March 7, 2009
Ecumenism must be a way of life, Latin American theologian says
By Denise MacLachlan
Herald staff
In an interview with the Herald, theologian Elsa Tamez observes that “reading the Bible is the point of encounter for all Christian churches.” Luis Gris Elizarrarás/Herald photo
Christians must commit to ecumenism as a way of life according to Elsa Tamez,
a theologian and professor emeritus of biblical studies at Latin American
Biblical University in Costa Rica, who gave the Paul Wattson-Marie Kidder
lecture at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Sacramento Feb. 24.
Her topic was the relevance of ecumenism in a globalized society.
Tamez has written several close readings of biblical texts, among them “The Scandalous Message of James” in 1989, “When the Horizons Close: Rereading Ecclesiastes” in 2000, and “Jesus and Courageous Women” in 2001.
She has a “deep love for the Bible,” she said in an interview with The Herald, which led to her earning bachelor and licentiate degrees in theology at the Biblical Seminary of Costa Rica as well as bachelor and licentiate degrees in linguistics and literature at the National University of Costa Rica.
Tamez, a Methodist, wrote a concise Greek-to-Spanish dictionary in 1978 that is still used in seminaries today. In 2000, the University of Bern in Switzerland honored her with the Hans-Sigrist Award for her contributions to contextual biblical hermeneutics.
Tamez’s approach to theology is to understand Scripture in the language and culture in which it was written, she explained, and then to apply that understanding to “real life today.”
“The language and culture of the past is like a light that shines on the Bible from behind and illuminates it,” she said. “Then that light shines forward on us today.”
Reading the Bible without the light of that context leads to fundamentalism, she contended. Such uninformed readings have been used to justify slavery and other forms of oppression, she noted.
Tamez’s rootedness in scriptural studies provided the basis for her talk on ecumenism at the Paul Wattson - Marie Kidder lecture. Since “the Bible is the point of encounter for all Christian churches,” she said, all Christians can live together with diversity in their local practices, yet aspire to be the universal church by loving God and loving their neighbors, as Jesus taught them.
To apply Jesus’ teaching to real life, Tamez turned to the observations of the Joint Working Group of the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Drawing on their observations of ecumenism as well as her own observations, Tamez offered some practical strategies.
First, she said, Christians must commit to ecumenism as a Christian way of life. “Ecumenism is an attitude,” she said, “a way of living with the ‘other.’”
Globalism “brings the ‘other’ to our doorstep,” Tamez noted. Tamez quoted Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, permanent observer for the Vatican to the United Nations, who wrote that there may be 200 million international emigrants in the world. This makes practicing ecumenism a matter of being open to the people around us, Tamez said.
Tamez cited the road to Emmaus in the New Testament as her example of ecumenism: Travelers on the road share stories, then recognize Jesus among them when they share bread. Christians living ecumenically can share stories and open themselves to one another, she said. On the way they will realize that there is divinity in the others around them, as creatures made in the image of God.
Christians must have faith in the “overabundance of grace in confronting the abundance of sin,” she said, and so must listen to one another respectfully and look on one another with tenderness.
The Paul Wattson-Marie Kidder lecture series in Sacramento is an extension of the Paul Wattson lectures on ecumenism sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Each year, the Atonement Fathers invite an international leader in the field of ecumenism to speak on a current topic of interest.
The Paul Wattson lecture series at the University of San Francisco expanded to include Sacramento several years ago in memory of Marie Kidder, mother of Msgr. James Kidder, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in El Dorado Hills and former diocesan director of ecumenical and interreligious affairs.
