Collective Identity in Suffering: The Relevance of the Exodus Narrative to the Filipino Search for Identity

Conversations is a theologico-cultural online Asian “coffee or tea room” where students and faculty can converse with each other in one and a half-hour monthly or bi-monthly meetings. This virtual space features students, faculty, or alumni sharing their theological reflections on select aspects of our respective Asian cultures in the Jesuit Conference of South Asia and the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific. Participating Jesuit Theological Centers are Jnana-Deepa Institute of Philosophy and Theology, Pune, India; Vidyajyoti College of Theology, New Delhi, India; St. Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Wedabhakti Faculty of Theology and Faculty of Theology, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Loyola School of Theology, Quezon City, Philippines; Fu Jen Faculty of Theology of St. Robert Bellarmine, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate School of Theology, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea; Jesuit Scholasticate, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract: In Exodus 1-18, the Israelite experience of slavery, their liberation, and their struggle in the wilderness underlines the suffering that molds their religious and socio-cultural identity as a people. This study seeks to uncover from this rich narrative a new way of understanding suffering, collective worth of a people, and salvation. The narrative of Exodus 1-18, in fact, speaks to a modern Filipino society and gives meaning to its current societal problems. The study shows how Exodus 1-18 helps in establishing, at least, some points of departure in the Filipino’s search for identity.

About the Speaker: A native of Cebu City, Philippines, Fr.Rogel obtained his Baccalaureate and Licentiate in Biblical Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and his Doctorate in Biblical Theology at the Loyola School of Theology, Quezon City, Philippines. He concurrently serves as the Director of the Theology and Ministry Program of the School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University and Vice President for Academic Affairs at LST.