In protestant theological institutions: a critical appraisal of contextual challenges in kerala, india jessy jaison b b s., M d

6.1 Introduction
The literature review on the western setting and Indian setting of women’s theological education in India revealed that India still needs to go a long way with regard to the evaluation of the philosophy and practice of women’s theological education, despite its tremendous facilities, faculties and developments. Besides the commonplace religious marginalization, women in theological education in Kerala are doubly chained by the social situation that provides them high educational facilities but curbs them by cultural subtleties as the field data disclosed. When compared with churches that prefer to remain silent, seminaries are more receptive of women for various reasons. Yet, the emphases of accrediting agencies on contextual, praxis-oriented and objective-based learning-as discussed in the review of literature- are all remaining a far possibility for women in theological education in Kerala. The research, that intended to identify the cultural and ecclesiastical challenges of women seminarians and to determine how seminaries see and weighing this and how they should be going about it, however, came across diverse but interrelated focal aspects such as educational structure, theology, culture, cultural change, and church tradition.
From the concise discussion on feminist perspectives in the literature review, it has been decided that the study should be keeping affinity to a balanced position between the typical egalitarian and complementary views on women’s role in ministry. This discussion, however, does not favour a further analysis of feminist theology since the central, harder job remains to be the one to explore more on the impact of theology and culture on women while keeping a balanced feminist theological view, substantiated by a fresh and straightforward use of the Bible. Evaluation of the biblical material showed the significance and impact of culture not only on scriptural writings but also on the contexts where they are to be applied. Empirical data from women and men in the practice of theological education in Kerala call for a transformation- a real difference in thinking, interpreting, planning and acting, but all to commence from the Bible and then to relate it to culture and hermeneutics.⁴¹⁰ This chapter, therefore, centres on the major correlations in the previous chapters and the central themes mentioned above, towards a further appraisal. This will prove to be of great utility not just for theological institutions in Kerala, but will have a wider impact on similar cultural situations elsewhere.
The closely intertwined primary areas- the Bible, culture, education and hermeneutics-are discussed below, also taking a number of sub categories into account, keeping protestant faith and cultural sensitivity at the centre. Ideological overlaps are expected due to the inexorable linkages within these dimensions. An emphasis on keeping balance in the journey of transformation towards a holistic theology would be central in the discussion.

6.2 Baseline for Discussion Rising from Previous Analysis of Data

The review of literature brought out structural, discriminatory and vocational issues faced by women in theological education in the west and the way changes take place through continuous dialogues, research, writing and also legal enforcements. There is a perceptible gap between the advancement of women in the secular education and their secondary status within the ecclesiastical spheres. A cultural hermeneutic might be necessary to bridge these varied dialectics. The task of theological education in Kerala, therefore, is to identify and address all these issues and their theological and cultural undercurrents. This presupposes an overall review of the system.

Women students, in general, find little hope for change and show no sign of initiatives on their part. It has been identified that cultural underpinnings have effectively masked the real issues from being identified. Therefore, the primary effort in this chapter would not be the listing of specific issues, but exploring the theological, sociological, biblical and philosophical views to assist the mission of cultural mediation as it is vital in exploring this complex issue. Though society and culture have their roles to play, this study focuses only on what seminaries should be considering and why. The task involves conceptual, practical and structural change in various facets of women’s life.

Empirical data revealed a context of complex cultural components. Lack of effort and ability to theologically analyse the setting made the theological education enterprise rather vacant in its commitment to women. Without taking this obligation on board, academic attempts would remain only futile. Theological schools seemed to be caught up in conflict between the feminist thinking and the theological and cultural reinforcements that overrule training. Two ideological commitments take primary control in this discussion. First, commitment to the authority of scripture is deemed central since altering this foundation would prevent the study from providing effective theological resolutions. The second commitment, to cultural sensitivity, is to help the structure of theological education practically improve, where both women and men would benefit together and contribute their best later in ministry. Charles Kraft’s extensive study contributes towards an explanation of how these can be worked out in agreement. The textual base of this discussion largely depends on his views in ‘Christianity in Culture’⁴¹¹ but moves further with Bevans,⁴¹² Blount⁴¹³ and Webb⁴¹⁴ and others to explore into cultural hermeneutical analysis.

The cultural element demands attention in this study because, first, with respect to the growing awareness of women’s emancipation in all spheres of life, women’s struggles in theological education cannot be kept suppressed for too long. Secondly, it is part of Christian mission to help in transforming the attitudes and prejudices of people especially when they take on unjust forms. Thirdly, seminaries have the potential and resources to influence society that holds women’s concerns as just natural and normal and they do not need any special attention. Moreover, when change is introduced ignoring social reactions, it would only harm the people concerned. Seminaries theoretically have the foundation to put it forth for wider impact and it is their mission while women are accepted into the training system. The points below form the core of further discussion on the mission of theological seminaries for their women students.

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  Theological seminaries in Kerala are more receptive of women when compared with churches but they still have neglected their educational and theological mission to women students in various aspects of training.
  
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  The theological training in Kerala is not holistic and effective as far as the personal formation and vocational future of women are concerned.
  
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  Culture plays a significant role in relegating women to the periphery; yet it has potential to help the transformation of the system.
  
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  The gap between the secular and the theological educational systems is steadily widening and this makes women in theological schools in general feel increasingly destabilized. This has to be bridged by a theological-cultural dialogue.
  
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  The overall biblical vision for women-which is also termed as ‘theology’ in this discussion- does not, in principle, denigrate them from any area of ministry but is always mindful of cultural wisdom in the style of carrying it out.
  
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  The way this cultural consciousness is interpreted, is strongly based on the Scripture, especially in the life and teachings of Jesus.
  
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  The theological-cultural hermeneutical method and its appropriate application will help out with women’s concerns in theological education.
  
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  This hermeneutical discussion has sociological, educational, biblical, theological, organizational and anthropological insights integrated rather than seeing all these as distinctive factors.
  

We will now analyse the role of theological seminaries in facilitating transformation towards a holistic theology and the practice of theological education.

6.3 Seminaries as Agents of Cultural Arbitration
Unless seminaries practically admit that being conscious of cultural challenges is central to attaining effectiveness, training for women will not be a promising venture. Theological arguments of liberation do not matter to them when those become powerless to communicate into life’s realities. There is also an ideological conflict within seminaries and churches on the practice of theological education for women. Here is the need for seminaries to undertake the job of mediation.

6.3.1 Theological and Missiological Necessity

There are a number of reasons to argue that seminaries are bound to intervene in the cultural setting of their student constituency. First of all, for so long churches and seminaries have been functioning as a male oriented, male dominated enterprise and now with the increase of women students, it is obligatory that the relevance of training is revaluated. Not only that, it was men and not women, for whom theological education was initially designed. Besides this, seminaries that have taken up the mission of education still need to see it as their priority to review the church’s positions and standpoints on theological issues of the present time so that graduates would not have to suffer later on. The usual conventional pattern of reading scripture and theology does not answer the many concerns of women in Kerala who are pressed between their choice of theological education and the concealed features of the culture. If the theological position on women’s role in ministry is not stated, defined and assessed against the cultural dynamics, there would not be any obligation whatsoever to devote to it. Advanced facilities in seminaries cannot compensate for the prevailing theological uncertainty regarding the role of women in ministry and the cultural concerns that curb it.

There is a theological vacuum that requires urgent attention so that Christianity will review its practice of failing its women in mission. While churches in general indiscreetly cling on to the traditional practices, seminaries have on them, a mission to initiate the contextualization of theology for women who are left in a dilemma in their decision to grow in Christian faith and service. Whenever women’s struggles are suppressed by cultural subtleties that often gain theological reinforcement, an analytical infiltration becomes essential. This was initiated in large-scale collective efforts⁴¹⁵ as reported in the literature review of the western contexts. The debates relating to objectivity, negligence of experiential learning and reflection are of fundamental value in the context of Kerala. However, before entering on tasks specific to ‘training’ it is vital to see the theological and missiological call behind this. Seminaries need to take appropriate decision to have this mission of bridging the commitment of women and the cultural expectations on them emerge and complement each other. In terms of theological education for women, seminaries in Kerala suffer from what Farley calls “fragmentation.”⁴¹⁶ He argues that only habitus or theology as wisdom and science can help this fragmentation by restoring theologia to theological education. When this mission is left unattended, theological education fails to fulfil its philosophical presumption of the student-oriented education as established in the literature review.

6.3.2 Seminaries as Agents of Structural Transformation

It is part of the task of seminaries to address retrospective questions to check the theological relevance of structures and initiate transformational steps as and when deemed necessary. In every culture there is a challenge to confront attitudes that are powerful obstacles to change because people are the ones who give meaning to biblical messages as ‘meanings are in the message-users.’⁴¹⁷ Since the ecclesiastical structure is male oriented in Kerala, biblical passages are interpreted in ways comfortable and convenient to the patriarchal social system of the place. As was substantially established in the review of literature, seminaries have so much to do with attitudes that have a long tradition in the systems.

However, structural transformation within organizations could be seriously hindered by conditions such as,
‘the problem may be completely unrecognized by those affected by it, the problem may be more or less felt to be ‘natural’ rather than learned, since it is natural, it is felt that nothing can be done about it, the problem and the possibility of doing something about it may both be recognized, but there is not sufficient agreement among those who have the influence to advocate change effectively as to what to do to create enough social pressure to effect the changes.’⁴¹⁸
In the empirical data, seminaries appear to be content to offer superficial acceptance to women rather than tackling the real issues that hinder them from ministry, an attitude to safeguard themselves from external criticisms. On the other hand, seminaries tend to put the blame on external elements like culture, religion, lack of people resources, lack of funding and so on, preventing the development of women in ministry.
However, structural transformation is not attainable by hasty steps. As agents of transformation, seminaries cannot escape the lack of initiatives and the indifference shown by those in leading roles in churches and seminaries. More over, women develop a tendency to avoid taking their own initiatives in ministry, because of the social barricades built to keep them from developing in ministry. Structural transformation is made rather complicated by the mediocre positions for women generally maintained by men in the church. Seminaries hesitate to initiate change because it demands time and requires commitment. In addition, hasty moves can place bigger hurdles in the way of this. “Habits of long standing are not ordinarily replaced rapidly or without some trauma. In general, though, the slower the transformation takes place, the fewer and less drastic the changes that have to be made at any given point in time.”⁴¹⁹ The current study supports the gradual transformational process- not just for transforming church structures through yeast-like mission (Matt.13:33), but for analyzing the structures of seminaries where the unspoken values underlying the acceptance of women in theological training and the plausible challenges in developing women in ministry are to be scrutinized. “True transformational change, as opposed to more superficial external alteration is a matter of change in the central conceptualizations of a culture.”⁴²⁰ The training objectives of seminaries should be studied; women’s cultural self-understanding evaluated, concepts reformulated and a resultant series of new habits of behaviour need to be taught and reinforced.

6.3.3 Seminaries as Agents of Reconciliation in Dialectical Views

Seminaries in Kerala, instead of resisting being places of real, reflexive learning and agents of transformation, seem to struggle between Biblical literalism and growing theological awareness among women. This occurs in protestant evangelical seminaries usually due to the assumption that academic views and faith values cannot go together in reconciliation. Attempting to have a balance of openness to the new academic perspectives and the commitment to the basic tenets of evangelical Protestantism, Kraft states, “it is, therefore valid, as well as instructive, to examine the data from new perspectives-even those of academic disciplines such as anthropology, which some suspect of being incapable of Christian application.”⁴²¹ Yet, over-emphasis on what he identifies as ‘theological ethnocentrism’ is avoided in his process because, “not everything said or done in the theological realm is valid, since not everything is allowed by the [biblical] data.”⁴²² However, practically responding to the need of theological contextualization is decisive for seminaries to fulfil the very purpose of education.

Seminaries cannot escape from noticing and addressing the gulf between cultural-ecclesiastical conservativism and feminist innovations. Report of the Oslo Global Consultation in 1996 stated, “without clarity and coherence between the identity of the churches, the forms of ministries to be exercised and the pattern of education and formation desired, there will be frustration, mistrust and inadequate moral or financial support.”⁴²³ The next consensus in the report says, “theological institutions and their churches often continue to react against Western inherited traditions rather than establishing their own patterns of church life, theological education and ministerial training.”⁴²⁴ Habitual behaviour provides emotional security in a threatening world of change. Religion often provides strong moral justification and support for maintaining traditional ways. The church’s culture is so powerfully transmitted that its authentication of societal denigration of women increasingly receives more weight. It is the missional imperative on seminaries to help people understand Christian theology in cultural diversities.

6.3.4 Seminaries as Agents of Change in Inherited Ministry Perceptions

Ministry has been a largely male enterprise for so long that it is not easy for most people to comprehend it as an inclusive endeavour. The term ‘ministry’ in this discussion mostly refers to the trained lay ministry of women rather than ordained roles. This distinction is made because the study favours women in ordained ministry only as a long term goal since it is not overall, a viable goal in the Kerala context at the moment. Despite the contributions of women in ministry in many parts of the country, still it is a taboo for men to have women fully accepted into it. There needs to be a thorough expansion of the term for theological education to have some impact on women. Even those who accept women in some form of ministry, somehow tend to exert decisive control over them as if they are ignorant and incapable. When traditional practices are uncritically promoted and everything else is seen as anti-biblical, people need guidance and initiating. Kraft lists the elements that limit people in knowing the truth such as, the limitations of the revelation, our finiteness, our sinfulness, our cultural conditioning and our individual psychological and experiential conditioning. If the believing community attempts to cover the ‘icebergs’⁴²⁵ of supracultural truths that float on the oceans of scripture, it fails to be an agent that helps people see God’s truth in their own experiences and language. Seminaries may have to increase their pragmatic and philosophical potential to successfully stand in the gap.

Influenced by the western writings and newer theological thinking spreading in India, seminaries sometimes make their own pattern to approve women in ministry more than churches, or tend to force their thinking on churches faster than they should. In both cases, the space between women’s commitment to ministry and the ecclesiastical/cultural restrictions widens. However, theological institutions that increasingly have a cross cultural constituency in faculty and students, might find it easier to provide better approval to women, while churches and mission fields that have closer interaction to the local society might not. There is a growing resentment at the feminist views and individualism, which the cultural heritage of Kerala generally thrusts aside. It is, therefore, vital to determine the current level of cultural feeling about this, before actions are initiated; because contextualization of theological thinking cannot be successfully launched without taking the level of cultural feelings, expressions and expectations into account.

6.4 Seminaries as Mediators between Theology and Culture
Examining the role of seminaries between theology and culture is still an unexplored facet in the issue. Oppressive structures gain validation by people’s own interpretation of the Bible. Listening to western writers like Farley who promoted the employing of hermeneutical principles in the study and teaching of religion can substantiate this. He said,

I have described religion as making a reality claim concerning the widest context of experience as presupposing and shaping human experience in distinctive ways and as socially and historically concrete. These features under gird three hermeneutical principles for the study and teaching of religion: principles of concreteness, experienciality and reality.⁴²⁶

This was the coherence lacking in Kerala seminaries as the data disclosed. David Kelsey⁴²⁷ has similar concerns as that of Farley and, as a solution, he suggests the ideal of the goal of understanding God more truly. This presupposes theology’s interaction with some behavioural sciences such as sociology, anthropology and the like. While missiologists like Kraft looked at it positively,⁴²⁸ there have always been thinkers who feared such interaction might undermine scriptural authority.⁴²⁹ Rene Padilla says,
Hermeneutics has to do with a dialogue between Scripture and a contemporary culture. Its purpose is to transpose the biblical original context into a particular twentieth-century situation. Its basic assumption is that the God who spoke in the past and whose Word was recorded in the Bible continues to speak today in the Scripture.⁴³⁰
Theological seminaries in Kerala might need to see this as their essential mission to women.

6.4.1 Hermeneutical Interaction between the Bible and Culture

While contextualizing theology or confronting the question of differences between biblical and cultural values, it is important to keep the balance between the historicity, original intent and the contextual relevance of the scripture. Leaning to any one side will only cause harm to the task and therefore, we need to look more closely at the scholarly views on this. Each culture, with its own unique features, wants to have the message in its own language and values. Blount in his attempt to re-orient New Testament criticism precisely deals with how cultural interpretation takes place and why context is important to text-interpretation.⁴³¹ Using the sociolinguistic theory of Halliday,⁴³² Blount gives his analysis of the interpretive process of text in a specific cultural context. Though the specific language details are not addressed here, yet, this can be related to the meaning of theological messages as perceived by people in a particular cultural setting.

For example, the argument that the Bible in no way restricts women from any area of ministry does not sound realistic to most people in male-oriented societies despite all cases that might substantiate it. Rudolf Bultmann, in his method of biblical interpretation, insists on an ‘existentialist approach’.⁴³³ Although this approach made an exceptional advancement in the process of interpretation, Kasemann argues it was incomplete due to its inadequate socio-political insight.⁴³⁴ There is a tendency either to explain the scripture only historically or literally, abandoning its contextual relevance, or for too much contextualizing, neglecting the ‘once for all’ or unchangeable themes of the scripture. Scholars increasingly agree that the message of scripture should be translated not by words, but by its real meaning by which people can feel its relevance. Kraft’s ‘ethnotheology’⁴³⁵ proposes an ethnolinguistic method that takes into account the cultural immersion of text and interpretation. Studies relating to culture⁴³⁶ by Eugene Nida, Charles Taber, S B Bevans, Charles Kraft and others in this line place great emphasis on contextualization of the Christian message. For them, God is active in cultural settings where his people live. Kraft puts it this way, “the relationship between God and culture is the same as that of one who uses a vehicle to the vehicle that he uses.”⁴³⁷ On the other hand is the challenge of holding on to the centrality of the historical, unchangeable themes of the scripture. At this point, the conflict on women’s issues becomes most obvious in Kerala context.