Westhelle's Vision of Hybridity and the Cultural Hybrid Practice of the Batak Church (HKBP)

Abstract

Hybridity is understood as a mixture of two different cultural elements that emphasizes unity but does not eliminate differences. Theologically, the practice of hybridity is carried out by the Batak Church (HKBP), which is one of the Lutheran churches in Indonesia and is also a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The mixing of two theological traditions (Lutheran and Reformed) in the Batak church was influenced by one of the mission societies in Germany, the Rheminische Mission-Gesellschaft (RMG), which came to the Land of Batak to preach the gospel to the Batak people. Historically, the RMG has adhered to a “consensus union” that is, recognizing Lutheran and Reformed confessions. In the mission field, RMG gives freedom to the missionaries to develop the theological tradition that is followed by the missionaries. In the context of Batak Land, the RMG missionaries introduced and reformulated Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. After the RMG missionaries left the Batak Land, the practice of mixing the two theological traditions was continued by the theologians of the Batak church in the HKBP confession document, especially regarding the sign of the true church (article VIII). Therefore, this paper will employ Westhelle’s insights from postcolonial theory including hybridity to locate the situation of the Batak church.