How Contextual Theology Applies to the Crisis in Syria Essay

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Pastoral Theology: Context And Crisis

According to Bevans (2002:4), theology has three sources -- "scripture, tradition and context." What this means is that there are the sacred writings (in Christianity, scripture refers to the Old and New Testaments), the traditions that the religious communities have hallowed over time, and then there is the cultural or regional or social significance -- that which makes the religious community and its theology unique.

In today's crisis-driven world, one can look at the Middle East crisis, and Syria in particular, as an example of contextual theology can tell us much about the situation there as well as about our own situation here many miles away. What is their response, for example, to several nations dropping bombs upon their world? What is our response to their plight and the plight of their neighbors, whether they be Christian, Muslim or Jew? As Boyle (2014:56) states, "the free choice of self-creation comes at a price ... " and the crimes of complacency and chaos instigated by American actions under men like Rumsfeld, Bush, Obama, the neocons, the war hawks, and the MIC have "appealed to a native intellectual tradition that cannot recognize that freedoms exist only in so far as collectively willed force prevents their violation" (Boyle 2014:71). While America has been on a mission of "freedom" in the Middle East, it has destroyed the infrastructure of various nations and upset the balance of power in favor of terrorist regimes like ISIS, to the point where a second world power has now felt the need to intervene on behalf of Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis -- all of whom invited Russia -- unlike the U.S., which has invaded in every case.

Thus, in terms of contextual theology, we are obliged to put ourselves in the shoes of the Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East. Then we are obliged to look at ourselves with a more objective perspective so that we can see how our own American Puritanical traditions and culture have shaped our actions and beliefs.

In the following four articles, one by Vatican Radio, one by Pepe Escobar, one by Nick Bernabe and one by Tyler Durden, it can be seen that the crisis in the Middle East is the result of a fundamental lack of pastoral theology, which is what the Pope calls for in order to ease the tensions in this region. That is what the article on Vatican Radio is about. The Escobar article is about the political complexities in the region, the various shifting alliances. The Bernabe article discusses the greater "proxy" war between East and West over resources in the Middle East, and the Durden article discusses the threat of all-out war between Russian allies and Western allies as a result of escalated tensions. All of the articles view the crisis in the Middle East as one that threatens the entire global order of the world today because so many world powers are involved and already ramifications are felt throughout Europe as a result of the tremendous refugee crisis. All of this has profound theological consequences, as these historical shifts in the balance of power cause people to question their beliefs and the motives of their leaders, and challenge them to seek spiritual and theological solutions. For example, Vatican Radio stresses the need for a "peaceful" solution rather than a militaristic one. Yet, the West, operating under the influence of American theology and a particularly Puritanical and Judaic tradition believes that a military solution is the only viable one. So here are two "Christian" worlds (America is believed to be a "Christian" nation by individuals like Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin, for instance) in conflict about the necessary approach to a positive solution in this region. Meanwhile, many people are dying and losing their homes as the conflict grows out of control.

As Vatican Radio (2015) reports, the Pope has called for a "peaceful" solution to the crises in Iraq and Syria -- but as Russia and the West show, there can be no peace as long as there is no unity of vision. The Syrian people, for instance, have their view of their culture -- and the West has its own view and agenda, which as always is related to the business of pipelines (Escobar 2015). The Pope well knows that the "international community" is at the mercy of the "arms dealers" and death dealers who pervade the Middle East, supplying rebels and terrorist groups with weapons so that a proxy war can be fought between the West and Russia (Bernabe 2015).

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The crisis has extended beyond the borders of the Middle East as millions of refugees flood Europe looking for shelter as Turkey closes its camps for those bombed out of their communities to the south. Now Europe is forced to deal with a situation that it, along with the U.S. is largely responsible for. Yet its inability to see the situation through the eyes of contextual theology is what keeps it from implementing a positive and successful strategy to deal with the issues at hand. This is not really a religious war, that is has been spun as such by the West: this is a war of Western aggression, as the U.S. prepares to put "boots on the ground" in Syria in violation of international law (only the sovereign nation of Syria has invited Russia -- not the U.S. to aid in the war against the "rebels" -- in fact, it is the U.S. who is supplying and arming the "rebels," so why would Syria want the U.S. to join in the fray?) (Durden 2015).

Through the lens of American Christian theology, Americans are tempted to view the Middle East as a world overrun by savage Muslim extremists who seek to do jihad on America. But the truth is that these jihadis are largely an American-CIA-Mossad-Saudi creation (the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia are allies, for the time being, in the war against Assad and ipso facto Russia and Iran) (Durden 2015).

Thus, Americans think they are doing God's work in fighting terrorists, but what they are really doing as far as Syrians are concerned is destroying their communities and establishing painful chaos. The American theology views the world in American terms, and forces ideas of "freedom" on other populations when such ideas are neither welcome nor necessary because of the contextual situation in which those populations are situated. For years, Muslims and Christians have gotten along in regions such as the Middle East, but with recent U.S. intervention, no one now is safe in these regions.

In the context of pastoral and practical theology, the articles by Escobar, Bernabe, Durden, and Vatican Radio illustrate a need for more contextual theology in this crisis. For the present, it appears that too much is being made of political solutions when what is actually needed here is a spiritual/theological solution. This is perhaps deemed difficult because of all the different religions in the region, but by no means is this the case as under Saddam Hussein in Iraq, many religious communities lived peacefully together in one state, and under Assad the same has been true as he has been noted for protecting the Christian community in Syria. The only problem to this approach, perhaps, is that of the state of Israel which many articles describe as complicit in the rise of terrorism in the Middle East (Durden 2015, Bernabe 2015, Escobar 2015). In fact, Israel has to a large extent influenced American foreign policy, what with plans like A Clean Break and the Project for the New American Century. This agenda is wholly biased in terms of benefitting Israel to the detriment of Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians. It is a powerful theologically and politically driven power play. Thus, there needs to be some discussion of the practical and pastoral outcomes of such a play: the leaders of these countries should listen to and respect the theological ramifications of waging war on so many different communities. The context of theology in this crisis also points to a need to be sensitive to the various ideologies and beliefs of the different religious communities, so that all branches of the Muslim religion, the Christian religion and the Jewish religion can agree on how to get along with one another as neighbors rather than as enemies, even if their particular theologies do not line up exactly. There can be an appeal based on the Golden Rule that guides this process and this would be the important aspect of the crisis that needs to be addressed, as Vatican Radio points out in its article. Peace is the solution -- not war. That requires a peaceful approach, with care and appreciation and respect for all sides and positions. However, an honest stance must also be taken -- one that has as its framework a rule or principle that does not violate the goal or objective required for a solution to this crisis. That stance,….....

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