A contemporary theology of the cross viewed in relation to Filipino religiosity

Abstract

Chapter I of this study indicates the socio-religio-cultural, and historical significance of the enduring pre-hispanic character of Filipinos handed to them by their forbears, which is deeply intact despite colonization. The religious faith of the Filipino forbears, though crude, was handed down from one generation to another. Such religious faith is deeply akin to the traditional faith of the Hebrew clan, e.g. God, the Supreme Being who creates and is the Source of life, life after death, also justice and mercy which emanate from God's righteousness as the twin pillars of Filipino morality. The Filipinos are inherently religious people. The Filipino religious consciousness is the basic propellant of culture, being one among man's highest concerns, and ultimately affects his relationship with the Supreme Being whom he calls God. Man can evolve the forms of his religious consciousness by himself or receive it by peaceful or warlike invasion from the outside. Culture, the sum total of the good, the beautiful, and the true things in the customs of the Philippines as a nation came naturally from within and forcibly from without through colonial rule. Chapters II and III unravel the problem in this study. The problematic background is the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines followed by the American regime. The Spanish colonial period indicated that the Philippines was nurtured in the Christian faith through a "monarchial" form of government (Hispanization with the sword) and a "theocratic" rule of the Church's polity or ecclesiology (Christianization with the sword and Cross). Under Spanish rule, the Church and the state had been merged into one. The Spaniards planted the Cross and scooped up the gold, distributing it among the conquistadores or sending it back home for the royal treasury. The Spanish colonizers granted huge tracts of lands to encomenderos besides the friar land estates but did not properly use the wealth that they amassed to improve fully their own domestic economies in the Philippines. Nepotism and corruption with too much entrenched power through the misuse of wealth which the colonizers amassed was the trend under Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines which even today is very difficult to erase and overcome. The Church as the Body of Christ, being merged ideologically with the state as sanctioned by Spanish rule and domination, alienated the Filipino masses and determined the stratification of Philippine society. The Filipino masses remained ignorant of the Biblical-Church tradition of the NT faith while they lived in poverty because the Church neglected her "Servant hood" role. The Bible was a closed book for nearly four centuries. Reading the Bible implied deportation, imprisonment, and excommunication from the RCC. There were a few individuals who had an access of secretly reading the Bible without the awareness of the authorities as early as the latter part of the 16th to the 17th century of Hispanization and Christianization. Religion was used as a safety valve and a form of control by both the monarchical rule of the state and that of the theocratic Church's polity, being merged into one under the oppressive Spanish rule. The Philippine Revolution is basically a religious reformation in relation to the worsening socio- cultural and political situation of the people which was articulated by the Filipino reformers. The separation of Church and State as embodied and mandated by the Malolos Constitution indicated the climax of the Philippine Revolution, but was disrupted by the so-called U.S. "intervention". Imperceptively, the so-called "intervention" of the U.S. was through the Cuban War when the U.S. declared war against Spain. Equally, the U.S had seen the weakening power of Spain. Through "friarism" or "priest craft", the Filipino masses had become the Spaniards' "forever sinful wards" without hope from damnation except the "promised" blessed state in heaven as long as they obeyed the friars. The Philippines being undeveloped was not only rich in natural resources but also strategically viable for the U.S. imperialistic interests as a rising world power, and therefore a good U.S. base for her activities. The U.S. took over the Philippines where Spanish domination had left too much bloodshed through the "Philippine Insurrection", so-called by American political scientists, while Filipino political scientists called it the "Philippine-American War." The separation of the Church and State was no longer a problem under American control, though, not without much religious irritation between the RCC and Evangelical Christianity. A "commonwealth" system of government was instituted, with the open Bible." Mass education," and the so-called "self-government" process for the Philippines became the trend during the American occupation. During this period of Philippine colonial history, Filipino traditional religion which was not properly directed and nurtured during Spanish rule, was unleashed with all sorts of varied expressions, with more innovations by the masses, while democratic freedom was instituted. The Filipino curious mind which was repressed under Spanish domination and control became absorbed with the Bible, hand in hand with Filipino religiosity, making Christianity not only interesting, but competitive. The proliferation of various religious sects became the trend, of which later on a couple of them became nationalistic and indigenous churches such as the Iglesia ni Cristo. The methodological approach, and preliminaries in unravelling the problem are actually dealt with in Chapters I to IV. The existence of Filipino popular religion is deeply embedded in the Filipino socio-cultural human values and in their existential postulates. The arduous problem which the Church faces today is how to extricate Filipino religiosity from unnecessary or innovative rituals being done or practiced with sincere faith in Christ by the majority among the masses, toward a wholesome maturity in living the Christian faith. The methodology in facing the problem is twofold and complementary: (1) a psycho-socio-cultural study of Filipino religiosity specifically represented by the Black Nazarene Devotion in relation to their behavioral patterns of innovative religious rituals was undertaken; (2) a historic-political study of the relationship of Filipino religiosity with the official teachings of the RCC and other Churches in relation to the Biblical-Church tradition of the NT faith and practice was analyzed. Filipino religiosity was analyzed through the phenomenological approach with the use of an Interview Schedule as an instrument in gathering data. The Interview Schedule is an open-ended instrument which was used in gathering data in this study and in three languages: Pilipino or Tagalog, Ilocano and English. All the above considerations comprise Chapters I to IV methodologically. The gathered data have been analyzed Biblically and theologically in Chapters V, VI, VII, and VIII. Filipino devotion to the Cross means that the Filipino wants to assert dramatically and with all sincerity the power of the Cross in the midst of man's own "power-lessness" against the oppressive societal system, and no less than the Church as an established authority bearing the name of the crucified and living Lord. Despite the absence of a proper Christian nurture through the Biblical-Church tradition of the NT faith and practice done by the established Church under Spanish rule, the Filipino masses learned Christ's message through the Pasyon. Added to such a neglect, the Church does not have a critical theology even up to this day. A contemporary theology of the Cross viewed in relation to Filipino religiosity runs deep through the varied religious innovations of the messes, but especially Filipino devotion to the Cross which is broad and inclusive. Finally, in an exploratory way through the gathered data, Chapters VII and VIII in this study have critically reinterpreted and constructively pointed out the positive elements of Filipino devotion to the Cross which asserts, "A Contemporary Theology of the Cross Viewed in Relation to Filipino Religiosity." The main conclusion of this study indicates that Filipino devotion to the Cross is the basic and solid foundation of Filipino theology. Further, once Filipino devotion to the Cross is directed and expressed more positively through the Biblical-Church tradition of the NT faith and practice, it becomes a critique for the Church and society in the Philippines as well as in theologizing today.