Richard F. Wilson: Didaskalos, A Mentor, A Friend

I first met Dr. Richard Wilson during our guided reading seminars on Historical-Systematic Theology. During my first year in Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary for my Th.D program in 2003, it was, indeed, a privilege for me--as well as for my three other classmates, Joey dela Paz, Roy Jabanes, and Enggar Objantoro-- a lifetime chance, to sit and interact, listen and learn from him. But what we did not miss was his willingness to listen and learn from us as Asian workers.

Though he is a "teaching theologian"(as he described himself) with considerable accomplishments in the field of academic research, his humility and intellect were co-equal, complimentary. As author and editor of many books, I could say that we were blessed to have one among the few, truly a didaskalos of no ordinary contribution to Christian ministry and leadership. Some of his major works are the following:

Rhythms: Sermons for a Community of Faith and Learning

Contemporary Gospels Accents: Doing Theology in Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America (edited with Danile Carro)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 1: Pentateuch/Torah (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the BibleVol. 2, This History of Israel: Joshua-Esther (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 3: Wisdom Writings (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 4: The Prophets (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 5: The Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal Texts (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 6: The Gospels (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, vol. 7: Acts and Pauline Epistles (edited with Watson E. Mills)

Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 8: The General Epistles and Revelation (edited with Watson E. Mills)

and Dr. Richard Wilson is one of the main contributors to the new Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (Ed Watson E. Mills). This later work did not received the least attention. It was given with the prestigious 1990 LMP AWARD INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT/SCHOLARLY REFERENCE. Walter Brueggemann, a teaching theologian of Columbia Theological Seminary, one of my well-liked OT scholar (see sidebar Theologians & Thinkers), commended this work when he said, "[The contributors are] first-rate scholars who hold in effective relation their faith and their impressive critical learning. In the midst of current controversy about the Bible, this publication stands boldly for sanity, intelligence, and moderation."

Another comment declares, "A modern, critical…one-volume Bible dictionary....Compared with [other Bible dictionaries] buyers will find some additional entries…as well as articles on virtually every noncanonical work included in recent standard collections. Some of the articles have helpful bibliographies, occasionally longer and more up-to-date than those of [other dictionaries]. If you feel you should buy just one,…take the Mercer Dictionary" (International Review of Biblical Studies). I could say no more than that.

There's no doubt, Biblical Archaeoligist placed the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible as a primary theological work, comprehensive work enough to gain the reputation as the “Best One-Volume Bible Dictionary” in its category: "This [Bible dictionary] is designed for students and the classroom, and it succeeds well with that audience. It has the best coverage of extrabiblical literature, and its articles are generally longer and supplemented with helpful bibliographies."

Having the Gospel Accents, Mercer Commentary on the Old and New Testament, and the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible--all of which are gifts from the author himself--added to my personal library are like keeping treasures of theological gems. If ever I have to give up a thousand books on my shelves and keep only ten, these four will be prime choices among others.

In the midst of our academic inquiry and labor to relate Christian faith with the community, we failed not to enjoy what we need to discover and re-discover in class and out of campus. We do have time to go and feel the ambiance of Baguio City, taste its delicacies, and smell the aroma of its wet market.

I also remember his crack of laughter along with us when I shared a story about a priest and his parishioner. It was during the Mass when the priest started to offer the bread to the people as they fall in line, waiting and taking turn to have their share of the bread. As usual, the priest extended his hands and said, "Body of Christ." He placed the wafer/bread inside the mouth and did it to the next, the next, and the next. Until the second from the last came, he said, "Body of Christ."

Then the last parishioner on the line stood before him. She was so beautiful, slim, and curvy. The priest stood petrified. Holding the wafer and offered it to her. And said, "Christ, what a body."

Though we all broke into laughter (and I still laugh or grin everytime I recall it), I still believe that doing theology is not all serious and "heady." Scholars of theology can go beyond teacher-student relationship or mere professionalism and specialization. Although this is common in the academic world. But what I like most about Jesus Christ, the ultimate didaskalos is that he called his disciples, his servants, his "learners" as his "friends" (John 15:14) . Jesus as a teaching theologian crossed the border of traditional elitism--which is characteristic of his time--by going deeper into the lives of his students. By mentoring and making them friends, Jesus touched his learners: head, heart, and hand...their whole being.

I cannot underestimate the power of influence, no matter how long or short time may be. But this one thing I know. I met a teacher whose influence is etched in my head, heart, and hand...my whole being.

Evil as Virtual Reality: A Post 9/11 Reflection

By Glenn Plastina

Five years ago, as I sat down after a full day of class-'n-chit-chat to gasp some "good" news from CNN (actually, a thing you rarely hear and see), I--like most of the rest of the world--watched appalled at a turning point of American history; it was one tiring moment, early evening (in the Philippines), but has become a terrible morning in the "land of the free." I actually thought the Lord was coming soon from heaven to take his bride out of this world. The end of days has come. Doomsday. 9/11.

Petrified as I was, my eyes were trans-fixed on the tube screen, dropped jaw, anxious of the scene. Everything I need to see was graphically flashed on screen, LIVE! Tower burning, people going nowhere, screaming, shouting, both terrified and terrorized. Then another passenger plane slammed the second WTC tower. Everyone was running for their lives as the two towers crumbled one after another.

Meanwhile, in our men's corridor, some of my friends stopped to watch the horrible news, an event often loved by media sensationalists. One student, who I thought has just awakened from deep slumber, interrupted and said, "What's the title of the movie?"

With a shiver running through my spine, still focused on the screen, I said, "No." My lips stuttered, a little bit shaken. "That's not a movie. It's real. America is being attacked. It's under siege. World Trade Center is crushing down."

Stillness.

Silence.

As a Bible-toting man since boyhood and a seminary student for more than six years, my mind rushed through the pages of the book, imagining the apocalypse... doomsday and tribulation. I was quite a hard-core dispensationalist at that time. As I recount, I almost thought of the very words of John the revelator that says.

"And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing; And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city is] like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate." (Rev. 18:9-19 KJV)

WTO, the pride of economic power and capitalist monopoly, built in numerous years, crushed down in a moment. Ground Zero. "Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." (18:21) I did not think America will recover too. It was like "the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee...for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." (18:23)

Quaint and, perhaps, brutally naive, at that time, I was caught between two tensions, between two realities: the "already" and "not yet," the dark night of virtual reality and the doomsday of futurity. Virtual reality? 9/11 as virtual reality?

Though it still brings a chill most of the time I remember 9/11, it was not so real to me as it were with the people directly victimized with that utter terror. I was not vociferous. I may have sensed and felt the devilish demonstration of such monstrosity and horrendous evil motivated by religio-political ideology, but the fact that what I have was only a virtual scenario brought before my eyes via technology from across the other side of the world, direct experience was "the" lacking element to the said reality. The matrix of meaning is still illusive.

Deep inside of me, I may have partly abandoned the apocalyptic eisegesis (not necessarily exegesis) to the biblical text (for it might be a possible and yet remote fulfillment). However, I'm still struggling on this horrendous evil. Is this abysmal evil a result between--not with the classic battle of good and evil but with--evil and greater evil? Between those who wage war in the name of religion and those who make war as a multi-billion business? I'm still asking the question: what's the difference between the lords of wars and the wars of the lords? Both are bound in the arms of evil. Whether left or right wing, left or right hand, it all belong to the same body, connected to the same dark entity.

Evil in its various degrees is still evil. Making good out of evil can be a deceptive masquerade. In this way, I recall that even in the history of the church of Christ, evil--namely in the forms of crusades, massacres, witch burning, inquisitions, religious blackmails, spiritual manipulations, fundamentalist divisiveness, scandals, or bullying, and the like--is pervasive within religiosity. Let me not forget that Nazism, apartheid, slavery, Darfur's genocide which caused horrendous deaths and oppression have had religious bearings at most. Hence, the spiritual can be so subtle that wickedness can be justified as the most spiritual thing to do. Killing human lives, calling them infidels, lower than pigs, just because they differ in opinion and conviction, religion and culture, are actually inhuman; demonic at its best. Evil--sometimes expressed in sinful hatred, bigotry, terror, absolute power, or threat--permeates the realm of the unseen and the seen. Worse, it is not only perceived as virtual or imagination, it happens. It is committed. It is actuated.

Presently, I'm still struggling whether to accept the popularized notion that the 9/11 victims were "really" heroes. I ask: Is it possible that those who died were only collateral damage caught in a crossfire between terrorism and counter-terrorism (although the difference is ambiguously differentiated)? Victims between those who provoked the terrorists to attack and those who terrorized? More often than not, to be a stronger army--not to mention, to get tons of gold out of people's tax and purse for military budget and earnings from the sales of killing machines--is to have a magnified enemy. Worse, create an enemy, an opposition, an antagonist, a scapegoat if there are no others. Hence, I don't know where and what are the virtues within these possibilities? And by the way, why are the peacekeepers trained to kill?

War and everything in between the lines are still breeding grounds for--in fact more--evil. Those who fight monsters, as Nietzsche noted, can possibly become monsters themselves, perhaps growing double. The sullen effect of the collateral damage or the innocents, as I perceived in this 9/11 five-year-after reflection, are disturbing. Fear, paranoia, helplessness, fatal resignation or on the other extreme, revenge, hatred, racial discrimination, prejudice, indifference, and alienation will be humanity's costly lot.

Cause and effect? I don't know when evil begun. It is just "it was," somewhere in primeval eons; and there was. It remains a mystery to me. Yet as it has always been, planting evil means reaping manifold evil; fighting against evil can breed more evil, but we can't afford not to face evil as virtual reality. Eradicating evil is not mere turning off my TV. That's a fact. Evil is so real. Sometime more real than the "presence" of God. That is why theodicy is not simplistic.

On the other hand, as long as hell exists, does evil ceased to exist? Is evil here to exist or just confined to another realm? How can we confidently say, evil will not last forever? The hope of the futurity might give an answer. The future of God will reveal that, in Wolfhart Pannenberg's words, "his rule is his being." We will only know for certain the illusive truth (or answers to a lot of questions) in the future. The ultimate destiny of mankind is in the hands of the One who created the world and everything therein from the future.

Whether evil is seen on TV--of course real to some--or in apocalyptic futurity, it is more than just a virtual reality.

What's the title of the movie anyway?

Mi Amor

She's my life, my friend and my love

She's everything to me, she's all that I have

Life may be short, it won't last forever

But I'm full to brim for I'm in love with her