On be...ing political: Empat model identitas ramah-gereja di bawah bayang-bayang kanopi suci kebangsaan

This article discusses the idea of a hospitable church that struggles under the sacred canopy of the state, especially in the Indonesian context. By using Stanley Hauerwas’ social ethics and ecclesiology that views the church as an exemplary community, this article proposes an ecclesial model that maintains the tension of being true to its nature on the one hand and being political on the other hand. Such a model is demonstrated through its four dimensions: beholding, becoming, belonging, and befriending. The paper ends with a conclusion, in which the author reflects on the four dimensions by using the perspective of the four classical marks of the church (notae ecclesiae). AbstrakArtikel ini membahas gagasan mengenai gereja dengan identitas-ramah yang berjuang di bawah kanopi suci negara, khususnya dalam konteks Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan etika sosial dan eklesiologi Stanley Hauerwas, yang memandang gereja sebagai komunitas eksemplaris, artikel ini mengusul-kan model gerejawi yang mempertahankan ketegangan antara menjadi setia pada hakikatnya di satu sisi dan menjadi politis di sisi lain. Model semacam itu ditunjukkan melalui empat dimensinya: beholding, becoming, belonging, dan befriending. Makalah diakhiri dengan kesimpulan yang di dalamnya penulis merefleksikan empat dimensi di atas dengan menggunakan perspektif empat tanda klasik gereja (notae ecclesiae).

The Catholic Charismatic Movement in Global Pentecostalism

This article deals with Catholic Charismatics in Italy. The brief description of the case study gives a chance to make some more general comments on what is happening under the sacred canopy of Global Catholicism where the Spirit blows, and furthermore in relation with so-called Global Pentecostalism. In other words, my working hypothesis includes the following statements: (a) Catholic Pentecostalism constitutes a variant of a more global phenomenon, which seems to challenge the organizational model of historic Christian churches. (b) The study of the Italian case is interesting because its story shows the extent to which Pentecostalism questions the Roman form of Catholicism. Elsewhere in the world, the development of the phenomenon has not encountered the same difficulties as it did in Italy. Indeed, in some cases (Brazil and the Philippines), it has been supported and accepted as a sign of new religious vitality. From this point of view, Rome is relatively far away. The Roman–Tridentine model governed by the clergy resists in Italy, while it appears weaker where the Spirit blows wherever it wants. The Charismatic movement was gradually brought back to the bed of ecclesial orthodoxy after a long persuasive work carried out by bishops and theologians towards the leaders of the movement itself. However, despite this ecclesification/clericalization process, the charismatic tension remains, and the expectation for a pneumatic church constitutes an implicit form of criticism of the Roman form of Catholicism.

The Hasid and the ‘Other’

At this point I am enlarging on the theme of the previous chapter. The concept of hafatsah, of bursting through borders, recognizes and enfranchises the ‘other’. Or does it? We saw the steps which Rabbi Menachem Schneerson and his Habad movement made towards the estranged Jew. But what about the non-Jew? Does he or she remain irredeemably ‘other’, beyond the sacred canopy?

The Not-So-New Southern Religion

In an effort to win southern white voters, the GOP embraced the old southern religion turning the church faithful into the party loyal. They did so because in many parts of the South, the church remains the central institution defining, organizing, and politicizing its surrounding community. A “sacred canopy” drapes over the region, where there is a common cosmology that is intractable from southern white identity, including its reverence for white supremacy and patriarchy. In general, as a block, white southerners were more evangelical, Protestant, fundamentalist, and moralist than the rest of the country. The not-so-new southern religiosity satisfies an appetite for certainty, conformity, and even social status. As a means to solidify southern white support, the Long Southern Strategy framed southern white Christianity as under attack and cast the GOP as its protector, the price of which is increased cultural defensiveness, anxiety, fear, and distrust.