1
Indonesian Theology
1
General Characteristics
Indonesia is an archipelago of over 13,000 islands and at the commencement of the twenty-first century had a population of a little over 200 million. With 88% of the people adhering to Islam, Indonesia possesses the largest Muslim community anywhere.
With 9% of the population belonging to one of the Christian Churches - almost 6% Protestant, over 3% Catholic - Indonesia also has one of the larger Christian minorities of any Muslim country. With a Hindu and

2
Buddhist past which still shapes the cultural ethos of the Jawanese majority, and with some 350 languages and over 30 major cultural domains, Indonesia has chosen a apt and accurate national motto: bhinneka tunggal ika - unity in diversity. This rich diversity was suppressed during more than thirty years of military rule (1965/66-98). The long, hard road to a civil democracy is straining this diverse ethnic and religious patchwork to the limits. There is evidence of Christian communities on the coast of Sumatra in the 7th century and of a Franciscan mission in the 12th (Muskens 1972:19-40).
However, present day Indonesian Christian Churches date back to the Catholic and Protestant missions of the 16th,
3
and 17th centuries, and more particularly the missionary outreach of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The early Catholic evangelists were Portuguese the later ones Dutch. Protestant evangelists came from the Netherlands and Germany. Catholic and Protestant Churches in Indonesia had little contact with each other until the 1960s; theological collaboration commenced only in the last two decades of the twentieth century.
Bibliography
1972 Muskens,M. (ed.), Sejarah Gereja Katolik Indonesia (History of the Catholic Church in Indonesia), Ende: Arnoldus. Vol.I Umat Katolik Perintis (Pioneering
4
Catholic Communities, ca.645-1500) 421pp. + 30pp photos. Especially Y. Bakker, “Umat Katolik Perintis di Indonesia” pp.19-40 1993 End, Th. van den & Weitjens, J., Ragi Carita: Sejarah Gereja di Indonesia, II. th. 1860an - sekarang (The Leaven of Love: History of the Church in Indonesia II, 1860s to Contemporary times). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia. 1996 End, Th. van den & Weitjens, J., Ragi Carita: Sejarah Gereja di Indonesia, I th.1500-1860an (The Leaven of Love: History of the Church in Indonesia I, 1500-1869s). v-267pp.
2000 Steenbrink, Karel, Catholics in Indonesia 1808-1942. A Documented History Vol. I: A Modest Recovery 1808-1903. Leiden: KITLV Press. Cf. Chapter One
5
“Indonesian Conversions to World Religions prior to 1800". Includes extensive primary sources. 1.1. Brief Overview of the Cultural Context Similar to other regions of Southeast Asia Indonesia has an absorbent culture.
The past, including colonial history, is rarely rejected; it is taken on board on Indonesian terms.
6
Accepting whatever seems useful or appropriate, the resultant symbiotic culture - and therefore theology - consists of an ongoing synthesis. If the term does not repel, it is a living syncretism. This socio-cultural context is at the root of the earliest indigenous theologizing in the 19th century. However, since political independence traditional culture has often been viewed as an obstacle to progress, modernity and national development. Thus, 20th century Protestant theologians spoke of development (Leimena), of the Pancasila (Darmaputera) and of relations with Islam (Tanja, Sumartana).
However, the whole question of complex cultural identities re-emerged on the national scene during the increasingly centralized Soeharto regime (1966-98) and with
7
the onslaught of globalization. And so cultural rather than purely economic issues form the fertile soil for Catholic moderate liberationists as diverse as van Lith at the opening of the 20th century and Mangunwijaya and Banawiratma in its closing decades. The Catholic contextual philosophers Driyarkara, Magnis-Suseno and Sindhunata also work within a (Jawanese) cultural frame. The cultures of Jawa and Bali have a literary tradition, while the numerous ethnic cultures of the other islands are oral.
Precisely among these ethnic groups we find the largest Christian congregations - among the Bataks of Sumatra, the
8
Timorese, Florenese and Sumbanese of Nusa Tenggara, and the peoples of Ambon, Halmahera and West Papua. And among these Churches theology is also dominantly oral, that is, lived-out and passed-down in similar vein to the local culture. So far, virtually none of these oral, lived-out theologies of the ethnic Churches has been studied, despite the fact that many of the languages and cultural domains were researched early in the 20th century by missionary linguists, ethnologists and anthropologists. Most Christians belong to non-Jawanese ethnic groups. This is very much a question of power: The centre (Jakarta) verses the periphery (the outer islands).
9
The dramatic centralisation of the state under the aging Soekarno (1959-65) and throughout the Soeharto era (1965/66-98) marginalised local cultures and identities. Indonesian theologies voice these tensions between the oral periphery and the literary centre as well as between regional and national concerns.
Bibliography
1984 Latuihamallo, P.D., Wahono, S.W. & Ukur, F.(eds.), Tabah Melangkah (Stepping Forward Patiently). Book to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Jakarta School of Theology. Jakarta: STT.
1989 Banawiratma, J.B. & Jacobs, T., “Doing Theology with Local Resources”, East Asian Pastoral Review, 1:51-72.
10
1999 Pramudianto & Martin Sinaga (eds.) Pergulatan dan Kontekstualisasi Pemikiran Protestan Indonesia (The Wrestle and Contextualisation of Protestant Thinking in Indonesia. 17 Dies Natalis orations from the Jakarta School of Theology to celebrate their 65th Anniversary). Jakarta: STT, xxiv-493.
1.2. Brief Overview of the Theologians
Of the hundreds of hard-working teachers of theology, some of whom have published a sizeable corpus, little reference is found in this study.
This survey is limited to those who are doing theology creatively, conscious of the Indonesian context in all its
11
complexity. Often enough the more interesting writers are not professional theologians. Creative probing in the 19th century came from “untrained” first-generation laity (e.g. Sadrach). In mid 20th century contextual theologizing emerged from public figures such as Moelia, Leimena and Simatupang and during the last three decades from novelists such as Katoppo and Mangunwijaya. Simatupang is one of the more creative Protestant theologians to date while Mangunwijaya is one of the most imaginative Catholic thinkers.
Working among the literati or on the political stage, these innovative scholars prevented the seminaries from
12
simply servicing Churches for whom faith was primarily a private matter. This survey thus records the painful move from pietist churches preoccupied with building up self-reliant but inward-looking congregations, to socially-engaged churches who became active, even „moderately prophetic‟ witnesses in society. If Indonesian theology is late on the world stage, this is partly due to the fact that seminaries for too long interpreted their task as passing-on scientific theology in the western university tradition. Theology as praxis (systematic reflection upon ongoing involvement) still sits uneasily in most seminary syllabi.
Since the 1980s the Protestant and Catholic Faculties of Theology in Yogyakarta have collaborated in producing
13
more praxis-oriented courses in theology (Banawiratama 1989). In 1982 the Association of Protestant Schools of Theology (Persetia) prepared a moderately contextual course for consideration and use by its members. In 1994 Yogyakarta prepared the official undergraduate course of Catholic theology accredited by the government. Unsurprisingly, contextual theologians have been publishing in the national and regional press, unconfined by congregational strictures. Many of the more creative theological works consist of collections of such newspaper columns (e.g. Darmaputera 1977, Mangunwijaya 1999).
14
Here the theological language of the classroom has been replaced by a more everyday idiom and even trans-Christian discourse. Not the pious comments of a bystander or ivory tower academic, but the considered reflections of a person involved in the common struggle for dignity and freedom. Virtually all professional theologians are involved in congregational or wider forms of church leadership. And so, their theology surfaces not in large scientific tomes but as ongoing series of reflective responses to the felt and underlying needs of the congregation and of society at large.
This theologizing is very much a collective activity; writings are often the outcome of seminars, workshops and
15
study-projects. This is especially the case for women doing theology (Prasetyo Murniati 1990, Lumentut 1997, Lakawa 2000). Twenty-two of those surveyed are Protestants, nine are Catholic. The Protestant theologians hail from the whole spectrum of the Indonesian archipelago, from Ambon, Sulawesi, Timor, Sawu, Sumba, Bali, Kalimantan and Sumatra as well as from Jawa; they include a Chinese-Indonesian. Most of them are associated in some way with the Jakarta and Yogyakarta Schools/Faculties of Theology. Most are married although one of the women and one of the men have chosen a celibate life-way.
16
There are just four women including three Protestants two of whom are active as congregational leaders the other a free-lance novelist; the Catholic is a university lecturer, married and active in women‟s empowerment. All the Catholics but two are Jesuits and all but one are based in Yogyakarta, central Jawa. Seven of the Protestants are lay persons, while the Catholic entrants are ordained and therefore male celibates - except for the married woman.
1.3. Ecumenical and Professional Contacts
The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and World Council of Churches (WCC) have influenced the development of Protestant theology in Indonesia enormously.
17
If it were not for periodic bouts of tension between the CCA and Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) perhaps a more representative selection of Indonesian theology would b available in English. Beginning with the impact of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and continuing with the ongoing work of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) since 1970, and through the regular interchange of personnel through international Religious Orders, Catholic theologians have been exposed to trends and movements throughout the region and wider world. Outside contacts were one decisive way in which otherwise widely-scattered ethnic Churches in this vast archipelago were opened up to developments elsewhere.
18
And so local and national issues have always had to be thought through within a world-wide ecumenical frame.
Bibliography
? CCA. 1997 Banawiratma, J.B. (ed.), Gereja Indonesia Pasca-Vatikan II (The Post-Vatican II Indonesian Church), Yogyakarta: Kanisius. 1999 Alangaram, A., Christ of the Asian Peoples: Towards an Asian Contextual Christology Based on the Documents of the FABC. Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, xviii-223 + 8p index.
2000 Quatra, Miguel Marcelo, At the Side of the Multitudes: The Kingdom of God and the Mission of the
19
Church in the FABC Documents. Manila: Claretian Publications, x-234. Until the latter half of the twentieth century, there was no regular forum for theological discussion apart from synods and other ecclesial meetings. Unsurprisingly, until recently few theologians quoted each other. Given the dominance of Jawanese culture which prizes “harmony” over other values, few theologians have been willing to debate in public. In a minority Church unity is more important than theological dissension, prudence more central than the search for truth.
20
Perhimpunan Sekolah Teologi Indonesia - Persetia Association of Indonesian Theological Colleges - is a Protestant ecumenical professional body established on 27th October 1963. In 1982 it drew up a proposed syllabus for its members, which was accepted as an accredited course by the Indonesian government in the 1990s. Though having no organisational link with the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), in practice Persetia is PGI‟s professional theological partner. Through its regular Study Institutes it has encouraged professionalism, undertaken upgrading and inspired the growth of a more contextual theology among its members.
Persetia publishes the proceedings of its study institutes and theological symposia.
21
In the early 1990s a Theological Commission was established by the Catholic Bishops‟ Conference (KWI) to assist the bishops in their theological reflection upon current issues. The Commission, together with the Commission for Seminaries, established an association of Catholic theologians which met for the first time in 1998. The association has been tasked with developing contextual theologies. The Commission serves the bishops while the Association is a professional body.
Bibliography
? Persetia
22
2000 Banawiratma (ed.), (Reflections on violence and peacemaking by the Bishops‟ Theological Commission. Yogyakarta: Kanisus, . 1.4. Journals SERI PASTORALIA Founded as a bimonthly journal in 1937 Pastoralia developed into a book series in 1984. Practical and popular theology from Nusa Tenggara, Eastern Indonesia. Edited from Ledalero Seminary, Maumere 86152, Flores-NTT. Since 1989 published by Nusa Indah. Address: Pastoralia, Penerbit Nusa Indah, Jl. El Tari, Ende 86318, Flores-NTT, Indonesia.
BASIS since 1951. A bimonthly cultural journal founded by Dick Hartoko SJ, presently edited by Sindhunata SJ. Not theological but excellent for cultural & ethical
23
context. Address: Majalah Basis, Jl. Cempaka 9, Deresan,Kotak Pos 1299, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia. Email: <basis@yogya.wasantara.net.id> ROHANI since 1963. Monthly of spiritual and popular theology edited by the Jesuits. Address: Majalah Rohani, Jl. Cempaka 9, Deresan, Kotak Pos 1125, Yogyakarta 55011, Indonesia. Email:<office@kanisius.co.id> Home page: <www.kanisius.co.id> UMAT BARU since 1967. Bimonthly of practical theology edited by Catechetical Centre Yogyakarta. Address: Majalah Umat Baru, PusKat, Jln. Ahmad Jazuli 2, Yogyakarta 55224, Indonesia.
ORIENTASI began as a theological journal in 1969 and became an annual in 1987 (renamed ORIENTASI
24
BARU). Edited by the Jesuits in Yogyakarta. Address: Orientasi Baru, Jl. Cempaka 9, Deresan, Kotak Pos 1299, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia. Email: < GEMA DUTA WACANA since 1970. Biennial from the Faculty of Theology Duta Wacana University. Address: Gema Duta Wacana, Fak. Theoloia UnKris Duta Wacana, Jln. Dr. Wahidin 5, Yogyakarta 55224, Indonesia. SPEKTRUM since 1971. Quarterly journal of the Documentation Department of the Catholic Bishops‟ Conference. Contains reports, proceedings and some background theological material. Address: DokPen KWI, Jl. Cut Mutia 10, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia. Email: <dokpen10@ub.net.id>
25
PENINJAU since 1974. Theological quarterly edited by the Research Unit of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (Lembaga Penelitian dan Studi PGI). Address: PGI, Jl. Selemba Raya 10, Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia. FORUM BIBLIKA since 1991. Biblical theological biennial (not overtly contextual). Edited by the Indonesian Bible Society (LAI). Address: Forum Biblica, Jl. A. yani 90, Bogor 16161, Jawa Barat, Indonesia. Email <forum@alkitab.org> PENUNTUN since Oct.-Dec. 1994. Theological quarterly edited by the Synod of the Protestant Church of West Jawa (GKIJB). Address: Jl. Tanjung Duren Raya 4, Blok E, Lantai IV, Jakarta 11740, Indonesia. Email <
SETIA since 19?
26
SOPHIA: JURNAL BERTEOLOGI PEREMPUAN INDONESIA (Sophia: An Indonesian Women‟s Theological Journal). Launched in March 2000 by Perwati (Association of Women with Theological Education). Three times a year edited by Septemmy E. Lakawa from the Jakarta School of Theology. Address: Jurnal Sophia, Jl. Proklamasi 27, Jakarta Pusat 10320, Indonesia. Email: <perwatijkt@hotmail.com>.
1.5. Periods
We can divide theological development in Indonesia into four periods with some twentieth century theologians spaning more than one.
27
Each period is defined by key social and political issues as well as parallel changes in the evangelical and ecumenical landscape. The first phase runs from 1860 to 1910 (first generation religious-cultural synthesis in a colonial state); the second from 1911-45 (the impact of national awakening upon Christian self-awareness); the third from 1946-65 (beginning the task of doing theology in a newly independent nation in increasingly poly-centric Churches), and the fourth from 1966 to the end of the twentieth century (towards systematic, contextual theologies amidst the tensions and opportunities of religious pluralism and economic globalization).
While the earlier periods have been recorded only through the lenses of expatriate missioners, the latter periods are defined by the emergence of local and national
28
writers who took their more important themes from the national ecclesial and social context. The theology of the 19th century was spoken in Jawanese and recorded in Dutch. Twentieth century theology is written largely in Indonesian with some Dutch. Gradually, a corpus of work is appearing in English language publications, initially through thesis-writing and then through international colloquia. Thus, a bibliography confined to English and Dutch would not be representative of Indonesian theology. However, acknowledging the accessibility of the English language, wherever possible basic bibliographies at the end of each section refer to English language publications.
29
Those with a grasp of the Indonesian language should consult the more comprehensive Indonesian bibliography prepared by the author. 2 The Emergence of Written Theological Reflection in Indonesia ca 1860-1945 Theological reflection before 1945 comes from Christians without formal theological training.
While little of the theological reflections extant during the first sixty years (1860-1920) was published - or published only many years later - it was nevertheless influential in giving a basic direction to the theological assumptions of
30
both the Protestant and Catholic Churches until independence (proclaimed in 1945, legal settlement in 1949). The first professional voices in theology are heard only in the latter half of the twentieth century. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a renewed interest in the nineteenth century. 2.1. Early Echoes: 1860-1910 This was a turbulent period. There were continual revolts against the Dutch colonisers - Diponegoro (1825-30) in Jawa; the Padri revolt in West Sumatra (1834-37), guerilla campaigns in Aceh from 1870 onwards, Batak revolts in Sumatra (1880-1907), the pacification of Flores (1906-12).
31
The so-called “ethical policy” of the Dutch government of 1901 led to the “modernisation” of the colony of Indonesia. Large scale infra-structural projects disrupted village equilibrium, while the advent of schooling opened up the culture. In 1920 a mere 7.4% of the population was literate. However, in the mission churches there was no indication of the national awakening which was already occurring in Muslim circles. Cooperation between the various Protestant Churches is already apparent. There was little emphasis upon confessional creeds.
Written sources for the 19th century consist of diaries, letters and reports from expatriates within which are found
32
sermons, traditional tembang (sung or recited Jawanese poetry) in fragmentary form (Hoekema 1994/97:40-42). These in turn were incorporated into biographical or autobiographical sketches. In the twentieth century these sources are supplemented with the emergence of pamphlets (tracts) and (more or less) regular journals. This development assisted the transition from oral (contextual) theology to written “confessional” (western) theology.
Bibliography
1970 Kartodirdjo, Sartono, “Religious Movements of Java in the 19th and 20th Centuries.” Yogyakarta: Universitas Islam Indonesia, 22pp.
33
1985 Hoekema, A.G. “Developments in the Education of Preachers in the Indonesian Mennonite Churches”, MQR 59/4:398-409. 1994 Hoekema, Alle Gabe, Deken in dynamisch evenwicht: de wordingsgeschiedenis van de nationale protestantse theoogie in Indonesie (ca. 1860-1960). Goudstratt: Uitgeverij Boekencentrum, B.V. 314pp. Extensive bibliography. Indonesian translation (without bibliography) Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia 1997, 400pp. In the Protestant Churches four remarkable first-generation evangelists made creative attempts at spreading the Word in East and Central Jawa.
None of their work was published during their lifetime.
34
They were concerned with Jawanese mysticism (kebatinan), mythology and literary forms. Their teaching was both eschatological and moralistic. Catholics were not yet theologizing; they were busy recommencing their mission work after a three-hundred year ban.
2.1.1. Paulus Tosari (1813-82), East Jawa. Tosari was born in Kedung-Turi near Surabaya, East Jawa. After his baptism in 1844 he went to live in the Christian community of Mojowarno - an eerie place of ghosts and spirits; the ideal spot for a mystic.
Tosari was above all a catechist who spent his life teaching elders and new disciples through reciting or singing
35
his mystical-ethical poems (tembang) in the style of the Muslim santri a century earlier. His wisdom poems take up biblical figures, mostly from the Old Testament, as stepping stones to illuminate the characteristics and attitudes of a person of faith. His most famous poem-song is Rasa Sedjati (the most real and deepest meaning of life) probably composed in 1872 but published only in 1925 some 43 years after his death. (Last published in 1953 - some 22 songs, probably only half of the original total).
Tosari takes up Islamic mystical thought from East Jawa and also the pre-Islamic thought from the ancient Jawanese-Hindu literature such as the Sang Hyang Widi (The Highest Divinity that ensures the unity of the entire cosmos).
36
He seems to have avoided specifically Christian terms, even referring to churches as “mosques”. Jesus was rarely mentioned by name, but was revealed as djanma sampurna “the perfect human” . While pietism was dominant among the small first generation Christian community (brought by the Dutch and German missioners), Tosari insisted that the mystic was to live an ethical life. Madja Sir (1967) claims that these wisdom poems breathe an authentic biblical faith and admirably translate Gospel morals into the nineteenth century religious culture of East Jawa.
Bibliography
37
? Tosari, Paulus, “Ngelingake marang wong kang padha kaul, kanthi tembang asmaradana.” UB Leiden, L Or 11.648, 4p. (Jawanese) 1953 Tosari Paulus, Rasa Sedjati Pethikan saking Serat Rasa Sedjati, karanganipun Swargi Kyai Paulus, ing Tosari. Mendhet saking babon kini kanthi karesikaken. Probably composed in 1872. Jakarta: Taman Pustaka Kristen. (Jawanese) 1967 Mardja Sir, Kiayi Paulus Tosari (Pelopor Geredja Kristen Djawi di Djawa Timur) (Kiayi Paul Tosari: Pioneer of the Protestant Church in East Jawa). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia. 2.1.2. Asa Kiman (died 1892), East and Central Jawa.
38
In 1851 Asa Kiman went to Mojowarno where he worked for a few years with Paulus Tosari. About 1864 he moved to Semarang in central Jawa and died in 1892. Unlike Tosari he wore western clothes and his western ways were blamed for the people‟s resistence to Christianity. Later partly incapacitated, he spent his time writing Jawanese wisdom poems for recitation/singing.
Only one such poem Panggugh is extant (Legatum Warneranum , Leiden). Through his verses Asa invited his fellow Jawanese to live wisely. Gradually, verse by verse, hearers are brought to the person of Christ who is presented as nabi panutan (the prophet to be emulated). Christ‟s name is mentioned for the first time only in the fourth verse. Asa is thus much more didactic than Tosari.
39
He finds a place in the tree of history for Islamic and Hindu branches. If Tosari catechised his elders and disciples, Asa was evangelising the non-baptised. While Tosari sung the results of his own Jawanese-Christian mystical experience, Asa translated the message of the Western evangelists into Jawanese recitative poems.
Bibliography
1994 Hoekema, Alle Gabe, Deken in dynamisch evenwicht: de wordingsgeschiedenis van de nationale protestantse theoogie in Indonesie (ca. 1860-1960). Goudstratt: Uitgeverij Boekencentrum, B.V. 314pp. Indonesian translation without extensive bibliography - Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia 1997, 400pp.
40
2.1.3. Ibrahim Tunggul Wulung (ca. 1800-85), Central Jawa. Ibrahim Tunggul Wulung was born around 1800, probably on the north coast of central Jawa. He hailed from the ranks of the upper caste (priayi). For some years he lived as an ascetic on the slopes of Mount Kelud in East Jawa where he had a mystical conversion to Christianity. In 1853 he went to Mojowarno and a year later was baptised. Although some western evangelists were concerned with his lack of formal instruction in Christianity, Tunggul Wulung travelled the island of Jawa as a wandering evangelist, finally setting up his abode at Bondo, near the north coast, a sacred spot full of ghosts and spirits.
There he practised his mystical science (ngilmu) among a congregation of disciples.
41
They anticipated the coming of the Ratu Adil (mythical Just Ruler to end corruption and usher in an era of peace). The disciples became convinced that Tungguh Wulung himself would establish a kingdom at Bondo and they refused to take part in the forced-work projects of the colonial government. In his sixties Tunggul Wulung still walked from village to village and from town to town proclaiming the Gospel without receiving income from any source. (The walk from Batavia in the West to Semarang in the Centre took a good 25 days). His teaching was given in the form of prayers (the Lord‟s Prayer, the Apostles‟ Creed and other prayers were recited as mantras).
42
He interpreted the Gospel eschatologically - “How blessed are the meek (dispossessed) for you will inherit the earth.” He was convinced that Jawanese Christians would obtain self-autonomy. He gathered disciples into an eschatological community awaiting the coming of the Ratu Adil (the just ruler) while acknowledging the whole of humanity as the People of God. His Church can be understood as a nineteenth-century social protest movement, an expression of the social frustration and national hope of the colonised Jawanese. Thus, he combined within himself the stillness of the mystic and the dynamism of the social activist.
Unfortunately, only fragments of his writings are extant, largely in the letters, reports and diaries of Dutch evangelists.
43
The core of his evangelism was little different from the mysticism that he had taught on the slopes of Mount Kelud before his baptism: “don‟t murder, or steal, or commit adultery, that is, love your neighbour”. He did not look upon biblical stories, including the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, as primarily history so much as wisdom literature with hidden meanings that open up their treasure through ascetical practices. Thus, he had little problem in integrating Jawanese mysticism and Islam into his new-found faith. He claimed that every nation that became Christian must have its own acknowledged leaders.
44
It was wrong for the Jawanese to join with the European evangelists; they should become Jawanese Christians and seek out their own Christ.
Bibliography
1979 Hoekema, A.G., “Kyai Ibrahim Tunggul Wulung (c.1800-85), „een Javaanse Apollos‟”, NthT 33/2:89-110. 2.1.4. Sadrach Surapranata (1835-1924), Central Jawa Sadrach, born to a noble family about 1835, has been the object of some attention by scholars over the years. He comes from the north coast of central Jawa. He studied Islamic law and became a santri (teacher).
Through contacts with Mojowarno he met with Asa Kiman and later went to Bondo to meet Tunggul Wulung.
45
He stayed with Tunggul Wulung for some years before going his own way. In 1867 he was baptised in the Indische Kerk. Afterwards he went to East Jawa where he met Paulus Tosari in Mojowarno. In 1870 he decided to establish his own congregation in central Jawa, at Karangjoso - another sacred, eerie site. As a former santri he evangelised by engaging traditional Islamic teachers (kiyai) in debate. Such poetic dialogues were a key way of doing theology in Jawa in the nineteenth century. Social unrest including the then recent revolt of Diponegoro (1825-30) led to a rapid increase in his congregation.
Within a comparatively short time he built up a number of self-governing, self-financing and self-propagating
46
congregations decades before that became general policy from 1945 onwards. In old age, tired of continual conflicts with the Gereformeerd Church, he joined the Apostolic Church in which he was accepted as an apostle (Sumartana 1994:60-69).
Not a single writing survives from this remarkable evangelist. Sadrach almost certainly wrote a book on Church order, composed his own Book of Worship, prayers for private and congregational use, and a summary of Christian law and discipline. He paraphrased various parts of the Gospel, such as Mat 22:37-40 in tembang - song-poems.
47
We know of his work only through the writings of European evangelists. Unlike the upper caste mystic Tunggul Wulung, Sadrach was a person of the Book, an eloquent exponent of Scripture, a well-educated santri. Like Paulus Tosari, he called churches “mosques”; he also installed a wooden bedug to call people to worship and used the term imam for official ministers. Sadrach was convinced that there was no need to imitate European congregational order. Sutarman Partonadi (1988:224) is of the opinion that the term guru was at the heart of Sadrach‟s Christology. Jesus was the holy guru, who obeyed Allah‟s law to death.
He healed the sick and expelled devils.
48
We follow Jesus as guru and panutan (exemplar), the perfect one. Sadrach embraced wisdom from Jawanese culture, law from Islam while doctrinal content came from the Gospel. The first expatriate missioner to appreciate the Protestant Sadrach was the Jesuit van Lith (1924). Only in recent years are Tosari and Sadrach being acknowledged as the pioneers of a truly contextualised Christianity (Simatupang 1976:92-93). Sadrach was the last of the great nineteenth century evangelists who preached in an indigenous way.
Rapid economic development at the turn of the century and the national awakening from 1908 onwards - which emphasised the pivotal importance of formal education -
49
side-lined the life-style and evangelical methods of these mystical leaders. Ironically enough, when much later European evangelists finally began to speak of indigenisation, Indonesian evangelists had already become modern (western). The modernisation and later independence of Indonesia entailed leaving aside the “burden of tradition”.
Bibliography
1924 van Lith, F,: Kjahi Sadrach. Eene les voor ons uit de Protestantische Zending van Midden-Java. (Kyai Sadrach: A Lesson for us from the Protestant Mission
50
in Central Jawa.) From writings 1921-22. 77pp. (Translated into Indonesian by Weitjens SJ. In 1974) 1971 Rullmann, J.A.C. De Sadrach Christenen. Hun beekenis voor vandaag. Seri Allerwegen 2/3. 1976 Simatupang, T.B., “Dynamics for Creative Maturity”, in (ed.) G.H. Anderson, Asian Voices in Christian Theology. New York: Orbis, 87-116. 1981 Cuillot, C. L’Affaire Sadrach, Un Esai de Christianisation a Java au XIX Siecle, Paris: Archipel. (Indonesian trans. Kiai Sadrach. Riwayat Kristenisasi di Jawa, Jakarta: Grafiti Press, 1985.)
1990 Partonadi, Sutarman S., Sadrach’s Community and its Contextual Roots. A Nineteenth Century Javanese Expression of Christianity. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Amsterdam: Vrije Universitetit, PhD dissertation1988.
51
1994 Sumartana, Th., “The End of a Conflict: Sadrach and the Gereformeerde Mission”, in Mission at the Crossroads: Indigenous Churches, European Missionaries, Islamic Association and Socio-Religious Change in Java 1812-1936. Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, pp.60-67.
2.1.5. Distanced from Islam
52
Much of the oral theology in Jawa during the second half of the 19th century was didactic and moralistic. It had an immediate impact on daily life without causing dissension while leaving wider questions of religion to one side. The main partner in religious debate was Jawanese mysticism rather than Islam. Those outside Jawa had little direct contact with Muslims. Also, the colonial government censured anything that might give rise to interreligious tension. European evangelists were paid government employees.
The ecumenical seminary at Depok had its intake from ethnic areas where Islam was not dominant. Similarly, the journals Bentara Hindia, Djahaja Sijang and Penhentar (Ambon) had no Islamic background.
53
This oral “declamatory theology” was authentically Jawanese - in form, content and expression. It was an initial - later disbanded - effort by first-generation Protestant Christians to forge a local Christian identity. After 1910 Christian mission shifted from village to town, from traditional leadership to schools and formal teaching. From the fragmentary evidence available, it seems clear that little, if anything, of the social turmoil of the times is reflected in these writings. No evangelist proposed concrete social programmes in response to economic hardship or political repression.
54
Ecumenical cooperation (without Catholic participation) was more advanced in Indonesia than in the sending-Churches themselves - all the major evangelists knew each other and regularly communicated with each other. The seminary at Depok was ecumenical and the writings, tracts and journal it produced were free of denominational allegiance. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the contemplative life and the need for cosmic harmony are still in line with the cultural philosophy of Jawa.
Another nineteenth century theme - the Gospel and local customary law - is still a live issue with the ordinary believer, particularly outside Jawa.
55
Bibliography
1993 Steenbrink, Karel, “The Rehabilitation of Indigenous Teachers. A Survey of Recent Research on the History of Christianity in Indonesia”, Exchange, 22:250-63. 2.1.6. Francis George Joseph Van Lith (1863-1926), Netherlands and Central Jawa. Towards the end of this period the Catholic Church was re-founded in Central Jawa by Francis van Lith. Born on 17 May 1863, Francis van Lith came to Indonesia on 14 October 1896.
56
He died 30 years later in Semarang on 9 January 1926 and was buried in Muntilan where he had spent the latter part of his ministry. His grave has become a place of pilgrimage. Until his arrival, the Jesuit mission had not been successful (J. Weitjens, 1974:843-60).
From the beginning van Lith was aware that evangelization would depend upon his grasp of the Jawanese language which had not been used by Jesuits previously (they relied upon catechists as translators). After a year of language learning (1896-97) , van Lith moved to the village of Muntilan to deepen his knowledge of the language and culture of the people (1897-1904).
57
For four years he lived with poor villagers joining in their daily life, working in the fields by day and watching shadow puppet shows (wayang) at night. Unlike other missioners, he followed the local diet. He learned every level of the complex Jawanese language from everyday conversation to the wisdom of the then neglected ancient literature. Above all he learned to love the people. He appreciated their rich cultural heritage, and sympathized with their demands for national autonomy and eventual independence.
Today he is known as an emancipator of the Jawanese people: he emancipated their culture through formal education, he sided with political emancipation and sympathised with the nationalist cause, and he brought
58
about religious emancipation by explaining the Christian faith as the fulfilment of Jawanese religious experience. Only in 1922, towards the end of his life, did van Lith put his mission method into writing “mlebu ing omahe marasake sing loro lan ngandani keratoning Allah ono ing kowe” - “enter their houses, heal the sick and announce that the Reign of God has come”. This he translated as: enter the lives, culture and hearts of the people; share their concerns by lessening the burden of sickness and weight of suffering while sharing the people‟s joy and harmony. He was convinced that the Jawanese could commit themselves to Jesus Christ without in any way diminishing their cultural personality or national aspirations.
59
Given that “traditional” methods had failed, van Lith felt the need to begin anew and learn from trial and error. He challenged and changed the entire missionary method used by Catholics in Jawa until then. He learned his mission method from the people through nightly discussions during the initial years. Van Lith not only immersed himself in the life and culture of the people (“mamanggul” = “becoming one with them”), he also defended the rights of small scale farmers by buying back their mortgaged fields for them. Throughout his life he also kept good relations with the highest caste (ningrat) of Central Jawa, namely with the royal Sultans of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
60
He often overcame the oppression of the poor villagers by going on their behalf to Dutch colonial administrators or local Jawanese lords. The birth of the Catholic Church in Central Jawa can be dated to the baptism of four village heads on 20 May 1904 and more particularly to the baptism of 168 Jawanese at the ancient sacred spring of Sendangsono on 15th December by van Lith himself. Sendangsono has become the main pilgrimage centre for Jawanese Catholics. This Marian shrine has was rebuilt in the 1980s and 1990s by the political-mystic, novelist-architect Mangunwijaya.
Arriving when national awakening was about to happen, Van Lith became convinced that the high Jawanese
61
culture needed to be opened up to contemporary learning through schooling. In 1904 he founded the first teachers training school which supplied the staff for primary schools which were then being opened in the villages. Thus, he educated future leaders who could think for themselves, who could hold their own opinions and had the ability to mobilise others. Through the boarding house, they learnt to live as educated Jawanese Muslims and Christians. The school at Muntilan produced the first generations of Catholic intellectuals who later played their part in national life.
He founded and edited the journal “Jawi Seroja” from 1914.
62
Van Lith held that the Priyayi (upper caste) and Abangan (lower caste) Jawanese were not “book Muslims”. Their lives were much influenced by Jawanese mysticism and thus open to conversion to Christianity. From the mid-nineteenth century when Catholic missioners were once again allowed to enter the Dutch East Indies, Catholic Christians were confined to the expatriates and Chinese business communities in the large towns. Obviously, van Lith‟s re-founding of the Jesuit mission in Central Jawa was not immediately accepted by his fellow Jesuits.
63
Van Lith also pressured the Jesuits in opening the first school for candidates for the Catholic priesthood; which they did in Yogyakarta in 1922. He taught the Jawanese language to other Dutch Jesuits and had a considerable influence on the first generation of indigenous recruits, including the Sugijapranata, first Archbishop of Semarang, and Leo Soekoto, a former Archbishop of Jakarta. He initiated the policy of sending student missioners to Jawa where at a young age (late teens or early 20s) to learn the Jawanese and Indonesian languages and study for the priesthood among the people they would later serve. The last generation of this policy is still at work (see, Tom Jacobs & Franz Magnis-Suseno).
64
Van Lith took an active part in public life, reading papers at regional and national congresses and seminars on the subjects of Jawanese culture and national aspirations. He was appointed a member of the governing body of The Jawa Institute when it was founded in 1919. He was also appointed a member of the Education Board established by the Dutch authorities in 1918 and of the Peoples‟ Consultative Assembly from 1916.
If the four Protestant evangelists were concerned with expressing the Gospel they lived in Jawanese mystical form, then van Lith entered into the Jawanese culture and sought to liberate it through formal education infused with a national(list) horizon. In contemporary Catholic terms, van
65
Lith was both an inculturationist and a liberationist in his lived-out theological praxis.
Bibliography
1952 Rijckevorsel, L. van, Pastoor F.van Lith S.J., De Stichter van de Missie in Midden-Java; 1863-1926. Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Stichting St. Claverbond etc. 139pp. 1997 Klinken, Gerry van, “Power, Symbol and the Catholic Mission in Java: The Biography of Frans van Lith S.J.”, Docmentatieblad geschiedenis Nederlandse Zending en Overszeese Kerken, 4/1.
1997 Hasto Rosaniyanto Floribertus (19?-): Father Franciscus van Lith, SJ (1863-1926): Turning Point of the Catholic Church’s Approach in the Pluralistic
66
Indonesian Society. Extract of Doctoral Dissertation, Rome, Pontifical Gregorian University, 146pp. Includes 3 pages of manuscript sources from Indonesia, The Netherlands and Rome, one page of printed sources in The Netherlands and Rome and 26 pages of bibliography (pp.110-135). (Complete dissertation contains 363 pages of text.) 2.2. The Impact of the National Awakening and Independence 1910-45
2.2.1. Clearing the Deck: 1911-42
As with the rest of Asia during the first half of the twentieth century, Indonesia underwent a national
67
awakening with seismic shifts in the social, cultural, educational and political fields. The political movement for independence crystalized with the proclamation of independence in 1945, the war to retain independence (1945-49), and the international acknowledgement of Indonesia‟s independent political existence in December 1949.
Both Protestants and Catholics were somewhat ambiguous towards nationalist aspirations right until the Dutch were defeated by the Japanese in 1942.
Apart from the pietist and individualist spirituality of the sending-Churches which had little concern with societal issues, Indonesian Protestants felt a conflict of loyalties between the wider Christian world (western, including the
68
Dutch colonisers) and the nationalist sentiments mobilized by both secular and Muslim organizations. In the towns of Jawa the membership of congregations, both Protestant and Catholic, were usually dominated by Western expatriates and the Chinese-Indonesian minority. The latter kept out of politics while working for the rulers in trade and finance. The Dutch policy of dividing the islands and ethnic groups between different denominations, led to the growth of ethnic Churches with local rather than national concerns. For instance the Batak Churches in Sumatra, the Timorese, Florenese and Sumbanese Churches in Nusa Tenggara and the Churches of Halmahera, Ambon and North Sulawesi.
Regional seminaries taught along denominational lines with local issues in mind.
69
However a slow opening up was taking place. Local ethnic-based Churches began the process of regular contact and mutual influence. The Indonesian Protestant Churches entered the wider ecumenical movement, while Catholic Dioceses were serviced by expatriates, both priests and Sisters, who maintained continuous contact with their international missionary orders. It has to be noted that the ecumenical and national voices of the graduates from the Depok Seminary were heard only after the Dutch were defeated in 1942. Theology was still largely western. No Indonesian graduate theologians were heard during this period.
70
A clear Indonesian identity had yet to surface. While much oral theology continued at the grass-roots level, little has been investigated to date. There were no overt polemics, either narrowly denominational, anti-Protestant/Catholic or anti-Muslim. The Protestant emphasis was upon replacing the dependent missions with self-sufficient Churches led by local personnel, while Catholics were busy baptising new members and building up a local clergy. Virtually the whole island of Flores with - at mid-twentieth century - a population of half a million was baptised between 1920 and 1960. In the Protestant Churches there was the first organized attempt to publish theology in the Indonesian language by the Komisi Lektur in the 1920s.
71
Paulus Tosari‟s work was published but not that of Sadrach.
Perhaps due to the ethnic base of most Churches in this vast archipelago, and because of language problems (Dutch, many local languages and Malay/Indonesian), the Protestant Churches of Indonesia were late on the wider ecumenical stage. However, they proved themselves more ecumenical and less denominational than their partners in the Netherlands and Germany. Ecumenical involvement began with the visit of John Mott to Indonesia in 1926 and the subsequent presence of T.S.G. Moelia at Jerusalem in 1928.
Theologians struggled with problems about local customary law, with the first generation of ordained
72
Indonesian presbyters, and with the history of confessional Churches (the emerging question of identity). Some Indonesians were already taking more positive stances towards customary law than their expatiate colleagues. Catholics studied the local languages, producing dictionaries and ethnological accounts of the peoples with whom they worked. Although they brought with them the neo-scholastic theology prevalent in Catholic Europe, nevertheless cultural understanding led to much unofficial adaptation. All Churches retained a deafening silence on Islam the religion of over 80% of Indonesians. Regular Protestant-Catholic contact began only in the mid-1960s.
Bibliography
73
1958 Kraemer, H. From Mission Field to Independent Church. The Hague. 2000 Steenbrink, Karel, Catholics in Indonesia. Vol.II: 1904-42. Leiden: KITLV Press. Including extensive primary documentation.
2.2.2. Japanese Occupation - A Defining Experience: 1942-45
In March 1942 Japan invaded Indonesia and within a short time occupied the islands some of which had been colonised informally (VOC) and more formally by the Dutch for over 300 years.
74
Understandably, many local Church leaders collaborated with the Japanese occupiers. However, many teachers, presbyters and Church members showed their metal. For all Churches, the three-year occupation marked a short, sharp transition to adulthood. In 1939 all the German Protestant and Catholic evangelists were interned. In 1942, with the coming of the Japanese, it was the turn of the Dutch. While the Protestant Churches already had elders and councils and synods in place, the Catholic Churches only now allowed (lay) village catechists and primary school teachers to take over the (temporary) running of the Parishes.
75
The Churches - without much preparation - were on their own. A few ordained Japanese, both Protestant and Catholic, were brought in by the occupiers. While no theology was published during this period, the experience of having to stand on ones own feet was a major contribution to the later maturing of theology in an independent Indonesia. Sermon notes, diaries and reports from the villages and congregational leaders of all Churches have yet to be collected, organised and made available to research. Emergent leaders at local level together with the young graduates began to “do theology” on their own for the first time.
76
Since the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 the Protestant Churches in Indonesia had been accelerating their self-reliant policy. School boards and Church bodies still in Dutch hands were handed over. Overnight, finance had to be found locally. There was also help from the International Missionary Council. No such policy existed in the Catholic Church at that time. A few key nationalist figures were Christians - in the revolutionary army (Simatupang), air force (Adisucipto) and the provisional government during the war of independence (prime minister Sjarifoeddin).
77
Theological reflections on the Japanese occupation have been done by T.B. Simatupang (1972) and Fridolin Ukur (1982). Protestant Christians in Indonesia were forced to shift from an self-understanding of themselves as objects of mission to become adult members of partner Churches. Regional cooperation between different denominations was forced. However, without a strong theological foundation, this somewhat forced ecumenism discontinued after independence, and denominations once again took centre stage.
Two decades further on, this experience was seen as valuable. On the Catholic side, expatriate missioners with the first generation of Indonesian clergy took over the leadership of local congregations once again from the hands
78
of the lay catechists and teachers. Experience of self-reliance during the Japanese occupation had to be stored in the archives of popular memory until after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) when the clerical hierarchical Church began to move in a more inclusive and synodal direction.
Bibliography
1967 Tan Tiat-Han, “The Attitude of Dutch Protestant Missions toward Indonesian Nationalism 1945-49". Ann Arbor: Princeton University. PhD thesis. 396pp.
79
1972 Simatupang, T.B., Report from Banaran: Experiences during the People’s War. New York: Ithaca. 1974 Muskens, M. (ed.), Sejarah Gereja Katolik Indonesia (History of the Catholic Church in Indonesia), Ende: Arnoldus. Vol.IIIa (Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi-Maluku, Irian Jaya) pp.1-713, & Vol.IIIb (Jawa, Nusa Tenggara) pp.719-1593. 1982 Ukur, Fridolin, “A Brief History of the Churches in Indonesia”, CTC-Bulletin 3/2:3-11.
2.2.3. Amir Sjarifoeddin
Amir Sjarifoeddin was a Christian nationalist. He accused the Churches leaders of not preaching on the socio-political role of the prophets during colonial days.
80
His fiery political speeches were redolent with biblical quotes. Briefly prime minister, he was involved with negotiating a peace deal with the Dutch. However, when the Dutch broke the agreement in 1948 he joined forces with the communist party. With the abortive communist Madiun revolt in September the same year, he was condemned to death.
Bibliography
1928 Sjarifoeddin, Amir, “Het Rassenprobleem in Ned. Indie.” In Mirabile Lectu. Orgaan van het Haarlemsch Gymnasium 4/1-2.
1941 Sjarifoeddin, Amir, “Soesoenan Masjarakat dan Perang” (The Ordering of Society and War), Semangat Baroe, 1/28, 29, 30.
81
1942 Sjarifoeddin, Amir, “Menoedjoe kedjemaat Indonesia asli” (Towards An Indigenous Indonesian Congregation). In Boekoe Peringatan Hari Djadi Isa Al-Maseh (Book to Commemorate the Birth of Jesus the Messiah), 6-8. 3 Indonesian Theologians Find their Voice ca. 1945-65
3.1. Establishing a Modern Nation: 1945-65
Independence was proclaimed on 17th August 1945.
The ecumenical seminary in Jakarta reopened in 1946 and in 1954 was officially accepted by the Council of Churches.
82
A narrowly biblical and ecclesial syllabus still obtained. Only in the 1960s did the seminary became an accredited Graduate School of Theology with clear entrance requirements. In the 1940s and 50s various Protestant Churches opened regional schools of Theology, in Macassar (South Sulawesi), Kupang (Timor), Tomahon (North Sulawesi), Pematang Siantar (Sumatra) and Abepura (West Papua). The Catholic Church also established regional seminaries to complement the seminary at Yogyakarta in Central Jawa (1925/36) and Ledalero Seminary in Flores (1937).
During the 1940s and 1950s seminaries were opened at Malang (East Jawa), Bandung (West Jawa), Pematang
83
Siantar (Sumatra), Peneleng (Sulawesi) and Abepura (West Papua). In the late 1960s and early 70s both Protestant and Catholic Seminaries became Graduate Schools accredited to the Education Department of the Government. Many have since become faculties in Protestant or Catholic Universities. There was a great increase in publications. Since the 1920s the Catholic publishers Kanisius (Jawa, 1922) and Arnoldus-Nusa Indah (Flores, 1926) have produced a large range of popular theology whose content had become increasing biblical from the late 1950s onwards.
In 1950 an Emergency Committee led to the founding of Badan Penerbit Kristen (the name of “Gunung Mulia” was
84
added to BPK in 1967) in Jakarta. This ecumenical-Reformed Church publisher produced between 17 and 41 books and pamphlets a year between 1950-60, each edition with between 3,000 and 10,000 copies. The Protestant Indonesian Bible Society (LAI) was founded in 1954, the Catholic Biblical Institute (LBI) a decade later. A new, ecumenical translation of the Bible was instigated and published in 1963 and later accepted by the Catholic Church. By the 1960s all these bodies were in Indonesian hands and not only published translations, but also an increasing number of original works.
85
Protestant, Catholic and more recently Ecumenical Commentaries on the New Testament were published from 1960 onwards; and on the Old Testament from 1963. Theology began to emerge as a professional discipline. Nine Protestant Indonesians received doctorates between 1945-60, all overseas; seven of them graduates of the Jakarta School of Theology. Three were on ecclesial subjects, one on the local religious situation, two on religious freedom with the state Pancasila ideology as background, and two on Church and society. The national ideology of Pancasila was a central focus.
Also the unity of the Church is linked to the unity of the nation (then in the process of consolidation with separatist
86
movements still active in Sumatra and Sulawesi while West Papua was still under the Dutch). Customary law, Jawanese mysticism and the Bible all get theological attention. There was still very little on Islam. However, the first systematic theology was finally emerging. Among the Protestant Churches the Council of Churches in Indonesia (DGI) played and continues to play a pivotal role. The Ambon Assembly in 1984 renamed DGI the Communion of Churches in Indonesia or PGI. At its inception in 1950 there were 29 member Churches, in 2000 the total had reached 70.
87
Many of the Protestant scholars in this study held (or still hold) positions in the PGI central executive. They include T.S.G. Moelia, T.B. Simatupang, Fridolin Ukur, Augustina Lumentut, Marianne Katoppo, Th. Sumartana and Andreas A. Yewangoe. The influence of the wider ecumenical movement became more central through the aegis of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA). The theological contribution of Indonesia remained minimal.
In 1924 the Catholic bishops of Indonesia held their first meeting, the second a year later.
Irregular meetings followed. Not until 1955 did the bishops establish a National Conference (MAWI, later renamed KWI). Pope John XXIII officially established the
88
Indonesian hierarchy in 1961 since when the bishops have met annually. Theologians in this study associated with the bishops‟ conference are Robert Hardawiryana, Tom Jacobs, Franz Magnis-Sueseno and J.B. Banawiratma. The first generation of Protestant theologians (until ca.1965) achieved prominence and facility in theology through becoming outstanding church leaders - not through accredited schools. The second generation is more in tune with the need for a thoroughly academic grasp, method and approach (from ca.1965 onwards).
Catholic contextual theology has built upon the pioneering breakthrough of educators such as van Lith and
89
the ground-breaking work of contextualised philosophers such as Diryarkara.
Bibliography
1974 Muskens, M. (ed.), Sejarah Gereja Katolik Indonesia (History of the Catholic Church in Indonesia), Ende: Arnoldus. Vol.IIIb. Cf. “Majelis Agung Waligereja Indonesia” (The Bishops‟ Conference of Indonesia) pp.1433-1518. 1985 Hoekema, Alle Gabe, “Dissertations by Protestant Theologians in Indonesia - a Short Bibliographical Review” Exchange No.42:35-57. (Of the 41 theses, 12 were completed before 1965.)
90
1990 Pattiasina & Sairin (eds.) Gerakan Oikoumene: Tegar Mekar di Bumi Pancasila (The Ecumenical Movement: Convincing Expansion in the Land of Pancasila. Commemorating 40 years of the establishment of the National Communion of Churches). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xvii-415. (third printing 1997).
3.2. Opening Horizons: Lay Theologians take centre stage
Three lay theologians active during the colonial period played central roles in the Protestant Churches during the first decades of Indonesia‟s independence.
91
3.2.1. T.S.G. Moelia (1896-1966), North Sumatra and Jakarta.
Todung Soetan Goenoeng Moelia was born on 21st January 1896 at Padangsidempuan in the Batak Angkela region of North Sumatra. He was one of the first Protestants to outline a (necessary) role for Christians in the rapidly developing nationalist movement(s). A quiet, energetic and creative person, he trained as a teacher in Indonesia and the Netherlands (1919-22). Later studying law, geography and anthropology (1929-34), he obtained his doctorate in the latter science in 1933. A voracious reader he became extremely versatile in mission theology, politics and economics.
92
Moelia‟s encyclopaedic knowledge resulted in his being chosen to co-edit the monumental Ensiklopedia Indonesia after independence. A member of the Peoples‟ Assembly during Dutch times from 1921-29 and 1935-42, he can be described as a cautious nationalist, ready to work with the Dutch for increasing autonomy and eventual independence.
Moelia was the first Indonesian to participate in the wider ecumenical movement, attending Jerusalem in 1928 and, with other Indonesians, Tambaram in 1938. For almost two years he edited the journal Zaman Baroe (New Times). In his writings before the Japanese occupation Moelia introduced fellow Protestants to developments taking place in other Asian Churches.
93
An educationalist himself, he wrote that absence of such developments in Indonesia was caused by lack of leadership. He was convinced that leadership should be handed over to Indonesians in the shortest possible time. This in turn necessitated collaboration between all the local (ethnic) Churches for which he struggled on returning from Jerusalem 1928. Moelia rote extremely cautiously in the field of social justice. On this issue and on the question of colonialism, he received no backing from the western leadership in the Protestant Churches.
In his anthropological dissertation in Leiden Het primitieve denken in de moderne wetenschap (1933), opposing
94
the then popular theory of L. Levy-Bruhl, Moelia claimed that the Indonesian “inductive-realistic” way of thinking was equally capable of intellectual achievement as any other nation, given the necessary knowledge and experience. This, among others, was the task of the Churches and their schools. Never formally trained in theology, Moelia greatly influenced the development of Protestant theology as an academic science. During the first years of Independence, he was the prime-mover behind the upgrading of the Jakarta School of Theology, in the founding of the National Bible Society (LAI) and the Christian University in 1954.
He was largely instrumental in the formation of the Council of Churches in Indonesia (DGI) in 1950 and was its
95
president for the first six years (1950-56), playing a decisive role during the National Assembly of 1956, speaking on stewardship. He himself received a doctorate honoris causa from Vrijie Universeit Amsterdam in October 1966 just a month before his death in the same city. The major Protestant publisher BPK added the name “Gunung Mulia” to its title in 1967. A dozen of Moelia‟s publications are available, eight in Dutch and four in Indonesian.
Bibliography
1928 “Perhoeboengan Geredja Lama dan Geredja Baroe” (The Relationship between the Old and the New Church), Zaman Baroe, 11/46, 26 June.
96
1933 “Het primitieve denken in de moderne wetenschap.” Doctoral thesis, Leiden. 1935 “Leiderschap”, Eltheto. Maandschrift der N.C.S.V., 89/9:261-265.
3.2.2. Johannes Leimena (1905-66), Ambon and Jakarta.
Hailing from Ambon, Johannes Leimena was brought up in the capital, Jakarta. He was active in Christian youth organisations such as WSCF, and helped to found the Indonesian SCM. He participated at Tambaram in 1938. Leimena worked as a medical doctor in West Jawa (1930-41) obtaining his doctorate in 1939.
97
After interment by the Japanese for six months, he worked with the underground. He took part in the International Round Table Discussion at the Hague which resulted in the constitutional acknowledgement of Indonesia‟s independence (1949).
In 1927 Leimena wrote on the conditions of workers and what should be done (in Zaman Baroe). He also wrote on the health of the nation and medical ethics. In true Karl Bathian style, he saw the alleviation of injustice and sickness as the announcement of the grace and love of God.
He worked tirelessly for ecumenism among the Protestant Churches and in the nation as a whole (where
98
hundreds of ethnic groups were uniting into a single nation) and internationally (breaking down walls of misunderstanding). He was against an ecumenical “monolithic” Church, but envisioned a federal Church in the future: A Dutch Church, a Chinese Church, an Indonesian Church. All this without a formal theological education. Leimena was President of the Christian Political Party (Parkindo). From 1946 to 1956 he was a member of most cabinets - as minister for health, for social services, and finally as assistant prime minister.
The main theme of his life was social justice. He threw himself into the nationalist movement, but with a clear Christian identity. He saw the (ecumenical) Churches as the
99
place where the best can be drawn out from each cultural and national grouping and where they can be united. Some years before Barth (1946), Leimena spoke of the (creative) tension between the supra-nationalism of Christianity and nationalist aspirations. After independence he took up the pen to fight against Darul Islam, communism and separatism (daerahisme - literally “localism”). To this end he accepted the Pancasila as a unifying concept and force (1956). He worked for self-reliant Churches which would be an activating yeast in the village community development.
Promoting cooperatives he also concerned himself with local culture especially music.
100
He worked tirelessly to open up narrow horizons. His theology is laid out in his book Kewarganegaraan jang Bertanggungdjawab (1955), while continuing to write on social justice issues, as well as on health and health ethics. While others retained a deafening silence, Leimena concerned himself with the treatment of detained “communist suspects” after the Soeharto coup in 1965/66. The central concern of his life was with issues of Church and Society: if the Church refused to read the signs of the times, it would be vomited out of the mouth of God. J. Leimena the only person to speak of Church and State at the inauguration of the Council of Churches in 1950, of which body he became President in 1956.
101
As parliamentary democracy was replaced with Soekarno‟s “guided democracy”, so the Christian debate honed in upon the kind of state they wished to live in. Pragmatically he accepted the Pancasila state: neither Muslim nor secular-communist. Leimena and others wrote against communism and were fearful of secularism. He worked for the Jakarta Graduate School of Theology. Leimena has published eight books and a dozen articles of which 5 are in Indonesian, 5 in Dutch and two in English.
Bibliography
1935 “Nationalistische stroomingen in Nederlands Indie”, Eltheto, 90/6:222-228.
102
1941 “De Ontmoeting der rassen in de Kerk” De opwekker 87/12:626-635. 1955 Kewarganegaraan yang Bertanggungdjawab (Responsible Citizenship). Jakarta: BPK, 32pp. Expanded and republished 1980. 1956 “Gereja di tengah-tengah krisis dunia dan krisis di Indonesia” (The Church in the midst of the World Crisis and the Crisis in Indonesia. Talk at the 1955 Maluku Synod). In Bentuk Negara jang kita Kehendaki (The Type of State that we Hope For). 27pp.
103
3.2.3. Tahi Bonar Simatupang (1920-90), North Sumatra and Jakarta.
Simatupang was born during the first month of 1920 in the Toba Batak region of North Sumatra, home to the largest regional (Lutheran) Reformed Church in Indonesia. He joined the Dutch colonial army and graduated from the Royal Military Academy of Bandung in 1942. Captured by the Japanese as they invaded later that year, Simatupang subsequently joined the Indonesian nationalists. After the proclamation of independence in 1945, the Indonesians had to defend their newly-proclaimed state against the returning Dutch.
104
Simatupang was made responsible for the development of a single army from the disparate guerrilla groups divided ethnically and ideologically. He succeeded. Simatupang was appointed to the cabinet as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (July 1951). Disagreements with the President led to his demotion in 1954; five years later he was pensioned off at the age of 39. His frame of thought was formed by his responsibilities during the revolutionary war and in the early cabinets that kick-started national development (1988). He then threw all this experience into work for the Churches, becoming in the process one of the more original theological thinkers of his generation.
105
Simatupang wrote extensively on national development founded upon the Pancasila with all its ethical, interreligious and ecumenical implications. Active in the Church and Society division of the WCC, he chaired its 1966 Conference and was appointed a member of the Central and executive Committees of the WCC at Uppsala in 1968. A President of the Council of Churches in Indonesia, he also served on the board of the Christian University, and was a consultant to the CCA becoming its Chairperson and President in 1973. Ideological tensions were ever present from 1950-65 due to the twin poles of communism and militant Islam.
106
Simatupang claimed that the Church needed to become ecumenical in order to counter the ethnic composition of most local Protestant Churches. If not, then the ethnic Churches would enter their individual, static, silent ghettos. Thus the “double wrestle” that the Church must engage in is with God and culture (society). He did not see the necessity of Christians working only through Christian bodies, such as the Protestant Political Party. Exclusively Christian bodies would lessen the Church‟s role as salt and light. Simatupang felt it vital that the Churches move from a position of weakness and isolation to the centre of society.
107
To this end he worked for 30 years. His key phrase was that the Churches should engage in society, “positively, creatively, critically and realistically” - which terms were adopted by the First Church and Society Conference in 1962 and by the Fifth Assembly of the Council of Churches two years later. For Simatupang salvation history encompasses both the Church and nation; and the two histories are already converging. The Churches need to reread their history using both theocentric and Indonesia-centric paradigms. Simatupang has published 18 books and booklets including two in English and one in German and some 40 articles of which 10 are in English and two in German.
108
Bibliography
1969 “The Situation and Challenge of the Christian Mission in Indonesia Today” Southeast Asian Journal of Theology, Vol.10, No.4:10-27.
1985 “Christian Presence in War, Revolution and Development: The Indonesian Case” The Ecumenical Review, Vol.37:75-83. Also in (ed.) Roger L. Shinn, Church and Society: Ecumenical Perspectives, Essays in Honour of Paul Abrecht. Geneva: WCC. 1988 “The East-West Tension, the North-South Imbalance - and JPIC?”, The Ecumenical Review, Vol.40/3:399-402.
1996 The Fallacy of a Myth: Tracing the experiential Significance of an Army Officer belonging to the Generation of Liberators for the Future of Indonesia
109
(English translation of “Membuktikan Ketidakbenaran suatu Mitos...), Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, xv-252pp.
3.3. Professional Scholars take up the Challenge
3.3.1. Johannes L.Ch. Abineno (1917-95), Timor and Jakarta.
Johannes Abineno was born in Timor in 1917 and died 1995. He studied the history of liturgy for his doctoral thesis (Utrecht 1956). When Indonesia was under the VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) liturgy was totally foreign as the local Church had to follow the “mother” Church in the Netherlands.
110
In 1935 the Protestant Church in Indonesia achieved independence from the Sending-Churches of the Netherlands. For the first time, the Churches in Indonesia were free to arrange their liturgy without government interference and without interventions from the Dutch Sending-Churches. After 1945, liturgy began to change following changes taking place in the Netherlands where there was a return to the classical patterns of the “apostolic” Church. According to Abineno‟s thesis, what was needed was not so much this “diachronic” ecumenism across the centuries so much as synchronic ecumenism, especially within Asia.
111
Many biblical terms are congruent with the cultures of Indonesia. For instance Abineno saw the sermon as an exorcism, the driving away of evil spirits (Eph. 6:12). For the whole of his long productive life, Abineno viewed liturgy as primarily proclamation and mission: worship is missio. His thesis was published in Indonesian as an ongoing series of pamphlets and short books. All these are concerned with living issues in Indonesia. He built up a seminary theology geared to the needs of the congregation. His hopes that the Reformed Church in Timor (GMIT) would put aside their Dutch heritage and work out Timorese patterns of liturgy was not realised.
112
The Western tradition was too strong; Church members were afraid of change. Abineno came to realise that liturgical change had to come from the grass-roots. Meanwhile, the Church itself was becoming increasingly hierarchical in line with the general drift of national affairs which was moving away from parliamentary democracy (1950-59) to the Soekarno‟s “Guided Democracy” (1959-65) which achieved its apotheosis in Soeharto‟s military-fascist state (1966-98). In the 1980s the new hymnal Kidung Jemaat (1986) contained 100 Indonesian hymns out of a total of 478.
Abineno moved to Jakarta to work with the Council of Churches, becoming its President.
113
Since then he taught at the Jakarta Graduate School of Theology. He is the most productive Indonesian theologian to date (see extensive bibliography), writing books and pamphlets on virtually every aspect of congregational life. He is an important practical theologian, providing the Graduate Schools and Congregational leaders with handy guides to every aspect of their work. Abineno is kerugmatik and strong on history although for him western models of research and theology are still the norm.
He is an important transitional theologian, placing an open-ended western practical theology in the hands of the Reformed Churches, providing some of the biblical and
114
historical tools for a later Church to take up in a more clearly Indonesian manner. Most Church leaders needed small, concise practical booklets; these Abineno supplied in abundance - Bible commentaries, a Church history, guides to congregational worship and leadership writing on all aspects of practical theology. J.L. Ch. Abineno‟s is a biblically based theology of witnessing, which accepted the Pancasila as the meeting point for all Indonesians in the political sphere. He is strong on worship in the New Testament and the early Church.
He viewed liturgical renewal as an attempt to free worship for mission (e.g. worship in the family / family
115
groups, two-way sermons, openness of worship to the apostolate). A prolific writer, Abineno has published 72 books and booklets as well as numerous articles, all in Indonesian. Bibliography. 1956 Liturgische vormen en patronen in de Evangelische Kerk op Timor. Proefschrift Utrecht, 155pp. 1964 “Patterns of Liturgy” Southeast Asian Journal of Theology Vol.6:56-68. (Translation of booklet 1963) 1968 Sekitar Theologia Praktika (On Practical Theology), Jakarta, BPK, 2 volumes. 1975 Roh Kudus dan PekerjaanNya (The Holy Spirit and His Work), Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 159pp.
116
1981 Apa Kata Alkitab? (What Says the Bible?), Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, Seri Gereja dan Theologia, 5 volumes.
3.3.2. Peter D. Latuihamallo (1918-), Jakarta.
Peter D. Latuihamallo was active in public life as a member of parliament in the early days of independence in the 1950s. Having obtained his doctorate in 1959 he was appointed rector of the Jakarta Graduate School of Theology where he was still working with post-graduate students in 2000. In the 1980s he served as President of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia.
117
As Indonesia embarked upon independence, Latuihamallo formulated three major theological challenges. Firstly, the challenge of Islam which Christians needed to understand in the light of God‟s will. Secondly, he claimed that rapid development demanded courage to reformulate the faith. And thirdly, he saw that if Christians encounter Islam at depth while reformulating their faith for changing times, then a total renewal of the Church will be required.
Latuihamallo was the first Indonesian to discuss the work of Kraemer critically (1959).
Latuihamallo discussed Indonesian mysticism, magic and syncretism, and the penetration of western ways into the cultures of Indonesia.
118
He wrote on the influence of nationalism and the problem of adaptation. He was more positive than Kraemer about nineteenth century Christian writings in Indonesia which he regarded as first attempts to explain the core of the Christian faith in a systematic way. He surmised that Asian religions are tolerant only in their opinions; they are usually intolerant as social institutions when public roles are given religious motivation. For Latuihamallo, Christian tolerance is motivated by the biblical patience of God. In this regard he looks at God‟s relation to the Hebrew people in the Bible - one of the few Indonesians who has considered the Hebrew People at any length.
119
The contextual consequence of theological obedience: Christ Himself is the final authority; confessions of faith and all ecclesial traditions are secondary. On both biblical and pragmatic (the pluralistic situation in Indonesia) grounds we need a strong, united Christian Church. Only then will others change their attitude towards Christians. The proclamation of the Word is primary, and all church institutions serve this end and can and should change. While Latuihamallo generally follows Kraemer in his theology of religions, he brings out the role of the Holy Spirit more thus opening up Kraemer‟s closed Christocentrism.
120
He questions rather than gives complete answers to major issues such as the work of the Trinity in cultures and national development outside the Church. For Latuihamallo Church disunity is due to non-theological factors, in particular to the existence of ethnic Churches with strong local linguistic and cultural identities as well as to the different (denominational) sending-churches. For too long these ethnic/denominational Churches were geographically isolated. However, he was sure that non-theological factors could also contribute to Church unity, in particular nationalism and the status of Christians as a minority.
121
Latuihamallo emphasises that spiritual unity in Christ already exists; what is needed is unity in organisation. He has published three books and over 20 articles including 7 in English and one in Dutch.
Bibliography
1959 Church and World: a Critical Study about the Relation of Church and World in the Writings of Hendrik Kramer. New York. 1968b “Missiology and Politics: Christian Alertness in Indonesia” Southeast Asian Journal of Theology, Vol.10/2-3:99-131.
1974 Theological Education Come-of-Age in Southeast Asia - Percakapan dengan Kosuke Koyama (A
122
conversation with Kosuke Koyama.) Jakarta: STT (Theological Academy) 20pp. 1980 “Methodological Significance of Context: Illuminating it from Sociological, historical, cultural, economic, political and theological perspectives in Asia.” Southeast Asian Journal of Theology, Vol.21:07-18. 1982 “God in a Developing Plural Society: The Indonesian Experience.” Southeast Asian Journal of Theology, Vol.23:93-102.
3.3.3. Nicolaus Driyarkara (1913-67), Yogyakarta, Central Jawa.
If van Lith (re-)founded the Jesuit mission in Central Jawa according to clear cultural and educational principles
123
(1896-1926), then Diryarkara - one of the first generation influenced by van Lith‟s approach - worked out a humanist philosophy that laid down the groundwork for the later growth of contextual theologies in the Indonesian Catholic Church.
Deeply immersed in Jawanese literature and culture, Diryarkara was equally at home with ancient Greek philosophy and contemporary western philosophies, in particular existentialism and phenomenology (with which school he can be associated). He explained these philosophies in impeccable Indonesian, creating Indonesian philosophical terms as he went along.
124
His illustrations were usually taken from Jawanese literature and everyday proverbs. For instance, he used classics such as Serat Wulang Reh, Wedatama, Suluk Wudjil Djawa and Serat Tjentini. His central concerns were the philosophy of the person, social ethics and the development of the state philosophy of Pancasila as a framework for living together as a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. He started with lived experience, within which local culture and religiosity were embedded.
Diryarkara wrote clearly and carefully, going to the root of each problem clarifying little considered issues. His philosophical method has been described as
125
“phenomenological circles” (Verhaak, 1988:21) or “the unspooling of coils” (Mudji Sutrisno, 1988:43). One idea leads into the next and so on. His original, deep philosophical considerations were centred upon the critical function of philosophy and upon the human person as the active, creative subject of history. For Diryarkara philosophy helps to create independent thinking in cultured people, and develops their ability to think for themselves. Diryarkara taught philosophy while active in the administration of the Educational Academy of Sanata Darma in Yogyakarta. Education is a process of humanisation (1980a).
126
Thus, in his philosophy he was forever asking who we are. His answer: we must consciously face ourselves, the world and the Divine. The human person is a dynamic personality, a conscious subject, an aware self who acts freely (1980b). This active presence proclaims who we are in this world.
As conscious subjects (persona) we create a world of culture (1980c). One such product of this manufacturing process is the state. Given that Diryarkara taught philosophy during the first two tumultuous decades of Indonesia‟s independence in the 1950s and 1960s, he was concerned with the ethics of power and the problem of freedom and governance (1980d).
127
He philosophised on the human ability to arrange and humanise the system of power in order to live as homo homini socius - we are friends and colleagues to each and every one. This philosophical and educational programme needs to be understood in the context of the later years of Soekarno when parliamentary democracy was replaced by so-called “guided democracy” (1959-65) which led directly to the military dictatorship of Soeharto (1966-98). In a time when slogans defined public truth, Diryarkara‟s social ethics, through his careful use of words and deep philosophical analysis, gave lie to the ideologization of power which justifies “false truths”.
128
When schooling was being heavily ideologized for political ends, he developed a philosophy of education as a process of humanisation. When political culture was moulding a mass culture, he spoke of the dignity of human persons as conscious actors of their own development: as colleagues we bring meaning to this world in a free and creative manner.
In the humanist and educational philosophy of Diryarkara, we see two elements that link him both to the mission pioneer van Lith and to later Christian humanists such as Mangunwijaya and to contemporary Catholic theologians such as Banawiratma.
The first is a living, creative appropriation of the heart of Jawanese culture; the second is a carefully thought-
129
through involvement in public affairs during a time of political turmoil. He was a deep, serene thinker who, like van Lith, willingly allowed himself to be appointed to public bodies and even became an nimble supporter of the students‟ movement during the social revolution of 1965-66 which brought the government of President Soekarno to an end. In his quiet way, Diryarkara thought and lived out his Christian humanist philosophy in the classroom and in journals, in governmental bodies and finally in the students‟ movement.
This “refined, thoughtful involvement” has helped to give an emergent Jawanese Catholic theology one of its defining characters. He has published 10 books and half a
130
dozen articles, not including those later published as book collections.
Bibliography
1980a Driyarkara tentang Pendidikan. Kumpulan Karangan Driyarkara (A Collection of Articles by Driyarkara on Education). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 132pp. 1980b Driyarkara tentang Manusia. Kumpulan Karangan Driyarkara (A Collection of Articles by Driyarkara on Humans). Yogyakarta: Kanisius 125pp. 1980c Driyarkara tentang Kebudayaan. Kumpulan Karangan Driyarkara (A Collection of Articles by Driyarkara on Culture). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 68pp.
131
1980d Driyarkara tentang Negara dan Bangsa. Kumpulan Karangan Driyarkara (A Collection of Articles by Driyarkara on Country and Nation). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 93pp. 4. Towards More Systematic Contextual Theologies ca. 1965-2000 During the four sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) the Catholic Church embraced a renewed vision of itself as a collegial or synodal people on pilgrimage (Lumen gentium 1963), and concluded its assembly with a positive statement on involvement in the world (Gaudium et spes 1965).
132
Gaudium et spes employed a practical methodology and encouraged a similar shift among Catholic theologians: insertion, social and cultural analysis, theological reflection followed by action. In Yogyakarta, The key persons who translated the conciliar vision into Indonesian terms were Robert Hardawiryana and Tom Jacobs. Both are prodigious writers. Regional bodies had an increasing influence throughout this period - the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) among ecumenical Protestants and the Federation of Catholic Bishops‟ Conferences (FABC) among Catholics.
There is active cooperation between these two bodies. The Programme for Theology and Culture in Asia (PTCA)
133
through its twice annual bulletin and annual workshop-seminars has helped re-orient seminary teaching. The Ecumenical Association of Third-World Theologians (EATWOT) has successfully exposed its membership and the readership of it journal Voices from the Third World to developments in Asia, South America and Africa. The professionalisation and Indonesianisation of theological education continued apace. Most seminaries, Catholic and Protestant, received upgraded accreditation most becoming faculties at universities.
From 1970 the Jakarta Graduate School of Theology established its doctoral programme. In 1979 the “Doctor of
134
Pastoral Studies” programme commenced at Duta Wacana University, Yogyakarta in association with SEAGST. Forty theses were completed between 1979-85, albeit with no women. This theological extension programme was discontinued in the 1990s. From 1985-95 a total of 56 theses by Indonesian Protestant theologians, a majority completed in Indonesia, and therefore in the Indonesian language, 14 at the Jakarta Graduate School, and another 14 with SEAGST (Hoekema 1996). Less than a fifth of the theses were completed at European universities. At a doctoral level, all Catholic theologians continued to study overseas.
135
The topics indicate a renewed interest in local issues (cultural identity, centre-periphery struggle) as well as the perennial Pancasila.
Bibliography
1984 Steenbrink, Karel, “Indonesian Churches 1978-84: Main Trends, Issues and Problems”, Exchange, 39:1-31. 1985 Hoekema, “Dissertations by Protestant Theologians in Indonesia - A Short Bibliographical Review”, Exchange Vol.14:35-57. 1996 Hoekema, “Dissertations by Protestant Theologians in Indonesia 1985-95", Exchange Vol.25:56-72.
1997 Penerbit (ed.), Gereja Indonesia Pasca-Vatikan II: Refleksi dan Tantangan (The Indonesian Church after
136
the Second Vatican Council: Reflections and Challenges). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 465pp. 4.1. Robert Hardawiryana (1926-), Yogyakarta, Central Jawa. Robert Hardawiryana was born in Ambarawa, Central Jawa, on 11 April 1926 and entered the Jesuits (SJ) in 1945. After philosophy in Yogyakarta (1948-51), he studied theology in Maastricht, Netherlands (1953-57) and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (1957-61). For 30 years Romo Hardo (1961-91) taught theology at the Wedabhakti Theological Faculty in Yogyakarta.
Hardawiryana is rooted in the classical, Catholic theological tradition of Europe.
137
He completed his doctoral studies (1961) immediately prior to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). As theological advisor of both the Indonesian Catholic Episcopal Conference (early 1960s until1998) and a member of the Theological Advisory Board of the Federation of Asian Bishops‟ Conferences (1986-98), the theological work of Hardawiryana reflects the Asian Catholic Church‟s appropriation of the the Second Vatican Council. He has been seeking out the more appropriate Church model for Asia, how the Church can live as a small, scattered minority and how the Church needs to communicate the faith as “a drop in the oceans of the other great religions”.
He has been concerned that the Church move out of its enclosure and become a “Church-for-others”. A key term
138
that became more and more central in Hardawiryana‟s theology is dialogue. Hardawiryana‟s theology has had considerable influence upon Catholic ecclesial documents both in Indonesia and in the Asian Catholic Church (FABC). He is an excellent example of a transitional theologian in his selection and interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council for a Catholic Church in the process of opening itself up to the multi-religious and multi-cultural contexts of Indonesia and Asia as a whole.
His ability to compile and order myriad sources is unparalleled. A prolific writer, from the mid-1950s until July 1998 Hardawiryana had produced over 700 articles, reports, translations and manuscripts including a dozen
139
books and booklets of which 4 are in English and around 40 major articles including 9 in English and one in French.
Bibliography
1979 “Contextual Theology in Indonesia: A Pastoral Approach” Philippiniana Sacra, Vol.14/1:78-113.
1982 “Asia and Indonesia”. In, M. Motte & J.R. Lang (eds.), Mission in Dialogue New York: Orbis, 34-72. 1986 Building the Church of Christ in a Pluri-cultural Situation. A Pastoral Primer on Christian Inculturation, FABC Papers No.41, 36pp. 1990 The Involvement of the Laity in Politics: The Church in Indonesia, FABC Papers No.58, 14-52.
1995 “Theological Perspectives on Mission in Asia”, Verbum SVD, Vol.36:115-156.
140
4.2. Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya (1929-99), Yogyakarta, Central Jawa. Y.B. Mangunwijaya is the Jawanese-liberationist-educator that van Lith struggled to be at the beginning of the 20th century. Romo Mangun was born at Ambarawa, Central Jawa on 6th May 1929, eldest child in a family of 12 children. He joined a “student-soldier” brigade during the revolution (1945-48) becoming a section commander. Witnessing the suffering of the villagers during the war, he decided to spend the remainder of his life “repaying my debt to the people”.
After theology in Yogyakarta, he was ordained in 1959.
141
The following year Archbishop Soegijapranata sent Romo Mangun to Aachen, Germany (1960-66) to study architecture as part of a diocesan plan to Jawanise the Church (others were sent to study music, dancing, literature, philosophy). From 1967-80 he was visiting lecturer in architecture at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. His own designs combined traditional Jawanese feeling with contemporary technical skills. One of his more distinguished architectural creations is the Pilgrimage centre at Sendangsono which focused upon popular religiosity and the natural beauty of the surroundings rather than upon formal liturgy or large-scale buildings.
He often used discarded material.
142
In the mid-1980s he “retired” from grand designs and turned to “peoples‟ architecture”. His re-design of the squatters camp on the banks of the Code River in central Yogyakarta (1980-86) won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1992 and the Ruth and Ralph Erskine Fellowship Award, Stockholm, Sweden in 1995.
From 1968 Romo Mangun began writing an occasional column in the largest Jakarta daily, Kompas and afterwards in many newspapers and journals, secular, Muslim and Christian, in both popular tabloids and “serious” broadsheets.
In 1981 he published the first of eleven novels, soon recognised as a contemporary classic.
143
Most of his novels are historical, where he re-reads Indonesian history from the perspective of the poor. His protagonists are usually rural women; deepest human values are handed down by the unacknowledged yet strongest members of society. A prolific writer, he has published 26 books on architecture, politics, social and cultural issues, literature, theology and church renewal apart from the numerous collections of his newspaper columns and novels.
A brilliant person of letters, thoroughly versed in all levels of Jawanese culture, a mystic-poet, at home in modern and post-modern technology, a political activist, Romo Mangun quietly worked away at alternative forms of education in a run-down, about-to-be-closed primary school
144
at the edge of Yogyakarta town. A personal friend of the poor, he was feared but consulted by the powers-that-be. When Soeharto commanded that he be eliminated for supporting the villagers fighting the World Bank Kedungombo dam project (1986-94), the commander refused to carry out the President‟s orders. In his novels and newspaper articles, in his essays, buildings and TV videos, Mangunwijaya is perhaps the most creative theological thinker to have emerged from the Indonesian Catholic Church during the past hundred and fifty years.
He died on the shoulder of a friend, the Muslim intellectual Mohamad Sobary during an inter-faith seminar in Jakarta, on 10th February 1999.
145
Mangunwijaya‟s funeral was attended by thousands from pedicab drivers, squatters and street children many of whom he knew personally to the Muslim Sultan of Yogyakarta. Within a hundred days of his death Kanisius published ten large volumes, Erlangga University another two, and Kompas a further volume. A final posthumous novel was published in December 1999 and a collection of short stories in 2000. Unfortunately, the voluminous writings of this renaissance figure are extremely difficult to translate.
Living an utterly simple life in his self-designed wooden hut, Mangun‟s writings are dense and complex, moving on many levels simultaneously, full of illusions to Jawanese myth and contemporary Indonesian politics.
146
Thoroughly immersed in Jawanese culture he attacked its feudal-patriarchal values from within. Whatever his topic - Church, society, technology, culture - his perspective was singular: that of the marginalised and discarded. In his theology Romo Mangun avoided Christian language choosing both contemporary and Islamic terms. Mangunwijaya has published 28 books of non-fiction as well as eleven novels one of which is also in English (1981/91). Of his countless articles just one is in English also (1993).
Bibliography
1981 The Weaver Birds. Jakarta: The Lontar Foundation, 1991. Indonesian original, Burung-burung
147
Manyar: Sebuah Roman (The Weaver Birds: A Novel), Jakarta, 1st edition Pustaka Kuntara, 1981; 2rd edition Djambatan, 1993. vi-262pp. In 1983 won the Southeast Asia Write Award. 1982 Sastra dan Religiositas (Literature and Religiosity) Jakarta, Sinar Harapan. 2rd printing Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 1988, 155pp. 1993 “Good News through Story Telling”, East Asian Pastoral Review, Vol.30:311-316. 1999 Gereja Diaspora (A Diaspora Church). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 230pp.
1996 Bodden, Michael, “Woman as Nation in Mangunwijaya‟s Durga Umayi”, Indonesia, 62:53-82. Indonesian translation in Sindhunata (ed.), Menjadi Generasi Pasca-Indonesia (On Becoming the Post-
148
Indonesian Generation). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 1999:205-265. 1997 Steenbrink, Karel, “Mangunwijaya als romanschrijver van de koloniale tijd”, Wereld en Zending, 26:44-50. 1998 Steenbrink, Karel, “Y.B. Mangunwijaya‟s Blueprint for a Diaspora Church in Indonesia”, Exchange, 27/1:17-36. Indonesian translation in Sudiarja (ed.), Tinjauan Kritis atas Gereja Diaspora Romo Mangunwijaya, Yogyakarta 1999:33-67. 4.3. Tom Jacobs (1929- ), The Netherlands and Yogyakarta, Central Jawa.
Tom Jacobs was born in Zevenbergen, The Netherlands on 13th July 1929.
149
Continuing the policy advocated by van Lith in the 1920s, he came to Indonesia as a student in 1949. He taught dogmatic and biblical theology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta from 1961 until retirement in 1994, with a break for doctoral studies in biblical theology at the Gregorian University Rome (1966). Tom Jacobs was largely responsible for both translating key Second Vatican Council (1962-65) documents into Indonesian and for supplying insightful theological commentaries (1969, 1970/73).
A biblical theologian (1982, 1983), he taught systematic theology, turning vital Conciliar breakthroughs into the common currency of theological discourse in Indonesian Catholic circles.
150
He helped pioneer the “Theological Project” approach at the Wedabhakti Faculty of Theology in Yogyakarta. This theological method takes the pastoral experience of the student-participants as its starting-point (1989). A prolific writer, Tom Jacobs‟ theological contribution to the Indonesian Catholic Church formally culminated with the publishing of the Bishops‟ Official Reference Book on the catholic faith Iman Katolik which he drafted (1996). Active ecumenically he has taught regularly at the Protestant University of Duta Wacana and has developed his theology in close contact with the Protestant tradition and in dialogue with Islam.
151
A diligent and meticulous scholar, Tom has aided other scholars through his involvement in the computerisation of the Kolsani Library in Yogyakarta (both books and articles). Living out the Jesuit tradition, he is in wide demand as a first-class preacher, retreat giver and spiritual director. In recent years he has been translating important classical theological texts from the Greek and Latin originals into Indonesian. Tom Jacobs has over 29 books and booklets to his name and another 23 unpublished manuscripts; he has edited a further half dozen books and is author of over 180 articles.
He has now synthesized the fruit of his 40-year theological journey through a re-interpretation of the early
152
Conciliar dogmas via the prism of New Testament Christologies. This theological autobiography is at once broadly ecumenical while being acutely sensitive to Muslim sensibilities (2000).
Bibliography
1969 Konstitusi Dogmatis Dei Verbum tentang Wahju Ilahi (The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation. Translation, Introduction and Commentary. Yogyakarta: Kanisius. 250pp.
1970-73 Konstitusi Dogmatis Lumen Gentium mengenai Geredja (The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium on the Church. Translation, Introduction
153
and Commentary). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, Vol.I 348pp, Vol.II 349pp, Vol.III 548pp. 1982 Siapa Yesus Kristus menurut Perjanjian Baru (Who Jesus Christ is according to the New Testament). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 266pp. 1983 Paulus: Hidup, karya dan Teologinya (Paul: His Life, Work and Theology). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 404pp. 1989 (with JB Banawiratma), “Doing Theology with Local Resources. An Indonesian Experiment”, East Asian Pastoral Review, Vol.26:51-72.
1996 Catholic Bishops‟ Conference of Indonesia, Iman Katolik: Buku Informasi dan Referensi (Catholic Faith: A Book of Information and Reference). Jakarta/Yogyakarta: Obor/Kanisius, xvi-489.
154
2000 Imanuel: Perubahan dalam Perumusan Iman akan Yesus Kristus (Immanuel: Changes in the Formulations of Faith in Jesus Christ). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 299pp. 4.4. Fridolin Ukur (1930-), Kalimantan and Jakarta. Born in Tamianglayang, Central Kalimantan on 5th April 1930. A member of the Evangelical Church of Kalimantan. Studied at the Graduate School of Theology Jakarta and the Faculty of Theology at Basel University, Switzerland. He obtained his doctoral in Church history in 1971.
From 1972-80 he directed the Research and Study Institute of the Council of Churches in Indonesia, editing many books including the 12 volume history of Protestant
155
Christianity in Indonesia, Benih yang Tumbuh (The Growing Seed). Fridolin Ukur was General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Indonesia from 1984-89. Since 1981 he has been an advisor to the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Kalimantan (GKE). The churches have made no single response to the question of the relationship between adat and religion. In his writings, Ukur - in Barthian style - separated adat from religion (e.g. 1999). He has published a half dozen books and booklets, edited a further six and authored over 20 articles.
Apart from his writings, Fridolin Ukur is well-known for his radio broadcasts.
156
Bibliography
1979 “Pengkajian Kembali Sejarah Gereja di Indonesia” (Re-analysing Church History in Indonesia.) in M.A. Ihromi & S.Wismoady Wahono (eds.) Theo-Doron: Pemberian Allah (Theo-Doron: Gift of God.) Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 39-93. 1999 “Bersikap Injili dalam konteks Kebudayaan (Daerah) (To have a Gospel Attitude in a (Local) Cultural Context). In (ed.) Panitia, Agama dalam Dialog: Pencerahan, Pendamaian dan Masa Depan (Religions in Dialogue: Enlightenment, Peace and the Future). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xviii-527 + 2 pages of photos. 425-442.
157
2000 Tuaiannya Sungguh Banyak: Sejarah Gereja Kalimantan Evangelis Sejak Tahun 1835 (The Harvest is indeed Great. History of the Evangelical Church of Kalimantan since 1835). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xix-327. New edition of the author‟s 1960 book with the addition of a 40 page chapter on developments since 1960.
4.5. Harun Hadiwijono (?-1985), Yogyakarta, Central Jawa. Hadiwijono‟s thesis Man in the Present Javanese Mysticism (1967) signalled a new interest in Jawanese mysticism. He studied both the Hindu-Jawanese and Sumatran-Islamic mystical traditions.
158
Both before and after his thesis Pak Hadi worked at the Graduate School for Theology in Yogyakarta. He is one of the first Indonesian theologians to attempt a systematic dogmatic theology. Ever cautious in his approach, he relates the more important dogmas of the Christian faith to similar religious concepts in both Islam and Hinduism. In 1973 Hadiwijono published Iman Kristen (Christian Faith). This work is clearly influenced by the theocentrism of Islam; it also contains long pieces on Jawanese mysticism. He attempts to stimulate a theological discussion by suggesting an “openly traditional” way forward.
He asks: should Indonesian theology be solidly dogmatic or more of a wisdom literature? Both
159
Hadiwijono‟s approach and his tone reflect the cosmic balance of Jawanese culture. He published many books on the history of philosophy, theology and religious thought. Harun Hadiwijono founded and edited the journal Penjadar (Awareness) for many years. He placed priority on unity in faith rather than upon organisational unity. Always acknowledging the high values of pluriformity, he was nevertheless aware that some Church order is nearer to God‟s will than some others.
Thus, pluriformity is not just a cultural but also a theological issue. He elaborated the non-theological factors which prevent or endanger unity and hold back the missio Dei.
160
Hadiwijono authored 19 books and booklets and a further 10 articles of which one is in English.
Bibliography
1967 Man in Present Javanese Mysticism Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit. Published by Baarn, Bosch & Keuning, vii-271pp. 1973 Iman Kristen (Christian Faith.) Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 401pp. Revised ed. 1979.
4.6. I. Wayan Mastra (1932-), Bali.
161
Due both to Dutch colonial policy and the imperviousness of Balinese culture, the Protestant and Catholic Churches were born in Bali only in the early 1930s. During the same decade I. Wayan Mastra was born in the mountain village of Sebetan in East Bali. After three years at the local school (1939-42) he finished his primary schooling a 11 kilometre walk away (1942-47). Following a further two years schooling he went to East Jawa for teachers training (at high school level). While in Surabaya, due to the narrow mindedness of his home village head and generosity of Christians in Surabaya, Mastra took up a yearlong catechumenate and was baptised in 1952.
Returning to Bali in 1953 as a teacher he kept his conversion secret to avoid the inevitable ostracism by an
162
encapsulated culture. Coming out as a Christian 12 months later he then went on to study at the Jakarta School of Theology (1956-60) and was commissioned as a pastor. Mastra worked in Singaraja on the Balinese north coast starting with a single Christian, his wife Ketut. Five years later left five small congregations in the north, personally baptising some 350 people. Narrowly escaping the massacre of September 1965, Mastra did post-graduate studies at Debuque Seminary, USA obtaining his PhD in 1970.
Returning to Bali, he chaired the watershed Synod of the Reformed Church (1972) that left behind the culture-denying policy of the hard line past and adopted a culture-
163
affirming stance. Abrahamic-like the Church now aimed at becoming a blessing for the majority community. The church now allowed Balinese painting, singing, gong percussion orchestras and even some sacred dancing into its worship. Wood and soapstone carvings decorated its buildings and shadow plays communicated the biblical message. European missioners who rejected this new policy were encouraged to return to the Netherlands. At this 1972 Synod Wayan Mastra was elected Moderator (Bishop) of the Protestant Church in Bali (GKPB) to which position he has been continually re-elected with just a five-year break.
164
Bishop Wayan Mastra, together with the Church Synod, has systematically contextualized the life of their church since 1972. He had worked out the theological foundation for this shift in his doctoral thesis (1970). Rejecting Hendrik Kraemer‟s (and therefore Karl Bath‟s) theology of religions, he describes the church as a pars pro toto, a minority at the service of the majority. Though from the Reformation tradition, Mastra leans heavily upon the theology of Karl Rahner and Yves Congar. Rejecting both a tolerance that might lead to syncretism and the inherited intolerance that led to rejection, Mastra aims for a third way, namely a critical appreciation of Balinese religion by a dedicated Christian.
165
In his unpublished manuscript “A Catechism”, Wayan Mastra outlines his practical mission theology in the form of a dialogue between a father and his son and daughter. The outward form is Balinese, the inner soul is Reformation Christian. Appropriate Old Testament verses are attached to the ubiquitous three-fold symbolism of Balinese culture and religion, while Christians – mostly from the lowest caste – are exhorted to, “simple living, thrift and high thinking”. There is an equal emphasis upon cultural appropriation and social economic engagement. The latter has brought the Balinese Church and Mastra personally into the hotel business and tourist trade.
166
McKenzie has written both a history of the first 50 years of the Protestant Church in Bali (1988) which is also a theological biography of Wayan Mastra.
Bibliography
1970 The Salvation of Non-Believers, A Missiological Critique to Hendrik Kraemer and the Need for a New Alternative Iowa: Dubuque University, vii-436pp. Unpublished PhD thesis. 1974 “Christianity and Culture in Bali”, International Review of Mission, LXII/251:386-99. 1979 Contextualisation of the Church in Bali: Case Study from Indonesia Pasadena, California: William Carey Library.
167
1988 McKenzie, D.G., The Mango Tree Church: The Story of the Protestant Christian Church in Bali. Brisbane: Boolarang Publications. Written in association with Wayan Mastra. 4.7. Judowibowo Poerwowidagdo (194?-), Yogyakarta, Central Jawa. After studying at the Graduate School of Theology, Jakarta, Judowibowo continued his studies at Pittsburgh, USA obtaining his PhD in 1972. He became rector of the Christian University of Duta Wacana, Yogyakarta () and Director of its Research Institute (PPIP). For ? years he headed the Theological Education Fund of the WCC at Bossey near Geneva ().
168
In his doctoral thesis and later as administrator of Duta Wacana University in Yogyakarta and then as coordinator of the TEF at Bossey, Judowibowo was concerned that Faculties of Theology were simply parts of the established structure of the economic, political and cultural system of the surrounding secular society. He clearly distinguished between old and new paradigms of theological education.
The old paradigm simply trained ordained (generally male) presbyters according to a fixed syllabus, centred upon the lecture hall, using a “banking system”; the course was overtly academic emphasising knowledge; it was dogmatic and confessional in orientation; all these characteristics were aimed at producing ordained ministers loyal to a particular tradition.
169
The new paradigm is geared for all church ministers, lay and ordained, consciously balancing women and men participants; it employs a flexible module system centred simultaneously upon campus, the local congregation and the surrounding society; it uses a group-work approach where academic excellence includes practical competence; it is ecumenical whereby the tradition is received critically (1994). Pak Judo speaks of the “glocal” context for theological education: equally considering the local and the global.
Together with his artist wife Timur I. Poerwowidagdo, Judowibowo has established a dancing troupe which acts out Scriptural narratives in Jawanese style.
170
Pak Judo is the President of the Asian Christian Art Association (ACAA). ACAA was founded in 1978 as a creative centre for professional artistic expression in the Asian Churches since when it has published Image every three months. He is now editor of the journal Image: Christ in Art in Asia which is edited from Duta Wacana University, Yogyakarta. The Association has held numerous art exhibitions at international venues and holds periodic conferences to discuss the role of Christian art in today‟s Asia.
Thus, Judowibowo has managed theology in a large institution, has coordinated theological education funding
171
and now directs the development of non-verbal forms of Christian communication through art. He has published 3 books of which one is in English and over a dozen articles of which eight are in English and one in German.
Bibliography
1972 “An Inquiry into the Logical Relationship of Teaching and Learning, based on the Linguistic Analysis of the Concept of Knowing.” PhD thesis. Pittsburgh University. 172pp. 1993 PGI Bureau of Information, Many Voices of Christian Art in Indonesia. Jakarta: PGI, 150pp.
1994a Towards the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities for Theological Education. Geneva: WCC,
172
Unit I: Unity and Renewal. Indonesian translation, Yogyakarta: Duta Wacana University Press, 1994, 74pp. 1994b “The Church, Globalization and Theological Education”, Asia Journal of Theology, Vol.8/1:130-142. 4.8. M.A. Ihromi (-) An Old Testament scholar. Studied the role of the poor in God‟s design (Zeph 3:12).
Bibliography
1972 Amm ani wadal nach dem Propheten Zephanja. Mainz: Augsburg, VI-223pp.
173
1973 “Respect for the Integrity of another‟s Religion”, South East Asia Journal of Theology, Vol.14/2:61-63. (Indonesian original 1972.) 1980 “Have the Poor a Role in God‟s Design?” Ecumenical Review Vol.32:59-65. 1990 Studying Living Religions within a National Community Yogyakarta. Indonesian-Dutch Seminar. 4.9. Victor Immanuel Tanja (1936-98), Sawu and Jawa. Victor Tanja was born on the small island of Sawu in East Nusa Tenggara on 31st May, 1936. He obtained a Masters in Theology at the Graduate School of Theology, Jakarta (1964) and another at the Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, USA (1974).
174
He wrote his doctorate at Hartford (1979) on the modernist Islamic students‟ movement (Himpuan Mahasiswa Islam). Tanja taught at, and later became Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Jawa. Returning to Jakarta he ministered to the Effatha Congregation while teaching the Phenomenology of Religion and Islamic Studies at the Jakarta School of Theology.
He was a member of the World Conference on Religion and Peace for Indonesia.
For Victor Tanja, the ethical basis for collaboration in nation building is the state ideology of Pancasila while the practical context is cooperation with the Muslim majority, particularly with its progressive mode; that is, with the
175
modernist HMI Islamic students‟ movement and the Muhammadiyah educational foundation (1986). Theologically Victor Tanja endeavoured to open up a pietistic Reformation tradition to inter-faith dialogue where each religion becomes a partner in building up a more just and fair society (1994). He rejected the ideologization and manipulation of religion to legitimise group interests. He claimed that the western emphasis upon basic human rights has to be balanced by an equal emphasis upon basic human obligations. He views religion as the soul of the body of the nation (1998). His talks, articles, speeches, sermons and later collections, honed in upon the role of the Church in the face of modernization, secularization and interreligious relations.
176
What makes Victor Tanja controversial is not so much the text as the context of his theological and political enterprise. He put his ecumenical theology to work in practical politics, translating inter-religious dialogue into dialogue with the ruling elite. He taught at the military police academy in Jakarta, advising both the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Education. He was a member of the working group which wrote one of the National Guidelines for a government five-year plan.
After the 1997 general election he entered the National Consultative Assembly as a representative of the “functional
177
groups” and was one of the spiritual guides of Soeharto‟s ruling Golkar party. Seeking to end the temptation of the Church to concentrate upon defending its position in a pluralistic society, Tanja veered towards a defence of the fascist military regime in the name of inter-faith collaboration. A month after Soeharto was forced from office, Victor Tanja died in Jakarta on 26th June 1998. He has authored seven books and over a dozen articles of which one is in English.
Bibliography
1986 Pemikiran HMI dan Relevansinya dengan Sejarah Perjuangan Bangsa Indoensia (The Thought of the
178
Moslem Student Association and its Relevance in the History of Struggle of the Indonesian People), Jakarta: Integrita Dinamika Press, xiv-353pp. 1994 Spiritualitas, Pluralitas, dan Pembangunan di Indonesia (Spirituality, Plurality and Development in Indonesia.) Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia. viii-161pp. 1998 Pluralisme Agama dan Problema Sosial (The Plurality of Religion and Social Problems;) Jakarta: Cidesindo, xxviii-336pp. 4.10. Franz Magnis-Suseno (1936 -), Germany and Jakarta.
Franz von Magnis was born in Eckersdorf Germany in 1936. He has studied philosophy, theology and political theory at Pullach, Yogyakarta and Munchen, obtaining a doctorate in philosophy from Munchen (1973).
179
Since 1969 he has been a professor of ethics at Driyarkara Institute of Philosophy in the capital, Jakarta, and its rector 1988-97. A well-known speaker on radio and TV; he frequently participates in inter-faith seminars on social and political ethics. A cosmopolitan intellectual, he maintains his simple religious life-style and readily allots time for the spiritual direction of others. Magnis-Suseno is close to both the moderate village-based NU and the more exclusive modernist Muhammadiyah. He was often consulted by students during their demonstrations that toppled Soeharto in 1998.
180
Franz Magnis-Suseno was one of the last generation of Jesuits to come to Indonesia as a student (1961) following the policy advocated by van Lith in the 1920s. A philosopher of ethics, Magnis-Suseno is recognized nationally as a distinguished intellectual. His many books on philosophical and political ethics are very accessible, the result of ongoing discussions with the intelligentsia, both Christian and Muslim. For forty years he has been undertaking both an academic and a living dialogue between the Western and the abangan or popular Jawanese ethical traditions.
He is much concerned with the moral values that lie behind social policy, whether in his thesis on the Young Marx (published in German only, 1975), Jawanese ethics (1981/84), or contemporary political issues (1999).
181
Without ever deciding which is the more legitimate or superior Magnis-Suseno compares the western philosophy of life (an ethics of obligation) with the Jawanese practical wisdom (an ethics of accommodation). In Jawanese cosmic culture whoever and whatever is in their appropriate place is ethical. Humans and everything else need to accommodate themselves to the cosmic order, accepting their assigned place. Magnis-Sueseno appreciates this practical wisdom in small-scale society, but is scathing in its manipulation by the nation state, especially under fascist-military regime of Soeharto (e.g. 1999).
182
As a philosopher trained in the western tradition and equally at home in Jawanese language and culture, Magnis-Suseno‟s writing is trans-denominational, indeed trans-religious (e.g. 1981). This work is published by “secular” newspapers, journals and book publishers. When writing on the theology of ethics, he is comfortable using Catholic language, and indeed these books are published by the diocesan (formerly Jesuit) publisher, Kanisius (e.g. 1993). By mid-2000 Magnis-Suseno had published 24 books of which three are in German and one in English and has authored over 120 articles and book chapters of which twelve are in German and three in English.
183
Bibliography
1975 Normative Voraussetzungen im Denken des jungen Marx (1843-48). PhD Thesis, 1973. Universitas Muechen. Muenchen: Alber, 420pp. 1993 Beriman dalam Masyarakat: Butir-butir Teologi Kontekstual (Living Faith in Society: Elements of a Contextual Theology). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, Pustaka Teologi No.40, 212pp. 1997 Javanese Ethics and World-View. The Javanese Idea of the Good Life. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 1997, 323pp. (English version of 1981 Germany original; Indonesian edition 1984).
1999 “Membangun Kembali sebuah Budaya Politik Indonesia” (Rebuilding a Political Culture in
184
Indonesia). In Sindhunata (ed.), Pergulatan Intelektual dalam Era Kegelisahan (Intellectual Struggle in a Time of Uncertainty). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 49-64.
4.11. Eka Darmaputera (1942 - ), Central Jawa and Jakarta. Eka Darmaputera was born in Magelang, central Jawa on 16th November 1942. He obtained his BD (1966) from the Graduate School of Theology, Jakarta during which time he was active in the student movement. He acquired his PhD in Religion and Society from Boston College USA in 1982.
A Chinese-Indonesian, he has throughout his active life combined leading a local Congregation in East Bekasi with teaching ethics at the Jakarta Graduate School of Theology.
185
A well-known preacher and newspaper columnist, both selected sermons and columns have been published in numerous collections over the years (e.g. 1977). From the 1970s he quietly guided the Bekasi Congregation as it became increasingly multi-ethnic opening it up to the wider Muslim society (cf. 1997). He has been Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Communion of Churches. He was also an advisor to a number of government commissions. Careful in his writings, he never tries to force his viewpoint but is ever willing to offer incisive points, practical possibilities and clear choices. He has long been active in the inter-religious foundation Interfidei headed by Sumartana.
186
After the fall of Soeharto in 1998 he joined the Democratic Party of Struggle under Megawati Soekarnoputri. Since May 1998, like many colleagues, he has become more openly critical in his writings of both the national scene and of the lethargy of the Churches (1999). Early retirement due to ill health was marked by the publication of a 904-page Festschrift (1999) with contributions by 50 fellow theologians. A remarkable tribute.
Eka Darmaputera is one of many Indonesian theologians who have studied the State ideology of Pancasila, in his case from the perspective of Jawanese culture and ethics (1982).
187
Outwardly, Jawanese culture is perceived to be governed by a totalistic and hierarchical world-view. However, in the ancient mythologies acted out in the wayang (puppet plays), the Jawanese experience a deep sense of oneness beyond all difference. For Pak Eka the Pancasila is an attempt to enable traditional culture to cope with contemporary problems. For the Jawanese, a “both-and” world-view leads to an ethical perception oriented towards acceptance not of good over evil and right over wrong, but of what is appropriate (cocok), what fits in, what is in accord with one‟s feeling and intuition (rasa).
Pak Eka believes that this traditional Jawanese world-view is fertile soil in which to grow the idea of basic human rights.
188
Eka Darmaputera is one of those who have returned to Jawanese mystical culture in the 1980s as the locus for doing theology, rather than, for instance, holding a direct dialogue with Islam or by openly confronting the systemic injustice of the military regime. His extensive writings in ethics can be described as both evangelical and ecumenical in his inimitable, forever inclusive Indonesian way. He has authored over a dozen books and booklets and around 20 articles of which one is in German.
Bibliography
1973 Iman Kristen (Christian Faith) Jakarta, BPK Gunung Mulia, 401pp.
189
1977 Tuhan dari Poci dan Panci (God of Teapot and Enamelware - from the author‟s column in Sinar Harapan.) Jakarta, BPK Gunung Mulia, 312pp. 1982 Pancasila and the Search for Identity and Modernity in Indonesian Society. A Cultural and Ethical Analysis, Massachusetts: Newton Centre, vii-466 pp. Indonesian translation 1987. Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xiv-350pp.
1997 Iman Sesamaku dan Imanku. (The Faith of my Neighbours and My Faith), Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 4th reprinting 108pp.
1999 “Mengevaluasi Kehadiran Gereja di Tengah-tengah Tuntutan Reformasi” (Evaluating the Presence of the Church in the Midst of the Demands of (National) Reformation), in Victor Silaen (ed.) Gereja dan
190
Reformasi: Pembaruan Gereja menuju Indonesia Baru (Church and Reform: The Renewal of the Church as we approach a New Indonesia), Jakarta: Yakoma-PGI, 03-15. 4.12. Th. Sumartana (1944-), Central Jawa and Jakarta. Th. Sumartana was born at Banjarnegara, Central Jawa on 15th October 1944. He studied at the Graduate School of Theology, Jakarta and later continued at Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands, obtaining his doctorate in 1991. He has worked as theological editor at BPK Gunung Mulia publishers and at the Research and Study Unit of the Communion of Churches (Balitbang-PGI).
191
Sumartana has been post-graduate lecturer in Religion and Society at Satya Wacana (Protestant) University in Salatiga and post-graduate lecturer in Religion and Culture at Sanata Dharma (Catholic) University in Yogyakarta. In his youth Sumartana was close to HMI (Modernist Muslim Student Association). Wishing to break out of the encapsulating dogmatic identity of the Protestant Church, he has endeavoured to work for justice in society with people of other faith traditions. In his theology Sumartana articulates a biblical basis for such inter-faith involvement.
He discovered the theological tools he needed when studying at Bossey Institute (1972).
192
He describes Hendrik Kraemer‟s “conquest” mission paradigm as imperial-colonial and Karl Barth, on whom Kraemer depended, as a religious fascist (only Christianity is true). In his doctorate (published in 1994) Sumartana undertook a study of the theological paradigms used by missioners who established the Indonesian Protestant Church and underlined the need for a new inter-faith theological framework. Sumartana is Director of Interfidei, an Institute for inter-faith dialogue which he co-founded in 1992.
This institute is not tied to any institutional religion although it has good working relationships with religious leaders.
193
Its personnel are Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist. Interfidei has gradually extended its regular study days, workshops and training sessions, scientific research and publications from the city of Yogyakarta to the whole of Jawa and now works on a national scale particularly in trouble spots. The institute has over a dozen substantial books on its list. Since the break-down of the Soeharto regime (1998) Sumartana has involved himself in practical politics becoming one of the Chairpersons of Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN - National Party).
194
PAN is headed by Amien Rais, the former Director of the modernist educational Muslim association Muhammadiyah. Thus, Sumartana dialogues with Muslim leaders who oppose the corrupt elite in contrast to Victor Tanja who conversed with the Muslims who ran the Soeharto regime. He sees his controversial involvement in politics as a practical application of his theology. He continues to combine academic research with practical involvement. Sumartana has authored one book, edited a further half dozen and written numerous articles. In mid-2000 he was writing a comprehensive work on dialogue based largely on his experience at Interfidei during its first decade.
195
Bibliography
1994 Sumartana, Th., Mission at the Crossroads: Indigenous Churches, European Missionaries, Islamic Association and Socio-Religious Change in Java 1812-1936. Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xxvii-379. (PhD thesis, Vrije Universiteit 1991). 1998 “Sinkretisme Agama: Penyakit atau Obat?” (Religious Syncretism: Illness or Medicine?). In Andito (ed.), Atas Nama Agama (In the Name of Religion). Bandung: Pustaka Hidayah, 87-91.
1999 “Theologia Religionum” (Theology of Religions). In Tim Balitbang PGI, Meretas Jalan Teologi Agama-agama di Indonesia (Opening up the Way for a Theology of Religions in Indonesia). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, x-252, 17-39.
196
4.13. Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe (1945-), Sumba and Kupang. Andreas A. Yewangoe was born at Mamboru, West Sumba, Nusa Tenggara on 31st March 1945. He obtained his Masters in theology from the Graduate School of Theology Jakarta (1969) and a Masters and Doctorate in theology (1987) from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Since the opening of the Graduate School of Theology in Kupang, Timor (1971), Yewangoe was appointed a lecturer in theology.
He was appointed rector of the Graduate School of Theology (1972-76; 1980-84) and later President of the
197
newly-established Artha Wacana University (1988-98) of which the Graduate School became a Faculty. Yewangoe has penned a fortnightly column in the regional daily newspaper Pos Kupang since its inception in 1992. In the tradition of Darmaputera, he makes lively and incisive comments in accessible language on local, national and global affairs. From 1989-94 he was one of the co-Chairpersons of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia and has been reelected for the 2000-2005 term. Until the 1980s Indonesian theologians were either very Indonesian or very Western.
Through his doctoral research and subsequent teaching, writing and administration, Yewangoe has introduced other
198
Asian theologies into both mainstream church discourse and some seminary syllabi. If the wider Asian context is finally entering the theological debate, it is his achievement in no mean measure. He has been carefully prising theology away from the pietist congregation where classroom theology remained for too long. Yewangoe, from the Reformed tradition, has taken up the liberationist frame of Sri Lankan Jesuit Aloysius Pieris through which to analysis emerging theologies in Asia (1987).
Quietly, yet consistently, in newspapers and at seminars, Yewangoe reflects upon current affairs through his moderately radical liberationist prism.
199
And this he did when the value of harmony was masking the centralising of political and economic power in Indonesia under Soeharto and in the world at large through the “inevitable” process of economic globalization. More recently Yewangoe (1999) has been reflecting upon the multiple crises (economic, political, cultural, educational, legal and moral) that have burst forth at the end of the 32-year long Soeharto regime. Yewangoe began with a theological reflection on reconciliation which came out of his own Eastern Indonesian Sumbanese culture (1983).
ith his ever broadening perspective over the years, like Mangunwijaya and Banawiratma, he is showing that the more creative thought is deriving from those who have
200
immersed themselves in their own culture (drunk at their own wells), and then thrown themselves into the struggle for a more just and democratic society.
Apart from his more than 200 newspaper columns, Yewangoe has authored seven books, of which one is in English, and 40 articles. Two more books are due in 2000.
Bibliography
1983 Pendamaian: Suatu Studi tentang Pemulihan Relasi antara Allah, Manusia dan Alam-semesta (Reconciliation: A Study of the Restoration of the relationship between God, People and Creation), Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xiv-214pp.
201
1987 Theologia Crucis in Asia: Asian Christian Views on Suffering in the Face of Overwhelming Poverty and Multifaceted Religiosity in Asia, Amsterdam: RODOPI, 352pp. (PhD thesis, Vrije Universiteit). 1999 “Gereja di Era Reformasi” (The Church in a Time of Reform) in Victor Silaen (ed.) Gereja dan Reformasi: Pembaruan Gereja menuju Indonesia Baru (Church and Reform: The Renewal of the Church as we approach a New Indonesia), Jakarta: Yakoma-PGI, ix-234. pp.16-35.
202
4.14. Johanes Baptista Banawiratma (1946-), Yogyakarta, Central Jawa. J.B. Banawiratma was born in Yogyakarta in Central Jawa on 19 August 1946. He obtained his doctorate at Innsbruck in 1981. He is professor of systematic theology at the Theology Faculty of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. Romo Bono has been a member of the Theological Commission of the Bishops‟ Conference since its inception in 1992 becoming its secretary in 1998. He regularly participates in meetings of the FABC, the CCA and the Jesuit Asian Regency.
He is a member of CATS (Congress of Asian Theologians) and of the Theological Commission of EATWOT.
203
He has long cultivated contacts with Protestant colleagues and Muslim intellectuals both locally and nationally. He has engaged with the women‟s movement and actively supported the students who swept Soeharto from power in 1998. In his MA thesis (1977) Romo Bono compares the relationship between teacher and disciple in the elitist and popular cultural traditions of Jawa with that obtaining in the Gospel of John.
His emphasis is not so much upon the content of the Jawanese teachings as upon the cultural dynamics at work: dialogue, question-answer, riddles, sayings, parables,
204
symbols, paradoxes which step by step open up the heart of the disciple. He discovers that the great themes of John are very much part of the psyche of the Jawanese: light, life, water of life, darkness. He distinguishes between the rich spiritual tradition of Jawa which remains meaningful today and the demands of the Gospel which forever challenge. A natural symbiosis has already taken place in the lives of Jawanese Christians.
Having refreshed himself in the wells of his own culture, Banawiratma, with his Faculty colleagues in Yogyakarta, immersed themselves in contemporary culture while evolving a more contextual methodology for researching and
205
teaching theology (1989). For part of the course at Sanata Dharma University, students do not sign up for separate lectures but research particular themes or projects (hope, salvation, work etc.). After engaging in case studies with a local community, course participants reflect upon the issues that emerged theologically, calling in professors from a number of disciplines. The more successful of these projects has been published in book form (Indonesian 1993, German 1995, English 1999).
This contextual theological praxis is an example of how the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) is being received by
206
the most important Faculty of Theology for Catholics in Indonesia. The approach is “moderately liberative”. It aims at getting students thinking rather than providing them with ready answers. As the collaborative effort of a university faculty, it necessarily compromises method (partly practical, partly classic) and content (the demands of a Catholic seminary versus the demands of contextual theology). Both in these thematic projects and as editor of dozens of collections of theological writings, Banawiratma shows how doing theology in Indonesia is very much a collective enterprise.
207
Christology has remained one of Romo Bana‟s constant theological preoccupations. In 1977 he reflected upon an encounter between one culture and one gospel writing. In the 1980s he looked at images of Jesus at various historical periods - in colonial times, during Soeharto‟s regime, in a pluralistic society (1986). Towards the end of the 1990s the Gospel-culture encounter had become a multi-dimensional, critical, transforming dialogue (1999a). His turn-of-century Christology is a “liberative, inter-contextual” theology. His Christology now begins with the experience of the believing congregation.
208
The marginalised-poor are not just context; theirs is the perspective through which the entire Trinitarian Christology needs to be viewed. Culture is no longer simply cosmic-holistic, but also secular. Feminism deconstructs both the feudal-patriarchalism of local culture and of the dogmatic tradition. A two-way dialogue with the majority Muslim community translates faith in Christ into Islamic terms while inviting Muslim experience of their encounter with God to enrich our Christology. Banawiratma does theology as a liberationist firmly rooted in his Jawanese culture while open to the national, regional and global context.
209
He continues to reflect upon the little tradition of criticism and the great tradition of oppression (1999b). Human dignity, the right to participate, and even the need to revolt are embedded in the cosmic-holistic culture of the powerless, while feudal-patriarchalism shapes the hierarchical culture of the powerful. He finds that even the culture of the poor, as expressed in wayang puppet plays, is ambivalent. This is where the tools of cultural analysis and gender studies come into play. Banawiratma has authored 5 books of which one has appeared in German (1995) and English (1999) translations; he has edited a further 14 volumes and published over 70 articles of which 13 are in English and one in German.
210
Bibliography
1977 Yesus Sang Guru: Pertemuan Kejawen dengan Injil (Jesus the Teacher: An Encounter between Jawanese Culture and the Gospel). MA thesis. Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 140pp. 1986 “Yesus Kristus dan keterlibatan Sosial Gereja (Jesus Christ and the Social Involvement of the Church), Orientasi, 18:114-127.
1993 (With J. Mueller) Berteologi Sosial Lintas Ilmu: Kemiskinan sebagai Tantangan Hidup Beriman (Doing an Inter-disciplinary Social Theology: Poverty as a Challenge to the Life of the Faithful), Yogyakarta, Kanisius, 315pp. Revised edition 1995. German translation Kontextuelle Sozial Theologie: Eine Indonesisches Modell. Freiburg: Herder, 1995 237pp.
211
English translation “Contextual Social Theology: An Indonesian Model”, East Asian Pastoral Review, Vol.36/1-2/1999, 249pp.
1999a “Kristologi Trinitaris dengan Pendekatan Kontekstual”. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma. Manuscript. Due for publication in 2001. 1999b “Kebudayaan Jawa dan Teologi Pembebasan” (Jawanese Culture and the Theology of Liberation), Bergumul dalam Pengharapan (Struggling in Hope). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 555-570. 4.15. Emanuel Gerrit Singgih (1949-), Makassar and Yogyakarta.
212
E. Gerrit Singgih was born in Jakarta on 7th August 1949 of a Jawanese father and a mother of Indo-Dutch-Makassar descent. As with his genealogy, Gerrit Singgih‟s theology manifests multi-cultural perspectives in a pluralistic society. He obtained a BSc in economics from Makassar in 1971 and completed his Masters at the Duta Wacana Faculty of Theology in 1977. His doctoral research in Old Testament Studies was undertaken at Glasgow University, Scotland (PhD 1982). Ordained in 1983, he ministered the GPIB Reformed Church in Macassar, South Sulawesi while teaching part-time at the local Theological College.
Since 1985 he has been teaching theology at his alma mater Duta Wacana in Yogyakarta.
213
He was Dean of the Faculty of Theology from 1993-99 and is presently Dean of Post-graduate Studies. E. Gerrit Singgih is an Old Testament scholar who struggles with how to develop distinctly Indonesian interpretations of the Bible.
Most of his writings are not exclusively biblical, but bring together an interpretation of Indonesian society (a hermeneutics of life) with critical, biblical reflections (an hermeneutics of the text). His hermeneutical keys are outlined in his first book where he moves away from exclusively confessional or western models (1982). The Indonesian cultural and political context helps in his choice and use of hermeneutical tools both for interpreting present reality and the biblical text (1997).
214
Confronting key issues that challenge the theory and practice of Christianity in Indonesia, Gerrit Singgih‟s intellectual scope is becoming ever wider now taking in contemporary western philosophy (2000). Nevertheless, throughout the past twenty years his aim has been consistent: to help develop communities of faith who are socially aware through a biblical theology at once distinctively local and broadly ecumenical - the latter including the wider ecumenism of inter-faith action and reflection. Rigorist in his biblical analysis, he openly accepts a variety of Jawanese approaches seeing the socio-cultural context as primary, rather than, say, an exclusively socio-economic one.
215
His detailed exegesis of Ecclesiastes (2000) expounds the text verse by verse balancing historical with literary criticism. The treatment is “Jawanese” in its balanced interpretations, in its moderate emphases, in its illustrations from Jawanese popular culture and in its placing of the biblical text in the context of daily life. Gerrit Singgih is a trans-denominational, socially-committed biblical theologian with a personable and bold writing style, rooted in inter-faith praxis. His is a local theology working for a global coherence where all parties contribute from what they have.
216
A Taize-inspired celibate life-style enables Gerrit Singgih to live simply in communion with theological students and local Congregations. By mid-2000 he had authored 9 books and over 50 articles.
Bibliography
1982 Dari Israel ke Asia (From Israel to Asia). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 99pp. 1997 Reformasi dan Transformasi Pelayanan Gereja Menyongsong Abad ke-21 (The Reformation and the Transformation of the Church‟s Ministry as we Welcome the 21st Century). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 223pp.
217
2000a Iman dan Politik dalam Era Reformasi di Indonesia (Faith and Politics in the Reformation Era in Indonesia). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, xiv-220. 2000b Berteologi dalam Konteks: Pemikiran-pemikiran mengenai Kontekstualisasi Teologi di Indonesia (Doing Theology in Context: Thoughts on the Contextualisation of Theology in Indonesia). Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 254pp. 2000c Hidup di bawah Bayang-bayang Maut: Sebuah Tafsir Kitab Pengkhotbah (Living under the Shadows of Death: An Exegesis of the Book of Ecclesiastes). BPK Gunung Mulia. 4.16. Gabriel Possenti Sindhunata (1952-)
Born 12th May 1952.
218
5. Women Doing Theology Women have needed to struggle long and hard against the patriarchal culture of both Indonesian church and society to gain a toe-hold on the theological landscape of the Churches. In 1989 Nieke Atamadja-Hadinoto was the first Indonesian woman to receive a doctorate in theology (from Kampen, The Netherlands). Women are collaborative theologians working through professional and practical associations.
219
Perhaps this is why few names have emerged so far in the Protestant Churches and just one in the Catholic Church. Women theologians also seem to be “too busy” as pastors with little expectation, time or encouragement for academic theologizing. Many are engaged in advocacy and human rights networks as well as carrying out family responsibilities. Korean born Sun-Ai Park (deceased 1999) founded the journal In God’s Image (IGI) in Singapore in December 1982 as a forum for women‟s theological thinking, more particularly for those theologizing in English.
IGI has published very little by Indonesian authors over the years. Marianne Katoppo was on the editorial
220
board from 1983-97. Presently based in Malayasia In God’s Image has a circulation of 2,000 copies sent to subscribers in 33 countries.
Address: Asian Women‟s Resource Centre for Culture and Theology (AWRC), 79 Lorong Anggor, Taman Shanghai, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Email: tingjin@pc.jaring.my.
Bibliography
1978 Katoppo, Marianne, “Kedudukan Wanita di Indonesia di Masa Sekarang” (The position of Women in Indonesia Today), Peninjau, Vol.5:25-54. Survey of the origin and growth of women‟s movements in Indonesia. Summary of MA thesis (see below).
221
1986 Atamadja-Hadinoto, Nieke, “De vrouw als partner in de kerk - stemmen uit Indonesia”, Allerwegen , 12/3:28-35. Report on consultation of Indonesian women theologians at Sukabumi in 1983. 1987 Orteza, Edna J. (ed.), Common Roots Common vision - Report of the ARF Women Consultation-Workshop, Wisma oikoumene, Sukabumi. Jakarta: PGI, 133pp.
1990 Woro, D.E. Palupi, Maria Ginting, & Noor Cahyathio, Wanita Indonesia: Bibliografi Beranotasi (Indonesian Women: Annotated bibliography). Jakarta: Pusat Informasi Wanita.
1991 Tan, Mely G. (ed.), Perempuan Indonesia Pemimpin Masa Depan? (Indonesian Women Leaders for the Future?). Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, xix-112pp.
222
5.1. Women‟s Groups
Grass-roots women‟s movements, initially established during colonial times in 1928, were disbanded by the military after their 1965/66 putsch. For over 30 years women had to join the official government organisation under the wife of the local official, led nationally by the wife of the Minister of Home Affairs. Women were herded back into domestic health programmes and support for the regime. Only in the 1990s have women‟s grass-roots NGOs re-emerged with active participation by Christians.
Christian women‟s associations are ecumenical with full Catholic participation, such as the Kelompok Perempuan
223
Sadar (KPS - Association for Women‟s Awareness) established in Yogyakarta in 1993 with A. Nunuk Prasetyo Murniati as its first chairperson. KPS meets for regular consultations. It networks with the women‟s commission of EATWOT and many Indonesian NGOs few of which are Christian. Awareness programmes include a deconstruction of the myths, symbols, political jargon and violence of the Soeharto regime as well as the pietistic spirituality which was unable to empower oppressed women. KPS is also developing Christian and inter-faith symbols that free and empower. Address: KPS, Jl. Simanjuntuk 8, (belakang Apotek), Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Jaringan Mitra Perempuan (JMP - Women‟s Partnership Network) was established during a 1995 Gender
224
Workshop run by the Social Research Unit of the Catholic Bishops‟ Conference (LPPS-KWI; known internationally as Missio). JMP has eleven regional networks. Its national secretariat is located at the office of the Bishops‟ Conference in Jakarta. Workshops and publications focus upon gender injustice and solidarity in integral humanity. JMP is also involved in advocacy and in more practical support of gender victimisation through its local networks. JMP is developing a moderately feminist theology as framework and motivation for its work. Address: JMP, Jl. Cut Mutia 10, Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia. Email: <jmpnas@jmp.famili.com>.
225
Persekutuan Wanita Berpendidikan Teologi di Indonesia (Perwati - Communion of Women with Theological Education in Indonesia) was born in Tomohon in 1995. In 2000 Perwati had 15 branches covering most parts of Indonesia with a couple of hundred individual members. Perwati holds four-yearly congresses and occasional Study Institutes. Together with the Women‟s Office of the National Communion of Churches (PGI) and the National Association of Theological Colleges (Persetia) it held a major seminar-workshop on feminist theology in 1999.
In 2000 it published a course in feminist theology for use in the theological syllabus. Since March 2000 Perwati has published its own triennial journal Sophia: Jurnal Berteologi Perempuan Indonesia (Sophia: An Indonesian Women‟s Theological Journal). Sophia is edited by Septemmy E.
226
Lakawa who has been General Secretary of Perwati since its National Congress in 1998. Address: Perwati, Jl. Proklamasi 27, Jakarta Pusat 10320. Email: <perwatijkt@hotmail.com>.
Bibliography
1995 KPS (ed.), Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan dalam Gereja (Violence towards Women in the Church). Yogyakarta.
1995Hardaputranta (ed.) Gender dan Pembangunan I (Gender and Development I). Jakarta: Seri Forum LPPS-KWI No.30. viii-63.
1998 Toba-Sarumpaet, Riris K., Peremuan di Rumah Tuhan (A Woman in the Lord‟s House. Biography of Julia Sarumpaet-Hutabarat by her daughter). Jakarta: Persetia.
227
1999 Doeka-Souk, Bendalina & Suleeman, Stephen (eds.), Bentangkanlah Sayapmu (Spread your Wings Wide). Results of the Seminar and Workshop on Feminist Theology, Kaliurang, July 1997. Jakarta: Persetia, v-381pp.
5.2. Augustina Lumentut (1937- ), Central Sulawesi.
Agustina Lumentut‟s theology is writ in her life-story. A daughter of a hard-working and hard-suffering mother and a primary school teacher-cum-evangelist father who established congregations while opening village schools in the interior of Central Sulawesi.
Thus, from birth she experienced both the idealism and the hardships of being a pioneer teacher‟s child, with frequent moves and negligible salary.
228
Her family endured the harsh Japanese occupation (1942-45), the political chaos and separatist movement that followed independence and then the later upheaval in the Church when the Dutch missionaries were asked to withdraw by the local Synod. In these circumstances Ibu Tina graduated from basic schooling at the age of fourteen. After three-years lower secondary school she went to Macassar in South Sulawesi to study theology (1954-59), one of the first women to do so. She returned to the interior to serve congregations. Surviving gender discrimination she was appointed to a town congregation in 1960.
Military skirmishes and death-threats were par for the course in the early 1960s. In 1963 she was appointed
229
secretary to the Synod. Apart from administration she visited the far-flung congregations. A year in Australia opened up international contacts (1964-65). Returning to Sulawesi Agustina Lumentut pioneered awareness-building programmes in the interior, combining biblical instruction and community development through discussion and practical projects. Struggles with a pietistic tradition and opposition from jealous government leaders led Ibu Tina to develop a theology of development and to stand always for truth over expediency.
230
In 1973 she visited India to study community development on route to a General Assembly of the Netherlands Reformed Church in Holland. On sabbatical from 1974-78 she upgraded her degree at her alma mater and then went to Trinity College, Singapore for a MA in theology, becoming the most academically qualified pastor in her church. She returned to community development with an even greater gender sensitivity and verve. This brought her into the struggle of the indigenous people for their land rights in the face of migrants from Jawa and Bali and their rubber plantations.
Thus when an opportunity arose in Jakarta for Agustina Lumentut to take up a position on the executive of
231
the Communion of Churches, her local church was content to see her go. Integrity costs everything. She moved to Jakarta and worked as Deputy General Secretary of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia from 1988 - . Living simply, married to her work and ideals, became a well-known broadcaster on radio and television. In 199? her Central Sulawesi Church recalled her as its moderator. Agustina Lumentut was the first woman to become a moderator of any church in Indonesia. She was an ecumenical delegate representing the CCA at the Episcopal Synod for Asia held in the Vatican in 1998.
Bibliography
232
1980 “Membaharui, Membangun dan Mempersatukan Gereja” (Renewing, Building up and Uniting the Church). Address at General Assembly of the Council of Churches in Indonesia, Tomohon, July. 1997 Margaret Kirk, Let Justice Flow: An Asian Woman works creatively for the Liberation of Her People. Biography of Agustina Lumentut. New Delhi: ISPCK, xvi-224.
5.3. Agustina Nunuk Prasetyo Murniati (1943-), Yogyakarta.
A. Nunuk Prasetyo Murniati is the daughter of an eye specialist who encouraged independence in life and thought, and of a pious mother whose father was a Jawanese ascetic.
She was born in Yogyakarta, central Jawa on 21st August 1943 during the Japanese occupation.
233
Her self-effacing mother quietly cooked meals for the freedom fighters. Ibu Nunuk herself studied economics and sociology at Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta, graduating in 1968. Her student days coincided with the turbulent years that led to the overthrow of Soekarno (1965/66) when she was Chairperson of the Catholic Youth Organisation in the city.
On graduating Ibu Nunuk taught at the Tarakanita Social Welfare Academy for 30 years where she was Director for 15 of them; she also taught developmental economics at Atma Jaya University (1969-85), management at Sanata Dharma University for 10 years and team-teaching on pastoral work with the family at Wedabhakti Faculty of Theology.
234
The latter teaching assignment came to an abrupt halt on publication of her book on violence towards women in the church in 1995. Sidelined for a while by Catholics, she was in constant demand in Protestant and Islamic women‟s groups. Unable to teach theology herself, she sat in the lectures of Tom Jacobs and Banawiratma, and through pointed questions placed women‟s liberative concerns in their courses. Three years later in 1999 her teaching at the Wedabhakti Faculty was resumed, this time in feminist theology in the Post-graduate School (20 sessions). Married to a civil servant (retired) and with three children who now have families of their own, Ibu Nunuk has been a family counsellor for 25 years.
235
Since high school Ibu Nunuk has been interested in women‟s concerns. Initially active in the Laity Commission of the Semarang Archdiocese she found this forum too restricted and introverted. Becoming a close friend and collaborator of Mangunwijaya, in 1976 she moved to non-governmental organisations and inter-faith networks. Starting as an economist, work with women‟s cooperatives led Ibu Nunuk to widen her knowledge and she studied cultural anthropology and social psychology. To avoid being appointed Rector of Atma Jaya University, Ibu Nunuk applied for a sabbatical.
Because the social psychology programme in The Hague fell through, she took a diploma in pastoral counselling at the Maryknoll School in New York (1982) and so “accidentally” discovered theology.
236
Ibu Nunuk is the first Catholic Indonesian woman to study theology at masters level (Maryknoll 1984). Feminist theology brought on a faith-crisis as the pious Jesus of her upbringing was challenged by the biblical Jesus of feminist research. Giving up her devotional Jesus she rooted her liberationist Christ into the life-witness of her independent parents and ascetic grandparents. Feminist theology provided a theoretical frame for her empowerment work with women.
For Ibu Nunuk theology is conversation - an ongoing questioning process by groups of involved women (1998:36-45). Theology is a truly collaborative exercise (cf 1986, 1990). Before theology can liberate, the Bible and Church dogma
237
have to be liberated from its masculine culture and from narrow androcentric interpretations. In contrast to women‟s movements in the West, she experiences no dichotomy between extremes - between the peace and pro-life movements, for instance. Her support for natural family planning is rooted in indigenous spirituality, in the effectiveness of traditional herbal contraceptives and in her opposition to the hegemony of capitalist, pharmaceutical TNCs. Her approach is not one-sidedly cerebral; words are not the only theological language. Theology is personal, birthed by the heart in music, movement, painting, architecture, meditation and asceticism.
238
Nunuk Prasetyo Murniati is a member of the National Commission on Women (established after the military-organised mass rape of Chinese-descent women in May 1998), and so divides her time between Jakarta and Yogyakarta. In 1993 she founded Kelompok Perempuan Sadar (Group of Aware Women) of which she is Chairperson (see 5.1 above). She runs gender-awareness workshops throughout Indonesia more particularly in violent trouble spots. She was General Chairperson of the Perserikatan Solidaritas Perempuan (Union of Solidarity with Women - 1998-2001). From 1995-2000 she was EATWOT Indonesian coordinator.
Retiring early from her last teaching assignment in tertiary education in 2000, she is devoting the remainder of
239
her active life in justice movements and inter-faith gender networks which were banned by the Soeharto regime for most of her adult life (1966-98). Meanwhile she is working on her doctorate in pastoral studies from SEAST on the right to reproduction - a feminist theology of life. In the life and thought of A. Nunuk Prasetyo Murniati, a fascinating theological biography is crying out to be written.
Bibliography
1984 “An Expanded Vision of Pastoral Work in Indonesia”. New York: Maryknoll School of Theology. MA thesis. 74pp + 6pp bibliography. typescript.
1990 “Rediscovering the Indonesian Women‟s Potential.” EATWOT Asian Feminist Theology Meeting. Madras, 15-20 December. 24pp.
240
1992 “Perempuan Indonesia dan Pola Ketergantungan” (Indonesian Women and the Model of Dependence). In, Citra Wanita dan Kekuasaaan (Jawa). Yogyakarta: Kanisius & Lembaga Studi Realino. 1995a “Peran Perempuan dalam Gereja” (The Role of Women in the Church), Gender dan Pembangunan I, Jakarta: Seri LPPS No.30, 39-53. 1995b Gerakan Anti-Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan (Anti-Violence towards Women Movement). Yogyakarta: Kelompok Perempuan Sadar, 36pp. Expanded edition Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 1998, 63pp.
5.4. Henriette Marianne Katoppo (1943-), Minahasa and Jakarta.
241
The theology of Marianne Katoppo, recorded in her novels, newspaper articles and book (1979), finds its most apt embodiment in her own struggle as a woman, as the youngest of ten siblings, as a member of a prominent Dutch-speaking Protestant family and an energetic participant in international ecumenical networks. Marianne Katoppo was born in Tomohon, Minahasa, on 9th June 1943 but brought up in Jakarta.
She obtained her BA from Graduate School of Theology, Jakarta (1964) and then studied in Japan 1964-66. From 1966-69 worked with the United Bible Society in London, UK and from 1969-74 worked in Sweden. From 1974-76 undertook post-graduate studies at her alma mater in Jakarta (M.A. 1976) followed by a post-graduate year at
242
the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland writing Compassionate and Free (1979). Continuing her peripatetic lifestyle she was appointed visiting lecturer at Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK (1985-86). Since 1983 she has lived as a free-lance theologian, novelist, journalist and translator. Marianne Katoppo is a founder-member of, and was the first Indonesian coordinator for, the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT). She is a founding-member of the journal In God’s Image and has been a contributing editor to Mission Studies. From 1984-89 she was a member of the Executive Committee of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia seeing to woman‟s concerns.
243
Intelligent, independent, forthright, conversant in many Asian and European languages, Marianne Katoppo embodies the ambiguities and brokenness of those who do not fit into any single category - socially, culturally, religiously. Her most explicitly Christian novel is Raumanen (1977) where a love affair across ethnic lines ends with the suicide of the protagonist. Her theological articles and book spring partly from personal experience (disappointment even bitterness) and partly from social critique taking up themes of justice (option for the poor and gender). She has authored five novels, one theological work and over 20 articles of which 10 are in English.
244
Bibliography
1977 Raumanen, Jakarta: Gaya Favorit Press, 95pp. 1979 Compassionate and Free: An Asian Woman’s Theology, Geneva: World Council of Churches, vi-93 pp; republished by Orbis, New York 1980 & 1981. Also available in Dutch, German and Swedish editions. 1979a “Asian Theology: An Asian Woman‟s Perspective”, WCC Exchange, Vol.3:25-34; republished in Virginia Fabella, (ed.) Asia’s Struggle for Full Humanity, New York: Orbis, 1980:140-151, and Logos, 20/1/1981:49-60.
1994 “The Concept of God and the Spirit form the Feminist Perspective”, in Ursula King, (ed.) Feminist theology from the Third World. London: SPCK, 244-250.
245
1995 Steenbrink, Karel “Ecumenical Adventures of Marianne Katoppo.”. In (eds.) Leny Lagerwerf, Karel Steenbrink, & Frans Verstraelen Changing Partnership of Missionary and Ecumenical Movements, Leiden-Utrecht: Inter-university Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research, 212-225.
5.4. Septemmy Eucharistia Lakawa (1970-), Sulawesi Tengah, Jakarta.
In Septemmy Eucharistia Lakawa we meet with the new generation of women theologians. Born in Kendari, Central Sulawesi on 11th September 1970 she began studying theology at the Jakarta School of Theology in 1989 graduating in 1994.
246
Ibu Temmy then obtained an MA from Austen Presbyterian Seminary in 1996 followed by a MTh from Jakarta in 1998. Her latter thesis is entitled: “A Missiology of Compassion: Missiology according to an Indonesian Christian Woman.”
247
While doing her masters course in Austen USA Temmy found her faith questioned for the first time by her theological investigations.
Lectures in feminist theology led to tears and prayer.
She finally decided to continue with feminist theologies in order to engage with a lifelong wrestle with the key questions: who is the God whom we know in Indonesia?
Who and where is Christ in Indonesian realities?
How should the church participate in the God‟s mission of justice, peace and truth in Indonesia?
She describes her Indonesian feminist theology as “brave like Hagar, honest like the Samaritan woman, risk-taking like Rahab, visionary like Mary of the Magnificat; a theology able to rest in silence like Saul‟s concubine Rizpah, weep bitterly like Tamar and dance joyfully like Miriam”.
Orthodoxy has to be questioned by orthopraxis.
248
For Temmy theology is a collaborative effort, ever inclusive beginning with women‟s stories born in an “epistemology from the broken body”. Major influences on her theology include Chung Hyun Kyung, Mercy Amba-Oduyoye, Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza and Elisabeth Johnson.
In 1996 Temmy Lakawa was ordained. After a brief period serving her church in Central Sulawesi she returned to Jakarta in 1998 to teach at her alma mater (missiology, ecumenism, “Reading the Bible with New Eyes and Modern Theology).
Her theology has been developing in concert with a community of activists, probers and scholars.
249
She joined Perwati (see 5.1. above). During Perwati‟s National Congress in 1998, where she delivered a paper, Temmy was elected general secretary.
She is also the first editor of Sophia, the journal of Perwati founded in March 2000 (cf. No.1.4. above).
Involved in the Christian Conference of Asia, Temmy Lakawa has been preparing and presenting studies in the CCA programme “Reading the Bible with New Eyes” for Gender-Awareness workshops throughout Asia (e.g. Mt. 26:26-28; Jg. 19:1-30; 2 Sm 13:1-39).
Participating in the Harare General Assembly of the WCC in 1998, Temmy Lakawa was elected to its Executive Committee.
Bibliography
250
1998 “God Who Sees: An Indonesian Christian Woman Reading the Story of Hagar in Searching a Liberating Spirituality for Indonesian (Christian-Muslim) Women Cooperation in Praxis”, Borrong, Robert (ed.), Berakar di dalam Dia dan Dibangun di atas Dia (Rooted in Him and Built upon Him). Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 217pp, 195-210. Reprinted 2000.
1999 “Pengkajian Kritis terhadap Teologi kaum Feminis. Suatu Pendekatan Metodologis” (A Critical Study of the Theology of Feminists. A Methodological Approach). In,Bendalina Doeka-Souk & Stephen Suleeman (eds.), Bentangkanlah Sayapmu (Open Wide your Wings). Seminar-Workshop on Feminist Theology by the PGI Office of Women‟s Concerns, Perwati & Persetia. Kaliurang, 28-30 July. Jakarta: Persetia, v-381pp, 291-324.
251
2000 “Keheningan dan Kekerasan: Perjalanan Perempuan Mencari Kebenaran demi Rekonsiliasi” (Silence and Violence: The Journey of Women seeking the Truth for the sake of Reconciliation), Sophia, Vol.1/1:5-14.
,