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A Multi-Cultural Community
By Ahoua Raymond
ISBN 9966-08-318-9; 136 pages; Publication 2008; price: US$ 7.00
This book addresses the problem of living in multi-cultural religious communities. It develops a biblical research concerning the members of the community of Jesus and his disciples called the community of the thirteen. Did they experience conflicts and crisis of cultural nature? What was the impact of their cultural differences on their community life? Addressing these problems the book also offers viable solutions, as well as practical insights into new ways of living evangelical lifestyle.
The cultural differences within the community of the thirteen were fundamental. Even if they were a source of some misunderstandings, they did not bring the community of the thirteen into chaos. How was the community able to live in harmony with such deep cultural differences?
Contents
The Community of the Thirteen
The Origin of the Community of the Thirteen
The Sons of Bethsaida
The Sons of Zebedee
Thomas
Matthew
Judas, Not the Iscariot
Judas
Professional Cultural Identities
Affective Cultura Profile
Political Cultura Identity
The Intercultural Community
Facing The Challenges of Religious
Intercultural Life In Africa
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Introduction
Faced with this mutual misunderstanding, some missionaries have begun to study the culture of the society where they are living: a good and praiseworthy initiative. Others require the Africans to change their habits, a process which is sometimes imposed through formation programmes. On the other hand, the Africans expect the missionaries to learn their cultures and respect and adopt them. In other words, just as the foreign missionaries require Africans to adopt their ways and ideas, so too, do Africans hope the same with regard to the missionaries. Obviously this is never expressed as clearly as we have here, but the misunderstanding arises from the conflict between these two tendencies. And many supporters of either side are convinced that the problems of misunderstanding are more often at a cultural level rather than due to the personalities of the members of the community. This crisis of misunderstanding, which we ourselves have experienced, needs to be addressed and carefully discerned. Both sides must take steps in this direction because the survival of religious community life depends on it. And nobody can stick rigidly to their position and expect to live happily in a multi-cultural community. Since, therefore the phenomenon of multi-cultural communities is irreversible, it is urgent to reflect on the variety of cultural identities that may be found in religious communities so that they can be channeled and gathered into a single body with a single aim.
It is in this context that we have undertaken the following biblical research concerning the members of the community of Jesus and his disciples, which we call The Community of the Thirteen. In fact, we know that Jesus formed a community life with the twelve. Did they succeed in living a fraternal community life? Did they experience conflicts and crises of a cultural nature? Obviously the members of the community of the thirteen were all Jews. However, there is nothing to prove that they shared the same religious culture and that they never had any conflicts because of this. So what was the impact of their differences on their community life?
To respond to these questions our biblical analysis takes into consideration the interventions of the disciples whose names appear in the lists of the Twelve (Mt 10:1-4; Mk 3:16-19; Lk 6:12-16; Acts 1:13). Sometimes our analysis tackles the disciples in groups, as in the case of the three men from Bethsaida, namely Peter, Andrew and Philip. The same applies to the two sons of Zebedee. The other disciples such as Thomas, Judas not the Iscariot and Judas Iscariot are taken one by one. This analysis is based on their attitudes and words regarding their faith in Jesus. It will also consider the silence of Matthew, the tax collector (Mt 9:9).
Moreover, we know that the life of any religious community is based on contemplation, fraternal life and apostolic life. As a religious community does not live on faith alone, we have widened the horizons of the religious cultural identity of the community of the thirteen by investigating their professional cultural outlook, their affective and political cultural attitude within the perspective of this community’s religious cultural nature. The last two chapters are dedicated respectively to the intercultural problem of religious communities today and how to face these challenges in Africa.
At the end of this introduction, one question presents itself: what was the religious cultural outlook of Jesus? Both this question and the answers arising from it are to be found all through our study. In fact there is no single chapter in the book, which deals with the religious culture identity of the Master, because it was expressed in so many ways through that of the members of his community. The disciples recognised Jesus as Lord and God (Jn 20:28). Consequently, no matter what their religious culture, they expressed their faith in him.
By imprinting his religious cultural identity on the disciples, Jesus gave them his own, and similarly in giving them a new professional cultural face he offered them his own, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mk 1:17), and by directing his disciples towards a new affective outlook, he consecrated them in his own: “Father … I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (Jn 17:26).
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Chapter 1
THE COMMUNITY OF THE THIRTEEN
Kamau’s Correction
Alexandre Dumas, the French novelist, wrote a book called “The Three Musketeers.” Whoever reads this book or sees the film based on this novel, will soon realise that, in reality, the author is speaking of four musketeers. The reasons for the title do not really matter but the mathematical error is very clear, and this prompts us to search more deeply for clues to explain it. However, the name has never been changed. In the same manner neither do we presume to change the way the community of Jesus is traditionally spoken of as the Twelve. Our innovation leads us rather to examine a neglected aspect of this community, which is why we prefer to speak of The Community of the Thirteen. We did not actually invent this term. It originated in a correction once made during a vocational meeting. We were speaking of Jesus and his disciples and of their common life together, insisting enthusiastically on the fact that they were truly one community. Hence, we were using the classic formula: the community of the twelve. To our great surprise, Kamau, a young aspirant, asked: “Father, when you talk of the Community of the Twelve, are you not perhaps leaving out Jesus?” And that is really the essential point. For now, let us say that Jesus is not excluded from this community. But the mathematical error is obviously there.
The classic formula of the Community of the Twelve has survived throughout the centuries because of its symbolism and not because of its actual mathematical accuracy. Twelve represents a perfect number. Jesus chose precisely twelve men to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt 19:28; Rv 21:9-14). When one speaks of the Community of the Twelve, one more often thinks of the apostles, especially during their life in Jerusalem after the Resurrection. If such is the case, then the community, which appears in the Acts of the Apostles no longer corresponds to the classic formula of the community of the twelve. In Acts 1:13 we read the list of the eleven disciples of Jesus and of some women who were together with them, and also the Lord’s brothers. Can we, therefore, apply this classical formula to the post-Easter community of Jerusalem?
Before the addition of Matthias to the group, the number eleven constantly appears in the biblical texts (Acts 1:26). The post-Easter community is often referred to as the community of believers (Acts 4:32). The classical formula surely refers to the group of Jesus rather than to the community of the disciples of Jesus, that is, the post-Easter community. Is it necessary to keep the classical formula for the group of Jesus and his disciples? Or, is it better to speak of the community of the thirteen, as Kamau implicitly suggested?
Towards a New Expression
It is not a question of a simple play on words or of an arithmetical calculation. Numbers have great relevance in our society, as it is not the same to kill 12 people as to kill 13, or to live with 12 individuals as to live with 13. In fact, experience of community life shows that the presence of a new member gives a new physiognomy to the community, just as the departure of one member in some way creates a new community. Whether we are dealing with one life more or one life less, it is always the life of a human being, which has a great dignity. So if we employ the formula using the number 13 to describe the community of Jesus and his disciples, we are not in any way excluding the person of the Master.
Moreover, the addition of the person of Jesus to the group is right, because whichever formula one may prefer, it will always be a matter of Jesus and his disciples or of the disciples of Jesus. Therefore the Son of Man appears as the element that characterises this group. Let us not forget that we are speaking of a community in the religious sense of the word and not of a company created by a Managing Director called Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, even if this group comprises a Caller and those called, a Guide and those who are guided, a Master and his disciples, in the final analysis there is only one community. At least this was the objective of the Founder of the Community of the Thirteen, and the reason for their being together. In his account of the choice of the twelve, Mark, for example, stresses that they were called to live with him. That is what living together means (Mk 3:13-19). The community of the thirteen, then, becomes in itself a significant expression, in the sense that it can reflect the image of the community that is usually called the Holy Trinity.
The Community of the Three or the Holy Trinity
Since the time of the Fathers of the Church, the community of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has a name. Nowadays, it is more usual to use the term the Holy Trinity, rather than saying the community of the Three. Our capitalist society is dominated by the influence of a profane spirituality of having, and having more and more. In this connection we can give a striking example: today the religious who cross the threshold of an institute will ask: “How many brothers do you have?” instead of “How many brothers are you?” The habit has become such a normal practice that it affects even the language of the monks.
There is a little story about a Cistercian monk who went to one of the Order’s monasteries where they bred St Bernard dogs, and asked the following question: “How many dogs are you and how many monks do you have?” Evidently a slip of the tongue! The very slight distinction lies in the difference between the verb to have and the verb to be, which are both modal verbs. In the first question the speaker puts his interlocutor outside the community by excluding him whereas in the second question, the speaker includes his interlocutor in the community. Can we say it is simply a problem of language? Personally we don’t think so. Rather it is a question of a secular mentality that has infiltrated our religious language. Being sons and daughters of our time, we have assimilated it.
Language is like a fossil of our culture, and reveals the true remnants of our personality and our society. We have only to read the headings of Christmas or Easter greetings addressed to our communities, especially those that come from other religious families, lay people being more used to Mr. and Mrs. X, or the Y Family. But religious institutes use the following formulas: The Superior and the Community (never mind the capital letters!), the name of the Superior followed by “and Confreres,” Rev. P. Z. and Community. If we were to write to the Holy Trinity, we would not say: God the Father and Community. Just as material poverty kills the body, so spiritual poverty kills the soul, and the poverty of language kills expression and communication.
If Vatican II defined the Church in terms of the people of God unlike the previous formula, based on the hierarchical structure, we would do well to follow suit.
We do not need a Council to change community formulas. Rather we need more creativity regarding the relationship between what we live and what we say. We know that some female religious have changed all the references to men in their Roman Missal, replacing them with women or simply humankind. In fact, instead of God being called “he,” the Sisters have no problem in calling him “She.” Why not? The priest or bishop who goes to celebrate Mass in their chapel will soon learn that in these communities God is seen and spoken of as feminine. Such an experience is an invitation to find formulas to express these new sensitive issues. The more synthetic and pertinent they are for the culture of the members of the community, the more they will survive the passing of time as a living expression of the gift of the Holy Spirit, member of the Holy Trinity.
Our Name
Some cultures are allergic to the number thirteen. They believe it brings bad luck. In fact, if you go to any hospital in some countries you will not find room N. 13. You will pass directly from twelve to fourteen. Even in hospitals run by religious, where attempts have been made to overcome this old superstition, the patients themselves have refused to occupy rooms with the number 13. It has been necessary, therefore, to create 12b to resolve this problem. However, as any well-informed religious knows that Jesus transformed many situations for the good of the disciples, the formula of the community of the thirteen should become acceptable. Although it is not symbolic and may sound a bit novel to religious ears, it is not displeasing.
Finally, keeping this name to indicate this community responds to the concern of Kamau, whose fear, basically, was the absence of the face of Jesus Christ in the community of the twelve. Our option, therefore, has theological implications. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). Since any Christian community is not worthy of its name if Jesus is not among its members, not just as a guest passing through, but rather as an active member with full rights, then it is necessary to express his presence through concrete actions, and not just take it for granted. The implications are enormous for those who take their community life seriously.
The Place of Jesus in the Community of the Thirteen
There are two aspects to the inclusion of Jesus in this community. On the one hand we have the disciples, all descended from the same human nature and also, without a doubt, from the same ethnic group. These Israelites, called to live with Jesus, form the Community of the Thirteen. It is true that without the twelve disciples this community would not have existed. However, it is even truer, that without Jesus, not only would there have been no community, but also there would not have been any Christian community either.
On the other hand, we have the Man-God who is the Founder of this community and who, due to his double nature, transcends the human condition of his disciples. His place as Master adds importance to his presence in the community. Hence we see that Jesus is indispensable. He is the origin of this group and the living soul of it. An effective member of the community of the thirteen but not an equal partner, Jesus is always in contact with the other persons of the Holy Trinity. In this sense he brings to the heart of the life of the group the image of the divine culture on which their life together is founded. The disciples, coming from different places, bring to the heart of the community of the thirteen their individual histories, which together make up their regional and personal culture. Thus, a melting pot emerges from which a new culture is forged, above all a religious one. Therefore, if the community of the thirteen begins its history in the person of the Man from Nazareth, its origin is rooted in the Holy Trinity, whose best witness is Jesus.
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