Posted by
Steve Fuller on Monday, January 04, 2010 5:46:08 PM
<b>God, The President, and Your Life</b>
When the poet reflected on the care of God over his life he wrote these meaningful lines:
"Among so many, can He care?
Can special love be everywhere?
I asked. My soul bethought of this,
In just that very place of His,
Where He hath put and keepth you,
God has no other work to do."
The poet saw that the special interest of God was over him and in his heart...he rejoiced!
In Time Magazine way back in February 4, 1985 there was a remarkable article entitled, "Taming the Liberation Theologians." The author called to our attention the challenge of Liberation Theology. Originally, it was minted in Latin America in the 1960's, Liberation Theology is a controversial religious thought that in less than 4 decades has morphed into our current culture and has gained widespread attention with the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America. What distinguishes Liberation Theology from the main stream of church thinking is its strong emphasis on social change. As time marches on and we as a people try understand the man we elected and the decisions he has made, and is making, it is encumbered upon us to study and understand this Religious Philosophy in order to understand the man, his view on God, how it relates to our lives, and then finally see God's stately steppings on our behalf.
The Theology of Liberation is a theology in which the salvation or liberation wrought by Christ is examined not only in terms of liberation from individual sin, but also in terms of liberation in other spheres: the aspirations of oppressed peoples and social classes; an understanding of history in which the human being is seen as assuming conscious responsibility for human destiny; and Christ the Saviour liberating the human race from sin, which is the root of all disruption of friendship and of all injustice and oppression. The theology of liberation began (under that name) in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council, and many theologians of liberation are Roman Catholics.
Theology of Liberation emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed. Its theologians consider sin to be a root of poverty and oppression. In the mass media, 'Liberation Theology' may refer to any politically-activist Christian thought. It is sometimes regarded as a form of Christian socialism & liberation theologians often use Marxist political theory in seeking to eliminate poverty. Theology of Liberation has had widespread influence in Latin America and in the Society of Jesus, although its influence diminished after liberation theologians using Marxist concepts were admonished by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
Orthodox Catholics who disagree with liberation theology claim that it takes a narrow view of the Bible, or that it mines the Bible to support a political and social ideology. Pope Benedict XVI, for instance, is known as an opponent of certain types of liberation theology, and issued several condemnations of tendencies within it while prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
These criticisms, in turn, provoke counter-criticisms that the orthodox are in effect casting the Catholic church as a friend of authoritarian regimes; and that the Vatican is not so much trying to defend pure doctrine as to maintain an established ecclesiastical and political order. This conflict could be compared to some aspects of the Protestant Reformation. Outside Latin America, some of Liberation Theology's most ardent advocates are Protestant thinkers (e.g., Jurgen Moltmann, Frederick Herzog).
<b>Overview</b>
Liberation Theology posits fighting poverty by suppressing what proponents claim is its source: sin. In so doing, it explores the relationship between Christian theology — especially Roman Catholic theology — and political activism, especially about social justice, poverty, and human rights. The Theology's principal methodological innovation is seeing theology from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed (socially, politically, etc.); per Jon Sobrino, S.J., the poor are a privileged channel of God's grace. According to Phillip Berryman, liberation theology is "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor".
Liberation theologians base their social action upon the Bible scriptures describing the mission of Jesus Christ, as bringing a sword (social unrest), e.g. Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 10:34, Luke 22:35-38 Matthew 26:51-52 — and not as bringing peace (social order). This Biblical interpretation is a call to action against poverty, and the sin engendering it, and as a call to arms, to effect Jesus Christ's mission of justice in this world. In practice, the Theology includes the Marxist concept of perpetual class struggle, thus emphasizing the person's individual self-actualization as part of God's divine purpose for mankind.
Besides teaching at (some) Roman Catholic universities and seminaries, liberation theologians often may be found working in Protestant schools, often working directly with the poor. In this context, sacred text interpretation is Christian theological praxis.
The issue is seriously confused by the problem of terminology. "Liberation theology" is used in a technical sense to describe a particular theology which uses specific Marxist concepts. It is also used, especially by non-specialists and the media, to refer to any approach which sees Christianity as requiring political activism on behalf of the poor. It is in the first sense that the Roman Catholic hierarchy has condemned "liberation theology", rejecting especially the idea that a violent class struggle is fundamental to history, and the reinterpretation of religious phenomena such as the Exodus and the Eucharist as essentially political. The broader sense is not condemned: "The mistake here is not in bringing attention to a political dimension of the readings of Scripture, but in making of this one dimension the principal or exclusive component." The Instruction explicitly endorsed a "preferential option for the poor", stated that no one could be neutral in the face of injustice, and referred to the "crimes" of colonialism and the "scandal" of the arms race. However, media reports tended to assume that the condemnation of "liberation theology" meant a rejection of such attitudes and an endorsement of conservative politics.
These tensions have probably been worsened by the fact that many liberation theologians regard their concepts of political liberation as the only meaningful ones, and thus see little advance in the official attitudes described.
<b>Principal texts</b>
The more orthodox tendency in Liberation Theology is exemplified by Rubem Alves, a Brazilian theologian working at Princeton, who wrote Towards a Theology of Liberation (1968).
The more radical tendency in Liberation Theology is exemplified by the Peruvian Catholic priest, Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P. In his 1972 book, A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez theorized a combination of Marxism and the social-Catholic teachings contributing to a socialist current in the Church that was influenced by the Catholic Worker Movement and the French Christian youth worker organization, "Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne." It was also influenced by Paul Gauthier's "The Poor, Jesus and the Church" (1965).
<b>History</b>
A major player in the formation of Liberation Theology was CELAM, the Latin American Episcopal Conference. Created in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), CELAM pushed the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) toward a more socially oriented stance. However, CELAM never supported liberation theology as such, since liberation theology was frowned upon by the Vatican, with Pope Paul VI trying to slow the movement after the Second Vatican Council.
During the four years after the Council, CELAM prepared for the 1968 Medellín Conference in Colombia. Cardinal [Alfonso López Trujillo]] was a central figure at the Medellín Conference, and was elected in 1972 as general secretary of CELAM. He represented a more orthodox-catholic form of Liberation Theology which became predominant in CELAM after the 1972 Sucre conference, and in the Roman Curia after the CELAM conference in Puebla in January 1979.
Despite the orthodox bishops' predominance in CELAM, a more radical form of Liberation Theology remained much supported in South America. Thus, the 1979 Puebla Conference was an opportunity for orthodox bishops to reassert control of the radical elements; but they failed. At the Puebla Conference, the orthodox reorientation was met by strong opposition from the liberal part of the clergy, which supported the concept of a "preferential option for the poor." This concept had been approved at the Medellin conference by Bishop Ricard Durand, president of the Commission about Poverty.
Pope John Paul II gave the opening speech at the Puebla Conference. The general tone of his remarks was conciliatory. He criticized radical liberation theology, saying, "this conception of Christ, as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth, does not tally with the Church's catechisms"; however, he did speak of "the ever increasing wealth of the rich at the expense of the ever increasing poverty of the poor", and affirmed that the principle of private property "must lead to a more just and equitable distribution of goods . . . and, if the common good demands it, there is no need to hesitate at expropriation, itself, done in the right way"; on balance, the Pope offered neither praise nor condemnation.
Some liberation theologians, however, including Gutierrez, had been barred from attending the conference. Working from a seminary and with aid from sympathetic, liberal bishops, they partially obstructed the orthodox clergy's efforts to ensure that the Puebla Conference documents satisfied conservative concerns. Within four hours of the Pope's speech, Gutiérrez and the other priests wrote a twenty-page refutation, which was circulated at the conference, and has been claimed to have influenced the final outcome of the conference. According to a socio-political study of liberation theology in Latin America, twenty-five per cent of the final Puebla documents were written by theologians who were not invited to the conference. Cardinal Trujillo said that this affirmation is "an incredible exaggeration" (Ben Zabel 2002:139), nevertheless, he conceded that there was strong pressure from a group of eighty Marxist liberation theologists external to the Bishop's Conference.
<b>Reaction within the Catholic Church</b>
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), strongly opposed certain elements of Liberation Theology, and issued official condemnations of it in 1984 and 1986. After this, Leonardo Boff was suspended and others were censored. However, Cardinal Ratzinger did praise liberation theology in some respects, including its ideal of justice, its rejection of violence, and its stress on "the responsibility which Christians necessarily bear for the poor and oppressed".
In March 1983, Cardinal Ratzinger made ten observations of Gutiérrez's theology, accusing Gutiérrez of politically interpreting the Bible in supporting temporal messianism, and stating that the predominance of orthopraxis over orthodoxy in his thought proves a Marxist influence. Ratzinger also stated that Gutierrez's conceptions necessarily uphold class conflict in the Roman Catholic Church, which, logically, leads to rejecting hierarchy.
During the 1980s and the 1990s, Ratzinger continued condemning these elements in Liberation Theology, and prohibited dissident priests from teaching such doctrines in the Catholic Church's name. He excommunicated Tissa Balasuriya, in Sri Lanka, for so doing. Sebastian Kappel, an Indian theologian, was also censored for his book Jesus and Freedom. Under Cardinal Ratzinger's influence, theological formation schools were forbidden from using the Catholic Church's organization and grounds to teach Liberation Theology (in the sense of theology using unacceptable Marxist ideas, not in the broader sense).
In Managua, Nicaragua, Pope John Paul II criticized (what he labelled) the "popular Church" movement by means of "ecclesial base communities" (CEBs) in effecting class struggle, the replacement of the Catholic dominance hierarchy with a locally-selected system in the magisterium, and the Nicaraguan Catholic clergy's supporting the Sandinista National Liberation Front. The Pope re-stated and insisted upon his authority as Universal Pastor of the Roman Catholic Church in conformity with canon law and catechism.
<b>Liberation theology in practice</b>
One of the most radical parts of liberation theology was not the writing of highly educated priests and scholars, but the social organization, or re-organization, of church practice through the model of Christian base communities. Liberation theology, despite the doctrinal codification by Gutiérrez, Boff, and others, strove to be a bottom-up movement in practice, with Biblical interpretation and liturgical practice designed by lay practitioners themselves, rather than by the orthodox Church hierarchy. This type of church community resembles the Independent type of Protestantism, which is extremely common in the United States though they are associated with the right more than the left.
Among others, journalist and writer Penny Lernoux described this aspect of liberation theology in her numerous and committed writings intended to explain the movement's ideas in North America.
Furthermore, with its emphasis on the "preferential option for the poor," the practice (or, more technically, "praxis" to use a term from Gramsci and Paulo Freire) was as important as the belief, if not more so; the movement was said to emphasize "orthopraxis" over "orthodoxy." Base communities were small gatherings, usually outside of churches, in which the Bible could be discussed, and mass could be said. They were especially active in rural parts of Latin America where parish priests were not always available, as they placed a high value on lay participation. As of May 2007, it was estimated that 80,000 base communities were operating in Brazil alone.
Joseph Ratzinger, on the other hand, has suggested that the movement is in origin a creation of western intellectuals: "an attempt to test, in a concrete scenario, ideologies that have been invented in the laboratory by European theologians" and in a certain sense itself a form of "cultural imperialism". Ratzinger saw this as a reaction to the demise or near-demise of the "Marxist myth" in the west. He did, however, qualify this as referring especially to the origins of the movement and did not deny that it had popular support.
Roman Catholic priest and author Andrew Greeley criticized liberation theology in his 2009 fictional book Irish Tweed. In Greeley's book, a Chicago Catholic school is taken over by a principal and priest practicing liberation theology, and its ideas are applied in the school environment, as for instance with basketball team members being chosen on their family's economic status rather than on ability.
<b>Future developments Unbalanced scales.svg</b>
This article may be inaccurate in or unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page.
There is a notion that Latin American Liberation Theology has had its day, a dream killed off by the “end of history” claims of the champions of capitalism. However, Ivan Petrella, in a recent study, contends this is an ill-conceived notion, and shows that this theology can be reinvented to bring its preferential option for the poor into the real world. The actualization of historical projects is possible by adopting the methods developed by the Brazilian social theorist, Roberto Unger.
Doing so will entail the rejection of these theologians’ unitary concepts of a despised and rejected capitalism and a canonized and accepted socialism. Petrella argues for a reconstruction of these concepts and those of democracy and property too. He closely analysis the differences in democracy and capitalism as practised across the USA and Europe in support for the reconstruction of these concepts, bringing about far-reaching suggestions for the future of liberation theology.
At a time of the profound crisis of the world capitalist system, a group of social scientists and theologians in Andreas Mueller, Arno Tausch and Paul M. Zulehner took up anew the issue of liberation theology. Having arisen out of the struggle of the poor Churches in the world's South, its pros and cons dominated the discourse of the Churches throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s.
Then, dependency theory was considered to be the analytical tool at the basis of liberation theology. But the world economy - since the Fall of the Berlin Wall - has dramatically changed to become a truly globalized capitalist system in the 1990s. Even in their wildest imaginations, social scientists from the dependency theory tradition and theologians alike would not have predicted for example the elementary force of the Asian and the Russian crisis.
The Walls have gone, but poverty and social polarization spread to the center countries. After having initially rejected Marxist ideology in many of the liberation theology documents, the Vatican and many other Christian Church institutions moved forward in the 1980s and 1990s to strongly declare their "preferential option for the poor". Now, the authors of this book, among them Samir Amin, one of the founders of the world systems theory approach, take up the issues of this preferential option anew and arrive at an ecumenical vision of the dialogue between theology and world systems theory.
Donald Bloesch's book entitled "Crumbling Foundations" although out of print from many years now, observed "Liberation Theology believes that the Kingdom of God will be realized through the violence of a political-social revolution." Basically, God is going to rescue, change, deliver the present structure. But there is great uncertainty as to the methods used for the accomplishment.
Since it's conception with in the Catholic church who has since denounced it, certain facets of American society of laid hold of the ideas and have expanded it among the African-American Community where it has become known as Black Liberation Theology.
Black liberation theology maintains that African Americans must be liberated from multiple forms of bondage — social, political, economic and religious. This formulation views Christian theology as a theology of liberation -- "a rational study of the being of God in the world in light of the existential situation of an oppressed community, relating the forces of liberation to the essence of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ," writes James Hal Cone. Black consciousness and the black experience of oppression orient black liberation theology -- i.e., one of victimization from oppression. This liberation involves empowerment and seeks the right of self-definition, self-affirmation and self-determination.
Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago is the church most frequently cited by press accounts, and by Cone as the best example of a church formally founded on the vision of Black liberation of theology. This theology has recently become a matter of national debate as intense condemnation by the U.S. mainstream media of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the most visible exponent of the theology, forced Senator Barack Obama to distance himself from his former pastor.
<b>Development</b>
Modern American origins of contemporary black liberation theology can be traced to July 31, 1966, when an ad hoc group of 51 black pastors, calling themselves the National Committee of Churchmen (NCNC), bought a full page ad in the New York Times to publish their "Black Power Statement," which proposed a more aggressive approach to combating racism using the Bible for inspiration.
In the minds of many African-Americans, Christianity was long associated with slavery and segregation. Although Southern Baptists had condemned racism in the past, it was not until June 20, 1995 that the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a formal "Declaration of Repentance". This resolution declared that they "unwaveringly denounce racism, in all its forms, as deplorable sin" and "lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest." The convention offered an apology to all African-Americans for "condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime" and repentance for "racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously or unconsciously. Christianity was long associated with racism. Therefore, there must then be a dialogue regarding the implications of racism in today's society and to what extent historical factors affect the plight of the black community. Cone argues that, "About thirty years ago it was acceptable to lynch a black man by hanging him from a tree; but today whites destroy him by crowding him into a ghetto and letting filth and despair put the final touches on death."
<b>James Cone and Black Liberation Theology
Main article: James Hal Cone</b>
James Cone first addressed this theology after Malcolm X’s proclamation in the 1950s against Christianity being taught as "a white man’s religion". According to Black religion expert Jonathan Walton:
"James Cone believed that the New Testament revealed Jesus as one who identified with those suffering under oppression, the socially marginalized and the cultural outcasts. And since the socially constructed categories of race in America (i.e., whiteness and blackness) had come to culturally signify dominance (whiteness) and oppression (blackness), from a theological perspective, Cone argued that Jesus reveals himself as black in order to disrupt and dismantle white oppression."
Black theology deals primarily with the African-American community, to make Christianity real for blacks. It explains Christianity as a matter of liberation here and now, rather than in an afterlife. The goal of black theology is not for special treatment. Instead, "All Black theologians are asking for is for freedom and justice. No more, and no less. In asking for this, the Black theologians, turn to scripture as the sanction for their demand. The Psalmist writes for instance, 'If God is going to see righteousness established in the land, he himself must be particularly active as 'the helper of the fatherless' to 'deliver the needy when he crieth; and the poor that hath no helper.
<b>On God and Jesus Christ</b>
Cone based much of his liberationist theology on God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the Book of Exodus. He compared the United States to Egypt, predicting that oppressed people will soon be led to a promised land. For Cone, the theme of Yahweh’s concern was for “the lack of social, economic, and political justice for those who are poor and unwanted in society.” Cone also says that the same God is working for the oppressed blacks of the 20th century, and that “God is helping oppressed blacks and has identified with them, God Himself is spoken of as ‘black’.”
Cone saw Christ from the aspect of oppression and liberation. Cone uses the Gospel of Luke to illustrate this point: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them.” “‘In Christ,’ Cone argues, ‘God enters human affairs and takes sides with the oppressed. Their suffering becomes his; their despair, divine despair.’” Cone also argues that, "We cannot solve ethical questions of the twentieth century by looking at what Jesus did in the first. Our choices are not the same as his. Being Christians does not mean following 'in his steps.'" [Black Theology and Black Power, Page 139]
Cone’s view is that Jesus was black, which he felt was a very important view of black people to see. "It's very important because you've got a lot of white images of Christ. In reality, Christ was not white, not European. That's important to the psychic and to the spiritual consciousness of black people who live in a ghetto and in a white society in which their lord and savior looks just like people who victimize them. God is whatever color God needs to be in order to let people know they're not nobodies, they're somebodies."
<b>Stylistic differences in the Black religious community</b>
Because of the differences in thought between the black and white community, most black religious leaders attempt to make their services more accessible to other African-Americans, who must identify with the faith in order to accept it. Another notable difference is Cone's suggestion as to what must occur if there is not reconciliation among the white community. He states, "Whether the American system is beyond redemption we will have to wait and see. But we can be certain that black patience has run out, and unless white America responds positively to the theory and activity of Black Power, then a bloody, protracted civil war is inevitable." [Black Theology and Black Power, Page 143]
<b>Criticisms</b>
Anthony Bradley of the Christian Post interprets that the language of "economic parity" and references to "mal-distribution" as nothing more than channeling the views of Karl Marx. He believes James Cone and Cornel West have worked to incorporate Marxist thought into the black church, forming an ethical framework predicated on a system of oppressor class versus a victim much like Marxism.
Stanley Kurtz of the National Review claims that "A scarcely concealed, Marxist-inspired indictment of American capitalism pervades contemporary 'black-liberation theology'...The black intellectual's goal, says Cone, is to "aid in the destruction of America as he knows it." According to him such destruction requires both black anger and white guilt. He claimed the black-power theologian's goal is to tell the story of American oppression so powerfully and precisely that white men will "tremble, curse, and go mad, because they will be drenched with the filth of their evil."
<b>God's Working on Our Behalf:</b>
There is a word that is woven through the entire Revelation of God in His Book, the Bible. It is a word that leaps all barriers and with clarity and simplicity sets forth the many-faceted work of the living God in our behalf. It is LIBERATION THEOLOGY IN ITS TRUEST SENSE. It is liberation theology ahead of time. It is highly significant that God introduces His activity in our behalf in both Old and New Testaments by the use of this remarkable word. It is a word that is to set forth the dealing of God with the temporal and the eternal. The word which will, we trust come freighted with blessing into our lives is the word DELIVERANCE. The liberation theologian is all out for this word because it refers to the oppression of peoples in Central America, South Africa, and wherever there are found the under-privileged and the down trodden. They use the word "liberation" while God in setting forth His purpose for us uses the word "deliverance." We turn our attention to a remarkable portion of the Word of God and see GOD'S STATELY STEPPINGS IN OUR BEHALF:
1.) DELIVERANCE IS ROOTED IN GOD'S KNOWLEDGE: (Exodus 2:23-35; Exodus 3:7:8)
Does God know about the distressing situation in Africa with it's hunger and aides, Central
America with it's social injustice? ISRAEL WAS IN TROUBLE. THEY ARE HURTING.
A.) He heard their groaning and He hears ours as well
B.) He remembered His promises (over 7000 of them)
C.) He looked up His children
2.) DELIVERANCE IS ON TIME: (Exodus 6:1 "Now you shall see...)
The "now" looks back over chapter 5 where we are confronted with the events that found their
way to page one on the Egyptian Express.
A.) When burdens were increased (Exodus 5:5,8,11)
B.) When conditions were unbearable (Exodus 5:15,16)
C.) When all was hopeless - there is God
3.) DELIVERANCE FROM AN HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT: (Exodus 6:6-8)
A.) Go through this array of verses and mark the "I will's" of God.
B.) Observe that the environment that had been pleasant through years is suddenly changed. How
often this happens. Suddenly the Job becomes unbearable and the boss is a monster. What
happens now? What does God do?
C.) Note the activity of God. he brings us out (vs 6). He brings us in (vs 8). Don't miss the fact that
God doesn't drop us part way.
Many in America wonder if God has lifted his blessings of the nation. Many also wonder about man we elected to be President. As his approval ratings have continued to drop, it appears that he does not care, the end justifies the means. There are others who believe that He is doing everything that is he said he would do, and that is change the face of America. Some have Barack Obama, "The Chosen One" ie America's Messiah. Other have called him a "Naked Marxist" because of his Robin Hood philosophy of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. It is my assertion that he is a religious zealot. One, the like of which we have never seen before. The Theology of Liberation is heresy, while the Theology of Deliverance is biblical. The one thing I do know and this is it: God's Deliverance is rooted in His knowledge; His Deliverance is always on time; and He has proven that Deliverance from a Hostile Environment. - Chappy