Performing Christian Kebalian: Balinese Music and Dance as Interreligious Drama

Between Harmony and Discrimination

Negotiating Religious Identities within Majority-Minority Relationships in Bali and Lombok

Edited by

Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin David D. Harnish

LEIDEN | BOSTON

This is a digital offprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV

Contents

Acknowledgements viiList of Illustrations viiiNotes on Contributors xi xvi

Introduction: Negotiating Religious Identities within Majority-Minority Relationships in Bali and Lombok 1

Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin and David D. Harnish

PART 1Sacred Sites and the Differentiation of Belonging 33

1 Changing Spiritual Landscapes and Religious Politics on Lombok 35Kari Telle

2 Balinese and Sasak Religious Trajectories in LombokInteractions, Tensions, and Performing Arts at the Lingsar Temple Festival 61

David D. Harnish3 From Subandar to Tridharma: Transformations and Interactions of

Chinese Communities in Bali 84Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin

4 From Wali Songo to Wali Pitu: The Travelling of Islamic Saint Veneration to Bali 112

Martin Slama5 The Purification Movement in Bayan, North Lombok

Orthodox Islam vis-à-vis Religious Syncretism 144Erni Budiwanti

PART 2Living Together – Developing Differing Identities 163

6 Keeping the Peace: Interdependence and Narratives of Tolerance in Hindu-Muslim Relationships in Eastern Bali 165

Lene Pedersen7 “We are one Unit”: Configurations of Citizenship in a Historical Hindu-

Muslim Balinese Setting 197Meike Rieger

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004271494_001


vi contents

8 Performing Christian Kebalian: Balinese Music and Dance as Interreli-gious Drama 221

Dustin Wiebe9 United in Culture – Separate Ways in Religion?

The Relationship between Hindu and Christian Balinese 244I Nyoman Dhana

10 Interreligious Relationships between Chinese and Hindu Balinese in Three Villages in Bali 258

Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha and I Wayan Ardika11 Respecting the Lakes: Arguments about a Tourism Project between

Environmentalism and Agama 275Sophie Strauss

PART 3Everyday Practices and the Search for Commonalities 301

12 Ethnicity, Religion and the Economic Imperative Some Case Studies from the Fringes of West Bali 303

Mary Ida Bagus13 Puja Mandala: An Invented Icon of Bali’s Religious Tolerance? 330

I Nyoman Darma Putra14 Chess and an Indonesian Microcosm: A Glimpse of a Nation’s Social

Dream? 354Leo Howe

Index 375385

ContentsContents vAcknowledgements viiList of Illustrations viiiNotes on Contributors xiHauser-Schäublin and Harnish 1Introduction 1Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin and David D. Harnish 1Chapter 1 35Changing Spiritual Landscapes and Religious Politics on Lombok 35Kari Telle 35Chapter 2 61Balinese and Sasak Religious Trajectories in Lombok 61David D. Harnish 61Chapter 3 84From Subandar to Tridharma: Transformations and Interactions of Chinese Communities in Bali 84Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin 84Chapter 4 112From Wali Songo to Wali Pitu: The Travelling of Islamic Saint Veneration to Bali 112Martin Slama 112Chapter 5 144The Purification Movement in Bayan, North Lombok 144Erni Budiwanti 144Chapter 6 165Keeping the Peace: Interdependence and Narratives of Tolerance in Hindu-Muslim Relationships in Eastern Bali 165Lene Pedersen 165Chapter 7 197“We are one Unit”: Configurations of Citizenship in a Historical Hindu-Muslim Balinese Setting 197Meike Rieger 197Chapter 8 221Performing Christian Kebalian: Balinese Music and Dance as Interreligious Drama 221Dustin Wiebe 221Chapter 9 244United in Culture – Separate Ways in Religion? 244I Nyoman Dhana 244Chapter 10 258Interreligious Relationships between Chinese and Hindu Balinese in Three Villages in Bali 258Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha and I Wayan Ardika Beratha and Ardika 258Chapter 11 275Respecting the Lakes: Arguments about a Tourism Project between Environmentalism and Agama 275Sophie Strauss 275Chapter 12 303Ethnicity, Religion and the Economic Imperative 303Mary Ida Bagus 303Chapter 13 330Puja Mandala: An Invented Icon of Bali’s Religious Tolerance? 330I Nyoman Darma Putra 330Chapter 14 354Chess and an Indonesian Microcosm: A Glimpse of a Nation’s Social Dream? 354Leo Howe 354Index 375Index 375


221Performing Christian Kebalian

Chapter 8

Performing Christian Kebalian: Balinese Music and Dance as Interreligious Drama

Dustin Wiebe

Gereja Kristen Protestan di Bali (GKPB, the Bali Protestant Church) is an inde-pendent Protestant church with over 70 congregations throughout Bali and a vast majority of congregants that self-identify as Balinese. Former GKPB bishop Dr. I Wayan Mastra is commonly credited with coining the church’s popular call to faith: “Bali is my body, but Christ is my life.” This motto has been widely adopted amongst GKPB Christians, in part because it succinctly speaks to the challenges of being a Balinese Christian minority amidst a proud Hindu majority.1 Popular and scholarly discourses have tended to conflate being Bali-nese with being Hindu, creating something of a crisis of identity for ethnic Balinese who remain fiercely loyal to elements of their regional heritage (arts, language and even certain elements of Hindu Balinese cosmology) while recog-nising the lordship of Christ in their lives. This chapter explores the develop-ment of two closely related dance-drama genres, sendratari and pragmentari, as a means of interreligious negotiation. More specifically, I examine sendratari and pragmentari “secara iman Kristiani” (“of the Christian faith”), particularly the works of I Nyoman Murdita.2 GKPB leaders argue that this art form is an embodiment of the gospel message capable of both expressing a Christian per-spective rooted in biblical teachings and conveying Balinese identity (kebalian).

Woven into this narrative is a theological construct known within the Bali Church as kontektualisasi (contextualisation), characterised by an inclusion of local styles of architecture, art, and language as a means of expressing the be-liefs of this Christian community. In recent years, the incorporation of “contex-tualized” principles into GKPB praxis has helped to facilitate interreligious dialogue amongst Hindus and Christians in Bali.

1 Over 90% of Bali’s population is Hindu while GKPB Christians account for just 0.1% of the island’s inhabitants (pgi.or.id, accessed September 8, 2012).

2 Reference to certain sendratari and pragmentari productions as “secara iman Kristiani” is a phrase promoted by I Nyoman Murdita (nd, 25) in reference to his own biblically inspired productions.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004271494_010


222 Wiebe

I begin by situating the development of sendratari and pragmentari secara iman Kristiani (SPK) within a historic narrative informed by processes of colo-nialism, “touristification,” and the sometimes-turbulent relations between Balinese Christians and Hindus. One section examines two important geo-graphical sites, Blimbingsari and Hotel Dhyana Pura, which figure into the nar-rative of SPK production and the evolution of Christian/Hindu affairs. I explore two central research questions: How have “contextualised” arts (particularly SPK) contributed to the discourse of interreligious relations between Balinese Christians and Hindus? And, how do these productions generate a “Christian Balineseness (kebalian),” which provides a foundation for self-identifications that can be characterised as Balinese?

Much of the data for this chapter comes from interviews and materials ac-quired during three ethnographies in Bali (2009-10, 2011, 2012), accounting for over one year of field research. To date, my work has focused primarily on Prot-estant arts. It is important to mention that there are many Balinese Catholics living in Bali and that Catholic forms of sendratari also exist.3 The findings on Protestant dramatic arts in this chapter reflect only my research to date and not necessarily the state of Christian arts more broadly speaking (that is, both Prot-estant and Catholic) throughout Bali.

Sendratari, Pragmentari, and GKPB

Balinese Sendratari and the closely related sub-genre of pragmentari are forms of dance-drama that are typically accompanied by gamelan music and borrow considerably from “traditional” gestures and styles of Balinese dance, music, and dress. Central to this artistic genre is the enactment of narrative-driven drama, most commonly conveying stories from Hindu epic literature such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The large-scale and open-form drama, however, can easily accommodate other stories, such as those deriving from the Bible. Since the advent of Balinese sendratari during the 1960s, identifiable con-ventions have emerged including the use of certain melodies to cue the intro-duction of lead characters, the regular inclusion of comic relief (as realised through clowns or panasar), and the opposition of good/noble and evil/

3 I Nyoman Murdita is aware of several Catholic sendratari productions, including a 1999 per-formance in which he was a collaborating choreographer. I have seen the addition of “incul-turated” arts in Balinese Catholic churches including references to Balinese Hindu visual art, architecture, music, and dance. Two notable examples of inculturated Catholic architecture include Gereja Katolik St. Yoseph in Denpasar and the church at Palasari in West Bali.



demonic forces frequently reaching a dramatic climax in elaborately choreo-graphed battle scenes. A full range of movement vocabulary is incorporated into the choreography as a means to represent various character traits and to portray elements of Hindu cosmology. Such dramatic elements have historically been accompanied by the large, dynamic 20th-century gamelan gong kebyar; how-ever, recent practice has seen an increase in the use of the sweeter-sounding and former court gamelan, semar pengulingan.

The principal difference between sendratari and pragmentari is the manner in which narration takes place. Sendratari productions typically utilise a dalang, or storyteller, who provides commentary on the movement and narrative as portrayed by the dancers. Though a dalang will apply a spoken narrative to fixed choreography, the finer points of his descriptions may vary, thus instituting a level of improvisation into sendratari productions. Such variability lends itself to fluctuation in the duration and content of any given performance. Pragmen-tari, on the other hand, makes use of a fixed text for the purpose of narration. Traditionally such texts have been spoken aloud, but in more recent years it has become increasingly common to digitally project such narratives onto a screen for the audience to read. Consequently, pragmentari is more consistent in the narrative presented and in the duration of performance.

The term “sendratari” is an acronym of three root words: seni (art), drama (theatre), and tari (dance). The earliest productions of the 1960s soon became popular among tourists. Such popularity has been attributed to several factors, such as the increased reliance on pantomimic movement, linear narrative de-velopment, and the adoption of a Western-style stage layout, all of which con-tributed to the accessibility of sendratari to foreign audiences (deBoer 1996: 160; Picard 1990: 52-6). Bandem and deBoer allude to this accessibility: “In sendratari the kebyar style of ornamentation is applied over a simple foundation of pan-tomimic story-telling, so that even young children can follow the narrative” (Bandem and deBoer 1995: 180). The relative ease with which such productions could be comprehended would eventually make Christian variations of sendra-tari (and pragmentari) an effective vehicle for interreligious and cross-cultural communication.

Sendratari/pragmentari secara iman Kristen (“of the Christian faith” – SPK) productions are Christian manifestations of closely related secular genres of sendratari and pragmentari, respectively, and have developed alongside more popular forms of these dramatic arts since the mid-1970s (Murdita 2003: 33).4 Among the genre’s most prolific contributors is I Nyoman Murdita (b.1962). In

4 For a video and audio example of a Christian pragmentari production go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFHWadw8qk (accessed September, 2012).


224 Wiebe

addition to dancing lead roles in early SPK productions, Murdita has also served as the lead choreographer and art director of eight different works since 1991.5 He has brought SPK productions to audiences throughout the world, including performances in Australia, the Philippines, Mexico, the United States, South Korea, and Singapore (Murdita 2011a: 3-4). Since 1993, Murdita has acted as the director of music and dance at GKPB’s office of arts and communication (biro seni dan komunikasi).

Most SPK productions adapt narrative-driven stories from the Bible, includ-ing “Pragmentari Kelahiran Yesus Kristus” (The Birth of Jesus Christ) and “Sen-dratari Jatuhunya Manusia Kedalama Dosa” (The Fall of Humankind). Other productions feature different stories, including “Pragmentari Perdamaian” (The Dancing of Peace), which depicts a classic Pauline conversion narrative, and “Sendratari Baptisan Pertama di Tukad Yehoh di Dalung” (The First Baptism at Tukad Yehoh in Dalung), which functions as a tool of GKPB historical educa-tion. SPK productions are increasingly geared toward international audiences and for this reason seek elements of cross-cultural communicability. Murdita employs a number of methods to ensure the message of his work is received, including the use of lingua franca (such as English and Indonesian) to convey the dramatic narrative. These linguistic conventions are realised in ways previ-ously mentioned such as the use of a dalang and digital narrative projection. In recent years Murdita has relied increasingly on pragmentari narrative structure over that of sendratari because it more readily conforms to contemporary re-straints of time and concision often encountered in contemporary Christian worship contexts.

Over the last fifty years, sendratari has emerged as one of the most popular forms of Balinese dance theatre. Picard notes that:

Sendratari is a fitting example of “regional art” (kesenian daerah), in the sense that it is meant to express Indonesian identity in a local guise. More than a tourist show, sendratari was conceived to foster inter-comprehen-sion between the numerous ethnic groups which compose the Indone-sian nation. (Picard 1996: 149)

DeBoer (1996: 162) also notes a collection of identities in the theatrical perfor-mance: “Sendratari is intended to be modern and ‘world class’ – a form which can assert Balinese identity, and beyond it, Indonesian identity, to the entire world.” Both sendratari and pragmentari are thus important means of

5 Included amongst Murdita’s early lead roles is “Adam” in an “Adam and Eve”-themed produc-tion at Blimbingsari (c. 1976).



conveying contemporary regional identity (in Bali, “Balineseness” or kebalian) in the context of the modern Indonesian nation-state. Similarly, SPK produc-tions seek to reflect identity; “GKPB contextualises through arts and culture that are ethnically and culturally Balinese. We are not closed to the culture of other areas that match the life of the church and the community. In this way we will not lose our identity” (Murdita 2011b: 3).6

To more fully understand the nature of this conflation between SPK and kebalian, I provide a brief account of the recent direction of GKPB, which was established in 1948 on Dutch/European models of praxis to serve the growing Protestant population that was first recognised with baptisms in 1931 (see Dha-na in this volume for the history of Christianity in Bali). While early Christian Balinese were sometimes called “black Dutch” due to strict adherence to West-ern models (Nicholls 1991: 59), GKPB members eventually sought a Christianity more in tune with Balinese culture.

GKPB:RecentDirectionsThroughout the 1960s, debates persisted within GKPB as to what direction the church ought to take. Should it remain closely allied to its financing partners in the West? Or should it move away from the colonial influence of the Dutch churches (and increasingly German, Australian, and American churches as well) and establish a stronger connection to Hindu Bali’s rich artistic and musi-cal legacy? The 1972 GKPB synod meeting officially sanctioned the use of “con-textualised” music and dance in church contexts. “Contextualisation” – a concept that continues to holds much currency in contemporary GKPB dis-course – refers to the intentional blending of “traditional” Balinese cultural elements (such as language, cosmology, and arts) with what is understood to be the essence of the “gospel” message.7 As Volker Küster has pointed out:

…contextual theologies, shaped by the radical cultural changes in their countries and the experience of colonialism, neocolonialism and aggres-sive modernization, are based on a dynamic concept of culture. Gospel and culture are mutually related, whereby the gospel is thought accessi-ble only in cultural shape. (Küster 1999: 158)

Mastra (1967, 1971) corroborates Küster’s hypothesis in rejecting colonially im-posed religious ideologies and establishing a distinctly Balinese Christian

6 All translations from Indonesian of interviews and written sources in this chapter are by the author.

7 This statement will define my use of “contexualisation” and “contextualize” in this chapter.


226 Wiebe

theological framework. As I will later demonstrate, contextualisation has had a significant impact on the development of SPK and the interreligious dialogue that the production of these dance-dramas has helped to stimulate.

Sites of Contextualised Arts and Interreligious Dance-Drama

In Teologi Kewirausahaan (Entrepreneurial Theology), Made Gunaraksawati Mastra-ten Veen states that the Bali Protestant Church promotes theologies of contextualisation not only to encourage the development of Balinese arts with-in church contexts, but also as a means of stimulating successful business mod-els that will help to preserve Balinese culture:

The mission of the Bali Church through contextualization is intended not only as a means to embody the highest levels of Balinese aesthetic production…but are also intended to aid in the development of educa-tion, service and business initiatives that help to preserve local cultural heritage. (Mastra-ten Veen 2009: 19)

Blimbingsari was the first Christian village on the island and one of the first sites of the implementing of contextualised practice in Bali. Since the growth of that community, GKPB has developed a number of entities, including Hotel Dhyana Pura, to further the mission of education and economic development.

BlimbingsariThe colonial government developed a tract of land in the 1930s in the then-hinterlands of West Bali as part of a transmigration project. By 1939 the first Balinese Christians began to arrive in the region (Sunarya 2009: 11). As religious studies scholar Diana L. Eck has noted, “Many of the first inhabitants of Blimb-ingsari had been rejected by their families when they became Christians” (1982: 153). Though moving to the remote jungles of West Bali may not have appeared immediately attractive, it gave Balinese Christians an opportunity to own and farm land on nearly equal terms with their Hindu neighbours. Blimbingsari also gave these Christians the opportunity to freely practice their faith, which had become very difficult and even dangerous in their previous communities. By the beginning of the Japanese occupation of Bali (1942), there were an esti-mated 200 GKPB members living at Blimbingsari, and by 1965, the population had risen to 6500. The 2012 population was estimated at 1086; the decline is a result of many Blimbingsari residents leaving to seek better education and work opportunities.



The architectural design of the first two church buildings at Blimbingsari followed conventions of the Dutch Protestant tradition with an enclosed sanc-tuary, windows, and pews. In 1976 an earthquake destroyed one of these wor-ship spaces. Through the assistance of New Zealand missionary David Bussau and The Australian Council of Churches, sufficient funds were soon raised to begin reconstruction (McKenzie 1988: 42-4). In 1981 an elaborate new church building was completed and to this day remains one of the most stunning ex-amples of contextualised architecture in Bali (Figure 8.1). According to Murdita, SPK productions were held at Blimbingsari even before the completion of the new church (Murdita 2003: 32). This site has continued to function as an impor-tant centre for dance-dramas since the 1970s. In addition to SPK productions, the church at Blimbingsari has also served as a central facility to advance other contextualised performing arts including kecak (“monkey” chant dance drama), seni tari (non-narrative dances) and hymns with gamelan accompaniment, thus positioning this Protestant village at the fore of the contextualisation move-ment.8

HotelDhyanaPuraThe opening of the Ngurah Rai International Airport in 1969 made Bali more accessible to tourism and the number of tourists visiting the beach areas in southern Bali quickly rose. The purchase and development of an ocean-front property in the South Bali village of Seminyak was sponsored in large part by both the German Evangelist Church organisation, “Bread for the World,” and the Nation Council of Churches in Indonesia (McKenzie 1988: 50). The result of this project was Hotel Dhyana Pura (HDP), a resort and conference centre in the newly developing region around Kuta Beach. Initial construction on the site was completed in 1975 with a total of 25 rooms. In 2012 there were 125 rooms at the resort. It closed in 2013 for major renovations and is reopening in late 2014.

The bourgeoning success of this area’s tourist industry provided early finan-cial stability for GKPB programs. As Mastra notes: “…we use the streams of tourism to generate income for the work of the Bali Church!” (Eck 1982: 157). Since the opening of HDP, GKPB has been transformed “from one of the poor-est and most backward of the Indonesian churches” to “one of the richest and strongest” (England 2003: 188).

8 In November 2009, I Nyoman Darsane’s kecak detailing the life of Christ was premiered at the church in Blimbingsari. “Hymns with gamelan accompaniment” are just that: sung choruses accompanied by gamelan gong kebyar orchestra. Such hymns are often featured in Blimbing-sari’s monthly contextualised church service.


228 Wiebe

The hotel has also served educational and theo-cultural mandates. The resort operates in conjunction with the Pusat Pendidikan dan Latihan Pariwisata (Tourism Education Centre) to educate young Christians in the tourist industry and to develop their foreign language skills (Mastra-ten Veen 2009: 32). The architectural design of the resort complex is meant as an embodiment of con-textualised theology, evoking the tripartite Balinese model of kepala/head (meeting area), hati/heart (performing arts space), and perut/stomach (restau-rant). Finally, HDP functions as a place of spiritual meditation and springboard for church missions. “Dhyana Pura is not only a place for tranquility and medi-tation,” it also “aims at serving as a staging camp from which social and eco-nomic action follow inner, spiritual transformation” (McKenzie 1988: 53).

Since the official dedication of HDP (Hotel Dhyana Pura) in 1977, it has served as one of the most public venues for the display of contextualised GKPB (Gereja Kristen Protestan di Bali) arts in Bali. Nicholls notes that HDP “was vi-sualised as a bridge between culture and faith,” and toward this end has regu-larly hosted GKPB synod assemblies and many SPK (sendratari and pragmentari “secara iman Kristiani”) productions (Nicholls 1991: 61). In addition to its func-tion as a catalyst for internal artistic development, HDP has acted as “a meeting

Figure 8.1 An example of “contextualized” architecture at the GKPB church in Blimbingsari, 2009. Photo by Dustin Wiebe



place for dialogue among the Christians, Muslims, and Hindus of Bali” (Eck 1982: 156).

Tourism has had a dramatic impact upon Bali’s performing arts. Some of the forms crafted for the tourist industry were appropriated by Christian artists to articulate both a Christian Balinese identity and a cultural space that is both Balinese and Christian. Two government assemblies were instrumental in shap-ing the trajectories of Balinese music and dance from the mid-1970s through the present day; these events set in motion ideological movements and prac-tices that were essential to the development of SPK.

“Touristification” and the Bali Church

The genesis of the tourist industry is intricately woven into Bali’s colonial nar-rative, developing after the brutal destruction of court centres in the early 20th century and with the intent of distracting criticism and promoting the healing process. The attraction to Bali was predicated upon both cultural difference to the West and “cultural tourism” (notably temple festivals and music and dance). Tourism began to yield strong economic results as thousands arrived annually by the end of the 1930s (Picard 1990: 40). Some feared, however, that Christian missions would have an adverse effect on the emerging tourist market and that colonial rule had already done considerable damage to local culture; the addi-tion of a foreign religion might be too much for Balinese culture to withstand. A cheeky criticism by Amry Vandenbosch details how there was:

… a group which is opposed to all Christian missionary activity. Among superficial tourists this takes the form of an amusing simplicity. They visit Bali and look at the natives very much as they look at caged animals in a zoo. They find the dances fascinating and the cremations of unusual interest. “Would it not be a pity if anything of this charming civilisation were destroyed by Puritanic busy-bodies?” (Vandenbosch 1934: 212)

Christianity thus represented not only a danger to the Balinese themselves, but also to tourists and the burgeoning tourist industry.

1971:“SeminaronSacredandProfaneDance”Following World War II and the subsequent formation of the modern Indone-sian nation-state, tourism began to re-emerge in Bali, quickly becoming a major part of the local economy. In March 1971, the Balinese Office of the Department of Education and Culture organised the “Seminar on Sacred and Profane Dance”


230 Wiebe

(Seminar Seni Sakral dan Provan Bidang Tari) to discuss the role that music and dance should play within tourist contexts. Foreigners had always been attracted to the island’s unique styles of music and dance, and locals were increasingly profiting with the ever-growing numbers of tourists. This resulted in debates over what dance forms were appropriate for tourist presentation. Because Ba-linese music and dance were closely interwoven with spiritual practice, local leaders were concerned that Balinese religion and arts would soon be funda-mentally compromised. Central to the seminar’s agenda was to produce a man-date for the appropriate usage of Balinese dance in for-profit settings (Picard 1990: 62).

Of primary importance to this assembly was the division of dance forms into two principal categories: sakral (sacred) and provan (profane/secular). By the end of the seminar a nomenclature distinguishing three categories of dance had been established. The tripartite model consisted of three basic dance types:

1 Seni tari wali – sacred, religious dances2 Seni tari bebali – ceremonial dance3 Seni tari balih-balihan – pure entertainment, with no relation to a

ceremony, and not belonging to the category of wali or bebali. (Ibid.: 156)

In 1973 the Governor of Bali affirmed the conclusions of the 1971 seminar by declaring “sacred dances” inappropriate in for-profit settings (Picard 1990: 68). Though problematic at times, and ultimately unable to account for all possible circumstances, this model continues to inform touristic dance practices in Bali (Dibia and Ballinger 2004: 11).

The development of music and dance forms in conjunction with these new-ly emerging ideological paradigms had significant implications for artistic prac-tices among members of GKPB. Central to the discourse of the seminar (and resulting artistic divisions) was the assumption that Balinese music and dance are, at their core, Hindu. This equation was originally of little consequence to many GKPB members as most felt that Balinese arts were incompatible with Christian theology and praxis. However, after a few years, GKPB Christians be-gan to reevaluate the role of traditional Balinese arts in church context and the seminar of 1971 soon came to have a profound impact on GKPB artistic practice.

The wali, bebali, and balih-balihan categories are defined in relationship to the temple (pura), a framework that denies the possibility of directly religious music to occur outside this context. This restriction immediately limited the type of music and dance Christians could and could not consider for use inside the church. Since any dances of the wali and bebali categories (such as the rit-ual dances pendet and rejang and the masked topeng pajegan) would, in theory,



be inappropriate in a church context, the only types of dances that could be considered for a Christian context would be those belonging to the category of entertainment (bali-balihan). This appears to be one of the primary reasons that SPK productions were so quickly adopted by GKPB as a vessel for Christian Balinese artistic expression. In addition to being perfectly suited to the linear narrative structure of many biblical stories, SPK represented new genres that fit neatly into the balih-balihan category and were also suitable for tourist con-sumption and profit.

This arrangement of placing SPK productions amidst inherently secular company is likely acceptable to GKPB officials because Protestantism in Bali has adopted an evangelical position, one that necessarily places different func-tional expectations upon its arts. SPK, therefore, is not only a means of worship within existing bodies of Balinese Christian believers, but is also a potential missions tool attracting others to the faith. The acceptance of SPK as an appropriate genre of Balinese dance is essential for such evangelical aims.

Though Murdita is a crucial figure in this development because of his role as director of music and dance at GKPB and his influence as choreographer and artistic director of SPK productions, there is another influential Protestant arts organisation currently promoting contextualised arts and interreligious dia-logue in Bali. Their views offer alternative intellectual “solutions” to the inherent challenges of such hybridised art forms.

GatewayCommunityCentreGateway Community Centre (GCC) is a church and performing-arts/gallery space located in Sanur, Bali. The centre was founded in the early 2000s and is affiliated with the American missions agency Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. I Wayan Rajeg is the Balinese music director at GCC and since 2009 has directed the centre’s resident Balinese music and dance group, Sanggar Narwastu.9 Rajeg is a STSI (Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia) educated musician who converted to Christianity in 2003 and is passionate about expressing his faith through tradi-tional Balinese arts.10 Like Murdita, he holds that a distinction between Chris-tian and Hindu forms is necessary. However, Rajeg rejects the relevancy of the

9 Sanggar is an Indonesian word meaning “studio” and is typically used to refer to perform-ing arts ensembles throughout Bali. In July 2012, Sanggar Narwastu made its debut perfor-mance at the well-known Bali Arts Festival. The group’s set featured performances of classic secular works (including Demang Miring) and new biblically inspired dance pieces by I Wayan Rajeg. The performance was a result of a deeply collaborative method-ology employed at GCC, which included extensive dialogue between Hindu and Christian artists regarding the appropriateness of symbols, gestures, and spoken dialogue.

10 In 2003, the STSI academy became known as Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI).


232 Wiebe

tripartite sacred/secular model as formulated by the provincial government within Christian praxis. He feels that it is possible to evoke the essence of sacred Hindu dance forms within a decidedly Christian worship context – one that conveys his commitment to Christian values while honouring his Balinese cul-tural background. His 2010 composition, “Rerejangan,” embodies this philoso-phy. Rajeg articulated his position to me as follows: “By altering the melody and religious context of Rerejanan, I created a new work that merely alludes to re-jang [a ritual dance belonging to the wali category]. My composition is meant to evoke this sacred dance without actually being it.” Rerejangan was performed as part of a communion service at GCC in March 2010 and Rajeg reported strong support for the composition from the Hindu performers with whom he col-laborated.

Rerejangan illustrates the deviation that smaller and independent groups of artists and performers (such as those at GCC) may practice in contrast to the “officially” sanctioned music and dance practices such as those promoted (in compliance with the political decision made by the Hindu Balinese majority) by GKPB, the official body of the Protestant Church in Bali. Though Rajeg’s position is not entirely opposed to that of Murdita’s, it does present an alterna-tive whereby sacred genres of Hindu music become possible modes of interac-tion/influence with certain modifications (such as the reorganisation of melodic structure). The challenge of clearly delineating the sacred from the secular is one faced by Hindu and Christian Balinese alike. Picard notes that:

The only Balinese who might make a distinction between ritual and entertainment are those officials and other intellectuals charged with the task of conceptualizing a response to the ‘challenge of tourism.’ Such a distinction is not, however, adopted by the dancers, who are more directly concerned with the impression made by their performance on the audi-ence. (Picard 1990: 70)

Official arts policies promulgated by local church (for Christians) and govern-ment leaders (for Hindus and Balinese at large) may compel artists to take po-larising positions, with Hindu Balinese generating spaces both sacred and more secular and Christian Balinese crafting spaces limited to the more secular realm. Artists on both sides, however, complicate these distinctions, and in practice there are fewer clear dichotomies between Christian and Hindu dance genres than official policies suggest.



Contextualisation and Interreligious Relations

“Contextualisation,” in common usage since at least the 1960s, is a notion re-ferred to by Christian Balinese religious intellectuals to describe the mixing of indigenous cultural elements (music, dance, architecture, and language) with a “gospel message” not bound by human constructions of politics and econom-ics. The position of GKPB appears to be that the “gospel message” is largely separable from the cultural and social baggage that colonialism and mission-izing have brought to Bali. The early writings of Dr. Mastra have formed the intellectual foundation underpinning much of GKPB practice. Mastra describes “contextualization” as:

…a tool for communicating the Gospel to the people so that our message becomes relevant to them. Hence it will give some flexibility, it will serve the church as a strategy of mission with the purpose that Christianity can get a home base and be rooted in the soul of the society. (Sugden 1997: 141)

Often overlooking the evangelical nature of contextualised arts, some Hindu musicians also point to the value of interreligious artistic production. As a Hindu collaborator at GCC explained:

Faith [iman] is blending these days. You have something from Buddhism, something from Christianity and it’s all combined into a collaboration. What’s created out of this is art? Even though there is difference between the faiths, what ultimately emerges is something the whole world can admire.

I argue that despite divergent motivations, the enactment of contextualised music and dance productions (particularly SPK) serve to positively impact in-terreligious relations between Balinese Hindus and Christians.

Before the 1970s, the Bali Church was marked by colonial influence and dom-inated by Western modes of theology, worship praxis, and art. Murdita states that, during that period, “Art was not given a heart, and was sometimes not used at all. [Balinese] art was not considered appropriate within the Christian faith” (2003: 32).

The Sinode GKPB (1972) assembly was a pivotal moment in the drive toward a “holistically” contextualised church and radically counteracted such colonial Christian culture (Sudhiarsa 2000: 163). McKenzie and Mastra both refer to this


234 Wiebe

meeting as the “watershed synod” because of the profound influence it has had on GKPB practice. The Sinode was a gathering of church leaders at Abianbase, northeast of Denpasar and near the site of the first Balinese Christian baptisms in 1931. Through efforts spearheaded by Dr. Mastra, new church policies were developed that would promote contextualised practices. Among the principal goals of Sinode 1972 were:

1 To help modern youth learn ancient skills in dancing, woodcarving, architecture etc.

2 To stimulate greater interreligious dialogue and co-operation among Balinese residents.

3 To seek to find ways to gain greater social and financial benefits for Balinese people from the expanding tourist market. (McKenzie 1988: 32)

In addition to promoting contextualised arts, the reforms sought to improve the state of interreligious relations between Balinese Christians and Hindus and to increase the financial stability of GKPB through investments in the tourist in-dustry. It was during this same assembly that the preliminary conceptual sketches for Hotel Dhyana Pura (HDP) were developed:

[GKPB] resolves to formulate a program for building a cultural and train-ing centre in Den Pasar, called Dhyana Pura, with the following goal[s]… to stimulate greater use of the Balinese architecture and cultural symbols in expressing the Christian faith within Balinese culture. (Ibid.: 31)

HDP was, therefore, an integral component of the contextualisation project of GKPB from the very beginning. It represented something tangible, a physical location that would form a central place in the economic, social-religious, and artistic development of the Bali Church. Since Sinode 1972, SPK productions have become an embodiment of the goals of this conference both in its ability to convey kebalian from a Christian perspective and as a meaningful agent of interreligious interaction between Balinese Hindus and Christians. Further, GKPB’s financial solvency since the early 1990s – realised in large part through investments such as Hotel Dhyana Pura – has helped ensure the continued production of SPK, both in Bali and abroad (Mastra-ten Veen 2009: 48). The contextualisation movement has thus contributed to the tourist economy and the development of a Christian kebalian.

For GKPB members, the conferences and the local practices of Christianity and Hinduism contributed to a cultural milieu with a unique set of implica-tions. The longstanding disassociation or tension between Balinese arts and the



“Christian faith” meant that the reforms proposed by Sinode 1972 were initially directed at an insider audience. The assembly’s primary aims were to reorient the basis for Balinese Christian identity to reflect essential aspects of culture considered Balinese while simultaneously founded in a decolonised/contextu-alised “gospel message.” Since Sinode 1972, SPK has emerged as an embodiment of Dr. Mastra’s motto: “Bali is my body, but Christ is my life.” The sustained pro-duction of this genre at Blimbingsari, HDP and elsewhere enables the articula-tion of Christian kebalian. The “hybridising” influence of SPK is not, however, confined to members of GKPB congregations.11 Since the 1990s, productions of these Balinese Christian dance dramas have increasingly been presented to foreign audiences and this has served to inspire the construction of new forms of intellectual and artistic hybridisation. Dr. Mastra has recognised the impor-tance of continued interaction with ecumenical church bodies: “We try to learn from and share with Christians from other cultures to ensure we remain true to the Christian family” (Mastra 2006: 6). The movement to contextualise the Bali Church is not founded upon an ideology that seeks to establish kebalian at the expense of continued interaction with foreign churches. Processes of hybridi-sation within the Bali Church, on the other hand, privilege communication with Christians throughout Indonesia and the world.

While the early objectives of institutionalised hybridisation, identified here as contextualisation, were directed primarily at an internal (Balinese) audience, much of the later contextualised Christian art presented to an international audience can be interpreted as “interculturation.” Bishop Joseph Blomjous de-scribes interculturation as a process of hybridisation “lived in partnership and mutuality” (Shorter 1988: 13); the Bali church has increasingly sought opportuni-ties to bring a Christian Balinese perspective to an ecumenical Christian audi-ence. The presentation of Balinese Christian arts in and outside of Bali has become increasingly intercultural. International viewership is verified in per-formances of SPK abroad and at HDP as well as in sales of DVDs and VCDs. While early SPK productions were intended for a local audience, the focus has shifted and these performances are no longer directed solely at a Balinese audi-ence; most international performances are intended for foreigners.

Murdita states that one of the functions of contextualised GKPB art is its ability to convey the gospel to non-Christian Balinese peoples:

Hand in hand with the journey and growth of the Church. In order to give the good news to every person, the artists of the GKPB community,

11 I use “hybridising” rather than “contextualising” here to identify a more general and less localised process of intercultural interaction.


236 Wiebe

together with artists from outside the GKPB community, always try to put on lepas [individual dances] and sendratari shows that convey the essence of Christianity through Bible stories. (Murdita 2011b: 4)

Though some form of evangelism is evoked through this statement (and was likely intended), this is not the only function of SPK.

In relation to contextualisation as a platform for interreligious collaboration and dialogue, Murdita has identified six Hindu Balinese sanggar that often par-ticipate in GKPB productions. And, he clarifies that,

The music and dance compositions…are not performed with only GKPB members. Most of the participants of these performances are from out-side the GKPB church [and] are not Christian. The arts office at GKPB always puts productions on with sekehe and art sanggar from outside GKPB. (Murdita 2011a: 6)

The fact that Balinese music and dance has nurtured ongoing relations between GKPB and Hindu sanggar speaks to the ability of these art forms to facilitate realisations of interreligious artistic cooperation (Figure 8.2).

I Nyoman Suranata is a Hindu Balinese who has collaborated with Murdita on SPK productions for nearly 30 years. Over this time he has developed close relationships with many Christian Balinese but shared with me that he has al-ways felt comfortable in his decision to remain Hindu. He regularly divides his time between performing music in Hindu temple ceremonies and at church services. “Music is such an effective means of communicating between reli-gions,” he said to me, “because it comes from the heart. It is something you share with other musicians regardless of what religion you are.” Noted Christian Ba-linese performing artist and GKPB member I Nyoman Darsane conveyed a similar sentiment when I asked him why music is such an effective tool for inter-religious communication: “You can’t argue with music. You can not like it, but you can’t argue with its inner logic.” Processes of musical contextualisation have helped establish a common musical discourse between Hindu and Christian12 and created the potential for sustained and balanced interaction and commu-nication; however, the nature of such interaction – the dynamics and power relations – should be further analysed (Figure 8.3).

12 Sudiharsa has also observed similar situations in which members of the Hindu Balinese community have participated in (and even helped to develop) contextualised expressions of Christian art amongst Balinese Catholics (Sudhiarsa 2000: 169).



Figure 8.3 Hindu musicians of Banjar Kaja (Dalung, Kuta Utara, Bali) pose for a photo before a collaborative performance for a GKPB event at Dhyana Pura. Photo by GKPB, 2009; used by permission

Figure 8.2 Hindu dancers perform pragmentari “Amertha Candra Bhana” by I Nyoman Murdita at Hotel Dhyana Pura. I Putu Suranata (seated far left) and the gamelan group of the GKPB synod office (Kapal, Bali) provide the musical accompani-ment. Photo by GKPB, 2012; used by permission


238 Wiebe

Religious studies scholar Hyo-Dong Lee has noted that in order for a genu-inely equitable interreligious collaboration to take place, each party “must em-body some form of learning about the other in an undistorted way by means of dialogue and immersion in the other’s ideas and practices within a context of mutuality and equal participation” (Lee 2005: 573). Below are discussions on the individuals and groups who enter into interreligious collaborations and some of the social and economic elements of those collaborations.

Sharing Identities: Negotiating Kebalian

Over the last 100 years, Bali has become a location of increased social and reli-gious plurality. Churches and mosques are gradually becoming a more ubiqui-tous part of the Balinese landscape and as David Harnish suggests, this has served to “dispel any notion of a homogeneous Hindu Bali” (Harnish 2005: 108). While scholarship has begun to reflect the complexities of increased pluralism and globalisation (see, for example, Vickers [1996] on being “moderen”, Howe [2005] on Hindu reform, and Suryadinata and Arifin [2003] on the increasing non-Balinese demographic), one sensitive notion is still accepted uncritically: the relationship between agama and kebalian.

Agama Hindu has formed an essential pillar in the construction of Balinese identity: it is perhaps the most critical component of “Balineseness” and has historically been an aspect of culture that distinguishes the Balinese from oth-er Indonesians and foreigners. To be Balinese has meant being Hindu (see Rieger in this volume). Picard suggests that Islam and Christianity may have been responsible for the eventual association of identity and religion: “[I]t is doubtful that religion was a marker of identity for the Balinese before they started viewing Islam (and Christianity) as a threat” (Picard 1999: 31). Part of the official Balinese response to this perceived threat was to stratify various realms of music and dance, following the 1971 Seminar, to preserve the integrity of Agama Hindu while continuing to benefit from the lucrative tourist industry.

Within this paradigm, genres of Christian Balinese music and dance (includ-ing SPK) inhabit a “profane” space apart from agama. The balih-balihan clas-sification creates a legitimised space for “entertainment” and the production and consumption of Balinese arts in tourist or for-profit settings. This arrange-ment has been advantageous for the Christian community for two reasons. First, it has helped maintain a relatively clear religious distinction, one that has attempted to avoid syncretism between Christian and Hindu ideologies.13

13 Mastra (1971) criticises Balinese approaches to interreligious dialogue that he deems overly “syncretic”: “they [some Balinese] like to believe in all religions or at least to possess



Second, by adhering to the balih-balihan category, GKPB officials have been able to develop contextualised arts that are less likely to offend Hindus. The sacred/secular taxonomy allows Christians to feature elements of Balinese music and dance in worship that are neither “sacred” nor “Hindu.” This arrangement, how-ever, problematises Christian Balinese claims to kebalian through the produc-tion of SPK (and other dance and music genres). If, as Vickers (1996: 30) suggests, the primary means of maintaining the “‘traditional’ basis of Balinese identity” has been to “assign those aspects of tradition that are seen as positive to the category of agama,” then how can Balinese Christians participate in the con-struction and maintenance of Balinese identity through bailh-balihan produc-tions that are, by definition, separate from sacred aspects of agama?

Until 1972, Christians did not participate in any reified formation of Balinese “identity”; their religious praxis was built almost completely on Western models. Since Sinode 1972, Christian Balinese have worked to develop contextualised music and dance and to craft a version of Christian kebalian. However, a double bind exists. For some people, Christian Balinese have little claim over, or right to, their cultural heritage, while others contend that the unilateral association between agama and kebalian needs to be revisited. New interreligious and in-terethnic tensions have arisen in many areas of Indonesia (see particularly Ped-ersen in this volume) as a result of the regional political autonomy and vacuum following the fall of autocratic president, Suharto, in 1998 and some of these tensions are apparent between Christian and Hindu Balinese.

The highest deity of Balinese Hinduism (since the religious reform of the late 1950s) is Sang Yang Widhi Wasa; Balinese Christians have used the closely re-lated term, Sang Yang Widhi Yesus, for Jesus, thus locating the divinity of Christ in Balinese terms. Despite some debate, this overlap of theological terminology was apparently not challenged until 1999 when Hindu Balinese leaders ap-proached GKPB officials to request a name change to the church-run school, Widhiya Pura Harapan. The name of the school was contentious because it included “Widhi,” a designation that some Balinese felt should remain solely Hindu. The name was changed to Sekolah Harapan (School of Hope) to reflect a clearer distinction between Christian and Hindu Balinese ideologies.14 These changes were made without major incident and GKPB Christians have contin-

a small part of every religion in a syncretistic fashion.” He goes on to say that, “[syncre-tism] has become a stumbling block for Christianity.”

14 Around the same time a Catholic school, Sekolah Swastiastu, was asked to change its name because it was argued to infringe upon the Balinese Hindu greeting, “Om Swasti-astu”. Officials obliged and the school today is Sekolah St. Thomas Aquinas.


240 Wiebe

ued to use the term Sang Yang Widhi Yesus in various hymn texts, sermons and in casual conversation.

In recent interviews, Murdita claims that his SPK productions have been generally well received by Balinese Christians and Hindus alike. He did, how-ever, mention that there was “negative” feedback following the broadcast of two SPK dramas in 1999. Others have told me that the backlash was likely a result of what was perceived as inappropriate blending of religious sym bols, most notably a “problematic” use of a sacred kris (dagger).15 Some mentioned that these criticisms came not only from Hindus but Christian Balinese as well.

Such accounts illustrate that contextualised Christian art, while generally tolerated, is not immune to mixed reviews and fluctuations in reception. The search for common intellectual and artistic ground has yielded some union in the integration of Balinese culture with what local Christian leaders call the essence of the “gospel message.” There are those from both Christian and Hindu perspectives, however, that caution against contextualised or hybridised prac-tice. Some Hindu interlocutors have described “fanatical” Hindus opposed on religious grounds to any use of gamelan or Balinese dance in Christian settings, while some Christians have mixed feelings about contextualisation, seeing it as a potentially negative “compromise.” These issues demonstrate both the power and controversy of contextualised arts as a vehicle for interreligious dialogue – for instance, the extensive collaborations between I Nyoman Suranata and Murdita – and the resulting multiple and often dissenting perspectives.

Conclusion

The performances of contextualised arts such as SPK have led to some artistic collaborations between Christian and Hindu Balinese artists and thus become a mode of interreligious negotiation. From the employment of Hindu artists, to televised broadcasts of SPK productions, to the alternative perspectives of in-dependent groups such as Gateway Community Centre, the enactment of con-textualised arts has instituted and sustained a discourse of negotiation between Hindu and Christian Balinese. These collaborations have resulted in overlap-ping social, economic and religious interests.

Interreligious collaboration and arts contexualisation have allowed SPK (per-formances “secara iman Kristiani” or “of the Christian faith”) to emerge as a

15 Both a weapon and a spiritual object, a kris may be a sacred heirloom and a symbol of heroism, martial prowess, magical power, or authority. See Frey (2003) for more on the position of kris in Indonesian cultures.



means for Christian Balinese to challenge the legacies and assumptions of co-lonial Christianity and to help forge a unique, localised Christianity. In arguing for a perspective that is at once local and Christian, Charles E. Farhadian has suggested that, “Christianity should be able to be seen as an indigenous tradi-tion and not simply as an adjunct of […] imperial rule” (Farhadian 2005: 115). SPK productions therefore empower Balinese Christians to claim agency through their faith. These productions confirm both that Christianity in Bali is not merely a remnant of colonisation and that a fundamentally Balinese Chris-tianity is possible.

SPK dance-dramas express an identity that is at once Christian and Balinese and seem to construct a Christian kebalian. Though not always acceptable to the majority, many modern Christian leaders (including Murdita and Mastra) assert that Christianity ought to have a place in discourses related to agama and kebalian. Contextualisation has, in turn, led to interculturation, which has ar-ticulated a uniquely Balinese perspective to the ecumenical Church. The per-formance of SPK for foreigners in Bali and internationally has encouraged some Christians to consider the theological implications of kebalian within a global Christian context.

Blimbingsari and HDP are two primary sites of SPK production and, by exten-sion, interreligious interaction. Dozens of other sites (including many GKPB churches throughout Bali) have also played roles in these developments. SPK productions may serve as a sort of abstract location of interreligious interaction, a location that has served to mediate dialogue between local groups represent-ing two of the largest “world religions.” The period prior to Sinode 1972 was marked by considerable tension between Christian and Hindu Balinese. While it would be difficult to prove decisively that contextualisation is responsible for a general calm in contemporary Christian-Hindu relations in Bali, Hindus and Christians have more common ground today and increased interreligious inter-actions are apparent. This development has helped many Christians reclaim a Balinese identity.

Bibliography

Bandem, I Made and Fredrik Eugene deBoer. Balinese Dance in Transition: Kaja and Kelod. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995.

deBoer, Fredrik E. “Two Modern Balinese Theatre Genres: Sendratari and Drama Gong.” Being Modern in Bali: Image and Change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, (1996),158-178.


242 Wiebe

Dibia, I Wayan and Rucina Ballinger. Balinese Dance, Drama, and Music: A Guide to the Performing Arts of Bali. Singapore: Periplus, 2004.

Eck, Diana L. “The Church in Bali: Mountainwards and Seawards.” The Southeast Asia Journal of Theology 23, no.2 (1982): 151-160.

England, John C. and Jose Kuttianimattathil et al. “I Wayan Mastra, Bali.” Asian Christian Theologies: A Research Guide to Authors, Movements, Sources. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2003.

Farhadian, Charles E. Christianity, Islam, and Nationalism in Indonesia. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005.

Frey, Edward. The Kris: Mystic Weapon of the Malay World. Selangor Darul Ehsan: Oxford University Press, 2003

Harnish, David. “Teletubbies in Paradise: Tourism, Indonesianisation, Modernisation in Balinese Music.” Yearbook in Traditional Music 37 (2003): 103-123.

Howe, Leo. The Changing World of Bali. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005.Küster, Volker. “Accommodation or Contextualization? Ketut Lasia and Nyoman

Darsane: Two Balinese Christian Artists.” Mission Studies 16, no. 1 (1999): 157-172.Lee, Hyo-Dong. “Interreligious Dialogue as a Politics of Recognition: a Postcolonial

Rereading of Hegel for Interreligious Solidarity.” The Journal of Religion 85, no. 4 (2005): 555-581.

Mastra, I Wayan. “The Impact of the Gospel and the Balinese Culture.” Master’s thesis, University of Debuque, 1967.

––––––. “The Salvation of Non-Believers: A Missiological Critique to Hendrik Kraemer and the Need for New Alternative.” PhD. diss, Aquinas Institute of Philosophy and Theology, 1971.

––––––. The Mango Tree Church. Unpublished, 2006.Mastra-ten Veen, Made Gunaraksawati. Konsep dan Praktik Bisnis Gereja Kristen

Protestan di Bali. Yogjakarta, Indonesia: Taman Pustaka Kristen, 2009.McKenzie, Douglas G. The Mango Tree Church: The Story of the Protestant Church in Bali.

Brisbane, Qld: Boolarong Publications, 1988.Murdita, I Nyoman. Karya Seni Sebagai Expresi Iman di Gereja Kristen Protestan di Bali,

unpublished manuscript, n.d.––––––. “Ekpresi Iman Melalui Seni di Lingkungan GKPB.” Galang Kangin 25 (2003):

32-33.––––––. Sejarah Perjalanan Biro Seni dan Komunikasi: Divia Pradana Bhakti (Gereja

Kristen Protestan di Bali, GKPB). Unpublished, 2011a.––––––. Pungsi dan Makna Pertunjukan Seni Tari: Didalam Bergereja dan Bermasyarakat.

Unpublished, 2011b. Nicholls, Kathleen D. Voices at the Watering Places. New Delhi, India: ICON, 1991.Picard, Michel. “‘Cultural Tourism’ in Bali: Cultural Performances as Tourist Attraction.”

Indonesia 49 (1990): 37-74.



––––––. “Dance and Drama in Bali: The Making of an Indonesian Art Form”. Being Modern in Bali: Image and Change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 1996.

––––––. “The Discourse of Kebalian: Transcultural Constructions of Balinese Identity. Staying Local in the Global Village: Bali in the Twentieth Century.” Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1999.

Shorter, Aylward. Toward a Theology of Inculturation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.Sudhiarsa, Raymundus I Made. “Balinese Christianity and Its Identity: A Theological

Articulation from a Minority and Marginal Perspective.” PhD diss., University of Birmingham, 2000.

Sugden, Chris. Seeking the Asian Face of Jesus. Oxford, UK: Regnum Books International, 1997.

Sunarya, I Wayan. Blimbingsari, Selayang Pandang: Lentera di Tengah Hutan Madurgama. Denpasar, Indonesia, 2009.

Suryadinata, Leo, Evi Nurvidya Arifin and Aris Ananta. Indonesia’s Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003.

Vandenbosch, Amry. “Missions on the Island of Bali.” International Review of Missions 23 no. 90 (1934): 205-214.

Vickers, Adrian. “Modernity and Being Modern: An Introduction.” Being Modern in Bali: Image and Change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, 1996.


Performing Christian Kebalian: Balinese Music and Dance as Interreligious Drama

Documents

Transcript of Performing Christian Kebalian: Balinese Music and Dance as Interreligious Drama