Peacebuilding in Christianity

Journal on Peacebuilding in Christianity (3^rd chosen topic) – November 10^th, 2011

Thesis:

Christian theologies had been evolving contextually for centuries and results on different theological understandings about peace by virtue of various interpretations of the biblical texts.

There is no a single absolute interpretation of the biblical texts within Christian traditions. It implies that one can see variety of theological interpretation on the basis of biblical reading through ages. That is the reason why one also definitely discovers many theologies, not only one theology. It is an important starting point to understand certain term in the biblical text, especially in speaking about peace, violence, and peacebuilding in Christianity.

In his book Revelation, the Religions, and Violence, especially in chapter 5, Leo Lefebure observes the development of understanding of violence in relation to the concept of revelation during Early and Medieval Church. He elaborates carefully how Christians since the early church interpreted the biblical texts contextually. What I mean with “contextually” is an effort to link the text with actual situation of life, and at the same time also reflecting actual situation of life accordingly to the message of Gospel. Only by such dialectical way of understanding, Christian able to get the meaning of the Gospel for his/her concrete life.

Lefebure demonstrates that Christian particular theological notion mostly evolved as responses toward or against certain social, political, and cultural circumstances. That is the reason why throughout the history of Christianity one can find many methods for interpreting the Bible. Consequently, he or she then gets different theological notion for answering his or her concrete problems. Regarding some provocative biblical texts, Lefebure puts Origen who advocated allegorical approach. According to Origen, “even the events in the life of Jesus were not simply historical events but also symbols of other realities in the lives of believers… What happened to Jesus is the paradigm for what happens to Christians in a different way age after age.” [114] By using this approach, Origen able to reconcile conflicting statements in the biblical texts. Further, different approaches had been developing by different individuals and groups in order to comprehend problems in specific space and time.

In terms of peacebuilding, Lefebure helps us to see critically how Christian from age to age constructing theological notions primarily on the interrelation of ecclesia (church) and mundus (world). Hence one can observe sort of theological creativity that must not necessary seen as threat for the absolute “truth”. Christian can only get the absolute true of God’s message through what Paul Tillich called as “co-relational faith”.

Actually, as it shown by Paulus Wijaya, the biblical text itself cannot be separated from its real context both of the author[s] and of the reader[s]. In his article “Peace”, Wijaya sharply explains the concept of peace in Old Testament (shalom) and New Testament (eirene). He explores the etymology of “peace” in the context of Hebrew and Greek languages using by Christians at the certain space and time. Eventually Wijaya strongly remarks that “biblical peace is thus related to the spiritual, moral, physical and relational dimensions of human beings. It is a comprehensive understanding that integrates the material and the spiritual, the individual and the communal, the religious and the social-political.” [280]

            By reading Leo Lefebure and Paulus Wijaya, I am coming to my reflection that Christian must pay integrative attention on concept and practice of peacebuilding. Peacebuilding is not merely an abstract concept but should be treated as Christian praxis as exemplified by Christ. In that point, Christian can get comprehensive insight about Church’s mission for peacebuilding. [steve gaspersz – ICRS]