First session of presentations
This paper explores from a Samoan perspective knowledge based on spiritual understandings of curriculum. Curriculum is the use of biblical information as a vehicle to support facilitation of knowledge within pedagogical practices from a Pasifika perspective within teacher education. The use of proverbial expressions to support Pasifika world views is a vital component of dissemination of knowledge. Oceania literature is often used in order to support Pasifika conceptualisations delivered in oratory format. There are many and varied possibilities. One use is Pasifika models of development for usage in a range of disciplines within Aotearoa New Zealand. From a Samoan perspective the oratory format is teaching within the realm of education. The core aim for oratory practices is to share stories and knowledge with people within a range of educational and community contexts. This discussion contends that lauga may be considered as an effective pedagogical method in sharing of traditional, spiritual and cultural knowledge within learning and teaching. An analysis and assessment of the use of biblical information in learning and teaching will be carried out.Two questions are raised for consideration. What is lauga? How does this format of sharing knowledge assist an interpretation of biblical information in Oceania? Drawing on a range of Oceania literature and research, this article seeks to outline some methods used to analyse and assess the use of the biblical information and evaluate the implication this has in teaching practices.
Key words: knowledge, lauga, spirituality, Samoan perspective, Pasifika teaching
Abstract pending
My contention for this presentation is that the Genesis Creation Story contains elements that are parallel with features of the Samoan lauga. The presentation thereforeis a re-reading of the Genesis creation account in light of the Samoan lauga. It will attempt to identify features of Samoan lauga (folasaga, ava, paia, faafetai, taeao,faamatafiga) evidenced within the Genesis creation account. Including in this re- reading is a closer look at God’s speeches, examining the rhetoric if they are comparable to the rhetoric employed by the tulafale (Samoan orator) in lauga constructions. My hope for this presentation is to achieve an understanding of the creator God and the creation activities from an Oceania perspective.
Second session of presentations
According to Ezra 7, King Artaxerxes authorized Ezra to undertake a legal role in the western region of the empire that included both Judah and Samaria. This paper discusses the variety of ways in which the Persian administration may have helped to shape, directly or indirectly, the authority and the content of the Torah as the five books of Moses. Significantly, this framing of the Torah required the excision of Joshua’s story of land possession (cf. Deut 26:9; Josh 24:25–26; Neh 8:17). An older theory which suggests that the Pentateuch was officially authorized by the Persians will be critically evaluated, along with more recent proposals for understanding Pentateuchal traditions through the lens of postcolonial studies.
This paper looks at the development of the ger in the priestly writings and especially its claim to land. It will also endeavour to assess the Samoan word tagataese which translates the ger in the Samoan bible. Tagataese has several nuances in the Samoan context and each has certain degree of rights to Samoan land tenure.1
The aim of this historical investigation of the geris to highlight any significance that helps address land issues currently faced by the postcolonial Samoan church and its members. Moreover, in this dialogue between the biblical investigation and the Samoan context, a postcolonial theology will be proposed that may help the Samoan church deals with present land issues.
This paper offers a first generation Tongan in diaspora (fakahē) reading of Eccl 8:1-17. The purpose of the fakahē reading is to identify the strangers and aliens who wander into foreign places. It exposes the social and political context, identity, struggles, and its views on migrants. The main concern of this paper is with how one makes sense of new and strange places while preserving your cultural values and traditions. This reading revisits the place of origin to look at the social and political contexts and the reasons for migrating. This reading engages with the core of intergeneration issues. The limitation of this approach is that it can identify and give insight to the issues but it cannot resolve those, because the intergeneration issues are complex. These matters will be taken into consideration in the fakahē reading of Eccl 8:1-17
Third session of presentations
1Tagataese may refer to a foreigner (non Samoan), a person from a different family, a different village, or even to a
faifeau or minister of religion who is residing in a village parish.
One of the analytical tools of postcolonial thinking is Homi Bhabha’s concept of ‘hybridity’. The hybridity approach emphasizes a cross-cultural approach but goes beyond intercultural criticism as a reading strategy as it recognizes the complexities in the interdependent relationship between the colonized and the colonizer. It is a transcultural approach which allows the marginalized or colonized situation of a reader to become a key to an interpretation of the Bible. It does not impose that situation on the text, but rather provides a departure point for seeking in the text an understanding that would define a transformation of that situation. Hybridity has limitations. It identifies and describes something ‘not’ pure. However, from the point of view of survival in today’s world, the weaknesses of using ‘hybridity’ as a postcolonial approach – its biased roots, impure offspring, overemphasis and underemphasis of distinctions in different times and space – actually suggest the importance of what hybridity, in reality, means. This importance is considered significant in this paper in which Matt 8:1-17 is revisited from a Samoan postcolonial perspective in hybridity called ‘fia ola’ – an opportunity seeker. Fia ola exhibits and expresses a Samoan seeking survival in contemporary Samoan society. The paper will read the characters of the leper, centurion, and Peter’s mother-in-law as fia ola people in the text.
Oceania is a sea of stories. The prodigal forced its way into it only a hundred and seventy years ago and became one of the most popular stories about leaving and returning home. This paper reinvents the Oceania legend of ‘Mafatu’ (as in the novel, Call it Courage) and the popular novel and film, ‘Sons for the Return Home,’ island stories about leaving home and returning. The Borabora legend of Mafatu unsettles the originality of the prodigal theme. Sons for the Return Home relocates the prodigal to the reality of an islander sandwiched in the cultural crossroads of Auckland. These island stories give voice to the voiceless islanders of long ago and the present in the biblical prodigal.
Fourth session of presentations
Abstract pending
Inise Foiakau, “Exodus 4:24-26 – A marama iTaukei reading”
Sipora (Fijian for Zipporah) is almost unknown. The wife of one of the greatest men in the Tanakh and one of the greatest influences of the Pentateuch is hardly mentioned by her husband (Moses) or by other writers of the Tanakh. Sipora is almost non-existent.
I offer a marama iTaukeireading to resist strongholds encountered in the text and to read without the dominant patriarchal and imperialistic voice of which I am accustomed to. It is equally a challenge to dig and ruffle through the waves of domination to find the marama iTaukei (Fijian indigenous woman) voice. That inkling of an alternative voice in a male dominated cultural and imperialistic arena, is an exercise I will embark on in this essay. It is interesting to see the life of Sipora, a foreigner amongst the Israelites, but in Midian (Ex 2) she was a marama iTaukei. The narrative of the Exodus focuses on the journey of Moses to free the Israelites. As the narrative moves to chapter 4, Sipora begins to lose her marama iTaukei status and becomes a foreigner.
There are certain stories in the Bible, with its sexual and violent content, that can be problematic for any reader. In a culture where such topics are withheld from public dialogue due to tapu, the problem of the text, in the Samoan culture, opens up a Pandora’s box of cultural tension and uncertainty. One book, which will be the focal text of this essay, is the Song of Songs; a book riddled with sexual imagery and language that proves to be problematic in reading, for—but not limited to—the Samoan context.In dealing with the presence of sex in the Bible, history shows that allegorisation had been implemented so as to avoid talking about sexual love and eroticism, but instead redirecting the reader’s focus to a love from the context of God’s covenant with Israel, and God’s covenant with the Christian church. Samoan readership had followed suite by interpreting the Song of Songs from an allegorical framework in a bid to uphold its own tapu.
However, Samoans in the contemporary age, in particular those living in diaspora, live in a context where the Samoan culture is engaged in a struggle to uphold its existence amidst the dominant palagi discourse. The influence of the diaspora context—the Australian Samoan context in particular— has led to an influx of new ideas and new attitudes to influence Samoans living in these contexts. As such, Samoans have experienced a change in attitude towards sex. A book like the Song of Songsfor instance, may not be as tapu as it seems in the new context, and this calls for a new way of reading. In breaching tapu, Samoans say tulou, an emphatic statement of respect where one lowers one’s self in a bid to reconcile with those whom the breach has affected. As such, I seek to construct a tulou hermeneutic to re-read the Song of Songs, to reconcile with the text, which had been suppressed of meaning due to allegorisation.
Fifth session of presentations
Using educational theory, I have identified which of the 19 occurrences of the phrase “The Day of the Lord” in the Old Testament is the one that introduced it to Israel: the “first lesson” on it. It was Obadiah v.15, in 801 BC. It was developed by Joel in 773, and then by all the other Old Testament prophets, and also by Jesus and His apostles in the New Testament. This discovery has led to the resolution of debates and uncertainties over other topics in Old Testament studies.
Until now, the first usage of the Day of the Lord was believed to be by Amos in 760, who used it as a very negative judgmental concept towards Israel; denouncing their sins, and predicting God’s judgment and punishment was about to fall. Obadiah however, used it as a positive concept of salvation for Israel and Judah and judgment on their enemies who had persecuted them.
This has implications for our preaching today. The Bible pattern of preaching the Day of the Lord or Judgment Day begins with judgment on our enemies and salvation for God’s people. This is what Amos did (in chapters 1:1–2:8) what Paul did (in Romans chapters 1:1–2:11;) and what Jesus observed and did (in Matthew 7: 1–5.). Finally, just as Obadiah’s message was perverted by the false prophets of his day, there are pitfalls that we need to avoid as well, lest we become false preacherstoo.
Vahevahe is the Tongan word for ‘sharing, dividing, and distributing’. It is a word that commonly used in distribution of food, obligations, responsibilities, and duties. For instance, in a funeral setting, the
kāinga (family) would come together and share (vahevahe) the responsibilities. The head of the kāinga would call a family meeting and share (vahevahe) the responsibilities among the family members. In doing so they will be able to share (vahevahe) the load of the duties at the same time release the pressure from others, especially the members of the grieved family. In sharing (vahevahe), everyone has something to give and also something to receive. This concept of vahevahe (sharing) was used by our ancestors who first received and used the Bible as a way of converting our people into Christianity and training them to understand the Bible. They used the Tongan phrase vahevahe folofola (Sharing the Bible) for discipleship in a small group setting as oppose to worship setting. Vahevahe folofola gives space for personal interaction among those who read and interpret the Bible, which highlights the emphasis of Matthew 4:19 and 28:19. Both texts emphasise the importance of discipleship, which depicts the Tongan notion of vahevahe folofola. I will endeavour in this presentation to analyse and assess the concept of vahevahe folofola in relation to Matthew 4:19 and 28:19, especially Mathew’s concept of discipleship.
This paper focuses on the Tongan Concept of ‘Ofa Li’oa in relation to the Greek concept of Agape. I will analyze and attempt to synthesize the two concepts and their influences in the Tongan Culture:
Introduction
1. ‘Ofa Li’oa – A study on the concept and its Cultural Background. The meaning of individual words.
2. Agape – A study on the Concept and its Cultural Background. The meaning of individual word. The Hebrew equivalent and its Old and New Testamentusage.
3. An analysis of the two concepts and its cultural form of expressing the Divine Love. Conclusion
Sixth session of presentations
The Wisdom of Ben-Sira emulates the tradition of Proverbs with its synthesis of observations, commands and prohibitions. In chapter 24 we find a poetic interjection of Wisdom that mirrors the personification of Hokma in Proverbs 8. Hokma, or Sophia in Greek (both feminine forms, for Wisdom) begins to tell her story. She speaks of her “glory” and begins with a liquid reminisce of her earthly and aquatic bearings. However, the flow of her story comes to a halt when the Creator commands Sophia to make her dwelling in Jacob. My Oceanic reading of chapter 24 will challenge Ben-Sira’s account of Sophia seeking and being given rest within the confinements of Israel’snarrative and geographical borders. Why was there a need for a “resting place” (v.7)? Was it God or someone else that chose Israel? In offering my oceanic reading of Ben Sira 24, I hope to provide a new take on Sophia’s story by suggesting that Ben Sira underestimates the power and possible danger of Sophia by seeking to possess her within Israel. Could Israel’s Torah truly contain the depths of Sophia's profundity? Or like the Ocean, was she both wild and uncontainable?
After Jonah delivered God’s words to Nineveh, God ignored him. The character who was pushed to speak is literarily silenced; the one sent to fai lauga does not get the audience he demanded; the
subaltern who speaks is not heard. God preferred that Jonah is fakalongo (silence). This presentation draws upon the attention to speaking and listening in Sia Figiel’s novels to fakaongo (hear) Jonah.