Doctor of Ministry Project Ka.ua: Toward a Constructive Theolory of Sacrifice for the Tongan Church-Community. Submitted by Siosaia Fonua Tultahi This professional project completed by Tutlt¡.HI Srosar¡. FoNu^q, has been presented to and accepted by the faculty of Claremont School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the DoCTON OF MINISTRY Faculty Committee Philip Clayton, Chairperson Kathy Black Dean of the Faculty John R. Fitzmier May 2005 8It r Due to extenuating circumstances, final edits were not completed for this project. ABSTRACT Called to be Multicultural: New Testainent and Religious Education Perspectives to Develop Multicultural Churches by Brian Timothy Parcel This project deals with the problem that some United Methodist Churches in multicultural neighborhoods in Southern California are remaining mono-cultural while the neighborhoods a¡ound them are becoming increasingly multicultural. This leaves the Church as the sole segregated institution in a community, which is contrary to the theological heritage of the New Testament. This ethic of ministry sends an implicit message that the Church can never be the center of the communiry. This message is devastating to communities that desperately need a common ground and devastating to the Church in areas of the country,like Southern Californi4 which are growing more and more multicultural. Construction of the Church in this way has rendered the Church to the boundary of these neighborhoods rather than to the center of the neighborhood where it is called to be. The Church becomes an institution that separates and divides the community and eventually will become obsolete in this setting. This project relies heavily on a liberation theology model of præris for developing perspectives that can be employed in the development of a multicultural Church. The first movement of the perspective is exegesis. There are three levels of exegesis, or understandings, to be gained: biblicaVtheological, about the Church itself, and about the community. These understandings build the foundation upon which the multicultural Church will be developed. The second movement of the perspective is reflection. Critical reflection is applied to all three levels of exegesis, developing a mass of critical understanding of self and community frorn which to act. The third movement of the perspective is action" As in liberation theolog,r', praxis is a combination of reflection and action, and this project demonstrates how the first two movements can lead to transformative action within the Church. These movements of religious education give a perspective through which to view the biblical proclamation, ourselves and our communities. This perspective allows for us to re-vision the ministry of the Church in such a way that individual diversity can be celebrated an<i at the same time the Church can be the center of any cornmunity. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem I Importance of the Problem 1 Thesis............. 8 Definition of Major Terms 10 Work Previously Done in the Field .. 10 Scope and Limitations of the Project 15 Procedure for Integration .16 Chapter Outlines .18 2. A HISTORICAL CONTEXT 20 The Tongan Context......... 20 The Political Structure of the Tongan Society...... .20 The Social Structure of the Tongan Society...... .22 Missionaries in Tonga .25 Theology of the Missionaries.............. .28 The American Context................ 29 The Church... 29 The Members 31 Ja KAVA.... 39 Myth and Legend of Kava'onau 39 Types of Kava Ceremonies..... 42 Tau Fakalokua 42 Faikavø'Eva 43 Formal Kava Ceremonies 43 Taumafø Kava 43 'Ilo Kava 44 Kava Faka-Siasi ........ 45 Kaløpu Køva Tonga ... 46 Kava as a Symbol of Fonua (The Land, The People) .48 4 SACRIFICE ......... 51 Definition and Components of Sacrifice 51 Biblical Study of Sacrifice 53 Sacrifice in the Old Testament ......... 55 Sacrifice in the New Testament 57 Sacrifice from the Tongan Perspective ... 58 5. SEARCH FOR A THEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY.... 63 Critique of the Tongan-Western Theology 63 Contextualization 66 Contextualization in the Pacific 69 Coconut Theology 70 The Theology of the Maneba 7I Land A Contextual Theology of Vanua or ..........72 Weavers-the Pacific Versions of Feminist Theology............ 73 Progress Other Theological Works in .................74 Theology of Sacrifice as Contextual Theology from the MarginT5 Theology of Sacrifice Sources for Theological Construction .... 75 A Personal Reflection 76 The Life Experiences of Tongan People in America ............82 The Context that Gave Rise to these Experiences ................ 85 Context Va'ava'a he ko eTangata: Relational 86 Scripture 88 Methodology for Theology of Sacrifice 89 6. TOV/ARD A CONSTRUCTIVE THEOLOGY OF SACRIFICE FOR THE TONGAN CHURCH-COMM{.]NITY 96 The Theology of Kava as a Sacrihce ............. ... 96 Systematic Analysis of the Standard Loci of the Theology of Sacrifice Doctrine of God Christology: Christ Centered Identity Eucharist and Kava The Concept of Sin Ecclesiology ............... Pneumatology ........... Eschatology .. Theology of Kava as a Sacrifice: A Critique 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . tt7 BIBLIOGRAPHY . .. 119 1 CHAFTER 1 INTRODUCTION Problem Addressed bw the Proiect The people of the South Pacific islands of Tonga have long valued. their Christian faith and belief. Many have left the islands in search of better living circumstances and they have taken with them their one enduring koloa or value, their faith. As the Tongan people of the United Methodist Church (UMC) attempts to become viable members of the United Methodist multicultural faith communities in America, it is essential that they construct a theologr that appropriately expresses their context, experiences, identity, culture and traditions. The current theologr used by the Tongan Churches in the United States of America is the same transplanted Euro-centric theologr brought to Tonga by the European missionaries in the late 19th century. Naturally, that theologr fails to accurately embody the life and living of the Tongan people and how they relate and respond to God. Importance of the Problem Religion is central in the life of the Tongan people. King George Tupou I, father of modern-day Tonga, dedicated Tonga to God and proclaimed Tonga's motto as "God and Tonga are my inheritance." Every Tongan has ever since proudly and fervently claimed this ideal. As a result, Tonga has historically been a Christian nation. The people's devotion to God and the Church is not limited to life in Tonga only. It is 1 2 apparent that everywhere Tongans settled, they have started a church fellowship of some sort. The Tongan United Methodist Church (TUMC) in the United States maintains a strong connection with the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga or the Methodist Church of Tonga. This is not surprising since about 90 percent or more of the adults in the TUMCs are first generation immigrants from Tonga. In addition, all the pastors of the twenty-six TUMCs in the California Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church are also first generation Tongan immigrants. There has yet to be a clergr that was born and raised in this country. This strong connection can be seen in the program life of the church. The TUMCs in the United States are transplants of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga. The programs and the books used by the churches here are brought from Tonga. The hymnals and bibles are the same ones translated by missionaries with the help of a few Tongans in the early twentieth century. Given such an intimate connection, it is not surprising that the theologr in the churches in the United States is still the same one that is prevalent in the churches in Tonga. Consistent with the practice of transplanting the Tongan Free Wesleyan church methodologr and resources, the UMC Tongan churches have continued to nourish the Euro-centric theologr that is prevalent in Tonga. While this theologr may seem appropriate in its tendency to appease the Tongan immigrants'longing for their homeland, it is 2 J inadequate to accurately reflect the reality of the Tongan immigrants'life in this new context and environment here in the United States. Such a theologr is based on the Western colonízers'attitudes and sensibilities of having the dominant and normative theologr. Consistent with this sense of superiority, the proponent of this theologr viewed the Tongans as "heathens" and in need of renewal.l This Western theologr effectively created a sense of inferiority among the Tongan folks as their ways of doing things were seen as inferior to the European missionaries' \Mays. Much of the missionaries'works consisted of destroying the Tongan traditional gods and ways of doing things or changing the way things were done in Tonga. The Bible was taught as the ultimate truth and it was considered un-Christian to be questioned. Consequently, we see a transmission of a conformist theolo5/ among the Tongans. The influence of the missionaries in the life of the Tongans was tremendous and remained long after the last missionaries left the islands. Such lasting influence has remained in the life of the Tongans to this day and even in the migration to other countries, these influences are still prevalent. In the migration process to the United States, the Tongans have brought with them the same attitude of psychological inferiority and lack of critical reflection about theologr. Life within the Tongan commLlnities in America contains much the same struggles and challenges as those seen in any other immigrant society. The difficult and universal process of transition is characterized J