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EDUCATION FOR LIFE

BY ROSS KINSLER

The year 2008 marks several global milestones for theological education and the ecumenical movement.  The office of Ecumenical Theological Education (formerly the Theological Education Fund and the Program on Theological Education) of the World Council of Churches is celebrating 50 years of engagement with theological education, including the formation of some 25 regional associations of theological institutions, provision of funding and other resources for many of those associations and institutions, and dialogue with them on critical theological and missional issues.  The World Conference of Associations of Theological Institutions, which has for 20 years provided global coordination among these associations, held its quadrennial in Greece in June 2008 under the theme, “Theological Education: A Radical Reappraisal.”

 Theological education in general and this network in particular are facing growing needs and significant cutbacks in resources.  At such a time, instead of pulling back or turning inward, stakeholders may rather turn outward with new visions and proposals for theological education for God’s mission in the world of the 21^st Century.  This brief paper is intended to initiate a conversation about a critical challenge, an extraordinary opportunity, and a concrete proposal for new directions in ecumenical theological education.

 There can be no question about the urgent threats to life that we and our children all must face.  Economic injustice, the unprecedented concentration of wealth and deepening of poverty, is the main cause of unnecessary death by hunger, treatable diseases, impure water supplies, etc., of 30,000 to 50,000 people every day.  We must find a way for the human race as a whole to overcome this blight on our very being as a human race.  The ecological crisis, in particular the threat of global warming, is finally entering our consciousness, but there is still little evidence that we will make the necessary changes to avert immeasurable disaster in the next 30 to 50 years.  The instability caused by these two evils, economic polarization and ecological destruction, exacerbates the perennial political and military threats to peace globally and regionally.  All three dimensions of today’s struggle for life challenge theological education to clarify its peculiar response, in cooperation with many others, to the burning need, overall, of education for life.

 A CRITICAL CHALLENGE

 Diversified Theological Education—Equipping All God’s People

 Twenty-five years ago the WCC and Orbis Books published Ministry by the People: Theological Education by Extension, a collection of 29 reports of TEE programs around the world.  This year (2008) has seen the publication of Diversified Theological Education: Equipping All God’s People, an anthology of 13 case studies of very diverse programs of theological education in very diverse contexts (William Carey International University Press).  These publications demonstrate that there are creative possibilities for our theological schools and their partners that can equip large numbers of leaders in our churches and communities.  The challenge of decentralized, contextual theological education is to consider carefully—in response to the current threats to life--what are the priorities for God’s mission in today’s world, what new theological foci and educational models are called for, what agents of human and ecological transformation offer greatest possibilities.

 Health Education by Extension—Primary Healthcare

 In Ministerial Formation 5 (1979), under the title, “Ministry by the People,” we published a critical challenge comparing Theological Education by Extension and new developments in health education.  We had discovered that remarkable parallels between the two were developing right in Central America, where we were working.  In both fields the dominant, Western approach was providing high level academic formation for a few professionals, but this was not resolving the basic health needs or pastoral needs in poor countries.  In fact it was limiting or excluding the participation of ordinary people, disqualifying them for these essential tasks, which were (and are) the almost exclusive responsibility of the corresponding professionals.  In response to this analysis the World Health Organization of the United Nations and the Christian Medical Commission of the WCC decided to dedicate their resources to the training of local health promoters who had only very limited schooling but represented their communities most effectively.  This was/is called Primary Health Care.  Ronald and Edith Seaton captured that vision with their book, Here’s How: Health Education by Extension (William Carey Library, 1976).  At the same time Theological Education by Extension was spreading rapidly, especially among poor countries, reaching out to the natural leaders of the churches and their communities.  This might be called Primary Pastoral Ministry.  Then we began to consider the possibility, undergirded by a holistic understanding of life and of the Gospel, that the churches might combine HEE and TEE.  That possibility is yet to be explored.

 Education for Self-Development—Ecological Economics

 As in theological education and health education, ordinary people should be equipped as the primary agents of development, especially in poor areas where they must struggle to meet basic needs such as food, water, housing, sanitation.  It has now become evident that we must update this concern for basic development in terms of wider economic and ecological realities.  As we have noted, the struggle for life must deal with the major forces for death, which are economic injustice (poverty) and environmental destruction (including global warming).  Response to these forces requires the full participation of civil society as well as governmental agencies, church professionals and members in general, community leaders of all kinds in all social and economic situations, for the wellbeing of present and future generations.  So the real challenge is to work with the larger population on all three fronts: theology, health, and economics, which are integrally interrelated in both the Global North and the Global South.  Each of these three can be greatly advanced through integration with other two.

 AN EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY

 To Overcome Dualisms—Holistic Good News

 One of the greatest obstacles to participation in social and economic concerns is the long-standing divorce between the “material” and “spiritual” dimensions of life.  We know, of course, that the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures do not make such a radical distinction but rather treat life holistically.  The foundational experience of Israel as people of Yahweh was the Exodus, the liberation of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt, which has remained down through history--for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others--as faith in a God who continues to liberate from social, economic, political, patriarchal, and military discrimination and bondage—not just from personal sin.  The whole biblical story stands in marked contrast to the later “spiritualization” of the history of salvation and the continuing divorce of socioeconomic concerns from personal piety and collective worship.  The churches and their theological institutions must enable their members to overcome this “great divorce” in order to proclaim and demonstrate holistic Good News for the 21^st Century.

 To Build A New Paradigm—Jubilee Spirituality

 The challenge before all of us is to rediscover that holistic Good News that began with the Exodus, continued with Jesus’ life and teachings, death and resurrection, was experienced in the early church, and has reemerged periodically at significant times and places.  One urgently needed paradigm shift for our time has been called Sabbath Economics.  The first great lesson for the Hebrew slaves, liberated from imperial Egypt, was the lesson of the manna (Exodus 16) and the introduction of the Sabbath Day.  All God’s people must take only their fair share or Earth’s bounty, so that there will be enough for everyone.  Clearly, when some are allowed to accumulate more, which is the dominant note in today’s economy (the “free market”), many go hungry.  Second, through the cancellation of debts and freeing of slaves in the Sabbath Year (Deuteronomy 15), God provided for the correction of the main economic mechanisms that create poverty and wealth.  Third, the Priestly Tradition mandated the return of mortgaged lands  and houses in the fiftieth year, the Jubilee Year, insuring economic, social, and spiritual wellbeing for all the families of Israel.  This economic/social/spiritual thread runs not only through the Torah but also the prophets, the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation.  Most dramatic is Jesus’ inaugural sermon in Luke, where he affirms that his mission is to bring Good News to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and liberation of the oppressed, all of which is summed up as proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor, the Jubilee (Luke 4:18-19).  At Pentecost Jesus’ followers, empowered by the Spirit, enacted the Jubilee challenge by sharing all their possessions (Acts 2:43-47, 4:32-35).

 To Broaden and Deepen Participation—Mass Movement for Transformation

 Theological education committed to such a vision of education for life, life abundant for all, would need the full collaboration of the theological institutions at upper academic levels and their graduates, the many, diverse pastoral or Bible institutes, and the churches’ leadership training programs.  It would have to develop, with the churches and relevant social sectors, a mass movement for social and ecological transformation.  The potential for mass movement is evident among the base ecclesial communities of Latin America, the African Instituted Churches, and Pentecostal or charismatic churches around the world.  It is also evident at the World Social Forum, which each year gathers hundreds of thousands of activists from around the world, including secular and religious and inter-religious movements.  To pursue a holistic vision, theological education might combine the best elements and models of Theological Education by Extension, Health Education by Extension, and Education for Self-Development.  It would need to be empowered by an awakening such as took place at Pentecost, a new evangelization that would incorporate all God’s people in that struggle for life, for Jubilee, for holistic salvation.

 A CONCRETE PROPOSAL

 For Theological Colleges and Seminaries

 Many theological institutions have already engaged in Theological Education by Extension, but too often this is seen as marginal and secondary, not central and primary.  They may have overcome the longstanding dualisms of Western culture, at least intellectually, but almost none have even begun to incorporate healthcare and self-development in their curricula.  They have not succeeded in projecting widely a holistic vision capable of overcoming the ideology of individualism, neoliberalism, and empire.  There are innumerable programs and projects for peace, justice, and the integrity of creation, but there is still no mass movement for integral human and ecological development.  There is only a very limited debate about such concerns, at a time of unbridled economic imperialism, militarism, materialism, and ecological disaster.

 Proposal:  The regional associations of theological education might gather information about existing programs and materials dedicated to holistic human and ecological development, including decentralized, contextual programs of theological, health, and development education, share that information among member institutions and sister associations, and explore new possibilities in this direction.

 For the Churches

 Ultimately the churches carry primary responsibility for mobilizing and educating God’s people for God’s mission in today’s world.  There have been excellent initiatives toward justice in the global and local economy and justice in the Earth, such as the 2004 Letter from Accra of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.  But many congregations have yet to make such matters central to their worship, educational programs, and ministries.  Most members of these congregations have yet to realize that their daily lives are on the primary frontier for God’s mission, the struggle for life, abundant life for all, i.e., the elimination of poverty and oppression.  We all can and should become primary agents for the biblical Jubilee.

 Proposal:  Local churches and their regional and national bodies might reexamine their mission statements and programs, separately and ecumenically, in terms of the great struggles for life in the 21^st Century, identify advances and obstacles in those struggles, and consider how they can contribute to the building of a mass movement for transformation.

 For Non-Governmental Organizations

 As our churches are forced to cut back on their service ministries, we need to explore the possibility of linking these ministries more directly with non-governmental entities that mobilize enormous resources and programs around the world.  Insofar as the churches and theological schools take seriously the integral relationship between the so-called spiritual and the so-called material and pursue a common, holistic vision or paradigm for the Good News, these ties between the churches and NGOs can be enormously productive for the life of all God’s people and all God’s creatures.  Consider the potential of engaging all people of faith with at least one of the following: Christian Aid, Bread for the World, World Vision, Amnesty International, Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, the Green Belt Movement of Africa, the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Oikocredit, and many more.  These non-governmental organizations are engaged in building self-generating networks that reach out to local villages and barrios across large regions.  The churches and the NGOs together might multiply many times their potential for life abundant for all God’s people.

 Proposal:  One or more NGOs could set aside a special fund to provide for an office of coordination to work with the World Council of Churches’ program for Ecumenical Theological Education and the regional associations of theological schools in the launching of the proposals identified here, with the understanding that this proposal itself is intended to bridge the long-standing separation of development, health, and theological education and their funding channels.

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