Reading the Bible to Overcome Racial, Ethnic or Class Barriers
Theologica Xaveriana
Print version ISSN 0120-3649
Theol. Xave. vol.59 no.168 Bogotá July/Dec. 2009
LA ETNICIDAD Y EL PUEBLO DE DIOS AS ETNIAS E O POVO DE DEUS MILTON ACOSTA B .** ** The basis of this reflective commodity was a presentation given at the Lausanne Theology Working Group, January 26, 2009 in Panama. Fecha de recibo: 5 de mayo de 2009. Fecha de evaluación: viii de junio de 2009. Fecha de aprobación: 10 de agosto de 2009. Abstract This article challenges pop and sometimes academic ideas regarding the importance of ethnicity for the identity of the people of God in the Bible. It seeks to demonstrate through the report of some key biblical narratives that ethnicity is irrelevant when it comes to belonging to the people of God even in the Onetime Testament. This article reviews stories in the Old and New Testaments where «outsiders» become function of the people of God and «insiders» are excluded. The article concludes that both every bit a theological concept and equally a applied reality the people of God is multi-racial and multiethnic from the very starting time. Central words: Culture, ethnicity, ethnocentrism, mission, people of God. Resumen Este artículo cuestiona algunas ideas populares y en ocasiones académicas sobre la importancia de la etnia para la identidad del pueblo de Dios en la Biblia. Por medio del análisis de algunos textos bíblicos narrativos del Antiguo y del Nuevo Testamento, se intenta demostrar que para la pertenencia al pueblo de Dios cuenta la fe, no la etnia. Como lo demuestran estudios recientes, la narrativa crea cosmovisión al contar casos donde "los de afuera" son incluidos en el pueblo de Dios y "los de adentro" excluidos. Se concluye que tanto en lo teológico como en lo práctico, el pueblo de Dios es intencionalmente multirracial y multiétnico desde sus comienzos. Palabras clave: Cultura, etnicidad, etnocentrismo, misión, pueblo de Dios. Resumo O artigo faz questão em algumas idéias populares e acadêmicas sobre a importância da etnia para a identidade do povo de Deus na Biblia. Por meio deste texto pode-se ver o análise de alguns passagens bíblicos narrativos do antigo testamento east do novo testamento, onde tenta-se demonstrar que para a pertença ao povo de Deus só é importante ter fé eastward, a etnia não é um motivo de exclusão no momento de falar do povo de Deus, como o expõe outros estudos recentes. A narrativa cria uma visão ao contar casos onde "bone de fora" são incluídos no Povo de Deus e "bone de adentro" deixados. Conclui-se que tanto no teológico, como na prática, o povo de Deus é multi-racial e multi-etnico desde o começo. Palavras chave: Cultura, etnia, etnocêntrico, missão, Povo de Deus. INTRODUCTION In that location is one chemical element inside popular and some bookish Christian discourse that must be revised: the identity of the people of God regarding race and ethnicity. The bug of ethnicity, culture, national identity and nationality are rather circuitous. We cannot care for them extensively here nor am I an expert on this, simply in that location is at least a minimum that needs to be said. Using a biblical case, ethnocentrism is what made Naaman, the Aramean general, reject Elisha's handling (2Kgs 5).1 Initially, Naaman gets angry considering Elisha did non receive him equally the general he was, but sent a servant with instructions for his healing. He too rejects the instructions themselves: to bathe vii times in the puny Jordan River when in Damascus they had such rivers every bit the Abana and Pharpar? His identity had been deeply offended on two unacceptable counts. Ethnicity volition be used in this article in the sense of purlieus markers that split one group of people from another. It "refers to the social ideology of human sectionalization sorted according to mutual civilization".two Ethnocentrism is therefore produced by ane'due south civilization. In that sense, ethnocentrism is natural.3 Negatively, though, ethnocentrism could exist defined as a "sociopsychological syndrome"4 characterized by a "trend to discriminate against the stranger, the alien, the physically different"; it "is a virtually universal phenomenon in grouping contacts"5, obviously including Christians.6 Since phenotypical differences are included in some definitions of ethnocentrism, we could then subsume racism nether ethnocentrism, understanding that each term is a subject area in and of itself. Ethnocentrism, in its nigh common expression, is this general attitude by which we make up one's mind who is below us, who deserves to be treated completely every bit an equal homo being and who doesn't. This is and so much a role of united states of america that we do not notice it. Through these invisible lenses nosotros classify large groups of people and large sections of the world's geography.7 The purpose of this article is to explore ethnicity and ethnocentrism in relation to the identity of the people of God and its mission in the world. This article is the upshot of some personal and theological challenges that I have faced living in a very ethnocentric region of my ain country where I am considered a foreigner merely considering of my accent (and the whole culture behind information technology). The start conclusion is that I am no less ethnocentric! In the words of D. Smith: "I came to realise how deeply my faith was conditioned by civilisation and how fiddling I actually understood the strange world of the Bible."eight Ethnocentrism can be one of the greatest obstacles to Christian brownie, even in situations where the classic concept of tribe or "urban tribes" do non utilize. Smith suggests that "if the church building is to obey Christ in relevant and faithful witness" in today's context, we need mental, structural and theological changes.9 This article is an attempt to address some of those mental and theological issues. Ethnocentrism, when it is mixed with pride, is one of the most divisive and potentially bellicose of all human traits. But just the awareness of its presence in us gives united states a new perspective on what it means to be the people of God: Ethnocentrism is a part of a person's world view. N. T. Wright argues that worldview is defined by the answers people give to five questions: Who are we? Where are we? What is the trouble? What is the solution? And what time is information technology? This article is concerned with the first question, but the answers to all of them come from the stories we are told. Narratives shape world views.eleven Narrative is the natural literary form by which human beings express and define who they are as a people. Narratives, according to Kevin Vanhoozer, are non merely chronological succession of events as in a chronicle, simply means by which authors tell readers how to encounter the earth.12 Therefore, looking at some biblical narratives seems the nearly natural and appropriate way to see what kind of earth view the Bible wants to grade in readers regarding the place of ethnicity for the people of God. This article is divided into two sections. In the offset part nosotros will bargain with stories from the Onetime Attestation where nosotros run into how the promise given to Abraham comes true: people are both saved and judged by religion, not by ethnicity. The 2nd part has 2 examples from the New Testament where ethnicity is clearly relativized. THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN THE Quondam TESTAMENT It is non uncommon for students of the Bible both in academic and pop circles to assume that the promise given to Abraham merely begins to be fulfilled when Jesus came and when Paul said: there is neither Jew nor gentile (Gal 3,28). Simply there is a long tradition in the Old Testament where this promise is fulfilled. This tradition depicts the grace of God in the OT and it is essential for the task of biblical theology. The Exodus Nosotros begin with the constitutive event of Israel as a people: the exodus. The biblical author finds no problem in telling us that at that place was a significant number of non-Hebrews who left Egypt along with the Hebrews: "A mixed crowd also went upward with them" (Ex 12,38). Why is this fleck of information there? The way this is expressed in Exodus is theologically suggestive. The Hebrew discussion used hither ( The pervasive biblical alarm confronting "mingling with the nations" is neither in the mingling nor in the nations per se, but in "doing as they do" (Ps 106,35). The aforementioned Hebrew root used in Ex 12,38 is besides used in Psalm 106 and in Ezra 9,2. The doing is clear in the Psalm, but not equally much in Ezra. It may be that in Ezra we encounter the beginning of a distorted idea of purity. Or maybe something else. We should not forget that 1 of the big problems subsequently the return of the exiles was Jews oppressing Jews (Neh five).13 This shows that it is possible to do as the nations do without mingling with them; which brings united states of america back to the spirit of the Law. What gives identity and permanence to the people of God is religion and obedience to the give-and-take of God (cfr. 1Sam 12,24). Rahab and Achan The volume of Joshua is non an easy ane to read these days. The way out of this is not to set the text or the theology of those who wrote it. We do demand to consider, however, that the book is neither as nationalistic as some critics accept thought nor as triumphalistic every bit some Christians think it is.14 Two personal and elaborate stories in this book deal with the outcome of inclusion and exclusion. Rahab is the Canaanite prostitute who becomes part of State of israel, along with her relatives, because she understood what God was doing at that signal in history with State of israel. She became State of israel (Josh 2; vi,22-27). Achan on the contrary, was an Israelite who did non understand what God was doing with State of israel, by taking from Jericho souvenirs he was not supposed to take (Josh 7). He was excluded. The Canaanite woman enters the hall of faith while Achan joins the hall of shame. In both cases the but criterion is a combination of what they believed and what they did. Another example in Joshua is the Gibeonites, where a whole people group becomes part of State of israel, tricks and all (Jos 9). In Acts we find parallels to the stories of Rahab and Achan. Ananias and Saphira (Acts five) are the Achans, while Cornelius (Acts x) and many others are the Rahabs of the New Attestation. The latter are those who manifest ruled voice communication nearly God and ruled action in God's proper noun, every bit Vanhoozer defines theology.fifteen In all these cases nosotros find "insiders" caught up in greed and "outsiders" as models of piety. Do y'all have an accent? Information technology is hard to imagine that emphasis played whatever role in Israel's history as a way of differentiating betwixt tribes. Such is the fell case in Judges 12: the pronunciation of one Hebrew consonant became at one point a thing of life and death. When the Israelites seemed to have lost track of who they were as a peoplesixteen, the way to constitute identity was, as it sadly is today, accent. Due to some disruptive circumstances, Gileadites went to war against the Ephraimites. Many Ephraimites died at the hands of the Gileadites. Apparently they were not able to distinguish one another by their height, color or wearable but simply by their accent. Ephraimites pronounced the word for ear of grain as "Sibolet", while the Gileadites said "Shibolet", manifestly the "right way".17 The reason for including this story hither is that it is a bad example. Even the people of God can forget what it is that makes them a people and reduce their identity to the most insignificant of all elements, emphasis, every bit if there were people without one. Ruth Ruth was from Moab. Moab was one of State of israel's enemies for nearly of Israel's OT history. Feelings of hatred were mutual. Moab oppressed Israel for some time at the easily of Eglon (Jdg 3). Mesa was the Moabite king who refused to continue paying tribute to Israel; Israel attacked with a coalition of two more than kings (Judah and Edom) but were not able to subdue him (2Kgs 3). Afterwards Mesa celebrates his liberation from Israel by his god Chemosh.18 The history of these bad relationships is found in Numbers, chapters 22-25 and 31. Here Moab does two things that seem to justify Israel's hard feelings towards them: Balak hires a seer (Balaam) to curse Israel; afterwards some Moabite women lead the Israelites to idolatry, an consequence where Balaam seems to have been involved. And then Moab is a different indigenous group and it is also State of israel'southward enemy. But this is the Moab Ruth came from! Not only did she get Israel, but too rex David's grandmother. Why? Simply because this woman showed her mother-in-law a godly and "biblical" beloved and adopted her mother-in-law'due south organized religion and fate (Ruth 1,16-18). Her ethnicity was a nonissue.nineteen Naaman and Gehazi Naaman is the Aramean general (2Kgs 5) remembered by Jesus (Lk 4,27) as the leper healed by Elisha at a time when in that location were many lepers in Israel (2Kgs 7).20 This enemy of Israel, by the way, won many battles against Israel because Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave them victory over Israel. Very shocking indeed, but that is what the Bible says. Naaman initially feels offended by Elisha's lack of deference and past the prescription to be healed of his leprosy, but in the finish, cheers to his aides, Naaman bathes himself in the Hashemite kingdom of jordan River and is healed of his leprosy. Then he wants to compensate Elisha for the phenomenon, just the prophet rejects the gifts. In the same story, Gehazi, Elisha's helper, is the runaway. The story is parallel to that of Rahab and Achan. In this example, leprosy existence the problem, "Naaman the outsider is delivered from information technology; Gehazi the insider is delivered to information technology."21 Another ironic dissimilarity in the story is Gehazi's argument: "As Yahweh lives, I will run afterward him and I will take something from him" (five.20). Moore has said it eloquently: Gehazi is presented here as a pragmatic man. He cannot have Elisha'southward determination to reject Naaman'due south souvenir and runs later the Aramean full general before it is too belatedly.23 Gehazi makes up a story and is able to extract three pairs of things from Naaman, who, quite willingly, gives them to him: two talents of silver, two sets of clothes, and 2 servants to comport them (v. 23). Once everything is hidden and Naaman's servants dismissed, Gehazi goes dorsum to Elisha. In comparison with Naaman, who takes a couple of detours to get to the knowledge of Yahweh, Gehazi'southward actions show how apace and directly a person deviates from the path of righteousness. Here nosotros find some other contrast that Cohn has observed: "A 'subliminal' dissimilarity: 'For while Naaman would support his lord with his 'manus' in the 'house' of Rimmon, Gehazi has taken from others' hands and uses his house to betray his lord."24 Scholars debate what kind of wrong Gehazi has done. For T. Fretheim his sin is more than than greed or deception25: In brief, Naaman's journey of religion is axiomatic in the course of the text. Alonso Schökel has observed that the story uses the Hebrew root for leper/ leprosy ( This is a story that exemplifies narrative art as form is put at the service of meaning. The story is theologically powerful because of its artistry. Cohn points out what the story teaches because of its class: The only affair missing in Cohn's listing of lessons is the part of the petty girl and of Naaman's servants as the ones who make the story possible.30 Merely Ngan has picked it upwards: "If power is the power to event modify, whether for good or for evil, the servants in this story demonstrate through their effectiveness that they too take power."31 Conclusion All these stories are the chosen samples in the history of Israel that communicate how the promise given to Abraham came true long before Christ came. With Christ, of grade, the hope is democratized. Backside these examples there is a consistent theology: gentiles do non get part of the people of God for the first time when Christ comes. Gentiles accept been part of the people of God all along on the same grounds that Abraham was justified, past faith. Ethnicity does count in the Old Testament. As Goldingay has said, the faith of Israel in the OT is ethnic. Ethnicity, however, does non brand Israel better or worse. God chose a family unit, the Hebrews, who later became the nation of Israel. There are valid reasons for information technology. Choosing a family brings stability to the relationship: But this is, as Goldingay says, an open family. A family that welcomed Jethro the Midianite, the "mixed crowd", Rahab, Naaman, Ruth, Uriah the Hittite. Some of these stories show that when a choice has to be made between ethnicity and religion in Yahweh, religion wins the day. Fifty-fifty ethnic Israelites must "confess that Yahweh is God, as Christians volition later confess that Jesus is Lord" (Gen 12,1; 17,14; Deut 26, 6-19; Josh 24; Rom 4, xvi; Gal 3,seven-fourteen).33 The fact that some prominent cases have been called to be part of Israel'due south history may exist an indication that there were many more. What we see in these stories is that OT authors at some cardinal points in Israel'south history included episodes that trivialize economic, geographic and indigenous boundaries as the way by which the great promise of God for humanity comes true. There is a sense in which from an OT perspective, knowledge of Yahweh is bachelor to all peoples. THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN THE NEW Attestation 34 The purpose of this department is simply to draw our attention to some stories in the NT that exemplify the struggle of inclusion-exclusion within the people of God. There is a clear continuity with the theological agenda regarding ethnicity we have seen and then far in the Old Attestation. What nosotros see in the OT should not come as a surprise in the NT since this is the fourth dimension the promise given to Abraham to bless all nations comes true in a more general fashion. Just several stories in the NT prove that the promise has many obstacles for its fulfillment. I of them is ethnocentrism. It could be argued that the stories selected in both Testaments are there for the same reason: ethnocentrism. Nosotros will look at two examples from the New Attestation: Jesus' genealogy and the story of the Syrophoenician adult female. The second story volition be adult in more detail. A theological genealogy Most people have a tendency to pride themselves on their indigenous and cultural backgrounds. This is something that has value in and of itself and information technology helps people mensurate themselves confronting other people. Simply it is really shocking to meet the individuals Matthew selected for Jesus' genealogy. It is rather appalling. Those who speak of Jesus as a "total-brood Jew" when he talks to the Samaritan woman (supposedly a "half-brood") should read their Bibles again.35 This genealogy is specially agonizing considering here Matthew is establishing Jesus' legitimacy as the Messiah, someone from the lineage of David and Abraham.36 Merely in order to do that, the first Evangelist includes people that some would consider not so "legitimate."37 There are five women in Jesus' genealogy in Matthew 1: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.38 All of these women had some kind of "marital irregularity,"39 and the first four were not of Israelite origin. Yet, all of them were worthy of a identify in the genealogy of the Messiah. So Jesus counted Moabites, Hittites, and Canaanites among his ancestors. Ane writer says that the emphasis of this genealogy is not in the women themselves merely in the stories that they embody.twoscore Perhaps then, simply these women are their story. No women, no story. These women, their story and the biblical theology that comes out of information technology tell usa that the inclusion of non-Israelites inside the people of God is not a novelty in the NT. Ethnicity, like ones past, is non a problem for God or an impediment for anyone to have a worthy identify within the history of God's salvation. If God'due south Messiah can come from such a genealogy, he can too be the redeemer of all sorts of people, even if their by is "questionable."41 This seems to exist an of import element in the theological agenda of the Evangelists. The reason is that ethnocentrism is very hard to overcome. The Bible consistently affirms that the foundation on which the identity of the people of God rests is not ethnic or geographic or linguistic, merely theological. This is how Matthew does theology with a genealogy. A theology of dogs and crumbs The following is a truthful story of edge crossing. In this story the trouble of ethnocentrism is exposed in its true colors. The reason for looking at this is that information technology is a serious homo problem that jeopardizes both Biblical Theology and Christian credibility in the earth. Jesus throws his disciples into a very uncomfortable situation in order to bring them out of their rigid religious and cultural mold in which they have lived all of their lives. He does this considering he wants to free them from this thick ethnocentric beat out common to all homo beings. It is important to notation here, the same as in other Gospel stories, and contrary to what ane would expect, that quite frequently Jesus' disciples are for the bulletin of the Gospel, the worst example. In 1 of his few international trips, Jesus went to the region known equally Syrophoenicia, west of Galilee (Mt 15,21-28). In this trip, Jesus crossed several frontiers. Every bit they arrive, a Canaanite woman comes out shouting: "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." She has gone against some cultural rules, has used all the appropriate linguistic communication, simply Jesus says zilch. Possibly thinking that the woman was annoying Jesus, his disciples asked him to send her away because of her shouting.42 We practice not know what they thought, simply they desire to dismiss her. There is a similar story in the OT. Every bit Hanna prayed earnestly to God for her situation, Eli, the priest thought she was boozer (1Sam 1,14-16). Patently, sensitivity and discernment are not always the virtues that accompany God's representatives. Finally, Jesus says something. But what Jesus does with his words is even more than confusing than his silence: "I was sent just to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Now, that "only" is theological ethnocentrism at its all-time! In his response, Jesus seems to side with his disciples and approve of their mental attitude. "Jesus is a typical ethnocentric Jew of his time", ane might say.43 This woman is peradventure the contrary of the rich young man, for whom one hard answer was plenty to turn abroad from Jesus (Mt nineteen,16-30). She does non surrender and does not exit. Not only that, she comes closer to Jesus and says the most simple and powerful words: "Lord, help me." Merely, when nosotros expect a "typical Jesus response" we get "a typical first-century-Jew response:" "Information technology is non off-white to take the children'due south food and throw it to the dogs." To be called a "dog" is not very nice, fifty-fifty if it is a "little domestic dog." In most cases in the Bible, dogs are associated with feelings of rejection.44 In fact, in the biblical world dogs are non pets as they are today. It is a muddy beast, a scavenger that marauds cities around garbage dumpsters; dogs are a symbol of impurity. If Jews considered gentiles as dogs it was considering they did not live according to the Torah and its laws of purity; a gentile is therefore ritually unclean.45 Non very kind, especially coming from Jesus. Simply again, the woman has an answer for that: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." She seems to accept that Jesus was sent to the Jews, that is "the children", but "dogs", that is, gentiles besides swallow from the crumbs that fall from the table. She uses the aforementioned metaphor and states that gentiles besides have a function in the nutrient, which is the kingdom of God. Israel's priority with respect to gentiles is historical, not social or psychological. And what gentiles participate of is non only crumbs. What will Jesus do now? At last Jesus gives the persistent woman a favorable reply. And it is not only favorable; he praises her as he never praised whatsoever of his ain disciples. In matters of organized religion, the disciples earned more than reprimands than anything else: "men of trivial faith".46 To this Canaanite, gentile, Greek woman Jesus says: "Woman, corking is your faith! Allow information technology be washed for you every bit yous wish." And her girl was healed instantly. The manner the story is told shows that for Matthew the miracle itself is secondary. His main involvement is in the dialogue and what happens there. At that place is no question that the woman'south faith and persistence are praiseworthy, simply one has to ask why the conversation has gone to such a humiliating extreme for this woman. First of all, the woman has no name. She is identified past geography and culture. In some cases namelessness in literature is a form of oppression and discrimination; in this case it could be the result of a male-dominated culture.47 This argument is very appealing today, but does non piece of work for at to the lowest degree 3 reasons: (1) The men in the story, except for Jesus, do not have names either; (two) the woman in the story is the good instance; and (three) in the NT there are stories of men without names (Lk 7,9; Mt eight,ten; ix,eighteen-26; nineteen,sixteen-xxx), likewise as stories of women with names (Mt 28,1-10). And so the argument of the narrative well-nigh the Syrophoenician woman, who is never called "disciple", is that she is more than of a disciple than the disciples themselves.48 Perhaps a better explanation for the adult female's namelessness in this case is that the biblical author does non want to turn the woman into an inaccessible hero. As it is, it is like shooting fish in a barrel for the reader to identify himself or herself with the grapheme49 and feel that he or she can exist that character. This should work both with the woman's good case and with the disciples' bad example. Secondly, there yet remains the question of why Jesus did not heal the woman'south girl immediately at her first asking. Nosotros might say that he wanted to exam the adult female's organized religion, as he did in other situations with the disciples. Only nevertheless we demand to enquire why the whole exchange was then humiliating for the woman. This is a complex result for which there is no like shooting fish in a barrel respond. Let united states explore some possibilities. Some authors have suggested that Jesus needed the woman'due south insistence in order to change his opinion about gentiles. This implies that Jesus, up until this day, was a typical beginning-century Jew and idea just like his disciples did.50 In other words, this was the moment in his earthly ministry building when, thanks to this spontaneous dialogue, Jesus realized that gentiles besides had access to God'due south salvation. But, what sense could this make in a Gospel where Jesus is God who has go man? He has already crossed so many other borders, he talks to prostitutes, publicans, Samaritans and all kinds of people. And he even sets these people equally examples of faith. In that location may be a amend alternative to this rather uncomfortable dialogue. It is more likely that Jesus crossed the Galilean border51 to teach his disciples a cardinal lesson: the God of the Bible does not see geographic or ethnic borders every bit nosotros do, only equally his justice does non "see faces" nor "fears certain faces" (Dt 1,17). Jesus brings his disciples out of their comfort zone in order to give them a theological tour52: (1) The previous episode in Matthew had to do with the result of uncleanness: Jesus tells them how wrong they are in believing that formalism rites are what make a person clean; (2) the Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy that includes 4 women who would exist amongst the "dogs;" and (three) this Gospel ends with the mission to all the peoples of the Earth.53 So with this encounter with the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus challenges his disciples prejudices and shows what it ways and what it takes to make disciples of all nations: ethnical boundaries are harder to cross than geographical ones. But nonetheless, what practise we make of Jesus' harsh words to the woman? There is no style to prove this, simply some authors have suggested that Jesus' words are accompanied by a wink in his middle and a sure tone of phonation. This obviously cannot be seen in writing, but information technology tin can be assumed. In other words, Jesus talks to her just as she would expect whatsoever Jew would do. But his purpose, only as in the parables, is to surprise them with an unexpected theological twist. The effect should be felt both by the disciples that day and by readers today. What he does so is to brand them and us believe for a moment that he thinks as they do and as nosotros practice. As he transcends cultures and nationalities, Jesus invites his disciples to do the aforementioned54, namely, to challenge their theology and to renounce all ethnocentric thinking and behavior.55 Here, as in many other examples in the New Testament, the marginal (the Syrophoenician woman) becomes central and the central marginal (the Jewish disciples). And equally the examples multiply, we notice that Christianity is polycentric as it is polyethnic. Conclusion What has been said here near the Jews is not an accusation that renders them worse people than anyone else. Ethnocentrism is a human being thing. What Stott says virtually civilization could easily exist practical to the upshot of ethnicity and all that it entails: God has no favorite culture (Rev 21,26-27). Jesus, by the mode, had a recognizable Galilean accent (Mt 26,74). In that location accept been periods, long periods in the history of the people of God when their behavior does not clearly communicate what their identity and their mission is. This may happen when the people of God are alloyed to the surrounding culture or when the people of God shelters itself from the world around. In that location might even be a point when the people of God look more like a curse to the world than like a approval.57 Ethnocentrism is a consequence of our human being finitude: "We cannot stand utterly free from our culture and our identify in history."58 But it is too a effect of homo sinfulness. Information technology is one affair to come across others from our cultural and historical point of view and it is quite another to conclude that others are inferior or worthless. The Bible seems to note our natural bend towards the latter by telling us stories where the problem is exposed. These stories become a cumulative argument to demonstrate at least iii things: that the hope given to Abraham is indeed for all peoples from the commencement, that Jesus has a plural ethnic background, and that field trips can be very useful in developing a more relativistic view of our own culture and a better appreciation for that of others. The goal is not to finish being who nosotros are ethnically and culturally, merely to sympathise what it means to be in Christ, to sympathise how ecclesiology and soteriology are impacted past anthropology (Gal 3,28). The biblical kingdom of God is multiethnic and multicultural. Throughout the Bible we discover stories were readers are invited to value homo beings every bit God values them. Peradventure in our Christian world today at that place is a great demand for more border crossing both in popular and academic circles. Pie de página BIBLIOGRAPHY Alonso Schökel, Luis, and Iglesias González, Manuel. Reyes: Los libros sagrados. Madrid: Cristiandad, 1973. [ Links ] Bagchi, Kaushik. "Ethnocentrism." In Berkshire Encyclopedia of Earth History, edited by William H. McNeill, 685-688. Groovy Barrington (Ma): Berkshire Publishing Group, 2005. [ Links ] Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. "Atheists: A Psychological Contour." In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited past Michael Martin, 300-317. Cambridge (England): Cambridge Academy Press, 2007. [ Links ] Blomberg, Craig Fifty. Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey. Nashville (TENN.): Brodman and Holman, 1997. [ Links ] Bonnard, P. Mateo. Madrid: Cristiandad, 1976. [ Links ] Bordreuil, Pierre. "A Propos De Fifty'inscription De Mesha' Deux Notes." In World of the Aramaeans Three, Studies in Linguistic communication and Literature in Accolade of Paul-Eugène Dion, edited by John W. Wevers and Michael Weigl P.Chiliad. Michèle Daviau, 158-167. Sheffield: Sheffield, 2001. [ Links ] Browne, Stanley Chiliad. "Leprosy in the Bible." In Medicine and the Bible, edited by Bernard Palmer, 101-125. Exeter: Paternoster, 1986. [ Links ] Cohn, Robert L. "Convention and Inventiveness in the Book of Kings: The Example of the Dying Monarch." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 47 (1985): 603-616. [ Links ] Daniel, Patricia. "Feminism." In The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology, edited by Graham Ward. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. [ Links ] Druckman, Daniel. "Ethnocentrism in the Inter-Nation Simulation." The Journal of Conflict Resolution 12, No. 1 (1968): 45-68. [ Links ] Emerton, J. A. "The Value of the Moabite Rock equally an Historical Source." Vetus Testamentum 52, No. iv (2002): 483-492. [ Links ] Firmage, Edwin. "Zoology (Animal)." In Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1109-1167. New York: Doubleday, 1992. [ Links ] France, R T. Matthew. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1985. [ Links ] Fredrickson, George. "Social Origins of American Racism." In Racism, edited by Martin Bulmer and John Solomos, seventy-82. Oxford: Oxford University Printing, 1999. [ Links ] Fretheim, Terence. First and 2nd Kings. Louisville (KY): Westminster John Knox, 1999. [ Links ] Goldingay, John. Erstwhile Testament Theology: Israel's Faith. Downers Grove (IL): InterVarsity Printing, 2007. [ Links ] Graham, M. Patrick. "The Discovery and Reconstruction of the Meshac Inscription." In Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab, edited past Andrew Dearman, 41-92. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press, 1989. [ Links ] Granowski, Janis Jaynes. "Polemics and Praise: The Deuteronomistic Use of the Female Characters of the Elijah-Elisha Stories." Ph.D. diss., Baylor University, Waco (TX), 1996. [ Links ] Gundry-Volf, Judith, and Miroslav Volf. A Spacious Heart: Essays on Identity and Belonging. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997. [ Links ] House, Paul R. one, 2 Kings. Vol. 8, The New American Comentary. Nashville (TN): Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995. Reprint, 1999, 2001. [ Links ] Hutchison, John C. "Women, Gentiles, and the Messianic Mission in Matthew'due south Genealogy." Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 152-164. [ Links ] Jennings, Theodore W., and Tat-Siong Benny Liew. "Mistaken Identities merely Model Organized religion: Rereading the Centurion, the Chap, and the Christ in Matthew 8:5-thirteen." Journal of Biblical Literature 123, No. 3 (2004): 467- 494. [ Links ] Lemaire, André. "La Stèla De Mésha Et L'histoire De L'ancien Israël." In Storia E Tradizioni Di Israele: Scritti in Onore Di J. Alberto Soggin, edited by Daniele Garrone and Felice Israel. Brescia: Paideia Editrice, 1991. [ Links ] Manickam, J. A. "Race, Racism and Ethnicity." In Global Dictionary of Theology, edited by William Dyrness and Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, 718-724. Downers Grove (Illinois): InterVarsity Press, 2008. [ Links ] Matsumoto, David, and Linda Juang. Culture and Psychology. Oxford (UK): Oxford Academy Press, 2001. [ Links ] Mattingly, Gerald 50. "Moabite Faith and the Meshac Inscription." In Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab, edited by Andrew Dearman, 211- 238. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press, 1989. [ Links ] Moore, Rick Dale. God Saves: Lessons from the Elisha Stories. Sheffield: Sheffield, 1990. [ Links ] Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. G Rapids (MI): Eerdmans, 1992. [ Links ] Müller, Hans-Peter. "König Mêsac Von Moab Und Der Gott Der Geschichte." Ugarit-Forschungen 26 (1994): 377-395. [ Links ] Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome. The Holy State (5a ed.). Oxford Archeology Guides. Oxford: Oxford University Printing, 2008. [ Links ] Nelson, Richard D. First and Second Kings. Atlanta: John Knox, 1987. [ Links ] Ngan, Lai Ling Elizabeth. "2 Kings five." Review and Expositor 94 (1997): 589-597. [ Links ] Niditch, Susan. Judges. Louisville (KY): Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. [ Links ] Nielsen, Kai. "Richard Rorty." In A Companion to Pragmatism, edited past John R. Shook and Joseph Margolis, 127-139. Malden (MA): Blackwell, 2006. [ Links ] Okure, Theresa. "The Global Jesus." In The Cambridge Companion to Jesus, edited by Markus Bockmuehl, 237-249. Cambridge: Cambridge Academy Press, 2001. [ Links ] Rowland, Christopher. The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity. Londres: SPCK, 1982. [ Links ] Ryken, Leland, and Wilhoit, James, ed. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove (IL): InterVarsity, 1998. [ Links ] Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York (United states of america): Vintage Books, 1979. [ Links ] Silva, Efraín, and Roberto Fricke. "1Reyes." In 1 y 2Reyes, 1 y 2Crónicas, 35-180. El Paso (Texas): Editorial Mundo Hispano, 2000. [ Links ] Smith, David. Mission later Christendom. London: Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd., 2003. [ Links ] Sparks, Kenton L. Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Israel. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1998. [ Links ] Stott, John. Bones Christianity. Grand Rapids (MI): Eerdmans, 1999 (1958). [ Links ] -. Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents from the Lausanne Movement, 1974-1989. Thousand Rapids (MI): Eerdmans, 1996. [ Links ] Tasker, R. V. G. Matthew. Leicester (UK): InterVarsity, 1961. [ Links ] Telford, W. R. The Theology of the Gospel of Mark. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. [ Links ] Tiénou, Tite. "The Samaritans: A Biblical-Theological Mirror for Understanding Racial, Ethnic and Religious Identity?" In This Side of Heaven, edited by Alvaro Fifty. Nieves and Robert J. Priest, 211-222. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. [ Links ] Vanhoozer, Kevin J. The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005. [ Links ] Wright, Christopher J. H. Conociendo a Jesús a través del Antiguo Testamento. Translated by Daniel Menezo. Barcelona: Publicaciones Andamio, 1996. [ Links ] Wright, N. T. The New Testament and the People of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God V.1. London: SPCK, 1992. [ Links ] Younger, 1000. Lawson, Jr. Ancient Conquest Accounts. Sheffield: Sheffield, 1990. [ Links ]
** B.A., Languages, Corporación Universitaria de la Costa (University Corporation of the Declension), (Barranquilla, 1987); M.A., Interdisciplinary Studies, (Theology and Education) Wheaton College Graduate School (Wheaton, Illinois, U.South.A., 1991), Ph.D., Onetime Attestation, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois, The statesA. 2004); Old Testament Professor at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia, Medellin (1995-);Old Testament Editor for the Comentario Bíblico Latinoamericano. (Latin American Bible Commentary) (in progress) of the Comité Latinoamericano de Literatura Bíblica (Latin American Committee for Biblical Literature); President of the Latin American Regional Commission of Langham Partnership International; Member of the Accreditation Committee of AETAL. East-mail: macosta@unisbc.edu.co
... our faith and theology have been conditioned by culture to a far greater extent than we had ever realised. Cultural conditioning is not something that happens only to other people, nosotros too carry cultural baggage which needs to be declared "excess" and left backside when we seek to share Christ with others.10
There is tragic irony in this oath statement, for Gehazi will go Naaman's leprosy! It is as if Gehazi has unwittingly cursed himself. Thus the ultimate fate of Gehazi is anticipated unwittingly by an opening speech, just every bit was the fate of Naaman in the previous sequence.22
Gehazi's sin is, finally, a theological sin, for it endangers the very nature of faith and obscures the gracious work of God. The event of the judgment is that Gehazi is returned to the pre-healing situation of Naaman, and he now stands in need of a Naaman-like journeying.... The insider has experienced God'south judgment; the outsider has received salvation. The outsider has become an insider and the insider an outsider. The boundary lines of the community of organized religion are less clear than the insiders frequently suggest.26
...the power of Israelite prophets (five. viii); the universal reign of Yahweh (v. 15); the denigration of magic (v. 11); the condemnation of theft (vv. 11, xx). At the same time, the narrative explicitly approves of the 'conversion' of Gentiles (5. 19) and implicitly assumes the holiness of the country of Israel (5. 17).29
If God'south election depended on human response of faith, people could escape or resign from that election. Just through the choosing of a certain people, God's name is bound to the earth in a way that cannot hands exist dissolved.32
Being part of our upbringing and surround, information technology [civilization] is besides part of ourselves, and we detect information technology very difficult to stand outside it and evaluate it Christianly. Yet this we must learn to do. For if Jesus Christ is to be Lord of all, our cultural heritage cannot be excluded from his lordship. And this applies to churches besides every bit individuals.56
2Manickam, "Race, Racism and Ethnicity", 718. Ethnicity is, all the same, a difficult term to ascertain. For a thorough written report of this issue in the Old Testament, run into Sparks, Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Israel (1998).
3Matsumoto and Juang, Culture and Psychology, 61-91.
4Druckman, "Ethnocentrism in the Inter-Nation Simulation".
5Fredrickson, "Social Origins of American Racism", 75.
6Some studies from the commencement half of the twentieth century claim that Christians in some parts of the world tend to exist more ethnocentric than atheists! Meet, for example, Beit-Hallahmi, "Atheists: A Psychological Profile", 303-304.
sevenEdward Said has shown the important role that ethnocentrism has played in the East-West international relationships (Said, Orientalism, 1979). Just we should not forget that there is as well "Occidentalism." See also Bagchi, "Ethnocentrism" (2005).
8See Smith, Mission later on Christendom, xii. For the sake of simplicity, we will use "culture" and "ethnicity" equally synonyms in this article. It could exist said that ethnocentrism is the peak of i's indigenous and cultural identity to a higher place that of others. For more detailed definitions, encounter Manickam, "Race, Racism and Ethnicity".
9Smith, Mission later on Christendom, xi.
xIbid., 75.
11For a broader discussion of this issue, see 65-69, passim.
12Kevin J. Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Arroyo to Christian Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 282.
xiiiAnother bad example in the Bible is King Solomon, who is blamed for marrying foreign women; not because they were many or were strange, but because he inclined his heart to follow their gods (1Kgs eleven,1-13).
14For a fresh reading of Joshua, encounter Younger, Ancient Conquest Accounts (1990).
xvVanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, 165.
16Some have argued that they did not know who they were only notwithstanding.
17Susan Niditch holds that besides showing differences in accent or dialects within Israel at this time, this instance testifies to "Israelite awareness concerning the 'mixed multitude' that constituted the people". See Niditch, Judges, 138.
xviiiThe exact chronological sequence between 2Kings iii and the Mesa Inscription is a matter of fence, but the historical bug are conspicuously related. There is abundant literature on this inscription. See, for example, Emerton, "The Value of the Moabite Rock as an Historical Source" (2002); Bordreuil, "A Propos De L'inscription De Mesha' Deux Notes" (2001); Müller, "König Mêšac Von Moab Und Der Gott Der Geschichte" (1994); Lemaire, "La Stèla De Mésha et L'histoire De L'ancien Israël" (1991); Mattingly, "Moabite Religion and the Meshac Inscription" (1989); Graham, "The Discovery and Reconstruction of the Meshac Inscription" (1989).
nineteenThere is no proposition in the book of Ruth that Elimelek and his family are blamed for going to Moab to look for food.
20What kind of leprosy was this? "The exact nature of Naaman's s[âras'at cannot be deduced from the record (2Kgs 5,1). The rash may maybe take been scabies, for which the sulphurcontaining waters of Rabbi Mayer (near Tiberias) are reputedly curative to this day, sufferers being exhorted locally to 'dip vii times'. The transmissible illness that afterward afflicted Gehazi (and his descendants) could besides take been scabies, caught by contact with the garments he coveted (2Kgs 5,27). It seems that Gehazi continued his service afterwards existence smitten with due south[âras'at (2Kgs 8,4,5). We only have insufficient clinical details to enable us to gamble a diagnosis of Naaman's due south[âras'at, and the reference in Luke 4,27 is similarly imprecise, Greek lepra beingness substituted for Hebrew s[âras'at." (Browne, "Leprosy in the Bible", 108).
21Fretheim, First and Second Kings, 152.
22Moore, God Saves: Lessons from the Elisha Stories, 81.
23Gehazi's greeting to Naaman, and the Shunammite's greeting to Gehazi reverberate how the word "shalom" was used in conversation as a mere greeting without further meaning.
24Cohn, "Convention and Inventiveness in the Book of Kings: The Case of the Dying Monarch", 182.
25This has been argued past many. Run into, for example, Alonso Schökel and Iglesias González, Reyes, 188.
26Fretheim, Start and Second Kings, 155.
27Alonso Schökel and Iglesias González, Reyes, 184.
28Nelson, First and 2nd Kings, 181.
29Cohn, Cohn, "Convention and Creativity in the Book of Kings: The Case of the Dying Monarch", 183-184.
30Nelson argues that the theme of "universalism" is introduced in v. 1 with Yahweh as the ane who gives victory to Naaman and is later confirmed with his conversion (Nelson, First and Second Kings, 177). I. Westward. Provan adds that 2Kgs v is "nonetheless another narrative that picks up themes from the Elijah story; the Lord is seen to be God, not only of Israelites, simply as well of foreigners (1Kgs 17,17-24) and is acknowledged as the only real God (1Kgs eighteen, xx-forty)." (House, 1, 2Kings, 191)
31Ngan, "2Kings 5", 591.
32John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology: Israel'due south Organized religion, 176-177.
33Ibid., 177.
34I of grade cannot compete here (or anywhere!) with Northward. T. Wright'southward book on this issue (Wright, The New Testament and the People of God ).
35For a detailed study of this issue, run across Tite Tiénou, "The Samaritans: A Biblical-Theological Mirror for Understanding Racial, Ethnic and Religious Identity?" (2007).
36Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey, 199.
37A detailed explanation of this genealogy can be constitute in Wright, Conociendo a Jesús a través del Antiguo Testamento (1996).
38At that place were other more than "worthy" matriarchs in Jesus' genealogy, just Matthew excluded them.
39French republic, Matthew, 74.
40Hutchison, "Women, Gentiles, and the Messianic Mission in Matthew's Genealogy", 152.
41See Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels, 199.
42Run into Tasker, Matthew, 150-151.
43Two examples of authors who hold that Jesus behaves like a typical Jew of his time are: Gundry-Volf and Volf, A Spacious Center: Essays on Identity and Belonging, 21; Jennings and Liew, "Mistaken Identities simply Model Faith: Rereading the Centurion, the Chap, and the Christ in Matthew eight:5-13", 478.
44There have been constitute cementeries exclusive for dogs in the Ancient Nigh Due east, but there is no certainty as to why they were buried in a specific place. Cp. Edwin Firmage, "Zoology (Fauna)" (1992).
451Kgs 14,11; 16,4; 21,19,23; Psalm 59,six; Prov 26,eleven; 2Peter 2,22; Rev 22,15. Run across Ryken and James (ed.), Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, 29.
46It is a favorite theme of Matthew. Out of the six cases of "petty organized religion", five are in Matthew and one in Luke (Mt half-dozen,30; 8,26; 14,31; xvi,8; 17,20; Lc 12,28); non counting those where their lack of faith is not mentioned just evident.
47See, for example, Granowski, "Polemics and Praise: The Deuteronomistic Employ of the Female Characters of the Elijah-Elisha Stories" (1996).
48There are other positions on this issue. Run across Telford, The Theology of the Gospel of Mark, 230- 234. It must also be pointed out that even though the region is specified, there is no data almost the exact location. Meet likewise Bonnard, Mateo, 348.
49For a complete feminist version on this, see Daniel, "Feminism", 438.
50This separation of Jews from gentiles is also axiomatic in Qumran. Cfr. Bonnard, Mateo, 350. In that location is, even so, the possibility of God's favor for those gentiles who are friends of State of israel (cfr. Rowland, The Open Heaven: A Written report of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity, 174.). But information technology seems like official Judaism of the outset century did not let gentiles to enter whatsoever of the thirteen gates leading to the temple. Meet Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy State, 88-89.
51Perhaps the boundaries between the disciples and this woman are not economic but only ethnic.
52This may have been a trip that took several weeks. See Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 404-405.
53Cfr. Okure, "The Global Jesus" (2001).
54Bonnard, Mateo, 351.; French republic, Matthew, 247. Morris as well holds that Jesus' words lone sound harsh, merely perhaps he said them with a grinning (just for the woman to come across?). Cfr. Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 404-405.
55Smith, Mission afterward Christendom, 57.
56John Stott, Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents from the Lausanne Motion, 1974-1989, xl-41. The betoken is not to abandon one's civilization or to lose appreciation of its expert things.
57Cfr. Stott, Basic Christianity (1999).
58Nielsen, "Richard Rorty", 133.
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