Reflections of a New Missionary - Lutheran Society for Missiology

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88 Missio Apostolica Review Essay Premise Are Lutherans Ready for 21" Century Ministry and Mission Understanding Folk Religion Carl Rockrohr The Lutheran Confessions specifically addresses a contemporary belief system found throughout the world, "folk religion." Our theological task includes identifying the worldview, beliefs, and practices of the local folk religion, so that the Gospel worldview of the Lutheran Confessions can be better taught, preached, and applied to the specific, local situation. Understanding Folk Religion One finds that every group of people has distinctive beliefs, traditions, and daily activities which reflect a particular view of the world and their place in it. The members of a Lutheran congregation In rural Nebraska are quite distinct from the members of its sister congregation in Miami, Florida. The local beliefs and practices concerning animal sacrifices of the Konkomba people in rural, north-eastem Ghana, West Africa, may sound quite strange to the urban Ghanaian living in the capitol of Accra. The notinfrequent practice in the St. Louis area of burying a statue of Joseph in the front Iawn of a house to get a quick sale of that house is quite surprising to this writer, whose ministry in Africa included Christian admonition and discipline of Lutheran church members who slipped back into similar "juju" practices in Ghana. Understanding Folk Religion: A Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and Practices (Paul G. Heibert, R. Daniel Shaw and Tite Tienou, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999) is a book which is a helpful resource to understand that the people whom one serves have very specific, and perhaps very syncretistic, beliefs. Whether the local majority belief is classified as Christianity or Hinduism or an African Traditional Religion, it is important to try to understand the specifics of local beliefs and practices so that the Gospel preaching and teaching can also address those local beliefs and practices specifically. Understanding Folk Religion helps the missionary and pastor hone his ability to recognize and analyze the local beliefs and practices in both non-Christian and Rev. Carl Rockrohr is a graduate student at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and is a former missionary to Ghana, West Africa.
Are Lutherans Ready for 21'' Century Ministry and Mission 89 Christian people. In the process of its analysis and conclusions of "folk religion," it becomes evident that confessional Lutheranism is well equipped to evangelize and minister to arguably the world's largest belief system, folk religion. Saying all this, this study does have some weaknesses in its theological presuppositions and logical arguments which should be noted. What is Folk Religion Folk religion, as defmed by Understanding Folk Religion is the mixing of belief systems. This mixing might take place in the beliefs and practices of any large religious belief system. Thus, there is Muslim, Hindu and Chstian "folk religion," to name but a few. These beliefs and practices are often contrary to the orthodox beliefs of that faith, but often these beliefs and practices are evident in the majority of various populations (77). For example, "folk Hindus" make blood sacrifices-against the Hindu tenant of killing (9) and "folk Christians" go to soothsayers, offer sacrifices to ancestors or consult horoscopes. The primary concern of the authors is "folk Christianity," that is, addressing the problem of Christian people mixing non-biblical beliefs and practices into their lives. The book excels in helping the reader begin to recognize and analyze the presuppositions and worldviews underlying folk beliefs and practices. Often the folk religion is addressing an area of life which the person believes is not considered in the orthodox teachings of that religion (p. 76). Some common major concerns of folk religion frequently cited in the book's analysis are the concerns about making decisions, e.g. trying to know the hture (Chap. 7); the question of suffering and pain-why did this happen to me at this time and not to another (Chap. 6); and the concern and fear of the "middle zone" such as angels, demons, ancestors, spirits, witches, etc. (p. 79). One helpful aspect for the U.S. pastor is the study's occasional analysis of North American secularized folk religion, including materialism, evolution, astrology, and "good luck" behaviors by sports stars (pp. 267ff). Unfortunately, the authors have decided to explain the above shortcomings in Christianity with the terms "split-Christianity" and "two-level" Christianity. These terms sound suspiciously like a "Jesus is Savior but not Lord" approach. And indeed, the authors' theological positions of faith as a process and conversion as a rational decision explain such terminology (pp. 25, 42, 44, 279, 388). The rationale and explanation of "spilt-level" Christianity appears immediately in the first chapter and is one of the motives for the writing of the book. Regardless, the data and analysis of "folk religion" provlded is useful enough to keep reading. Some Folk Religion Insights The presentation in Understanding Folk Religion is convincing documentation that merely separating areas of the world into Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto, etc. regions of belief is not an adequate understanding of what the majority of people in the world believe and practice. One of the first premises of the study is that missions is about particulars, not universals (p. 13). By the end of the book, the reader starts to become
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