Christ as Tahanan: Re-appropriating Christ in the Context of Urban Street Dwellers

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to re-appropriate the identity of Christ as Tahanan in the context of Filipino Urban Street Dwellers. By doing Christology in a cultural perspective, the researchers were able to relate the identity of Jesus as a Tahanan that gives comfort to the urban street dwellers. This Tahanan is not a house but the loving comfort of Jesus to their lives. There is a place (tahanan) for them to cry on and be pacified “tahan” afterward. From the experience of rejection comes the experience of belongingness, from despair to hope, from retaliation to forgiveness, disharmony to peace, and hostility to reconciliation. These contrasting experiences make us feel at ease and comfortable. The inner disposition of happiness and fulfillment comes out from “kalooban ng tao”. This is what is called “ginhawa”, relief from both physical and inner suffering.