“How we move with our bodies for or against others—all of that matters deeply”

John Boopalan, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies at Canadian Mennonite University, will be the first guest speaker at We Declare: what we have seen and heard, Gathering 2022, in Edmonton this summer.

MC Canada caught up with him to find out what’s on his mind these days when it comes to the “good news,” and how his research ties in to the big questions that inevitably come from discerning just what the “good news” really is.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Tell me a bit about yourself and your area of research.

Before coming to Canada, I've lived in India, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. I speak four Indian languages. I love cooking and believe in the wonder working power of God, food and laughter. I live by the motto, "laugh or you will die." I am an ordained minister in the progressive Baptist tradition and pastored a church before coming to Canada. My big research question is, usually, “How do structural wrongs manifest themselves in our lives and communities and what might our responses be to redress them?” Religion is complicated. On the one hand, it has contributed to some of the most enduring and painful structural wrongs. On the other, religion has the sacred capacity to deeply transform the world by igniting our love for God and neighbors, near and far. Being human, for me, is about navigating that tension.

How do you navigate that “tension” of religion?

The accompanying disposition in that navigation is humility. As we seek to participate in positive transformations, there is no heroism or "we-can-do-this-on-own-own" attitude. We approach transformation with humility, open hearts and open hands.

We approach transformation with humility, open hearts and open hands.

What was your initial response to the Gathering 2022 theme, “We Declare: what we have seen and heard?” Why?

The theme is exciting because it helps me to ask a very relevant question, namely, “What might it mean to reconsider anew the good news of the Christian doctrine of the incarnation that affirms how the God of the highest heavens permanently took human form?”

Are there particular currents in your research experience that speak to or touch on the Gathering theme in a significant way for you?

Yes. I focus a lot on bodies in my research—how they move for or against others, what makes them act and react, how bodily movements can be transformed towards the ends of healing and justice. Embodiment matters in my research. Embodiment is not some rhetorical literary device that Christians use to talk about how our witness and action matter in the world. Embodiment is the crux of the Christian message. The gathering's theme of seeing, hearing, and bearing bodily witness, therefore, are quite exciting to address and unpack. 

Embodiment is the crux of the Christian message.

Can you say a bit more about a reconsideration of the Good News? Why is it helpful to focus in a new way on God taking human form?

Sometimes, I notice a problematic tendency in myself and others that privileges mind over body, rationality over passion, and belief over action. Reconsidering the good news as we remember that God took human form means, therefore, that thinking is bound up with action, and pursuits to change the world are bound up with a vulnerability that involves our whole selves. These implications—and here's where the good news has teeth—are not tentative, temporary or ad hoc but are rather permanent, similar to how God has permanently taken material form and deeply participates in the life of the world.

What are the challenges of sharing the Good News for today’s church?

The phrase "word of life" in the gathering's theme verse from 1 John 1:1 is an interesting one because it captures how words are intrinsically connected to life. There is no doubt that there is Good News in that. The more fundamental recurring question seems to be, “What exactly is the Good News and how does one participate in it and share it with others?”

Not to have you spoil what you’ll be sharing with us at Gathering, but care to share what that “Good News” is, from your perspective and how we can share it with others?

It might go something like this and perhaps start with a question: How does one share the good news? Sure, as messengers, we do have a message to share. Nonetheless, messengers in large part are the message. Who we are, our witness, how we move with our bodies for or against others—all of that matters deeply.

John Boopalan will speak at We Declare: what we have seen and heard in Edmonton on Friday evening, July 29. For more information about Gathering 2022 and to register for our in-person and virtual events, visit mennonitechurch.ca/gathering2022.

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