{"id":19584,"date":"2014-03-19T14:29:50","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T18:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=19584"},"modified":"2014-04-03T15:35:16","modified_gmt":"2014-04-03T19:35:16","slug":"visiting-speaker-draws-parallels-between-christian-shalom-and-native-american-values-of-harmony-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/visiting-speaker-draws-parallels-between-christian-shalom-and-native-american-values-of-harmony-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting speaker draws parallels between Christian \u2018shalom\u2019 and Native American values of harmony, balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201charmony way\u201d of Native Americans is a lot like the \u201cshalom community\u201d taught by Jesus, according to a seminary professor from Oregon who spoke at Eastern Mennonite University on March 12-13, 2014. Randy Woodley<\/a>, PhD, is a Cherokee Indian who has spent a lifetime studying the ways of his people as well as the teachings of Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may at first sound strange to you,\u201d he told students, faculty and others at an academic forum in the Common Grounds Coffeehouse<\/a>, \u201cbut the more I learned about Jesus the more he seemed like an Indian spiritual leader or a medicine man to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Randy<\/a>
Randy Woodley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Woodley, professor of faith and culture at George Fox Seminary in Portland, Ore., spoke at EMU\u2019s annual Augsburger Lecture Series on Christian evangelism and mission.<\/p>\n

In 28 years of Christian ministry among Native Americans, Woodley has seen their core values of harmony and balance in similar light to the Christian concept of shalom. He chose this as the subject of his doctoral dissertation from Asbury Seminary. \u201cShalom is woven into the very fabric of being indigenous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShalom is a lot more than peace,\u201d Woodley said at the university chapel service in Lehman Auditorium, where he also spoke during his visit. \u201cIt\u2019s the way God designed the world to be \u2013 one community, embracing all creation.\u201d The more he studied the concept of shalom in the Bible and in church history, however, the more he came to believe that Christians have fallen short in practicing true shalom.<\/p>\n

Early missionaries devastated indigenous cultures<\/h3>\n

The first Christian missionaries to Native American communities, for example, held Western colonialist attitudes about conquering non-Christian lands and \u201ccivilizing the savages.\u201d They had little awareness that their ideas and actions were devastating to indigenous cultures, Woodley said. Nor did they consider that God might already have been working among indigenous people.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheologically and missiologically, we should always begin by asking in what ways God is already active in the culture,\u201d he said. \u201cNative American values include an already-present relationship with the Creator. And Christians, at least first-century Christians, believed Christ is already present in the culture via his work as Creator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodley said shalom is antithetical to most American values. \u201cShalom is cooperation above competition and community above the individual,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am urging Americans to live out Christ\u2019s values through biblical shalom and specifically through understanding the Native American harmony way,\u201d he wrote in a scholarly paper, which he read at the academic forum.<\/p>\n

From angry young man to missional work for shalom<\/h3>\n

Woodley began his address at the university chapel by speaking about his background and his ancestral roots in the Shenandoah Valley near the EMU campus \u2013 both from a Cherokee tribe and a white settler community. In the 1970s, he said, he was an angry young man with a meth addiction. After he converted to Christianity and became a \u201cflaming evangelist,\u201d his Christian colleagues told him to ignore his Native American heritage and focus on saving \u201clost souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Woodley read the Bible, however, he was drawn to a broader vision, especially as he studied the Christian community that is described in the book of Acts. The early Christians followed Jesus\u2019 teachings about shalom, which called for a different way of loving and living, and urged compassion for the poor and marginalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the church is not busy making shalom,\u201d he said, \u201cthen it has no mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting in the audience at chapel were Myron and Esther Augsburger, who funded the lectureship that brought Woodley to campus. Prior to serving as president of EMU from 1965 to 1980, Myron Augsburger was a well-known author, evangelical leader and evangelist. After he left EMU, he and his artist wife, Esther, founded a church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 Before retiring to Harrisonburg, he also served as president of the Coalition of Christian Colleges & Universities.<\/p>\n

35 years of grassroots ministry<\/h3>\n

Woodley\u2019s theme for his Augsburger lectureship was \u201cEmbracing Missional Shalom Community.\u201d During his visit to campus, he also spoke at the seminary chapel service and met informally with students and faculty.<\/p>\n

For more than 35 years he has been engaged in what he calls \u201cgrassroots ministry.\u201d He founded or helped to form Christians for Justice, Eagle\u2019s Wings Ministry, American Indian Environment & Health Association, North American Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies, Evangelicals 4 Justice, Eloheh Village for Indigenous Leadership & Ministry Development, and Eloheh Farm.<\/p>\n

Ordained in the American Baptist Churches, Woodley served as pastor of Eagle Valley Church in Carson City, Nev., which was for many years a unique role model as an authentic Native American congregation.<\/p>\n

Woodley has authored Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision<\/i> (2012) and Living in Color: Embracing God\u2019s Passion for Ethnic Diversity <\/i>(2004).<\/p>\n

In addition to teaching at George Fox Seminary, he directs its intercultural and indigenous studies program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201charmony way\u201d of Native Americans is a lot like the \u201cshalom community\u201d taught by Jesus, according to a seminary professor from Oregon who spoke at Eastern Mennonite University on ... read more about Visiting speaker draws parallels between Christian \u2018shalom\u2019 and Native American values of harmony, balance<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":19611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5583,14184,409,5623],"tags":[5909,8487,17359],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-19584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-campus-community","category-campus-guests","category-chapel","category-special-programs","tag-esther-augsburger","tag-myron-augsburger","tag-seminaries"],"yoast_head":"\nVisiting speaker draws parallels between Christian \u2018shalom\u2019 and Native American values of harmony, balance - 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