In this final column on Indigenous spiritual culture in the context of Orthodoxy, I have decided to conclude with a series of thirty questions, which are meant as a kind of food for thought regarding the problematics inherent in the Indigenisation of Orthodoxy or, if you prefer, the Orthodoxisation of Indigeneity. I don’t have any ready-made answers, but I am pretty sure that these are the questions that we will have to grapple with as Orthodox Christians in Australia – if we haven’t already started doing so… Thus, if the gist, so to speak, of Indigeneity in Australia is centred upon the experiential prominence of the Land, then it seems that we – along with all other Christians – cannot but reflect on the following.
Topos vs Utopia
How would it be possible to think of Indigenous Topos as a reality transcending itself and meeting Christian Utopia, and in doing so not only remaining the same but becoming even more what it is and what it was always meant to be? If the transcendence of Topos has already taken place violently, that is, through the means of White invasion, how can it re-happen or, even, how likely is it to re-happen beyond violence? From a broader theoretical perspective, how could the historical temporality of Christianity – a very specific type of temporality – accommodate the abiding locality of Indigeneity, given the latter’s resistance and resilience? Is the Christian eschatological vision of a new creation the most appropriate aspiration and yearning for such an accommodation to take place? And, to make things even more provocative, what kind of natural theology could Indigeneity infuse Christianity or, indeed, Orthodoxy with?
Sameness vs Otherness
The experiential prominence of Land is expressed as an awareness of Sameness, which in turn multiplies and further diversifies the previous questions. In particular, should we keep on seeing Sameness and Otherness as incompatible and mutually exclusive? If Sameness is the phenomenological equivalent of immanence and Otherness the respective equivalent of transcendence, how is the relationship of these philosophically cardinal notions to be reconceptualised from an Indigenous theology point of view? If Sameness is nothing but a range of awareness degrees, where and how does faith fit in, especially when the latter is very much aware of how tricky awareness can be? If Indigenous awareness is fundamentally and intrinsically a collective realisation, how can it transact with Christian-based notions of individuality? And the final puzzle: how can the Christian experiences of uniqueness, freedom and person become Indigenised? But perhaps Orthodoxy can play a mediating role and be a sort of third way to the impasse that the above questions allude to…
Ritualism vs Spirituality
If anything, Indigenous life-worlds are highly ritual in character and initiatory in terms of function. Both these registers look like circumscribing a much promising and fruitful field for dialogue – but, again, not without tensions. More specifically, how can there be a balance between Indigenous gender-exclusive – only male and only female – “business” (ritual life), one the one hand, and gender-inclusive Christian rituals, on the other? And just imagine this discrepancy within the context of gender sensitivity of our time and age… Furthermore, what is the dialogic potential of Christian mystagogy in relation to what could be dubbed Indigenous ritualism? And given that the latter is defined by the death-focus of Indigenous initiation, how can it correlate with the conspicuously life-focus of Christian spirituality, especially in an Orthodox environment? Moreover, can Indigenous ritual secrecy and Christian sacramentality be regarded as cognate phenomena on the basis of symbolism? But then is there a distinctive nature and function of symbolism in each case?
Performance vs Worship
One cannot miss the paramount presence and importance of performativity in terms of song, dance, music and painting in Indigenous Australia. Given this, it would at least be interesting and informative to explore the following points. What can Christian worship learn from the Indigenous employment of the arts in general, especially when it is already quite artistic, so to speak, as in the case of Orthodoxy? Are there certain Christian traditions that lend themselves more than others to an engagement with Indigenous performativity through the arts? How could Indigenous performativity facilitate Christianity in overcoming its more often than not intellectualist and argumentative leanings? To what extent can we appreciate modern Indigenous art as a genuine means for Christian worship? And, finally, how can the power and knowledge associated with Indigenous performativity – the only real power from an Indigenous perspective – reshuffle power and charisma in Christian ministry?
Place vs Ecclesia
If the politics of Indigeneity are recapitulated in the autonomy and interdependence of each and every country/people, then the following can truly have a huge impact on any theology about intra-Christian and inter-Christian relations. If the Indigenous autonomy of each and every country is corroborated by their mutual dependence, how could this model inform intra-Christian community structures towards less hierarchical relations, for instance? On the other hand, how could it be a paradigm for ecumenical inter-Christian unity? To put it in slightly different terms, how can the Indigenous multi-country model of each-with-the-other translate to the Christian ecclesiology of one-in-many? By extension, what sort of socio-political theologies could the Indigenous autonomy – interdependence paradigm inspire? And how much likely or under what conditions could theology utilise this paradigm to produce strategies of empowerment for Indigenous peoples?
Pan-Aboriginality vs Globality
Last but not least, I would like to refer to the rather recent movement of pan-Aboriginality – operative through certain hierophanic figures such as the Rainbow Serpent or the Wandjina spirits – in order to explore and put forward the following questions with regards to an Indigenous Orthodox theology research agenda. Is it possible to reconcile figures of a fundamentally different imagery, and by extension to really substantiate the broader reconciliation process? Is pan-Aboriginal imagery capable of bolstering underdeveloped and, as it seems, much needed Christian aspects such as spiritual motherhood? Is an Indigenous theology justified in favouring pan-Aboriginality at the expense of Indigenous diversity? Can pan-Aboriginal figures cater for the needs of a broader global audience? And should pan-Aboriginality be always thought of as a given cross-religious datum or can it also be appreciated and pursued as a desired theological postulatum?
As I mentioned above, I don’t have the answers to these thirty questions and, to be honest, I don’t think there are any easy answers for them. In some respects, I think that the questions will open up the Orthodox faithful to amazing prospects with regards to a new theological realization in this Great Land of the South, but in other respects the questions will definitely signal the problems and limitations inherent in this unchartered future spiritual landscape…
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"Insights into Global Orthodoxy" is a weekly column that features opinion articles that on the one hand capture the pulse of global Orthodoxy from the perspective of local sensitivities, needs and/or limitations, and on the other hand delve into the local pragmatics and significance of Orthodoxy in light of global trends and prerogatives.
Dr Vassilis Adrahtas holds a PhD in Studies in Religion (USyd) and a PhD in the Sociology of Religion (Panteion). He has taught at several universities in Australia and overseas. Since 2015 he has been teaching ancient Greek Religion and Myth at the University of New South Wales and Islamic Studies at Western Sydney University. He has published ten books. He has extensive experience in the print media as editor-in-chief, and columnist, and for a while he worked as a radio producer. He lives in Sydney, Australia, his birthplace.
