Divinity School marks Indigenous Peoples Month with webinar on Filipino Earth-Based Spirituality
Christians have “much to learn” from the earth-based spirituality of indigenous peoples that translates into a “profound love and care for nature,” said Rev. Dr. Lope B. Robin during a webinar organized by the Silliman University Divinity School (SUDS), October 13, 2021.
The webinar, titled “The Earth-based Spirituality of Indigenous Filipinos and the Well-being of Creation,” marked the celebration of the Indigenous Peoples’ Month.
Rev. Dr. Robin, a faculty in theology at SUDS, served as the resource speaker.
“Given the common dictum on the inseparability between theology and ethics, Christians have indeed so much to learn from the earth-based spirituality of the indigenous peoples…Such earth-based spirituality is subsequently translated into their profound love and care for nature,” said Robin.
Earth-based spirituality
Robin’s presentation focused on the Igorots in the Cordillera Region.
“We Christians have so much to learn from the earth-based spirituality of the Igorot, especially in promoting human intimacy with nature. The Igorot earth-based spirituality also challenges Christian theology to re-examine the notion of the human being as separate and superordinate to nature; such dualism is one of the root causes of the devastation of our Mother Earth,” said Robin.
“Igorot” is the generic name for the indigenous people who are living in the Cordilleras and is composed of six ethnolinguistic groups: Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg (Apayao), Kalinga, and Kankana-ey.
Robin mentioned that aside from the belief in the spirits dwelling in nature, the Igorots bear faith in the Creator of all that exists.
He pointed out, “…in the earth-based spirituality of the Igorots, there is no place for the dichotomy between the spiritual and the material, which is prevalent in Christianity.”
For Robin, this spirituality of the Igorots has fully shaped their attitude towards the environment and has become the basis of their socio-political and economic life.
“The social system of the Igorots is intertwined with its ritual and ceremonial context as well as in its ecological setting. Hence, the identity of the Igorots as a people is heavily shaped by their earth-based spirituality,” said Robin.
Attitude towards nature
Robin reiterated a call to all peoples, especially Christians, to change their attitude towards nature from being a conqueror to an “attitude of intimacy, care and respect for nature as demonstrated by Indigenous Filipinos.”
This, for him, is one of the best steps in averting “the total collapse of the world of nature and to prevent the doom scenario about the end of civilization in 2050.”
Robin is a pastor, scholar, writer, and speaker from the Bohol Conference Incorporated – United Church of Christ in the Philippines. He earned his Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity from SUDS in 1991 and 1997, respectively. He then completed his Doctor of Theology in 2011 and his doctoral research was in the area of Indigenous Spirituality.
He has served in many different ways, including as SUDS dean from 2011 to 2016. Currently, he leads the SUDS Theology Department and serves as field education director.
Students, SUDS alumni, and church workers all over the globe attended the webinar via Zoom and Facebook Live.
Pastor George Mikhail Pagalan, an alumnus of SUDS from the Central Mindanao Area Conference currently assigned at UCCP Cagayan de Oro City, served as moderator during the webinar.
SUDS continues to hold its monthly webinars as part of the long celebration of its centenary as a theological formation center. For this school year, SUDS is set to feature its faculty who work on different areas of specializations for the webinars.
(Report by Klein Fausto Emperado, SUDS Centennial 2021 Special Project Staff.)
