Implications of Biblical Anthropology

The human factor in the discipline of doing theology is non-negotiable--it is very essential. As such, anthropology is a basic element in any Christian theology. Some thoughts on it can be encouraging from our Filipino point of view.

Cultural “anthropo”-logy is about humans and Jesus Christ came for human beings; he must have cared for the culture of the people. Jesus was born in a place where cultural values were strong. It is part of the wisdom of the Jews to care for the cultural achievements of the people; Jesus must have known the value of understanding humanity by becoming human himself. At least he understands what human culture is through his experience as a Jew. I am inclined to believe that Jesus did not come to save the “soul” of the people only, but to make the whole lives of the people a lot better and meaningful. Since culture is part of the human construct, God must have cared about the culture of the people. And one trademark of his concern for human culture is the Christian contribution to the study of anthropology so that Christian witness may become more meaningful and culturally relevant to the recipients. If God cared so much to become human, we ought to care the welfare of humanity also as it was exemplified in the incarnation of Jesus. His incarnation itself explicitly expressed that he cared for humanity as a whole, not in part, lest he could have just made himself much better than angels, not human. Hence, cultural anthropology, in my opinion, is incarnational.

Consequently, cultural anthropology creates a “humane” Christian ministry. From the moment religion became a part of human history it has become one of the major sources of de-humanization also. The abuse of religious figures under the cloak of spiritual authority has been as old as time can tell. Even today, religion is one justifier of making humans less than they are. Instead of advancing the welfare of the people, religion is one of the instruments that threatens the freedom and wholeness of the people. Through false spiritual claims, people have been deceived and deprived of the truth of God. Even Christian witnesses, if they fail to identify and value the culture of the people, the tendency to look down on the idiosyncrasies of human cultures will certainly occur. It is easy for the missioner to feel superior and special over the local people. But through cultural anthropology, the witness will able to avoid the mistakes of lack of cultural consciousness.

Moreover, cultural anthropology cares of the welfare of the people and as Christian witnesses we ought to express higher degree of care to the well-being of the people we minister. Since the recipients of the gospel cannot do away with human culture—and the same with us—we ought to be concerned with the wholeness of the people and the wholeness of their culture as well. The culture which is not godly ought to be transformed—through the power of the Gospel—to create new “nature” and new meaning to their cultural identity as a unique people group. One expression that we really care for the welfare of the people is to respect and enhance their culture through the gospel of Christ.

Therefore, cultural anthropology is a necessity for every witness who deals with people for it caters to the needs of the people. As it has been emphasized from the beginning, cultural anthropology is not an end in itself; it is a means to effective Christian witness. To learn from the blunders of those who have been there, it is wisdom to learn the uniqueness and value of anthropological studies for that’s where we are. We are dealing with people, not animals or angels. The complexity of human nature requires understanding, not just an abstract notion or proposition of who the people are by generalizing them with where we have been, making them like us.