xgenesisrei

[xgenesisrei]

On Machine Learning and Feelings

People have always been told that what makes them human is the innate (some even say god-like) capability to think, to generate information, to articulate ideas, and to process insight.

And because of this, some were made to feel less because they do not, cannot do as much or even as fast than the others.

I think (better), therefore, I am (better).

The ratio in the homo, the homo is the ratio.

But with the advent and rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this whole complex of being and identity is crumbling.

Not a few are starting to wonder: there must be something else that makes people human. Anyway, the so-called bright ones don't seem to be any less cold in logic and reasoning than the heartless creations they have produced, e.g., smart bombs that know no age, race, or religion, intricate religions that spare no god or demon, crude politics that respects no history or geography.

Amidst the devastation these creations have wrought around the world, can't it be that what makes us human today dwells not in the realm of reason but emotion? That is, the capacity to feel, not just for one's self, but even more so for others. Sentience, but in a broader, relationally-rooted, collective sense.

So what I am saying is that in a way, we're not simply machines because we have feelings: we feel for other people, we feel responsible, we feel accountable. Either because of the cry of one's conscience or sheer burst of compassion from within.

This portrait of humanity has vivid hues and tones in the Pinoy context. The essence of 'pagpapaka-tao' (being a genuine human) lies in one's commitment to 'pakikipagkapwa-tao' (to find others in relation to one's self). One is good in 'pakikipagkapwa-tao' if one's 'pakikiramdam' (to feel out) is spot on, on time, and most important of all, genuine.

Feelings.

For people.

Cannot be generated.

It can only sprout from an overflow of a good heart ('mabuting loob').

To do otherwise is what turned people into someone needing to be 'matauhan' which basically refers to the internal process of regaining one's personhood. Or simply, the existential salvific moment of being reconciled to one's humanity and to the rest of humanity as well. Within the Pinoy multiverse of sensibility, these two modes of 'awakening' are closely intertwined and inseparable.

This arc of 'redemption' is what machines, with all its expanding capacity for intelligence, don't have.

Yet.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (June 24, 2025)

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"From ghostly consciousness to cyborg bodies, from fractured memories to psychological implosions, anime offers more than spectacle, it offers a framework for thought. Its exaggerated forms and visual unreality create distance, while its emotional depth fosters intimacy. This interplay allows anime to stage philosophical questions not as abstract problems, but as lived dilemmas.

In the end, anime does not tell us what the self is. Instead, it asks us to dwell in the uncertainty, between ghost and machine, memory and identity, fiction and reality. And in that space, we may glimpse a truth not about answers, but about the value of asking the question."

[xgenesisrei]

Silent Witness

St. Mark's church in Mayfair, London has been deconsecrated in 1974 and was opened to the public as a food hall in 2019.

Some people may find a reason to lament that this 'sacred' place has been turned into a 'mess' hall.

But come to think of it, the stained glasses, which are still there, were designed specifically to educate the masses about the faith.

Perhaps, this 'deconsecration' is a better fate considering the dwindling parishioners among its architectural peers. Turned into a food center, t'will get more exposure through the foot traffic and therefore more people shall be exposed to it in return -the irreligious, skeptics, and even former believers.

Visual forms of 'kerygma' persevere quietly in its witness, a silent voice providing beauty to the mundane, at the very least.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

[xgenesisrei]

The Pathway is Wisdom

To teach not merely from what one reads from books or other sources but from what one has personally witnessed and experienced is the most pressing challenge for anyone wishing to be effective in equipping people for theology or ministry.

In today's world of AI-powered education technology, to pass on 'wisdom,' not just crunched data, much less crowdsourced information, is the high call at the end of the day.

Something may be 'true' but more and more students will be asking, "Well, yeah, but does it work? Has it actually changed anything?" A question that can hardly be answered convincingly with clever nomenclatures, second-hand information, and secondary analysis of data sets.

Praxis.

Phronesis.

Personal narratives.

These three are shaping-up to be the litmus test of trustworthy theological education and ministry training in the coming years. Perhaps this can also be the safeguarding needed to avoid the pitfalls of being misled by 'content creators' aka digital influencers mushrooming online with very loud voices but with very little to show in terms of actual personal engagement on the ground. Or finally, this could be the last nail in the coffin with regard to the issue of having instructors in seminary with minimal connection and ministry engagement with a local church.

There is a reason why indigenous people places a great deal of value to 'elders' in the community and why learning has more to do with learning the pathways of the sages and not merely acquiring skills and techniques. Learning, from the ancient pathways, is an embodied process wherein insights flowed from the crucible of both personal failures and triumph. Alongside it, teaching is a privilege given not merely to people with great accomplishments but those whose exceptional capacities is matched with good character worth emulating.

"Subjectivity is truth," says the melancholy Dane, Soren Kierkegaard. A piece of insight that echoes exactly the words of Apostle John, aka the Elder, in one of his letters,

"We write you now about what has always existed, which we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, we have looked at, and we have touched with our hands. We write to you about the Word that gives life. He who gives life was shown to us. We saw him and can give proof about it. And now we announce to you that he has life that continues forever. He was with God the Father and was shown to us. We announce to you what we have seen and heard, because we want you also to have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." -I John 1:1-3 (NCV)

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo, brewed with a cup of Sumiyaki coffee (May 30, 2025)

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"Wherever there are hierarchies, it favors the ones on top to centralize power. Building more checks and balances into the system just means relying on the thing we need to be protected from for protection. The only way to exert leverage on the authorities without being sucked into their game is to develop horizontal networks that can act autonomously. Yet when we’re powerful enough to force the authorities to take us seriously, we’ll be powerful enough to solve our problems without them.

There’s no way to freedom but through freedom." -To Change Everything: an anarchist appeal

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"As Asian interpreters, let us read and reread our Bibles carefully with our native cultural categories in mind. With God’s help, we will arrive at better understandings of God’s revelation—originally from and for Asia—than we could achieve with merely Western theology and approaches. And in the process, we will cultivate a deeper biblical literacy that helps to address the misconception that the Christian faith is mainly for Westerners!" -Dr. Jerry Hwang

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Out of Our Echo Chambers!

Reposting an online post by Dr. Ely Fernandez, former president of Union Theological Seminary-Philippines, which serves as a very important reminder, point of reflection, and challenge to theological education:

Academia—particularly religion, theology, and biblical studies—a field of discipline I am more familiar with—has long been a space for theoretical critiques of empire, colonialism, neocolonialism, intersectionality critiques of various “isms,” and other systemic injustices. Many books have been published, and numerous seminars and conferences have been organized around these matters. However, when we examine the current state of the world, especially in the US, I’m wondering how much impact the academy has.

Of course, many factors contribute to our current reality or, more specifically, our current social malady. But, scholars may be trapped in an echo chamber, continuously engaging with like-minded peers but failing to break into broader public discourse. Despite their intellectual endeavors, the pressing crises of our time rarely spur action beyond the confines of academia. Given the pressing socio-political crises—some of which pose existential threats—scholars must become more actively engaged with the broader society.

Is there a disconnect between the academy and the wider society? If there is, it stems from multiple factors, a few of which I will highlight here: (1) Institutional barriers – the academic system prioritizes peer-reviewed publications, tenure-track expectations, and conferences, which often encourage insular discussions rather than direct engagement with communities in crisis; (2) linguistic and theoretical insularity – scholars frequently rely on specialized jargon and complex theoretical frameworks that do not translate easily into public discourse or activist movements; (3) risk aversion – many scholars fear jeopardizing their careers by taking overtly political stances, particularly within institutions that depend on funding from donors, churches, or governments; (4) and lack of public engagement – academics often do not prioritize engaging with media, policymakers, or grassroots movements.

As someone invested in teaching and writing primarily, but not exclusively, in religion and theology, mentoring the next generation is both a privilege and a responsibility. While emerging scholars have a valid reason to focus on academic milestones to survive, if not thrive—publications, conference presentations, and promotions—we must also ask: What is the purpose of our scholarship?

Scholarship must serve the common good. Its concern and presence must extend and become palpable beyond the academy into the public sphere, engaging with churches (also many are allied with conservative elements), grassroots communities, and society at large if it is to contribute to our liberation and shared flourishing.

The responsibility is ours: We must break down the academy’s walls, infuse our work with real-world impact, and commit ourselves to scholarship that is actively transformative!

-Dr. Eleazar Fernandez, Facebook post (March 8, 2025)

[xgenesisrei]

(A)-lternative Politics of Dissent

Every election, there is an ever present voice that is not sufficiently heard but nonetheless deserving of attention. A dissenting position that offers a most potent resolution to the impending doom haunting the upcoming elections.

Let me explain briefly.

 The electoral system is an interlocked triad composed of the Comelec, the candidates, and the citizenry (voting public). The full and responsible participation of each element is essential to make for a functional election. Simply, the 3 Cs demanding integrity in all aspects (Source: "The Electoral Integrity Framework" by The Christian Convergence for Good Governance).

 The voting public involves the different segments of voters divided according to their preferred candidates. The winners of the electoral process are 'legitimized' not only by the people who voted for them but also by those who don't. The null hypothesis provides the bedrock for the alternative.

Otherwise, the entire thing will be what is regarded as 'lutong macao' (or election result that is rigged or manipulated). A candidate who won fair and square over an opposition who put up a decent fight is what avoids this scenario. As long as there is an opposition, the win even if quite lopsided remains legit.

Should candidates allied with BBM or PRRD (or Leni and the Pink Movement) win a seat at the senate this May, their ascendance to office is made possible by the 'entire' electoral process and not only by the people who voted for them.

It takes the entire mechanism to put unworthy people into positions of power.

Results of the May 2025 elections shall be made possible by everyone who participated in the political exercise. Both the winners and the losers will have to abide by the results, provided that the canvassing is beyond reproach, and accept the newly elected officials as legit leaders of the country.

Only those who opted out of the 'system' can say that they do not have a hand in the whole electoral process. And there are different reasons why people can intentionally abstain from exercising their right of suffrage:

believing that the electoral system is untrustworthy and has been rendered too broken to yield a satisfactory result, e.g., the Kapatiran Party called for a boycott of the elections in 2016.

believing that the electoral system needs to include a provision in the ballot wherein people can actually express their vote of lack of confidence in the process, e.g., lack of suitable candidates, doubts about the competence of the poll body, and unless they can do so, they better avoid the entire exercise.

believing that the electoral system is unable to produce the results it promises to deliver because the system is set-up, to begin with, against the true interest of the people, e.g., infestation of political dynasty, outdated campaign regulations rendering a very unequal opportunity for candidates with no money to burn.

believing that the mechanism of the elections has repeatedly failed, time and again in history, to produce the changes it is supposed to bring to society, and therefore, it maybe the case that the 'system' was never broken to begin with, and that it was actually built that way?

Aspects of these considerations above form part of the position on why boycotting the election can actually make perfect sense, politically-speaking, as an act of prophetic protest. A position that instead opens up options for alternative courses of direct action by local people in different pockets of small local communities.

This too is voter education.

(A)

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo and artwork by Bryan Jay Paler

[xgenesisrei]

The Blindspot of Contemporary Mission

I want to highlight one massive “blind spot” concerning mission which prevails in many churches...

We seem to have forgotten that the primary way the church impacts the world is not through its programmes, or by multiplying religious professionals, or starting more mission agencies and ecumenical commissions; but, rather, through the daily work of Christian men and women in offices, schools, factories, village councils, research laboratories, company board rooms, and so on. These are the contemporary sites of Christian mission.

I was in Malaysia a few months ago and I spent a memorable morning with a handful of committed Christian politicians who were MPs representing different opposition political parties in that country. They came from a variety of church traditions, including Roman Catholic and Pentecostal. I asked them “What is the biggest source of frustration you experience in your work?” I expected them to say something like “The compromises we need to make as party members”, but instead they were unanimous in their answer: “Our church”. They did not receive any support from their churches, whether in the form of regular prayer, financial assistance or volunteers to help in implementing social policies or just running their offices. One woman told me her church raised huge funds to send cross cultural missionaries and young people on short-term “mission trips” to other parts of Asia. But their work as politicians was not considered as “mission”. The only time the church leaders showed any interest in what they did was when Christians themselves suffered political harassment.

Theological education has to be re-oriented radically around the lives of “lay” people, not the agendas of clergy and mission societies.

This story is repeated all over the world. My wife and I work primarily with Christian in secular occupations, helping them to live out the Gospel and communicate God’s truth and justice in the fields of science, business, the arts, medicine, education and so on. These men and women who engage “Christianly” with the public square are at the cutting-edge of mission. They face huge ethical challenges thrown up by, say, new medical technologies or new social networking media, genetic engineering, venture capitalism and hedge funds, anti-terrorist legislation, euthanasia, climate change and biodiversity loss. These all call for deep missionary engagement and missiological reflection... But Asian mission studies dissertations and the bulk of articles in mission studies journals focus on historical studies of religious sects and denominations, traditional tribal cultures or exotic new religious movements.

It seems that we have been blinded by the neat divisions we have been drawn between theology, ethics and mission. Those boundaries need to be deconstructed. We have been reminded in recent years that all theology is mission theology, that the church does theology “on the road” and not just in the library or the pulpit. But then theological education has to be re-oriented radically around the lives of “lay” people, not the agendas of clergy and mission societies. Social and political ethics has become the locus of evangelical proclamation.

-Vinoth Ramachandra, PhD (University of London)

Source: “A Brief Reflection on Edinburgh 2010”

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"In all the religions there are beautiful qualities, I believe.

From Buddhism, for example, I have learned sensitivity tothe paradox and suffering that pervade our world. From Confucianists, I have learned to pay attention to my roots and the importance of courtesy in the family and in society. From primal religionists, I have been reminded that the supernatural is always present, affecting every part of life, and that faith is never merely individual. From Muslims, I have been impressed with so many beautiful qualities. Their high concept of God. Their prayerful life. Their emphasis that faith must be expressed in the public sector. Their call for social ethics, with law based on theology. From Jews, I have been challenged not only to enjoy God’s creation but also to wrestle with it, and not only to enjoy God himself but also to wrestle with him.

And yet in the end, I have to say that if a faith doesn’t lead to God in Christ, it’s missing something right at the core.

If it doesn’t lead to God showing us what he’s like through taking on a human body, God entering our pain in Christ’s death, God generating the power for new beginnings through Christ’s resurrection, then no matter how beautiful the faith, it is sadly incomplete, partial, unfinished.

In sum, I want to be appreciative of the faiths and also articulate about the Lord Jesus Christ."

-Miriam Adeney

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In order to avoid the illusion of omnipotence or omniscience where the theologian thinks that the “revolution in the order of words” is celebrated as a “revolution in the order of things,” the theologian needs to be confronted by actual situations of suffering people on the ground.  -Fr. Danny Pilario

[xgenesisrei]

An Fresh Invitation to a Fuller Mission

The launch of 'GOOD NEWS FOR ALL THE EARTH' on December 12, 2024 was a happy coming together of the global creation care community. This new document by the Lausanne Movement and the The World Evangelical Alliance complements the previous one in 2012, i.e., Jamaica Call to Action, by including a more robust theological section which outlines the biblical foundations of what it means to live well with and exercise care for all of God's creation.

I was given a few minutes to share some thoughts and I highlighted that the next curve taken by the evangelical community, at this particular season, could have been the recovery and re-affirmation of a more cosmologically-oriented missiology, one that goes beyond the too often anthropocentric orientation, and instead leading towards having all of God's creation, e.g., bees, rivers, and the trees, among others, at the very heart of Christ's redemptive work.

It is good that in the past Lausanne Congresses, there has been an increasing emphasis on addressing the holistic dimensions of what it means to be a human being, e.g., kick-started by integral mission in 1974.

The next logical turn for mission theologizing could have been to recognize that the welfare of people is closely intertwined with the wellbeing of the planet they inhabit.

In fact, if we are going to read the vision of the book of Revelations a bit more carefully, the eternal destiny of God's people in His future kingdom includes life in all its fullness surrounded by non-human beings, in a city reclaimed for the better by a thriving garden, complete with rivers, trees, etc.

Good News for All the Earth is a good step in this direction. My hope is that it inspires not only a deeper engagement in creation care among evangelicals but also a more wider, broader, and fuller missiological framework. Lest we forget that Psalmist reminds us that as far as the work of 'declaring' and 'displaying' is concerned, two catch words of the recent 4th Lausanne Congress, we have lots to learn from the non-human created order:

"The heavens PROCLAIM the glory of God. The skies DISPLAY his craftsmanship." (Psalms 19:1-2, NIV)

To end, I would just want to share my most favorite paragraph of the document which highlights the need for a 'new relationship with God’s created world':

"We recognise that our ecological crisis is at root a spiritual crisis, rooted in greed and idolatry. For many Christians, there is also an impoverished understanding of Christ’s lordship and the scope of the gospel. We call, therefore, for a renewed understanding of the inherent value of the earth and nonhuman creatures as created, sustained and redeemed by Christ. We call on Christians everywhere to study and delight in God’s world, recognising the earth as our common home, and embracing our dependence on God’s provision through the ecosystems of which we are part. We embrace our human role, made in the image of God, to give leadership within the community of creation through humble and servant-hearted care for the earth and its creatures. We call for all Christians, in our personal lives, churches, workplaces, and societies, to be engaged actively in protecting, preserving and restoring habitats and ecosystems, declaring and displaying the lordship of Christ through the flourishing of creatures and places which were made for God’s glory."

The full document is available here. Please help share the word.

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo, on Friday the 13th of December 2024

[xgenesisrei]

The Next Curve for Integral Mission in Asia

On October 14-16, 2024, the Asia Theological Association, in partnership with Tearfund in East and Southeast Asia, gathered its theological educators in Hong Kong to explore ways on how to strengthen and deepen the teaching of Integral Mission in theological seminaries and Bible colleges. The event brought forth exciting initiatives brewing on new curriculum pathways, collaborative publications, and new dimensions of mission.

On a personal note, I got a really memorable moment, one for the books, when I got to tag team with Dr Timoteo Gener in leading a session about theological thinking on Integral Mission within the contexts of East and Southeast Asia (see my other post). I tried to connect the dots as well with how the conversations went in the recently concluded 4th gathering of the Lausanne Movement in South Korea.

One of my key take aways is from a session led by Dr Dwi Maria Handayani wherein she reminded us that in Asia, Integral Mission cannot just be about responding to material poverty, it has to extend towards touching the intangibles -the restoration of the 'face' of those who have lost honor, dignity, and faith, something that the Spirit of God works through in the complexities of our interconnected lives.

The different workshops yielded a deep need to address on one hand perennial issues in the region such as:

religious, cultural, and linguistic diversity (e.g., pluralism),  

colonial legacy (dualism/dualistic mindset), 

socio-economic disparity (poverty and inequality),  

geopolitics, restrictive policies, massive corruption in government, 

and on the other hand emerging concerns brought about by:

digital technology, 

an aging population and with it a widening generation gap, 

climate change,  

urbanization, 

gender confusion,  

public health, 

changes in the family structures, and 

churches getting even more disunited.

As a response, a wide spectrum of theological works is in order and to be carried out in ways that shall be inclusive, non-confrontational, and incarnational:

ecotheology that looks not only into creation care but also lifestyles animated by the vision of New Creation,

a more mature public theology and socio-political theologizing, and

courses on and concrete models of inter-religious dialogue. 

These works have to be marked with a more applied theology, engaged pedagogy, and enriched by interdisciplinary studies. A theological endeavor that calls for the full giftings and involvement of the whole people of God, a paradigm shift from the usual theology done by 'experts' and 'specialists' toward a theologizing that stretches to the insights and experiences of the church at the grassroots level as they live their lives out there in the world as faithful disciples of Christ.

Sounds like a great deal of work ahead! But I found joy in being able to journey with friends whose hope for a more flourishing life for the people East and Southeast Asia is unwavering. It is so encouraging as well how different generations are seeing the role of each to forge a path ahead together. Talk about collaboration? Well, it does happen happily along the lines of beautiful relationship nurtured over the years.

Can't wait for the next curve of this journey!

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (Hong Kong, October 2024) *Read more about it in the September-October issue of Asia Theological Association (ATA)'s newsletter (pages 5-6).

[xgenesisrei]

Beyond Reformation

Of the many charts of Christian churches available online, this is still the best one for me. Not just because it looks fun but also because it includes, on almost equal footing, the Oriental and the Orthodox churches of the East. A good and necessary reminder that there is more to Christianity than the versions that developed in the Western part of the world. FYI, the Christian churches of the East are the ones whose mission work reached Mongolia and China in the 6th-7th century. Yep, Christianity arrived in China as early as 630 AD and spread in Mongolia 700 years earlier than Buddhism!

Headstone from the Yuan Dynasty in China (1272-1368) featuring the cross and the lotus.

This is the story of how the transmission of the Gospel first carried forth by Apostle Paul through the roads of the Roman Empire continued through the ancient Silk Road in the East. A story often untold if not totally forgotten.

Now, in the past weeks, in time for commemorating the Protestant Reformation, the chart below showed up in my newsfeed (red marking, mine):

Immediately, three things, captured my attention and wrought some decolonial thoughts:

First, the Protestant Reformation is an on-going story of trying to undo the 'deformations' that arose in the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages. An attempt that was carried out by further and deeper fragmentations over the years resulting in the variety of church denominations we have today. What got lost in the chart, however, is the emancipating movement in Latin America that came to be called as Liberation Theology. A kind of contemporary 'reformation' in the late 1960s that has left a deep mark in both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. One of its founding fathers, Gustavo Gutiérrez, died last week (October 22).

Second, is the hope that the meticulous detail and attention given to the church that developed in the Western part of the world can also be extended to those that developed elsewhere, the Eastern and Oriental churches, equally as historic and epic as that which based itself in Rome. Otherwise, God's people will continue to suffer the impact and perpetuate the harm of what Philip Jenkins called as the "Lost History of Christianity" -basically the stories of the ancient churches that thrived in Africa and Asia way before the Great Schism of 11th century (1054 AD). 

Third, I pray church history books used in seminaries NO LONGER LOOK LIKE the chart above. There is so much to Christianity, so much more, than what happened in the Christians of the Western hemisphere and all else that derivated from them. Prof. Charles Ringma put it well,

"Protestants and evangelicals keep going back to the Reformation but not beyond. We stand on over 2,000 church history, not simply 500 years of church history."

It is on that note wherein I wish this month's commemoration of the Reformation some further work of 'reformation.' Any church that feels it is beyond reformation is the one in much need of one! Ecclesia semper reformanda.

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (October 31, 2024)

[xgenesisrei]

Bibimbap Missiology

This is perhaps that closest pair of words I can think of to describe what just happened at the 4th Congress of the Lausanne Movement in Incheon, South Korea. The conference in itself is a very interesting theatre of so many tensions at work today in the evangelical community which includes the 'speech that shookt the L4' delivered by Dr Ruth Padilla DeBorst from Latin America.

But for those looking beyond the veneer of what was seen on stage, one of the critical aspects that needs attention is the tension arising from the push and pull of missiological perspectives. The theme of the congress itself is very telling: "Let the church declare and display Christ together." Three tarpaulins were put up, one emphasizing the word 'declare', the other 'display,' and the third one 'together.' Immediately, I thought, these visuals reveal where the movement is at in 2024:

Within Lausanne, there are those who wished to see that 'proclamation' will be emphasized more so that evangelical churches will not lose their fervent for evangelism and be markedly distinguishable from the mission trajectory of the World Council of Churches (WCC). They are the people who remembers the first Lausanne in 1974 as the necessary antidote to the waning evangelistic energy among the ecumenical circle. They celebrate the UPGs and other 'strategies' developed as the core strength of what Lausanne is and hope that the movement will continue to be at the cutting edge of coming up with similar 'strategies' to 'finish the task" of evangelizing the world. While some of them believe that the Gospel has to be and cannot afford not to be 'holistic', in practical and even theological sense, still yet 'priority' has to be given to finding ways of 'telling the Gospel' clearly and effectively (aka 'Prioritism). Ed Stetzer, regional director of Lausanne in North America, wrote' a post-conference reflection that articulates exactly this conviction.

But also within Lausanne are those who hope to see 'demonstration' to finally get the legitimization it deserves as a missional expression of what it means to be a witness of the Gospel. They come in many names and don different hats, e.g., faith-based development agencies, justice initiatives, social workers, community organizers, climate activists, among many others who are working to ensure that more people will experience the "fullness of life" in the here and now, aside from, of course, getting assured of 'eternal life' in the world to come. They are the people who remember the first Lausanne Congress in 1974 as the struggle of Majority World voices in disrupting the narrow, truncated, model of mission that developed in the West, or to recall a phrase that René Padilla used in his speech, the need for a more 'integral' mission as an antidote to the dominance of "a Gospel with no teeth." A younger leader from Sri Lanka, Nathanael Somanathan, member of Lausanne's current Theology Working Group, wrote a penetrating post-conf analysis that articulates this perspective.

50 years later, the tension between these two missiological camps remain, and the L4 congress is where they needed to discover how to share the same space, be together as brothers and sisters, talk with each other, and also find ways to work together. The big push for this in the congress is framed around the call for 'COLLABORATION'. The sessions and activities of the weeklong event were designed around this objective. The many tensions that transpired behind the scenes throughout the week are but indicators of how the movement is grappling with what happens when you ask advocates of justice & peace to share the same stage with heralds of justification & church planting. Bibimbap is only as good as the choice of side dishes to mix and how well everything will be tossed happily in the bowl. It cannot be truly enjoyed by eating the rice separately and each side dishes on its own as one would normally do with a rice and viand meal.

And this is where I guess the conference failed.

'Bibimbap' could have been a good metaphor for the congress to capture the changing landscape of today's Christianity that is going more and more global. But it turned out to be a missed opportunity. What the congress tried to do is to get different camps together, toss them in a single bowl, with the hopes of arriving at a dish that will be good for everyone, everywhere, and perhaps, for all time. The delegates heard of talks about resolving the tensions, managing the fractures, and finding a happy resolution. Together. Maybe the three tarpaulins were illustrative of how to make sure everybody will find their own happy space under the big tent of Lausanne.

However, for both sides, the feeling is mutual in terms of disappointment. The 'declare' camp remains worried that the Seoul Statement has not gone far enough to ensure that evangelizing the lost, the last, and the least, while not the only task of God's people, shall, at the end of the day, be on top of everything else. The 'display' camp, on the other hand, were frustrated that not much space were given to articulate the cause of justice, peace, and reconciliation, and the very few times it was forcefully articulated on stage, the L4 organizers were quick to even issue a public apology!

The problem with a global missiology. The unhappy lot experienced by both parties during the L4, I think, is very much rooted in an imaginary that remains to be a sticky feature of evangelicalism -the yearning for a singular story that can define and unite the movement. In the field of missiology, the three previous Lausanne documents have been seen as building-up on each other with the hope of finally arriving at a more 'biblical' missiology, one that will be good for everyone, everywhere, and hopefully, for a really long, if not, all, time. Technically, the pursuit of a truly 'global' missiology for today's global church.

But such an endeavor will continue to be less than helpful. As Christianity re/emerges more and more in different parts of the world, it is becoming clear that the challenge has more to do with something beyond the preoccupation with constructing a global (applicable to all) perspective of mission for the evangelical community.

This challenge involves coming to terms with the reality that each locality, each community, each region of the world, faces a context, culture, and church histories that will demand approaches to doing mission which can only be articulated from within.

This has nothing to do with the usual approach of 'contextualizing' something that is global so that it becomes more palatable locally (think of making Bibimbap burgers or Bibimbap salad). It is more about recognizing that there is hardly such thing as 'global' and those that put itself forward as one are actually more appropriately labeled as 'colonial' for they are, in different ways, actually experienced as such. Bibimbap is a beloved Korean dish and best enjoyed in the Korean way of eating and for the L4 delegates the opportunity to enjoy it right where the dish originated -Korea. But to think of a 'global' Bibimbap that serves as a dish for everyone, everywhere, and for all time, is a big mistake.

Lately, I've been talking of how the theology of 'integral mission' has been less effective and became more contentious when it was 'Lausannized' (read as globalized!). It did not help that the Micah Declaration on Integral Mission was drafted in Oxford! Not a few who have encountered integral mission through these sources have thought of 'integral mission' as another 'colonizing' Western framework seeking embrace from their people. Not a few also missed the fact that the 'integral' in Integral Mission is not from the English word 'integrate' (fuse things together) but from what makes 'pan integral' (whole wheat bread) a more healthy choice of bread in the tables of South America. It does not help that even celebrated advocates of Integral Mission also omit the 'genealogy' and historical roots with the hope that a more 'abstracted' version shall be more helpful. But this proved to be really unfortunate.

Confronting colonial missiology. What Rene Padilla, Samuel Escobar, Kwame Bediako, John Stott, among others, accomplished, together, in 1974 is to remind the evangelicals molded in the tradition, history, and context of the Western hemisphere that the Western approach to doing mission does not (and cannot) apply to everyone else in the world. The other regions of the world, today dubbed as the Majority World, are facing battles of their own on how the Gospel will take root in the hearts and minds of their own people, amidst the social and political issues of their communities. It is naive to think that there is 'one' way to do address these multifaceted dimensions of mission and ministry across the world.

Integral Mission is a sharp critique, a necessary pushback, and also a concrete alternative from Latin America to what the West offers. It is a 'moment' in evangelical missiology that has the power to encourage the people of God in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and other regions of the Majority World to reimagine mission anew, and that to do so is not 'heretical' but actually truly 'missional.' It has the power to confront and undo the 'colonial captivity' that not a few in the Majority World continue to suffer from in subtle and hidden ways. This is the 'decolonial' edge of Integral Mission that got blunt when it was 'globalized' in the shape of the old colonial mold of Western missiology. Pan Integral missiology could have launched a thousand ships of missional expressions: adobo mission in the Philippines, Phin mission in Vietnam, Khao soi mission in Thailand, etc. A clear case of why it is not enough to be 'contextual', one also needs to be 'de-colonial' -basically an insistent conviction to root one's way of thinking from where one's feet land and straddle.

And so the struggle has to move beyond, and away from, whether Integral Mission or Prioritism will win as the 'official' evangelical missiology. Such a question can easily go down the path of colonial preoccupation disguised in the language of which one is more 'biblical'. The real work is how the different spaces and communities of evangelicals in different parts of the world can encourage one another to plant the seeds of the Gospel in their localities, sharpen each others perspectives and practices by exchanging notes, and celebrate the fact that it is in these diverse expressions and articulations lie the true strength and uniqueness of the 'church' spreading worldwide whom Christ continues to build and lead. Brings to mind a line that C. Rene Padilla wrote,

"Every culture offers a perspective on the Gospel that brings to light certain aspects of it that in other cultures have remained less visible or even hidden. From this perspective, the cultural differences that so greatly complicate intercultural communication become as advantage for understanding the multiform wisdom of God: they become channels for expressing aspects of the truth of the Gospel that a theology tied to only one culture might ignore all too frequently."

And this is also where a platform like the Lausanne Movement can best position itself in service -not as missiological policemen but as Gospel caterers. That is, a gastronomic platform that will go beyond extending and making the 'global' table more longer, but interrogating the very idea of having a single table! Inviting everyone to ask instead how things will be different if we celebrate the existence of more and many tables and encouraging people to stand-up, explore, and savor what other tables have to offer, not necessarily to copy one another but to be challenged to further deepen each other's work.

I have some ideas on what will happen when we switch from a globalized-bibimbap to single-origin coffee missiology but that will have to be for another post...

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo on the recently concluded 4th Congress of the Lausanne Movement held in South Korea from September 22-28, 2024. NOTE: If you like a podcast (audio) version of this blog, please click here.

[xgenesisrei]

D' Pope, K. Barth, & an Ojibwa Chieftain

Pope Francis was on top of the headlines the past days due to this controversial remark he made in his visit to Singapore.

Social media erupted with a loud chorus of 'heresy!' especially from the more conservative wing of Christianity as an expression of their deep cause of concern (or disagreement) with the Pope's perspective. In fairness, the pope didn't specify whether the paths he has in mind are humanity's best attempts to make sense of God or was it paths that are of divine origin (the technical term in theology is God's own self-revelation). That is a critical point to consider in the debate about exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism.

A more interesting possible response to what the Pope said can be found in this anecdote:

Karl Barth was lecturing to a group of students at Princeton. One student asked the German theologian "Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?" Barth’s answer stunned the crowd. With a modest thunder he answered, "No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in His Son."

Yes, Jesus is God's most vivid expression of who He is and what He is like as per the testimony of the Christian Scriptures:

“Jesus is the image of the invisible God...” -Colossians 1:15 (NCV)

“The Son reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like.” -Hebrews 1:3 (NCV)

Still yet, one has to ask the ways Jesus has manifested himself and continues to do so in other peopleS, other places, and peculiar points of contact? Consider for example the numerous stories of supernatural encounters with Jesus which serves as the bedrock of why Iran today has one of the fastest growing number of Christians despite a strict ban to proliferation and display of the Bible.

Pushing the envelope further, what is more interesting for me is how Barth's pointed remark can be taken even further in the realm of decolonial theologizing. Consider for example another story, one retold by Randy Woodley, an indigenous Cherokee theologian, about a conversation he had with much respected elder from the Ojibwa tribe:

“You know, my uncle told me to 'never disrespect Jesus, because Jesus is a great spirit and I talk to him.' And he would go on and he’d tell us more and more, and then he would say this thing about his uncle again... We sat there for maybe two hours, and at least six or seven times he said this thing about his uncle and respecting Jesus. Then at one point he said, “My uncle trained most of the spiritual leaders around this area. He lived to be over a hundred years old, and my uncle would tell me all these stories about Jesus. So I asked my uncle one time, I said, ‘Uncle, how do you know all this about Jesus? Did you go to residential school?’ He said, ‘Oh no! No! I never did that.’ Then I asked him, ‘Did the priest teach you?’ And he says, ‘No, I have never been to church.’ Then I said, ‘But you tell me all the stuff about Jesus. Have you been reading the Bible?’ My uncle said, ‘No, just remember what I told you in the past: don’t disrespect Jesus ’cause he’s a great spirit, and I talk to him.’ I said to my uncle, ‘Well yeah, you talk to him, but how do you know all these things he’s done?’ You know my uncle looked at me so quizzically, and then he said, ‘Well, when I talk to him, of course he talks back.’ And then the elder said, ‘I’m going to pray for you now,’ and then our time was over.” ...If you understood the story I just told about the visit with this elder, you understand my message, because it holds the core of it."*

What is clear here is that those who have no idea about how these points of 'contact' can transpire are better off taking a listening and learning posture rather than a judging and dismissive stance.

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (September 16, 2024)

*Note: quoted from R. Woodley, Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview (Baker, 2022)

[xgenesisrei]

Reimagining Works of Theology

Fortunately, the Bible was written not in didactic, propositional, and academic genre, ways of writing so usual of what is considered as ‘serious works of theology.’ Instead it was written in stories, poetry, personal narratives, anecdotal accounts, etc., genres and ways of writing that Randy Woodley followed in his book 'Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview' (Baker: 2022).

And also, this is the reason why his book would be widely accessible to more people, ordinary people most especially, who would like to learn the ways of God and the life of shalom (aka life in all its fullness) God desired for all of his creation. In the same way that the Bible has content for the philosophical (Ecclesiastes), the musical (Psalms), the poetic (Proverbs and Job), the romantic (Ruth), the non-conformists (Micah, Revelation), and those who simply wish to hear a ‘good story’ (the Gospel accounts), there is surely room for deep theology aimed and articulated in the language of normal human beings.

Some more personal reflections below arising from my encounter with Woodley's wonderful work:

If only we would have books on theology that are written in ways of how the Bible was written. Perhaps, more people would realize that theology is for all of God’s people, not just a privileged few who have access and are conversant with the technical ‘language’ that has characterized most of Western theologizing. 

If only we would have non-Western theologians who would write ‘for’ their people and in ‘ways’ that their own people could read, understand, and enjoy. In the Philippines, we distinguish between writings that are written about us with other people in mind as audience (pang-‘kami’) and those written ‘for us’, ‘by us’ and ‘about us’ (pang-‘tayo’). Sadly, so much of contextual theology even those written by non-Westerns were aimed for Western readership. For sure, works like these have their purpose, e.g., to engage and hopefully challenge the dominant and homogenizing voices . But for works aimed for those in the context themselves, much work is still needed.

If only we would have publishers who would be willing to take risks in publishing works of theology that are ‘differently formed,’ in genres of poetry, stories, parables, and conversations (and categorize it under ‘theology proper’, not sci-fi, or teens). I learned from Dr. Perry Shaw how lots of deep theological reflections are in Arabic poetry. Also, if we could finally drop the use of ‘contextual’ theology as a terminology! Why? Well, what kind of theology is not in itself rooted and shaped in a specific context and most appropriately applicable within the dynamics of that context? 

 And fortunately, these things can be done!

For those who would be brave enough to sail beyond the borders of Western theologizing, you won’t fall off the edge of the world. The world is not flat.

If my personal story of publishing would be of any encouragement, I’ve written almost all of my books, for my fellow kababayans, in the genre of creative non-fiction (CNF), exploring autobiographical reflections, story-telling, dialogical conversations, etc. But make no mistake about it, I consider all of them as works of theology.

My first book (originally titled ‘God Knows Hu Das Not Pray’) is my attempt to articulate a theologizing on the practice of prayer/spirituality anchored on the fusion of local and digital culture. It is built on a 3-year primary research I conducted at the University of the Philippines. The most recent book I worked on dealt with ecclesiology ('Bili Na Kayo ng Church') and what will happen if the next generation of God's people shall resist the force of consumer culture and starts to reimagine the church anew.

Kudos to my publisher OMF Literature for being willing to take a chance on the non-conventional and the experimental, not only in terms of content and form but also with regards to language -the curious mix of English and the vernacular or what in the Philippines is more popularly known as Taglish.

-Rei Lemuel Crizaldo 

Note: Here's a helpful overview of R. Woodley's work in Englewood Review of Books.