Deaf Identity and Faith final - Sakastisakasti.evl.fi/sakasti.nsf/0/F26DFDAA27148910C2257C0400434713/$FIL… · Sabine Fries, Germany Connected in Faith Deaf Identity and Faith Academic

Sabine Fries, Germany

Connected in Faith

Deaf Identity and Faith

Academic conference for Nordic pastors, catechists and deacons in deaf ministry Tromsö, Norway, June 2013

Personal Background

• Deaf minister in the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)

• Deaf Studies lecturer at the Humboldt University, Berlin

• PhD Candidate (Thesis: Communication and violence: Risc factors in the lives of Deaf women)

Contents

1 Ways to Deaf Faith: Deaf witnesses of Faith

2 Deaf Identity and Faith

• Faith: Substance and confidence (Hebrew 11,1)

• Deaf Identity: Complex and uncertain

• Deaf Identity and Faith: Perspectives for Deaf (Youth)

3 Perspectives: Deaf Indigenous Faith

Some recommendations for the future

A message from the past

Ways to Deaf Faith: Deaf witnesses of Faith I

Laurent Clerc:

When I was a child, my father made me pray, using gestures, every morning and evening. I knelt down, clasped my hands and moved my lips, imitating speaking people in their prayers to God. Now I know that there is a God, the creator of heaven and earth. But as a child, I adored the sky, not God. I did not pray to God, I prayed to the sky.

(quoted in Lane 1988, 40)

Artwork by Nancy Rourke (Deaf artist)

Laurent Clerc (1785-1869)

As a child:

• born to hearing parents who did not sign (mother: “laborious pantomime”; father: a deaf son was „irritating, uncomely, embarrassing“)

• using “home signs” with his brother and sisters

• growing up uneducated and untaught until the age of 12 years

➡ „I saw not God, I saw the sky“

12 years old:

• entering the famous Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets St. Jacques, Paris

• discovered the “nature of language” through the daily morning prayer of “Our Father”

• learned Sign Language from his (deaf) teachers (especially from Jean Massieu, who gave him his name sign)

➡ “Now I know that there is a God, the creator of heaven and earth.”

➡ Understanding the contents of Faith through a naturally functioning language

Ways to Deaf Faith: Deaf witnesses of Faith II

http://bsldailydevotions.co.uk

BSL Daily DevotionsTrust in GodSunday, 24 February 2013

BSL Daily DevotionsTrust in God

Bible Reading: Matthew 6:9-13Sunday, 24 February 2013

Translation:

I recall when I was in primary deaf school. I was worried about which secondary school for deaf children I would be attending after primary school.  People talked about other schools and I did not know which one would be best for me.

So I started praying and asking God to help me find the school that would be best for me. I read the verses in our today Bible Reading and learned how to pray. In these verses, Jesus showed His followers how they should pray.

I trusted in God. I believed that God would help me find the right school. Every day I prayed and asked Him to help me. Finally God answered my prayers and showed me a school that I enjoyed attending.

Successful mission programme:➡ proclamation of Faith, religious communication and liturgy in pure BSL➡ reaching Deaf people within the context of their/our own lives

Ways to Deaf Faith: Deaf witnesses of Faith III

Christ, you love meChrist, you love meChrist, you love me

Every day anew

Christ, you give me loveChrist, you give me joy

Christ, you give me powerEvery day anew

Ways to Deaf Faith: Deaf witnesses of Faith IIIChristian Deaf Congregations

• “Jesus people”: Personal relationship to Jesus Christ

• Often closely connected to hearing Evangelical Free Churches

• Disengagement from traditional Deaf congregations within the official churches

• Own websites, own Bible sign dictionaries (http://www.cgg-online.de/GebaerdenlexikonNeu/index.php)

• Special features:

• Deaf lead

• Lay training (Bible schools)

• Self-organised Bible seminars, home groups und services

➡ Self- and co-determination in the organisation of congregations➡ Independent of hearing dominance and professionalism➡ Personal development through collective readings of the Bible in Sign Language➡ Close-knit community of faithful Christians

Ways to Deaf Faith: Deaf witnesses of Faith IVWhat does “Deaf Faith“ mean?

Interview with a Deaf Christian Deaf Congregations leader

Q: Is there a connection between your Faith and your identity as a Deaf person?

What does Deaf Faith mean for you?

2. Deaf Identity and Faith Faith: Substance and confidence (Hebrew 11,1)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of

things not seen. (King James Bible)

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for

is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet

see.(New Living Translation)

Having faith, how is this at all possible? Faith means to hope

for something, to be deeply convinced that it will happen.

It means knowing about something, even though it

cannot be proved.(Volxbibel)

πίστις = FAITH

confident assurance hopeno doubt:evidence not to be seen

2. Deaf Identity and FaithFaith: Substance and confidence (Hebrew 11,1)

2. Deaf Identity and Faith: Deaf Identity: Complex and uncertain

Deaf Identity

complex, uncertain anxietyexistence:

to be in doubt present, to be seen

2. Deaf Identity and Faith Deaf Identity: Complex and uncertain

Deaf patchwork

Deaf cyborg

Deaf diaspora

0

2500

5000

7500

10000

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Deutscher Gehörlosenbund: Membership

1991 bis 2005

0–27 years

German Deaf Association: Membership

2013

558 !

2. Deaf Identity and Faith: Perspectives for Deaf (Youth)

• Decline of (residential) deaf schools

• Increasing number of cochlear implantations at an early age ==> mainstreaming, inclusion

➡ For hearing parents & families: To decide against hearing often means having to decide in favour of something one does not know (Leist 2009)

➡ “Alternative enculturations” (Grushkin 2003, Kusters 2006)

2. Deaf Identity and Faith: Perspectives for Deaf (Youth)

➡ This change in Deaf culture leads to a change in pastoral ministry

Virtual Deaf community

Scattered in a Deaf diaspora

Frequent contacts with Deaf people all over the world

Interconnection in a technologically increasingly

sophisticated world

2. Deaf Identity and Faith Perspectives for Deaf (Youth)

New experiences of belonging

2. Deaf Identity and Faith: Perspectives for Deaf (Youth)

New experiences of pastoral ministry

Be athomewith

• MSN• ooVoo• iChat• Skype• facebook• twitter... etc.

Accept the fact of the changing Deaf

community: become part of a virtual Deaf

community

Give a home

to those who are looking for

Let them come home in a community and a

visual world in which smooth communication

and belonging can be experienced

• Friendship

• Fellowship

• Faith

3. Connected with FaithSome recommendations for the future

Full appreciation of Sign Language and Deaf Culture: Deaf people must be encouraged to express proclamations of Faith, religious communication and liturgy in their indigenous languages and culture.

Building a Deaf space in the Church: Making sure that Deaf culture is visible on all levels of the Church and its congregations

Reaching Deaf people through services and pastoral care within the contexts of their/our own lives

Inverted inclusion: Approaching Deaf people not as a disabled group but as people who have contributions to share with the whole Christian community

Staying connected with the “secular” Deaf world: Join events and support actions of your regional and national Deaf organisations. Be part of NADs, EUD, WFD!

Engaging in Deaf theological studies: Reflecting the role of Faith and religion in Deaf communities on an academic level

3. Connected with Faith: A message from the past

Artwork by Nancy Rourke (Deaf artist)

Georg W. Veditz (1913) The preservation of Sign Language

It is my hope that we will all love and guard our beautiful sign language as the noblest gift God has given to Deaf

people.

D – A – N – K – E