MULTICULTURAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATORS:
"A relational model of dynamic
pluralism encountered at a water-hole in John 4:1-42."
FR. Vinh-Quang Tran. Med., B.th.
The
following is a part of my research project for the degree of Master of
Education (Religion Education) in 1994. In the third week of Lent, we will
listen to the story of the Samaritan at the well. So I present this work as a
part of our reflection on how to develop our faith in a multicultural society.
This reflection focuses on an encounter between the Samaritan woman and Jesus
and on developing an alternative model for religious educators in a
multi-faith/-cultural/-ethnic society such as in Australia.
In
what follows, I will not try to carry out a biblical exegesis of John 4:1-42 [1].
Rather, I will identify some characteristics of a religious multicultural
educator, based on my understanding of John 4:1-42, and I have named it: "A relational model of dynamic
pluralism encountered at a water-hole."[2]
Before
I present its characteristics, I want to highlight some similar situations
between this encounter and our Australian multicultural education.
1. SIMILARITIES BETWEEN TWO
SITUATIONS.
The
situation of this encounter is very similar with the Australian multicultural
education situation in a number of ways:
1.1.
Similar contexts.
John
4:1-42 was written in the context of rejection and hostility as is illustrated
in its setting. (Jn 4:1-3). Jesus moves away from Judea, a place of political
and religious problems, to Galilee via Samaria, a place where Jesus encounters
the Samaritan woman, a dynamic experience.
This
situation is very similar to the plight of many people who have left their
home-land because of political, economical, religious problems, to live in
Australia, a new adventure, to encounter many different cultures and religions.
1.2.
Breaking a cultural and religious barrier to establish a new relationship.
Jesus,
as a male Jew, the Samaritan, as a female, did not mix because of their
religious beliefs and cultural law. (v.9). However, Jesus breaks this ritual
taboo and communicates with her on an equal basis by respecting who she is and
her territory [3].
In asking her "give me a drink" (v.6), Jesus acknowledges her as a
necessity for his well being and even for his survival.[4]
Jesus and the woman break down the wall of division for their own benefit and
in fact for the benefit of all the world as we will see.
This
is a real challenge to our current political, migrant and multicultural
education debate. In our Australian history, White people invaded Australia in
1788 and treated Aborigines badly. The Assimilation policy implemented and
expected that all ethnic people became Australian Anglo-Celtic. The ethnic
people responded by establishing a "ghetto group".
This
is also a real challenge to our modern view of the person as an extreme form of
individualism and competition.[5]
This view is still transmitted as we often hear in our education language with
phrases such as "personal fulfillment, self-esteem, doing one's own thing
or the development of human excellence".
In
John 4:1-42, Jesus and the Samaritan woman set an
intercultural/-racial/-religious/-political/-gender challenge. Like Jesus and
the woman, we must break this extreme form of individualism, racialism and
competition. We must have the courage to deal with our historical mistakes of
the past and learn how to relate to each other as Jesus did in John 4:1-42.
In
this quest, the water-hole becomes a meeting place of mutual understanding for
diverse cultures, races and religions, and Jesus becomes the example of "God-In-Mutual Relationship".[6]
I hope that Jesus and the Samaritan can assist us to journey in this dry land
of Australia to eternity.
2. THE MOST EFFECTIVE MODEL FOR
MULTICULTURAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATORS: "A relational model of dynamic pluralism
encountered at a water-hole in John 4:1-42".
This
relational model has the following characteristics:
2.1.
Respecting others as equal human beings.
In
a dialogue about the water, there is a real recognition and respect: Jesus and
the Samaritan woman are equal in power. She has one kind of water; He has
another. He is recognised as a male Jew, she as a female Samaritan. After
establishing a minimal level of equality of gender and respect for who they are
and what they have to offer, the dialogue proceeds with fruitful results: She
asks for the "Water welling up to eternal life" (v.14).
2.2 The well or water-hole.
The
well is the biblical term for a meeting place, a place of encounter, a place of
courtship, a place where a relationship can be developed. The water-hole is an
Australian Aboriginal symbol for the source of spiritual and physical life. It
is a place from which come the spirits of the new born offspring and to which
their spirits will return when they die. I relate this concept to the Australian
Multicultural Religious Education (AMRE). 'Water-hole' or religious education
in Catholic schools is an environment where people with diverse cultural and
religious backgrounds can be multi-culturally and multi-religiously educated,
where people genuinely respect, accept and trust each other, where their
identity and personality can mutually be developed [7]
and their diverse spiritualities can expand and grow.
2.3
Their encounter is developed gradually in many different stages.
There
is a gradual revelation of Jesus in John 4:1-42: A Jew, a giver of Living
water, a prophet, a Messiah. People living in Australia have gradually learnt
how to recognise each other through many stages: Invasion of the Land,
Assimilation, Integration, Multiculturalism.
There
is another secular and divine stage in the story. After establishing a human
relationship, (vv. 5-19), Jesus invited the woman to establish a divine
relationship in worshipping the Father through Jesus himself. (vv. 20-26).
Then, she was transformed with her new mission: "She put down her water
jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people" (v.28). Truly, this
is a multicultural/-political/-racial/-religious/-genders encounter in action !
2.4.
Making a distinction between Jesus as a Jew and Jesus as the Saviour of the
World.
As
a Jew, Jesus encountered the woman with mutual respect. But only as the
'Saviour of the world', can Jesus offer to the Samaritan woman what she cannot
find any where else.
Due
to a lack of this distinction, white people often consider themselves as
'Jesus', (the Saviour of the world), who have more power and higher technology.
So, therefore, are better than others. This mentality is a product of modern
individualism. It is a product of an individualistic and self-centred culture. These
are not compatible with and are contrary to, the spirit of the teaching of
Jesus, as we shall see in the following section.
2.5.
Relational approach.
Instead
of competitive, individualistic and self-centred approaches, I use a relational
approach and the Chinese concept of "Yin -Yang" [8]and
"The doctrine of the Mean",[9]
in interpreting this gospel. That is, whether White, or Black, Christian or
Buddhist, Male or Female, if we are true to ourselves, we must not go to one
extreme and we must realise that we need others to be fully developed, and
without our contributions, others cannot be fully developed: "No man (sic)
is an island".
2.6. Counselling techniques.
Jesus
uses different counselling techniques in John 4:1-42. Jesus helps the Samaritan
woman to discover for herself who He is by initiating a dialogue with her and
this helps her gradually to respond to Him in faith.[10]
The
woman's recognition of Jesus as a prophet (v.19) leads her to raise the most
burning religious issue between Samaritans and Jews, namely the place where God
should be worshipped.[11]
Using different counselling techniques again, Jesus leads her into a deeper and
more spiritual dialogue. She gradually responds in faith to Jesus as the
Messiah (vv. 25,29)
I
believe that this gradual and skillful counselling technique is an important
aspect of on-going multicultural religious education today. These techniques
are the foundation-stone to encountering productively. Only as a Saviour of the
world can Jesus offer to us an alternative direction in AMRE.
2.7. An
alternative direction.
As
I have already begun to illustrate, Jesus, not just as a Jew, but as the
Saviour of the world, can offer our multicultural education an alternative, as
we now study the dialogue about the place of true worship. (vv. 20-26.)
There
is a new shift in this passage. The woman acknowledges Jesus as a prophet. This
leads the woman to discuss a true place of worship. At that time, the
Samaritans' worship grew out of national and political motivations. And Jesus
affirms her belief: "For salvation comes from the Jews" (v.22), but
quickly, he makes his subsequent statement in v.23 about the "hour"
coming when "the true worship is neither on this mountain, nor in
Jerusalem, and the true worshippers will worship the Father "in spirit and
in truth". This "the hour will come -- in fact it is here
already" (v.23) means that, in Jesus, the type of perfect worship sought
by the Father is already present ! (cf. also 2:13-25 and 11:25 and Peter Ellis,
1985, page 71).
This
helps us to understand what Jesus says to the woman : "I who am speaking
to you" (v. 25) which is ultimately revealed at the "Hour of Jesus'
death" on the cross. This is the ultimate revelation of God's love for the
whole world, but not yet fully completed. This "I am He" is a divine,
transcendent manifestation of God. This "I am He" is our alternative.
3. CONCLUSION.
This
understanding challenges our current multicultural educational and political
debate: Who should learn from whom ? It transforms our approach to multicultural
education, especially to multicultural religious education. Only in Jesus as
the Saviour of the world, can our AMRE be fulfilled. We, standing before God, must leave room for wonder and awe
before the mystery of God working through different people, different cultures,
in different languages, in different life situations and most fundamentally,
through the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross. This mystery is the
eschatological one which is completely revealed in Jesus but not fully yet.
This
is hard for some educators who are self-centred in education. They are like the
disciples of Jesus in John's gospel. They don't understand what Jesus did with
the Samaritan woman. [12] Sometimes, they are too dogmatic and
self-centred in their approach to life and to education. They tend to quickly
criticize those who are different from themselves, who teach religion with
multicultural and transcendental emphasis.
This
study offers an alternative approach to AMRE today. While we are living on
earth, we should learn about and from each other as Jesus did with the
Samaritan woman. Only in Jesus (as a Jew and the Saviour of the world), can our
multicultural religious education be transformed and fully developed. We can
only hope for this Australian multicultural Christian religious education, if
each one of us learns from Jesus, who is the
model of religious educator, by always putting the other first. "He
comes to serve, not to be served". This is a true personal, relational and
transcendental model in life and in education.
[1] For exegesis of this passage please consult F. Ellis (1985); James McPolin (1984) and R. Schnakenburg (1968).
[2] I rather use the water-hole symbol which speaks more powerfully to Australians. We currently are very conscious of Aboriginal cultural significances.
[3] The well was understood biblically and culturally to be a place that belonged to women.
[4] "Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well" (Jn. 4:6)
[5] Charles Taylor presents a proper view of our modern individualism. Taylor suggests that neither total rejection, nor enthusiastic acceptance, of the modern view of the human person is appropriate. Taylor says,"one has to see what is great in the culture of modernity, as well as what is shallow or dangerous." (Taylor 1991, pages 120-121)
[6] This concept is borrowed from Denis Edwards (1994, page 7) when he reflects on Charles Taylor's concept of "personal authenticity" in modern society.
[7] See Ferguson's account on searching our own identity together as I presented in chapter I, part 2.2.5)
[8] The Chinese believe that the universe is full of opposites which they call "Yin and Yang". The healthiest approach is not to destroy one or the other, but to embrace them and unite them to form a harmonious whole. These two concepts give rise to the spirit of inclusiveness, of relatedness and seeing things as a whole.
[9] This concept guards against going toward extremes and seeks a way to ease tensions between differing views or forces.
[10] For example, in the dialogue of exchanging water: Jesus asks for water to drink, (v.7). Then he introduces a living water. She thinks of the fresh, flowing, spring water (v.12). Jesus reveals to her: "A spring of water welling up to eternal life" (v.14). Then suddenly, Jesus changes the topic: " Go, call your husband, and come here" (v16) But Jesus helps her to realise and admit the truth that she does not have a husband: "you spoke the truth there' (v.18). After establishing this, Jesus helps her to discover more deeply who He is as she says:" Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." (v. 19).
[11] I will explore this aspect shortly.
[12] "The disciples returned and were surprised to find Jesus speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, 'what do you want from her ?' or ' why are you talking to her ?'" (v.27).