The Bible in film

Yesterday I attended an academic event. Oulia Adzhoa Sika Makkonen defended her doctoral thesis

They Will Call Me the Black God

Imaging Christianity and the Bible in African Film

The defence was indeed worthwhile to attend. The Faculty Examiner, Professor Jolyon Mitchell, from university of Edinburgh, the School of Theology, did a great job. He had enjoyed reading the thesis.

This kind of exercise always includes a section when the examiner goes through the thesis and explains what it is all about. After that the examiner must ask the candidate if the candidate can recognize the expose as a true reflection of the thesis. Oulia did so. And after that the conversation began. I think Oulia responded very well. Sometimes with humour. Sometimes by admitting that the examiner had a good point but most of the time by showing that she mastered the subject.

So let me say a few things about the thesis. Oulia explains in the beginning of the thesis:

My research does not begin with African Christianity, the place and role of the Bible and African Christians. Rather, it starts from looking at how film receives and depicts Christianity and the Bible in Africa.

This is important to understand. With this point of departure, she describes her aim like this:

The aim, then, is to show the ways in which the socio-political emphasis and decoloniality have influenced portrayals of Christianity and the reception of the Bible in African marked political films.

She then asks three questions to the films:

1. How do the selected films address Christianity and interpret the Bible?

2. How are they framed in relation to specific historical, cultural and

political contexts?

3. What are the potential implications of the transnational framing and circulation of the films?

The films are:

- La Chapelle, (The Chapel, directed by Jean-Michel Tchissoukou, 1980, Republic of Congo)

- Au Nom du Christ (In the Name of Christ, directed by Roger Gnoan M’Bala, 1993, Côte d’Ivoire

- La Génèse (Genesis, directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko, 1999, Mali)

- Son of Man (directed by Mark Dornford-May, 2006, South Africa)

I have only watched one of those, namely Son of Man. I was appointed commentator in one of the sessions of the seminar in History of Religions and World Christianity at Uppsala University, to which I belong. An interesting movie that I had not seen in South Africa when we lived there from 2002 to 2006.

Early in the defence Oulia explained that she had written the thesis because no one before her had studied African films from this perspective, except Jolyon Mitchell, but only in one article. She wanted to study the films not from a theological point of vies but from a cinematic one.

But why had she not chosen films from Nollywood? (The Nigerian film industry). The answer she gave was that she wanted to study politically engaged cinema. Then the examiner asked why she had not considered studying films from Hillywood. (Rwanda's film industry named for the country's rolling hills - I had not heard this term before. Interesting to learn new things.) But according to Oulia most films from Rwanda interprets the genocide and this was outside her focus.

It was very amusing when the examiner challenged Oulia and asked if she had been doing cherry picking, meaning that she had studied only films that she liked. She answered directly:

I don’t like any of them.

She also explained why she did not write about the reception of the films. It would have made the study more of historical study, which she did not want. And in the case of for example Son of man a number of persons had already written about it. Some of them are my former colleagues from the University of KwaZulu- Natal, like Gerald O West and Sarojini Nadar.

At one stage the examiner asked why she was so modest about her contribution and then she again answered rapidly:

I think my analyses are great.

One comment I found especially interesting. That African film sometimes look at the past more than into the future. It reminds me of what John S Mbiti wrote many years ago about the absence of the future in the African mindset. But is that really true? To me it sounds like a generalization.

Another aspect that was highlighted was that Oulia had applied a different methodology for each chapter. The problem being, that it might be difficult to find coherence between the chapters. My take on this is that it makes the thesis more alive. She explained that she wanted each film to influence the method to use and the questions to ask. But again, this might be the weak point; that the thesis lacks a whole. On this note my reflection is that this is how theses in medical science always are done. One adds several articles to one another. And one combines them within a framework (kappa in Swedish). Maybe one can see Oulia’s thesis as four articles combined in this way?

My final reflection is about the role of laughter. Oulia gave an example from Au Nom du Christ. I have not seen this film, but her example aroused my curiosity. The situation where the characters laughed included – amongst other things – a woman who had no children and twins. Two phenomena with symbolic charge in an African culture. Oulia said that she had watched the scene repeatedly until she understood the meaning of laughter in the context. It was a reaction to absurdity. This resonates with my own experience from the continent, albeit from southern Africa.

After the examiner and Oulia had finished their conversation the grading committee were allowed to ask their questions. When Professor Jyoti Mistry from the University of Gothenburg asked about aesthetics, Oulia exclaimed:

You made my day.

The whole public defence seminar ended after more than two hours. I guess Oulia was exhausted. But she did very well. And of course, she passed!

Professor Kajsa Ahlstrand, the supervisor and Oulia Makkonen.

Contextual Bible Study

Sarojini Nadar in front of Uppsala Cathedral

Today Professor Sarojini Nadar, who holds

the Desmond Tutu Chair of Ecumenical Theology and Social Transformation in Africa

at the University of Western Cape in South Africa, visited us at the Church of Sweden Institute for Pastoral Education. Approximately thirty persons were present at the interactive workshop where we read a Bible narrative together. It was the story about the syrophoenician woman who meets Jesus. We read both the Mark 7 and the Matthew 15 versions. It was reassuring to see the engagement from students and teachers. The group consisted of students preparing to become deacons and pastors, teachers at the institute, academics from the Theological Faculty at the Uppsala University and staff members from Church of Sweden head office.

When a bible study is facilitated by theologians from the Ujamaa* tradition some things always strike me. First of all everybody in the room get an opportunity to participate and to speak. All contributions are written on a flip chart. Second, you never experience a rush, even if there is a time constraint. The facilitator is not in a hurry.

We arrived at interesting conclusions. One thing that a couple of persons picked up was the impression that Jesus didn’t want to help the woman directly. Instead he started a dispute with her which helped her to raise her own voice. Only then did Jesus respond positively. Somehow even Jesus came out from the conversation transformed. He also learnt something from the encounter. A question that was asked was if we are quick to help people instead of first engaging with the other person and wait for her or his own opinion. In such an interaction we might come out as the one who has received.

Much more could be said. Those who were present were very positive. The day before students at our institute, who study in Lund, also got a chance to meet her.

To me this way of reading the Bible together is something that we should use more in the parishes. The question that always comes up towards the end is how we make sense of the biblical text in our own context. How does it speak to us? This is of course essential. Only then transformation can take place.

The theme of the workshop was

Pedagogical underpinnings of the Contextual Bible Study Method

and included also a part where Sarojini explained how this pedagogy works. This was also appreciated.

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* The Ujamaa Centre for Biblical and Theological Community Development and Research in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is an interface between socially engaged biblical and theological scholars, organic intellectuals, and local communities of the poor, working-class, and marginalised. The Ujamaa Centre uses biblical and theological resources for individual and social transformation (from the website).

The Kairos Document 30 years

Another anniversary! This time the 30st Anniversary of the South African Kairos document. As far as I know, the first document of this sort.

Kairos (καιρός) is a Greek word which means the opportune time. Greek has another word for time, kronos (κρόνος), which is the ordinary clock time.

One of my colleagues in the Church of Sweden, Rev. Anna-Karin Hammar, takes part in the celebrations. 

Anna-Karin to the left (and I think I recognise Sarojini Nadar, a colleague
from UKZN, to the right.

Two other persons I know are Chali Kasonde and Nonhlanhla Mnisi. They are students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and I know them as dedicated and bright students.

It would have been wonderful to be part of this occasion. But my place is right now in Sweden. That is my Kairos.

Still I want to quote one of the persons who are present at the Kairos Anniversary in South Africa, Prof John de Gruchy. He writes on a blog called kairossouthernafrica:

As we take note of what is happening around the world as well as in our own country, we would be foolishly blind if we did not recognise the global and national crises facing us.  The world has become a much more dangerous place than we ever imagined when we entered this new millennium.  So we should listen to the prophets.  They are not prophets of doom but prophets of justice and hope.  This is God’s time, they declare, a time to grasp the opportunity to change.  So let us not be among those who, as Isaiah said, “look but do not see, or listen but do not hear.”  Rather let us following the counsel of the prophet Micah and the Kairos Document “ do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”

Since the 1985 Kairos Document in South Africa similar documents have been published in Palestine and Swaziland, just to mention two.

A network for academics working with the Kairos concept is called Grasping Kairos. I am one of them.

The most important thing, however, is to listen to God and find the Kairos document in one’s own context.

What is your Kairos?

Chali Kasonde with the Mayor of Johannesburg, Mpho Parks Tau,
at Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto.

Nonhlanhla and Chali.

Naboth’s Vineyard

Today the text for the bible study was 1 Kings 21:1-22. My colleague from UKZN, Sarojini Nadar, asked me to play the role of Naboth. So here’s the text itself and some footage:

Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”  

Jione Havea as king Ahab and me as Naboth.

So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” 

Queen Jezebel (Evangeline Anderson Rajkumar) talks with her husband, king Ahab.
I, Néstor O. Míguez, Maake Masongo and Pernilla Stam are waiting for the story to continue.

He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” 

As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard. 

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’” Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. He says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ “And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ “Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country.” (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.) When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

After the drama the main actors were invited to share their views in a talk show, where Sarojini asked everyone a few questions. 

And thereafter we all shared thoughts in smaller groups. This text is a very important text for Christian Palestinians. That became very clear in the report back. This overshadowed another aspect which also could be found in the text, namely the conflict between Elijah and Jezebel. She is described in rather negative ways. The question is: is it fair? A few chapters earlier in the story we can read about how 450 of Jezebels prophets were killed. But of course, Naboth had nothing to do with that.

Let justice roll down like waters

Every day at the Assembly revolves around a Bible text. Today Amos 5:14-24 which is a strong and prophetic message relevant in this context.

Every day at the Assembly starts with a Morning Prayer and bible study. I attend the English Plenary Bible Study. We are many hundreds but it works. The method is contextual bible study and we are asked to form small groups where we sit. Today it was led by my colleague at the UKZN, Prof Sarojini Nadar. Four people helped her read the text. Thereafter she welcomed Amos to the stage. First it felt as a humoristic role-play but it soon turned into a real encounter.

A prophet from Tahiti!

In our small group I met Ms Katia Tupara from the Maohi Protestant Church, Tahiti. When we were invited to share thoughts about the bible text she told us about the French occupation of Tahiti. This came as a very prophetic challenge to me. I have to realize that I did not pay much attention to the political situation of the people in the so called French Polynesia. I know about the nuclear tests which is of course only one part of a very complex situation. On top of that the people living on those islands also have to face the climate change and the rising of the sea level. I asked Katia about how she feels about the image from Amos:

Let justice roll down like waters

She said that there is a huge difference between the waters. Rising sea levels are caused by the big countries in the world. The water Amos is talking about is the fresh water springing up from the soil of these islands.

 

Ylva Sarri is drumming on her digital drum.

The bible study was done with words and drums. For instance the reading of the bible text was mixed with drumming. As a sign of how a prophet makes people listen by making a lot of noise. This made me think of the situation in Sweden. In the 17th Century the Swedish state (which was then in total union with the Church of Sweden) burned and destroyed the drums of the Sami people. Today the Swedish state allow foreign companies to exploit Sápmi. The mine in Gállok is only one example. I hope that the Sami people find their destroyed drums and also their prophetic voice. One such voice is Ylva Sarri. She is one of four delegates from Church of Sweden. You can find her blog through this link.

The first plenary this day began with three greetings. One came from the Archbishop of Canterbury (Anglican). The other was from the Chairperson of the Pentecostal World fellowship. He told us that his participation in the Global Christian Forum has been an inspiration for him. He quoted Mark 9:40 where Jesus says:

Whoever is not against us is for us ...

The last greeting was given by the leader of a Buddhist organization in Japan which has worked together with the WCC since Vancouver in 1983. They support some of the WCC programmes. I think this was great! But why is always those greetings given by elderly men. His Grace, His Holiness, His Eminence …. This needs to be changed! Now!

The plenary was called the Asia Plenary. We listened to five different speakers. One spoke (again) about multiple identities in Asia. Another one said that the 21st Century is called the Asian century. But how about Africa? I cannot recall all the presenters but one was a Korean Orthodox bishop who made a plea for the Orthodox churches in the Middle East. He also showed slides from the Holy Trinity Church in Pyongyang. The Orthodox Church in North and South Korea is united. The strongest message though came from a medical doctor from India who told the story about two girl conjoined twins that where born near the hospital. The family rejected them but the hospital and the whole village embraced them. Their names were Stuti and Aradhana, meaning Praise and Worship. When they were separated after a few years Aradhana died from an infection after some time. A tragedy, of course. But the outcome was that the family went through a process and accepted Stuti, who is now living with her biological family.