The Working Class

World Travels Lead Back to Luther and Ramabai

I have had a busy summer 2010. In May, I taught a course on World Religions at North Park University. In June I taught in Germany, a course on ancient texts called the Targums, in the language spoken during the time of Jesus, called the Aramaic. In July, I led a delegation of Covenant World Relief to see the work done in the slums of Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi, India. During my time in Germany and India, I had some of the most fascinating experiences related to the translation of the Bible.

In Germany, I taught every day except for Sundays. One Sunday, I decided to take the train to a place called Eisenach. This town was in former East Germany. In this town, there is a castle called the Wartburg Castle. In this castle, a crucial historical person by the name of Martin Luther hid for 10 months because his life was in danger. He lived there in a room under the disguise of Junker George. He grew his hair and his beard so that no one would recognize him.

Yet, during this time, he did not waste his time in despair. Instead, he got busy translating the New Testament from Greek into the language of the common people—German. He believed that the Bible alone had the power to transform society and give people true freedom. For this to happen, they had to read the Bible in their own common language. He considered this task to be so important that it took him 10 weeks to translate the New Testament into German. This New Testament is called the September Testament.

When I went to Wartburg Palace, the guide talked about all the other things that happened in the palace—how the princes and princesses ate, drank, and made merry. Finally, she said, “There is a room in this palace that was used by a person by the name of Martin Luther.” It is sad that people have forgotten the immense historical significance of the event, which took place in this room, in September 1521.

I spent much time in prayer and meditation in this room.

In India, I decided to stay after the delegation left for the USA. I took a trip to Kedgaon, in a state called Maharashtra. At this place, in the early 1900s, a woman by the name of Ramabai accomplished the same task that Martin Luther accomplished for Europe. She translated the whole Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into the language of the common people in India.

Ramabai was raised in a high caste family. In a culture which disdained womanhood, she learned Sanskrit, the language of the high caste gurus. She then married a low caste person, much to the contempt of her high caste relatives. Her study of the state of women in Hindu society led her to a wide quest for solutions for women in India. She eventually found the solution in the person and work of Jesus. She came to the conclusion that if this Jesus could give freedom to the Samaritan woman, and other women in biblical times, he could do the same for women in India today.

Fueled by this realization and calling, she began rescuing girls from temple prostitution, and from child widowhood, and female infanticide. She opened a huge home for hundreds of girls that she rescued. Parents began bringing female babies to her doorstep, instead of killing them. Her work of the emancipation of female slaves of various kinds continues today at Ramabai Mukti Mission, Kedgaon, India.

Ramabai did not merely rescue these hundreds of girls. She educated them, and trained them to multiply the task she had begun. At Mukti, I was taken to a room where Ramabai translated the whole Bible into the low caste language Marathi. She trained the girls to help her translate and put the text into print.

I spent much time in prayer and meditation in this room.

It is people like Luther and Ramabai who have sacrificially made it possible for us to read God’s Word in our languages. They did this because they came to the realization that the words of the Bible have the transformative power to radically change society; to give hope and freedom to the poor, the enslaved, widows, and more.

May we also spend much time in prayer and meditation!

May we be blessed with Luthers and Ramabais for our time!

Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Chair, Department of Biblical and Theological Studies; and Director, Division of Christian Life and Thought

Spark in Zambia Dedicates Shelby Goldstein Schoolhouse

Saturday, June 26 was the dedication of the Shelby Goldstein Schoolhouse in Twapia—a village outside of Zambia. Last year, Spark Ventures raised the money to fund the construction of this new seven-classroom building now serving more than 350 orphans and vulnerable children. Many generous people invested in our Igniting Hope/Building a Future campaign. And we say thanks to all of you. One family made a very large contribution in honor of young Shelby Goldstein, who died at the age of four. Her memory and spirit of joy and the love of learning now live on at Hope Community School in this new facility, a building that is helping provide hundreds of extremely poor children with education, nutrition, and health care, thanks to the Spark-Hope partnership.

The ceremony was filled with singing and speeches, dancing and dignitaries. Board Member Tasha Seitz read a beautiful reflection on Shelby and message from the family. Joyful children, families, friends, colleagues, and community members came to mark the official opening. We'll have more about this important event in Spark's history in the coming weeks on our website. For now, a special thank you to Shank and Renee Lyer and Greg and Rachelle Goldstein for helping make this possible.

Here are just a few pictures from the day.

Crowd at the dedication. Zambian and USA flags in the background.

The student choir performing during the ceremony.

Churchill Lombanya (advisor to the President of Zambia), Rich Johnson, and Charles Mumba (Executive Director of Spark’s partner Hope Ministries.

All quiet on the school front a few days before the celebration.

To follow the Spark in Zambia story, visit the Spark in Zambia blog.

Rich Johnson is the Director of University Ministries at North Park University.

High Notes from a Trip to London

It was fortuitous for me to be invited to Goldsmith College, a branch of the University of London, 
on February 11^th and 12^th. Two years earlier, the head of performance studies there, Alexander Ivashkin, had been selected by North Park’s music faculty as one of three finalists in our search for a dean of the School of Music. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, this was not to be. However, Ivashkin was very impressed with the School of Music and with our singers, and this year invited me to present master classes in voice at Goldsmith.

I absorbed much during my visit to London, and gave much in the master classes. The brief relationships with the students I taught were somehow comfortable even though we had never met before and even though the work we did together was intense. Particularly touching was the student who came up to me after the class and said that she had been in a “confidence crisis” for some time, but that she now had a renewed sense of possibility.

Goldsmith has achieved a working balance between popular music and classical music training. It has more than 200 music majors, which makes it the largest British music department. A truly international school, it attracts students from all over the world to study music from electronic technology, to jazz, to opera. With its active research component, the school is known for being on the cutting edge of music training.

I got over the feeling of being the outsider as soon as the students came. Singers are the same around the world, and as soon as I met them, I felt right at home. Each student brought two to four pieces of music. I had reviewed all of them before setting off for England, and I let them choose which piece they would prefer to begin with. Often I only worked on that first piece, as there was ample room for improvement and the students were very responsive to detailed work. Unlike American students who are exposed to the scientific aspects of singing in our vocal pedagogy courses, I learned that these students do not receive training in the anatomy and physiology of the singing mechanisms. At their request, I recommended several books that use scientific language and discovery to offer objective perspective to the process of singing and teaching.

The revelation that singing careers are multifaceted and, in most instances, will include ensemble work and teaching seemed to be a refreshing concept to the students. I am very proud of how our North Park’s undergraduate and graduate programs reflect a sense of reality and relevancy to modern day professional careers and was happy to share that with them.

When I first conceived of North Park’s master of music in vocal performance, I knew that I needed to create a “village” to educate graduate students and we have done that. The people I met at Goldsmith and the experiences I had there have somehow expanded our “village” and I am grateful to share that with North Park students. All in all, this trip to London and my work there was a wonderful experience for me as a musician and teacher. It both inspired and challenged me, and affirmed what I do in my work.

–Dr. Karen Bauer, Professor of Music in Voice