but it also provides explanation for contingent events and catastrophes such as sickness, death, natural catastrophes, and success. The gods and spirits act according to the pattern of reward and punishment in this life.
Also the Old Testament knows a “logic of retribution”—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth—and a punishment of the people of Israel according to their sins. In the latter prophets and the New Testament this logic is however transformed into the “logic of love” which is offered freely to the other person who may not deserve this love at all. The love of enemies (Matthew 5:43–48) and the renunciation of resistance overcome the logic of retribution. All retribution in the relation between God and humans finishes with the once-and-for-all vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ at the cross. After this event, humans cannot contribute anything to their salvation.
(5) The person is defined through his or her place in the community. Identity is given by the group’s descent from a common ancestor. The individual depends on the community for his survival and will therefore give precedence to the community. “The realization of a person’s identity, therefore, lies not in himself/herself, but in the people and the world around him/her.”5 The socialization of the child consists in learning the obligations toward the family members and the group so that welfare is achieved for the group. Status depends on the relations to others in terms of reciprocity and kinship. Religion aims at the prosperity and strength of the group rather than the individual. It can be achieved, if the proper order and service in the group is maintained. This includes the relation to the ancestors.
The relational anthropology is shared in the Bible, though the Bible also emphasizes the individual dignity of humans as created in the image of God. God searches for the individual (Luke 15). Salvation and judgment is a personal act between the individual and God. Christianity’s emphasis on the individual relationship to God is balanced by the relationship of Christians to one another and to Christ in the church, the body of Christ.
(6) Some Melanesian cultures knew mythological stories about the sin of the ancestors, whose consequences the present generation has to bear. Prominent in some areas was the myth about the white-skinned brother who was driven away by his black-skinned brother and now returns in form of the whites. There is a promise that some time the guilt will be atoned for, thus allowing for the arrival of a new and better time of more equality and peace. These myths could merge with the Christian myth about the lost paradise and its reopening through the atonement of Christ.
The Christian concept of universal individual sinfulness and a distorted relationship to God was new to Melanesia. Universal sinfulness results in the complete dependence on grace. No human can achieve salvation by himself, and God is free to bestow or withdraw his grace though his love is certain in Jesus Christ.
(7) Some Melanesian groups knew eschatological expectations of destruction and renewal at the end of time linked with the return of the ancestors, but this was part of a cyclical revival of life different from the Christian hope of an end and goal in history through the coming of a new heaven and new earth. Christianity introduced the concept of historical time and the directed history of salvation.
(8) Rituals gave access to the spirits and powers. Many Melanesian societies practiced ritualized feasts or exchanges. If the ritual was performed correctly, it brought about well-being, but it also had the power to manipulate spirits for certain aims. Though it was not easy and needed special knowledge to know and perform the right rituals, they served as a kind of religious technology to elicit wished-for results. The most powerful rituals were often kept secret. Missionaries were also accused of keeping the true rituals of their power secret.
Rituals or rites in Christianity are seen as expressions of the communicative and symbolic dimension of worship. They derive their power from the promise of God—for instance in the Holy Communion—and are not powerful in themselves as means of manipulation.
(9) The society in Papua New Guinea is more egalitarian while the one in Fiji is hierarchical. Leadership in PNG used to be demonstrated through special knowledge of rituals and directions of the ancestors, through generosity and the distribution of wealth. In Fiji the hereditary chief is different from the people and used to receive a nearly divine reverence.
This creates problems for the church leaders whose position is in competition with the traditional leaders. For instance, in PNG the expectations of the traditional leader are projected on the church leader: “Nowadays in the village and the community they want to be respected as a good leader with visible wealth, so that when the community or the village has any trouble, he can go in front of the village people and say: ‘I’m the leader here’” (mL).
This expectation makes it easy for some foreign-based missions to attract people with the display of their wealth. Preaching a gospel of prosperity, according to which God promises all kinds of blessings in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, falls on fertile soil. This expectation, however, causes problems for a church such as the ELCPNG, which does not have a lot of material resources. People easily conclude that a church which can no longer provide services must have lost the blessings of God.
Images of God
Melanesian experiences with God have found their expression in various images of God. These images generate expectations and new experiences which confirm or transcend the given image. Therefore, these images shape the expectation of conversion and renewal. In the interviews with Fijian and Papuan Christians three images dominated: the first is God who takes care and provides all that is needed, the second is God who punishes wrongdoings, and the third is God as loving father. While the first and the second images are in the realm of the creed’s first article (God, the Creator), the last relates to the second article (God as Savior).
The Providing God
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