Does Christianity Have Anything To Learn From Other Religions?

April 30, 2023

       In the first reading of today, we get the distinct impression that Peter (and the other apostles too, we can presume) was not really interested in starting a new religion.  The baptism that is being talked about in this reading is not the baptism that we understand today as an entry into the Christian community, as there was no Christian community existing at that time.  The disciples still considered themselves Jews, but Jews who believed the long-awaited Messiah had come in Jesus.  That is why they continued to practise as Jews and as we read in Acts 2:46  “every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts” So here it was probably a baptism for the forgiveness of sins that is similar to John the Baptist’s baptism.   And it is only later, as events unfolded, that in Acts 11 we find the statement that they began to be called followers of Christ, or Christians.

 This ought to make us pause to think about our relationship with other religions.  Many of our Christian practices and even beliefs find their roots in Jewish or Greco-Roman thought or practices.  I have spoken above of Baptism - but even the Eucharist was clearly the Passover Meal that was now no longer limited to the feast of the Passover. Or again, the belief in the need for a ‘sacrifice to God’ for the forgiveness of sins is a Jewish concept that was translated into Jesus dying as a sacrifice for our sins.  Similarly, the belief about Jesus as the LOGOS or WORD of God is based on the Greek concept of the LOGOS which referred to the “divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering and giving it form and meaning”.  Even the vestments worn by the priests in church heavily borrow from the Roman insignia or ceremonial robes of its officials,  and our Christmas tree is inspired by German traditions.

 And this has continued over the centuries with Christians always trying to use the lens of Jesus to discern what is essential to our faith, our relationship with God. Of course, such a journey may lead to debates and disagreements.  Thus, the Jesuits saw no harm in Chinese converts honoring their ancestors, while the Dominicans and Franciscans called it idolatry. Western missionaries to Africa generally opposed polygamy, while indigenous Church leaders even today are more willing to entertain the possibility - especially as many of the Jewish patriarchs practiced polygamy.  

Despite those difficulties, adapting according to the local culture, the local philosophical thoughts, the local religions, is part of our heritage as Christians - though it is always a struggle to walk that path trying to always look through the Jesus-lens. That is also why we have 23 different rites in the Catholic Church, including 3 in India, as the Christian faithful constantly tried, and continue to try, to adapt. It is because of this that in India, the Catholic Church, at least, has gradually learnt to integrate, adapt, appropriate, concepts and practices taken from the Hindu tradition to express the Christian faith.  This use of Hindu symbols and concepts has upset many, because they believe that it is giving into a kind of syncretism, which, if it is a mindless joining of ideas from different sources, could be unhelpful. However, without denying the danger of some kinds of syncretism, it might be important to also remember that Pope Francis in a joint statement with the head of Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque stated that the ‘diversity of religions is willed by God’.  That’s a very powerful statement and ought to make us pause to reflect.

This matter of learning from other religious schools of thought also ties in with an important element that we must take into account when trying to read and UNDERSTAND the Bible.  

When one reads the Bible with a questioning mind, one will notice that the teachings of the Bible are not consistent in many parts.  A very clear example can be found in the Biblical teachings as to how the community should deal with a person caught in adultery.  In the Old Testament, we find this teaching regarding a woman caught in adultery:  "If, however, the charge is true …… she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. (Deuteronomy 22:20–21). But those of us who are familiar with the New Testament stories will find that Jesus significantly challenges this approach (John 7:53- 8:11) when they bring a woman caught in adultery to him and ask him what they should do - obviously in order to test whether Jesus would be faithful to the only Scripture that they (including Jesus) knew.  And we all know how Jesus answered when he said: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” After all have left quietly, the story continues:   Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”  So how do we reconcile this earlier teaching, which is still found in our Bible, and the later teaching of Jesus which is also found in the Bible?  Incidentally this is only one example of many differences and inconsistencies that can be found in the Bible.  

Here is one way of finding a way through these differences.  Could we see the Bible as a series of books (including the Books of Genesis, Exodus, etc in the Old Testament, and the four Gospels, the letters of Paul etc in the New Testament) as a divinely inspired record of a pilgrimmage of the Jews (Old Testament) and of the Christians (New Testament) - a pilgrimmage in which they are growing in their understanding of God, and the relationship we as humans are called to have with God - the pilgrimmage of a people who believed God was a punishing judge and task master, to a liberating belief that God was a loving and forgiving Father; from those who believed that we need to please God by sacrificing blood, to those who came to believe that the truest form of worship was to love your neighbour; from a people who were waiting for the kingdom of God to a people who realised that the kingdom of God was within them.

This evolution continued even after Jesus died.  For instance in the early Church itself, we have the incident referred to by Paul (Galatians 2:11-13) where he confronts Peter on the issue of circumcision. This issue is taken up in the first Council of Jerusalem and the Church decides that circumcision is not a necessary ritual for Christians. Eventually at that same Councils (see Acts 15), they finally came up with the following minimal rules that all must follow:  ”...abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood." 

Now one would expect that such a Council’s teaching, where the Apostles themselves were present, would be sacrosanct, and yet today, we do not have a problem with eating meat which could be taken from an animal that has been strangled, nor do we have a problem with taking blood from others (as in blood transfusions, which incidentally the Jehovah’s witnesses refuse to accept), or even eating blood (as in a steak which is done very rare!!! or even otherwise).  So, our pilgrimage of discovering God has continued.

If this is true, then we may need to ask ourselves: How can we continue this pilgrimage of discovering God and continue to learn from other religious, cultural and philosophical schools of thought, rather than be suspicious of whatever has not come to us from within the Christian tradition?   

After all, why should we think we can control God and claim that after Jesus died, God is not free to continue revealing more and more of God’s self to us.  Who are we to control God?  

 

 

1st Reading – Acts 2:14A, 36-41

^14A Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: ³⁶ “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” ³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” ⁴⁰ He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.

 

2nd Reading – 1 Peter 2:20B-25

^20B Beloved: If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. ²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps. ²² He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. ²³ When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Gospel – John 10:1-10

¹ Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. ² But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. ⁵ But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. ⁷ So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”