Muslim-Christian and Missiological Discourses on Cultural Identity in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract This article is an imaginary dialogue that is critical of the thoughts of Arnold N. Radjawane, theologian and pastor of the Protestant Church of Maluku (GPM). This is shown in one of the articles he wrote in the 1960s. For some Muslim clerics in Maluku, the article reveals the idea of Christianization through local culture in Maluku, which they believe had hardened Christian-Muslim cultural relations in Maluku. By utilizing hermeneutic and cultural studies, I will analyze the construction of ethnic and religious identity ideas that are affected by his theological ideas. I apply a contemporary mission perspective that dialectically places Christian-Muslim relations as a form of identity negotiation, which has implications for strengthening cultural dialogue and encourages contextual theological processes for the establishment of human relations in Maluku and Indonesia as a multicultural society.