Constructions of Time, Place and Space in Aboriginal Christianity: Spiritual Common Grounds and Disputed Territories

Abstract

Inter-cultural religious development is an ongoing phenomenon that continues to provide relevant examples in today's world. As a result of this dynamic, many Aboriginal cultures known to have adopted the religion of the colonial state have retained much of their traditional spirituality, in both thought and practice. Aboriginal Christianity draws on traditional indigenous interpretations of time, place and space, which functions to separate it from classic European modes of Christianity. Time, place, and space, as fundamental dynamics of environment, are generally viewed by modern Europeanized society as indisputable, empirical expressions, or more specifically as the quantifying constructions of a secularized world. In actuality, much of our mainstream understanding of these dynamics has roots in Christian theology; ideas of time, place, and space in an Aboriginal context have been and continue to be seen as inextricably tied to the spiritual order of the universe. This presentation analyzes the extent to which time, place, and space implicate themselves as demarcations of relationship between the spiritual and the physical in Aboriginal traditions and European Christianity, with emphasis upon the intersection of belief found within Aboriginal Christianity. In addition, an analysis will be made of the role that the “spirituality of the relational environment” plays in refining Western colonial ideology.