I was in South Africa and I had the chance to speak with Rev’d Loraine Tulleken on the development of the Human Dignity and Human Sexuality series, particularly on indigenous spirituality, which the Svenska kyrkans internationella arbete has collaborated with Global Interfaith Network.
Interview Transcript
JP
Hi JP Heath here from the Church of Sweden and I’m sitting with the Reverend Lorraine Tulleken. She’s an Anglican priest in the Anglican Church of South Africa and she’s been the the editor for the first two books that we have produced. “Behold, I make all things new”, and the second book, “I am Divine, so are you”, and we’re currently working on the 3rd book. The third book which is looking at Indigenous spirituality and traditions, for which Lorraine is the principal author. Lorraine, I wonder whether you can tell us very briefly why this third book is important.
Lorraine
It’s incredibly important. JP, and it’s as we found. We thought when we started with “Behold, I make all things new,” which are the Abrahamic religions that we were there then we shifted to the Kharmic religions and then when we started to look at the indigenous religions. We discovered that it pulls everything together that in fact this would not be the third book, but will have to become the first book in the series.
It’s what brings us all together as humanity. We have to go back to the beginning to find the commonality between all of us in terms of human dignity.
In terms of our spirituality and and in terms of issues like LGBT issues, which long long ago in the beginning actually meant nothing.
It was colonial lost Christianity that created all the hang-ups that we live up you know with today.
And so the first book for me is actually the most important book. It’s been an absolute privilege to research and work on it, and the more I work on it.
The more I realise that our own Christian mythology has got is no more or no less mythological than the myths that you find in Hawaii or Sweden or whatever. And it’s why when you when we had a conference of Indigenous people, we found those people from all parts of the world.
Burning sage, saying the same prayers, enacting the same rituals, we are connected and the first book has to show us just how much we are.
JP
So Lorraine this book which we produced with GIN-SOGIE is available on Amazon, right?
Lorraine
Yes. As an ebook so we can get this on ebook.
This book, which we had printed with Harper Collins, is also available on ebook. Yes with Amazon, and it’s available in hardcover through Harper Collins in India and look forward to receiving the third book, which will also make available as a ebook.
