MY GALILEE, MY PEOPLE is a video course which includes a book, a video and a guide.
This is the reprint of a review by Vicki Cosstick in the Westminster Cathedral Bulletin 151 (1991) pp. 6-7.
In my work in parishes with catechists and other involved Catholics, two particular needs surface time and again: that for formation in prayer, and for a greater understanding of scripture. Sometimes it is assumed that it is the priest's responsibility to meet these needs - among so many others - or a parish may be dependent on outsiders to "give a talk". Adult catholics sometimes seem slow to realise that we do not need permission to receive further formation, that it is not always someone else's responsibility to deliver it, and that we have within ourselves and within our communities many of the resources required to carry it out.
People learn and grow in small groups of every description, when they share their faith and their questions - especially given a competent leader and well-prepared material. My Galilee, My People has been written by John Wijngaards to accompany a video of the same name, the first in a series called WALKING ON WATER. The programme aims to offer groups and individuals greater insight into scripture, and while the book expands on the material offered in the video it will also stand alone.
The book My Galilee, My People has nine chapters that contain both biblical data and thoughts on what these imply.
1. GALILEE.Why are people so important?
2. CAPERNAUM. Does God accept us as we are?
3. NAZARETH. Jesus' origins and our own.
4. HEBREW AND ARAMAIC. Jesus spoke an ordinary language.
5. THE LIMITS OF LANGUAGE. The process of revelation from Jesus' day to our own.
6. LANGUAGE THAT LIBERATES. How Jesus' words set us free.
7. MONEY AND POWER. The economic and political realities in Jesus' Galilee.
8. THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Jesus' vision of God's Rule in society.
9. THE OVERFLOWING MEASURE. The `higher' principles of the Kingdom.
The course book also provides diagrams, illustrations and footnotes with references to further reading.
In the nine chapters John Wijngaards examines three themes: Jesus and Galilee, Jesus and language, and Jesus and politics. He uses geographical, archeological, historical and scriptural backgrounds and loads of illustrations to offer highly illuminating and readable insights into Jesus' life and ministry.
In a chapter on Capernaum, the author describes the town where Jesus chose to live, probably because it was stategically located in Galilee. Archeologists have discovered and excavated the town this century and have found that about 1,000 people lived there, in similarly-built, simple, middle-class houses. They have also found a Christian shrine that marked St.Peter's house, where Jesus probably stayed, which was visited by early Christian pilgrims to Palestine. Within the house one special room was venerated, perhaps the room where Jesus slept.
From here, Jesus visited and healed Peter's mother-in-law. In this house, the paralysed man was lowered through the roof, because his relatives could not get past the crowd at the door. It was at the synagogue in Capernaum that Jesus taught and performed other miracles. From Capernaum he travelled to and from other places in the region (Mt. 4:13; Mt. 9:1; Mk. 2,1).
From Wijngaards' text, packed with scriptural references and factual information, a picture of Jesus' daily life emerges which helps to give flesh and context to Gospel stories that we know well but which may still seem very far away.
John Wijngaards aims to show that Jesus' ministry was situated within the daily life of the people around him, and to help us to situate our present-day faith within our own daily lives.
Having looked at the places and people that Jesus knew well, he goes on to examine the language that Jesus used, the colloquial Aramaic of Galilee. Snatches of that language have been recorded by the Gospels, most notably the cry of abandonment on the cross, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" - My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? preserved by the earliest Gospel, Mark, and by Matthew.
Yet at the point of origin of all the Gospels, writes Wijngaards, we always find Jesus' own Aramaic words; words with all the refinements and limitations of any human language. Then we find the translation of these words by the evangelist into a Greek text with characteristically Greek ideas and expressions. Finally we have the formulation of Jesus' message and its meaning in our own language . . . . .
To illustrate the process, John Wijngaards reconstructs what may have happened to the Our Father, from its roots in the Kaddish, an old Aramaic prayer recited by Jews today, to its present form. We are reminded that the words "Our Father" were the exceptional addition of Jesus to the prayer, which reveals Jesus' uniquely intimate relationship with His "Abba", and which has been handed on to His community.
In a chapter on the limits of language, Wijngaards goes on to suggest how Jesus' thinking was determined by the limits of language of His own society yet paradoxically, by speaking a limited language, Jesus gave his universal message an almost unlimited scope. The working out of what he said is our job, a job for each and every Christian, and of all us together in the Church.
In the final chapters of his book, Wijngaards examines Jesus' views on money and power, the truly radical concept of the Kingdom, and the implications of His ministry for present day involvement in politics and social justice. This is risky territory, but he manages it with dexterity, avoiding the traps of cliched or over-simplistic analysis. He argues for non-violent political action in the cause of liberation, and love and forgiveness as the only solution to apparently intractable problems such as Northern Ireland.
The greatest example of Jesus' non-violent approach is his own passion and death. Although he knew he was innocent, he forbade his disciples to defend him with the force of arms. Jesus saw himself as the non-violent, suffering Servant of Yahweh who offered his life as a vicarious sacrifice for . . . the whole of humanity.
My Galilee, My People is best read in conjunction with the video, which offers more than enough material for nine discussion group sessions, and which combines the insights of the book with three modern parables, powerful and surprising stories (filmed in Colombia), which bring the relevance of the scripture forcefully into dialogue with universal present-day experience.
The video My Galilee, My People offers three half-hour stories, filmed in Colombia, that serve as modern parables.
The HOUSETOP project (which will include more video courses, with stories filmed around the world, when completed) is a welcome addition to the ever-increasing number of valuable resources for formation available to the Catholic community for individual and group study.
Vicki Cosstick
For a review in the Universe, click here.
To return to MY GALILEE MY PEOPLE, click here.
In the UK, the Video Course is available from Housetop or from one of the St.Paul's Bookshops.
The entire course My Galilee My People can be bought as one complete set. It includes the 90-minute video, a full course book of 208 pages and guide book for groups, and costs £ 29.99.
The three parts can also be bought separately: Jesus Loves His People, Jesus' Language and Jesus Confronts Political Power. Each includes a 30-minute video and short 64-page course book, and costs £ 9.99.
These prices include VAT.
To send your order, click here.
MY GALILEE MY PEOPLE has been co-produced in the following languages and countries: Chinese (Taiwan), Danish, Dutch (Belgium and the Netherlands), English (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, USA), French (Belgium and Canada), Finnish, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Central and South America, USA). Adaptations in other countries are in preparation.
For the addresses of our international distributors, click here.
