Re: BHA: On spirituality, the Church and Indigenous Australians

[Richard Moodey <moodey001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Neil,

I'm not sure that what I have to say responds directly to your post.  I
think it is important both to acknowledge the traditions, religious and
otherwise, that shape my thinking and choosing, and to criticize those
traditions.  I regard the critical clarification of a tradition in which I
stand as a theological, rather than a strictly philosophical or social
scientific, exercise.  My acceptance of my traditions as authoritative is,
for the most part, tacit.  I can focus upon, and criticize, selected bits
of this tacitly accepted background -- turn it in into foreground -- but
always know the object of focal awareness in terms of all the rest, which,
at the moment, remains tacitly, and uncritically, accepted.

Anyone who takes seriously the critical clarification of his or her own
traditions soon discovers that there have been those who have done evil in
the name of some aspect of every tradition.  You mention your Jewish
tradition.  Are there no stories in the Hebrew scriptures which tell of
evil deeds done in the name of God?

I understand it to be an important part of my calling to clarify and
criticize the traditions within which I stand.  I see this as more
important to my spiritual growth than denouncing the traditions of others.

Best regards,

Dick

At 08:31 PM 05/14/2002 +1000, you wrote:
> Hello all
>
> I reply to this as the 'white' student Gary referred to. First of all I
> must say that I'm really enjoying reading everyone's contributions to
> the list. And I look forward to any replies to this topic. My hope is
> that there will be some who will continue to unpeel the layers of
> Christian influence and colonisation that have impacted our world for
> two millenia. But as I wrote to Gary today, "... one point that many
> people seem to find difficulty in grasping is that within my journey so
> far, there has been a steady growth in understanding of the colonising
> impact of Christianity within my own heritage. My resistance to
> colonisation is first, within my own being and then within the contexts
> of my life. I was shocked (shouldn't have been) to see once again the
> assumption from a few people present, that because I am perceived as
> 'white'(??!!), I am therefore an anglo-saxon christian with all that
> that is seen to entail. Yet from my Jewish perspective (and that of many
> radical followers of Yeshua the Jew), Christianity is indeed the
> anti-Christ."
>
> Must go for now.
>
> Neil Hockey
>
> Gary MacLennan wrote:
> >
> > I am hoping to be able to persuade some of my graduate students to make the
> > trip to Bradford. I think that two of them are currently doing interesting
> > work around the question of Aboriginality and Emancipation.  One of the
> > candidates is white while the other is an Aborigine.
> >
> > Central to both theses is the matter of spirituality.  How though can this
> > be understood?  For one of the candidates his spirituality comes I think
> > out of his Christianity. In my own case how do I relate to this? Well I
> > have been a militant atheist who has grown to detest the aggressive
> > secularism, which so dominates our epoch and I urged him to come out as a
> > Christian in his thesis writing. People have a right to be religious. There
> > I said it!
> >
> > However for Aborigines the Christian Church represents something else -
> > something not very good either. So I think for this candidate the task is
> > to find a way of formulating the spiritual turn which disassociates it from
> > the organised religions through an uncompromising commitment to the
> > eudaionistic society.   The kingdom of god must be located here on earth.
> >
> > What of the other candidate?  I have mentioned him in an earlier post.  His
> > is a struggle from within the Aboriginal community.  He is striving to work
> > with progressive sectors of the state bureaucracy to bring about a rebirth
> > in Aboriginal education.  For him the key is the construction of an
> > Aboriginal identity that is empowering. Much to think about here. Not the
> > least this which I snipped from Mervyn's post
> >
> >  >"the identity of identity and non-identity"
> >  >(Hegel) versus "the non-identity of identity and non-identity" (Adorno).
> >
> > regards
> >
> > Gary
> >
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>
>
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