QUESTION: Has an ordinary lay person anything to do with theology and theological discussions? – Patricia Jose

ANSWER: Jacob Parappally MSFS

From a Christian stand-point theologizing is a meaning-making exercise from the perspective of one’s faith in Jesus Christ. Along with the question about one’s identity one raises also the question about the meaning of one’s existence. In other words the questions such as, “Who am I? Where do I come from and where am I going to?” well up in the minds of humans some time or other. For some people it is a constantly arising thought in their minds and they are restless till they find some reasonable and convincing answers for themselves. For a Christian, his or her faith experience is that the origin and the end of his or her life is God revealed in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who is the beginning and the end of one’s life or Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega of one’s life. This realization is the grace given to every believer and any reflection on it and its implication for one’s life is, in fact, theologizing. It is the sacred duty of every Christian, every lay person, every religious and everyone in the hierarchy.

Every Christian is a theologian. Though there are some who are called to the ministry of teaching theology professionally, it does not mean that other Christians are absolved from the sacred duty of theologizing in their everyday life. Therefore, the lay people have the grace, right and duty to theologize and enter into theological discussions. They can enter into serious theological discussions among themselves as well as with those who have studied theology as an academic discipline.

Jesus, a Lay Theologian

The Scribes and Pharisees as well as the Sadducees were all theologians belonging elite, priestly classes, though they differed in their understanding and interpretation of Hebrew Bible and had different theological positions concerning life here on earth and life after. Jesus did not belong to any cultic priestly class. He belonged to the working-class and associated with the so called ritually impure people. Though a non-clerical layman he had a deep knowledge of the Scripture and the message it had for the transformation of individual persons and the Jewish society of his time. More than possessing the knowledge of the Scripture and his theological insights into the mystery of life and death, he spoke with such an authority that it touched the hearts of his hearers. He discussed the meaning of the Scripture and theological doctrines with the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and lawyers in a language and insight that surprised them.

Jesus discussed about the Law of Moses, their understanding about God and on religious practices with the ordinary people. He associated with the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the outcasts and the entire marginalized people and spoke to them about theological matters in a language understandable to them. He told them parables after parables about the Kingdom of God and its values. He showed them how to recognize, accept and celebrate the Kingdom of God within them and amidst them. He did not make any distinction between the rich and the poor, so called ritually pure and impure, men and women and approached them as humans, as his own brother, sister. He transcended his own self-understanding as a carpenter of Nazareth at his baptism which he received from John the Baptist standing in a queue along with other ordinary people of his time who wanted to be baptized. At his baptism he realized his prophetic vocation to preach the good news of liberation (Luke 4:18f). Then he transcended his family and the regular work of a carpenter and full time teacher of the Kingdom of God. Even when his mother and relatives wanted to bring him back to the routine work of a carpenter, he refused to do so because of his conviction about his prophetic vocation (Mark 3:20-21). He saw a family beyond his own family. While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him about them, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:46 – 13:1). Then he broke the boundary of his society and its rules concerning social interactions and social relations. He ignored the societal laws concerning wining and dining because his theology liberated him from the shackles of rules concerning ritual purity and impurity. His table-fellowship with the publicans and so called sinners had its roots in his theological understanding of the equality of all humans whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, young or old, publican or Pharisee. The ordinary people recognized the value of Jesus’ teaching though he was not a professional theologian but a layman like any of them. However, they saw a difference between him and the recognized theologians of his time because he spoke with authority. Mark the evangelist narrates the people “were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes” ( Mark 1:22). His authority came from his intimate relationship with God whom he addressed as his Abba. Any lay person can have similar authority as a theologian when his or her theologizing has its source in their intimacy with God.

Ordinary People’s Theology

The emergence of liberation theology in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century in Latin America emerged from the theological reflections of the Basic Christian Communities of the oppressed people. When the ordinary people began to reflect on the liberating message of the gospel they were empowered to struggle for their liberation from the oppressive structures that exploited and dehumanized them. They learned from the gospel narratives that Jesus sided with the exploited and oppressed people of his time. Their deep Christian faith made them convinced of the fact they were not alone in their struggle for liberation but with Jesus, the liberator who was crucified for standing for the values of the Kingdom of God he preached and rose again from the dead and was alive in their midst working through the power of his Spirit. Only later, professional theologians like Gustavo Gutierrez, Hugo Assmann, Jose Miranda, Juan Luis Segundo, Jon Sobrino, LeonardoBoff and so on. The theology of ordinary people may not have the complexities and terminologies of academic theology or its coherence and systematization but it has the smell of the soil and the touch of the heart.

Challenge of People’s Theology

The theology of ordinary people challenges the clerical monopoly of theological interpretation and theological debates concerning God’s revelation about the origin and destiny of humans. Using the knowledge of theology as a means to control and dominate the ordinary faithful who do not have any training in academic theology was a perverted way to exploit the faithful and to justify any abuse of priestly power. This too was the way of the Scribes and the Pharisees during the time of Jesus which he challenged with very strong words calling them, hypocrites, brood of vipers, white-washed sepulchres and so on. Theology of ordinary people can challenge any theology that justifies the domination and exploitation of the ordinary faithful through the abuse of priestly offices which are ministries for the servant-leadership of the people of God. It does not need any special theological education to understand and oppose any form of exploitation and oppression in the name of God and the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church recognizes the right and duty of the people of God to penetrate the received faith and apply it to life. It says, “By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. . . The People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life”(Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para 93). Such sensusfidelium or sense of the faithful always seeks understanding or theological exploration. Though many of the ordinary faithful may not engage in any theological discussions but accept the doctrines and religious practices without questioning them, there are some who reflect on their faith and critically discuss about them for forming reasonable convictions about them.

While it can be admitted that some of the thinking, reflection and articulations of the theology of ordinary people can be sectarian, divisive and discriminatory, it can be corrected, opened up and made inclusive by dialogue, faith formation and the challenge of the Word of God. In the gospel according to Matthew, the evangelist employs such a pedagogy to change the mind-set of ordinary Jewish Christians’ theology that demanded that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and become Jews first and then be baptized to become Christians. Through his faith-formation with a Christology that revealed a Christ who includes all humans both Jew and Gentile and his offer of salvation open to all, Matthew educates his addressees. In the same way, when the theology of ordinary people go away from the revealed truths it needs correction by the legitimate teaching authority of the Church.

Theologizing as a search for meaning of one’s life from the perspective of one’s faith is the duty of every member of the Church to grow from an infantile or unquestioned acceptance of faith to an adult faith based on religious experience, reason and conviction. To improve the quality of Christian life and to be an effective witness to Jesus Christ and the values of the Kingdom of God every Christian has a duty to reflect on his or her faith or to theologize. Admitting that there are mysteries of God that transcend human reasoning and understanding, still there are truths revealed in the history of salvation that can be understood by human reason and accepted with the assent of the will leading to a deep conviction of the heart and can be lived by witnessing Christian life. The challenge of every lay person is to educate oneself in theological matters that one can give an account of hope that is in everyone with reverence and gentleness to others who call his or her faith into question (cf. I Pet 3:15-17).