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N egotiating M ethodist D enominational I dentity in the A ge of HIV/AIDS:

N egotiating M ethodist D enominational I dentity in the A ge of HIV/AIDS: Lessons from the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. Cheryl B. Anderson Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Evanston, Illinois USA. August 14, 2013. HIV/AIDS: Introduction. 30-30-30

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N egotiating M ethodist D enominational I dentity in the A ge of HIV/AIDS:

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  1. Negotiating Methodist Denominational Identity in the Age of HIV/AIDS: Lessons from the United States, South Africa, and Brazil Cheryl B. Anderson Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Evanston, Illinois USA August 14, 2013

  2. HIV/AIDS: Introduction • 30-30-30 • Overall, rates are stabilizing and ARVs are more widely available • For every 2 people who are put on ARVs, there are 5 who are newly infected (2010) • For every person who starts treatment, • another 2 are newly infected (2012)

  3. Reaction of Churches: • Condemnation • Compassion • Prevention • Recommended Responses: • Reduce stigma and discrimination • Reduce gender-based violence • Recognize that individual behavior is set within social inequities • Prevent new infections by reclaiming the heritage of Wesley

  4. PLWA: 5.6 million • Transmission: heterosexual • Methodist denomination: • Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) South Africa University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary

  5. Brazil • PLWA: 600,000 • Transmission: MSM, sex workers, • IV drug users • Methodist denomination: • IgrejaMetodista Under Wesley’s portrait with RuiJosgrilberg Methodist University of São Paulo

  6. United States • PLWA: 1.3 million • Transmission: MSM, sex workers, • IV drug users, increasing numbers • of heterosexuals (especially • African American women and Latinas) • One new infection every ten minutes • Methodist denominations: • African American Methodist denominations/Balm in Gilead Senior Bishops Walker, Graves, and Bryant of three historically black Methodist denominations, along with PernessaSeele, founder/CEO of the Balm In Gilead (2012)

  7. The ABCs of Prevention Fact: In 1991, Brazil and South Africa both had HIV prevalence rates of just over 1% of the population. A decade later, South Africa’s rate had skyrocketed to 25% while Brazil’s rate remained at 1%

  8. The ABCs of Prevention S= Safer sexual practices A= Access to prevention and treatment services V= Voluntary counseling and testing E= Empowerment

  9. AudreLorde 1934–1992 Problem: The Mythical Norm White Racial/Ethnic Heterosexual Homosexual/Gay Male Female Affluent Poor

  10. An Alternative: Church as Sanctuary Methodist Church of Southern Africa City of Refuge UCC San Francisco, California

  11. Difficulties with HIV Prevention: Backlash USA Seneca (1848) Selma (1965) Stonewall (1969) South Africa Apartheid (1948-1994) Brazil Military dictatorship (1964-1985)

  12. Difficulties with HIV Prevention: Global Capitalism • Aim is prosperity here and now, • primarily material prosperity • “Survival in a merciless society” • --the case of India • Results? Belief in a ‘quick fix’, and imitation by • Methodist traditions Neo-Pentecostalism

  13. Difficulties with HIV Prevention: Problematic Theological Assumptions • Four statements heard repeatedly indicate assumptions about the nature of God and how God is at work in the world— • and those assumptions make Christians less likely • to actively engage in prevention • Reclaiming the heritage of John Wesley can help us counter such assumptions

  14. Photo Footnote F. Douglas Powe, Jr. Douglas Strong Mark Teasdale Barry Bryant Stephan Ray

  15. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 1 “I am HIV positive and I know God is testing me, so I have to prove myself worthy” Biblical Basis: Genesis 22:1 “ . . . God tested Abraham” Problem: God is only concerned with our spiritual development, not our physical existence. Therefore, Christians are not to be concerned about the body. Biblical Response: Deuteronomy 23:12-13 “You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement.”

  16. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 1 “I am HIV positive and I know God is testing me, so I have to prove myself worthy” • A Wesleyan response: • “Wesley also insisted on the goodness of the body. It was, in his view, an ‘exquisitely wrought machine’, and he was intensely curious about it and deeply respectful of its mysteries. . . . Wesley thought [that] we are the stewards of our bodies. God entrusted us with them and we were to care for them as we would • any precious gift.” E. Brooks Holifield, Health and Medicine in the Methodist Tradition (1986) • Wesley established a medical clinic in London in the 1740s and it has been • called the first free public medical dispensary in London. Primitive Physick, Wesley’s collection of home remedies, was first published about the same time.

  17. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 2 “If you are HIV positive, it is because you have sinned.” Biblical Basis: Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Problem: Because being HIV positive is the result of sinning, and God punishes sinners, God is responsible for their status. To prevent infection then, is to interfere with God’s actions.

  18. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 2 “If you are HIV positive, it is because you have sinned.” Biblical Responses: Job 42:7 “After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.’” John 9:2-3 “His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’”

  19. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 2 “If you are HIV positive, it is because you have sinned.” • A Wesleyan response: • Consider Wesley’s attitude toward the poor • “On Friday and Saturday, I visited as many more [of the poor] as I could. I found some in their cells underground; others in their garrets, half-starved both with cold and hunger, added to weakness and pain. But I found not one of them unemployed, who was able to crawl about the room. So wickedly, devilishly false is that common objection, ‘They are poor, only because they are idle. . . .’” • Journal, Feb. 9-10, 1753 • Consider Wesley’s attitude toward slavery • Marcos Feliciano, Human Rights Committee Chair (Brazil): “Africans have been cursed since the days of Noah.”

  20. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 3 “I know that popular culture is more accepting of women and gays, but I am going to hold fast to Christ.” Biblical Basis: Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Problem: God cannot be at work through these other groups, so you can continue to marginalize them

  21. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 3 “I know that popular culture is more accepting of women and gays, but I am going to hold fast to Christ.” • Biblical Responses: • Non-Procreation • Deuteronomy 23:1 excludes from the community anyone • whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off • But, Isaiah 56:3-5 specifically includes eunuchs and Acts 8:26-40 describes the inclusion of an Ethiopian eunuch

  22. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 3 “I know that popular culture is more accepting of women and gays, but I am going to hold fast to Christ.” • Hierarchical male/female relationships • Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pangs • in childbirth; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall • be for your husband and he shall rule over you.” • But, Song of Songs describes mutual sexual desireHis words: “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, • you have ravished my Heart with a glance of your eyes, • with one jewel of your necklace” (4:9)Her words: “Let my beloved come to his garden and • eat its choicest fruits” (4:16b)

  23. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 3 “I know that popular culture is more accepting of women and gays, but I am going to hold fast to Christ.” • A Wesleyan response: • H. Richard Niebuhr describes Wesley as within the • “Christ transforming culture” paradigm (1951) • We have consistently engaged the culture, usually to reflect the perspectives of the “mythical norm” • Women as preachers in the early Methodist movement (England, 1803) • Beginnings of the Southern Bible Belt in the United States (US, 1750s) • Civil War (US, 1860s) • Homosexuality (UMC, 1972-present)

  24. Electoral map Presidential election 2012 Map of the States in 1861, Indicating position on slavery The Dish website, October 28, 2012

  25. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 4 “All of this dying from AIDS is good. It proves that Jesus is going to return soon.” Biblical Basis: Revelation 20:1-5(premillennial versus postmillennial) Problem: God is bringing death to fulfill prophecy. So, it is against God’s ultimate purpose to prevent the death.”

  26. Problematic Theological Assumptions: Statement 4 “All of this dying from AIDS is good. It proves that Jesus is going to return soon.” Biblical Response: Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” A Wesleyan response: “This emergence of explicit postmillennial sympathies was actually a consistent development of Wesley’s central abiding eschatological convictions. For example, a basic assumption of postmillennialism is that the Reign of God is not simply a transcendent contrast to the fallen earthly situation, or a blessing reserved solely for some future era. Rather, God’s Reign has an active presence in our current reality through the work of the Spirit in and through believers. This conviction is evident throughout Wesley’s writings.” Randy L. Maddox, Responsible Grace (1994)

  27. John Wesley and Biblical Interpretation • 1. Authority of Scriptures • Recognized human input • Acknowledged that revelation was adapted for specific cultural settings • Knew that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guiding the biblical authors can assist us in reading Scripture today • Basic theological premise: God’s love for all • For Wesley, the sum of the whole gospel was 1 John 4:19: “We love because he first loved us” • God’s grace is universally available, in opposition to limited theories of atonement or particular election in predestination

  28. John Wesley and Biblical Interpretation Basic theological premise: God’s love for all • “There is therefore the closest connection that can be conceived between the law and the gospel. On the one hand the law continually makes way for and points us to the gospel; on the other the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbour, to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for these things, yea, that with man this is impossible. But we see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us humble, meek, and holy. We lay hold of this gospel, of these glad tidings: it is done unto us according to our faith, and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” John Wesley, “Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, V” (1748)

  29. John Wesley and Biblical Interpretation Reading in conference with others Wesley valued reading Scripture in conference with others, including those with whom he disagreed My observation: Wesleyan biblical interpretation should affirm Scriptural authority but also affirm academic understandings of these texts; it should be consistent with God’s inclusive love for all but be cognizant of the harm that has been caused in the name of the love, and it should be done in conference with others but it should value more highly those voices that have not been heard traditionally.

  30. Romans 8 updated For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor male nor female, nor gay nor straight, nor being HIV positive, nor being HIV negative, nor being high class, or having no class at all, nor powers, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (updated by Cheryl B. Anderson)

  31. Thank you Ngiyabonga Obrigada

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