Abstract
In this rich book, Steven Horne seeks to redress the defining of Gypsy identity by gorgers (non-Gypsies) and return it to Gypsies. Horne uses the acronym GRT (Gypsies, Roma, Travellers) interchangeably with Gypsy as an identity marker. He explains distinctives of Gypsy life, practice and beliefs for the sake of gorgers but also expounds a unique Christian experiential theology which is for Gypsies themselves. At the same time, he pleads for the majority church to be open to learning from Gypsies and other marginalized peoples, so that together we may be enriched. Horne encourages the majority Christians to recognize and acknowledge differences and to develop their ‘theological periphery vision’ (p. 47). This can only be achieved by experiencing the Gospel in life together and through ‘allowing their witness to be our truth’ (p. 49). When we achieve this, we expand ‘the tapestry of our societies’ (p. 131).
The author is well situated to craft this book as he is the son of Gypsy and non-Gypsy parents. This means he can both personally identify with Gypsies and communicate effectively with non-Gypsies, straddling the divide between them. He writes as a British citizen, explaining the British situation well, sometimes referring to Gypsies elsewhere.
Horne asserts that Christianity has long been an integral part of Gypsy identity. As part of his historical outline of Gypsy migration into Western Europe, he emphasizes their adoption of Christianity by the 1400s. They received papal protection but were subsequently demonized, enslaved and forcibly excluded during the Reformation and beyond. He notes that Gypsies have maintained an autonomous church since that time, largely independent of institutional Christianity. He claims that the elements of Gypsy theology presented in this book have been consistent throughout the centuries because they are so closely integrated with Gypsy life experience. Christ does not detract from or erase Gypsy experience but rather adds to it. As disciples of Jesus are supposed to choose to separate from the world, or become ‘other’, Horne observes that this is already integral to who Gypsies are.
As he crafts a Gypsy theology, Horne not only presents its content but demonstrates a way of doing theologizing through how he has written his book. He weaves together Gypsy voices and biblical exegesis to perform a narrative which fuses past and future with present experience.
Horne introduces a biblical hermeneutic in which the reader closely empathizes with biblical characters such that ‘you see your own struggles present in their actions and thoughts’ (p. 101). He refers to this as a ‘correlation mode’ (p. 101), emphasizing the impact this hermeneutic can have on everyday life. Scripture is brought into everyday experience, and Christian identity is made valid by outworking biblical narrative in real life. When people read the Bible, their circumstances are reflected back at them, enabling them to appropriate the Scriptures into their lives and build their relationship with God. As Horne explains, ‘they themselves are the method by which the interpretation of the word takes place because their reading of the Bible emerges from experience’ (p. 123, original emphasis).
This more grounded Gypsy approach to the Bible creates strong experiential connections with biblical experience. As occurs in Gypsy storytelling, past and future are conflated to affect the present. For example, the cross is an embracing of grief and suffering shared with Christ in the present rather than simply associated with an abstract promise for the future.
Both the content and the way of theologizing are a compelling challenge to the hegemony of traditional Western theology (which Horne refers to as ‘traditional’ British Christianity’, p. 81). Yet Horne graciously reminds us that just as all people are different, so theology should also be diverse, reflecting God's intention in his diverse creation. Reflecting the grace of so many oppressed people, he invites the oppressors into an inclusive community with God.
Sojourner theology is the strongest area of the book. It explores the othering, excluding, and unsettling that strangers, including Gypsies, experience. Horne makes clear parallels between Gypsies and biblical sojourners. He stresses that sojourners adopt countercultural lifestyles, experiencing a permanent impermanence based on the hope that God gives. Unsettling is a means that God uses to draw us closer to himself.
Horne undoes the proposition that nomadism or sojourning is primarily related to the idea of location (or moving location). Horne inverts the conceptualization of settling. Using the example of Abraham and Cain, he argues that true settling is found in relationship with God rather than in stability in a particular location. He suggests that the purpose of Cain's wandering was to create unsettledness that would drive him back to God.
All Christians are called to live as sojourners. And God's law extended a special welcome to strangers. Horne argues that strangers were included in God's community while retaining their own strangerhood (culture). This is a gentle rebuke to the tendency of the majority group to force strangers to assimilate into majority culture.
Horne's explanation of the Gypsy purity code (mokhhadi) in relation to Christianity is compelling. Because the Gypsy experience of Christianity is embodied and concrete, the treatment of space and objects within it is important. The effect of sin is broad, incorporating pollution of spaces.
Gypsy culture has a well-developed purity code, and this affects the outworking of Christian faith. Purity not only deals with pollution but also creates safe, healing, sanctified spaces where God can be worshipped. The cleanliness of the home and the meaning of objects brought into it all contribute to the creation of this sacred space. The meaning of both the space and objects is often not congruent with meanings that gorgers attribute to them. Because Gypsy Christianity is very much a ‘lived Christianity’ (p. 151), it is not surprising that the purity of the home, camp and the physical body is critical.
Mokhhadi theologizing resonates with a strongly emerging trend in missiology towards affirming the multiple dimensions of sin's effects on the human experience. While many of these dimensions may be recognized in traditional Western theology, they are rarely given any significant emphasis. This book adds to the developing literature on theologies of purity and pollution, especially those emerging in relation to believers from Muslim backgrounds (e.g., Moyra Dale's ‘Purity: Guarding the Body Corporate’, in Grounded in the Body, in Time and Place, in Scripture, Wipf & Stock, 2021, pp. 60–76).
Horne's book is largely introductory. Many ideas are introduced, and some are not yet well-developed. However, they hint at rich seams of gold, which, as they develop, will not only strengthen the Gypsy Church but also challenge and enrich all of our theology.
It is not always clear who the primary audience of the text is. Sometimes it appears to be written for Gypsies, and sometimes for gorgers. Balancing this dual audience is difficult. Constructing an indigenous, contextualized theology is an in-group activity, but helping outsiders to appreciate and learn from it requires contextualized communication with the outsider group.
At times, it seems as if Horne is writing more to address potential gorger objections than to freely develop Gypsy theology. As a more in-depth, authentic Gypsy theological foundation is established, it will be more able to confidently engage with dominant traditions. Without a more fully articulated Gypsy story, it is too easy for the gorgers’ narrative to intertwine itself and overwhelm the Gypsy storyline.
An example of this is the discussion about the spirits of the dead. While not so well-developed from a contextual theology point of view, Horne emphasizes a spiritual ecology inseparable from the material realm. This is almost completely absent from the theologizing of Western theological traditions (see Paul Hiebert's explanation in ‘The Flaw of the Excluded Middle’, Missiology: An International Review 10.1, 1982, pp. 35–47). However sympathetically presented, this contextualized theology needs more robust development to counter what appears to be syncretistic practices that contravene God's commands. Meanwhile, it is a good call to the Western church to realize that there are groups among us, including the Gypsies, who engage with the spiritual realm, which we ignore or deny.
The specificity of the context could have been more emphasized, as it is not always clear how much of what Horne explains applies to Gypsies outside the UK. Sometimes he seems to use ‘Gypsy’ in a more generic sense. At the same time, he often touches on the situation of minority peoples, using Gypsies as a specific case, bringing insights that extend to all marginalized people.
It is not clear from what is written whether the Gypsy theology that is being presented is something that already exists or whether the author is in the process of constructing something new to address issues in the Gypsy worldview. Where concrete examples are given to illustrate his points, this is very helpful.
Traditional Christianity has much to learn from Gypsy theology. The maturity of the Gypsy church provides fertile soil for the development of a theology of nomadism, reminding us that we are all called to be strangers in this world. Sojourner theology also has particular application for nomads who have to continually resist pressure from settled peoples in order to be Christians as nomads (see Evelyn Hibbert, Lance and Barbara Williamson in ‘Developing a Missiology for Ministry to Nomads’, Missiology: An International Review 51.2, 2023).
This book would be a good case study for those who are experimenting with constructing contextual or local theologies. This is not just for the sake of the content presented but also because Horne provides an example of an alternative way of doing theology to address the specific concerns of a particular group of people. It is a welcome addition to the literature on intercultural theologies. In an ideal world, books such as this would be included as essential reading for all students of theology. This would challenge the hegemony of any single group's traditions, opening the path for mutual learning and enrichment.