FILIPINO SPIRITUALITY IN THE MIDST OF ASIAN PLURALITY A QUESTION OF CONTEXT By Victor Aguilan Silliman University Divinity School Dumaguete,

Philippine How do we do spirituality in our present context? I believe that doing theology or doing spirituality should be contextualized. It is not something we do apart from our experience (socio-cultural, socio-political, socio-economic and socio-ecological context). 1 To begin with I suggest that the hermeneutical principle recommended by SEAGST (South East Asia Graduate School of Theology) the Critical Asian Principle,2 be used in interpreting and understanding our spirituality. As currently applied, the Critical Asian Principle "seeks to identify what is distinctively Asian, and use this distinctiveness as a critical principle of judgment on matters dealing with the life and mission of the Christian community, theology, and theological education in Asia." SEAGST sets forth seven characteristics of Asia as a distinct region in which to do theology: 1. Asia has a plurality and diversity of races, peoples, cultures, social institutions, religions, and ideologies. 2. Most of the countries have had a colonial experience. 3. Most of the countries are in the process of nation-building, development, and modernization. 4. The peoples of this region want to achieve authentic self-identity and cultural integrity in the context of the modern world. 5. Asia is home of some of the world's great living religions, and these have shaped the culture and consciousness of most Asians, thus representing alternative ways of life and experience of reality. 6. Asian peoples are in search of a form of social order beyond the current alternatives. They are looking for a form of social order which would enable them and humankind to live together in dignity in a planetary world. 7. The Christian community is a minority in the vast Asian complex. The seven characteristics of Asia do apply to our Philippine context. There are now 80 million people living in this country, the Philippines. 3 Roughly 85% of the people are Roman Catholics, 7% are Protestants (including the Philippine Independent Church), and less than 4% are Muslims.4 We can see from these figures that people in the
Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology ( Revised and expanded ed., Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2002) 2 Critical Asian Principle from the Handbook , The Association for Theological Education in South East Asia and The South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, 2002-2003 (Philippines: ATESEA 2000) 3 National Statistics Office (NSO Press Release Number: 2001-30 Date Released: April 20, 2001) 4 In a total Philippine population of 60,559,116 in 1990, those who identified themselves as Roman Catholics numbered 82.9%, Muslims 4.57%, Aglipayans 2.6%, and Iglesia ni Kristo 2.3%. It would
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Philippines live in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. However, sad to say we have not live at peace with one another. We have witness intermittent conflicts between and among people who belong to diverse religions. Oftentimes, religions have aggravated some of these aged-old conflicts. For example, the conflicts in Mindanao have been portrayed as Christian-Muslim conflicts. In addition, Philippine society has to deal with the impact of globalization, such as budgetary austerity, deregulation, downsizing and privatization, higher taxes, currency devaluation to ensure our economic salvation. Even if these policies are causing untold human tragedy or not meeting human needs. In human terms, the following sectors are victimized and marginalized by the process of globalization:5 1) The displaced workers, who are victims of factory closures and various downsizing programs taking place across industries in response to the requirements of survival and competition; 2) The small income earners (small family businesses, farmers, fisherfolks, etc) whose real income or purchasing power has been eroded by price increases. 3) The growing army of unemployed and underemployed; 4) The informal sector in the urban center (urban poor) 5) The landless rural poor 6) The indigenous people and cultural minorities; 7) The returning migrant workers such as those coming from Hong Kong and the other crisis-ridden NICs in Asia, and 8) The women workers who have to attend to the requirements of work, home, and family. Some of the worst hit by the crisis are the home workers doing sewing and embroidery under subcontracting. 9) The youth and students whose future, are bleak because of unemployment and deteriorating earth environment. I would like to mention that many or the common analysis of Philippine society is limited to its socio-economic-political context. What is often neglected in social analysis of Philippine society is the cultural and religious dimension (theological and pastoral)

appear that those Filipinos who identified themselves as Protestant totaled some 5.79%. (Manila: National Statistics Office, 1992) p. 22. 5 Victor Aguilan, Globalization: A New Name for an Old Evil Silliman Ministry Magazine 66 December 2000

which could provide for us a more holistic view of Philippine society. 6 In the study of spirituality in Philippine context I think we need to see an important feature of Philippine religiosity which is indigenized Western Christianity both in its Catholic and Protestant form. Indigenized Western Christianity is characterized as having a Western institutional and doctrinal feature and an embedded feature of folk Christianity.7 Western institutional and doctrinal feature would include the following elements: Traditional doctrines (e.g. Trinity, sacrament, authority of the Bible) ordained ministry, westernized theological formation, demythologized beliefs, etc. While an embedded feature of folk Christianity would include folk Catholic practices (self-flagellation, adoration of Sto. Nino, Black Nazaren, Flores de Mayo, pabasa etc, latin incantation, power of religious relics as amulets.)8 and practices that are pre-Christian or indigenous religious practices such as belief in this worldly spirits (elemental or cosmic spirits) and people who could tap the power of these cosmic spirits through bargaining and negotiation. Some have theorized that even the Charismatic movement (El Shaddai) and Evangelical fundamentalism (JIL) have the same kind of features, Western and embedded folk Christianity. However these two features of Filipino indigenized Western Christianity lack integration in the present Filipino spirituality. This could be the reason why some scholars have described Filipino religiosity (spirituality) as split-level, syncretistic or Christo-paganistic. One of the most obvious impact of this non-integration is that ordinary Filipino Christians have become very reluctant to discuss the folk Christian practices openly with the institutional representatives. This silence also exists between seminary students and theological formators. This is a need to bring these two features of Filipino Christianity in the open and allow genuine dialogue to take place. That should be the first step However the challenge to us now is to grasp fully the multifaceted context of Filipino spirituality. We need to understand our Asian context, socio-political-economic context of our society and the uniquely Filipino indigenized Western Christianity.. Only then can we begin to appreciate and understand the context of Filipino spirituality.

October 23, 2004

Jos M. de Mesa, Theological Constants and Theological Reflection in the Pastoral Circle (unpublished paper, 2004)

Melba Padilla Maggay, Filipino Religious Consciousness: Some Implications to Missions, Philippine: Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC), 1999. 8 Protestants manifest this kind of belief when they consider the Bible as an amulet that would protect them from harm.