Preface

The Malagasy Lutheran Church (MLC) has several mission partners, and NMS is one among those appreciated by MLC. Both of them work on several common projects. One of these projects is “Use Your Talents”, implemented by the MLC’s Development Department called FANILO, which aims for the holistic development of people within the church and in the community.

The American theologian John Douglas Hall (1991), in his book “The Steward: A Biblical Symbol Come of Age” pages 4 and 16, reiterates that Christian stewardship is God’s special gift to the American Christian church, and he shared his opinion with Christian churches in Europe and Africa.

Indigenous revival movement is God’s special gift to the MLC, and so is the Use of Talents since 2007. The MLC has not withheld the latter but has shared it with many churches in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Use Your Talents” (UYT) is the name given to a specific project and the theme of various teaching and training sessions within the MLC. The UYT project team has travelled to many MLC regional synods to teach and train about its principles, reaching training centers for catechists, i.e., Bible Schools, and for Pastors, i.e., Regional theological seminaries.

The Use Your Talents project has recruited many volunteers for development work at the grassroots level. These volunteers, called MAFI, used their own talents and urged people in the church and the community to use theirs, bringing good results in the church as well as in the development of society.

The Use Your Talents project of the MLC, together with the related department of the NMS headquarters in Norway, led by Mr. Sigurd Haus, taught and trained about the UYT principles in several places in Europe and Africa. Later on, they invited researchers from Europe, Asia, and Africa to attend training sessions held in Europe and in Africa. Such meetings resulted in the recommendation to universities and theological seminaries in those continents to introduce UYT into their curricula, as SALT (Lutheran Graduate School of Theology) had already done with the syllabi of its five departments.

UYT has already been the topic of research undertaken by some SALT students in their dissertations for the bachelor’s degree, and also a theological subject for students reading for the Baccalaureate in Theology in the six regional seminaries of the MLC.

Here, Dr. Rafalimanana Jean de Dieu, New Testament teacher at SALT, OML, has carried out research on the Use of Talents in the Greek and Roman world. The usage of the original words by the Greeks and the Romans has been investigated, the “Patronage-Clientage system” in the Greco-Roman environment scrutinized, and key words such as paterfamilias, clients, benefactors, and charis carefully studied.

Therefore, since the textbook stems from the original words about the use of talents, it will provide many readers with the original sense. It is also useful for correcting the misuse of the principles involved and for providing the right ones to future researchers on this topic for the latter to use them in a suitable way in their writings, as well as in the teaching and education they give to the church, at theological seminaries and many universities worldwide.

The application of the Use of talents to the Christian church, i.e., God’s Kingdom, is wonderful and interesting, with God the Father as the Patron, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son, the believers as the clients, etc. The author has even extended its application to the Missional Church and the Talents, Diakonia and the Talents, The MLC and Use Your Talents in Practice.

Special thanks go to Dr. Rafalimanana Jean de Dieu for the present textbook he has written on The Kingdom of Heaven and the Use of Talents. Writing an academic textbook like this one is not an easy task, as it consumes a lot of the author’s time and energy. He has left his family and his work at SALT, OML, for three months to write this textbook at Lovasoa, Antsirabe. We wish to acknowledge him for such commitment and for completion of this book. It will benefit not only people in Madagascar, but also in the whole world. In the person of Dr. Rafalimanana Jean de Dieu, the MLC has given a concrete example of how to use one’s talent in writing this textbook on The Use of Talents in the Kingdom of God.

May this book bring about holistic development to all people, in many churches and societies worldwide.

To God alone be the Glory!

Rev. Dr. Lotera Fabien, Practical Theology teacher, Dean of SALT General Secretary of the MLC’s Theological Education Committee (KSFFTL).

Abbreviations

1. BOOKS IN THE BIBLE

1.1. OLD TESTAMENT

1.2. NEW TESTAMENT

2. OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

BAT: Bakalorea amin’ny Teolojia (Fr. Baccalaureat en Theologie)

BDAG: Bauer’s, Danker, Arndt and Gingrich.

BCE: Before the Common Era

CE: Common Era cf.: compare

DANMISSION: Denmark Mission

DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid

ELCA: Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

Eng.: English etc.: etcetera (and so on)

FAFAFI: Fanentanana Fambolena sy Fiompiana (Agriculture Department)

FANILO: Fampandrosoana eo Anivon’ny Loterana (Development Within the Lutheran Church)

FBL: Fikambanam-BehivavyLoterana (Lutheran Women’s Group)

FLM: Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy (Malagasy Lutheran Church)

Fr.: French

HRM: Human Resource Management

KMSL: Komity Mpiandraikitry ny Synoda Lehibe (Permanent Committee of the General Synod )

KSL: Komitin’ny Synoda Lehibe (General Synod Committee)

ILOFAV: Ivo-toerana Loterana ho Fampandrosoana nyVehivavy (Lutheran Center for Women’s Development)

LWF: Lutheran World Federation

MAFI: Mpanolotena amin’ny Asa Fampandrosoana eny Ifotony ( Volunteer for development work at grass roots level)

MLC: Malagasy Lutheran Church

NMS: Norwegian Missionary Society (Norske Misjionsselskap)

No.: Norwegian / Norske

NT: New Testament

OML: Oniversite Martin Luther (Martin Luther University)

OT: Old Testament

SALT: Sekoly Ambony Loterana momba nyTeolojia (Lutheran Graduate School of Theology)

SB: Sekoly Baiboly (BibleShool )

SEFAFI: Sekoly Fambolena sy Fiompiana (Lutheran Agricultural School )

SPAf: Synodam-Paritany Afovoany (Regional Synod of Fianarantsoa)

SPAM: Synodam-Paritany Avaratrimania (Regional Synod of the North of Mania)

SPAV: Synodam-Paritany Ambodiharan’i Vondrozo (Regional Synod of Ambodiharan’i Vondrozo)

SPBM: Synodam-Paritany Boeny Mahajanga (Regional Synod of Boeny Mahajanga)

STPL: Seminery Teolojikam-Paritany Loterana (Regional Theological Seminary of the MLC ) s.v.: sub verbo

TDNT: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

TMM: Tafika Masina Maharitra (Evangelism Department)

UYT: Use Your Talents (Mg. Ampiasao ny Talentanao)

General introduction

With reaching 150 years of existence, the MLC presses on with its autonomy in the third millennium. Many ways and means have been undertaken in order to reach autonomy, such as “Empower the MLC”, “This is Our Church”, “Development within the Lutherans” (FANILO), “The Church and Diakonia”, and so forth. But the most significant of all is the “Use Your Talents” (UYT).

FANILO and MAFI ( Volunteer for Development Work at Grass Roots Level ) are the foundation of the development of the UYT it in FLM. The UYT project started on 2008 and was financially supported by NMS. In 2012, NMS received permission from FLM to spread this approach abroad. It was approved by the 133 rd KMSL held at the MLC 67ha of Antananarivo, thus, included in the MLC’s constitution since 2015.1 The ideology or philosophy of UYT has become a tool, a guide, and the motivation for development and autonomy not only in the MLC but also in many churches worldwide. In general, the UYT programme consists of teaching and exhorting the church and the Christians in it to actively participate in the development of the church and society by using their property/resources and knowledge in all activities and responsibilities. They should not only be participants but also owners of such development. 2 Therefore, the MLC makes every effort to teach and urge Christians to use Talents / property / wealth and all gifts from God, such as strength, knowledge, and skills, etc. when carrying out their responsibilities as members of a missional and diaconal church. The use of Talents is the application or expression of faith by deeds: deeds which witness the faith or the fact of being children of the Kingdom of Heaven.3

This textbook is based on and develops this theology of UYT. For it to become the MLC’s DNA, 4 it must be seen from different angles (biblical, historical, practical, and so on) and introduced as a subject taught in training centers for Catechists (Bible Schools [SB]), for pastors (Regional Lutheran Theological Seminaries [STPL]) and at the Lutheran Graduate School of Theology (SALT). This textbook is written on the New Testament (NT) arena, as a document for use in the above-mentioned centers for training God’s servants to enable them to live it out and to urge the churches they lead to do the same

2

3 Haus, 9.

4 DNA: DeoxyriboNucleic Acid in the future. Since the theology of “Use Your Talents” is developed within the NT arena, Matthew 25:14-30 is the pericope taken as the basis of the exegesis because the term “Talent ” / property and its use are found in this passage. This being an academic / scientific writing, a sociolinguistic methodology has been chosen for the exegesis of Matthew 25:14-30 because this methodology relates the community life to the language spoken by the people in it.5 The language used in a given community reveals the speakers’ ideology, culture, and customs.6 In other words, the way of life in a community can be perceived through the various terms used by the speakers.7 The key words in Matthew 25:14-30, such as property, Talents, master, slaves, etc. were ordinary terms/words spoken by families in the Greco-Roman society.

However, in the fifth and last chapter which deals with how UYT is put into practice by the MLC, a qualitative approach is used. This involved interviewing people or groups of people who are practicing or partly practicing the UYT ideology/philosophy in different places. The qualitative research interviews are appropriate not only because of the small number of books written on the subject available in Madagascar, but also in order to better understand how the interviewed people or groups of people put it in practice in their own environment or society. 8 The questions that were asked can be seen in the appendix at the end of this book.

This book consists of five chapters. The author being a New Testament researcher, the first three chapters are scientifically written. The first chapter deals with society, the family, and its structure in the Greco-Roman world. As mentioned earlier, it was in such a society that specific terms were used, indicating people’s ideology and culture at that time concerning Talents / property, their acquisition, and management as seen in Matthew 25:14-30. This is worth noting beforehand as the people for whom Matthew’s gospel was written were used to living in such a society and culture.

The second chapter is an exegesis of Matthew 25:14-30 in the light of the Greco-Roman’s ideology and culture in the first century CE. The identity of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Use of Talents, the management of people according to their abilities, and the fight against injustice or corruption in management are highlighted.

5 Ulrich Ammon, Norbert Dittmar, Klaus J. Mattheier, Peter Trudgill, et. al., ed(s)., Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, Vol. 3 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2006), 2241.

6 Sarah Burns, Patrick Matthews and Evelyn Nolanconroy, “Language Attutides,” in The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages, ed. Ceil Lucas (London: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 182; see also Ceil Lucas, Patrick Matthews and Evelyn Nolanconroy, “Introduction,” in The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages, ed. Ceil Lucas (London: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 1; Wenying Jiang, “The Relationship between Culture and Language,” in ELT Journal Volume 54/4 (Oxford University Press, October 2000): 328; T.S.T. Mahadi, “Language and Culture,” in International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 17 (September, 2012): 230–235.

7 Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, Clayton Valli, et. al., “Sociolinguistic Variation,” in The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages, ed. Ceil Lucas (London: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 182.

8 Cf. Steinar Kvale, “The Qualitative Research Interview: A Phenomenological and a Hermeneutical Mode of Understanding,” in Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 14, No 2 (1992): 171-196.

Matthew 25:14-30 cannot be separated from its literary context, not even from Matthew’s gospel’s whole message. The next pericope, for example Matthew 25:31ff; shows the use of possessions in diaconal work. Therefore, chapter three concerns the relation between the use of Talents / property in Matthew 25:14-30 and diakonia as taught by Matthew in his gospel.

Since Matthew ends his gospel with Jesus’ Commission to His disciples (Matt. 28:1820), chapter four tries to show the relation between the Use of Talents and the missional side of the church.

The fifth and last chapter of this book informs in general on how the MLC puts the Use of Talents into practice. The chapter highlights its application by people or groups of people or churches.

CHAPTER ONE: