|
Caleb Kim
REACHING MUSLIMS BY UNDERSTANDING THEIR CULTURES
Dr. Caleb Kim teaches in the Missions department at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology in Nairobi, Kenya. Caleb and his colleague, Dr. Stephen Sesi, are pioneering an Islamic Studies program at NEGST that will equip missionaries to serve in Muslim communities. Caleb is also an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary where he teaches Korean students in missions. A recent article summarizing his research in African-Muslim contexts was published in the Lausanne World online publication (link: www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives/July 2006)
Where did your interest in Islam begin?
CK: In 1989 I was sent to a remote region of Kenya by my Presbyterian mission board in South Korea. The tribes to whom I was sent to preach the gospel were mostly Muslim. I soon realized I did not understand these people at all. I knew about Islam as a religion but these people did not act or believe as Islam taught. They used the language of Islam but followed their tribal customs and religious practices. It was actually a shamanistic society where spirit possession was very real. A Muslim cleric condemned these practices but the ordinary people did them anyway. I decided to learn more about Islam in Africa and so began my career as an anthropologist. I eventually did my research in Tanzania which was recently published by a publisher in Nairobi, Acton Publishers.
What did you learn as you studied Muslims in East Africa?
CK: What I have been studying is folk Islam. Most people think of Islam as a world religion and an ideology. They look at it on the universal level. But locally and in settings like Africa, Islam looks very different. It is a culture, not just a religion. Islamic beliefs and values have been blended into African traditions. This happens among Christians as well. We call it syncretism. In Africa, Islam is adapted by the culture and made practical for the benefit of the community. Christians have to approach Muslims in Africa on this cultural level and communicate in culturally understandable ways.
The most striking example of folk Islam in East Africa for me was the ritual of healing conducted by a Muslim healer who made contact with spirits while in a trance. I was able to witness these ceremonies in person. The Muslim healer acknowledged Allah but also used his divination powers to solve a patient’s problems. Jinn are possessive spirits that are believed to cause incurable diseases. The healer, or shaman, negotiates with the spirits to reduce the power of jinn over the patient. Orthodox Muslims denounce such practices but they are very common all over Africa. Christians have to take this type of activity seriously but focus on Jesus who casts out demons and who has power over the spiritual and the physical world.
Why is this research important for Christian missionaries?
CK: The challenge for every missionary is to present the Gospel in a culturally relevant way. This requires the missionary to study cultures and to consider how all the elements of a culture can affect the perception of the Christian message. We can easily confuse or offend someone by the cultural forms we use as we present the Gospel. For example, Muslims consider worship an act of total submission to God often demonstrated by kneeling or lying prostrate on the floor. To stand or to sit in prayer as Christians often do can be considered by some Muslims to be a lack of respect for God.
How do you go about training people to be missionaries in a Muslim culture?
CK: One of the first things I require of students at NEGST is to start a friendship with a Muslim. For many, this is the first time they have spoken with a Muslim. Many are often afraid to contact even their Muslim neighbors. Some assume Muslims are controlled by evil spirits. They fear having a curse put upon them by the Muslim. Though a bit different from these ordinary people, our students at first express their uneasiness about contacting Muslims for the study; however, they soon discover the power of Jesus and the importance of relationships as the way to show the love of Jesus.
They learn that not everything about Islam is bad. They study the Muslim’s culture and learn to appreciate some of its strengths. I often refer to the symbol of Islam, the crescent. This is the light that shines around the moon. It is all the truth a Muslim can see. Jesus is the Son of God and in him we see all of God’s light. When a student reaches out to a Muslim friend, he is starting with the crescent and moving toward the sun.
Why is it important for NEGST to have a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies?
CK: All we have at the moment is an M.A. But the need for trained African missions leaders in Islamic Studies is great. Islam is growing steadily on the African continent. Muslims want to capture the continent as much as Christians do. We want to model a Ph.D. after the one NEGST has already started in Biblical and Translation Studies. It will be rooted in the African context with hands-on field experience. It will bring in other disciplines as well so that a graduate is broadly educated as a missionary.
There is always a high price to be paid by a Muslim converting to Christianity. Does it have to be this way?
CK: Yes, because Islam is a culture and not simply a religion which can be practiced as much or as little as we want. To convert to Christianity from Islam is to betray your own people. It is a rejection of your community. A Muslim family will disown the convert and experience great shame. I know what this is like because I converted from Buddhism and my family rejected me. That is why Christians must provide a strong community for Muslim converts because that will be their new family.
I have a student at NEGST who used to be a Muslim scholar in an African country. He lives every day with the awareness that someone may try to kill him because of his conversion to Christ. He has helped so many students at NEGST see the Muslim world from the inside.
It seems like American Christians are not prepared to reach out to Muslims. What is needed?
The greatest threat to Christianity is not Islam. It is secularism. Secularism is the love of the world and the flesh and the neglect and ignorance of God. Secularism is also the greatest threat to Islam. Muslims associate secularism with the West but it is found in every society and undermines every religion. For Christians in the West, secularism is already deep in their souls. It eats up our passion for God and our compassion for people. Our witness to Muslims lacks credibility when we are indulging ourselves in the pleasures of the world. We should not fear Muslims as much as we should fear the failure of our witness because of the way we live.
What light can you shed on America’s conflicts with radical Islam?
CK: We have to understand something about the history and culture of Islam, especially the difference between the Sunni and Shiite communities. This distinction goes all the way back to Muhammad’s descendents. One family line was oriented to a more spiritual leadership; the others looked to the consensus of elders and community leadership. The two lines have been in violent conflict since the beginning. That is why it will be almost impossible to achieve a peace in Iraq. When Saddam was in power, he kept the tensions in check by brutal force. Freedom will allow the antagonisms to explode again. Only a minority of Muslims have adapted to the Western model of political life.
What should be American Christians’ role in reaching the Muslim world?
I believe God has spared the United States greater judgment because of what the church has done for world missions. In the last century, American churches led the world in sending missionaries. The United States still has an important role to play in missions but it will be different in this century. Instead of sending missionaries, the church in the United States must support the efforts of the church on other continents to train and send missionaries. This is a far more strategic use of their resources. Secondly, the church in America must see itself as the primary mission field, especially since people from all over the world are coming to America. There are 80,000 South Koreans studying in the United States. Over a million Africans have migrated to the U.S. in the last decade or two. And think of all the Muslims who live in America. Where will American Christians do their best evangelism among Muslims? In their own country, in cities like Dearborn, Michigan, where more Iraqis reside than anywhere else outside of Iraq. This will require lay people in the church to see themselves as missionaries for they are the ones who will do the work of missions.
This may be off the topic but tell us about North Korea. How do we understand and relate to this nation?
CK: Actually there is a connection because one has to understand North Korea as a religious society. My father and my wife’s mother were born there and it is always on the minds of all South Koreans. It is much more than a communist society. The father of the current president of North Korea ruled with a charismatic leadership style but he became an idol whom the people worshipped. I compare it to what happened in Waco, Texas, when the followers of David Koresh’s cult believed he spoke the words of God. Or the Jonestown cult in South America. To maintain this control, the leader must pay those around him large amounts of money to remain loyal. This means the leadership of the society will be corrupted. He must also build walls around the society and keep his people from having contact with outsiders. It is very hard for people in such a society to rebel against the leader because that is like apostasy. It’s not unlike Christians forsaking Christ.
top
|
