more than letters on a page
I finally have something deep and philosophical to write about.
I am part way through reading an article called 'Making Disciples of Oral Learners', by an "Issue Group" on that topic at the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization, hosted by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.
Right now I can't actually remember how I came across this article, but it proved to be very topical for me, because over the last few days I have been pondering issues related to 'written language' as opposed to 'spoken language'. It all started because my Language Studies lecture last week was mainly about writing systems, and it raised the fact that the Church has played an enormous part in proliferating written language and literacy. In fact, we were shown a map of which used different colours to represent the various orthographies used in the various regions of the world. It was amazing to see that the Latin alphabet (ie. the one you're reading now) covers not only countries where Italic languages and/or English are used, but also all of South America, almost two thirds of Africa, Indonesia, Greenland, Scandinavia, and a few parts of the Middle East. I thought this was amazing considering how many different languages exist in those places, but I suppose it's really a result of colonisation and... evangelisation!
I don't have any empirical data to support this claim, but I reckon most of the 'indigenous' languages in Australia, Africa, South America, South East Asia etc., belong/ed to 'oral' cultures, and the only reason they have writing systems at all is thanks to missionaries who wanted to give them access to the Word of God. That's a great thing, but I know from the time I spent with a family who were doing Bible translation and literacy work in a remote Aboriginal community, that "for the illiterate, written Scripture is not accessible even if it is available in
their own language." (Making Disciples of Oral Learners, p.14) This article has helped me to understand much more clearly why the kind of work those faithful missionaries were doing is such a struggle. Essentially, letters on a page mean nothing to people who were born and bred in an oral culture, so even once you've taught them to read that is probably not going to be the most effective way of communicating the gospel to them.
I highly recommend reading the article, if you are interested and have time. There's no real point my babbling on about what it says when they've already made the same points much more clearly and with much more evidence and experience! So here's a little bit to whet your appetite...
"Pastor Dinanath of India tells his story of ministry among his people:
I was saved from a Hindu family in 1995 through a cross-cultural missionary. I had a desire to learn more about the word of God and I shared this with the missionary. The missionary sent me to Bible College in 1996. I finished my two years of theological study and came back to my village in 1998. I started sharing the good news in the way as I learnt in the Bible College. To my surprise my people were not able to understand my message. A few people accepted the Lord after much labour. I continued to preach the gospel, but there were little results. I was discouraged and confused and did not know what to do.
"But then Pastor Dinanath’s story takes a major turn:
"In 1999 I attended a seminar where I learnt how to communicate the gospel using different oral methods. I understood the problem in my communication as I was mostly using a lecture method with printed books, which I learnt in the Bible school. After the seminar I went to the village but this time I changed my way of communication. I started using a storytelling method in my native language. I used gospel songs and the traditional music of my people. This time the people in the villages began to understand the gospel in a better way. As a result of it people began to come in large numbers. Many accepted Christ and took baptism. There was one church with few baptized members in 1999 when I attended the seminar. But now in 2004, in six years we have 75 churches with 1350 baptized members and 100 more people are ready for baptism.
......
"Those who have grown up in highly literate societies tend to think of literacy as the norm and oral communication as a deviation. That is not so. All societies, including those having a highly literate segment, have oral communication at their core. Oral communication is the basic function on which writing and literacy is based. When literacy persists in a culture for generations, it begins to change the way people think, act and communicate – so much so that the members of that literate society may not even realize how their communication styles are different from those of the majority of the world who are oral communicators. These members of a literate society then tend to communicate the gospel in the literate style that speaks to them.
"But oral learners find it difficult to follow literate-styled presentations, even if they are made orally. It is not enough to take materials created for literates and simply read them onto a recorded format. Making something audible does not necessarily make it an “oral” style of communication. Not everything on a CD or audiotape is “oral.” Some of it is clearly literate in its style even though it is spoken or audible. The same thing is true of other media products created for literate audiences. They may have literate stylistic features that confuse oral learners.
......
"This does not mean that we discourage literacy or neglect literates. Experience shows that once oral learners accept the gospel, some will have the desire and persistence to become literate in order to read the Bible for themselves. The development of oral strategies is not a deterrent to translating the Bible into every language. In fact, the opposite is true. These burgeoning church planting movements that result from an oral proclamation will need the whole counsel of God. Requiring non-Christians to learn to read just so that they can consider the Christian faith puts unnecessary obstacles in their path.
"We wish all peoples had the written translation of the Scripture in their heart language. But, for the illiterate, written Scripture is not accessible even if it is available in their own language. On the other hand, a Bible translation program that begins with the oral presentation of the Bible through storying and continues with a translation and literacy program is the most comprehensive strategy for communicating the word of God in their heart language. It offers a viable possibility of making disciples of oral learners while at the same time providing the whole counsel of God."
What have I done? ...literally
I stole this from Amanda's blog. It's kinda cheesy, I know.. but a bit of fun and something to keep my blogging momentum going.
The idea is to mark in bold all the things you've done.
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you’ and meant it!
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s nappy
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse (I think - or else it was partial - probably partial)
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Visited all 7 states and territories in Australia (hmm this Q is wrong cos actually there are 8, but I haven't been to Tasmania.. so I'm just going to leave this question as is so I can answer 'yes'!)
40. Taken care of someone who was drunk
41. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (Kaz or Alys, if you ever read this... at first I thought no, but then I remembered.. the fried chicken dance in Thailand!)
42. Watched wild whales
43. Stolen a sign
44. Backpacked in Europe
45. Taken a road-trip
46. Gone rock climbing
48. Midnight walk on the beach
49. Gone sky diving
50. Taken a train through Europe
51. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love (the "actually in love" part is debatable)
52. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table, and had a meal with them (kind of.. actually, it was the stranger who sat at my table and had a meal with me!)
53. Milked a cow
54. Alphabetized your CDs
55. Sung karaoke
56. Lounged around in bed all day
57. Gone scuba diving
58. Kissed in the rain
59. Gone to a drive-in theater
60. Started a business
61. Taken a martial arts class (if 'boxercise' counts, for some highschool gym class)
62. Been in a movie
63. Crashed a party
64. Gone without food for 5 days
65. Gotten a tattoo
66. Got flowers for no reason (just a couple of weeks ago, actually... thankyou fiance ;)
67. Performed on stage
68. Been to Las Vegas
69. Recorded music
70. Eaten shark
71. Buried one/both of your parents ...no, thank God.
72. Been on a cruise ship*
73. Spoken more than one language fluently ......aahhh I long for the day!
74. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
75. Walked the Sydney Harbour Bridge
76. Had plastic surgery
77. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived ...I think this is a dumb question, because I've survived accidents - but I take that to mean that I should have survived, otherwise I wouldn't have. Si, comprende?
78. Wrote articles for a large publication
77. Lost over 50 kilo's ...pretty sure I would die if I did
79. Piloted an airplane
80. Petted a stingray (I think.. I'm pretty sure they had some in the petting pool at Underwater World)
81. Broken someone’s heart
82. Broken a bone
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Parasailed
86. Skipped all your school reunions (Haven't had any yet! I know, I keep trying to get through the loopholes in these questions)
87. Shaved your head
88. Caused a car accident
89. Pretended to be "sick"
90. Surfed in the ocean
91. Saved someone's life ...maybe? You never know!
92. Fainted
93. Been in the room while someone is giving birth
94. Hitchhiked
95. Adopted a child
96. Been caught daydreaming
97. Been to Ayer's Rock
98. Called off a wedding engagement ...funny you should ask, my poor distressed fiance messaged me this morning saying that he had a dream in which I had called off our wedding! But in real life I haven't... and won't!
99. Donated your blood
100. Accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour
I've done 46 of them (arguably ;P). Not bad considering I've only been on the planet for 20 years.
* I included this one, because I think reality is at least a little bit subjective.. and because when I was about 3 or 4 years old I went on some kind of ferry with my family, but I swear it was a ship! A massive mother of a ship. I'm talking cruise ship proportions. My distorted memory even went so far as to convince me that we were on the ocean... when it was actually just the Swan River! Anyway, the reason I remember it is because I was dangling my feet over the edge of the ship (I won't back down on this one!) and one of my new, shiny black shoes fell off and sank into the murky depths of the ocean!! I cried and cried, until my sister (3 years my senior) cheered me up and in fact made me laugh by making up stories about the fish and various creatures that would find my shoe and how they would put it use. Laughter is even better than bandaids at 'making it better'.
curiouser and curiouser
The other day I was on the train when a young man who was apparently blind (wearing sunglasses and carrying one of those guide sticks, and bumping into things a little bit) came and sat two seats away from me.
After a little while I noticed something strange... he was wearing a watch! And no, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a braile watch or anything.
I thought that was kind of funny; and, however random and trivial it may be, I consider it a good enough excuse to break back into the blogosphere.
