Thursday 17 December 2009

Once again we look at personhood as seen through Bishop Tutu's theology.

Tutu believes that human persons are especially born as potentiality. If human beings would grow up individually among wolves they would not know how to communicates as human beings. There would not be human posture or human ways of eating, sitting, and walking. Therefore, human beings become persons only by living in an environment conducive to the interaction of diverse personalities and cultures. If there is no such environment, personhood does not survive.

In South Africa during Apartheid, he would say that both sides suffered a loss of personhood. The whites because of their oppressive ways - denied themselves the opportunity to become fully human. They denied knowing more of what God had created as humanity - and they were ways were see (over time) as demonic. The Africans were denied basic access to education and food and health care and thus were also not able to fulfill their personhood. In this case it was because they were outright denied a fuller life. So both ended up being less than they could be. When the Apartheid system was torn down, the long journey toward personhood started. Before this time, the people like Mandela and Tutu were some of the few who did not let themselves be denied of the fullness of this personhood. They stepped over lines, continued to engage the other side, never settled for what was given them. When people do that, they become martyrs...some still alive and some long gone.

Connection: The more we move away from the reality and fullness of life around us, we all continue to be stunted. This is one of the reasons I find it so necessary for people in urban areas of our country to do mission work at home - work that helps us reach across and find the person in the other rather than the "trips" that often do not give us the time to learn - only to serve.

Within the rich diversity of your beloved people, O God, you invite us to journey out beyond what is so known to us. It is not easy and it can be frightening. It is then that we ask that your Holy Spirit move along with us - urging us to move and live to the fullest. Amen.