2-UNIT STUDIES OF RELIGION



STUDIES OF RELIGION HSC COURSE

FOUNDATION STUDY 1: ABORIGINAL BELIEF SYSTEMS AND SPIRITUALITY

THE CONTINUITY OF ABORIGINAL BELIEFS

|IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS |

|Culture |The way of thinking and behaviour shared by a substantial social grouping, which gives that social group an identity in |

| |relation to others. |

|Ecclesiology |The study of the nature and structure of the church. |

|Syncretism |Attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles or practices. |

|Theology |The science or study of religious truth. A very simple way of describing theology is from its Greek roots theos and logos |

| |– words about God. |

|Transcendent |The term refers to God, the one who is beyond human limitations. |

Western Christianity’s Impact on Aboriginal Society

The history of contact between Aboriginal and Western cultures is full of racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of colonial, expansionist oppression – with the Aborigines bearing the brunt of the violence. The churches were very much a part of this assault, drawing its personnel from the same society, and its theology from the same lines of thought and analysis, as the European invaders who stole the continent by force of arms and legal means. The churches preached a language of love, yet enforced mission policies based upon fear, violence, division, denominationalism, and even hate. Church and state worked together and the results of this two-pronged onslaught have been nothing short of spiritual genocide.

Aboriginal people’s experiences of the transcendent were expected to be limited to Western understandings. Indeed, their expressions of God, church, faith and life were assimilated to Western expressions. Most European Christians actually came to take the land, and preached falsehoods and heresies to Aboriginal people in order to rationalise this take-over. One of the most notorious examples of this Western theological deceit across Australia was the teaching which supposedly condemned all black-skinned people to eternal inferiority. Sadly, some missionaries were quite efficient and a few older Aborigines still believe they are condemned by God to be less than Whites.

Aborigines have never been given the critical tools to understand the Christian Bible fully, until recent times. From the very first mission to the later, more organised denominational initiatives, the Australian churches read out the meaning of the actual text of the Bible in a way that distorted much more than just the words. The Australian churches had the benefit of thousands of years of analytical study of the biblical text, and yet it consistently and continuously omitted from its interpretations of Scripture the numerous instances of black people – and people of colour – in the biblical text.

On the whole, Western Christian missions have left a legacy of a missionised theology, which, to this day, continues to have a very negative impact upon Aboriginal thinking. This way of doing theology remains self-righteous, judgmental, oppressive, and full of institutionalised racism. There are various expressions of missionised theology being practised in Australia today.

Nominal Theology

Over the years many Aborigines have been forced into mission stations and reserves. People in their thousands were preached at, baptised and converted to Christianity – often by force, sometimes by violence, and almost always under duress. Aborigines were made to attend church services, sing hymns, go to Sunday school, and so on. If they did not, their food rations would be cut, they would be isolated from other members of their family and community, or they would be punished in some other way. Thus, many Aborigines became nominal Christians, as they really had no other choice.

Conservative Theology

Aborigines were survivors, and therefore they ‘absorbed’ White European conservative theology. This legacy continues today in Aboriginal fundamentalist, Pentecostal and evangelical expressions.

Most – if not all – adherents of conservative theology reject their own Aboriginal identity, culture and languages. Most are concerned with personal sin and salvation, with individual conversion and piety, as opposed to institutionalised or corporate sin (for example, White racism and greed). They maintain a very narrow world view, believing that land rights and justice are all in Heaven, and that fighting for those here and now on earth is wrong, indeed sinful. Some acknowledge the existence of traditional spirituality, ceremonies and other cultural practices, but generally discourage them.

In one way or another, all of these conservative expressions deny various aspects of Aboriginal personhood, sociocultural identity and indigenous religious being. They betray a direct, interventionist, white, European, missionised theology.

Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship

The Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship (AEF) was a significant Christian movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The AEF was established to promote Aborigines proclaiming the gospel to Aborigines. Although it operated at first in tandem with mainstream churches, by 1973 its focus had shifted to establishing local Aboriginal evangelical churches. The doctrine and ritual of the AEF contain little that is distinctively Aboriginal – the old way is not part of AEF Christianity. Although the movement is continued entirely by Aborigines, the world view being promoted is derived from Western Christianity. The strength and influence of the AEF has wanes to some extent in recent years. As its leaders had been trained in fundamentalist missions where traditional culture tended to be denigrated, and the emphasis was on evangelisation rather than on issues of social justice, divisions occurred in the movement over attitudes to cultural practices and involvement in land rights and other social justice issues.

Charismatic Movements

The rise of charismatic and Pentecostal church movements in Australia has had an influence on some Aboriginal and Island Christians. The strong community support given in these groups, the lively worship and music, and the emphasis on visible signs in areas such as healing have attracted many Aborigines. The evangelistic focus in these movements has also motivated them to reach out to Aboriginal individuals, families or groups who have undergone social disruption or breakdown, and to others who have had problems in coping with the changes of recent decades. For example, as mainline denominations have sought to hand over responsibility to indigenous leaders in Aboriginal churches, some charismatic groups have stepped in and offered help when Aboriginal leaders have experienced difficulties. Large rallies organised by the groups attract Aboriginal Christians who often travel long distances to attend. A desire for healing or help with problems such as substance abuse is sometimes the reason for this attraction.

While census figures indicate that Aboriginal membership of Pentecostal and charismatic churches is small, some people who identify as belonging to other denominations have been influenced by these movements. In 1999, hundreds of indigenous people made confessions of Christian faith during a mission at Mornington Island, led by people from a variety of denominations.

Liberal Theology

There is a liberal tradition in Aboriginal theology. This is characterised by dependence – theological, ecclesial, social, structural and economic – upon the Western church structures and entities. The representatives of this tradition are fiercely loyal to their denominational allegiances, but at times are open to working ecumenically.

• As far back as the 1930s, Tom Foster, an Aboriginal evangelist, was raising important issues of justice and equality, and criticising White missionaries as constituting a destructive influence upon the indigenous people and culture.

• In 1975 Pastor Douglas Nicholls (Church of Christ) became Governor of South Australia, thus mixing a deep faith as a pastor with a political commitment.

• In the latter part of the 1970s, the Reverend Djiniyini Gondarra (Uniting Church) was part of the leadership of a major spiritual revival at Galiwin’ku, in Arnhem Land. His writings have focused on this revival, and on contextualising the Christian gospel for Aboriginal people.

• In 1985, the Reverend Arthur Malcolm became the first Aboriginal bishop in Australia, as Anglican Assistant Bishop of North Queensland. He is a truly gifted pastor, counselling and nurturing Aboriginal people in their pain, suffering, hopes and visions. He is deeply committed to reconciliation.

• Pastor Cecil Grant (Church of Christ) is active in contextualising the gospel and is involved in lay theological education.

• For many years, spanning this entire period, Pastor George Rosendale (Lutheran Church) has worked on a holistic approach to Aboriginal theology, encompassing traditional Dreaming stories as well as modern theological methodology.

Story Telling Theology

Aboriginal story-telling theology embraces traditional and cultural teachings, and preserves a link between the Dreaming stories and the biblical Scriptures. Many Aboriginal theologians use this form of teaching both to maintain the Aboriginal oral tradition and to bring to Aborigines a greater understanding of theology so that they can make it relevant to their daily lives. It is a non-western, non-intellectualised method of teaching the highest truths about creation and life. By using the Dreaming stories, Aboriginal theologians are able to bring to life the teachings of the gospel, which may then be sung and danced into life through traditional Aboriginal ceremonies.

One outstanding Aboriginal person who is very gifted in this tradition is Pastor George Rosendale. Through this practice he is able to make the gospel more meaningful and relevant to the Aboriginal way of life.

|[pic] |What aspects of the gospel do these two Aboriginal stories bring to life? |

Rainbow Spirit Theology

|[pic] |[pic][pic] |

Aboriginal Theology

Aboriginal theology is a radical movement in theology. It aims at the creation of an indigenous theology, leaning heavily on notions of biblical justice. It is autonomous from Western and Christian church influence, and emphasises liberation, prophetic obedience and action. It treasures Aboriginal religion as the divine grounding for contemporary faith and identity. It keeps traditional practices, such as ceremonies, as reminders of important cosmic and temporal truths. It holds the Dreaming as a timeless guide for active engagement.

In the 1960s the Reverend Don Brady worked with the Methodist Church in Brisbane. He was a gifted and passionate preacher, and a tireless campaigner for Aboriginal rights. He was always to be found leading Aboriginal land-rights marches. His strong theological stance, combined with his persistent efforts at direct action for justice, eventually led the church to remove him from the ministry – a measure that broke him. In the 1970s the Reverend Charles Harris followed Brady in the ministry in Brisbane. His work continued the prophetic stance for justice, eventually culminating in his vision of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress in 1985. The Congress played a significant role in the 1988 Bicentennial Year when it organised the Freedom, Justice and Hope March which brought Aboriginal people from all over Australia to Sydney to celebrate their culture and history. In 1992 the Congress established Shalom College, a primary and secondary school in Townsville. The Congress is a national body of the Uniting Church which determines its own goals and objectives and decides its own priorities and policies. At a national level it is responsible to the National Assembly of the Uniting Church.

In 1975 Patrick Dodson became the first ordained Roman Catholic priest. Like Brady and Harris, his stands were far too threatening for the hierarchical, institutionalised church, and he left both the priesthood and the Church.

These great leaders have been followed by others with a strong theology and a passion for justice. Father Dave Passi, A Torres Strait Islander Anglican priest, was one of the five original plaintiffs in the landmark Mabo land-rights case, which shattered the White legal myth that the Australian continent was terra nullius. Passi was led by his strong theological commitment to justice. The Reverend Dhalanganda Garrawurra (Uniting Church) was assistant to the president at Nungalinya College in Darwin – this despite the fact that he was denied food rations by Christian missionaries when he did not go to the church on the Aboriginal reserve as a youth.

Finally, as an organisation, the Aboriginal and Islander Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia is currently taking unprecedented and dramatic strides towards discerning and embodying an indigenous, autonomous theology. In 1991 it organised the participation of Aboriginal and Islander people in the World Council of Churches Seventh Assembly. Indigenous Australians opened the Assembly with a traditional smoking ceremony and made significant contributions to all aspects of the gathering.

The Future

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|Is spiritual reconciliation really possible? Discuss this question using a position continuum. |

What Does Aboriginal Spirituality Have to Offer Australia?

Aboriginal people experience the sacred in their lives, their land, their stories. Tapping into their spirituality can make a meaningful contribution to the Christian experience of God.

Aboriginal spirituality is a treasure that has much to offer all Australians. Today, there is an increased awareness of the sad chapters in Australian history. Across the nations we are acknowledging and owning the injustices done to Aboriginal people and asking for forgiveness. From sorrow for what has happened in the past should come a determination to help preserve what is left of Aboriginal culture and to return dignity to each person.

In the search for a national identity, Australia’s diverse people need to find a spirituality that both reflects their origins, and draws deeply on ancient Aboriginal traditions and wisdom. Just as Christians and Jews share a common ancestry and both own the story of Abraham, Moses and the prophets as part of their heritage, new Australians can come to look upon the story of the Aboriginal people and the land as part of their own inheritance. Together all Australians should be able to discover a spirituality based on wholeness and right relationships, so important to our first people, and to the kingdom of God that Jesus taught.

Aboriginal law is based on wholeness and right relationship. All that has life was created to live in harmony. They further believe this harmony is kept in balance when persons, species and elements fulfil their purpose and live out their responsibilities. All of life is interdependent on the health and well-being of the rest of life. What is needed is not for Australians to create these relationships, but to recognise the deep connectedness that already exists, and to respond to it.

Relationship to and reverence for the land is primary to Aboriginal spirituality. Believing that they come from the land, they see themselves as integral to the continuing work of creation and conservation of the land. For them, all in existence is alive, conscious and interconnected. Catholics are often aware of a sacramental dimension of the land. Christians see God as creator of the land, and recognise God’s continual presence there. The land presents itself as an invitation to respond and to go deeper in their journey of discovery of God. For all Australians this is a call to consider their use of the land and its resources, and to be aware of the consequences of their actions. For the churches, it is an invitation to develop a spirituality that recognises the interconnectedness of all things and our need to live in harmony with planet earth.

People are a priority in Aboriginal relationships. Aboriginal people live a life of mutual indebtedness to one another. Everyone is seen in kinship, as family, with varying degrees of obligation, according to the degree of relationship. Like the kingdom Jesus preached, all are included, all are important, all are looked after. Possessions are things to be shared among people. Every person is of importance, regardless of position in the community. Older people are respected for their wisdom. Younger people are respected as the future. All people are accepted as they are. Aboriginal society values consensus. Everyone is listened to, then decisions are made when everyone agrees.

Aboriginal relationship to life is holistic. Life is known to be made up of both the good and the bad. In the face of adversity, they seek to make the best of each situation. Life is assented to as it comes, without losing sight of what is good or an enthusiasm for life. Jesus, too, assented to his mission in life, encountering each event as it came, yet never losing sight of his vision of the kingdom, nor his ability to find joy in the events of the day. Aboriginal people see life as something to be celebrated with others; in dance, song, art, story, and visiting sacred places.

Time, or rather timelessness, is another component of Aboriginal life and spirituality. Time to the European mind is a commodity to be used. A person has to do something. Or time has to do with tomorrow or yesterday. For the Aborigine time is the present – the given moment is what is important. One takes and gives to that moment whatever one can. Aboriginal people are comfortable waiting for a better moment, changing plans, going with what is happening.

Probably the greatest gift Aboriginal people have to offer is the gift of Dadirri, the gift of inner deep listening and quiet still awareness. It is a listening that listens to the story that the land has to tell. Through listening comes watching, waiting and then acting. There is a patience in the listening, patience for the right time. In the listening comes strength and renewal.

Challenge to Today’s Australians

The attributes of compassion, patience, gentleness and simplicity are the hallmarks of Dadirri. Jesus call Christians to live out these same qualities in his beatitudes. From both traditions a truly Australian spirituality can emerge.

Compassion comes from an openness to others, allowing one to enter into their feelings, to feel with them and for them. From compassion comes a commitment to the poor and a desire to eliminate unjust structures that create poverty or devalue humanity.

Patience is the acceptance of what is, seeing all, whether it be a person, creature, or part of nature, as having the right to exist. God can draw good from any event or situation, even from evil.

Gentleness follows on from patience, from not using force against other persons or things. Through learning to be gentle with things, only taking from the environment what is needed, we can learn to be gentle with people in thinking how our words and actions might affect them.

Simplicity relates to our regard and use of things. The goods of the world are for the use of all, not just to meet our own needs. How our personal lives are lived does affect both others and the earth.

Influence of Aboriginal Spirituality on Christianity

Many changes have taken place in the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the European Churches since the mission days. In contrast to the early missionary days, there are now Aboriginal Christian church movements, particularly among the Protestant churches, and many churches have begun to bring together traditional Aboriginal cultural practices to different aspects of the life of the church, especially its ceremonial and ritual life. Many Aboriginal people have welded Christianity into existing belief systems.

This welding of Aboriginal spirituality and Christian teachings can be seen in the Aboriginal Christian church, where Christian rituals and liturgies are delivered in local language. In some churches, Aboriginal art forms dominate the more European style stained glass windows.

Celebration of life through rituals is an important and on-going part of Aboriginal spirituality. Recognition of the rich heritage Aboriginal spirituality has to offer has resulted in certain Aboriginal rituals being included in some Christian celebrations. Australia witnessed a smoking ceremony, a traditional purification ritual, when Pope John Paul II celebrated the Eucharist for the beatification of Mary MacKillop in 1995. This ritual has been used in many places in the Catholic Church, for example, as part of an introductory rite during the funeral of an Aboriginal person, at Eucharistic celebrations for Aboriginal communities, and as part of ceremonies celebrated for national reconciliation.

Water ceremonies, in which water is blessed by the whole community and sprinkled on the people with a branch from a gum tree dipped in a coolamon, is a common purification rite among Aboriginal people in the desert, and has been included as a purification rite in their Eucharistic celebration in the Catholic Church. Ritual dancing and the singing of songs in native tongues, to the beat of clapsticks and the drone of the didgeridoo are seen and heard in many places. Eucharistic prayers have been translated into many of the Aboriginal languages and are used in these communities. Traditional Aboriginal art, expressing stories from the Bible, is an important element in many Aboriginal celebrations in parts of Australia.

In Catholicism, liturgies for special occasions, such as Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, First Reconciliation and First Eucharist have all been revised in Aboriginal communities to include symbols and rituals that speak to those participating in them. For example, in the Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Good Friday is seen as sorry time, the time of mourning for Aboriginal people. Before the stations of the cross the participants have their faces painted by one of the church leaders with white ochre, a sign of sorrow. Then they follow the cross as it is carried through their community by one of their people. At each station the story of the passion is told as a painting illustrating that event is displayed. Sorry songs are sung as the group processes from place to place. At the last station there is a communal rite of reconciliation.

Most of the mainstream churches now incorporate Aboriginal ministries. For example, the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress was formed in 1985. The Congress played a significant role in the 1988 Bicentennial Year when it organised the Freedom, Justice and Hope March which brought Aboriginal people from all over Australia to Sydney to celebrate their culture and history. In 1992 the Congress established Shalom College, a primary and secondary school in Townsville. The Congress is a national body of the Uniting Church, which determines its own goals and objectives and decides its own priorities and policies. At a national level it is responsible to the National Assembly of the Uniting Church.

The churches have also become involved in the Land Rights movement. For example, Father Dave Passi, A Torres Strait Islander Anglican priest, was one of the five original plaintiffs in the landmark Mabo land-rights case, which shattered the White legal myth that the Australian continent was terra nullius.

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Aboriginal spirituality influences Christianity through its growing number of members of the clergy. In 1985, Australia’s first Aboriginal bishop, Arthur Malcolm, was consecrated at a ceremony in Townsville, Queensland. In 1996, Deacon Gloria Shipp was ordained as Australia’s first Aboriginal female Anglican priest. Both events were extremely significant, marking recognition of links between Gospel and Dreaming stories. Shipp has ensured that Aboriginal motifs, customs and language have a place in worship within her denomination.

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References

Bartlett, T. (2000). HSC foundation study 1: Aboriginal belief systems and spirituality.

Board of Studies. (1999). Stage 6 syllabus: studies of religion. Sydney: Board of Studies New South Wales.

Brosnahan, E. (Ed.). (1994). Aboriginal spirituality for today's Australians (Australian Edition ed. Vol. 42). Auckland: National Centre for Religious Studies.

Edwards, W. (2000). Aboriginal religion, [CD-ROM]. Redfish Bluefish [2001, November 3].

Lovat, T., & McGrath, J. (Eds.). (1999). New studies in religion. Katoomba: Social Science Press.

Morrissey, J., Mudge, P., Taylor, A., Bailey, G., Gregor, H., McGillion, C., O'Reilly, P., Magee, P., & Mills, L. (2001). Living religion (2nd ed.). Sydney: Longman.

© K. Jacob Soerensen (2002). Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge all materials used. This material may be photocopied for educational use only.

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In this lesson you will –

• Learn about the diversity of expression of Aboriginal belief systems and spirituality today.

• Learn about the integration of Christianity and Aboriginal belief systems by many Aboriginal people.

• Learn about the ways in which Aboriginal spirituality has influenced some Christian denominations.

• Learn to analyse the contribution made by Aboriginal spirituality to the understanding of the nature of religious experience in Australia.

Draw a diagram showing the relationship of each of the Aboriginal theologies to Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Use colour to show your opinion about how appropriate each theology is for maintaining Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Present your diagram to the class.

In speaking to the Aboriginal people gathered in Alice Springs, Pope John Paul II had this to say:

The Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.

Draw and cut out symbols to show what Aboriginal spirituality has to offer Australia.

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