Four and one half months in
Romania and some reading by Nancy and I do not make one an expert.
This time however has enriched our understanding, given us some
interesting insights and raised some important questions.
Romanians desperately want to become part of the European Union and
become integrated with the West. At the same time they want to maintain their
cultural identity. They are not sure that this is possible and are concerned
about the possible "McDonaldization of Society." They are apprehensive
about globalization, the risks of an unregulated capitalism.
Romania under the dictator Ceaucescu was one of the poorest and
most repressive societies in Eastern Europe.
For the young there is no turning back.
Most of my students, however, told Nancy and I that their parents thought
things were better under Ceaucescu than now.
Romania has rejected Marxism but is still run by former Communists.
Not everyone is convinced that these former Communists have truly
repented of their Marxist “faith.”
Romania is not a secular
society. It is rather a
“Christian” nation where patriotism and the Eastern Orthodox Church are
frequently identified. Approximately 85% of the population is identified as
Orthodox. Religious education is
required in the public schools. Those
who are not Orthodox tend to be looked down upon. “Neo-Protestants” which
loosely includes Baptists, Pentecostals and others identified as Evangelicals
tend to be despised. These are the “Po kai eets” or “Repenters.”
From the Orthodox point of view the great schism took place not between
Roman Catholics and Protestants. That
was a rift between two heretical groups too much given to excessive rationalism.
Eastern Orthodoxy never really experienced an encounter with the
Enlightenment in the way we have in the West.
The “real” split in the Church took place in the 11th
century and not in the 16th. The
Orthodox Church seems by all accounts to be very weak in what we would call a
tradition of doing Christian social ethics.
This is doubtless due in part to its repression under Communism-in Russia
for 70 years-in much of Eastern Europe for 50 years.
Is it also due in large measure to its ecclesiology and soteriology?
For the Orthodox, theology in the West took a wrong turn by its excessive
reliance on Augustine and a forensic approach to salvation. They speak first of “theosis”-becoming God (they do not
mean by this pantheism) rather than “justification” either by faith alone or
by faith and works. The Orthodox
were persecuted under the Communists but not nearly as much as other religious
groups. There is much complaint by
other groups that the Orthodox still use their power to repress the
“competition.” They had close
to a monopoly under the Communists that they are not entirely happy about giving
up.
In our discussion next Thursday
we will begin to explore the Orthodox doctrine of the church, salvation,
apologetic method, historical method, view of worship and hermeneutics.
This will be only a beginning. My
sense, however, is that for us to understand many of the countries in Eastern
Europe and their present and possible future relationship to both modernity and
capitalism we need to seek an understanding of the Orthodox faith.
And then there are the Gypsies!
The Romani or Roma (read
Gypsies) constitute between 2 to 2 and ½ million of the 22 to 23 million
Romanians. They are much despised.
They are very poor. Nancy and I worshipped at a Gypsy church and ate with
the “King of the Gypsies.” Gypsies
are being converted in large numbers especially to Pentecostalism.
There are almost as many Gypsies world wide (12 million) as Jews.
They have a long tradition going back at least a thousand years of
rejecting integration within their host countries.
For Romania their integration into the economy and social fabric of the
country is an enormous problem. How
Gypsies can be part of the body of Christ, citizens of their host countries,
economically productive members of modern society and still be Gypsies raises
fascinating theological, political and economic problems.
We will not present coherent solutions to this problem on Thursday.
We will begin to explore some of the related issues.
I look forward to seeing you
there.
Richard Von Dohlen
