Challenges, Problems, and Prospects of Theological Education in Myanmar (Part Two)

Problems

Theology should not be something that is done in the past and discontinued at the present. For doing theology is an ongoing process – a struggling spiritual journey into the rapidly moving time and changing realities of the context. Koyama’s statement is insightful when he said that we do not do contextual theology or contextualize theology but "contextualizing theology."^[28] This theological insight helps us to underline that theology is a believer’s constant wrestling with the hard realities of life or with God in time and space, in which the complex interplay of problems, challenges and opportunities have always taken significant roles creatively and meaningfully. Doing theology is actually the task of every believing Christian. It should not be thought of as the work of ministers, pastors and theological educators alone. All Christians in whatever level (academic, church, etc.) should be enabled to do theology.

The fundamental problem of theological education in Myanmar is the fact that missionaries had trained Christians to think of doing theology and theological education only as a task of seminary teachers and students. Such a wrong perception on the nature of theological education has created an intellectual gap between the seminarians and lay people, and hence theology remains merely as the game of Christian intellectuals at the educational level. A step developed from this stage of understanding is the idea that theology has to do only with theologically trained people and not with ordinary Christians. The question is, what would theological education mean for communities outside the churches and theological institutions? Is not the whole process of theological education community-oriented rather than church or seminary-oriented? Hope S. Antone’s critical evaluation on theological education in Asia is an excellent attempt that calls for reformation of theological education in the whole of Asia.^[29] According to her observation, there are three crucial points to be noted. They are: (i) theological education in Asia reflects a variety of mission orientations; (ii) theological education in Asia generally follows the western ‘specialist approach’, and (iii) in terms of methodology, theological education in Asia generally puts more emphasis on cognitive or intellectual development to the neglect of other aspects of human development.^[30]

To limit the scope of my discussion in this section, I would like to highlight some problems that are related with teaching methodologies, theological resources, and political context of theological education in Myanmar.

Teaching Methodology: Quality education dropped in Myanmar since 1988 when the whole country faced a political turmoil with mass demonstration for democracy. Education at all levels from primary to university has been conducted by didactic or rote learning methods. Moral corruption in education, such as cheating, bribery and dishonesty among students and teachers, outdated teaching patterns, combined with poor instruction, inadequate textbooks, and restricted access to internet networks – these have resulted in poor quality education.^[31]

As mentioned earlier, education and teaching methodology in Myanmar have been strongly influenced for centuries by the traditional Buddhist monastery teaching method known in Burmese as kyet-thu-yueh sa-an (meaning parrot learning method). The monk’s recital teaching method consists of teaching pupils to make oral response to or recite exactly what the monks or teachers taught or said. This kind of teaching methodology represents, in a sense, the monologue-style of teacher-student relationship in education. Pupils have no right to question but recite only the words, which the monks utter to them. Making a critical response or raising any question to the monk may be taken to mean an insult or sign of disrespect. Hence, students who do not submit themselves to this culture may be liable for certain action against them.^[32]

The teaching methodology of the Christian theological education in Myanmar in the past was largely overshadowed by the teaching ideals and methods of Buddhist monastery education. Thus, most teachers of seminaries and Bible schools also became accustomed to the depository or banking method rather than participatory methods. The net result is that these traditional teaching methods do not seem to help students to be critical and creative.

Theological Resources: Lack of theological resources such as library and human resources including other technical materials is one of the major setbacks in promoting quality theological education in Myanmar. Most libraries in the seminaries, theological colleges and Bible schools in Myanmar are not fully equipped with adequate number of books in all theological disciplines such as biblical, systematic, feminist, ecological, historical and practical. Other reference books, periodicals, and theological and non-theological literatures are not sufficiently catalogued in the libraries of seminaries and theological institutes. A major problem facing the seminaries and theological institutes in Myanmar is that imports of religious books from abroad are severely restricted by the government and it is therefore impossible for theological institutes to upgrade or update their library resources.

A number of seminaries and Bible schools are desperately in need of updating their library resources in order to promote advanced and better theological education. Equally important is the faculty development of theological teachers in different fields for all the seminaries and theological institutes in Myanmar. Among the major obstacles to this particular demand is none other than the government’s restricted passport system for Christian scholars to go abroad either for further studies or for the purpose of attending Christian conferences and research seminars. Such restrictions have strongly discouraged Myanmar Christians and theological faculty in pursuit of higher education. The net result is a lack of adequate number of qualified professors and lecturers in various fields of theological disciplines in seminaries and theological institutes in Myanmar.

Political Context: Lack of freedom of publication, expression, and organization adds to the restrictions imposed on Christians, thus curbing their access to international communities. These three kinds of academic freedom are fundamental and imperative for the development of advanced theological education in Myanmar. Christians and other religious communities have often faced difficulties not only in publication of Christian literatures but also in constructing church centers, research centers, and in networking with other religious and non-religious organizations inside and outside Myanmar. Such political disturbances have often disrupted the visions and schemes of the Myanmar churches and Christian institutes.

With the need for more institutional resources and access to global networking, the Judson Research Center of the Myanmar Institute of Theology was established in July 2003. A timely response by MIT to the demand of the time and situation, it is the first academic research center of its kind in Myanmar. The Myanmar Theological Research Center, which is planned to be established by the Association for Theological Education in Myanmar (ATEM), is still underway. There is another privately established research center, the Dhamma Research Center, based in Taung-Kyi in upper Myanmar. Its present director is Ko Ko Naing, an ordained Christian minister who was previously a Buddhist monk.

Prospects

Christian theology is, as Douglas John Hall puts it, "what happens when the two stories - God’s story of the world and humanity’s ever changing account of itself and all things, meet."^[33] There is no theology that is context-free or that happens in a historical vacuum. Theology emerges out of a series of life’s struggles, movements and experiences. It is "faith seeking" in any socio-cultural context, and is a "critical reflection on praxis"^[34] in any socio-political movement or struggle of life. Doing Christian theology in Myanmar will have to integrate itself into two main religious-cultural contexts: (i) minority ethnic Christian context and (ii) majority non-Christian Buddhist context. Each of these contexts has creative historical resources to help produce a contextual theology that best fits the situation and relate itself to people of the context. I would like to make some proposals and suggestions for doing theology and teaching theological education in Myanmar.

First, doing theology in Myanmar should not ignore the historical significance of the encounter of Christianity and Buddhism – Christian-Buddhist dialogue, interrelations, mutual impacts and interactions. The subject of history is people. In fact, we cannot do contextual theology without referring to the historical and socio-political realities – peoples’ experiences, movements and suffering. No living theology can be developed without referring to the past history of the context. Myanmar history explicitly reflects the long struggles of people for liberation from three political domains: monarchy, colonialism, and militarism.

Second, doing theology in Myanmar should be concerned with the need to study current issues of Myanmar. These issues include economic poverty, religious freedom, gender, women and children, health, development and environment. Any theology that ignores such current issues of people and context would be misleading and incompetent. Doing theology from a perspective of struggles, experiences and visions of the minority ethnic people in Myanmar would be inevitably important for doing theology of liberation – wholeness that always embraces social, economic, cultural, political and ecological dimensions of life.

In conclusion, I would like to make some suggestions for future theological education in Myanmar.

First, patterns of theological education in Myanmar should be critically reconstructed in form and terms appropriate to both ethnic Christian and Buddhist communities. The imported western forms of theological education need to be remodeled to fit the Buddhist and ethnic contexts.

Second, as theology made in the west uses scientific, logical, and philosophical resources of the west; so also theology developed in Myanmar must seriously take into consideration Myanmar’s religious-cultural thought-forms so that ‘theology’ will make sense to the Myanmar ethnic and Buddhist people.

Third, theological education in Myanmar should take seriously into account the significance of ‘dialogue’ with peoples of different faith traditions, especially the Buddhist faith.

Fourth, any theological education developed in Myanmar must be liberating and not oppressive in terms of its academic impacts. The central focus should be to set at liberating the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized, to heal the broken society, and to be in solidarity with the powerless and the poor in their struggles for justice, peace and freedom.

Fifth, theological education in Myanmar should enable local communities to discover their own dignity, rights, identity and help them to engage in new ways of doing theology out of their socio-political and religious-cultural experiences. To reach the above goals, there are three crucial steps to be taken:

(i) Teaching methodologies in seminaries and Bible schools in Myanmar need not be reproductive or imitative of the West. They need to be remodeled or reconstructed in forms and ideas relevant to Myanmar ethnic and Buddhist contexts.
(ii) Subjects in theological seminaries and Bible schools should be academic as well as issues-oriented. Subjects studied in the classes should reflect relevant experiences in life beyond the class and vice versa.
(iii) Aspects of theological themes and concepts studied in seminaries and Bible schools should be holistic, inclusive, and ecumenical. Usage of ideas, terminology and modes of expressions should be always non-offensive and tension-free.

Notes:

1. Samuel Ngun Ling is currently a professor of systematic theology and director of the Judson Research Center at Myanmar Institute of Theology, Seminary Hill, Insein, Yangon, Myanmar.
2. Ba Kin (Hanthawaddy), "Foreign Missionary Organizations in Burma" (Nain-ngan-chya Thathana-pyuh Athin-ahpweh mya in Burmese), (Rangoon: Hanthawaddy Press, 1963), 11. There is no clear evidence that this painting was painted by Nestorian Christian soldiers. The painting itself no longer exists to be observable.
3. See J. S. Furnivall, "Europeans in Burma of the Fifteenth Century," in Journal of Burma Research Society, vol. XXIX (1939): 236-237. For more information, see Dorothy Woodman, The Making of Burma (London: Cresset Press, MCMLXII), 16 and D. G. E. Hall, "The Earliest English Contact with Burma," in Journal of Burma Research Society, vol. XVII (1927): I. G. E. Harvey, History of Burma (London: Longsman, Gree and Co., 1925), 98.
4. G. E. Harvey, History of Burma (London: Longsman, Gree and Co., 1925), 186-187. See also Maung Htin Aung, A History of Burma (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 137-139.
5. Maung Kaung, "The Beginnings of Christian Missionary Education in Burma, 1600-1824," in Annual Report, given at the Education Department of the University of Rangoon (January 31, 1930), 63.
6. Brian Stanley, The History of Baptist Missionary Society (1792-1992) (T & T Clark, 1992), 56. See also Victor San Lone, "The Fifteen Years of Crisis," (1960-1975), unpublished (M.Th. thesis: ATESEA, 1977), 9.
7. Simon Pau Khan En, "Challenges and Opportunities for the Churches in Myanmar," an unpublished paper presented in the Bo Tree International Summer Seminar, July-August, 2005 held by the Myanmar Institute of Theology, Seminary Hill, Yangon, Myanmar. See also Alexander Mcleish, Christians Profess in Burma (London: World Dominion Press, 1929), 22-23.
8. Ibid.,3-4
9. John F. Cady, "Religion and Politics in Modern Burma," in The Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. XII (February 1953): 153.
10. Maung Htin Aung, A History of Burma (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 240.
11. Stanley J. Tambiah, The Buddhist Saints of the Forest, the Cult of Amulets (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 316-317.
12. Burma, "Report of the Administration of Burma, 1929-30" (Rangoon: Government Printing Office): vi-ix.
13. See Tun Aung Chain, "The Christian-Buddhist Encounter in Myanmar," in Engagement, vol. I (December 2003), 10.
14. W. J. Hollenweger, "Ecumenical Significance of Oral Christianity," in Ecumenical Review, Vol. 41, No.2 (April 1989), 261-262.
15. Diamond Jubilee Historical Committee, "History of the MIT," in Myanmar Institute of Theology, Diamond Jubilee (1927-2002) published by Alin Ein Media Group for MIT (2002), 22-30.
16. U Kyaw Than, "Theologizing for Selfhood and Service" in Asian Voices in Christian Theology, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1976), 57-62.
17. Rev. Simon P. K. Enno, "Nat Worship: A Theological Locus in Myanmar," in Mission Matters, eds. Lynne Price, Juan Sepulveda & Graeme Smith (New York: Peter Lang, 1997), 171.
18. Ibid.,169, 171.
19. Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation (New York: Orbis Press, 1971), 6.
20. The Myanmar Times, vol. 14, No. 279 (August 15-21, 2005), 3. Quoted a report of the news conference of James Morris, Head of UN Food Program, with BBC News in Bangkok and televised on August 5, 2005.
21. Ibid.
22. For further information, see Simon Pau Khan En, "HIV/AIDS: A Challenge to Theological Education," in RAYS, MIT Journal of Theology, vol. 6 (January 2005), 17.
23. Samuel Ngun Ling, "Contextual Teaching Methodologies: Evaluation and Proposal for Myanmar Context," in Engagement, vol.1 (Judson Research Center, MIT, December 2004), 29
24. Report of a Linguistic group, "Myanmar Language Varieties, Government Classification, Location and Status," based in MIT, Yangon, Myanmar (August 2003).
25. Samuel Ngun Ling, "The Encounter of Missionary Christianity with Resurgent Buddhism in Post-colonial Myanmar," in Quest, vol. 2, no. 2 (November 2003), 63.
26. Ibid., 64-65.
27. Khin Maung Din, "Some Problems and Possibilities for Burmese Christian Theology Today," in Christianity and the Religions of the East: Models for A Dynamic Relationship, ed. Richard W. Rousseau, vol. II (Scranton, PA: Ridge Row Press, 1982), 78.
28. See Kosuke Koyama, "New Heaven and New Earth: Theological Education for the New Millennium", a keynote address given at the General Assembly of ATESEA, 1997.
29. Hope S. Antone, "Reclaiming Theological Education as Education for Life: Towards Innovative Methods in Theological Education," RAYS MIT Journal of Theology, vol. 5 (January 2004), 45-60.
30. Ibid., 49-50.
31. Samuel N. Lynn (Samuel Ngun Ling), "Voices of Minority Ethic Christians in Myanmar," in CTC Bulletin, vol. XVIII, No.2 – vol. XIX, No.2 (December 2002-August 2003), 15.
32. Simon Pau Khan En, "Critical Problems Facing Theological Colleges in Myanmar," in Thamar Alin, Baptist Theological Journal, vol. IV (1999), 66.
33. Douglas John Hall, Thinking the Faith: Christian Theology in a North American Context (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 91.
34. Gustavo Gutierrez, 6.