The The Boti-Christian Engagement in Interreligious Cultural Dialogue: Response to Environmental Crisis on Timor Island
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21460/gema.2022.71.754Keywords:
environmental crisis, Boti religion, contextual theology, ecotheology, post-colonial theology, Timor, interreligious, krisis lingkungan, agama Boti, teologi kontekstual, ekoteologi, teologi poskolonial, lintas agamaAbstract
Abstrak
Artikel ini bertujuan membangun dialog budaya lintas agama antara penganut agama asli Boti dan umat Kristiani di Timor Tengah Selatan, Nusa Tenggara Timur. Fokus kajian tertuju pada dua fenomena: krisis lingkungan artifisial yang berakar pada paradigma Kristen barat yang mengunggulkan modernisme, dan fenomena konversi yang tidak ramah
terhadap masyarakat asli. Fenomena tersebut mencakup berbagai kenyataan sehubungan dengan peran komunitas Boti dalam ritual dan praktik kehidupan sehari-hari, yang mengusung nilai-nilai ekologis yang berakar pada pengetahuan setempat. Paradigma yang dipakai orang Boti terbentuk dari pengalaman interpersonal antara manusia dan alam.
Pandangan itu telah menolong mereka melewati kekeringan yang panjang yang disebabkan oleh faktor alam sebagai dampak dari krisis lingkungan di Timor. Artikel ini menggugat pengaruh kekristenan yang menggunakan pandangan barat, dan mengusulkan untuk menggantinya dengan sebuah teologi yang menghargai tradisi Boti. Sehubungan dengan itu, artikel ini menggarisbawahi kritik terhadap konsep superioritas manusia terhadap alam sebagaimana terkandung di dalam Alkitab, kemudian menawarkan
sebuah konsep hubungan yang lebih serasi antara alam dan manusia di mana penghargaan dan pemeliharaan alam adalah wujud hubungan yang harmonis dengan Tuhan.
Abstract
This article aims to build an inter-religious cultural dialogue between Boti indigenous people and Christians, South Timor Tengah, East Nusa Tenggara. It responds to two phenomena: the artifi cial environmental crisis rooted in the western paradigm of Christianity glorifying modernism and expanded with the phenomenon of conversion
that is not friendly to indigenous peoples. The phenomena cover various facts about the role of the Boti community in their rituals and daily practices, which have promoted ecological values derived from their local knowledge. The Boti people uphold the indigenous paradigm through their interpersonal relationships with nature. This view has helped them face the long drought due to the natural factor of the environmental crisis in Timor. This article criticizes the influence of Christianity using the western view by replacing it with theology in appreciating local knowledge of Boti indigenous peoples. It also criticizes the human superiority in the Bible toward nature by offering a harmonious relationship between the two that humans should respect and preserve nature to maintain a harmonious relationship with God.
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