Holiness Amid Alienation and Poverty in the Life of Haitians

Abstract

Holiness Amid Alienation and Poverty in the Life of Haitians Sadrack Nelson (bio) INTRODUCTION The doctrine of holiness always evokes interest and controversy in the Haitian context. I still remember as a freshman at the Seminaire Theologique Nazareen D’Haiti witnessing my friends in their sophomore year wrestling with the concept of entire sanctification. To some of them, holiness was not simply an unreachable ideal, but also an irrelevant and self-contradictory notion. When I started taking the holiness class myself, the experience was different. I had prior exposure to the doctrine before attending seminary and was more open to the possibility and experience of holiness. Upon my graduation, I was eager to teach holiness, and I participated in many efforts to create curricula for Sunday school and to lead Bible studies on the doctrine in my local church. Years later, I myself had the privilege to teach the holiness class at our seminary. I did my best to encourage my students to develop a clear understanding of the doctrine and to commit their lives to holy living. I understood very early that teaching holiness involves more than the ability to articulate the nuances of the doctrine; it requires willingness to be honest with my students about where I am on my own journey. My task is not only to lecture on the doctrine, but also to model holiness through vulnerability and transparency in my own life. However, as I look back on it all, I have come to the realization that the most difficult challenge to the teaching of holiness in Haiti does not lay in people’s reluctance to embrace the idea, but in the condition of alienation for the Haitian people and in the situation of poverty that alienation causes. I was trying to reproduce the teaching of the doctrine in the same way I was taught about holiness, without paying enough attention to the social reality or material condition of the Haitian people and the way it affects our ability to understand and experience holiness. Most of the time, in the teaching of holiness in Haiti, we place primary focus on the personal, spiritual, and internal aspect of the doctrine—at the expense of its social dimensions and implications. Holiness is essentially portrayed as an individualistic spiritual experience that ultimately results in social apathy and conformism. Even though we concede [End Page 112] Click for larger view View full resolution Divine Light. Courtesy of Petter Sandell [End Page 113] that holiness includes both love for God and the neighbor and involves the inward and the outward, the personal and the social, as well as the spiritual and the physical—we don’t necessarily understand the implications for the Haitian context. Therefore, the questions remain: What are the implications of holiness for our context in Haiti? How are Haitians to understand total dedication to God? What does renewal and restoration of the image of God look like in the Haitian context? Can holiness be defined without any reference to the particular social reality or material existence of the people for whom it is intended? HAITIAN ALIENATION, POVERTY, AND RELIGIOUS COLONIZATION To move forward with these questions, it is important to understand the true nature of the deep alienation and resulting poverty that affects the lives of Haitians. Haiti as we know it today is a product of an international system that relies on patterns of dominance and dependency for its success.1 As the cyclical history of Haiti convincingly demonstrates, the debilitating condition of the Haitian nation-state is symptomatic of an international system that is defined by economic exploitation and political domination, and which creates violence and inequality in the life of Haitians. From its very creation to the most recent developments in the Haitian drama, Haiti has always been shaped by political and economic interests other than that of its own people.2 It has always been denied the right to existence as a free and self-determined country. This is not only evidenced by its role as a market for goods and source of cheap labor in the world economy, but also by the predominance of international stakeholders in the affairs of the country...