Kwok, Pui Lan
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- | Thank you very much. | 0:01 |
If you could, I'd just like some background information. | 0:03 | |
If you could say your name. | 0:05 | |
- | My name is Kwok Pui Lan. | 0:08 |
- | Yes, and are you lay or clergy? | 0:09 |
- | I am lay. | 0:12 |
- | Yes, and denominational affiliation, if any? | 0:13 |
- | I am Anglican. | 0:16 |
- | Anglican. | |
And when and where were you born? | 0:18 | |
- | I was born in 1952 in Hong Kong. | 0:19 |
- | Mmmm. | 0:22 |
And where did you go to school? | 0:24 | |
Graduate or of any school? | 0:25 | |
- | I went to the Chong Chi Theology Division | 0:27 |
at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for my undergrad, | 0:30 | |
and also for my masters degrees. | 0:34 | |
And then I pursued my Doctorate from Harvard Divinity School | 0:36 | |
graduating in 1989. | 0:40 | |
- | Mmhmm, thank you. | |
And how and when did you first become aware | 0:45 | |
of feminist theology? | 0:47 | |
- | Um, that was back in the '70s. | 0:49 |
Because when I was an undergraduate, I had the fortune | 0:51 | |
of having a visiting professor who, at that time, | 0:55 | |
was studying for his Doctorate from Union in New York. | 0:58 | |
And so he introduced the works of Mary Daly | 1:03 | |
and Rose Mary Woods to me. | 1:07 | |
Years later, when the three of us, | 1:09 | |
this is Doctor Raymond Whitehead from Canada and I | 1:12 | |
and Rose Mary, were all attending a conference, | 1:16 | |
and then I told Rose Mary, I said, | 1:19 | |
hey, this is Doctor Ray Whitehead, | 1:22 | |
and Doctor Whitehead introduced your book to me. | 1:25 | |
So that was a very good reunion. | 1:29 | |
- | Oh, yes! | 1:31 |
Do you recall, what was it about feminist, how did you react | 1:34 | |
to feminist theology when you first encountered it? | 1:37 | |
- | I was very open to it for several reasons. | 1:39 |
One, personal reason, I came from a very large family, | 1:42 | |
and a family of seven kids, | 1:44 | |
and we have seven girls | 1:48 | |
before the two boys arrived. | 1:52 | |
Needless to say, I come from a patriarchal family, | 1:54 | |
and my parents were waiting for the sons to be born. | 1:57 | |
And so that was the first thing that I know, | 2:01 | |
women must struggle for ourselves, because in our societies, | 2:03 | |
boys and girls are not treated equally. | 2:08 | |
And then the '70s was also a time of student protest, | 2:12 | |
you recall, the demonstrations in Berkeley | 2:16 | |
and also in New York. | 2:19 | |
And it was also the same in Hong Kong. | 2:20 | |
And during that time, and then we became concerned | 2:23 | |
about social issues, and also, | 2:26 | |
look at China, again, because China was then, | 2:29 | |
during the Cultural Revolution time, | 2:33 | |
advocating equality between the sexes. | 2:36 | |
And that is why it was this wider social situation | 2:39 | |
that prompted me to engage with feminist theology. | 2:44 | |
So when I read Mary Daly and also Rose Mary Woods as well, | 2:48 | |
I became aware that women in other parts of the world | 2:52 | |
were beginning to articulate an alternative vision | 2:56 | |
about God and also about the future of Christianity. | 2:59 | |
- | Mmhmm, thank you. | 3:03 |
That was helpful background. | 3:07 | |
I'm wondering if you could talk about your relationship | 3:08 | |
to the Re-imagining Community? | 3:10 | |
- | I had participated in the Re-Imagining Conference | 3:12 |
because I was one of the panelists on that panel | 3:17 | |
that talks about re-imagining Jesus Christ. | 3:22 | |
And, except for that, I did not have very close relationship | 3:25 | |
to the community, because I know that afterwards, | 3:28 | |
women have been meeting because of the backlash, | 3:32 | |
but I did not have opportunities of participating | 3:35 | |
in any of those events. | 3:38 | |
I certainly was aware of the kind of controversy and debates | 3:40 | |
that the conference had brought out in the churches. | 3:44 | |
- | Yes, now I know it's been quite a few years now. | 3:49 |
What are your recollections of that 1993 conference? | 3:52 | |
- | I think that, when we had the conference, | 3:56 |
we were in a mode that is very celebratory. | 3:59 | |
That is, not only were the speakers great, and I recall | 4:03 | |
the liturgy and also the variety of people there. | 4:08 | |
And then they thought that women were gathering | 4:13 | |
to imagine what the future of Christianity would look like. | 4:16 | |
That is very challenging and interesting. | 4:19 | |
So I did not perceive or forecast that there will be | 4:24 | |
that kind of very strong reaction. | 4:29 | |
And especially targeted at some of the speakers. | 4:32 | |
For example, Delores Williams, who served | 4:36 | |
on the same panel with me. | 4:38 | |
So I think that, because of the backlash, | 4:41 | |
that really heightened my awareness that the Church, | 4:45 | |
at that time, in '93, are different, | 4:49 | |
though we had been talking about | 4:52 | |
inclusive language in the Church | 4:54 | |
or feminist theology for that case. | 4:56 | |
And the Church was not quite ready. | 4:59 | |
Not only that, there was a very strong group of people | 5:02 | |
who really criticized the conference and also wanted | 5:06 | |
to censor, if not harass some of the speakers | 5:11 | |
and also some of the organizers. | 5:16 | |
- | Were you directly affected by any of that? | 5:19 |
- | I was not very affected for several reasons. | 5:21 |
Because I know that Delores Williams | 5:24 | |
and the colleague from the Presbyterian Church | 5:27 | |
who was also one of the organizers, | 5:31 | |
they had been criticized much more severely. | 5:33 | |
I think, for several reasons. | 5:37 | |
I do not think the Episcopal Church was a heavy supporter | 5:39 | |
of the conference, that is, not giving so much money | 5:43 | |
or promoting it among the parishioners. | 5:47 | |
That is one reason. | 5:50 | |
And then so there was some, I think, publications | 5:52 | |
in the Episcopal circles talking about | 5:57 | |
the Re-Imagining Conference. | 5:59 | |
But by and large, there was not as much | 6:02 | |
criticism or discussion as in other denominations. | 6:05 | |
I had only one incident that recalled that happens to me. | 6:10 | |
After the Re-Imagining Conference, I was invited | 6:14 | |
to lead a workshop in some place, I think, in New York. | 6:17 | |
And then there was a reporter or whatever, | 6:22 | |
from a conservative journal who came. | 6:25 | |
Days later, I became aware that he came to sort of | 6:28 | |
monitor or to check me out, | 6:33 | |
what I was speaking at that workshop. | 6:35 | |
So that was only one concern. | 6:38 | |
So there were other colleagues within my school, | 6:42 | |
Episcopal Divinity School, who also became aware | 6:44 | |
of the controversy. | 6:48 | |
So they asked me about it, and because my colleagues | 6:49 | |
are much more open-minded, and then, at that time, | 6:52 | |
pro-feminist, and so, they were saying that this | 6:56 | |
is the more conservative wings of the Church | 7:01 | |
trying to accuse the women who were speaking | 7:04 | |
as either heretics or out of bounds. | 7:07 | |
So they did not take that criticism very seriously. | 7:12 | |
So in general, I did not have any particular, | 7:16 | |
that is, harassment or the kind of criticism | 7:20 | |
that some of my colleagues who participated, | 7:25 | |
and who were speakers, they had experienced. | 7:27 | |
- | How would you account for that backlash? | 7:31 |
What do you think motivated it? | 7:34 | |
- | I think that's for several things. | 7:36 |
One, and some of the people might think | 7:38 | |
that this is a women's gathering, and they're going to | 7:42 | |
change the Christianity as they have come to know it. | 7:45 | |
And this is always frightening, because this is not just | 7:49 | |
about inclusive language, this is re-imagining | 7:53 | |
what Christianity would be, or can become. | 7:56 | |
So this might be one of the reasons. | 8:01 | |
Secondly, I think some criticize the conference, | 8:03 | |
especially, regarding the liturgy. | 8:08 | |
Because in some of these liturgical expressions, | 8:10 | |
there might be Sophia. | 8:13 | |
And I recall that the pressing that was introduced | 8:15 | |
by the native people, that talks about | 8:19 | |
the coming of Sophia and then pressing us. | 8:22 | |
And so I think some people, they criticized the conference | 8:27 | |
as deviating from this traditional understanding of God. | 8:31 | |
And instead, talking about the Sophia, or Goddess. | 8:35 | |
So then, it is a gathering of women who want to subvert | 8:39 | |
the Church by propagating a new doctrine, | 8:43 | |
or a new understanding, using the feminine expression | 8:46 | |
of the Divine, and they are not accustomed to it. | 8:50 | |
So I think it has all these ramifications, and so | 8:55 | |
then it stirred up peoples' anger and frustration. | 8:58 | |
And some people who have not been there, | 9:02 | |
they have just heard this hearsay, and thinking that | 9:04 | |
this group of progressive women, they're just going too far. | 9:08 | |
And I think that power may be an issue. | 9:12 | |
- | Could you say a little bit more about that, | 9:17 |
the power of women, or? | 9:19 | |
- | Yes, I think that because | |
whenever women gather and want to reclaim our power, | 9:22 | |
that is when we look at history, then we can see, | 9:26 | |
there is always this counter force. | 9:29 | |
Because they just cannot allow women to have their voices | 9:34 | |
in the Church and more specifically, | 9:39 | |
they do not want women to be theological subjects. | 9:42 | |
That is, women are supposed to be subservient, | 9:46 | |
or obedient, and we should be consumers of religious goods | 9:49 | |
given by men, and we should not be the ones | 9:54 | |
telling ourselves what we should believe, | 9:56 | |
or what we should practice. | 10:00 | |
So I think this subverting the traditional roles | 10:02 | |
in the Church was very alarming | 10:06 | |
to these more conservative people in the Church. | 10:09 | |
- | Yeah, thank you. | 10:14 |
What aspects of Re-Imagining were most significant | 10:16 | |
to you and why? | 10:18 | |
- | I think that it is significant that we have leaders | 10:20 |
who work across the board together, | 10:25 | |
and then to share our different perspectives | 10:29 | |
and stretching our comfort zone. | 10:33 | |
And that is one dimension. | 10:35 | |
The other dimension, I think, I would say, | 10:38 | |
will be the holistic experience at the conference. | 10:40 | |
Meaning that I recall at the opening ceremony, | 10:45 | |
that is, one of these plenaries, that we have | 10:49 | |
these white papers, and then we have crayons, | 10:54 | |
and then we can draw, or there are those little eggs | 10:59 | |
that you shake, you know? | 11:03 | |
And then, so, you can respond in multiple ways. | 11:05 | |
Not just purely listening. | 11:08 | |
And you can also sing, there are also rituals | 11:12 | |
that you can engage, and so it is not just about the head. | 11:14 | |
It is also about the body. | 11:18 | |
And so I had learned from that experience. | 11:21 | |
When, last year, I taught a course on Eros sexuality | 11:24 | |
and the spirit, | 11:29 | |
so then, in the beginning, I also then created something | 11:30 | |
that is similar, a mini-version. | 11:34 | |
So then they can draw and then each class, they can pick up | 11:37 | |
a musical instrument, | 11:41 | |
and then they can do | 11:44 | |
their little, create. | 11:49 | |
So this is from that class. | 11:52 | |
And so then, now, they did, they made | 11:54 | |
all these wonderful things, and then, so, | 11:56 | |
that is multi-sensory. | 11:58 | |
- | Yes! | |
And how did the students respond to that? | 12:01 | |
- | I think they responded very well! | 12:03 |
And because we are talking about Eros, | 12:06 | |
I said Eros should be expressed in multiple ways. | 12:08 | |
Not just, "I speak, you listen." | 12:11 | |
And then, so, they engage, and then in their journals, | 12:15 | |
they have to write their journals, | 12:18 | |
I encouraged them to compose poetry, to draw pictures, | 12:20 | |
to take photos, because I said, again, | 12:24 | |
the Spirit works in many different ways, | 12:28 | |
there are many modalities of learning, and you should use | 12:31 | |
the medium that you feel most comfortable with. | 12:34 | |
I used that because I was reminded | 12:38 | |
of the Re-Imagining Conference, because last fall, | 12:41 | |
we had a visiting proctor scholar. | 12:45 | |
So she was with the Presbyterian Church. | 12:50 | |
She was hired after this Imagining Conference, | 12:54 | |
because there were people fired, right? | 12:58 | |
So she was hired, and then, | 13:01 | |
in her job, she had to sort of deal with the aftermath. | 13:03 | |
So in her sermon, she talks about her own journey, | 13:09 | |
and how she was in that situation, | 13:12 | |
and then talk about her own work. | 13:16 | |
And so then I was reminded of, oh! | 13:21 | |
At the Re-Imagining Conference. | 13:25 | |
So I said, what was I most impressed by at the conference? | 13:27 | |
And then I said, oh, it was what we have learned | 13:32 | |
in that was that way we have engaged our full bodily self. | 13:35 | |
And so I thought, in teaching this Eros class, | 13:39 | |
I must introduce a little bit of that. | 13:42 | |
In some years back, when I was teaching | 13:46 | |
the class on Christology, | 13:48 | |
I also asked the students to listen to the tapes, | 13:51 | |
because our library had the full set of the tapes. | 13:54 | |
And so sometimes they also listened to what happened. | 13:58 | |
And then, because some of them might have heard | 14:03 | |
about this Re-Imagining Conference. | 14:06 | |
So I think some of those things that I have learned, | 14:09 | |
the kind of fellowship, the kind of liturgical expression, | 14:12 | |
the kind of multiplicity in terms of learning modalities, | 14:16 | |
I used in some of my teaching. | 14:21 | |
- | Oh, that's really wonderful to hear. | 14:24 |
These questions might be related, so you can choose | 14:28 | |
which you respond to. | 14:32 | |
But, did your, | 14:35 | |
your involvement in Re-Imagining changed your perspective | 14:37 | |
on feminist theology and/or the church. | 14:40 | |
And it sounds like it made you aware that the church | 14:42 | |
is more resistant. | 14:44 | |
- | Yes. | |
I especially recall that Delores Williams was challenged | 14:45 | |
because she was really bold in saying that, | 14:49 | |
in her writings too, that she did not think | 14:53 | |
that the kind of traditional atonement theories | 14:56 | |
are helpful for men or for women. | 14:59 | |
And that she insists that this Christ, | 15:02 | |
that is dripping blood, this Christ portrayed | 15:06 | |
as a victim, certainly, | 15:10 | |
is not the only way we can think about atonement. | 15:14 | |
And in her presentation she also was insisting, | 15:17 | |
it is not the death, but the life and ministry of Jesus | 15:22 | |
that liberates, that saves. | 15:26 | |
And I think many people did not find that | 15:29 | |
within the traditional framework of atonement theory. | 15:32 | |
And insisted that she was heretical | 15:37 | |
and out of the parameters or the kind of diversity | 15:40 | |
we can accept as Christians. | 15:45 | |
So I think that some of these issues, | 15:48 | |
or some of those people, some of the things | 15:51 | |
that people were concerned, that prompted me to think | 15:55 | |
more deeply about the meaning of atonement, | 15:58 | |
the meaning of the cross, | 16:01 | |
and then why people have this kind of | 16:04 | |
obsession in thinking about | 16:09 | |
the suffering of Christ helps. | 16:12 | |
And certainly, we also had a plenary by Rita Nakashima Brock | 16:15 | |
who argues against this more traditional | 16:19 | |
understanding of atonement. | 16:22 | |
So in my own work, in my post-colonial theology, | 16:24 | |
I began to be much more aware | 16:28 | |
of the range of options the feminist theologians, | 16:32 | |
including the womanists, | 16:36 | |
that they have portrayed about Christ, | 16:38 | |
and also the different theories about atonement. | 16:40 | |
- | I don't know if you remember this, | 16:44 |
but you were at that panel with Dolores Williams. | 16:47 | |
- | Yeah. | 16:49 |
- | Do you remember | |
thinking at that time that this was going to erupt | 16:51 | |
the way that it did? | 16:53 | |
- | No, I must say that, | |
because I, even at that time, knew the work | 16:57 | |
of Dolores Williams. | 17:00 | |
So for me, it was not as shocking. | 17:02 | |
And not only that, | 17:05 | |
but I think that there are people who agree with her. | 17:08 | |
Because there is also the subjective theory of atonement. | 17:12 | |
Basically, it's not what Christ has accomplished | 17:15 | |
outside us, it is Christ's model that prompted us | 17:20 | |
to be followers of Him, and so that we will be | 17:25 | |
as loving and caring and compassionate as Jesus. | 17:29 | |
So then within, even, the so-called mainstream | 17:34 | |
of Christianity, you do not just have | 17:37 | |
that gruesome sacrifice of "Jesus atones". | 17:40 | |
There are also other theories. | 17:44 | |
So then, for me, it was not shocking, | 17:46 | |
because I knew her work before then, | 17:49 | |
and also, I think that there are other people | 17:51 | |
within the Christian circles who think, no, | 17:54 | |
it is Jesus' love as a model for us. | 17:57 | |
Since 19th Century a lot of liberal Christianity | 18:00 | |
talks about that. | 18:04 | |
The ritual, | 18:08 | |
and others, they also talk about the same thing. | 18:10 | |
And so I do not think that it is completely off-the-wall. | 18:13 | |
But there might be people who have heard this | 18:17 | |
for the first time. | 18:19 | |
Who think that, wow, in the Church, | 18:21 | |
it's always the suffering and the blood of Christ, | 18:23 | |
especially those from traditions | 18:27 | |
that emphasize Jesus' sacrifice. | 18:29 | |
Then they think, oh, without Jesus' sacrifice | 18:32 | |
there will not be atonement for you. | 18:35 | |
So I think that there might be people | 18:38 | |
who would find that very jarring. | 18:39 | |
But for me, I did not think it was completely off-the-wall, | 18:42 | |
and therefore, I did not expect | 18:48 | |
that kind of backlash against her. | 18:50 | |
Because you'll recall that, oh, there were people | 18:53 | |
that criticized her, and said that Union | 18:55 | |
should not hire her, | 18:56 | |
she should not be a professor in theology, | 18:58 | |
because she really did not believe | 19:01 | |
in what Christianity's saying. | 19:03 | |
- | That's right, yes. | 19:06 |
What do you think is the greatest legacy, | 19:09 | |
now that you look back on it, | 19:10 | |
the greatest legacy of the Re-Imagining Community? | 19:12 | |
- | I think that, to have a group of women that continue | 19:14 |
to meet and then to work and then to say to the Church | 19:18 | |
that this Re-Imagining Conference is not a one-time thing. | 19:23 | |
Because, it is a symbol that women really want | 19:27 | |
to do our own theology, and to have our voices heard. | 19:30 | |
And then, periodically, this group of women | 19:34 | |
will then, I think, produce pamphlets or bulletins | 19:36 | |
or literature or resources to keep on | 19:41 | |
with the work, I think that is very important. | 19:45 | |
Because as you know, now, feminism is even a bad word | 19:47 | |
in colleges! | 19:53 | |
- | Exactly, yes. | |
- | Many young women will say, "No, to call yourself feminist | 19:56 |
"is so outdated, this is our parents' | 19:59 | |
"or grandparents' generation. | 20:03 | |
"This is all gone, we are much more liberated." | 20:05 | |
I think my daughter belongs to that. | 20:09 | |
When she was a teenager, two things she will not | 20:11 | |
discuss with me. | 20:14 | |
One was feminism, one was theology. | 20:15 | |
Why? | 20:19 | |
Because, she said, "You talk about this all the time." | 20:21 | |
Because of the teenage rebellion. | 20:24 | |
- | (laughing) Yes! | 20:26 |
- | And then! | |
She thought, okay, feminism belongs to my generation. | 20:28 | |
But then, different incidents change her mind. | 20:33 | |
When she was a teenager, one summer, | 20:36 | |
she went to an interview for a job in a store | 20:38 | |
that sells these groceries. | 20:42 | |
And then they said, oh, you are a woman, | 20:45 | |
you cannot lift the heavy boxes. | 20:47 | |
So they didn't hire her. | 20:49 | |
Then, she said, "Oh, wow, it is not all equal, right? | 20:51 | |
"It is not that my parents' generation," | 20:56 | |
now that she experienced that. | 20:58 | |
Now, she is a mother of two kids. | 21:00 | |
And then she just posts on Facebook, "Oh, wow, | 21:04 | |
"it's difficult to juggle having two kids | 21:07 | |
"and sending both of them to daycare before my work. | 21:10 | |
"I woke up last night, yesterday, at 4 a.m.," okay? | 21:14 | |
Her husband, my son-in-law, helps a lot. | 21:20 | |
But still, you have this idea that as mothers | 21:24 | |
you have to do more to take care of your kids. | 21:28 | |
So then, I think, when they have experienced | 21:31 | |
the kind of difficulties, if not discrimination, | 21:34 | |
as a woman, then they think feminism may not be | 21:38 | |
their grandmother or their mother's problem. | 21:40 | |
That they will face this glass ceiling | 21:45 | |
or all the things that women experience | 21:47 | |
as a working parent. | 21:50 | |
So I think that, by keeping this up, | 21:53 | |
by saying that feminism is not dead, | 21:57 | |
not only not dead, that the Church had a long way to go. | 21:59 | |
And recently I had a conversation with my students | 22:04 | |
about Pope Francis. | 22:09 | |
Because Pope Francis just visited the United States, | 22:11 | |
and my students, they listened to | 22:14 | |
his speech to the Congress, | 22:17 | |
and then they were mesmerized by his visit. | 22:19 | |
And then suddenly, Pope Francis had changed a lot | 22:23 | |
in terms of putting out a new face, | 22:28 | |
a new kind of direction for the Catholic Church. | 22:31 | |
But many of my colleagues within the Catholic Church | 22:35 | |
are saying, even though Pope Francis may be very vocal | 22:38 | |
about the climate change or about social justice, | 22:42 | |
had already issued statements, | 22:46 | |
or his work on this. | 22:49 | |
But during his tenure, | 22:53 | |
he may not be able to change | 22:57 | |
the kind of discrimination against women. | 22:59 | |
And if Pope Francis is really keen | 23:03 | |
on changing the situation of the poor, | 23:06 | |
without changing women's situation, | 23:10 | |
then the poor, because the majority of the world's poor, | 23:14 | |
they are women, and then Pope Francis | 23:18 | |
is not dealing with the root problems. | 23:22 | |
So I believe that we still have a long way to go, | 23:26 | |
both in the Mainline and the Catholic churches. | 23:30 | |
And so, I think the Re-Imagining Community carrying on | 23:33 | |
with the work, and that is, stimulating discussions | 23:38 | |
or organizing events to promote a kind of continuing | 23:42 | |
discussion and dialogue will be very helpful | 23:47 | |
for the health of the Church community. | 23:51 | |
- | Thank you. | 23:56 |
We are developing a Re-Imagining website, | 23:58 | |
and I'm wondering if you have thoughts | 24:02 | |
about who would benefit from it and why, | 24:04 | |
and how could they find out about it, | 24:08 | |
any thoughts about that? | 24:10 | |
- | There are several websites | 24:12 |
that might have the same purpose, | 24:14 | |
that is, to promote this conversation, | 24:18 | |
that I know of. | 24:20 | |
One is the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, | 24:21 | |
their website, and now they have some blogs, | 24:24 | |
because I know that Mary Hunt | 24:27 | |
and my colleague, Grace Kim, | 24:31 | |
sometimes they write for that. | 24:34 | |
And then the other is the, | 24:37 | |
one that is called Religion and Feminism. | 24:39 | |
And then that one was founded | 24:41 | |
by a group of younger feminists. | 24:45 | |
So every day, I think, they would have a person writing. | 24:49 | |
Some years back they asked me to be a contributing blogger. | 24:53 | |
I said, I just don't have time. | 24:58 | |
But I have read some of their blogs, | 25:00 | |
and these younger women, they're doing quite a good job. | 25:03 | |
So, then, the Re-Imagining website | 25:07 | |
can also try to see, in what way | 25:11 | |
are the materials in that website | 25:14 | |
can compliment what we have in the other two. | 25:17 | |
First, the other two are not for Christians only. | 25:21 | |
Because they are the studies of religion, | 25:25 | |
and they welcome people who are Buddhist, | 25:28 | |
and who are Muslim, and who are Post-Christian, | 25:30 | |
and who belongs to the Goddess movement to contribute. | 25:35 | |
So then, the Re-Imagining Conference can be particularly | 25:42 | |
for Christians, because originally, | 25:45 | |
it was mostly attended by Christians. | 25:48 | |
So they can talk about particular issues facing the Church, | 25:51 | |
and what are the frontiers of some of the work, | 25:55 | |
and how we can share ideas of what other churches are doing | 25:59 | |
and the success stories, as well as, | 26:04 | |
what are some of the avenues for continuing the work? | 26:08 | |
So I think that it has a particular role to play. | 26:12 | |
- | Mmhmm, thank you. | 26:16 |
One last question, before I ask you | 26:18 | |
if there's anything else you want to add. | 26:19 | |
I appreciate what you're saying about where we are now, | 26:21 | |
and I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about | 26:26 | |
what Re-Imagining should look like now? | 26:29 | |
What should it talk about, what should its concerns be? | 26:32 | |
- | I think that, at that time, | 26:35 |
we were more interested in re-imagining the categories | 26:37 | |
of Christianity, and that is why we organized | 26:41 | |
a conference in that way, | 26:44 | |
re-imagining God, I think, re-imagining Christ, | 26:46 | |
and then, maybe re-imagining something else. | 26:49 | |
So it is more according to the Christian categories. | 26:52 | |
I think this focus is still needed. | 26:56 | |
Because, I think it is an ongoing theological reformulation | 26:58 | |
and it's continuing work. | 27:05 | |
But then, I think some new directions, | 27:08 | |
that is, issues that we face today, | 27:12 | |
for example, climate change is a big thing. | 27:16 | |
And then, not only that, now, with what has happened | 27:19 | |
in France last week, in Paris, | 27:24 | |
and then how can women in the Church, | 27:27 | |
or Christian communities, contribute to a dialogue | 27:30 | |
with people of other faiths. | 27:33 | |
And then, the whole notion of peace-building | 27:35 | |
and peace-keeping. | 27:37 | |
So some of these more current issues | 27:38 | |
should be in the purview. | 27:41 | |
I'm not saying that these are all left out. | 27:43 | |
I'm just saying that, given, now, we have come to a stage, | 27:47 | |
that is, the polarization between the so-called | 27:51 | |
"western" nations and the Muslim nations, | 27:55 | |
became so profound, | 27:58 | |
so I think that more effort needs to be on | 28:00 | |
how can we build a coalition across religious boundaries | 28:03 | |
to talk about peace and justice? | 28:08 | |
So I think those are very important issues now. | 28:13 | |
Maybe more urgent than in 1992. | 28:16 | |
- | Yeah, yes. | 28:19 |
Is there anything we haven't discussed | 28:21 | |
that you would like to say? | 28:22 | |
- | I think that, how to, then, generate interest | 28:24 |
among the younger women would be important. | 28:29 | |
Because I know, I observe one thing. | 28:32 | |
Because many of my students, that they are interested | 28:34 | |
in the Emergent Movement. | 28:38 | |
That is, as you know, this Emergent Movement | 28:40 | |
is forming new communities. | 28:45 | |
Not just traditional Mainline Church communities. | 28:47 | |
But this may be students, it may be professionals, | 28:52 | |
it may be younger people together at home, | 28:56 | |
they gather in bars, they gather in other arenas | 28:59 | |
to talk about their faith. | 29:04 | |
Because all the Mainline denominations are suffering | 29:06 | |
from membership decline. | 29:10 | |
And this Re-Imagining is already ahead of its time, | 29:12 | |
that is, you imagine what would happen. | 29:18 | |
I did not remember, I think we might have | 29:21 | |
a Re-Imagining Church or something like that, | 29:24 | |
but I did not remember that particular session now. | 29:26 | |
And so I think much more can be done or can be said | 29:31 | |
in this new form of ecclesial communities | 29:35 | |
that are emerging not only in the United States, | 29:40 | |
but also in Britain. | 29:43 | |
They call themselves First Expression. | 29:45 | |
And surprisingly, in both situations, there is certainly | 29:49 | |
a revival of the monastic expression of Christianity, | 29:54 | |
and a more disciplined weight of prayer | 29:58 | |
and then, and also, it is not so much tied to denomination | 30:02 | |
and so this kind of new expression, | 30:06 | |
or new ecclesial communities, would be something, | 30:10 | |
I hope, the Re-Imagining community will also | 30:14 | |
have conversation or dialogue with. | 30:17 | |
Certainly, many younger women, they are very attracted | 30:20 | |
by this, because it is less hierarchical, | 30:23 | |
and then, | 30:26 | |
there is no clear boundaries between what is sacred | 30:27 | |
and what is profane. | 30:32 | |
And then as laypeople they can participate more fully. | 30:34 | |
And also, they are more rooted in the community. | 30:37 | |
And I think that this might be something | 30:42 | |
that the Re-Imagining Community might be interested | 30:45 | |
to explore deeper, or to have more conversations | 30:48 | |
with these younger folks. | 30:52 | |
- | Excellent, thank you so much! | 30:55 |
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