justice, peaceand the integrity of creation. Here it is imperative that wereach out to one another with respect, with eagerness, and withthe desire to know one another. Equally important is to clarifyour own position: what do we actually stand for? And that'ssomething we can learn from the churches of the South - to takeour stand quite naturally on our own faith convictions, which arerooted in our own hearts, in public as well. In interreligiousdialogue, the LWF on the basis of its unique experience, shouldexplore to what extent the model of reconciled diversity ispossible beyond the fellowship of Christians, in the fellowshipamong religions.LWI: In the past six years you in person have visited many LWFmember churches. You have been to churches in every continent, inalmost every country of central and eastern Europe, and you werethe first LWF President to visit the churches of Papua NewGuinea. What impression have you gained of the world-wideLutheran community, and what have you been able to set in motionduring your travels?Krause: I have again and again experienced a great feeling thatwe all belong together, a downright family feeling, andunbelievable hospitality. To be at home everywhere where thereare Lutheran churches was a great, a marvelous feeling, for whichI am deeply grateful.The second point is that during my travels I have been ableemphasize over and over again to people that: You are part of agreater whole. In central and eastern Europe that has played amost important role at a practical level, there where the smallLutheran churches in the former countries behind the Iron Curtainhave to get their bearings all over again in post-communistsocieties. This touches almost all aspects of church life. Itincludes rebuilding their diaconal work, which in not a fewplaces was prohibited; pastoral work in prisons and the military,religious teaching in schools, church festivals and much more.Here the churches are also beginning to look at their role in thenew process of Europe's reunification.In many countries the visit of the LWF President was a time forconversations at the highest political level. This presented anopportunity to strengthen the governments' and political leaders'awareness of the important bridge-building function whichchurches can have within their own countries. One example isIndonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in theworld and not inconsiderable tensions between Christians andMuslims. Here I was able to speak both with President Megawatiand with the leaders of Islamic organizations. Doors could beopened in a way, often not possible locally for the smallerchurches. These experiences gave me a feel for the importance,for these churches, of belonging to a world communion and ofmaking its presence known.I have always thought of my visits also as expressly pastoral. Itwas clear that I could not accept every invitation. But I gavepriority to those from churches which were going through adifficult time or faced immediate challenges, for exampleLutheran churches which were or are threatened with schism. Hereit is important that we from the world-wide communion can atleast offer a table at which the parties to the conflict can sitdown together.LWI: The Ninth Assembly in 1997 had the theme "In Christ - Calledto Witness" - it was the last Assembly of the 20th century andthe first on the continent of Asia. What do you hope will be theimpetus of the Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, July 21-31, onthe theme "For the Healing of the World"?Krause: The theme of the Tenth Assembly is surprisingly andextraordinarily relevant for today. After the revolution of1989-90, we hoped we had come closer together. The East-Westconflict was over, walls had fallen down and thresholds werebeing lowered. And then burst forth those things which weprobably hadn't noticed properly, hidden under the crust of theEast-West conflict - the huge rift between rich and poor,disregard for human rights, conflicts between religions and newoutbreaks of violence. This means that "For the Healing of theWorld" must be an occasion for us to see where the decisivebreaks, wounds and cracks are which weigh us down and demand ourattention.The second very crucial point is to make it clear whence our helpcomes. Here the doctrine of justification will again play anessential role, also in its social ethics aspect: there is nojustice without grace. We must truly pray to God for the healingof the world, hope for it and expect it from God, and thus setout together to be Jesus' disciples.LWI: How do you see the future? In the year 2017 the Lutherancommunion will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginningof the Reformation: in 2022 the LWF will celebrate its 75thanniversary. Where will the LWF be by then; how may it havechanged and developed?Krause: Well, there we can only speak in terms of a vision. Isuspect that the movements of the South will cause parochial waysof being church, with their institutions and structures, torecede further in favor of spiritual movements. Even thetraditional well-ordered Lutheran churches will become more likespiritual revival churches. They may become smaller in theprocess, but I think they will come to have more the character ofmovements. Here a Lutheran World Federation must be first of allthe linking place, and have a serving function, to makeworld-wide communion possible in such a process.This will go together with a reduction in the role of the LWF asan inter-church service organization. The main question will be,what can each of us contribute, from our situation, that we canshare with others? And how do we preserve our communio on thecommon foundation of Reformation theology? More use must be madeof the global aspect of this tool we have in our hands, the LWF.This will also help to promote communion amongst our ecumenicalpartners.How the WCC changes will also make a lot of difference. It toowill have to take in more of the charismatic, spiritualistmovements, as it is already making efforts to do. I hope that astronger association will be possible with them, and that the LWFtogether with the other confessional world communions and the WCCwill be able to combine the critical functions of theology withthe missionary revival of the more charismatic churches andcommunities.What I also hope for is that we can sit down at one table withpeople of the different religions and seek ways to peace. In thisconnection I hope that a Lutheran World Federation, however itmay be put together as an organization, will contribute to thedefense against every form of fundamentalism, and will help topromote common positions for world peace. So it is there that Isee the future of the LWF: to serve as a platform for dialogue,but not just for dialogue's sake, but for the sake of life. Thatwould be a changed, a very active Lutheran World Federation, andcertainly no longer a primarily North Atlantic one.(LWI Editor Dirk-Michael Groetzsch, conducted the original Germanlanguage interview with the LWF President, Bishop emeritus DrChristian Krause.)(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in theLutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF nowhas 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts onbehalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such asecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarianassistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspectsof mission and development work. Its secretariat is located inGeneva, Switzerland.)[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.Unless specifically noted, material presented does not representpositions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Wherethe dateline of a article contains the notation (LWI), thematerial may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]* * *LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATIONPO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, SwitzerlandEnglish Editor: Pauline MumiaE-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.orgTel: (41.22) 791.63.54Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30http://www.lutheranworld.org/
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