In what sense is Christ a model for practical theology?

Introduction A famous Christian author sits across a table from an attractive young black woman. The woman is telling her life story. She has grown up in a Christian family in Zambia. Then, through various difficult circumstances she finds herself working in the sex trade in a dusty African border town. Now she has AIDS and is desperate to find an exit from this way of life. She has come to the office of a Christian organisation seeking help. The Christian author has his own form of desperation: what can I possibly say to this poor woman that will be of any help to her? He reaches into his memory bank and pulls out Jesus story of the prodigal son.1 To argue that the Christian life is a life that in some way seeks to reflect the life of Christ, the founder of the Christian faith, is unlikely to be disputed. Nearly all religious faiths have a mimetic centre in which a great life becomes exemplary for others to follow, whether it is Buddhists following the meditative example of the Buddha or Muslims seeking to emulate submission to the divine will like Muhammad. However, making theology relevant to the complex situations of Christian life and ministry in the twenty first century requires more than a simple desire to follow Christ. The example of Christ needs unpacking and translating into terms that can provide practical guidance for the modern Christian. As a way of translating his life into ours throughout Christian history theologians and teachers have thought of Christs life and teaching in terms of models. These models enable us to take what we know of Jesus in all his complexity and contextuality and bring him as it were into the present so that he can become normative for the life of the Church and for the individual Christian. This process is not without its pitfalls and dangers but is nevertheless a rich source of material that can be used to make theology relevant in the present day. In this essay, after a review of practical theology and the use of models in theology and Christology, we will consider some of the ways in which models of Christ be used in developing a practical theology for a particular situation, namely the contemporary churchs engagement with the issue of HIV and AIDS. In the process of doing this we will discover that Christs life and teaching are both relevant and
1

Summarised from Adrian and Bridget Plass (2005), The Son of God is Dancing: a Message of Hope, Milton Keynes: Authentic, pp 146-158. The book describes a visit that the Plasss made to Zambia in 2004 to learn about the churchs response to HIV in the country.

challenging in this engagement and provides a basis for an authentic Christian response. Practical Theology Practical theology is the application of theological ideas and doctrines to the everyday life situations faced by ordinary Christian people and by the church. Swinton and Mowat define practical theology as critical theological reflection on the practices of the Church as they interact with the practices of the world, with a view to ensuring and enabling faithful participation in Gods redemptive practices in, to and for the world.2 Cartledge emphasises that practical theology is engagement with real people in real social contexts.3 It is the points at which the rubber hits the road for Christian theology. It is where theology moves out of its ivory tower and seeks to give guidance to the church on the dilemmas of life. According to Osmer, the two critical questions that practical theology seeks to address in any situation are what ought to be going on? and how might we respond? These are what he calls the normative and pragmatic tasks of practical theology.4 Traditionally, practical theology has focused on the issues raised by pastoral ministry in the church, such as preaching, pastoral care, public worship, church government and the Christian education of the young.5 However, over the past 100 years, the scope of practical theology has broadened to take in a wider variety of issues with which Christians have engaged, so that just about anything that concerns church life can be considered within its remit.6 This includes theological reflection on the churchs engagement with HIV which will be discussed later in this paper. Reader reflects this broader remit when he summarises Woodward and Pattisons outline of the characteristics of practical theology.7 They offer four: Practical theology is transformative in other words, the purpose of practical

theology is to make a difference in the world; it is not just an academic discipline. Practical theology is unsystematic writings on practical theology are likely

to be provisional, flexible and responsive to the local context. This echoes

Quoted in John Reader (2008), Reconstructing Practical Theology: the Impact of Globalisation. Aldershot: Ashgate, p 8 3 Mark Cartledge (2003), Practical Theology: Charismatic and Empirical Perspectives, Carlisle: Paternoster, p 11. 4 Richard Osmer (2008), Practical Theology: an Introduction, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, p 11 5 Reader, Reconstructing Practical Theology, p 5 6 Reader, Reconstructing Practical Theology, p 6. 7 Reader, Reconstructing Practical Theology, p 7ff

Cartledges view that practical theology is still in the process of definition and is under development.8 Practical theology is socio-politically aware and committed to engaging with

real problems. Practical theology is interdisciplinary and uses the methods and insights of a

range of different disciplines as part of its theological method. With its emphasis on context, on praxis and on being transformative, practical theology has close parallels to the methodology of liberation theology.9 The starting point for practical theology, like liberation theology, is normally a situation or event which has confronted the Christian or the church. The global HIV crisis falls into this category. Through a process of reflection on the situation and on relevant Christian doctrines and theologies, the practical theologian seeks to develop a considered Christian response, but one which will always be provisional and subject to challenge and change. Osmer defines four stages in this process10 while Cartledge identifies five in what he calls the pastoral cycle.11 For both the movement is from the situation or event under consideration into theological reflection and then onto proposals for action. Models in Theology The use of models has an important place in Christian theology. Soskice defines a model as an object or state of affairs which is viewed in terms of some other object or state of affairs.12 In everyday use, the term model is used in at least three senses13: A model is a simplified representation of an original e.g. a model car A model is a particular type of design e.g. the latest model Ford A model is something that is worthy of imitation e.g. a model husband.

Ramsay makes the point that the role of models in science, philosophy and theology is to make use of something familiar and accessible to help us understand something that is unfamiliar and inaccessible.14 So, for example, we speak of Jesus as Gods Son as a way of helping to understand something of Jesus identity and role, or we
8 9

Cartledge, Practical Theology, pp 12, 16. Cartledge, Practical Theology, p 20 10 Osmer, Practical Theology, p 4. 11 Cartledge, Practical Theology, p 21. 12 Janet Soskice (1985), Metaphors and Religious Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p 55 13 Max Black (1962), Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language and Philosophy, New York: Cornell, p 219.

speak of the Holy Spirit as a fire as a way of helping us to understand something of the Spirits work. Although according to Black there is no such thing as a perfectly faithful model, because it is only by being unfaithful in some respect that a model can do its job of representing some aspect of the original,15 models help us to discern an important truth that would otherwise escape us. Models are particularly useful and necessary in theology because many of the concepts are by their nature unfamiliar and we need models to help make them more familiar to us. Theological discourse, like scientific discourse, is often walking on the edges of language where straightforward, everyday speech is inadequate for the task.16 But because models can only ever be partial representations of the original, one model is rarely going to be enough but will need others to fill out the picture and to qualify and challenge each other. Thus, Soskice makes the point that religion relies on a multiplicity of models which each have partial adequacy no single model will suffice and every model has its limitations.17 As well as providing illumination however, models also have their dangers. Like their close cousins metaphors, models do not just help us describe and explain the unfamiliar in more familiar terms; they also help us to interpret the world.18 We therefore not only describe Jesus as Gods Son; we also apply our understandings of sonship to Jesus. The danger of using models to interpret is that we apply inappropriate characteristics of the model to the original. To take an obvious example, it is normal practice for fathers to discipline errant sons, but there are no grounds for thinking that God as Father was ever required to discipline Jesus in this way. There is also a danger of idolising models so that they become ends in themselves rather than limited windows into something beyond.19 If models are a way of making the unfamiliar familiar not only do they have a place in theology in general but they have a particular value to practical theology because of the desire of the practical theologian to earth theology in everyday experience. Models enable us to bridge the hermeneutical gulf between the world of the Bible, for example, and the world of the twenty first century, helping people to see ways in

14

Ian T. Ramsay (1967), Religious Language, London: SCM, p 61. See also Ian T. Ramsay (1973), Models for Divine Activity, London: SCM. 15 Black, Models and Metaphors, p 220 16 Paul M. Van Buren (1972), The Edges of Language, New York: Macmillan, passim 17 Soskice, Metaphors and Religious Language, p 103. 18 Soskice, Metaphors and Religious Language, p 62 19 Ramsay argues that Arius of Alexandria (256-336 AD) made this mistake, idolising the idea of Jesus as Gods Son and mistaking this description for definition (Ramsay, Religious Language, p 159-163. Quotation from p 163).

which the Bibles message is relevant to engagement with real people in real social contexts.20 Because of the central place Christ has in the Christian faith, his life and teaching have particular value in model building. Burridge makes the important point that Jesus deeds and words go together: both are needed to fill out the significance of his life and mutually reinforce each other21. With this in mind, if we return to Blacks uses for the word model in every day language, we can speak of Christ as a model for practical theology in at least two ways. First of all, Jesus is regarded by Christians as the only man who has truly lived a sinless and therefore exemplary life - a model life. Therefore, if the purpose of practical theology is to assist the Christian to understand the situations which confront her and to act in ways that are faithful to the redemptive activity of God, then Christ is the model par excellence. Christ, in all that he is and says and does, is a model for the Christian, since the Christian life is essentially about imitating Jesus.22 The life of Christ is normative for the Christian23 and Christian ethics cannot but be primarily modelled on Jesus Christ whose life and actions are archetypal and paradigmatic.24 It is in this exemplary sense that Jesus is described by, for example, J T Holland, as a model for ministry.25 In what is essentially an exercise in practical theology, Holland reflects on how Jesus enlarges, supports or contradicts our conception and practice of Christian ministry.26 Holland identifies Jesus human concern, his ability to stay in touch with his own feelings, the relational character of his ministry and his dialogic approach, all of which Holland believes are also essential to effective psychotherapy, as signs that Jesus stands out as a model for ministry. Burridge has a similar view of the exemplary role of Jesus for the Christian. He summarises Jesus whole ministry in two contrasting statements: Jesus was both a rigorous ethical teacher and at the same time one who openly accepted others,

20 21

Cartledge, quoted above, page 2. Richard Burridge (2007) points out that the biographical-narrative approach of the Gospels combines Jesus words and deeds to communicate the nature and significance of his life and ethics (Imitating Jesus: an Inclusive Approach to New Testament Ethics, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, pp 25ff) 22 Burridge, Imitating Jesus, passim. 23 Spohn, quoted in Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 75 24 Carapiet, quoted in Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 74. Or as Rowan Williams puts it, the Christian life is the repetition or recapitulation of the act and the narrative of Gold, primarily but not exclusively in the incarnate Christ (quoted in Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 391). 25 J T Holland (1982), Jesus, a model for ministry, in The Journal of Pastoral Care, Vol 36 No 4, pp 255-264 26 Holland, Jesus, a model for ministry, p 255

particularly those who were regarded by society as sinners.27 .This is what made him so radical and brought him into conflict with the religious authorities of his day. Following Christs example means both embracing his rigorous ethics and practicing his open acceptance. As Burridge acknowledges, it is not easy to follow Christ in this way since it is far easier either to stress the ethical rigour and exclude the sinner or to stress the acceptance of others and to go easy on sin.28 However, when we move from Christ as the exemplary model for Christian living to the use of models as simplified representations to help describe and explain his identity and activity, no single model of Christ will suffice. Rather we need to draw on a multiplicity of models, each of which will provide some guidance and shed some light onto our situation or event. These models can be drawn from a variety of sources. There is a wide assortment of biblical models of Jesus, none of which is exhaustive in revealing his identity.29 Each term sheds certain light on who Jesus was, why he came and what he did. Taken together they build a complex picture of his identity and intentions. Taken too far and they can lead us astray Jesus is not an inanimate word, for example, but the living breathing Word. There are also what we might call theological models of Jesus, derived from ways in which theologians have described aspects of Jesus identity and work. In his book, Models of Jesus, OGrady has six of these, drawn from the breadth of 20th century Christological reflection:30
27

Jesus as the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity The Mythological Christ Jesus the Ethical Liberator Jesus the Human Face of God Jesus the Man for Others

In his appeal for the eschatological restoration of the people of God, Jesus intensified the demands of the law with its rigorous ethic of renunciation and denial in all the major human ethical experiences, such as money, sex, power, violence and so forth. However, at the same time, the central stress in his teaching on love and forgiveness opened the community to the very people who had moral difficulties in those areas (Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 61). Borg points out that Jesus uses table fellowship with sinners as a weapon, an acted parable of acceptance, an acted parable of what Israel should be (Quoted in Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 65) 28 Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 76 29 These include Jesus the Son of God, Jesus the Suffering Servant, Jesus the Lamb of God, Jesus the teacher, Jesus the Logos, Jesus the Bread of Life, Jesus the Good Shepherd, Jesus the Light of the World, Jesus the Son of Man, Jesus the King of Kings. 30 John F. OGrady (1981), Models of Jesus, New York: Doubleday

Jesus the Personal Saviour

OGrady argues that each model has its strengths and weaknesses, that no overarching paradigm will encompass all the others, and that all are necessary to fully describe Jesus. However, in his revised version of the same book,31 OGrady opts for the human face of God as his preferred model, arguing that this model more than any other speaks to the needs of both the speculative and practical theology of today or at least for preaching and religious education and personal piety.32 OGrady also provides a list of criteria which can be used to evaluate any model of Christ. These are: Faithfulness to Scripture Consonance with tradition Relevance for contemporary problems of belief Ability to give direction to Christian mission Correspondence with contemporary religious experience Theological fruitfulness Soundness of anthropology

Christ is a model for practical theology in these two related senses therefore. Because the Christian life is one of discipleship, Christs whole life is exemplary for the Christian, showing the Christian how to live in the everyday by illustrating in a variety of encounters and sayings what a righteous life looks like. Secondly, the various facets of Christs life defined either biblically or theologically, can be regarded as models for particular types of Christian ministry in particular situations. The model of Christ as Shepherd for example has down the centuries had resonance with those who have leadership roles in the church, while the model of Christ as Servant has provided a guide for those seeking to work with the poor and marginalised in society. As we have already seen, there are dangers with the use of models, particularly when drawn from the life of Christ. First of all, there are aspects of Christs identity, life and ministry which do not apply in any direct sense to the Christian disciple.
31 32

John F. OGrady (1993), Models of Jesus Revisited, New York: Paulist Press OGrady, Models of Jesus Revisited, p 195. Like OGrady, Schillebeeckx opts for a single, overarching model which he believes provides a proper framework for understanding Jesus. He describes Christ as The Eschatological Prophet who claims to bring a definitive message of salvation which is valid for all history. Although this model does not itself provide a clear bridge into practical theology, it allows Schillebeeckx to root his ethics in the person and activity of Christ

Christ is uniquely Gods Son, Christs death is uniquely vicarious, and Christs reign at the right hand of the Father is uniquely his right and calling. Assuming inappropriate Christ-like qualities or callings is a danger which the church needs to be alert to. Secondly, no single model of Christ can be applied in complete isolation to all the others, since it is only together that they begin to add up to the complex person of Christ. Just to think of Christ as personal Saviour is to ignore his role as Saviour of the world. The model of Christ as King has to be qualified with the model of Christ as Servant. Thirdly, as we have already seen, models are inherently unfaithful is some respect and to apply them to Christ without due care can be misleading: Christ not Son of God in a physical sense. Finally, models derived from a life lived two thousand years ago and from incidents that do not have direct parallels today can be difficult to apply today. We cannot simply read directly across from the pages of the New Testament into twenty first century life. There is as Burridge has said a gulf between the world of the New Testament and our own world.33 The pastoral model is one that is unfamiliar to most unchurched people living in urban Britain today and needs careful unpacking and application. At the same time, many of the events and situations faced by the church today do not have direct equivalents in the New Testament. For this reason, it is often necessary to derive principles from biblical models which can then be applied to the current context. But this process is not without its dangers, since different and sometimes contradictory principles can sometimes be drawn from the same event.34 With these dangers in mind, we move to consider how the model of Christ has and can help the church in a particular area of practical theology, namely the churchs engagement with HIV. The Response of the Church to HIV: an example One area in which the necessity for practical theology has been evident in recent years has been in the churchs response to the HIV35 epidemic. There is no question that the direct and indirect impact of the spread of HIV around the world since the virus was first identified in 1981 has been devastating, particularly in some of the worlds poorest countries. Since 1981 it is estimated that around 25 million people
33 34

Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 359 With this problem in mind, Hay has proposed a four fold method to bridge the gap between the New Testament and today. These he describes as the descriptive task, the synthetic task, the hermeneutic task and the pragmatic task (Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 357-8. Burridge goes on to critique and develop Hays typology). 35 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that may result in AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV attacks the body's immune system and undermines the bodys capacity to fight deadly opportunistic infections.

have died from HIV related causes, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. Today there are estimated to be over 33 million people living with HIV, two thirds of these in subSaharan Africa.36 Treatment is available through anti-retrovirals but these can only help to prolong life, not cure the disease. In any case, only 42 per cent of those living with HIV currently have access to drugs. Because the main way in which the virus is transmitted from person to person is through sexual activity, the disease attracts a stigma to those affected in a way not associated with many other illnesses. This has been particularly true in Africa where traditionally there has been little open discussion of sexual matters. The church has been in the forefront of the response to the disease, particularly in Africa. This has included both education and prevention programmes and caring for those living with the disease or affected by its impact.37 In Uganda the church is credited as being a major contributor to the decline in HIV infections through the involvement of church and other religious leaders in the planning and implementation of the national AIDS strategy.38 It was in Uganda that the ABC Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms message was developed and widely used by religious leaders. However, the churchs response has also been problematic. In a frank assessment the World Council of Churches concluded in 1996 that by and large the response of the churches has been inadequate and has, in some cases, even made the problem worse.39 Reasons cited include hampering efforts to spread accurate information about the causes and prevention of HIV or putting up barriers to open discussion and understanding.40 A more recent statement by the WCC indicates that some progress has been made since then, with church leaders in Africa recognising that their denial and slowness of action has contributed to the spread of the disease.41 However, an ecumenical newsletter on HIV related issues published by the WCC in 2009 recognised that health issues such as the HIV pandemic have exposed fault lines
36

All statistics taken from Global Facts and Figures 09, published by UNAIDS and accessed online at http://data.unaids.org/pub/FactSheet/2009 on 3 April 2010. 37 World Council of Churches (1996), Statement on the Impact of HIV/AIDS and the Churches Response, published in The Ecumenical Review, , pp 270-276 38 UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS (2001), Increased partnership between faith-based organisations, governments and inter-governmental organisations, published in the International Review of Mission, Vol 90, pp 473-475. 39 World Council of Churches, Statement on the Impact of HIV/AIDS, p 271 40 World Council of Churches, Statement on the Impact of HIV/AIDS, p 271

41

World Council of Churches and Christian Conference of Asia (2002), Report of the

WCC-CCA consultation on An ecumenical agenda to combat HIV/AIDS in South Asia', http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/other-ecumenical-bodies/churchstatements-on-hivaids/wcc-and-cca.html, accessed 3 April 2010.

that reach to the heart of our theology, our ethics, our liturgy and our practice of ministry, unwittingly leading to stigmatization, exclusion and difficulty in addressing the issues of sexuality, masculinity, femininity and spirituality.42 That fault line is at its widest when it divides those who view the causes of the spread of HIV to be largely the result of personal immorality and those who seek to emphasise a more liberal approach. Those Christians who emphasise the need for personal morality have good reason. The spread of HIV is closely related to a range of activities that traditionally Christians have regarded as immoral.43 In the west the main cause of the spread of the disease has been homosexual intercourse among men, although heterosexual sex is becoming increasingly significant. A secondary cause has been the sharing of needles among drug addicts. In the non-western world, particularly Africa, heterosexual activity involving multiple partners has been the main cause, with alcohol abuse adding to the problem.44 In Asia, the epidemic is centred among particular high-risk groups, particularly men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers and their partners.45 Moore makes the point that in the context of AIDS the Churchs [traditional] teaching has obvious benefits. If everyone had followed it, AIDS would have spread much less than it has, if at all.46 However, serious opposition has arisen outside and inside the church when the church has preached faithfulness in marriage as the main way of preventing the spread of the disease and when it has argued that HIV is Gods punishment for immorality. One telling and well founded reason for this criticism is that significant numbers of people who have not indulged in any form of immoral practice have still contracted the disease, including children infected through their mothers, victims of rape, faithful married men and women who have contracted the disease from an infected partner and people who have received infected blood or been injected with an infected needle during medical treatment. To stigmatise these people by saying that God is punishing them or that they are in some way to blame for their condition is clearly wrong. Beyond this, it is increasingly recognised that other factors are in
42

EHAIA Occasional Newsletter, February 2009, http://www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/justice-diakonia-and-responsibility-forcreation/hivaids-initiative-in-africa-ehaia/newsletter/ehaia-newsletter-february-2009.html, accessed 3 April 2010. 43 Gareth Moore (2007) puts the point starkly: Mostly you get HIV by having sex with an infected person in such a way that their bodily fluids can enter your body (The church, homosexuality and AIDS, in Gill, ed, Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, p 80). 44 S M Mbulaiteye (2000), Alcohol and HIV: a study among sexually active adults in rural southwest Uganda, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 29, pp 911-915 45 From the website of the charity Avert (www.avert.org). Accessed 4 April 2010. 46 Moore, The church homosexuality and AIDS, p 80-81.

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play which leaves certain marginalised people especially vulnerable to the disease. Women in particular for a variety of reasons find it harder than men to protect themselves.47 Those on the other side of the divide accuse those who preach primarily about sexual abstinence and faithfulness of increasing stigma against everyone affected by the disease, reducing opportunities to encourage testing and closing off practices, such as condom use, that will reduce spread.48 They often see what they regard as the churchs ambivalence about sex at the heart of the problem. Across the fault line are Christians and others who want the church primarily to preach a message of inclusion and acceptance.49 As well as the difficulty of applying moral blame to many of the people affected by the disease this also has been driven by a growing recognition that there are many church members who are HIV positive, recognition that the Body of Christ has AIDS.50 This is seen at its most extreme in the example of Christian leaders who espouse the gay and lesbian cause. At Unity Fellowship Church in Los Angeles, set up specifically to cater for gay and lesbian Afro-Caribbeans who were thought to be excluded from traditional denominations, God is said to embrace every gender, every race and ethnicity, every sexual orientation and every possible social status.51 A significant number of the 150-200 church members are HIV+, many of them recovering drug addicts. Messages about HIV testing and prevention and the use of anti-retrovirals are regularly communicated during church services. Rather more mainstream is the move among many Christians involved in HIV prevention and treatment to deal with the stigma issue by replacing the ABC message about HIV prevention with SAVE which stands for safer practices, available medications, voluntary counselling and testing and empowerment. The reason stated is that ABC is regarded as too simplistic and is

47

Sara Bjork (2006), The unveiling of the patriarchal church: African women theologians in search of ecclesiological transformation in the struggle against HIV and AIDS, Swedish Missiological Themes, Vol 94 No 3, pp 305-332. See also 2004 Report on the global AIDS epidemic, published by UNAIDS (www.unaids.org/bangkok2004, accessed 4 April 2010). 48 It is for this reason that Paula Clifford (2004) states that the church made a spectacular theological error in its initial response to HIV (Theology and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, London: Christian Aid, p 3). 49 The Roman Catholic Church is particularly divided around this issue. While the use of condoms as a strategy for reducing the spread of HIV is contrary to official Catholic teaching, many within the Catholic Church who are confronted on a daily basis with the devastating impact of HIV want to see the Churchs teaching modified, arguing that the preservation of human life is more important than church dogma on condom use. See Marcela Alsan (2006), Catholic Church condom use comes face to face with reality of AIDS in Africa, Commonweal Magazine, 24 April, republished on Catholic Online (www.catholic.org), accessed on 3 April 2010. 50 Bjork, The unveiling of the patriarchal church, p 318 51 Pamela Leong (2006), Religion, flesh and blood: recreating religious culture in the context of HIV/AIDS, Sociology of Religion, Vol 67, Fall edition.

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not well suited to the complexities of human life.52 African feminist theologian Musa Dube believes that gender inequalities make [the ABC] method ineffective and that it totally ignores the realities of most women.53 With this divide still in play, it is not surprising that some are calling the church as a whole to reflect afresh on the theological and ecclesiological principles that determine their response to the epidemic.54 Others are arguing for recognition that neither the churchs moralising nor the secularists education campaigns have stopped the spread of the disease.55 What is needed, they say, is a new practical theology for the churchs engagement on HIV which enables the church to make a constructive and positive contribution to defeating the disease or at least to lessening its negative impact. What contribution to these theological principles can be made from the concept of Christ as a model for practical theology? Models of Christ and the Churchs Response to the Global HIV Crisis One exemplary model that has been particularly prevalent in this field already has been the model of Christ as healer,56 in particular, using the way Jesus dealt with and treated those affected with skin diseases such as leprosy as a normative model for how the church should respond to those with HIV.57 There are clearly strong parallels between HIV and leprosy, particularly in the religious and social stigma attached to the two diseases.58 Gill highlights these when he writes: Lepra then and AIDS in much of Africa today are both visibly shocking, involve dangerous and defiling impurity, are deemed to be inflicted by God characteristically as punishment for sin, necessitate social exclusion, interdictions and stimatization, consume the flesh uncontrollably and signal early death, leaving children as orphans and the elderly without carers.59
52

Christian Aid Information Leaflet: HIV is a Virus Not a Moral Issue. In this leaflet, Christian Aid point out that abstinence and faithfulness are vitally important HIV-prevention strategies. 53 Bjork, The unveiling of the patriarchal church, p 312 54 Bjork, The unveiling of the patriarchal church, p 305. 55 Stan Nussbaum (2007), Evangelicals and AIDS, in Gill (ed), Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, p 135. 56 Allen Verhey (2002), Remembering Jesus: Christian Community, Scripture and the Moral Life, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, pp 100-107 57 See for example, Chris Manus & Bolaji Bateye (2006), The plight of HIV and AIDS persons in West Africa: a contextual reading of Mark 1.40-45 and parallels, Asia Journal of Theology, Vol 20 No 1, pp 155-169, and Robin Gill (2007), AIDS, leprosy and the synoptic Jesus, in Gill (ed), Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, pp 100-113. 58 According to Marshall, at the time of Jesus the plight of a person suspected of leprosy was grave. He was sequestered from normal society, and if cured could only be restored to it after examination by the priest and the offering of sacrifice (I Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: a Commentary on the Greek Text, Exeter: Paternoster, 1978, p 208). 59 Gill, AIDS, leprosy and the synoptic Jesus, p 112.

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Jesus willingness to challenge social and religious taboos by touching the leper and to take seriously the lepers desire for healing both have attitudinal and practical applications to the modern situation.60 So drawing on the example of Christ, one Christian preacher comments: I suggest that if we understand Jesus attitude about leprosy, the AIDS of his day, we will know how we ought to respond to it [i.e. AIDS]. Let the position and posture of Jesus be your position and posture as you deal with the issue of AIDS.61 In another of his healings, Jesus makes it clear that illness cannot be directly attributed to punishment from God, which rightly encourages far greater caution than has sometimes been shown in making moral judgements about those affected.62 In many of his healing miracles, Jesus also went beyond physical healing to deal not only with the physical condition of a sick person but other needs as well. Presented with a paralysed man, Jesus surprising first move was not to heal him but to forgive his sins.63 Commenting on this incident Verhey makes the point that (m)any persons with AIDS sometimes hurt in places no medicine can touch; they have needs that are not simply medical but psychological, social and spiritual.64 Wittenburg makes a similar point when he says: recognition that AIDS patients are hurting in all three dimension [physical, social and psychic] is a precondition for any deeper understanding of its problems.65 By following the model of Jesus therefore, the Christian would resist pressure to reduce the treatment of HIV to dealing only with the physical symptoms and call for a more holistic approach, in particular one which addresses social and spiritual as well as physical needs. As Verhey puts it, in memory of Jesus we will not reduce patients to their pathologies.66 However, there are also important differences which make the direct application of the model of Jesus healing ministry to a contemporary engagement with HIV of strictly limited value. For one thing, taken in isolation from a broader reading of his ministry, Jesus role as a healer provides limited help in reflecting on some of the wider factors that are fuelling the spread of HIV in the world, which include poverty, gender inequality, lack of education, and conflict.67 It is striking that when Christian

60 61

Mark 1.40-42 Quoted in Gill, AIDS, leprosy and the synoptic Jesus, p 111. 62 John 9.1-3. See Kenneth Overberg, Outside the Camp? Leprosy, AIDS and the Bible (www.americancatholic.org/newsletters, accessed 3 April 2010) for a brief discussion of this passage in relation to HIV. 63 Matthew 9.1-8 and parallels 64 Verhey, Remembering Jesus, p 105 65 Wittenburg, Gunther H. (2007), Counselling AIDS patients: Job as a paradigm, in Gill (ed), Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, p 152 66 Verhey, Remembering Jesus, p 105

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Aid produced a study pack for churches for World AIDS Day,68 none of the five New Testament passages chosen for study referred to Jesus meeting with lepers and only one dealt with Jesus conducting a healing miracle69. One answer is to supplement this model with others. For example, Jesus treatment of women is another area where he can be regarded as an exemplary model.70 This can be used as a reference point for addressing some of the gender issues associated with HIV. Without dismissing the value of these healing models, if we recognise that a multiplicity of models is required in addressing a situation as complex as the global HIV pandemic, what other models could be useful? Behind this divisive debate we can detect the tensions highlighted by Richard Burridge between the rigorous morality lived and taught by Jesus and the open acceptance that Jesus demonstrated to those regarded by others as sinners.71 From Burridges reading of the New Testament, we can construct another, two dimensional, model of Jesus which brings together these two aspects of his ministry and present Jesus as rigorous ethicist and friend of sinners.72 Jesus message of faithfulness in marriage and Pauls teaching about the human body as a temple of the Holy Spirit have to be taken seriously.73 For the church to ignore or suppress these messages because they are not palatable to the modern taste is to fail in the churchs role of being faithful to Christ. Clearly this message has to be preached and taught in ways that communicate at the same time a willingness to embrace all those who are affected by HIV and who desire to discover more about Christ but can be an empowering one if delivered in the right way and accompanied by appropriate support and, when required, grace. On the other hand, if Jesus is our model then his radical practice of welcoming unconditionally into his company the outsiders and the stigmatised must also be
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In a speech delivered in December, 2006), Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, stressed the need to address what he called the drivers of the epidemic: It is patently clear that we need to make real headway against the fundamental drivers of this epidemic, especially gender inequality, stigma and discrimination, deprivation and the failure to protect and realize human rights (www.unaids.org/policyandpractice/driversoftheepidemic). Accessed 4 April 2010.. 68 Flesh of Our Flesh: ideas to inspire giving, campaigning and praying, London: Christian Aid (undated) 69 John 9.1-7, the healing of the man born blind. The lesson drawn from this story is that Jesus makes it clear that sin does not cause illness (Christian Aid, Flesh of Our Flesh). 70 Lukes concern for women is part of his wider portrayal of Jesus ethic for the marginalised (Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 266). See also Verhey, Remembering Jesus, 178-184. 71 Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 76 72 Luke 7.34 73 Mark 10.5-12; 1 Corinthians 6.19. I agree with Burridge that Paul follows Jesus example by giving his readers demanding teaching while appealing to them to follow his example of imitating Jesus by accepting each other (Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 343).

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adhered to.74 His example of table fellowship with the despised and rejected members of society and his very practical acts of compassion for the marginalised are a powerful reminder that words are not enough. McDonagh makes a direct comparison between Jesus practice and the challenge facing the church today when she says: Jesus recognition and inclusion, to the point of table fellowship, of the poor and excluded, provides the model for Christian ministry to people with AIDS/HIV. Without unconditional acceptance and accompaniment, the most skilful professional care, moral analysis and education will lack Christian authenticity.75 The church must get out of its ghetto and down from its pulpits and find practical ways of demonstrating Gods love in particular for those whom society shuns. In this area as in most others actions can speak louder than words or at least can speak in ways that words cannot. For Burridge, the clue to resolving the tension between Jesus rigorous ethics and his open welcome to sinners is found in his call to all who would follow him to repentance. As Burridge says, while repentance and change cannot be a prior requisite, it may be a response to the call of Jesus As people respond to the call and follow Jesus as disciples, they will hear his demanding ethic and will want to change along the way. To become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect is a lifelong process.76 A practical theology for HIV which is based on the exemplary model of Christ will therefore include the moral and ethical challenges to uphold Gods ideals for sex and marriage and for the proper treatment of the human body but will also include the equally demanding challenge to open up the church in ways that allow all and sundry to come in and to feel accepted. Any theologies which miss either of these elements must be considered deficient from a Christian point of view. However, what is clear is that Jesus was careful about when and where he communicated his various messages, saving his most rigorous ethical teaching to his more private conversations with his disciples.77 What this may indicate is that the church has to be careful about when and where it preaches its messages about HIV. Without being disingenuous, is it possible for the church to show a welcoming face to those affect by HIV, while at the same time underlining to those who choose to follow Christ that a rigorous ethical stand is required? Reflecting on the situation in South
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E.g. Matthew 9.10-12 Enda McDonagh (2007), Theology in a time of AIDS, in Gill (ed), Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, p 56. 76 Burridge, Imitating Jesus, p 77 77 See for example Mark 10.1-12

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Africa which has one of the highest levels of HIV infection and church attendance in the world, Ryan seems to have this in mind when calls on the church to separate its education on sexual morality from its compassionate response to the AIDS pandemic in order to avoid the image of being judgemental.78 The use of Burridges model of Christ as rigorous ethical teacher and friend of sinners provides a framework for developing a theology of engagement with the issue of HIV that is faithful to the biblical witness to Christ and to Christian tradition and morality. As practical theology this approach can be transformative in the lives of people directly affected by the disease and in wider society. At least one observer of the churchs response to the global HIV crisis sees signs that the church as a whole is moving in this direction. Martin writes that In many church documents of recent times there is an important balance between concern for expressing moral truth in a doctrinally rigorous way and pastoral concern for people and he sees this as a sign of hope.79 More probably needs to be done to engage with the socio political context and to draw in other disciplines if this model and those drawn from Jesus healing ministry are to fulfil Woodward and Pattersons other characteristics of practical theology.80 As a model it can also be seen to pass most if not all of the tests OGrady proposes to evaluate any model of Jesus:81 it is clearly drawn from the biblical portrait of Jesus, is consonant with the Christian teaching of upholding for example the ideal of marriage and seeking to minister to the outsider, is directly relevant to a pressing contemporary problem, gives direction to Christian mission in this area, corresponds with some (perhaps not all) Christian experience and has a sound anthropology behind it. The model also serves as a challenge both to the church and to the world to live up to the demands of Christs teaching and practice. Like every model, it has its limitations - it underemphasises Jesus prophetic role, for example82 - and would therefore need to be supplemented with other models, both biblical and theological, for a more complete picture. Conclusion

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Charles Ryan (2007), AIDS and responsibility, in Gill (ed), Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, p 74 79 Leonard M Martin (2007), AIDS prevention and the lesser good, in Gill (ed), Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, p 181 80 See above page 3 81 See above page 8 82 See Musa W Dube (2007), Jesus, prophecy and AIDS, in Gill (ed) Reflecting Theologically on AIDS, pp 89-99, for a contribution on this theme.

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Plass instinct to draw on his knowledge of the life and teaching of Jesus to provide some comfort to a traumatised young lady in a Zambian counselling centre was a right one. It is move that Christians have made down through the centuries as they have sought to make Jesus relevant to the ethical and practical dilemmas of ordinary life, to make their theology practical. In that conversation his homely depiction of God as a heavenly father welcoming home his prodigal child bridged the gap between the world of first century Palestine and a hot and dusty African town in the 21st century. Like God as Father, Christ as Son is also a model that we can draw on as we seek to make our theology practical. As sinless yet human Christ is the model par excellence for the Christian, offering both an exemplary life and teaching. Models also give us simplified representations of Jesus that help to bridge the hermeneutical gap between his life and ours. That all of these models require careful application and qualification does not detract from their value to the practical theologian. We have seen in debate around the churchs response to the global HIV crisis, both the exemplary model of Christ and the particular facets of his life and ministry can help provide us with a distinctive, challenging and practical theology for engagement. Single and simple models will have some but limited value. The use of more complex and multiple models enables us to address more effectively the complexities of dealing with this most pressing and challenging human problem. The formation out of Burridges depiction of Christ as rigorous ethical teacher and friend of sinners of one such more complex model that can go some way to guiding the church through this difficult terrain. Final paragraph needed

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