Question:
Describe about exploration: health disparity project?
Answer:
I am currently working as a pastor in one of the Catholic Churches in west London. In the month of November 2015, a colleague of mine, who is presently working in a Black Church in America, invited me to work on the health disparity project. I, though, resided in London was always aware of the conditions of the fact that the Black Churches are the only institutions that provide spiritual and social support to the African-American living in the country but they also play a very important role in providing the health care related support to the people as well. I am well aware of all these facts and knew that, for imparting knowledge related to health issues, the Black Church has always gone for the informal way of teaching and making people aware of the whole thing. As I received the offer from one of my colleagues, I was under the great dilemma because I did not know whether or not I should answer his invitation, since at that time I was engaged to too much in reading of the Bible. I know that health discrimination is one of the major issues that trouble the lives of both the African American and the European-American; therefore I had to ask myself the question of being a pastor, the question that would answer to the purpose of my being a pastor. Being a pastor, my aim should not be fixed towards studying the Bible only, I should also play an important role for the welfare of the society and therefore I had to give importance to this invitation as well. So, I paid my visit and worked for the health disparity project for the African-American.
Exploration:
The issue of the health disparity and how it is affecting the life of the African-Americans is an issue worth exploring and therefore I too tried to explore it in my own way. My colleague informed me about the fact that in the country the black church has a great influence on the community of the African-American people. The church not only influences the community religiously, culturally, or politically but at the same time it also acts as a great source of inspiration or influence for the people of this community, economically as well. The matters related to health perceptions and behavior also had a great influence on the community of the African-American people (Douglas 2012).
The black church had always influenced the people of the black community and this is a fact that is historically proven and therefore the role that the church had to play is very important. People had a lot of faith and trust on the church and the church had to keep up with the expectation of the people. My further research also reveals the fact that for carrying out the health disparity project in the region, it is important to stay within the structure of the church. The existing church structure will help the black church, in carrying out the health disparity project in the region, and apart from that it will also help in providing social justice to the people along with eradicating the historical discrimination as well.
There are certain problems that are associated with this research and the problems that are associated with this research include the role of the pastors or the leaders in the black churches. The pastors, as said before, had a great influence on the people belonging to the black community, but very less information is available on the fact regarding how the roles are at all transferable, so that there is a further engagement in the research. The pastors carried out different roles in their ministry, which could lead to conflicts and at times could also overload the pastors as well, therefore in the health discrimination research the role of the pastors should be given importance because I have seen that there is a role conflict when there is an overload.
My colleague in this health project had not followed the traditional way of conducting the research in his ministerial area; rather he believes that there should be a research that should be based on community partnered approach. If the research is being conducting by following this particular approach then the pastor could go beyond attaining those goals that are previously determined or those goals that are unilateral in nature. My colleague had adopted this approach and had gone through various dynamic processes, which include the process of research conceptualization through the collaborative method or way; it also includes the process of developing the study design and at the same time the process of project implementation and the evaluation of those outcomes that are useful for conducting the research.
My colleague believes that since there is a health disparity in the black community therefore it is important that the community partners, who in this case are the pastors, should play a very important role. They should take the responsibility of eradicating the discrimination that still exists in the society and should try to bring in improvements in the health care system. I came to know about the recent recruitments of the pastors that took place on the basis of the data that is related to disease prevalence and economic distress tiers. The data allowed the churches to recruit the pastors according to the need. In the recruitment process the recruitment of the pastors from the minority group is also taken into consideration because the approach that has been adopted by the black churches to eliminate all kinds of health related discrimination in region requires the support of the minority group as well.
The research that was adopted by the churches is really very intriguing to me and I understand that the pastors are not only responsible for playing one important role rather the pastors had to carry out multi-dimensional roles as well. The research that is being conducted here provides the opportunity of creating a role strain for the pastors and if the role strains are created for the pastors then it would be really very beneficial for the pastors because then the role strain would open up numerous potentialities or rather opportunities for the pastors, which they could use or rather utilize judiciously to come up with a solution to the problem that the people of this community is facing.
In this particular research the pastors should not only be people very good at playing the role of the leader of the church, but at the same time the pastors should also be a responsible leader of the community. In this particular research there is one major conflict that could be a hindrance for the research that is being carried out; and the conflict that is there is related to the conflict between science and religion. There are many churches that believe, that conducting a research by following a scientific reasoning should not be done since, science has always tried to prove the non-existence of the God. Therefore, to many pastors, science is not a friend or a partner of the research rather it is a rival.
Theological Reflection
I was very disturbed by the fact there is still discrimination among the people and the discrimination is there at such level that people face problems like health disparity. I wanted to have a theological solution to all these questions and to all these problems and therefore I went back to the teachings of Jesus, to the Old Testament, the Bible and to the Gospels, which would help me to find a solution to this particular problem that is being faced by the people (Adamczewski 2013). I first had a look into the Old Testament, in the Old Testament it is written that God has divided Man or the human kind into two very important racial groups; but these groups are not being divided on the basis of their skin color. The two racial groups, to which the Old Testament refers to, are the Jews and the Gentiles. Therefore, if one goes by the Old Testament then it can be seen that God has never discriminated human beings on the basis of their skin color (Tamoto 2013).
After I had understood the viewpoint of the Old Testament and what they had to say about racism, I had a look at Genesis, chapter one, line 26 and 27. According to Genesis every human being is created in the image of God and the breadth of that Almighty God has provided life to these human beings (Nygaard 2012). Therefore, all human beings belong to one race, which is the human race; although their ethnicity, their culture may vary from one another.
Racism actually means that there is a partiality; there is an act of favoring one race over the other. I had a thought over this matter, and then I had a looked at another book in the Bible called Deuteronomy. In chapter 10 and line 17 of this book, it states that the God is great, mighty, and obviously awesome as well, and God is not someone who is partial but at the same time He is also someone who does not indulge himself in taking bribes as well.
The words of Jesus, as narrated by John in his Gospel chapter 13 and line 34, refers to the fact that as God loves all and as God is impartial to all therefore, God too wants that His mankind is impartial in the same way. The Gospel refers to the fact that Jesus or rather Christ believed in providing equal amount of love to each other, only then will they receive the same amount. The way discrimination is hurting the mankind and is having a negative effect on the mankind bothered me and I wondered if the theme of discrimination or equality is at all being answered in anyone of the theological texts or not.
Therefore, I took the Gospel of Matthew and started reading it, and in Matthew 25, I found that Jesus had said that, if people are being hurt and if they are being mistreated then it hurts the image of God (Lloyd 2012). It hurts Christ, who has sacrificed His life for the sin of mankind. The lines inspired me and enlightened me, but again these are not the lines that I was searching for because this addresses equality, love, which could eliminate discrimination, but then that will be a long process. So, I looked and searched for racism in the theological texts. I wondered if the theme of racism is at all being addressed by the Christian theology or not.
I was surprised to found out that Christian theology has addressed the theme of racism (Boyarin 2012). The Christian theology and its texts do not have any direct reference to racism but then I found the following lines in one of the texts of theology:
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesian 4: 32)
These lines and as it has been interpreted by the scholars influenced me a lot; the scholars interpreted the lines and had stated that the racist may not deserve any forgiveness from mankind but mankind deserve God’s forgiveness in far less amount.
I believe that people who support the discrimination and creates health disparity on the basis of the discrimination are in some way or the other trapped in the devil’s scheme and as because they are trapped in the devil’s scheme, they are hurting mankind, who is being made in the image of God, and therefore, the person is also in a roundabout way hurting Christ (Bird 2012). The texts of theology have asked man bewaring of the devil’s scheme, and those texts have also asked the human beings to have their armour ready so that they could fight the evil and could also fight the devil’s scheme at the same time.
“Finally, be strong in the Lords and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesian 6:9)
I understood that God is not partial; Man has made him partial for their own interest and has distorted the Bible, Old Testament and the other theological texts for their own interest, to fulfill their own purpose (A. Morris 2015). My thoughts soon had its support when I looked back in the past 25 years and to those texts which are being referred as the black theologian texts. Many theologists believe that the black theologian texts has revisited the classical texts of theology and has found out that the human beings have used the texts in theology and had distorted the facts and had oppressed not only the people of the different other races but at the same time it has also helped them to oppress the women as well (Bayrak, 2013). Therefore, theologists, today go for a deeper understanding of the words that are written in all the texts of theology.
There are various views about black theology and the texts that are written by the black theologians, such as James Cone. Some theologians believe that the black theological texts are like the Nazi ideology, which shows a complete hatred towards the white people (Mackenzie 2015). On the other hand there are some other theologians who believe that the black theological texts are mainly about the white supremacy (Hopkins and Antonio 2012). The black theologists, with the help of these texts have tried to prove that the texts in theology has always been in the favor of the white supremacy and to support their points the black theologists have looked back to early writings, and especially to “Jehovah’s Witness.” C. T Russell, the founder of the black theology has stated in his book “Watchtower”:
“If nature favors the colored brethren and sisters in the exercise of humility it is that much to their advantage, if they are rightly exercised by it. A little, and our humility will work out for our good. A little while, and those who have been faithful to their Covenant of Sacrifice will be granted new bodies, spiritual, beyond the veil, where color and sex distinctions will be no more. A little while, and the millennial kingdom will be inaugurated, which will bring restitution to all mankind” (Drezner 2013).
The black theologians believe that in early theological texts and in the most important Biblical question “Can the Ethiopian change the skin color” the watch tower gave a very unique reply and that is “no.” The black theologians believe that although it is not possible for the Ethiopians to change the skin color, it is possible for God to change His color (Bradley 2012). Thus, the black theologians believe that one day there will be change in God’s kingdom, and then the Watch tower will proclaim that there will be an equality of all the races.
The theological texts actually had provided me with many notions but the lines from Gospel of John, chapter 2 lines 9, really showed me a lot of light in the great darkness, and those were these lines:
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”
I really hope that this particular line will helped me to help my colleague in his particular mission of eliminating, health disparity and health discrimination that is there for a particular community. The love of the God is always impartial and that is being written in almost all the Gospels and the theological texts, as well as in the Bible. Jesus too believed that Man should Love everyone and only then they can expect Love from others. The theme of Love and impartiality will help me to work on this particular project and to bring success in this particular project.
Action/Response
After the theological response, I gave a thought and had a view of the health disparity project with my colleague. The experience I had is really very useful and I was enriched with new knowledge and experience. I returned to my home and with the experience that I had gained I found out that the problem, which is the project topic of my colleague, is also prevalent in my church as well. I thought I should also address this problem as well, and the theological reflection that I had will be very useful for addressing the problem that people are facing in this particular area. Therefore, I had a talk with the senior pastor of my church and both of us decided that we should carry on the same health disparity project in our church as well and at the same we time should also take the help of the government. The help of the government is required for implementing this particular project in the church and at the same time, there should also be regular meetings at the church as well. In the regular meetings at the church the theological texts should be re-visited again and at the same time those theological texts should also be read and interpreted. However this time the interpretation of the texts should be done in a different way. The interpretation of the texts should be done to find out the real truth because, the meetings should address the theme of Love and impartiality, and with the help of these themes the health disparity or discrimination should be removed from the society.
References
- Morris, D. (2015). “The Pull of Love”: Mutual Love as Democratic Virtue in Niebuhrian Political Theology.Polit. Theol., p.160212124131008.
Adamczewski, B. (2013). Hypertextuality and historicity in the gospels. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Bayrak, Ö. (2013). ANALYSIS OF THEME OF LOVE. The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, Volume 6 Issue 3(6), pp.1009-1020.
Bird, M. (2012). Jesus is the Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
Boyarin, D. (2012). The Jewish Gospels. New York: The New Press.
Bradley, A. (2012). The political economy of liberation. New York: Peter Lang.
Byron, G. (2012). Race, Ethnicity, and the Bible: Pedagogical Challenges and Curricular Opportunities.Teaching Theology & Religion, 15(2), pp.105-124.
Douglas, K. (2012). Black bodies and the Black church. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Drezner, N. (2013). The Black Church and Millennial Philanthropy: Influences on College Frey, W. (2013). The dance of hope. Colorado Springs, Colo …: WaterBrook Press.
Hopkins, D. and Antonio, E. (2012). The Cambridge companion to Black theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lloyd, V. (2012). Race and political theology. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
MacDonald, D. (2012). Two shipwrecked gospels. Boston: Brill.
Mackenzie, E. (2015). Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme by Stephen Westerholm, Eerdmans, 2013 (ISBN 978-0-8028-6961-6), viii + 104 pp., pb £10.99. Reviews in Religion & Theology, 22(1), pp.105-107.
Nygaard, M. (2012). Prayer in the Gospels. Leiden: Brill.
Reddie, A. (2012). Black theology. London: SCM Press.
Reid-Salmon, D. (2012). Burning for freedom. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.
Spencer, N. (2016). Timothy P. Jackson, Political Agape: Christian Love and Liberal Democracy.Theology, 119(2), pp.143-144.
Tamoto, K. (2013). The Macregol Gospels or The Rushworth Gospels edition of the Latin text with the Old English interlinear gloss transcribed from Oxford Bodleian Library, MS Auctarium D. 2. 19. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Taylor, M. (2012). The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie James Jennings. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 66(3), pp.322-325.
Weissenrieder, A. (2014). Spirit and Rebirth in the Gospel of John. Religion and Theology, 21(1-2), pp.58-85.
Westerholm, M. (2015). On the Christological Determination of Augustines Theology of Love. Studies in Christian Ethics, 29(1), pp.84-98.
Wright, N. (2012). How God became king. New York: HarperOne.
