Bible from a Tribal’s perspective

Rev.B.Zirsangliana

Introduction
The term, ‘Tribal’ carries complexity and commonality as well. The tribal cultures have different practices and traditions. On the other hand, there is a common experience among the tribal communities in different contexts. In this paper the main concern is Tribal reading of the Bible or Tribal Biblical hermeneutics. To put in other word, ‘a reading of the Bible out of the reflection of tribal social realities.’ Above all, so as to formulate and ascertain the theological view and Biblical hermeneutics of the tribals it is important to know the identity, and experience of the tribal people as it is discussed in the following.

Who are the Tribals
Social scientists designate a segment of the world’s population as tribals, primitive or native tribes or aborigines. Such tribes or communities are found in all six continents. India has the largest concentration of such indigenous and tribal people. As many as 400 tribes exist in India with a population of about 80 million. Etymologically the term Tribal derived from Latin word. The English word, ‘tribe’ derived from the Latin, tribus (tri=three, bhour or bu=to be) literally means “to be three.” It was used to identify the three basic divisions of Roman people- the Tintienses, Ramnenses and Luceres. It was used primarily for the division of Roman citizens without a derogatory connotation. All Roman citizens, both provincial communities (civitates) and individuals who were granted Roman citizenship under the empire (after 27 BC) were enrolled in one or other of the tribes. This division was used for the purpose of taxation, military conscription and census taking.

Thus, the term Tribal did not originate with the tribal themselves and it originally did not have any derogatory implication. ‘It is the term used by Anthropologist to denote a group of people speaking a common language, observing uniform rules of social organization and working together for some common purposes such as trade, agriculture or warfare.’ Indian usage of the term is the worse one. In India, the term Tribal is an imposed term which has a pejorative implication. It denotes living in the hills and forest, primitive people, economically backward.

Experience of the Tribal
The Tribals and dalits claim to be the indigenous or the ‘Adivasis’ (first inhabitants) people of India, though the Indian Govt has never officially recognized this claim. Nirmal Minz says,”Adivasis (Tribals-Dalits) of India are the indigenous people-the original inhabitants of land from which they were displaced by invaders. Though the land originally belonged to them, Tribals in India till date are facing chronic socio-political and economic problems. Different tribes in different places go through marginalization and oppression in various forms. Ever since India has started new economic policy (since 1991) the tribals have become the victims in the so called economic development and industrialization. “Every major dam since 1970s has been submerging adivasi land. Every wild life sanctuary in India is on adivasi homelands. Every national park is totally adivasi. Of the mines in India, 90% are on adivasi land. Almost 50% of the mineral wealth of India comes from adivasi areas. Yet 85% of the Adivasis are below poverty line.

K.Thanzauva observed that “Tribals have been victimized by development effort in our country. They are pushed out from their ancestral land, to give way to the establishment of damps, power plan and other developmental projects…the problem of alienation of tribal land is more acute in in the plain areas. The problem of hill tribes in North east India is the shift of ownership from community to individual ownership which deprived land right of the poor” Today, tribals are facing serious problems in socio-economic spheres. Particularly in the North East India context, as Yangkahao says, “The whole NE India is burning with the problem of insurgency, militarization, foreigners issue, state sponsored terrorism, human rights violation etc But the social reality of the context has been overlooked by the Central Govt of India. Inspite of all these problems and economic backwardness, M.M. Thomas observed that the tribal Christians and Church are the real hope of bringing the Gospel to India’s heart. Out of his personal experience he mentions, that tribal Christians are the effective and dynamic instruments for future Christian missions in India

A need for the Tribal hermeneutical principle
Moltmann rightly says, “Reading the Bible with the eyes of the poor is a different thing from reading it with the eye of the man with full belly. Thus the understanding and interpretation of the Bible can be differing from one perspective to another. More importantly, it is quite important to note that the Bible tells us about the experience of the particular people in a context which is conditioned by time and space. Therefore, the tribal reading of the Bible can not be same as that of those who are different from tribal culture. Thus the context of the tribal demands a new hermeneutical paradigm that should meet the contextual demand. And so, the hermeneutics of biblical interpretation of tribal begins with the tribal social context rather than the biblical texts themselves.

Liberation of the Aliens as the Tribal Hermeneutical paradigm
The biggest problem among the tribal people in India is alienation. There are certain reasons for this; the tribals do not belong to the dominant racial group of Dravidians or Aryans. They do not belong to the major religious groups (Hindus and Muslims). Physical appearance is also another cause for the alienation. Thus a hermeneutical paradigm addressing this issue has to be developed. Here, i would like to agree with the advocacy of K.Thanzauva who says, “the hermeneutical paradigm has to be drawn from the experience and suffering of the gerim (aliens)

The issue of alien occupies the central place in the Bible. The Biblical texts made evident that the people of God (Israelites) themselves are the Aliens (Exodus 22:21; 23:9, Deut 24:18,22). When the Israelites were settled as a nation there were aliens among them (Exodus 22:22; 23:19etc). More importantly, God commanded them to protect the aliens; They should not oppress aliens (Deut 5:12-15). Aliens should be helped( Deut 14:28; 24:19-21). They should do justice to aliens(Deut 24: 14-22), aliens should participate in the worship and covenant ceremonies. Justice for the Aliens and weaker section of community is one of the central theme of the Bible. Hence, the issue of alien or alienation in the Bible becomes a theological challenge and provides a hermeneutical paradigm for the tribals.

TThe Exodus: A Biblical Paradigm for the Tribals - Liberation
For the tribals, liberation movement in the Exodus provides a hope and paradigm for liberation. The Exodus is the paradigm of the tribal movement that most closely parallels the current Indian tribal context. From a tribal perspective the socio-political or socio-economic dimension of the Exodus narrative is highlighted, rather than abstracting it to a spiritual and personal dimension. Biblical accounts or stories have their full meaning when they are re-embodied in and through the tribal own praxis of current socio-political liberation.

Tribals themselves become the bridge connecting the hermeneutical gap between the liberating events of the Bible and events of today. The tribals experience or belief in a God who delivered the oppressed from social and political bondage in biblical times will inform and invite the tribals into the Bible, believing the same God will deliver the oppressed in the present as well. The conviction and belief that God who stands on the side of Hebrew slaves (Deut5:15; 15:15) will stand on the side of the oppressed tribals fills a gap between the Bible and the life of today's tribals. The story of Hebrew tribals experience in Exodus provides insight and hope to the tribals who are suffering. It is not the situation or the reality of tribals that compares two different groups of tribals in two different times and cultures. Rather, it is God who delivers the oppressed in the past and present and tribals’ experience that encounters God in history as the liberator. The past experience provides hope for the present; the present experience confirms the God of the past, creating a unity of past and present, history and reality. Thus, in a socio-economic or socio-political sense, the biblical liberating events are clear paradigms for God's intervention in history, and such intervention takes place in the socio-economic arena today.

Interpretation of the Bible as a Whole from the Tribals Perspective
Tribal theologians read the whole Old Testament from tribal perspective. They see the Bible as a book of the Israelites' confession of God who saves them throughout history. From the Exodus event, tribal theologians examine Deuteronomist history, the Prophets, and Psalms and Wisdom Literature and find that all these Biblical accounts, in one way or another relates the tribals and their experiences.

Bible narratives as the history of Tribals
Despite the fact that it is a history of powerful Israelite Kings, the Deuteronomist history connects with the social reality of tribals as seen in the story of the Widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:12-16) and in the story of Naboth's vineyard(1kings21 :1ff) These stories emphasize the fulfillment of justice in the life of the tribals(1kings21:29; 22:38).

Tribals as the main concern of the Prophets
‘The voice of prophecy, heard in the latter part of 8th cent B.C. was like the roar of a lion that pierced the noise of market places and solemn assemblies…the prophets were the successors to the judges, the charismatic leaders of the former tribal confederacy.’ The Bible reveals that the Old testament prophets are always on the side of the poor. Tribals identify the social reality of tribals by using terms that refer to the people who are the main concern of the Hebrew prophets. Terms such as the "needy" (`ebony; Amos 2:6, 4:1, 5:12, 8:4, and elsewhere), the "poor" (dalim; Amos 2:7, 4:1, 5:11, 8:6), and the "afflicted" (`anawim; 2:7, 8:4) in Amos are examples. Tribals interpret the prophet Amos as the advocate for tribals’ human right and for economic justice.

Wisdom literature as Tribal-literature
The wisdom literature of the Bible is the fruit of a movement among ancient oriental people to gather, preserve and express, usually in aphoristic style, the results of human experience as an aid toward understanding and solving the problems of life. In Israel especially, the movement concerned itself with such basic and vital problems as man's origin and destiny, his quest for happiness, the problem of suffering, of good and evil in human conduct, of death, and the state beyond the grave. Originating with oral tradition, these formulations found their way into the historical books of the Old Testament in the shape of proverbs, odes, chants, epigrams, and also into those psalms intended for instruction.

Origin of the wisdom literature
AAmong the Biblical scholars it is generally held that the wisdom literature in its original form was oral tradition. In regard to the origin of the wisdom literature, Rowland E. Murphy made a the following definite remarks;

“In the case of Israelites wisdom it is reasonable to assume that proverbial maxims and admonitions first had a life of their own within the community before they assumed a fixed, written form…important traditions of the family would have circulated orally and been transmitted on the basis of memory…indeed, when one examines the proverbs and sayings…(eg;Judg8:21; Sam 30:24-25; 2Sam5:8),one is able to capture the feel of oral transmission…the question still remains, who wee the originators, and who were the transmitter of the heritage? Two answer to the questions have been suggested in modern scholarship: the family or tribe, and the court school where professional bureaucratic training, and specially writing…both of these answers may be correct; there is no reason to exclude either one ”

Thus, it is clear that various texts of the wisdom literatures are originally emerged from the life and experience of tribals or people from the grass roots, which were later adapted to worship. For example, the psalms of lamentation are the exclamation of tribals that expresses their sorrow, agony, and grief. In examining the psalms of lamentation, we see that the categories of suffering fall into different areas; poverty, political oppression, victims of social sin, and physical and psychological pain. The Laments in Psalm can also be broadly divided in to ‘individual lament’ and ‘community lament.’ And all these lamentation conveyed about the suffering of the down trodden people.

The book of Job is also a tribal literature rather than a book of the rich or book of theodicy. For tribals, Job represents those who are entirely and suddenly deprived of their life without reason. In the context of India, Job's suffering is the suffering of tribal in which poverty and suffering are regarded as their destiny. Gustavo Gutierrez in his, ‘On Job: God talk and the suffering of the innocent,’ rightly says, “In the course of the history of the Church certain tendencies in the Christian world have repeatedly given new life to the ethical doctrine that regards wealth as God’s reward to the honest and the hard – working, and poverty as God’s punishment to the sinful and the lazy. R.H.Tawney(referring to the suffering of Job) also says, ‘The capitalist ideology has historically made use of this doctrinal expedient-openly in the beginning; nowadays in more subtle forms-for its own religious justification. Tribals view on wisdom literature is distinctive and insightful in explaining the life of tribals in the era of globalization that experiences sudden financial collapse and abandonment by the family. One must note that, even more than ever, transnational capital, in the form of transnational corporations has encroached into the life of the people, causing impoverishment at unprecedented levels. The suffering of tribals is now multi-dimensional.

For the tribals the book of Proverbs include not only the life wisdom and morals of the rulers, but also sayings, riddles, and proverbs that have been derived from tribals’ daily life. The book of Proverbs considers poverty not simply as a result of oppression (Prov13:23; 14:20; 22:7 etc-NRSV), but also as a result of laziness or foolishness. (Prov15:19; 12:24; 15:19 etc-NRSV).Thus for tribals the book of Proverbs can be a guide book for the life of tribals after they are able to recover their human rights(Prov 14:21,31; 13:717:5-NRSV). Thus, wisdom literature can be a positive biblical resource for tribal’s life.

For the tribals, a historical-critical study of the wisdom literature provides a foundation for theologizing the tribal wisdom literature. As mentioned before, the Old Testament wisdom literature originated from the oral community. Further more, the Israelites community even had theological imports from other cultures which were considered as theologically valid for the people of God. For instance, The book of Job is also considered as originating from the Sumerian Poem in which the hero was suddenly reduced from health and wealth and the god deliver him from his ordeal. Even the book of Proverb is also considered to be written in deliberate imitation of Egyptian work. Hence the ancient Hebrew religious teachings were a synthetic form in which the ethical teachings of their own and that of other cultures fused together as a norm for religious teaching. Likewise, there are certain liberative elements in the sayings and ethical teaching of the tribal culture. Thus the liberation motif in the culture has to be taken in to account in the making of tribal theology.

‘Who do you think that I am(Matt 16:15)?’ – A response from the Tribals
The above question of Jesus has been answered down through centuries with different perspectives. The tribal people, in the light of their experience also respond to this question with a new interpretation of the Bible. Ever since the Patristic period the redemptive work of Christ in the Bible has been understood in terms of spiritual salvation. But with the emergence of the contextual theology it has been interpreted with a new perspective. A new interpretation from subaltern theologies viewed the life of Christ as a movement towards liberation. Likewise, with a new consciousness of their social reality tribals re-read the Bible with a new eye. They found empowering hope and strength in the life of Jesus. Jesus himself had gone through all that the tribals are experiencing today. His incarnation is the first act of solidarity with humanity (Jhn 1:1ff). He identified himself with the tribals. He hailed from a poor family (Lev 5:7; Lk 2:24) and a small community. He was opposed and rejected by elite group of the day. He always lived among the weaker section of the society. He was always on the side of the marginalized and mingled with them. He healed the untouchables (Matt11:5/LK17:12). “He broke several taboos that oppressed people (Jhn4:7-39; 12:1-8). He saved a woman from Death, calling attention to the sin of her accuser (Jn8:3-11)…Jesus preferred the company of the poor and marginalized and he favored diversity.” According to the Gospel record Jesus never spent his time with the rich except with the repented rich men, Zacheus and Nicodemus.

In the Nazareth manifesto (LK 4:1ff) Jesus himself declared that his mission is to liberate those who are oppressed. Jesus opposed the unjust rulers and structure of the society. From a tribal perspective he is a liberator who broke all the dividing walls. He broke the dividing walls between the Greek and the barbarians (the so called civilized and the tribals/Dalits), between men and women, between the Jewish and the Gentiles (between the Hindus and non-Hindus). He always stood on behalf of the tribals and Dalits. Thus we can affirm that the life and ministry of Jesus is a movement of restoration and liberation. Here, ‘restoration and liberation’ did not simply refer to well being of tribal community alone. It is a reconciliation and restoration of a broken relationship between different communities.

Conclusion
In the light of what has been discussed so far, we can ascertain the need of re-reading and re-defining the Bible from a new perspective. With the emergence of Contextual theology in the 1960’s, there had been a paradigm shift in the Biblical hermeneutics. Liberation for the marginalized and oppressed people became a biggest theological challenge. Tribal/Dalit theology also emerged in the 1980s. The tribal and Dalit theologians re-read the Bible from the perspective of the poor people. As Jon Sobrino says, “Every Christology is elaborated within the context of a specific situation.” Hence, the tribals also develop a new Christology with a new Biblical interpretation and in the light of what they are experiencing today. Towards the close of 20th century the tribals and Dalits in different places begun to see themselves as the subject in God’s liberation programme. Tribal theologians are in the process of developing a tribal-Biblical hermeneutical paradigm. Above all, the most important theological task for the tribals/ Dalits is finding a life-affirming and empowering theological motif in the Bible.


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