Wider Contextualized Biblical Spirituality

The founder of the Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC), Rev. Dr. M. A. Thomas often organized Bible study programs by bringing the faithful belonging to different Christian denominations together with the intention of making this knowing process to be a dialogue, incorporating a plurality of traditions and perspectives. Continuing this heritage, during the Covid-19 pandemic period, ECC organized a series of online Bible studies and other Programmes. The first series was under the title Wider Contextualized Biblical Spirituality where scholars belonging to various churches delivered erudite and articulated lectures. Hundreds of Christians from different Churches and denominations from all over the world participated and enriched themselves through this online Bible study programs that interpreted the message of Jesus Christ to our varied multiple contexts of India and Asia.
These lectures were centring on Bible relating to different physical and cultural contexts such as Ecological, Tribal, Gender Equality, Community Spirituality, God's Silence, Inclusive Spirituality, Healing Ministry, and others covering a wide range of topics. As we know, Biblical Spirituality is inspired by the Word of God, and a transformative process of personal and communitarian engagement. More than fifteen scholars who presented papers also got the opportunity to expose their ideas to be critically addressed by other scholars and to deliver wider nuances exposed by the questions of the participants.
Bible is the written account of two movements guided by the Holy Spirit. The first account, known as Old Testament evolved out of the faith experience of Israel, the people of the covenant. It was initiated by the election of Abraham and the covenant made with him and later when they had fallen into slavery, liberated and led them in to the Promised Land as a collective movement under the leadership of Moses. An exclusive covenant was made with them by Yahweh who promised to be their God and they exclusively belonged to Yahweh.

I am very happy to introduce this great work on Biblical Spirituality which has collated and corralled a variety of reflections based on the Bible against the background of the cross currents of the modern age. Fr. Mathew Chandrankunnel CMI and Dr. Johnson Thomaskutty have done a marvelous job in bringing together scholars with expertise in different areas of biblical scholarship to reflect on contemporary situations. As believers in Jesus Christ, we reenact in our lives the experience of the Lord in His incarnational existence. Every facet of human life and every aspect of the universe were touched by the life of Jesus so that the Word of God has got a message for everyone and everything, however insignificant it may appear to be.
The greatness of God and His providence are proclaimed equally with clarity and love by the august immensity of the universe as well as by the tiny petals of a hedge The unfathomable beauty of wild flowers is equally attractive as the chaste of beauty of specially cultivated flowers in the most beautiful gardens of kings and nobles. The Word of God seeped. through the hard and bitter experiences of human transforms them into flowers of tenderness and compassion. Francis Thompson has put it very poetically and eloquently: "my gloom is after all the shade of His hand outstretched caressingly."
The ever renewing Spirit of God touches the sod and dirt of the earth making it renewed and refreshed. Human life becomes renewed through its contact with the Word of God. Karl Rahner has pointed out this very beautifully in the following words: "Those who proclaim Him with their mouths and deny Him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable." Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of the great poets of our times, has touched on the impact of the Spirit of God on the beauteous forms of nature in the following words: "The world is charged with the grandeur of God... because the Holy Ghost over the bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings."

The current edited volume entitled Wider Contextualized Biblical Spirituality is ecumenical in nature as the authors attempt to interpret the Biblical narratives and the extra-Biblical documents from multiple vantage points and suggest a new way forward for Christian spirituality in the contemporary Indian context. The articles aim to answer the following questions: How can we conceptualize and interpret the Christian Scriptures and extra-Biblical documents for a borderless spiritual formation and orientation? How can the Biblical spirituality cross the human made boundaries like caste, colour, ethnicity, gender, denomination, religion, and others? Can we understand Biblical Spirituality above and beyond the so-called denominational and religious boundaries? How Bible can be used as a paradigm to cross the traditional boundaries, create contextual and ideological constellations, build dialogical relationships, incorporate relevant Indian categories, and rhetorize the discourse toward a 'Third Space"? Answering these questions are key in the process of searching for a new paradigm of spirituality.
The existent notions of "spirituality" and "biblical interpretations" lag behind in making inclusive and accommodative aspects of the multi- religious, multi-cultural, and pluralistic contexts in India. The prevailing interpretations of biblical spirituality, with their exclusive and parochial tendencies and approaches, do not have the potential to make a wider impact in the contemporary contexts of our country.