A Filippino Theology? - Part 2

The Catholic Church of the Philippines is deeply influenced by the Church in Europe. How could it be otherwise, for so much of Christian history the Church has been an almost complete European entity, non-European congregations being seen as merely satellites of the European Church. Still today most of the power to influence the work and the thinking of the Church is held in Europe.

Happily things are at least beginning to change. The Filippino Church is beginning to go back to the sources of Christianity for itself and attempt to read them afresh and to see what they might mean in a new context.

Clearly, I am not an expert in Filippino theology, so I won’t presume to make a detailed analyse of it, but I would like to highlight two elements.

The country recently celebrated 26 years since the fall of Marcos as president. The largely peaceful struggle against Marcos was a coalition of many different groups, an important part of which were Christians motivated by their faith to challenge an unjust regime. Out of this movement came what has become known as the Theology of Struggle. This theology places at the centre of Christianity the struggle against oppression in all its forms. Crucially it is a doctrine which speaks from the point of view of those at the bottom seeking to empower them. Such ideas are a world away from a European Church whose perspective is a legacy of waning political and ecclesiastical power. The theology of struggle calls for communal solidarity, and for leaders who will embrace humble simplicity while rejecting violence at any level.

In the Years since the fall of Marcos, and with the emergence of a Filippino elite increasing keen to embrace right-wing economics the Theology of Struggle has slipped into the background being sometimes labelled as communist or sympathetic to terrorists. Equally in international Church circles it is little taken note of, perhaps because the wider Church enjoys the trappings of privilege a little too much?

The second element I would like to highlight is production of a new translation of the bible, the Christian Community Bible, whose title page explicitly proclaims that it is written for

"The Christian Communities of the Philippines and the Third World; and for those who seek God."

Versions of this Filippino bible exist in both English and Tagalog. The production of this bible is an open acknowledgement of what linguists have always known, that to translate is always to interpret. This translation claims for its own the perspective of the poor.

The Christian Community Bible is the official bible translation of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, and yet sadly at least where we are it is hardly ever used in liturgy, imported American texts are easier to find and cheaper to buy.

In terms of creating a properly inculturated Filippino Church there is a long way to go, much only exist in the realms of theology and academic thought. The real challenge is to create authentically Filippino liturgy, hierarchical structures and grassroots practise. Perhaps the gradual collapse of the European church will be a good thing in this sense, our gradually decreasing relevance could be a real blessing for the Christianity of the poor.