MR S Pindler RECENT INDIAN STUDIES of the GOSPEL of JOHN

M. R. Spindler

RECENT INDIAN STUDIES OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN : PUZZLING CONTEXTUALISATION

The Gospel of John has been very popular in India in recent times and it is still the most distributed portion of the Bible. It has been studied by many

Indian scholars who felt special affinities with the style and spirituality of the Fourth Gospel. The popularity of this Gospel can be traced down to the influence of one of the greatest Indian theologians in the 20th century, namely Dr. A.J. Appasamy (1891-1975), who wrote his Oxford doctorate thesis on The Mysticism of the Fourth GospeZ in its Reflation to Hindu Bhakti Lite- rature (1922, unpublished), and later toured all over India with his lectures collected in his influential books Christianity as Bhakti Marga: A Study of the Johannine Doctrzne of Love (CLS, Madras 1928) and What is Moksa ? A

Study in the Joharm2ne Doctrine of Life (CLS, Madras 1931). Furthermore the interest in the Fourth Gospel has been greatly stimulated by the expectation of western theologians, such as B.F. Westcott, who expressed the hope that the most profound commentary on the Gospel of John would be written by an

Indian theologians The reason for this very special affinity between India and the Gospel of John was the alleged common pattern of spirituality or mysticism, but this has become problematic, and the relevance of the Gospel of

John to Indian spirituality or better to Indian reality is no longer taken for granted; indeed it may be interpreted in very unexpected ways, as we shall see below.

To start with Appasamy and his contemporaries would be far beyond the scope of Exehange. So I should like to take my starting point in 1974. The historical fact of that year, with regard to the study of the Gospel of John in India, was an ecumenical seminar held in the Christa Prema Seva Ashram in Pune, in February 1974 on the subject "The Message of St John's Gospel in

India Today". The papers and the summary of the discussions in workshops,

1) still mentioned in R.H.S. Boyd, An Introduction to Indian Chr2stzan TheoZogy, 2nd ed., CLS Madras 1975,1 .

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access as well as some elements of artistic and spiritual experiments made by several participants of the seminar, were published in 1975 under the title India's Search for Reality and the ReZevance of the

CrospeZ of John. At this historic conference 36 Christians from different traditions shared their approaches to the Fourth Gospel; they came from the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of North India, the

Church of South India, the Lutheran Church and the Methodist Church; some were evangelists and pastors from rural areas, several theological teachers were present, together with one or two "urban missioners", some Church leaders and bishops, and several religious. A rather puzzling picture emerged from the seminar, and the variety of approaches might suggest a lot of contradiction between participants; but the editors comment that "St John's Gospel (...) seems to have some ability 2) to transcend mere logic"2). A first part of the present survey will be devoted to a description of the main approaches presented at Pune. A second reason justifies the choice of 1974/1975 as a starting point.

A new theological periodical was launched in 1975 as a continuation and expansion of a Malayalam quarterly created in 1972; the new journal, called BibZebhashz�am. An Indian Biblical Quarterly, published by St.

Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Kottayam, Kerala started with a quite regu- 3) lar pattern of composition3). Each issue is usually devoted to a particular Biblical theme which is highlighted in the perspective of the various literary units of the Bible, one of them being the Gospel of John. It is easy to follow the development of approach and interpretation in this specialised periodical with regard to johannine literature. I shall not give, however, an equally specialised commentary on matters of biblical scholarship which are beyond the scope of this Bulletin.

Such an attempt might be made in a forthcoming publication as the out- come of an interdisciplinary seminar at the State University of Leiden,

2)Chr. Duraisingh � C. Hargreaves (eds.), Indians Search for Reality and the Relevance of the Gospel of John. Papers from a Conference held in Pune in February 1974, ISPCK, Delhi 1975, 3.

3) The recent development of Indian Christian theological periodicals has been described in: M.R. Spindler, Indian Christian Periodicals: The Daily Life of Indian Theology, Exchange, no. 20, Vol. VII, 1978, 1-53. On BibZebhashyam see 30-32.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access jointly conducted by Dr. M. de Jonge, professor of New Testament and

specialist of johannine studies, and myself, in the acedemic year

1979/1980. The second part of the present survey will be devoted to

a short analysis of periodical literature, especially of Biblebhashyam, pertaining to the Gospel of John. The third part of my survey will be devoted to a general presentation of a few monographies and essays entirely or partially concerning the Gospel of John. Some are dealing with the general frame of interpre-

tation, but most of them are detailed exegetical studies, that may be

classified as academic exercises for the sake of professional quali- fication, more than as independent research in unknown territories.

Here I must warn my readers not to be impatient, and it is my experience that a warning is necessary. The Gospel of John is definitely not an unknown territory, and it is certainly unfair when western scho-

lars expect their Indian colleagues to discover this America of the Gospel of John and would force them to ignore past scholarship under

the plea of the need for contextualisation and indigenity. In my view,

it is quite legitimate and normal that Indian biblical scholars use the resources of available biblical scholarship even if these instru- ments are not entirely "made in India". By the way, who in the West is afraid of drinking Darjeeling tea ?

My conclusion will touch the problem of hermeneutics in the Indian

context, a problem which is increasingly considered in its own right, on the philosophical, logical, theological, sociological level, without application to a particular (Biblical) text. The old treasures of

Indian philosophical and logical traditions are being explored with a view to making them relevant to modern exegetical and hermeneutical

challenges. On the other hand the privileges of literacy and sacred

literature(s) are being questioned by the universal pressure of popu-

lar religiosity and the burning quest for religious immediacy, a very

Tnrii an fcatmrn indeed Tr»T»7fl V*^Q �0me-��k of innacflmu ? again the

limits of the present publication do not allow me to go very deeply into these extremely involved qflestions, but I shall be happy to share with my readers a very short glance at the problem.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access I INDIA'S SEARCH FOR REALITY AND THE RELEVANCE OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Christopher Duraisingh and Cecil Hargreaves, both from the United

Theological Seminary in Bangalore, have edited under the above title

the excellent collection of papers and reports from the conference held in Pune in February 1974. In my view, every existing approach to the Gospel of John in India, at least among Christians, was represented at this conference. I have counted about six main trends, according to the emphasis recognized in the Fourth Gospel. Some see the emphasis in a mystical union with God in a more or less cogni- tive process, some place the union with God in the sphere of love, others in the area of decision and commitment, some others again identify a strong eschatological and historical frame in John, others insist upon universal symbols in the Gospel of John, and others use the Gospel as a resource and direction for meditation in the technical sense. I was surprised, however, reading the introduction of the book that the editors acknowledge three approaches to St John's

Gospel only, viz. contemplative, incarnationaZ and personal, as it were a typology of understanding; in fact very suggestive.

"Some participants approached the gospel from the contemplative angle: they reminded us that this gospel has been the inspiration of countless search- ers after oneness with God. They brought out the significance of the Johannine 'Christ in the silence'. They focused attention on the interiority of much of the Johannine material, linking it up with phrases and thought-forms in the classical Indian religious tradition and in Hindu Scriptures" ..... "Other speakers and participants approached the gospel from the incarnationaZ angle: they focused our attention on the theme of 'the Word made flesh': they emphasised the figure of the prophetic Christ to be found in the Johannine material. They brought out for us that this gospel is and has been the inspiration of many prophets of social action" .....

"Others approached the gospel from the personal angle and pointed to the figure of Christ the personal Saviour of individuals in St John. At least one speaker drew attention to the basic importance of this aspect of St John's gospel, and one of the workshops made the same point. Since we were meeting in Maharashtra, it was entirely fitting that we had someone to tell us about the pattern of bhakti found in the writings of Narayan Vaman Tilak and its links with this gospel" (2).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access The editors insist on these three approaches in their conclusion.

Together, the three ways of interpretation lead to relevant mes- sages addressed by the Gospel of John to India today :

(a) " call to the contemplative realisation of oneness with God, in terms that answer man's long mystical search for such oneness";

(b) " challenge to decision and dynamic action, in a world where men and women are too easily and apathe- tically resigned to doing nothing in the fight against evil things"; (c) " invitation to personal renewal and individual change of heart, which remains a basic foundation of all renewal". (4-5).

It is obvious that the editors interpret the whole conference against the background of their own theological thrust, which I may characte- rize in two ways. Firstly, as a strong belief in the authority of the Gospel to call, to challenge, to invite, and secondly, as a spontaneous stress on the will of human beings rather than on other dimensions of existence. Call, challenge, invitation, all three categories rest upon the will.

The book under review has sixteen chapters, as follows :

1. An Indian Reads St John's Gospel - M.A. Amaladoss

2. From Death to Life (A Reflection on an Upani- shadic Text in the Light of the Johanni.ne Gospel) - Sister Vandana

3. The Gospel of John and the World of India Today - C. Duraisingh 4. John's Gospel: A Gospel of Decision and a Gospel of the Church - Lucius Nereparampil

5. The Man Born Blind (Understanding a Johannine Sign in India Today) - G. Soares Prabhu 6. An Artist Looks at the Fourth Gospel - Jyoti Sahi 7. Reflection, Symbolism and st Jorin Gospel - Seminar Report 8. A Comparison between the Johannine Structure of Image Sign and the Buddhist-Hindu Mandala - Jyoti Sahi

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access 9. Johannine Worship and Patterns of Prayer - Seminar Report

10. Johannine Secular Involvement - Sem2nar Report 11. The Use of St John's Gospel in a Parish or Christian Group - Seminar Report 12. The purpose of St John's Gospel: the Spread of the Good News - P.B. Santram 13. A Johannine Pattern of Bhakti as found in the Writings of Narayan Vaman Tilak - J.P. Sane 14. The Fourth Gospel and Its Relevance to India - S.K. Patro

15. St John's Gospel as an Inspiration for the Life of an Indian Ashram - P.T. Thomas

16. Towards the Psychology of Jesus in St John's Gospel (A Study of the Word made Flesh) - Sister Ishapriya

I must limit myself to give a few examples of the main approaches, but the reader should be aware that other views were represented; some of them will be exposed in the following chapters of the present survey.

The contribution of Fr. M.A. Amaladoss SJ, takes its point of departure in a specific stream of Indian spirituality, namely the spirituality of the Upanishads, and he reads the Gospel of John in the radiant light of the Upanishads, enacting the role of the Hindu ima- gined by Swami Abhishiktananda: "a Hindu, whose mind had been formed by long years of reading his own scriptures and meditating on the inner mystery, began at last to read the Gospel in the radiance of his own experience of the atman".4)

Amaladoss retains three points of the world-view of the Upanishads which are at the same time points of contact for the johannine experience: "the Unity of Being; a certain duality expressed by the related words 'real-unreal' (sat-asat, MRS), which demands a re-cen- tering of one's vision; the rediscovery of the world as symbol" (13).

4) .. 4)Abhishiktananda, Hindu-Christian Meeting-Point: within the Cave of the Heart, ISPCK, Delhi 1976 (revised edition), 77. Fr. Amaladoss quotes from the first English edition, 1969, 85.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Amaladoss reads the Gospel of John from these three points of view, as follows:

-- the theme of unity "Once he (the believer) has realized mysteric depths of this unity, the category of 'I-Thou' to describe this would be felt to be totally inadequate. In the unity there is no 'Thou'. There is only an 'I' that keeps re- sounding at various depths. Jesus..can say 'I am the Truth, Life, Light' etc. and even 'I am' absolutely. His unity with the Father is not one of an 'I-Thou' confrontation. It is one of mutual indwelling. When Jesus says 'I', it involves not only the 'man' Jesus; it reaches down to the divine depths of the Son and still further, of the Father, for the Son is from the Father. At the same time Jesus can pray to the Father (17) and dedicate himself to Him (17:19). This is really the mystery of the 'Advaita1 .".... "We can speak of a similar 'advaita' relationship between the believer and the Son and, in the Son, with the Father. 'May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you' (17:21)". (16-li)

�- the theme of duali.sm "This dualism is between the realm of light, truth, freedom,life etc. and the realm of darkness, falsehood, bon- dage, death etc. (1:5,10;8:12;12:35-46;3:19;8:32, 42-45; 12:31;14:40;16:11;5:24;6:27ff;8:12;11:25;14:6 etc.). Those who believe in Jesus belong to the realm of truth and light; they have life. Truth, light and life are not abstract qualities. Jesus is the Truth; he is the Light and he is the Life. To accept Jesus' revelation and to believe in him is to pass from death to life, from darkness to light, from untruth to truth. To someone who has prayed,

'Lead me from the unreal to the real, Lead me from darkness to light, Lead me from death to immortality'

all this would sound very familiar. He would discover in St John's Gospel, in the person of Jesus, the Truth, the Light and the Life that he has been praying for". (18)

j-_j^_jrojrjja_^ji_j5jrm£ol- the world as_pym'ooi "Once again our Indian will feel quite at home with the Johannine language of symbols. All the great symbols of St John, Word, Life, Light, Water, Bread (food), even Shepherd (cf. Pati-Pasu), will be familiar to him. As a matter of fact these are universal symbols, because they are human i.e. based on common human experience. Man,

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access everywhere, has to have recourse to them whenever he begins to speak of mysteries such as John is talking about. No other language is possible". (19)

It is important to note, however, that Amaladoss is far from consi- dering Hindu spirituality and Christian faith as identical: at every point he points to the difference, to the area which is unfa- miliar to the traditional Hindu. The theme of unity, according to the Gospel, is related to a life of communion of the believers, that is the reality of the Church. The theme of dualism is placed in the light of the coming judgement: "The choice then is radical and urgent and it is for all men: more so, perhaps, than anywhere in Indian tradition" (19). The symbolism of St John deepens into sacramentalism: "This will be something rather new to our Indian"

(19). The discussion after the presentation by Fr. Amaladoss brings an interesting point: while the difference between Hindu experience and St John's Gospel is acknowledged, it might be due to "all the underlying Hebraic thought-forms in the gospel" (22), that is to say, if I understand the implication correctly, not to the essential sin- gularity of the Christian revelation. The discussion did not go further at that time, but obviously many issues are at stake, in the field of various disciplines. With regard to the Gospel of John, the role of Hebraic viz. Hellenistic patterns of thought is still a disputed question.

The second contribution I want to bring to your attention is the paper by Rev. Christopher Duraisingh, taking as it were the opposite view to Fr. Amaladoss. His point of departure is not a spiritual tradition, but the context of social change and modernity. "Ours is the context of historical dynamism, whether in national renaissance or nation-building". "The other day within 10 minutes in a bus jour- ney in Tamilnadu, I saw 3 posters, one saying 'green revolution', another 'white revolution' and the third 'MGR revolution'S).

5) everybody knows the 'green revolution' in agriculture; the 'white revolution' in India indicates the tremendous increase of milk production and distribution; MGR is the abbreviation for a political leader in Tamilnadu, at present chief minister of the state. MGR stands for Mr. M.G. Ramachandran.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Change and growth have become formative factors in the contemporary

Indian mode of consciousness and they express themselves in terms of economic, agricultural, social, and cultural development" (42).

Duraisingh maintains that St John "speaks to the contemporary mode of consciousness of our nation" (scil. India) (42). "Its message has the cutting edge relevant for those who struggle for the recon- struction of a modern India" (ibid.). Duraisingh regrets that Indian

Christian spirituality has so often interpreted the Fourth Gospel in an advaitic, non-historical manner. Actually the historical dimension in John is to be taken very seriously. The historical validity of johannine narratives is recognized by recent biblical scholarship. The johannine understanding of eschatology implies historical dynamism: "C.K. Barrett points out the 'clash and paradox of tense' in John such as 'the hour cometh and now is' (4:23; 5:25). The activity of Christ is in the present, here and now, and yet it can never be reduced to a static present. (...) The promise is already being fulfilled, but is being fulfilled in such a way as to look forward to the dynamic and continuous fulfilment in the future also" (44). The core of Duraisingh's argument is the message of incarnation in the Gospel of John:

"The Prologue, even though it is hellenistic in its categories, ia in a sense anti-hellenistic in its basic motif. Its main thrust is to affirm the radical historical incarnation and the 'now'. Its emphasis is on the 'becoming' which communicates the 'eternal'. It is not a contemplation upon the eternal Logos but rather upon the dynamic word that becomes. While Greek thought tended to place being above becoming, and to reduce becoming to a contingent level of existence, in John repeatedly the reality of the 'becoming' is emphasised. M.M. Thomas finds this as the bedrock for the affirmation of the historical. Contrasting his understanding of Reality in histori-

Ldl-., LCLL15L�-Luib W.LL.l1..,i LUd\..LLictL. V1#-ln nL>WCU1U-. A7uiii,rtUll J. ��iLikLaLLCilLtia ili-tV. LdltailUa1. CIL1Uo1 the Cuttat group' in terms of advaitic vision and mystic experience, he sees in St John's Gospel 'the upgrading of the Divine purpose of Becoming to the level of the reality of Being'. The intention of St John is to locate the Word (the Hebraic dabar, that which stands for dynamism, concreteness and historicity) in the Godhead itself. Hence he says, "The Word was with God. The Word was God". (44)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Duraisingh follows the same method with regard to three other aspects of the "contemporary mode of consciousness" in India, namely the concern for secularization, the quest for true sociality, and the quest for social justice. Each of them is directly related to a correspond- ing aspect of the message of John, as interpreted by modern, western and Indian, scholars. The johannine dualism is a dualism of decision, not a metaphysical dualism. The johannine vision of God implies a mode of social relation between Father and Son, Christ and his people, that is "an organic model" over against a "monarchical model of God"

(50). Fight against injustice and corruption draws inspiration from the great "controversial chapters" in John (Ch.6-8) where John por- trays Jesus "as one whose words, deeds and very being polarised people, and ultimately led him to take the cross" (52).

The following discussion raised the question of interpretation both of the Gospel and of the Indian tradition and reality. After all, the advaitic tradition might be interpreted in a dynamic, historical way (53). On the other hand, the secular interpretation of the Gospel of John leaves very little room for transcendence and prayer.

The contribution of Amaladoss and Duraisingh have one thing in common:

They are apologetic approaches to the Gospel of John, trying to establish and defend the relevance of the Gospel against possible despisers of the same, Hindu mystics on One side, post-Hindu secularists on the other. A quite different atmosphere is felt in other papers of the 1974 conference on the Gospel of John. Instead of an apologetic stance, a pastoral approach is being developed, where readers of the Gospel, author of the Gospel and exegetes move on one and the same level, as if it were in the same household. Good examples of this approach are the contributions by Fr. Lucius

Nereparampil CMI, Fr. George Soares Prabhu SJ, and, in my view, also the one by Mr Jyoti Sahi, an artist who has contributed a lot to the visualisation of the Christian message in India. There seems to be no gap between the Gospel of John and Indian reality, because the readers and believers already live in the realm of the Gospel, and try to adapt themselves to the Gospel, instead of trying to adapt the Gospel to

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access their supposed and real needs and aspirations.

Fr. G. Soares Prabhu gives an excellent exegesis of John 9:1-41

(the story of the Man Born Blind) with a remarkable conclusion. The story could be understood in the line of the philosophical distinction between two kinds of "seeing", a distinction which is

to be found in the Indian traditions also. There is an empirical

perception which has as its object the this-wordly reality

(vyavaharika, here: of Jesus); and there is a noumenal intuition of the heavenly reality (true existence:-pararriarth2ka, here: of Jesus).

But this interpretation is misleading and insufficient. "John's

dualism here, specially in the light of Jesus's answer to the Pharisees in 9:41 (...) appears to be a dualism not of two levels of reality but of two kinds of decision. The blind who are destined

to see are those who decide for Jesus, because they are conscious

of their blindness, aware, that is, of their need for him" (75). ,The point of the story is the calling to know that we do not know and risk ourselves in the encounter with the unknown Christ, step-

ping out into the darkness in order to see the light (77).

The same story is illustrated by Mr Jyoti Sahi, using symbolic designs

of various origins. His picture, reproduced on page 12, was the object of a "guided meditation" during the conference. I quote the guidelines of the meditation, as offered by the artist:

"In the pattern which we have before us, the lozenge and hexagon are used. The hexagon is divided into three lozenges, representing the three 'acts', as it were, of the narrative.

In the first (left lower lozenge) Christ is present. In the second (right lower lozenge) the blind man. (In the narrative the second act is dominated by the blind man and his confrontation with the autnorities). Lasuly, in Liie LiiiLu lozenge we see the figure of the shell (symbol in the medieval Church of pil- grimage) at whose heart is the eschatological temple (the lozenge with four roads leading up to it is a symbol of

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access the temple). In the temple we see the 'menora'(branched candlestick). Here, as in the third act of our narrative, Christ is revealed as the true light. Also we consider in this section the Pilgrim Church, the new temple, which moves together with the hopes and aspirations of a pilgrim people. Christ the light is thus not simply a static light, but a dynamic one, being the light of the way, as he is also the way itself, along which man travels without stumbling in his blindness" (79).

The curling of the man born hind

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access II A LOOK AT PERIODICAL LITERATURE

It is very interesting to note that Indian Christian periodicals

devoted to biblical studies are almost exclusively of Catholic origin:

Word and Worship,amonthly review edited by the National Biblical

Catechetical and Liturgical Centre of Bangalore and its Director,

Fr. D.S. Amalorpavadass (since 1968), and BibZebhashyam. An Indian

BibZicaZ Quarterly, edited by St Thomas Apostolic Seminary,

Vadavathoor, Kottayam, with Fr. Matthew Vellanickal as Chief Editor (since 1975). Occasionally biblical studies are published in other periodicals such as Indian TheoZogicaZ Studies (St Peter's Pontifi-

cal Institute of Theology, Bangalore), The Indian Journal of

TheoZogy (ecumenical, Calcutta), and others. TRACI/ETS Journal,

edited by the Evangelical Theological Society and the Theological Research and Communication Institute in New Delhi (since 1975),

has published very few biblical studies. My general impression is

that protestant and/or ecumenical periodicals approach the Bible

at the level of general hermeneutics; furthermore there seems to be

a preference for pauline literature, or in recent years for the

Synoptics (especially with a view to preparing the CWME Melbourne

Conference on the Kingdom of God), and consequently a certain deficit of johannine studies at the moment. I presume it is a tem- porary phenomenon, but this is the reason why only a few non-catholic authors will be quoted in the present survey.

I will follow the chronology of the Fourth Gospel itself, not the

chronology of publications. The Prologue of John has been the object of meditation for Sister

Vandana R.S.C.J., Head of the Christa Prema Seva Ashram community in Pune. She has been cited in the previous chapter as one of the contri- butors of papers at the 1974 Conference, and in my article in this

Bulletin in 1978b� for her pleading for more contemplation in the

Indian Church. I now would like to highlight her article entitled

6) Exchange 20, 1978, 16-19.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access "The 'Johannine-Upanishadic' Experience: An Indian Meditation on

St John's Prologue", in Indian Theological Studies, Vol. XVI, 1979,

No. 3, 153-168. The theological presupposition of her approach is the awareness of the presence of the Word, or "seeds of the Word", in other religions: the Word of God perceived there brings new insights in the Word of God in the Bible, she maintains.

"If one reads or rather meditates on the Prologue of the Gospel of St John, one finds a true Christian parallel to the Upanishadic soundings of the mystery of being. While it is a synthesis of the whole Gospel, the prologue recalls the Upanishadic approach in its deep intuition. Rather than a logical development, it is a sequence of piercing insights into God as "Word", as "Life", as "Light", as incarnate "Glory" as "Fulness of grace and truth", as "the Son nearest to the Father's heart" who makes us all sons (in the Son) of the Father. This last intuition could lead us, perhaps more than all others, into the Hindu experience of God as "Truth-Consciousness-Bliss" (sat-chit-ananda). For John seems himself to have had a glimpse of this tremendous Trinitarian mystery of the living communitarian God through his vital contact with the man Jesus, whose life he had shared, whom he had seen, touched, heard (cf. 1 Jn 1:1-4), on whose breast he had leaned (Jn 13:26) and whose heart-beats he had understood. All these themes, which in different ways remind us of various Upanishadic teachings, as especially the mah27vZ2kyas (the great ut- terances) could lead us into deeper and more luminous understanding of the life and words of Jesus Himself" (154).

The meditation concentrates on the very beginning of the Prologue

(John 1:1) and especially on the notion of Word (Zogos in Greek). At the same time she quotes a passage from John of the Cross, relating "word" and "silence": "One word spoke the Father, which word was His Son, and this word He speaks ever in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul" (155). This opens the way for interpreting logos in the sense of "a word", an acoustic but metaphorically also metaphysical phenomenon. Then the "word" is related to the "silence". I quote significant passages of Sr. Vandana's meditation along both lines:

"Anyone who has listened at sat-sanghs or Hindu prayer meetings, and still more practised himself the soul-stirring

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access mantra Aum, produced from the depths of one's being, sustained long by practitioners of pranayama, as one enters deeper into the silence of one's interior, will have understood experientially something of this opening sentence of John's Prologue. To the Hindu who believes in this primeval word or sound of God, (the Brahma-NHd) this word who is God (Shabda-Brahman) which they call Aum, the Gospel can perhaps begin to become meaningful" (155).

Then "the Word in the Bible" is brought in relation to the pranava, the 'highest praise', that is the Aum (or Om), or "Brahman as sound" (158). Finally the question of communicating the Word in the dialogue (not only speaking about God, which is not difficult in India) is faced:

"To make contact in the Logos and not merely pass on information about the Divine Word, to allow the Word- in-us to express Himself, means first of all that the Word-in-us should proceed from silence, the way the Word-made flesh proceeded out of the Eternal Silence which is the Father" (164).

Real communication becomes effective out of silence, Sr.Vandana suggests; but it is a loving silence, or rather a silent love, very eloquent indeed because it is expressed in the witness of life.

"Why don't you understand my language? Jesus asks the Jews (Jn 8:43) and He himself gives the answer: "Because you cannot hear my word". Might it not be that we cannot hear His word because we are not silent enough? Perhaps we Christians in India and indeed elsewhere, need to have the courage to explore this possibility of communicating Christ in this manner" (164).

As far as communication is a part of mission, I can infer from the end of the meditation that silence has a missionary intention:

"In the man Jesus, God's dialogue with man has achieved its goal. The point of this dialogue was not to say "something", many kinds of things, but as we have seen, to utter Himself in Word" (168).

"We have but to learn to listen to this Om and make ourselves one with it in our hearts i.e. in love, the way one who lives by the holy 'Gangamata', learns to love listening to the unceasing sound

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access of her Om and makes oneself one with her, as she sings his praises, as she swiftly flows back to her source. Then the om or the Pranava (the highest praise) - the 'praise the Lord' as our charismatics would say - this Logos, this Word, this shabda-brahman within, will softly but surely communicate itself in and through us, through our silent being and loving; through our very life and presence, and evoke an echo in another heart which is also straining to hear the Om. Thus and not otherwise will Christ the Word of God be communicated to those who do not know Him by that Name" (168).

The next article I should like to analyse is a paper by the most active johannine specialist in India, Fr. Matthew Vellanickal, who wrote a doctoral dissertation in Rome on The Divine Sonship of

Christians in the Johannine Writings7). He contributed a paper on

"The Mother of Jesus in the Johannine Writings" for the special issue of B2bZebhashz�am devoted to Mary in the Bible (Vol. III, No.4, December 1977, 278-296). It is a rich biblical study, written out of a profound devotion to the Mother of Jesus. Most of the well-known mariological themes are related to johannine roots, though the originality of the Gospel of John is specified: "It is noteworthy that the name of Mary is mentioned nowhere in the Gospel" (278). Succes- sively we find short chapters on "Not Mary but Mother of Jesus" - "The Mother of Jesus at Cana" (the story is carefully explained) - "The Role of Mary in the Revelation of Jesus's Glory" -"The Woman" -

"Mary: The New Eve" - "Mary: The Mother of the Beloved Disciple" - "The Real Family of Jesus" - "Mary, the Mother of the Church" (also explained under different aspects) - "The virginal Motherhood of

Mary in Jn 1:13" - "Mary: The Mother of the Children of God" - .

"Mary: The Symbol of the Church" - "Mary: The Archetype of the Church".

M. Vellanickal, The Divine Sonship of Christians in the Johannine Writings, Analecta Bibli.ca 72, Rome 1977. I give a short presentation of this book on p. 33 of the present survey.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Here follows a specimen of the rather allegorical method of

Fr. M. Vellanickal :

"Jn 19:27 says "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home". The Greek term 'lambano' in the Fourth Gospel has two senses. When applied to material things it means simply 'to take hold of', 'to pick up', 'to grasp' etc. When applied to immaterial things or persons, it means 'to accept' or 'to welcome', usually as a gift from God. The words 'eis ta idia' (to his own home) which certainly can mean 'to one's own home' in a purely physical sense, can also mean 'among one's own spiritual pos- sessions'. Therefore Jn 19:27 seems to demand a translation which includes this deeper and spiritual sense. From that hour the disciple accepted her as his own Mother, as part of the spiritual legacy bequeathed to him by his Lord. This means that every believer is invited to accept Mary as his or her Mother in his or her life as a believer in Jesus Christ" (291)

Another example of the exegetical method concerns the birth of Jesus. Contrary to other biblical scholars and the Greek manu-

scripts (Nestle-Aland 26, ad Zoc.), but following a few Latin versions, Fr. M. Vellanickal favours the reading in the singular

of Jn 1:13 that can apply to Jesus under that condition.

He pursues:

"In the threefold denial of the human elements in the birth of Christ (of the blood, of the will of the flesh, of the will of man), the will of the woman does not occur. This shows that "the will of the woman" is not excluded from the elements at work in the birth of Christ. This is supported by the fact that the Greek word used for 'man' in the phrase 'will of man' is 6M�r which is used only of 'men' and not anthropos which can be used for both men and women. The will of the woman was really at work in the Incarnation" (292).

In another paper entitled "The Church in dialogue with the surround-

ing religious and cultural traditions in the Gospel of John", pre-

sented at the plenary session of the Pontifical Biblical Commission

on 25th April 1979, Fr. M. Vellanickal maintains the reading of

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access John 1:13 in the singular on account of the "concentric literary structure" of the Prologue of John which he analyses in a very scholarly fashion (unpublished stencil, kindly sent by the author,7).

The first public appearance of Jesus in the Gospel of John is his baptism in the Jordan waters. Sister Vandana, again, provided us with a fascinating comparative commentary on this episode, entitled

"Waters of Recognition and Awakening : John 1:29-34" in B2bZebhashyam, Vol. VI, No.3, September 1980, 289-301. She interprets the story in the spirit of Swami Abhishiktananda who used to read the Gospel of

John as "Johannine Upanishads"8). In my view she is wrestling with the problem of contextualisation though this terminology is not used. She is looking for a point of entry for advaita into the

Christian experience of God : there must be a form of Christian adva2ta, a possibility of Christian awareness of non-duality/oneness with God in the context of hinduism which is offering its own pattern of adva2ta. Granted that the Hindu experience of adva2ta is authentic, the same experience must be possible for a Christian, because every authentic religious experience is possibly Christian. What is at stake is the catholicity of catholicism. The demonstration is per- formed in two stages : in the first place the experience of Jesus is shown to be an advaitic experience in the sense of the Upanishads; in the second place the Christians are shown to share in Jesus' awareness of his adva2ta with the Father. The way of the demonstration is comparative exegesis. Sister Vandana takes into account the results of modern biblical scholarship and gives a short, but excellent presentation of the historical setting of the baptism of John with its Old Testament background and its contemporary significance. Her main concern, however, is to offer a theological commentary with a view to finding a meeting point with the Hindu "in the cave of the heart"'. On her way she makes use of inspiring comments by Church Fathers, some of them being liturgical readings from the Book of Hours. I presume it is also along the

8)Abhishiktananda, Hindu-Christian Meeting Point, 77-93..

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access way of prayer and meditation that she finds several passages from the Upanishads relevant to the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan waters. Her point is this : "At Jesus' baptism something happened which faltered the eurrent of his Z2fe" (295)9). What happened ?

C.H. Dodd explains : "This was the moment at which Jesus accepted his vocation. For him (...) it was the act of God by which he was anointed for his mission" (295). Without any lap Sister Vandana pursues the interpretation in Upanishadic terminology : "The Jordan waters were '�7aters of Recognition' (...) for Jesus. Further, might one not say -- in terms of Indian and especially Vedantic thought - that they were, for Christ, 'ulaters of Awakening'; the moment when He awoke, as it were, to His true 'Self', the Atman ?" (295).

The whole development is typical and worth quoting:

"This was surely a moment of fuZf2Zment of the text in Katha Upanishad 3.14, as addressed to the 'True Man' the Purusha of the Aitareya Upanishad: - Uttishtha Purusha.... 'Arise 0 man! Arise, awake! You who have received the boons; keep awake'.This is, interestingly enough what the new sannyasi as he plunges into the water, hears from his guru. Then both of them face the rising sun and sing the song to the Purusha from Uttara - Närâyana: Vedahametam Puru- sham Mahantam...' 'I know Him, that supreme Purusha, sun-coloured, beyond all darkness; Only in knowing Him one overcomes death; no other way exists'(V.Samhita 31.18)

The 'Christos',the True Man Himself in this moment is the ^rtyunjaya1 , the Conqueror of Death, as One who could say:'I am the Resurrection and the Life' (Jn 11:25) and say 'I am the Way... No man can come to the Father but by me' (Jn 14:6) - 'No other way exists' : Anyone who has intelligently witnessed Sannyas - diksha - the initiation ceremony - by the banks of the Gangaji or any sacred river, will know and understand something of the real, inner meaning ot the Baptism ot Uur Lord.

This point of awakening to H2s 'Self in the inci- dent, or rather event, of the Baptism of Christ, is for me, the most important and significant. It is worth pondering on, and, - if these reflections

9) Quoted from C.H. Dodd, The Founder of Christianity, Collins, London 1971, 122, Sister Vandana's italics.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access are to be of any worth, they should not remain mere 'manancnrt' (thinking on the Word) but should pass into 'Nididhyasanam' - (a pondering - loving- ly, wordlessly, thoughtlessly) - in the centre of the heart. For that is where this mystery leads us - 'into the secret place of the heart', the guha, where alone the illumination, the awakening to the Self can take place. ■ • •• When Christ heard the Father's voice saying: 'Thou art my Beloved Son' 10) it was 'the Semitic equivalent', or nearest, to the Guru's words to his disciple: 'Tat-tvam-asi' 'That thou art', the Ilpadesha-Mantra of the Chandogya Upanishad (6.8.7.). And like the disciple who had known now his deepest self, He answered in His Heart: 'Abba' - (the Ara- maic for 'Father', to be said only to one from whom one is actually born) - the equivalent of Aham Brahmasmi, the fundamental mahavakya of the Briha- daranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10).

And with this response in His Heart, Jesus 'knew' Himself, awoke as it were, to being the 'CHIT' of SaccZdananda; - the Hindu 'mystery' nearest to the Trinity, - of the Being - Consciousness - Bliss" (295-297).

BibZebhashyam devoted a full issue to The Passion of Jesus (Vol. III, No. 1, March 1977), but I don't refer to it because it does not

include special treatment of the johannine perspective on the matter. The following issue on The Resurrection of Jesus contains an article

by Fr. Matthew Vellanickal, "Resurrection of Jesus in St. John"

(BibZebhashyam, Vol. III, No.2, June 1977, 131-154) that fits in the

present survey. The contribution of Fr. M. Vellanickal is a running exegetical commentary on chapters 20 and 21 of the Gospel of John. In dialogue with

modern western scholars, he analyses the seven episodes of the johan-

nine narrative as follows: 1. Finding the empty tomb (Jn 20:1-10) 2. Apparition to Mary Magdalene (20:11-18)

3. Apparition to the Disciples (20:19-23) 4. Apparition to Thomas (20:24-29) 5. Apparition at the lake of Tiberias (21:1-14)

6. Rehabilitation of Peter to discipleship (21:15-17)

7. Prediction about Peter and the Beloved Disciple (21:18-23)

10) Not mentioned in John 1 but cf Mt 3:17; Mk 1:11; Lk 3:22. The prophets of the Old Testament had heard God addressing Israel in those words. Cf. Exo 4:22; Ps 2:7; Is 42:1 etc. Footnote in Sr. Vandana's text.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Fr. M. Vellanickal maintains a qualified historicity of the

Resurrection narratives and explains excellently their significance:

"The development of faith in the resurrection of Jesus into two lines of developed narratives, namely, of Empty Tomb and Post-resurrectional appearances, emphasizes two aspects of the Risen Lord, namely, the identity of the Risen Lord on the one hand, and the change in the Risen Lord on the other. The narrative of the empty tomb stresses the identity of the Risen Lord with the Jesus of the Ministry. On the other hand, the narratives of the post-resurrectional appearances stress the fact that Jesus has now entered another condition of life, which is different from the earthly life. This is clear from the presentation of those scenes in which Jesus is not recognised immediately through the physical eyes of those to whom he appeared " (133-134).

Here is a sample of his independent, scholarly method, pertaining to a part of the dialogue between Jesus and Mary (Jn 20:17) - (footnotes omitted):

"When Mary saw Jesus, she thought that he would stay with her and his other disciples, resuming former relationships. Mary is trying to hold on to him mistaking this appearance with the resto- ration of the former relationship. In telling her not to hold on to him Jesus indicates that she should not mistake this appearance with the promised return and that his future presence with them will be by way of the gift of the Spirit that can come only after he has ascended to the Father.

In the opinion of R. Bultmann, supported by R.E. Brown, the expression 'I have not yet ascended to the Father' is significant. The 'not yet' is point- ing to Mary's desire to have the presence of Jesus. She cannot yet have Jesus' enduring presence, because Jesus has not yet ascended to the Father. Therefore, instead of trying to hold on to Jesus, she is asked to go and prepare his disciples for that coming of Jesus through the Spirit which will be given to them.

In this interpretation, the Ascension of Jesus is seen as separated from the Resurrection. But in Jn we cannot separate the Ascension from the Resur- rection, because for Jn crucifixion is Exaltation and Resurrection is a return to the Father. Jesus

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access does not speak of the Resurrection when he announces his destiny at the Last Supper. He simply says of 'his return to the Father'. For Jn crucifixion,exaltation, resurrection and return to the Father are all to be reduced to one mystery, that of the glorification of the Son by the Father. The apparent division of these realities is only a literary projection intended to show better the multiple aspects of the one indivisible mystery of the glorification of the Son. So when Jesus says in Jn 20:17, 'I have not yet ascended to the Father', he does not mean that he is at the point of doing something new, but he simply shows that the situation is changed, that he has passed from the terrestrial condition to the glorious one. So a better translation would be: 'Do not hold on to me, for (it is true that apparently) I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren..'. This translation is also favoured by the special Greek construction 'Do not(fAi)... for{�p).but (6i)..' that is used here. Jesus seems to refute an implicit excuse of Mary to cling to Jesus, namely, 'I have not yet ascended to the Father'. He corrects her misunder- standing and entrusts her with a mission of announcing this great event of Jesus' entering into the glory of the Father which will bring about the new economy in which he will be present to them through the Spirit and his Father will become their Father too" (138-140).

It is obvious that the "context" to which Fr. Vellanickal is addressing himself is primarily the world of biblical exegesis, and secondarily

"the Church", where the presence of the Risen Lord is realized in a special way (154).

This ecc7esiological horizon of Fr. Vellanickal's thinking is very clearly to be seen in his keynote address to the Tenth Biennial Conference of the Society for Biblical Studies held at the United Theological College,

Bangalore from 29th December 1978 until 1st January 1979. His paper, entitled "The Church in the Bible" (in The Indian Journal of Theology,

Vol. 28, Nos. 3 � 4, July-December 1979, 109-115) breaks a lance in favour of the literary critical approach to the Bible in an ecumenical perspective:

"The literary critical approach to biblical studies, though it apparently presents a threat to all the traditionally held theories and presuppositions of an over-literalistic approach to the Bible, is really a challenge to be open to the truth and accept it,

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access no matter where it may be found. Thus it prepares the way for a sincere search after truth by all people of good will and consequently it forms a common ground for discussion for the members of all Christian denominations" (110-111).

Historical criticism may have a bearing on different aspects of

ecclesiology. I quote the section of the paper pertaining to the

Gospel of John:

"The Gospel of John could be, in fact, of extreme importance for the study of the historical development of New Testament ecclesiology. This is especially true in the present critical exegetical situation where some qualify the Fourth Gospel as anti- or non-sacramental or ecclesial (Bultmann) while others speak of it as the most sacramental or ecclesial of all Gospels (Barrett and Cullmann)".(111).

With this contribution by Fr. M. Vellanickal we have entered a new

field of biblical studies. We have seen examples of commentaries on

the Gospel of John in periodical literature; we shall now turn our

attention to some developments in biblical theology. In fact, studies

in this field seem to be more popular, or more suitable to periodical

literature, than fragments of commentaries.

The Conference of the Society for Biblical Studies, just mentioned, was devoted to the theme : Church: Its Dimensions in the Bible,. One of the papers was entitled "The Church in the Johannine Literature"

(The Indian Journal of TheoZogz�, Vol. 28, Nos. 3 � 4, July-December 1979, 169-177). The author, Fr. Lucius Nereparampil CMI, begins with an analysis of the idea of the Church in the book of Revelation, then

gives a view on the Church in the Johannine letters, and finally exposes

the ecclesiology of the Gospel of John. I quote the beginning and the

conclusion of his expose on that particular point:

"It is a fact that the explicit ecclesial terms such as 'church', 'people of God', and 'body of Christ', are not found in the Gospel of John. Other ecclesial ...---- _�4_1- -- ,,!..- 1- ,."..,.,...... , ..-..... t-1i;:;.LUlõ:1 such aa 1\.�11ÕUUUl U.L. Guu �J11 .J:.7,�),» 11VCK· (10:16), and 'bride' (3:29) are rarely found in it. Nevertheless one can see in this Gospel the concept of the Church interwoven with the christological and soteriological concepts. Hence, if we analyse this Gospel from an ecclesiological point of view,

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access we can clearly see that this Gospel provides us with a rich theology of the inner reality of the Church.Although this Gospel does not use the word ekkZes2a, it draws clearly the picture of the Church in the form of a community that adheres to Christ by responding positively to God's revelation in Jesus Christ" (172).

"Thus in the Gospel of John we recognize a theology of the Church which tries to explain the radical meaning of the origin, nature and function of the Church. Here the Church is viewed as the new community that emerges from the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, animated by the Holy Spirit who is the gift of the risen Lord. It is a body of the believers who are knit together into an indis- soluble unity in Christ, by means of their faith and love for one another, which is expressed through their bearing witness to Christ and through their serving one another even at the cost of self- sacrifice. It is a community of true worshippers, whose liturgical life, unlike that of the Pharisees, squares with their daily life. It is a community which is through and through Christ-centred, Spirit- centred and neighbour-oriented with a new life-style of true brotherly love and humble service in imita- tion of Christ" (177).

One year later, an All India Catholic Bible Scholars' Symposium was held at St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor, Kottayam,

Kerala, where, incidentally, Fr. M. Vellanickal is professor of

Sacred Scripture; he was the convener of the seminar. The Indian

Biblical Quarterly B2bZebhashz�am sponsored the conference and later published all papers in a special issue (Vol. VI, No. 1, March 1980). I limit myself to one contribution only, which is pertaining to an aspect of johannine theology, namely the johannine concept of life. I shall mention another contribution in my general conclusion.

Fr. Paul Savio Pudussery CMI presented a paper entitled "The Concept of 'Zoe' in St. Paul and in St. John" (BibZebhash�am, Vol. VI, No.1, March 1980, 104-124). It is a crossed analysis of the terminology of salvation which illuminates the specific meaning of zoe (life) in johannine literature : "for John zoe is the basic term denoting the reality of Salvation, whereas for Paul it is one of the parallel terms that individually convey the reality of Salvation" (104).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Fr. P.S. Pudussery draws on the thorough study by Franz Mussner,

ZOE. Die Anschauung vom 'I�eben' im vierten Evange Zium unt er Bertick- sichtigung der Johanneabriefe (Munich 1952) and makes three points:

1. Faith as the Only Way to Eternal Life

2. Eternal Life as a Present Possession

3. Eternal Life as a Future Fulfilment.

I quote the conclusion of this section and the last sentence of the

article:

"According to John, eternal life has a present realization in this Age and a future fulfilment in the Age to Come. John thus beautifully blends in his gospel the elements of both realized eschatology and future eschatology, but however giving predominance to the strand of realized eschatology" (120)..

"Eternal life is a divine gift here and now but dyna- mically growing towards perfect realization in the Age to Come" (124).

The study of Fr. Pudussery is a responsible philological exercise and his comparative method (within the body of New Testament writings) very helpful. It is extremely striking, however, in my view, that he pays no special attention to the famous passage of John 10:10 (about "abundant life") that has fascinated and inspired so many Indian theologians, nor does he insist on the wholistic character of the notion of life; this is mentioned only in a quotation from R. Schnackenburg (120).

On the other hand it would be unfair to regret the absence of references to Hindu religiosity, because the notion of life has not been elaborated very much, as it seems to me, by Hindu religious thinking; actually salvation is rather ccnceived as release from life.

The theme of life is so central in the Gospel of John that it plays an important role in two other articles by Fr. M. Vellanickal, entitled "Jesus : The Bread of Life" (Biblebhashyam, Vol. IV, No. 1, March 1978, 30-48) and "Drink from the Source of the Living Water" (Biblebhashyam,

"tT"",,1 T7 1\1.... I. T� „ -—1- -�. �1l1'1(1 D-Tft ODD 71O\ ".,1-- � —-� _'1 _- -- - �� -.——�- ..._�...., ...�....,. ""T, J...I'''-'--'-UJ.U,,-.L 1J.J, JVJ .J1UJ- ��L- .L..�...LOL. CL.LL..L\....Lt:..1.;:) 0.11 aL.LClupL to understand the significance of John 6:35 against the background of the whole chapter 6 and in Eucharistic perspective. The second article

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access is "a Divan211) fnterpretation of the Dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:4-26)". It contains a sharp commentary on the famous passage about "worship in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:23), which Fr. Vellanickal understands uncompromisingly as an eschatological invitation to become a true worshipper. I quote:

"The cultic worship of God as it existed among the Jews and the Samaritans is contrasted with the eschatological worship, which is the worship in Spirit and Truth. The eschatological age has been brought about by the revelation in Jesus Christ (truth) and the pouring out of the Spirit. In this eschatological age the worship presupposes worshippers who have accepted revelation or Truth being born of the Spirit. Only those who are believers in Christ, namely, those who are set in the eschatological existence are the true worshippers. In other words only those who are in possession of the living water offered by Christ can be authentic worshippers of God. Any cultic worship is true worship only if the worshipper has entered this eschatological existence.

Every cult undertaken by man, which has its initiative in man, is inadequate, in whatever form or place it is celebrated. Adequate worship can only be given as a response to God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ. There can be no true relationship between man and God, unless it be grounded on and is in response to God's dealings with man" (317).

This interpretation does not exclude a very pastoral approach to human existence. According to Fr. Vellanickal, the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman is an illustration of the divine human encounter in daily Z2fe. I quote the conclusion of this article:

"The initiative is taken by God who meets us in ordinary circumstances of life and that in the midst of our existential problems. The human considerations and prejudices are often a hindrance to recognise God confronting us with a challenge to recognise him in spite of appearances.

"Dhvani" is a term borrowed from Indian grammarians and/or Sanskrit noetics. It denotes "the suggested meaning", the resonance or echo of a poem. See my general conclusion.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Only a recognition of our basic thirst for God and an awareness of our unrest resulting from going after one supposed satisfaction to another, will leas us to God, the authentic source of the living water that will quench our thirst for ever. Only passing through the painful process of self- discovery and self-exposure to the penetrating and purifying revelatory light and power of God we can reach the full recognition of God confronting us and be enriched by the living water that will quench for ever our thirst for life" (318).

I wonder whether the 'dhvani' theory of interpretation was the sole possibility of transition from historical exegesis to pastoral application, successfully attempted by Fr. Vellanickal.

A further and decisive step towards Indian daily life has been ven- tured by Fr. Samuel Rayan SJ in his article "Jesus and the Poor in the Fourth Gospel" (Biblebhashyam, Vol. IV, No. 3, September 1978,

213-228). The whole issue of the quarterly is devoted to the theme

Rich and Poor from the perspective of the Old and New Testament writings. It is no cosy reading. Fr. S. Rayan starts with the following programme:

"The Fourth Gospel has always been admired especially in India for its atmosphere of mysticism and its contemplative horizon. An appreciation of the historical in this Gospel is more recent. By historical here is meant not merely the reliability of details of places, times and events. Historical in a deeper sense is what concerns the life of the people, what relates to the sorrows, hopes, struggles, and move- ments of the oft-oppressed masses. I am suggesting that the Fourth Gospel is historical in this sense ' in particular and that its social concern is by no means smaller than that of the Third Gospel, though it is perhaps less obvious. I am suggesting that the mysticism of the Fourth Gospel is historical mysticism and that its contemplation fixes on the glory of God as revealed in Jesus' love for and service of the people. The Fourth Gospel is mystical because it is alive with concern for the plight, the needs and the possibilities of the multitudes ...... ",'" """. wuum Guu J.uve::; (213).

After this rather soft introduction, Fr. S. Rayan makes four points, in an increasingly specific and eloquent language.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access 1. Moving-about-and-seeing-the crowd (6:1-2; 7:1)

"Getting personally acquainted with concrete life-situations was Jesus' chosen method of approach to the mission he had from history and from the God of history" (213).

2. Thieves, hirelings and rava�2�_��t�lp (10:1,8,10-13)

Jesus saw the condition of people "who were short of bread, of wine, of health, of help, of hope, of dignity" (215f). He surely kept reflecting on these situations, "looking for their real causes, and searching for ways to bring such misery to an end" (216). Here Fr. S. Rayan gives an retrospective analysis of the economic, political and social situation of Palestine, exploited by Roman colonialists, great landowners and clergy.

3. Subversion-and-transformation (2:9, 15)t

This is the central section of the paper (217-226). It shows how Jesus identified himself with the poor and took action on their behalf. Already in its opening chapter the Fourth Gospel presents Jesus "as surrounded by working class people, (...) Andrew and

Simon Peter and Philip and Nathanael. Two of these together with five others reappear in the closing chapter as fishermen who, after the agony and the ecstasy of the Paschal events, must go back to their boats and nets and to the sea, and work hard to earn their daily bread (21:1-3;1:35-51).Jesus is with the poor in their quest (1:38) and in their toil (21:3-5). The fish-haul in chapter 21 is sign and promise of ultimate victory for the working class" (217f). Successively Fr. S. Rayan extracts the social and political message of chapters 2 to 11 of the Gospel of John. In particular the two scenes of chapter 2, namely the turning of water into wine in Cana and the purification of the Temple in Jerusalem, are interpreted as the equivalent of the manifesto of Luke 4:18. Both

"are saying in effect that Jesus plans to bring about radical transformation in every sphere of life secular as well as sacred, in the home and in the temple, in the economic

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access and political sphere no less than in the sphere of religion and worship. Jesus comes to change water into wine, to provide plenty where there is scarcity, to replace religions of ritual with love for people, which would serve the real needs and possibilities of real people" (218).

I will give a few samples of Fr. S. Rayan's exegesis. His commentary

on John 2:1-11 could be contrasted with the meditation of Fr. M.

Vellanickal on the Mother of Jesus at Cana.

"With these purposes of Jesus(see previous quotation, MRS) the oppressed class is intimately associated. Their representative here is Mary, Jesus' mother, a working class woman. Characteristically, then, she is sensitive to and concerned about the condition of the lowly and is swift to call attention to the desperate situation in which the poor find themselves. 'Can you not do something to change this?' is the meaning of the remark she addresses to Jesus. And the meaning of Jesus' reply may be stated thus: 'Has not this concern of yours to 12) do with my mission ? Has my hour not now come ?' Jesus knew that to stand for the poor and to act on behalf of the oppressed spelt danger and risk; it meant entering into his 'Hour' already now and starting the struggle for human liberation. He could hear God speaking and his own hour striking within the situation and within the concern Mary shared with him. Mary was glad to see the struggle start and to see people give Jesus complete support. 'Do as he tells you' is Mary's appeal to the bystand- ers, for she had no doubt that Jesus would intervene. It is not without significance that in the Fourth Gospel the Mother of Jesus appears only in connection with the Hour of Jesus: at the beginning of the Hour in Cana, the beginning of action and struggle on behalf of the deprived and the dispossessed; and . then at the high point of the Hour when the struggle culminates in Jesus' death. There, on Calvary, too, Mary stood by Jesus, affirming and supporting the option he had made and the cause for which he gave his life. No wonder early christians decided that Mary was the fittest person to sing a song of revolt they had composed, the Magnificat, in which the God who acted in Jesus is proclaimed as one who deposes the mighty trom their thrones and raised the lowly (Lk ):4M-bJ)" (218-219).

�2)The text actually reads: They have no wine left. He answered, 'Your concern, mother, is not mine. My hour has not yet come' (John 2:3-4 NEB).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access From the dialogue of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-42),

Fr. S. Rayan draws the following lesson:

"The condition of the poor and the working class changes on account of the action and the gospel of Jesus; the working class is now enabled and challenged to liberate themselves (4:35-38)"(220).

The healing of the cripple at the Sheep-Pool in Jerusalem

John 5:1-15) and the discussion which followed the healing

(vv.l6-47) give occasion to the following remarks:

"In the question, 'Do you want to get healed'? which Jesus put to the man, all the victims of competitive economic and political practice stand challenged to awareness, organisation and action for their own liberation" (221). "God is himself a worker, the worker, and not a member of any leisured class. 'My Father works always and I must work too' (5:17). God and Jesus work in judging the plight of the people and in raising to new and abundant life those who are denied the right to be complete men and women. The resurrection of the dead begins in the insurrection of the oppressed, and both are God's work provided what they are making for is the new earth and not a repetition of the old" (221).

The last example of Fr. S. Rayan's exegesis pertains to the raising

of Lazarus in John 11.

Here, says Fr. S. Rayan,

"the concern and service of Jesus for the poor reaches its climatic expression. Lazarus as a dead man represents all the poor of the earth, who are wholly powerless, diminished, decaying in slums and hovels and barrios and favelas, handicapped confined to the tiniest life-space and prevented from human growth and social participation and creative action, deprived of speech and consigned to a culture of silence and sub- mission" (225).

(...) "Lazarus symbolizes the destroyed and discarded majority of humankind to whom life and future are forbidden. The intervention of Jesus is an intervention on behalf of life and against all

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access the forms and forces of death. Jesus' words, 'Lazarus, come out' is a call to the wretched of the earth to break out of their prisons and all the structures of domination and to agree no longer to live in sub-human conditions on an earth which belongs to their father and to them" (226).

�4.' _E_-___E___The rice aid

In his fourth point, at the same time his conclusion, Fr. S. Rayan gives an interpretation of the Cross:

"The death of Jesus is a powerful act of affirmation and proclamation of his firm commitment and loyalty to the people, to the fisherfolk that followed him, to wineless and breadless crowds, to broken, crippled and handicapped men and women, to the exploited working class, to the destroyed and fleeced wretched of the earth, to those held captive in tombs and prisons of poverty, ignorance and disease. The death of Jesus is an affirmation of human freedom and human dignity. His cross is a symbol of fearless defiance and resistance to evil. It is therefore the beginning of the new man and the new human order. Since in the Fourth Gospel, the uplifting of Jesus comprises the cross and the resurrection, it is right to see his resurrection as interior to his death (3:14-15; 12:23-25, 31-32; 19:31-37; 20:21-23). In the very heart of his and his follow- ers' struggle, the New Humanity and the New Earth are taking shape and an irrepressible joy is welling up (16:20-22; 12:24). In Jesus' Cross therefore the poor of the earth find inspiration, courage and hope" (228).

In the field of biblical theology I finally mention two articles relevant to our subject, one again by Fr. M. Vellanickal, "Prayer in the Gospel of John" (BibZebhash�am, Vol. V, No. 1, March 1979, 63-81), the other by Mgr Caetano da Cruz Fernandes, "God's Covenant with Man : Basis of Biblical Spirituality" (Indian Theological Studies, Vol. XVI, No. 4, December 1979, 298-325), which contains an intarPCtlnP SPC`ti�n on The New Covenant in John's Writings (311-315). These two articles offer exhaustive yet concise treatment of their topics and manifest a consummate skill in exposition. I did not discover in them, however, Indian idiosyncrasies as in other essays.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access The authors move in the world of the New Testament itself, according to the scholarly style of historical criticism, against a discreet devotional background. The Bible itself has become their context, and this means that an Indian readership exists which can appreciate the exercise; it is no longer the privilege of north atlantic scholars. If the search for relevance is pursued further, I would say , that these presentations are relevant and address themselves to the context of human nature. Fr. M. Vellanickal's article has a section entitled 'Thanksgiving rooted in human nature' beginning with the following comment (referring to Mat 11:25f, then to Jn 11:41f.):

"In this thanksgiving, Jesus' divine sonship appears in its unique grandeur, but at the same time he shows how deeply rooted he is in our human nature, subject to the same reac- tions and responding to the same sentiments" (66).

My survey of periodical literature pertaining to the Gospel of John comes to its end here. My readers will notice that only Indian periodicals have been quoted, mainly because in non-Indian journals Indian Bible scholars seem to be left out. A check-up of the latest volumes of professional journals issued by international associations of Bible scholars, such as New Testament Stud2es,� Novum Testamenturr�, and others, reveals this absence of Indian Bible scholars. Even a more practical journal like Lum2ere et Vie (no. 149, tome 29, sept.- oct. 1980) completely ignores non-western Bible scholarship in its special issue on the Fourth Gospel.

The Redeemer -

Suthir Bairagi

(In: Image. Christ and Art in Asia, 1980 nr. 4, 6)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Ill INDEPENDENT PUBLICATIONS

In the field of johannine studies, the most important performance has been achieved by Fr. Matthew Vellanickal with his doctoral

dissertation, defended at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, on the ]4th of February 1970, corrected and updated for publica-

tion after the appointment of the author at St. Thomas' Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor, Kottayam, Kerala 3)) It is a masterpiece of erudition and exposition, perfectly edited in the series

Analecta Biblica. In his thesis, Fr. M. Vellanickal has a chapter

on 'The power of becoming children of God (Jn 1:12-13)' arguing

about the disputed singular vs. plural reading referred to above

in a very convincing way (105-132). His arguments are based not

only on secondary literature, but on the primary manuscripts themselves. Other chapters handle all johannine passages pertaining to

the divine sonship of Christians in an exhaustive manner, e.g. Jn 3:3-10; 8:31-47 . I do not enter further into the details of this highly professional study. I only wish to make two points.

First, the context of the study is the world of international

Bible scholarship where the author is completely at home. But this

does not mean that the research will be irrelevant to the Indian context. The actual relevance to -Indian reality is not explicitly stated in the book, which remains purely 'scientific'; the

choice of the theme, however, whether inspired by the director of

the thesis, Fr. I. de la Potterie, or decided independently by the

author, meets a deep Indian religious concern about the relation-

ship between God and man, and allows necessary distinctions.

Second, I observe that the study has been well received in India and

I would like to quote a book review published in B��e��8��2?n, Vol.

III, No. 2, June 1977, 155-156:

"Part one (pp. 7-88) deals with the idea of divine sonship outside the Johannine writings: in the Old Testament, in later Judaism, in Hellenism and Philo, in the synoptic gospels and in the writings of St. Paul. These studies are a good preparation for entering into the world of the Johannine thought. For John came from a Jewish background and for many years he lived in a Hellenistic environment; the influence

13) M. Vellanickal, The Div2ne Sonsh2p of Christians in the Johannine Writings, Analecta Biblica 72, Biblical Institute Press, Rome 1977, 400 pp.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access of the thought of the early Church reflected in the synoptic gospels and Pauline writings on John could not but be significant. Part two begins with an analysis of the Johannine terminology of sonship, mainly the two phrases tekna tou Theou (children of God) and gennethenai ek tou Theou(to be begotten of God). The main body of the work consists of studies of the different texts in which these expressions occur. The first reference to the divine sonship of the believers, in the Prologue, Jn 1:12-13: the Power of becoming children of God, is expounded in great detail (pp. 105-161). History of exegesis, textual criticism, exegetical analysis and study of related texts unfold the rich theological meaning of the text. 'The divine sonship of man in St John is essentially dynamic, implying a change from the state of 'not being children' to that 'being children of God' ' (p. 160). The starting point of of this dynamic process is the acceptance of the self-revelation of Christ and its main element is faith, 'which means a life of adhesion and commitment to the person of Christ as Son of God, in which the believer appropriates its object, namely, the divine sonship and begetting of Christ, until it becomes the very principle of his life' (p. 161). The divine sonship of Christians is a participation in the Sonship of Christ (cf. Jn 1:16). Other aspects of the subject studied are: The birth into the life of the children of God (Jn 3:3-10); righteousness: criterion of the life of the children of God (I Jn 2:29-3:10; Jn 8:31-47); impeccability: fruit of the life of divine sonship (1 Jn 3:9; 5:18-20; Jn 8:31-36); love: the expression of divine sonship (I Jn 3:10-12; 4:7-8); life of divine sonship: a life of faith (1 Jn 5:1-4); the eschatological development of the divine sonship of Christians (I Jn 3:1-2). The work ends with a general conclusion which contains a theological synthesis showing the main characteristics of the Johannine doctrine and its originality in comparison with the teaching of the pre-Johannine literature. The reader will be deeply impressed with the thorough- ness and painstaking care with which texts are ana- lysed. Several philological studies clarify the concepts being discussed. Structural analysis of all the passages discussed is a valuable contribution of the work. Penetrating discussions of structure and schemes of structure reveal different aspects of the rich meaning of the passages. The author's mastery over the relevant literature is shown in the numerous footnotes and the impressive bibliography (pp.XXIII- XL). The detailed table of contents (pp.VII-XVIII),

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access indices of authors, subjects, references and Greek words are very useful. Deep theological insights are plentifully scat- tered all throughout the book. The reader who takes the trouble of studying it carefully will be amply rewarded" (155-156). , .

I also mention a doctoral dissertation defended by Antony

Mookenthottam at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and

partly published under the title India Theological Tendencies:

Approaches and Problems for further, research as seen in the

works of some Zeading Indian TheoZog2ans (Studien zur interkul-

turellen Geschichte des Christentums, Bd. 21, Peter Lang AG,

Bern 1978). The unpublished part of the dissertation, according to the table of contents inserted on p. 16 of the published part, has a section on the Johannine Vision of Truth and Reali-

ty and handles the pre-johannine understanding of Alitheia and

its influence on John, and comments such passages as Jn 1:14; 4:16; 4:42; 8:31f; 14:6; 17:17-19. The purpose of the author is

to tackle the problem of truth and reality (satyr) from a cross-

cultural perspective; he hopes to publish a book in India on

truth and reality in the Indian scriptures, in the Old Testament

and in the Johannine Writings (181).

Another doctoral dissertation about Jn 2:13-22 originally submit-

ted to the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome under D. Mollat

has been partly published: Fr. Lucius Nereparampil CMI, Destroy

this Temple. An Exegetico-TheoZogicaZ Study on the Meaning of

Jesus' Temple-Logion in Jn 2:19(Dharmaram Publications, Bangalore 197R) . Again, it is interesting to see how this book has been received

in India itself. I quote from the review by John Kurichianil in

Indian TheoZogicaZ Studies (17, 1980, 284f):

The �ccl� 1�N.. first oev intrnrlmrhnYt7 carti nn nf twenty-three pages that examines the authenti- city, the original form, the identity and the possible sources of the saying situating it in the context of the Temple-Cleansing. There follows the main part of the book which is devoted to the study of the Temple-Logion. This part

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access consists of four sections. The first section studies Jn 2:18 in as much as it is an introduction to the Temple-Logion. The second section is devoted to a detailed analysis of Jn 2:19. The third section deals with the mis- understanding of Jesus' saying by the Jews (Jn 2:20), and the last section with its understanding by Jesus' disciples (Jn 2:21-22). The author sums up his findings in a concluding section.

The author has certainly read much of the vast literature available on the Gospel of John. That is evident from the number of titles offered in the bibliography found in the book. What is more important, he has a good grasp of the Johannine thinking. Thus equipped, he has succeeded in bringing out the meaning, the message, of Jesus' saying in Jn 2:19 with clarity and precision. The author insists that the Johan- nine form of the Temple-Logion should be, and can be, understood only in the light of Jesus' resurrection. Jesus' body, his very person, is the new temple in as much as he is the point of contact between God and man. Jesus became the new Temple by his resurrection. There can be no doubt that every student of the Gospel of St John will find the reading of this book very rewarding" (284-285).

It is not impossible that this study may have a hidden relevance

to the Indian context, where so much importance has been attached to the saying "Not to Destroy But to Fulfill" (Mat. 5:17, quoted p. 43). The idea'of the beginning of the new economy of salvation in the person of Jesus, who will be the new 'Temple' (91) for all Christians, may be applied in very controversial ways. This sugge- stion of mine is speculative; actually Fr. L. Nereparampil's book is a fine scholarly study in the specialised field of Bible exegesis, in touch with the international discussion (that is with western exegetes at the moment : see the bibliography, 99-115).

The same high level of Scripture scholarship is evident in the essay of Fr. Sebastian Karotrempel SDB, The Promise o f the L2ving Water in John 7:37-39 (Asian Trading Corporation, Bombay, 1977). It is not presented as a (part of a) dissertation, but it bears evidence of academic craftmanship; quotations in Greek and Latin, abundant

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access references to German, French, English, American biblical scholars, and a systematic bibliography (93-98). The study is devoted to a difficult and controversial passage of the Fourth Gospel. Its purpose is to clarify the meaning of the text on various levels. The first chapter describes the historical setting of the Promise, the feast of the Tabernacles. The second chapter is a grammatical and structural analysis of the text against the background of its exegetical history from the

Church Fathers to the modern commentators. The following chapters give a comprehensive theological interpretation, related to the general message of the Gospel of John. Chapter VII offers 'Re- flections on the relevance of the passage for the man of today'

(83-92). The unidentified Old Testament quotation in Jn 7:38 is explained as "a grouping together of Old Testament themes" (the rock of the desert, the stream flowing from Jerusalem, the water gushing forth from the temple), as "a kind of Christian Midrash that sum- marises the prophetic significance of the Old Testament" (42). Fr. S. Karotemprel discusses the christological vs. believer interpretation of the text and comes to the conclusion that in the context Jesus, not the believer, is the fountain of living water. This expression refers to "the presence of the Spirit in the lives of the disciples as an indwelling, transforming and divinising reality" (60). The difficult passage "The Spirit was not yet"

(Jn 7:39) is related to the glorification of Jesus: "The Spirit was not yet present in Jesus in the manner it would be from the moment of his glorification" (63). There is one and the same "salvation event" (66) accomplished in two stages by the earthly ministry of Jesus and by the ministry of the glorified Jesus pouring out the Spirit. "At the glorification, the Spirit took possession of Jesus the man in a totally new fashion that he becomes a life-giving Spirit" (70). The relevance of the passage for the man of today is the revelation and fulfilment of human destiny. "Salvation means the fulfilment of the ultimate destiny towards whicli man is oriented by his essence and towards which he is forever striving" (87). "Openness for God

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access is the real meaning of the fundamental structure of being human" (88).14)

"The invitation of Jesus with all that is implied by it about his person and the attitude of the believer, is offered to the man of today that he may come in faith and accept Jesus and drink of the life-giving waters of the Spirit that sprang up from the glorified Jesus. Only in Jesus can man find salvation in his openness to God, and re-discover his actual and poten- tial identity and destiny" (91). "Far from being irrelevant, the voice of Jesus is the only voice above the crowds that has any relevance for man today" (91-92)

Fr. S. Karotemprel clearly addresses himself to the 'context' of a general theological anthropology, and explicitly rejects limi- ted secular anthropologies. The relevance of the Gospel of John is not seen in continuity, but just in discontinuity with "the man of today who thinks in terms of biological, sociological and technological evolution towards the perfect man" (91). "We refuse to identify (the) political, economic and social liberation (of man) with the salvation in Jesus Christ" (92). 15)

This could be called an antithetic contextualisation. The study by Fr. A. Karotemprel has been very favourably reviewed in the Indian MissioZogicaL Review, Vol. 1, No. 3 (July 1979),p.309 under the title 'Pleasant Scripture scholarship'.

I am not aware of other independent publications entirely devoted to the Gospel of John. Some of them, however, contain short references to and/or applications of it.

A first example in this category is a sermon delivered by Dr. M.M. Thomas at St. Mark's, Bangalore, on John 12:31-32, entitled 'The

Cross and the Kingdom of God'.16) It is a witness of his famous

"spirituality for combat". The introduction of the sermon alludes

14) Quotation from W. Pannenberg, Jesus - God and Man, London 1970, 193.

quotation from a declaration of the French bishops in December 1973 !

M.M. Thomas, New Creation in Christ. Twelve selected sermons given on various occasions. With a Foreword by Bishop J.W. Sadiq, ISPCK, Delhi 1976, 16-21.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access to specific Indian developments, but the core of the message refers to the human predicament in the modern world of science and technology. I quote:

"Jesus lifted up from the earth on a Cross on Golgotha hill has drawn all men to himself. In this country, not only Christians, but many of the Hindu and Muslim leaders of the Indian renaissance have been attracted by the appeal of the Cross of Jesus and have been grappling with the question, what it means. Thanks to Mahatma Gandhi, the phrase "The Way of the Cross" has become most familiar to all India to mean the eternal God's way of fighting evil through suffering love. And the late Dr. A.G. Hogg of Madras Christian College, in his sermon to the Inter- national Missionary Council meeting at Tamba- ram, spoke of the Incarnation and the Cruci- fixion of Jesus as the Transcendent Satyagraha ("Grasp of Truth", the passive resistance of Gandhi, MRS) of God, through which God grappled with evil to deliver the world from it and reconcile it to Himself" (16).

M.M. Thomas exposes the meaning of the Cross in two points, first as the revelation of God's character, second, as the point where the Kingdom of God is inaugurated in human history. "In our struggles for existence, we are often faced with the callous indifference and the cold immensity of an impersonal universe" (17), where interpersonal relationships have no place. "But the Cross is the window through which we see both God and his purpose for the world as ultimately rooted in love and as intimately personal"

(17f). The Cross is also "a decisive historical event" (19), it is "the Kingdom of God moving with power into the history of mankind, taking control of the powers of this world, bringing to men the righteousness of God in which every man becomes a brother for whom Christ died" (20).

"The Cross means power, not of self-righteousness buc of grace, and power Lo do rhe good one wishes, and power to live. Jesus said: 'In the world you will have trouble. But courage: the victory is mine. I have conquered the world' (John 16:33). In identifying ourselves with the Cross of Christ, we are not promised

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access deliverance from having to face troubles but courage to face them, and the strength to grapple with the evils in us and around us, because we know that the Crucified and Risen Jesus remains the power of the Kingdom, ope- rating in us and the world today" (20).

"The Cross which is central to the life of God and Jesus Christ, must become central to our lives if we are to have life and life abundant. This is the gospel we proclaim" (21).

It is the sole sermon of the collection that is based on a passage of the Gospel of John. Apparently Dr. M.M. Thomas feels more attracted by other biblical books; his forthcoming biblical

commentaries in Malayalam do not include Johannine writings, as

far as my knowledge goes.

There is little reference to the Gospel of John in the collective volume A Vision for Man. Essays on Faith, Theology. and Society in honour of J.R. Chandran, Principal of the United Theological

College, Bangalore, edited by Samuel Amirtham (Christian Litera- ture Society, Madras, 1978, 416 pp). Only three contributions, out of thirty-six, deal with biblical subjects anyway. A fourth

contribution has a section of biblical theology that I would like to analyse briefly : P.B. Santram, "Indigenisation of the Church

in India. A Biblical and Theological Appraisal" (180-199). The relevant section is entitled "Biblical and Theological Basis for

Indigenisation" (187-195). "Indigenisation is not just a novel

idea (...) but it is well rooted in the Bible" (187), it is founded

on the Biblical doctrine of creation and incarnation, and it has already happened many times in the course of history as reported in the Bible itself. The Bible offers "models" of indigenisation (192).

Just the Gospel of John, says Santram, is quite relevant to the problem. Two points of entry are mentioned specially, the doctrine of incarnation, and the hellenisati.on of the Gospel.

"It is John's statement, 'the Word became flesh' (Jn 1:14), which is understood as the scriptural basis of the doctrine of incarnation.

If the human life of Jesus is seen as the embo- diment of God's eternal Logos (Word) it is so as

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access conditioned by a particular historical, religious, and cultural context. It was in the concrete historical, religious and cultural 'flesh' that the faith of Jesus' contemporaries saw the divine reality revealed in him in an intelligible form. Jesus, then, was God's indigenisation (or, inculturation, adaptation, localisation, etc.) in the context of the first century Palestinian Judaism. His manifesting the divine reality under the historical, religious and cultural conditions of his day has since been the 'model' of all Christian living, which means living out the Christian faith under one's own historical, religious and cultural conditions. This is often described as 'enfleshment of the gospel' in concrete terms. Indigenisation is precisely that, or, as some have chosen to call it, 'incarnation' " (189).

The theologies of incarnation represent a powerful stream in modern theology all over the world, not only in India. I note in passing that their use of Jn 1:14 in vindication of their thrust is exegetically disputed : this passage witnesses to an event, not to an axiom.

The second point of P.B. Santram is the example given by the Gospel of John with regard to 'adaptation in faith and communication': it is a model of indigenisation.

"John's Gospel is obviously distinctive when com- pared with the first three Gospels. It no doubt has at its source a very primitive strand of oral tradition which is Hebraic and, therefore, took shape originally in Palestine. It declares that 'salvation is from the Jews' (Jn 4:22), and twice employs the actual Aramaic word Messiah (in its etymological sense) for 'Christ' (Jn 1:41; 4:25f). But at the same time this Gospel has a strong element of 'universalism' which is in the use of distinctive language and ideas and some clearly universalistic statements (Jn 3:16f; 4:42; 8:12; 10:16; 12:32; 17:20f). John intends his Gospel to be read by a wide circle of readers who are spread out, beyond those familiar with Judaism, in the vast hellenistic world and beyond into the still wider world. For chis purpose lie empluys a lttil- guage which would have a wider appeal" (193).

"John deliberately selected for his use ideas and language which were not narrowly Jewish or exclusively Palestinian, and that he 'seems to make a practice of employing words which have

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access at least a double (Jewish and pagan) background. By using such an 'open-ended' language John could bridge the gap between the primitive Palestinian Kerz�gma and the wide world within and beyond the hellenistic word. John's Gospel has been rightly described as a 'work of transition in which primitive Christianity is carried into a different world of thought'. Or as Owen Evans says that 'John transposed, so to speak, the Palestinian Gospel into a Hellenistic key' " (194).

The conclusion of P.B. Santram's paper is very relevant to the present survey:

"In the multi-religious and a multi-cultural context in India the precise pattern and scope of indigenisation of the Church cannot be predicted in advance. It is bound to result in a variety of cultural expressions of the Christian faith" (196).

The stimulating volume Debate on Mission: Issues from the Indian

Context, edited by Herbert E. Hoefer (Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Madras, 1979, 470 pp) includes no study of the Gospel of John and is surprisingly poor or very sweeping in the sector of Biblical studies (79-83, 112-117, 201- 205). One paper is specific indeed, but not very helpful. I nevertheless refer to a contribution by Samuel Amirtham, 'Jesus Christ Frees and Unites' (243-256) because it gives another 'context' in which the Gospel of John is being read in India, the context of Christian unity, extremely important indeed. I shall just bring a short quotation from the conclusion of this address:

"Our affirmation is that Jesus Christ unites. He unites all His people, the whole of mankind, to real community, beyond the separating walls of caste, race, and religion (Eph. 2:14-16). He unites His Church to proclaim God's love that the world may believe (Jn 17:21).

17)Meinert H. Grumm, "A Study of New Testament Passages dealing with Ministry and Ord2nation" in Debate on Mission, 407-415. The author contends that ecclesiastical usage has distorted the translation of the biblical text, e.g. John 15:16: "I have chosen you and ordained you" (King James version).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Jesus' prayer for his disciples is that 'they may all be one'. While we in the CSI are grate- ful for the gift of church unity and our readi- ness to die any time to be resurrected into a greater union that Chtist may bring in, we are called upon to consider afresh the nature of unity we now seek. The World Council of Churches is now discussing the desirability of conciliar unity, unity in council. The W.C.C. envisages 'to be a conciliar fellowship of local churches which themselves are united'. They would recognize each other's members and mini- stries, and maintain a sustained and sustaining relationship with one another. They would meet in conciliar gatherings whenever required for the fulfilment of their common calling. Parti- cipation in common Eucharist, common witness, common action, mutual welcoming and sharing with joy, will be further aspects of this unity. As the CSI wants to grow in further unity with the other churches in India and as the creation of a Bharat Church is mooted, we should give further thought to this question.

But unity of the church must be related to the mission of the church and its evangelistic task, for Jesus prayed that the church may be one that the world may believe.

(...) Christian unity is not for unity's sake but for the end that the world may believe. Unity of the Church is not our ultimate goal. Unity of the church is only a foretaste and first fruits of the total unity of mankind (Rev.7:9). It is imperative, therefore, that the church must achieve in her own life integrated community transcending barriers of casteism, linguism, and social classism. Further, the church must become an open community"(254-255).

I would like to describe a last independent publication as a tribute to the Thomas Christians though I have been unable to trace exegetical contributions from this quarter of Indian Christianity pertain- 1 Q\ ing to the Gospel of John. �8) It is the text of the Placid Lectures, given in honour of Revd. Placid Podipara CMI, of the Catholic Syro- Malabar Church, by Dr. Petro B.T. Bilaniuk, an Ukrainian theologian,

Complementary information will be utmost welcome.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access and published for the Centre for Indian and Inter-Religious

Studies in Rome by Dharmaram Publications in Bangalore under the title TheoZogy and Economy of the Holly Spirit. An Eastern

Approach (Bangalore 1980, 218 pp). It is circulated in India and therefore relevant to the present survey. In his short seC- tion on 'Pneuma in the New Testament', the author makes the interesting point that "the study of the pneumatology of the

New Testament compels some exegetes to establish a different order for the dating of the gospels" (13).

"It seems quite probable that the very first gospel to emerge in written form from a host of different oral catecheses was John. The whole gospel was definitely written by a highly educated ear and eye witness to the events surrounding the public life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord. John's orientation was definitely a pneumatological one. He was the only one of the NT writers who stated flatly: 'God is Spirit' (John 4:24). He presented the most extensive and precise pneumatological texts (John 14:15-26; 15:26ff; 16:5-15)" (13).

The rest of the book is not in the field of biblical exegesis or theology, but in the field of Church history and dogmatics.

This is Christ the King

Angelo da Fonseca

(In: Image. Christ and Art in Asia,1980, nr. 3, 4)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access CONCLUSION

The present survey confirms the popularity of the Gospel of John among Indian theologians, especially from the Roman Catholic quarter at the moment. The leadership of Roman Catholic scholars is due to their advanced training in Biblical sciences, achieved in western universities (Rome, Fribourg, Wurzburg, etc.), and also to their traditional affinity with Hindu scriptures considered as religious, devotional guides, and not only as literary documents of the past, which seems to be the case among most secular indologists. A combination of both kinds of expertise produces a genuine approach to the Gospel of John, as we have seen. Generally speaking, this approach emphasizes the mystical aspect of the Fourth Gospel, either in some continuity with the advaitic tradition, or in the line of the bhakti tradition of Hinduism. Other approaches, however, are to be noted. They are not, as a rule, so strongly substantiated exegetically as the former, but they represent a powerful stream in Indian theology. As a matter of fact I feel a kind of revolt against the claims of literary and historical exegesis which is increasingly considered as a western idiosyncrasy or even a western luxury. Some Indian theologians would not like to depart from exegesis altogether, and are proposing an alternative kind of exegesis which might be applied to the Gospels as it has been for centuries applied to Hindu poetic literature, namely the so-called 'Dhvani' interpretation. BibZebhash�arn has devoted a whole issue to 'Dhvani' interpretation of (Biblical) scriptures, and I have reviewed the contribution of Fr. M. Vellanickal along this line with regard to a chapter of the Gospel of John. 'Dhvani' interpretation, however, is an aesthetical device, allowing to taste the beauty, and the figurative sense, as it were, of religious and poetical literature. 1L Lt::1W:iiu:> Lu lie 6.:.:Ú, in my opinion, whether 'Dhvani' interpretation will be a viable alternative to the various forms of literary and historical criticism.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access An isolated proposal has been made by Fr. Paul Gregorios with a view to applying another kind of Hindu hermeneutics to the Bible

as it applied to the body of Hindu religious literature, in the

Nygya or S�nkhya schools of Indian philosophy. 19) Gregorios

contests the idea that there is some 'objective' and 'universal' meaning of the New Testament (14). His views should be discussed

in a broader perspective than the present survey and I cannot

do it now. I must say, however, that I was unable to trace any

concrete application of these methods to Biblical texts.

Quite in the opposite direction, the Gurukal Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute is recently advocating 'Local Village Theology' and rejecting 'the Westernisation of Indigenisa-

tion', that is to say the 'debilitating' concern of Indian theologians to meet western standards of rationality. A true liberating

theology should not start from the written Sanscritic culture of

the educated elite, but from the cultural context of the poor Indian masses. 20) This might lead to a closer grasp of "the

villager Jesus", but probably a growing distance from "the urban

Paul" (4) and even more from the sophisticated John, if I may add

this comment.

A middle way is proposed by the evangelical quarterly TRACI/ETS Journal (without being officially endorsed by the sponsoring bodies). In a recent issue, David Wenham wrote about "Biblical Interpretation in India Today" (No. 16, April 1980. 2-15) and came to the following conclusion:

"First, whether we are in India or elsewhere, we must wrestle hard with the biblical text, seeking to understand its original meaning, recognising that it is our teacher, to be listened to, not dictated to.

19)Paul Gregorios, "Hermeneutics in India Today in the Light of the World Debate", Indian Jrnl. of Theology, 28(1979)1, 1-14,esp. 10-14.

20)mLocal Village Theology" in Gurukul Perspeetive, No.20, October 1980, 1-7 (passim). (Report of a Theological Refresher Course from 13-18 September 1980).

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Second, we must immerse ourselves in Indian society and in the Indian church in such a way that we begin to ask the questions that are relevant to India, and so begin to hear God's word for India. At the moment much Indian theology is done using western text- books under western or western-trained teachers, and inevitably the questions that we ask of Scripture are often western questions which may be quite irrelevant to India's needs. (For example, the question of miracle is an urgent one in the sceptical, materialistic west, but it is not a problem in India in any- thing like the same degree). To say this is not to deny that there is value in studying western theology; we can learn a lot from it. But, if we only answer western questions, we should not be surprised if our theology and preaching often seem irrelevant to India" (14-15).

David Wenham makes two other important points, namely that Indian

Christianity should also listen to Biblical questions addressed to the Indian context.

"The dialogue with Scripture has begun in India. The task now is to pursue the dialogue to listen to India's questions, to take them to Scripture, to seek to hear what Scripture is saying in answer to our questions and in raising new questions" (15).

Indian theologians are definitely looking for a viable method of interpretation of the Bible under the explicit condition of relevance to Indian reality, may I say, Indian realities. Fr. George

M. Soares Prabhu SJ has devoted a considerable effort towards the definition of "an exegetical model for India";21) it seems to be a farewell to the Historical Critical Method and a plea for an

"intermediate technology" in biblical studies. His arguments are very strong, physically speaking:

"The utterly prohibitive cost of exegetical tools today (which Indian exegete, which library, can think of buying the Complete Concordance to the New Testament now being published, whose supple- mentary volume alone is priced at eight hundred

21)George M. Soares Prabhu, "Towards An Indian Interpretation of the Bible", BibZebhashyam, Vol. VI (1980) 1, 151-170.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access rupees - the monthly wage of a middle class family?) will make it increasingly difficult for the exegete in India to 'keep up' techni- cally with his Western colleague. This is probably no bad thing. It may help us to break away from our fascination with Western exegesis and unleash the kind of creativity that without any great technical investment has kept the Indian Scriptures alive and life-giving for more than three thousand years. One obviously needs the sort of creative 'medium technology' advocated by Schu- macher in Indian exegesis too !" (169-170).

I retain from the essay by Fr. Prabhu the case for plurality in Indian interpretation of the Bible. There is a place, he maintains, for "a sober historical criticism carried out responsibly and creatively within the means available" (170); there is a place for the 'ashramites' pursuing a dialogue with traditional Hindu religiosity, and a place for 'liberationists' working at the conscientization of the oppressed masses of the land (170). Perhaps other models would also be suitable.

The plurality of approaches to the Bible is linked to the plurality of Indian contexts. I already quoted the remark by P.B.

Santram : "In the multi-religious and a multi-cultural context in India the precise pattern and scope of indigenisation (an equivalent to 'contextualisation',MRS) of the Church cannot be predicted in advance. It is bound to result in a variety of cultural expressions of the Christian faith" (Santram 196). Puzzling contextualisation : the problem of biblical hermeneutics appears to be deeply connected with the problem of social hermeneutics, and the Indian contexts in the same measure as the Biblical texts need interpretation.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access INVOCATION. SALUTATION TO THE SUPREME SPIRIT

THE FOLLOWING VERSES ON JOHN ARE TAKEN FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER "INVOCATION"OF "CHRISTAYANA"�= THE LIFE OF CHRIST), A MARATHI EPIC WRITTEN BY THE WELL-KNOWN CHRISTIAN INDIAN POET OF MAHARASHTRA

, t . � I , .I

23. NEXT UNTO JAMES MY MEED I BRING. REVEREND AND GRAVE IN ALL HIS WAYS, BROTHER OF JOHN; AND JOHN'S OWN PRAISE MY HEART DELIGHTS WITH LOVE TO SING.

24. FOR GOD IS LOVE, AND ALL HE MADE AND ALL HIS LAWS LOVE'S IMPRESS OWN; • THOU MASTER ART LOVE'S VERY THRONE THY LIFE IS LOVE'S OWN HEART DISPLAYED.

25. AND, JOHN, THY LOVE HAS YIELDED QUITE TO THAT SAME CHRIST; IN HIS EMBRACE THY HEART WAS KNIT; THY RESTING PLACE WAS ON HIS BOSOM, DAY AND NIGHT.

26. AND SURELY HE, TO WHOM IS GIVEN WHOLLY WITH CHRIST ONE SOUL TO BE HATH TASTE OF ALL FELICITY, AND UNTO HIM THIS EARTH IS HEAVEN.

27. THEREFORE, BELOVED DISCIPLE, DEIGN T'ACCEPT THE HOMAGE THAT I BRING OF 'NAMASKARS'I t'H51 NUMBERING, AND EVER IN MY HEART REMAIN.

(IN:PLAMTHODATHIL S. JACOB, THE EXPERIENTIAL RESPONSE OF N.V. TILAK. MADRAS 1979, b3-64)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access BIBLIOGRAPHY

Literature used for this article

AbhishiktÄ�nanda Hindu-Christian Meeting Point: Within the Cave of the Heart. Revised edition. Delhi, ISPCK, 1976 Amirtham, Samuel 'Jesus Christ Frees and Unites'. In: Debate on mission. Madras, Gurukul Lutheran Thedogical College and Research Institute, 1979, 243-256.

Appasamy, A.J. Christianity as Bhakti Marga: A Study of the Johannine Doctrine of Love. Madras, CLS, 1928. Appasamy, A.J. The Mysticism of the Fourth Gospel in its Relation to Hindu Bhakti Literature. (Unpublished thesis, 1922).

Appasamy, A.J. What is moksa ? A Study in the Johannine Doctrine of Life. Madras, CLS, 1931. Bilaniuk, Petro B.T. Theology and Economy of the Holy Spirit. An Eastern Approach. Published for Centre for Indian and Inter-Religious Studies, Rome. Bangalore, Dharmaram Publications, 1980, 218 pp.

Boyd, R.H.S. An Introduction to Indian Christian Theology. 2nd edition, Madras, CLS, 1975. Cruz Fernandes, Caetano da God's Covenant with man : Basis of Biblical Spirituality. In: Indian Theological Studies, 16(1979)4, 298-325.

Duraisingh, Chr. � C. Hargreaves (eds.) India's Search for Reality and the Relevance of the Gospel of John. Papers from a Conference held in Pune in February 1974. Delhi, ISPCK, 1975.

Gregorios, Paul Hermeneutics in India Today in the Light of the World Debate. In: Indian Journal of Theology, 28(1979)1, 1-14. Jacob, Plamthodathil S. The Experiential Response of N. V. Tilak. Confessing the Faith in India Series : no. 14. Published for CISRS. Madras, CLS, 1979, 127 pp. Karotemprel SDB, Sebastian The Promise of the Living Water in John 7:37-39. Bombay, Asian Trading Corporation, 1977, IV + 98 pp.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Kurichianil, John Book Review on : "Destroy his Temple. An Exegetico-Theological Study on the Meaning of Jesus' Temple-Logion in Jn 2:19" by Lucius Nereparampil. In: Indian Theological Studies, 17(1980)3, 284-285. Lesser, R.H. Pleasant Scripture Scholarship. Book Review on : "The Promise of the Living Water in Jn 7:37-39". In: Indian Missiological Review, 1(1979)3, 309. "Local Village Theology". In: Gurukul Perspective, No. 20, October 1980, 1-14. Mangatt, George Book Review on: "The Divine Sonship of Christians in the Johannine Writings. Rome 1977" by Matthew Vellanickal. In: Biblebhashyam, 3(1977)2, 155-156. Mookenthottam, Antony Indian Theological Tendencies: Approaches and Problems for further research as seen in the works of some leading Indian Theologians. Studien zur interkulturellen Geschichte des Christentums, Bd. 21. Bern, Peter Lang AG, 1978. Nereparampil CMI, Lucius The Church in the Johannine Literature. In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 28(1979)3�4, 169-177. Nereparampil CMI, Lucius Destroy this Temple. Am Exegetico-Theological Study on the Meaning of Jesus' Temple-Logion in Jn 2:19. Bangalore, Dhar- maram College, 1978, 124 pp. Prabhu SJ, G.M. Soares The New Testament as a Model of Inculturation. In: Jeevadhara, No. 33, vol. 6, May-June 1976, 268-282. Prabhu SJ, G.M. Soares Towards An Indian Interpretation of the Bible. In: Biblebhashyam, 6(1980)1, 151-170. Pudussery CMI, Paul Savio The Concept of "Zoe" in St. Paul and in St. John. In: Biblebhashyam, 6(1980)1, 104-124. Raja SJ, R.J. Notion of Light in St. John. In: Biblebhashyam, 1(1975)2, 124-134. Rayan SJ, Samuel Jesus and the Poor in the Fourth Gospel. In: Biblebhashyam, 4(1978)3, 213 228.

Santram, P.B. Indigenisation of the Church in India. A Biblical and Theological Appraisal. In: A Vision for Man. Essays on Faith, Theology and Society in honour of J.R. Chandran, Principal of the United Theological College, Bangalore, edited by Samuel Amirtham. Madras, CLS, 1978, 180-199.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Spindler, M.R. Indian Christian periodicals : The Daily Life of Indian Theology. In: Exchange 20, vol. 7, 1978, 1-53.

Thomas, M.M. New Creation in Christ. Twelve selected sermons given on various occasions. With a Foreword by Bishop J.W. Sadiq, Delhi, ISPCK, 1976, 96 pp. Vandana, Sr. The 'Johannine-Upanishadic' Experience - An Indian Meditation on St. John's Prologue. In: Indian Theological Studies, 16(1979)3, 153-168. Vandana, Sr. Waters of Recognition and Awakening. In: Biblebhashyam, 6(1980)3, 289-301.

Vellanickal, M. The Bread of Life. In: Biblebhashyam, 4(1978)1, 30-48.

Vellanickal, M. The Church in the Bible. In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 28(1979)3�4, 109-115. Vellanickal, M. The Church in Dialogue with the Surrounding Religious and Cultural Traditions in the Gospel of John. Paper presented at the plenary session of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on 25th April 1979 (unpublished stencil), 14 pp. Vellanickal, M. The Divided World According to St. John. In: Biblebhashyam, 1(1975)3, 231-246. Vellanickal, M. Divine Immanence in St. John. In: Biblebhashyam, 1(1975)4, 312-322.

Vellanickal, M. The Divine Sonship of Christians in the Johannine Writings. Analecta Biblica 72, Rome, Biblical Institute Press, 1977, 400 pp.

Vellanickal, M. Drink from the Source of the Living Water. In: Biblebhashyam, 5(1979)4, 309-318. Vellanickal, M. Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. In: Biblebhashyam, 1(1975)1, 60-73. (based on John 20:30-31). Vellanickal, M. The Mother of Jesus in the Johannine Writings. In: Biblebhashyam, 3(1977)4, 278-296.

Vellanickal, M. Prayer in the Gospel of John. In: Biblebhashyam, 5(1979)1, 63-81.

Vellanickal, M. Resurrection of Jesus in St. John. In: Biblebhashyam, 3(1977)2, 131-154.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Wenham, David Biblical Interpretation in India Today. In: TRACI/ETS Journal, no. 16, April 1980, 2-15.

Additional literature

Amaladoss SJ, M. Theologizing in India Today. In: Vidyajyoti, 43(1979)5, 213-225

Indian theology should begin a dialogue "not only with the Indian elite but with the Indian people" (224).

Amalorpavadass, D.S. Mission as Revelation. In: The Biblical Apostolate, No. 32, Vol. VIII, 1978, 135-144.

Amalorpavadass, D.S. New Theological Approaches in Asia (with reference to Religions and Cultures other than Western Culture and Christianity. In: Verbum SVD, 21(1980)3/4, 279-302. Amalorpavadass, D.S. (ed.) Research Seminar on Non-Biblical Scriptures. Bangalore, NBCLC, n.d. (1976?), 707 pp. Authority and Use of the Bible for Christian Action in India. Special issue of Religion and Society, 21(1974)1. (With contributions by D.A. Thampasamy, J.R. Chandran, B. Wielenga, K.C. Abraham, A.D. John, and others). Authority, The, of the Bible. Papers submitted to the Sixth Biennial Conference of the Society for Biblical Studies, at Kottayam, 30 Sept.-4 Oct. 1972. In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 23(1974)1�2 (special number), 1-136. Biblical, The, Concept of Rigtheousness and the Indian Context. Papers submitted to the Ninth Biennial Conference of the Society of Biblical Studies, held at Bombay, 29 Dec. 1976- 1 Jan. 1977. In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 26(1977)3�4 (special number), 105-207. Boyd, R.H.S. The Use of the Bible in Indian Christian Theology. In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 22(1973)4, 141-162. Cherupallikat, X. Mini Gospel. Kottayam, Deepika Book House, 1980. The life of Jesus in 272 two-lined stanzas of verse, with a refrain: Jesus is Lord, praise Lord Jesus Christian Confessions of Jesus of Nazareth. Papers submitted to a joint conference of the Society for Biblical Studies (= Eighth Biennial Conference) and the Indian Christian Theological Association, at Secunderabad, 28 Dec. 1974- 2 Jan. 1975. In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 24(1975)3/4 (special number), 69-182.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Hermeneutics in the Indian Context. Staff Research Seminar at Bangalore United Theological Seminary, mentioned in UTS Annual Report 1979-1980, 25.

Five papers, not yet published, were presented: 1. G. Rothermundt "The Apologetic Approach - A Hermeneutical Problem in the Study of Buddhism". 2. S.C. Duraisingh "Hermeneutical Issues in the Indian Tradition: Some Insights from Ramanuja's Writings". 3. A.P. Nimal "Hermeneutics : Issues and Tasks". 4. H.S. Wilson "History and Hermeneutics". 5. J. Stam "Hermeneutics of Liberation Theology".

Ishanand Vempeny SJ. Inspiration in the Non-Biblical Scriptures. Theological Publications in India, Bangalore 1973, 255 pp. Karotemprel, Sebastian The Word and the Spirit. Bombay, Asian Trading Corporation, 1979. Part I presents meditations on 18 New Testament topics Part II contains systematic studies on I Jn 5:7-8; Mat 5:13-16; 2 Cor 3:6.

Legrand MEP, L. Lectures de la Bible en Inde. In: Spiritus no. 63 t. XVII, mai 1976, 171-176. Moulton, H.K. "Bible Translating" in A Vision for Man. Essays in honour of J.R. Chandran, ed. by S. Amirtham. Madras, CLS, 1978, 119-129.

How to translate the Greek words soteria and dikaiosune into Indian languages and how to keep Bible translations up-to-date? Nereparampil, Lucius Liberation as Salvation : A Johannine Interpretation. In: Journal of Dharma, 2(1977)1, 68-81. Panikulam, George Koinonia in the New Testament. A Dynamic Expression of Christian Life. Analecta Biblica 85. Rome 1979, XI + 161 pp.

This book has probably a section on johannine writings; it was not yet available in the University library in Leiden so I was unable to check the matter. Salvation in the Indian Context. In: Jeevadhara No. 59, 10(1980)Sept/Oct. Whole issue. Note especially the editorial by John B. Chethimattam (329-332). Sharma, Arvind Can the Tanak, the Bible and the Qur'an be regarded as sruti? In: The Indian Journal of Theology, 28(1979)1, 33-39.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Spindler, M.R. L'indigÃ©nisation de la thÃ©gologie, alibi pour les riches, opium pour les pauvres. In: Flambeau No. 33, FÃ©vrier 1972, 2-9. Wijngaards MHM, H. The Function of Sacred Scripture in the Christianization of India. In: World Mission, 31(winter 1980-1981)4, 35-45. A plea for good, literary powerful 'inner translations' of the Bible in Indian languages. Wilson, Kothapalli Culture and Conversion: An Analytical Study of the Interaction between Western Theology and Eastern Culture through the Christian Missions in the Indian Sub-Continent. Ph.D. Disser- tation, Syracuse University, June 1972 (University Microfilms) See his developments on The Contemporary Christian in a Post-Hindu Society (187-201).

(Frontpage of "BHAJANS (A Collection of 50 songs of praise in various languages used at the NBCLC)". Publ. by National Biblical, Catecheti- cal and Liturgical Centre, 6th February, 1977, Bangalore 1977, 22 pp)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access THE THAILAND STATEMENT Some additions and corrections (Exchange no. 26, September 1980)

In the final edition of the 'Thailand Statement' four corrections have been added which could not be taken into account in the publication of the State- ment in EXCHANGE no. 26 (Vol. IX, September 1980), 63-67. Please add the following changes: p. 65 (The Primary of Evangelization): After the first sentence of the second paragraph ending with to receive Christ add: "We have considered the value of thinking of them not only as individuals �butMt also as 'people groups'gTOMps' rahoM/zo perceiveperce�e themselvest�e�seZ�es as having/!�2�Mg' anany! affinitya/'��'z't� with one another" p. 65 (Some Vital Aspects of Evangelization) In the second paragraph, line 5, after mobilized and trained add: "We have heard the call to be sensitive to other peopZe's cultural patterns and not to try to zmpose on them our own" p. 66 delete in the first paragraph the sentence 'Imperialism, slavery, racism etc.--- the plight of the needy and powerless -' and replace it with imperialism, slavery, religious persecution in the name of Christ, racial pride and prejudice (whether anti-black or anti�hite, anti-Jeu�ish and antia�t� -�Arab,ra�� or anya:� otherot�er �kind).,-�M�� sexualse.cM�xX oppression,oppress-�o�� culturaloMZlMraZ. �insensitMse�s��LVi.ty,t'�tt�3j and indifference to the pZight of the needy and powerless -" p. 67 (Our Commitment to Christ) In the first paragraph after we solemnly make the following commitment to Christ add (deleting the colon) "3 which we shaZZ seek his grace to fulfil:"

F.J.V.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access MISCELLANEA

Churchleadership and African Wisdom

In a contribution "Two Muchalla Proverbs: their traditional message and their christian application", Elisha P. Kabur, 3rd year student at Theological College of Northern Nigeria, Bukuru, applies a

Nigerian proverb to the situation in many churches in Africa:

"Ga kadh kwakkwarana ma wudan". In English this means: "Do not throw a stone at the lizard when it is standing on the pot". The reason why it is not good to do this is that you may well break the pot while attempting to stone the lizard. The pot is made of clay. It is not strong enough to endure the weight of the stone and it may be that you would not kill the lizard, but you would lose your pot instead. Before working at the meaning of this proverb it is good to know that the Muchalla people regard the lizard as a defiled animal. They do not want to touch it under any circumstances. Although there are many in the area, no one kills them and no one wants to eat them. For that reason they can stand on the washed pots, so that people become very unhappy. If people throw stones at them, the pot may break; if they leave them on the pots, they have to wash them a second time because they were defiled.

The meaning of this proverb is that a very bad man may seize the leadership of a Christian community but not be good in its gov- ernment. He may have been voted into this office because he had many relatives or tribesmen in that society or because he is well known � very rich. To remove him from that post will cause a lot of unhappiness in the community, possibly even disaster. Therefore it is better to let him continue until he leaves the post anyway. This proverb fits situations in many churches in Africa, especially where half of the church committee are the relatives of the pastor of the church and most of the church members are his relatives and friends. To remove him will be the downfall of the church, because pastors are regarded as chiefs in some African churches! This happens mostly when one of the ruling clans of the community becomes a pastor in that congregation. He can do whatever he likes. But is is very hard for an ordinary man to start telling him that his character is bad, and he should no longer be a pastor. If somebody would try Flu do chat che church would split into pieces - as it is happen- ing in some places in Africa nowadays! Therefore, it is better to leave the lizard (a bad pastor) until he leaves the pot by himself (church leadership), rather than to remove the man with force which will cause others to leave the church also. God is the best person to remove him. (In: TCNN Research Bulletin No. 5, 1980, 31-32.)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access WOMEN OF BOLIVIAN MINING TOWN REPORT ON MILITARY REPRESSION

ED. NOTE: In the ir le tter o f A uguat 9 to Arch- bishop Jorge Manrique (La Pa,a� a group of "de- spairing mothers and wives" of the Bolivian mining torun of Caracoles described the cruel military repression, which is typical in the attiplano sub- meguent to the July 17 coup ted by Gen. Luis Garcia Meza, and appeared for help for the victims. Followtng is LP's translation of the women's let- ter to the archbishop.

Reverend Bishop: The soldiers were like savage beasts We greet you in these times of because they were drugged, and they grief and sorrow. We want you to did not hesitate to rape us and also know what has taken place in this min- adolescents and little øirls. ing center so that through your media- They killed sheep, chickens and tion the barbarous cruelty here can be pigs and loaded them into army trucks. divulged by the International Red Cross At dawn on Tuesday, August 5, or some other human rights organ- they loaded the dead and wounded in- ization. to three army trucks headed for La Paz. The Max Toledo regiment from By Friday they were still bring- Viacha, a sector of the Tarapaca Regi- ing prisoners bound with wire. ment and the Camacho Regiment from The women were forbidden to Oruro attacked Caracoles with guns, pick up the dead and give them a Chris- mortars, tanks and war planes; our hus- tian burial on the pretext, "There is bands defended themselves with stones, no order." Then on Friday they gave sticks and dynamite. By Monday af- us an order to go for the dead, but we ternoon most of the miners were dead, only found jackets, trousers, sweaters, and the survivors either fled to the caps, shoes and other things soaked hills or houses in Villa Carmen. Army with blood; the bodies had disappeared. troops pursued them and killed some Some were thrown into a grave be- men in their homes, arrested and tor- hind the cemetery; we were not allowed tured others and bayonetted many. to identify them. About 900 people They also decapitated the wounded. disappeared; whether they are dead In the middle of the plaza they or alive is unknown. We add here some put dynamite in the mouth of one names of those who disappeared, the miner and blew him to pieces. dead, wounded and prisoners. They ransacked houses and loaded Dead: Olim de Sanchez, Fran- up army vehicles with television sets, cisco Choque, Rufino Apaza, Julio sewing machines, radio-record players, Gueze, Quintin Colque, Ignacio Miran- men's suits, blankets, money and mer- da, Pedro Choque, Rufino Chambi chandise from local stores. and three women who hemorrhaged They whipped children with ca- when raped. bles and made them eat gunpowder. Wounded: Martin Urquiola, Al- They made young people lie berto Inca, Andres Vilca (a 12-year- down on broken glass and forced us to old who went crazy), Jorge Choque. walk over them; afterwards the sol- Disappeared: Alejandro Miranja, diers marched over them. David Salazar, Agustin Chile (a child), Antonio Inca, Nonge Quispe, Pacifico Vargas, Alberto Gonzalez, Juan Ma- mani, Octavio Argollo, Genaro Zonco, Jose Gutierrez, Juan Charcas, Feliz Flores. Prisoners: (Seen in military head- ciuarters): Jose Mina, Ponciano Nina, f)¡u1Ïel Marca, Valencin Lobo, Anto- (In: Latinamerica Press, nio Perez, Dionisio Laura, Desiderio 12(1980)32, 3) Mamani, Pedro Merida, Eustaquio Flo- res, Justo Merida, Genaro Chipana, Luis Zegarra, Venancio Perez. (Sent i �y plane to Puerto Rico, Pando Depart- ment): Ladislao Vargas (a high school student), Pedro Inca, Primp Limachi, Mario Luna. We thank you for your understanding and help. Sincerely, Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM Desparing mothers and wives via free access of Caracoles. BOOKS RECEIVED

Depart. Ecumenico de Investigaciones (DEI), Apdo. 339, San Pedro Montes de Oca, San Jose, Costa Rica Centroamerica: cristianismo y revoluciÃ³n. Documentos de algunas organizaciones populares centroamericanas acerca de la participaciÃ³n de los cristianos en la revoluciÃ³n. Cuadernos no. 4. Costa Rica 1980. 62pp.

Comunicado Oficial de la DirecciÃ³n Nacional del F.S.L.N. sobre la ReligiÃ³n. Extraido del periÃ³dico "Barricada"del martes 7 de octubre de 1980, pÃ¡g. 3, reproducido por el DEI. San JosÃ©, 15pp.

Steyler Verlag, Arnold-Janssen-Str. 20-22, 5205 Sankt Augustin I, W. -germany Muller, Manfred Die GrÃ¼ndung des ChristkÃ¶nigs-Missionshauses in Manila. St. Augustin 1979, 55pp. Price DM. 8.40

Hering, Wolfgang Das MissionsverstÃ¤ndnis in der Ã¶kumenisch- evangelikalen Auseinandersetzung - ein inner- protestantisches Problem. Sankt Augustin 1980, 180pp.

Catholic School Press, 14th Str., Quezon City, P.O. Box 1323, Manila (Phil.) Mesa, Jose M. de And God said, "Bahala na!" The Theme of Providence in the Lowland Filipino Context. Maryhill Studies 2.

(Maryhill School of Theology in Quezon City), 1979, 206pp.

M.C. Cha�:ko, (LIG) 65-C Prasad Nagar, Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005, India Emprayil V.C., Thomas The Emerging Theology of Religions. The Contribution of the Catholic Church in India. Rewa, Vincentian Publ., 1980, 212pp. Price US $ 5.95.

Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:13:11PM via free access Daystar Press, P.O. Box 1261, lbadan, Nigeria Erivwo, Samuel The Urhobo, The Isoko and The Itsekiri. A History of Christianity in Nigeria. Ibadan 1979, 144pp. Price 5,00.

N.G. Kerkboekhandel Transvaal, Pretoria (S.Africa) Kritzinger, J.J. 'n MissionÃªre Bediening - op weg na strukture vir 'n jong kerk. Publication of ISWEN, Univ. of Pretoria. Pretoria 1979, 231pp.

Stichting werkgroep Kairos, Corn. Houtmanstr. 19, 3572 LT Utrecht

Botha's plan met dubbele bodem. Kairos dossier. Utrecht, mei 1980, 22pp.

Prijsf 2.50

Drs. J.D. Gort, c/o. Dept. of Missiology, Faculty of Theology, Free University, 1081 HV Amsterdam-Buitenveldert The Netherlands) Gort, Jerald D., World Missionary Conference: Melbourne, May 1980. An Historical and Missiological Interpretation. Amsterdam, Free University, November 1980, 30pp. Price: D. Gldrs. 2.50 (US $ 1.50)

Gort, Jerald D., Wereldzendingsconferentie: Melbourne 12-24 mei 1980. Een historische, impressionistische en theologische inter- pretatie. Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit, november 1980, 39pp. Prijs fl. 2.50

Cebemo, Van Alkemadelaan 1, Den Haag (The Netherlands) Wisselwerking tussen Derde Wereld en Nederland. Medefinancieringsprogramma. Tien jaar Cebemo. Red. Jan Simmers. Den Haag 1980, Cebemo-publikatie, 644pp.

International Development Research Centre, P.O. Box 8500, Ottawa, Canada K1G 3H9 Morin-Labatut, G., Devindex 1978. Index to 1978 literature on economic and (Ed./RÃ©d.) social development. Ottawa 1980, 183pp.

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