"KONVIVENZ" DAN THEOLOGIA MISI INTERKULTURAL MENURUT THEO SUNDERMEIER

Abstract

According to Philip Jenkins, the European government is not strong enough to face the current challenges internally and globally, especially deal with Islam and secularism. The shift of christianity from Europe to Asia, Africa and latin America brings the further implication not only for religion, but also politic, economy, and social. He said,  the syncretism will be a serious danger for the religious movement in those continents. The christian country outside Europe and America will bound themselve into a “Christendom”, in order to defense the christian faith facing another religious domination.

We should not neglect his theory but also don’t just accept them straight. There are still many factors must to be seen carefully. Particularly if  it is said in his book concerning  the shift of Christianity to other continents outside Europe, it does not mean, that the Christianity in another continents better than in Europe. Even if the Christianity in Asian increase in number however it doesn’t mean that the christianity in Asian better in quality automatically. Because the quality of Christianity could not only be seen as the number itself, but in the reality how the christian do their mission properly and effectively. Christian Mission hier shall not be seen as the mass conversion. The mission is not the matter of statistic number, but on  its trully to be a witness of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was not a religion builder. Jesus tought his disciples, that as his follower they must be the faithful person to be a witness to the other people about the ethic of the “Kingdom of God”, as what he did in humble way and with total surrender to his Father. The raise of Christianity in Asia should be welcomed with a critical mind and critical theological questions too. What kind of motives and theological understanding support this phenomen? How do we understand mission today and how could we have better understanding of another culture and religions? Asia, as also another countries in Africa and latin America, still face many problems in poverty and conflicts among their society. How can the christianity together with another religions and cultures to create justice, peace, and integrity of creation in this world. That is our actual and very important task for the churches in Indonesia today.

In this article, I want to discuss on the theory of mission as intercultural theology, with strong emphasize on “konvivenz” from Theo Sundermeier. He is a Professor in Mission and Intercultural Theology in University of Heidelberg. With his many different experiences in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, then he see that the intercultural approach in mission is as the most important thing to do. He encourages the churches in Europe to meet and cooperate with the people, group, and society from many different cultural and religious background. The churches in Europa, according to him, need a new approach that he calls as “konvivenz”. Mission should overcome the problem of alienation and strongly believe in reconciliation. Konvivenz is one of the important keyword in order to reach this ideal.

Theo Sundermeier explains about the basic meaning of “konvivenz” in three examples, which are also as its “Sitz im Leben”. They are (1) “Konvivenz” comes from the slum area in Mexico City. They use “convivialidad” to show their cooperation und closeness to each other. They struggle together to overcome their problem. The middle class do not use this “terminologie”. The people in slum area help one and another, live together and find the solution together too. Here, after the long process,  they can create their own identity and developed it self. (2) Paulo Freire describes the character of Basic Community in the same way with the character of “Konvivenz”. The people learns together  without leader. They themself are the leader in their group and learn to each other in their group. They find their own identity and knowledge too. The people itself is subject. (3) They celebrate their religious day or festival together. They help each other actively and fully support the other people to achieve together the goal of their celebration.

Theo Sundermeier notes 3 wichtige charakter of “Konvivenz”, there are: to help one another, to learn from one another, and to celebrate together. From these defnitions und “Sitz im Leben” he concludes Mission Dei in four mission understanding, (a) Missio Dei is not merely for the Church but for the world. (b) the Church is place in the second position after the world. (3) The Church doesn’t determine world history, but only sharing hope in history of the world.  (4) Mass conversion should not be an agenda, because it does not represent the fullness of mission as freedom, love and reconciliation.

Intercultural Mission and „Konvivenz“ require more than communication approach. It needs a new intercultural hermeneutik. Intercultural means that it should be done together with the people in their context. There is no subject or object in these relation. We could better to understand the meaning of the text, if we share our different perspectivs. Every person has different situation and background. Everyone is only interested on something that has close relation to her / his aktual situation. Intercultural hermeneutic give us the broader and deeper chance to get the meaning of the text. Mission is a call from God to the church so that they meet the other people from different cultures, nations and even religions to share about their perspectives.

Sharing means that we should not only say about our religions / perspectives but also hear something from others. Through this intercultural process will emerge a new understanding and identity. Translation is   also a process of interpretation. We face the symbols and must translate them into our subjective understanding. The same process is also done by the others. Text is a symbol. The art is a world of symbol and symbolic meaning. The symbol cannot be revealed completely. Every person has their own understanding of the same symbol. Interpretation must be seen as a dynamic and mutual process in togetherness with others. That is intercultural and “konvivenz”. It should be created not only among the churches, but also between the church with another cultures and religions. Intercultural process is not so easy to do. Because we are not without historical burdens. We have already the experiences of “alleination” in the past and present. We are a stranger for the other people and the other people are strangers to me. Tolerance is here very important a san entrance to an intercultural process, but tolerance itself is not the goal of mission. The “tolerance” helps and bring us to come closer to others and open a condusive situation to talk with each other. The aim of intercultural process to reduce alleination and prepare for sharing process in another steps,

The christian should not be afraid to face our intercultural and interreligious dynamic today. The shift of domination must be happen, but it is only temporary. This shift is a normal process of seeking a balance among the culture and religions. As a christian we should be strong also in our believe that the Holy Spirit will guide and strength us. God will never lose in achieving his plan. The church does not have right to think about lose or win in mission.Theo Sundermeier said that mission has always four dimensions. The church and christian are only seeing all three dimensions, but the fourth is always mistery, that only can be seen by God, not human. In the perspective of intercultural theologians, the shift of christianity from europe to another continents is not a danger but rather than a new chance to meet the culture and religionen in their home countries with their own local perspectives and situations.

This phenomena is a part of the intercultural journey of christianity. Only in this situation, through intercultural meeting with another culture and religion, the christian can do mission rightly and better in achieving their goal in mission to share the perspective about the Kingdom of God. Another cultures and religions would be seen as a partner in a long journey to understand God’s will in earth. The conflict and confrontation today is also a part of learning and knowing each other. The bad experience is not a burden for life, but should be seen as an experience that call us to overcome the problem in a better way and  together with others. Mission is an invitation from God to human to join His plan to save this world. Mission is not to convert the others, but to invite the others to learn together and share our perspective about God’s will in our life. Not only those, we help each other and celebrate our life together in solidarity, peace, emphaty to avoid the conflict and create a new understanding. What we need today is not the big number a Christianity, but how the christianity can have an impact to the world to welcoming the future in togetherness and freedom with all creatures. When we could do this, that means, we do our mission as witness of the Kingdom of God.

We should not hesitate to go in this process. When we do consistently and fairly to meet others, it will bring us into the new era of humanity, in which we are all living together, sharing, learning and celebrating the Kingdom of God in this world. Mission is not only to overcome the problem with our christian doctrine or ideology. Mission is calling us to always develop our understanding of God. And then, we should change our mind set not to see others as an enemy but as a friend in learning the truth. The discourse of truth can happen, when we are aware that we need each other to sharing perspective in peace and honest. This is the goal of mission.