Liberating the Will of Australia. Geoffrey Burn

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СКАЧАТЬ this term in Australia because it has never been properly defined and its misuse has caused much grief. Strictly speaking, the process of reconciliation describes the process of parties negotiating repentance and forgiveness, and the parties will have become reconciled when this has been achieved. The point at which reconciliation is reached is also the point at which it will be noticed that justice has been established, a deeper justice that could not have been imagined at the beginning of the process, a justice that comes as a gift of God. The final section of the Second Movement returns to the situation in Australia and to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The whole of the book has been moving towards the point of asking what must be done in Australia in order to stop harm being done to the First Peoples in Australia. The answer is that the nation of Australia must repent of the Root Sin. Necessarily, there are multiple local elements to this because of all of the actions that have followed on from the Root Sin, but the national repentance of the Root Sin is essential. The question that must be asked about any process involving the nation of Australia and the First Peoples is whether the actions of the nation of Australia are a true and real repentance of the Root Sin. There is an important question as to whether the Uluru Statement from the Heart is asking enough of Australia before forgiveness is given. A reconciliatory process has to begin somewhere and the generous offer made by in the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a move of the First Peoples towards forgiveness. I remain, however, deeply concerned by this offer, for it seems to be both premature and it also does not seem to be asking for enough. Whilst it has been informed by what seems politically possible, if it is not met by a genuine repentance by the Australian nation, then its acceptance by the Australian nation will only entangle it in the power of the Root Sin, completely disabling it, and it will not be able to achieve what is hoped for by the First Peoples in Australia.

      The book will be brought together in the Finale, which includes a personal story of my own, where I was addressed by a very different land, when I first understood the nature of the new beginning that could come out the mess of the past.

      This book is not about blame. Blame puts the focus in the wrong place, trying to find people at fault and then punishing them in some way because of their fault. Blame takes the focus away from looking carefully at the problem and what needs to be done to fix it. Blame also assumes that the problem is in the past, rather than being continually reproduced in the present. Instead, we need to allow ourselves to be challenged by the reality of the situation and then act courageously to do what needs to be done to put it right. There is a will in Australia to do good for the First Peoples in Australia. This book is about liberating that will, so that all the peoples of The Land, and The Land itself, can flourish. I hope that you will find that this book is ultimately a message of hope, that there is a way out so that the all peoples who dwell in The Land can coexist for the welfare of all.

      Before embarking on the First Movement, there are two final things that need to be said at this point, concerning the scope of this work and the level of this book.

      Concerning the scope of this work, whilst it is focused on Australia, and all the examples are drawn from Australia, the theological development is applicable to all colonized peoples. I hope that the insights contained here will be developed by others to help them understand their own contexts.

      Any book must have a particular audience in mind. I am hoping that this is accessible to all the peoples in Australia. I have tried to walk the narrow way between having an academically rigorous and theologically sound narrative whilst also keeping it accessible to all who may wish to read it. Sometimes this means that the book progresses by means of assertion rather than engagement with the views of others. Those who wish to also see the arguments behind some of my assertions are referred to my thesis,15 but must be aware that my thinking has progressed in the ten years since I completed my thesis, and what is presented here is somewhat more nuanced. Moreover, my earlier work developed the theology of reconciliation and considered what the reconciliation might look like in Australia, where the purpose of this book is much narrower, focusing on the Root Sin and what must be done about it, for it still has not been addressed in Australia. With this in mind, I have made extensive use of endnotes. Some of the endnotes are simply an acknowledgement of my sources, but others are notes for further reflection by those who wish to take the ideas further. It should be possible to grasp the central ideas of this book without referring to the endnotes at all, but the endnotes are an important resource for deeper reflection on what is being raised in body of the book.

      I hope that you will take the time to consider old things and new as they are presented in this book: time to listen, reflect, deliberate and act.

      First Movement

      Binding

      The past is not dead and gone; it isn’t even past.16

      White man, hear me! History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations. And it is with great pain and terror that one begins to realize this. In great pain and terror one begins to assess the history which has placed one where one is, and formed one’s point of view. In great pain and terror because, thereafter, one enters into battle with that historical creation, Oneself, and attempts to re-create oneself according to a principle more humane and more liberating: one begins the attempt to achieve a level of personal maturity and freedom which robs history of its tyrannical power, and also changes history.17

      Today, we recognize that the ways in which our forebears treated the First Peoples was abhorrent, but we see ourselves as different. We see differently now and we think that we can draw a line under the past and proceed into the future with different practices that arise from our new understanding. It is certainly true that the culture is changing in Australia, but it is also true that policies and practices today continue to cause damage. Some problems are so complex that there seems to be no good option.18 To think that we can just draw a line under the past is a fatal mistake, because the ways of the past continue to shape us in the present and we are not always able to see clearly nor to know what is good. The result is that sometimes harm is done even when good is intended.

      This First Movement, Binding, will introduce the theological concept of bound willing, which shows how our wills are shaped by our history, so that we cannot always choose what is good, even when we wish to do it. The will is bound because it is limited in its ability to respond more fully to the love of God, who is the source of all that is good, and to act from that place. This is true not only of individuals, but also of groups, societies and nations. The Second Movement, Loosing, will look at concrete practices which enable us to receive the liberating love of God, so allowing our wills to be set free from those things which bind them.

      This use of Christian theology brings both explanatory and hortatory power: it both helps the situation to be understood and also shows what needs to be done in order to put it right. More than that, it is deeply hopeful, because, in God, there is external help to redeem the situation. This book is therefore not about apportioning blame but about being able to acknowledge the full depth of the pathology in the presence of God, which is liberating because God is always moving to towards the world in order to bring life; the movement of God is not towards blame and punishment but towards restoration.

      The first section of this movement will introduce the concept of bound willing. Alistair McFadyen gives the best contemporary exploration of bound willing that I have come across, and I recommend reading his book for those who wish to explore these concepts in more detail.19 In his book, he uses two case studies—child sexual abuse and the Nazi holocaust—to explain, develop, and test the doctrine of bound willing and the nature of salvation, the liberating work of God to release us from all that binds us. These case studies, of traumatic and incomprehensible events, show both how theology gives both a deeper understanding of СКАЧАТЬ