Across the years, people have given me strange looks when I confess that my faith has been shaped significantly by reading liberation theology. I do what I do in large part because of what I have discovered while exploring this very rich school of thought.
Years ago, while in seminary, I enjoyed the good fortune of sitting in a summer school class with Dr. James Cone from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Cone's course, Black Liberation Theology, provided me with hope, courage and even healing. I found him even more amazing in person than in print, which is saying a lot!
I suppose what I find most attractive about the thought of writers like Cone and Gustavo Gutierrez is the fact that everything is rooted deeply in the here-and-now.
Everything is practical.
Action in the real world is the key to every expression of faith.
Instead of becoming lost in the past or distracted by a future that will be experienced on a completely different plane of existence, thinkers like Gutierrez and Cone keep calling me back to the street and its reality.
In a system of thought like this, it becomes almost impossible for middle class types like me to rationalize my failure to engage the pain, injustice, suffering and oppression of my world.
My responsibility in this day happens to be this world or, better, that part of the world where I will find myself living today.
There is not much time for dwelling on the past, except as precursor for the present that is currently "in my face."
There is little reason to focus much on the future, it will take care of itself.
My call is to live and to act in faith for the transformation of the world as I find it.
Liberation thought demands an entering into the life of the world. To put it theologically, it calls for radical incarnation. I must enter the pain and the struggle of this world for the sake of and alongside the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed.
There is no way to heaven but through the earth.
My responsibility is the life and the world in which I find myself. In community with others, I am called to live out my faith from a street level perspective.
The old hymn, "This World Is Not My Home," might be true; but this world is without a doubt my current assignment, it is where I am rooted by faith, and I dare not "pass through" without thought, sacrifice and focused attention. It is what I have been given and called to engage.
Maintaining this very real, practical and "down-to-earth" focus keeps me on track. And, in this regard, I find reading Cone, Gutierrez and other liberationists to be most helpful.
They bring my faith to life and into my world.
Liberation Theology is a very scary thing, however, maybe not as scary as it once was. Since it was deeply rooted in Marxism-Leninism, when Marxism failed in the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries, the Marxism elements in liberation theology seems to have waned. It is, however, still mostly anti-capitalist. I recommend "Christian Revolution in Latin America"--The Changing Face of Liberation Theology, by Ron Rhodes. Just google it.
ReplyDeleteLT has been responsible for a lot of bloodshed.
"Action in the real world is the key to every expression of faith." Powerful words. I just forwarded this to fellow minstry leaders. If our church minstries could grasp this and let it inform and inspire their dreams and actions, the church will really learn what it means to be a part of "Thy Kingdom come..."
ReplyDeleteShannon Amburn
Gresham, Oregon
Chris, the facts are a bit more complex than your ideas assume here.
ReplyDeleteFor one thing, how much do you understand about the role of American corporations and government in the history of Latin America from the 1920s forward? The "anti-capitalist" posture of many peoples movements in Latin America, including liberation theology, was inspired by the abuses of American intervention to assure that cash crops were grown, that land reform never happened and that a peasant class was plunged deeper and deeper into poverty and hopelessness.
The Catholic priests who helped organize base communities all over Latin America where the Bible was read weekly and daily in homes wtih a view to the plight of the people and to the weight of the oppressors were often accused of being Marxist, and some were.
But, before your dismiss all with a single swipe of "anti-capitalist" rhetoric, please understand that some of us know the history and refuse to resort to such hypocritical critique of those who paid so much in an attempt, often futile, to help so many.
On the bloodshed matter, those who teach and formulate Liberation Theology as a theological construct do not advocate violence or bloodshed.
You are correct though, LT has "been responsible for a lot of bloodshed," but not directly. Those who have advocated it have been butchered, assasinated, murdered, tortured and imprisoned unjustly by those who oppose its message and implications. Often the "death squads" who eliminated people who asked the hard quesitons inspired by their study of the Bible, were part of the governments of these same nations, governments that the US often supported.
Most importantly, your comments don't address the issues I raise in my post. LT provides a framework for engaging our world and its need, injustice and oppression as the vital center of discipleship with a clear focus on the here-and-now.
Thanks very much for posting this, Larry. I have also been moved by the practitioners of LT. Paul Farmer's application of the principles of LT to the delivery of medical care have completely changed my practice. I also recommend Henri Nouwen's "Gracias" for his reflections on LT.
ReplyDeleteI find LT to be frightening only for those who take the side of the oppressors whether intentionally or not. I have a real concern for the American church that it will be difficult for real change to happen without the groundwork of confession -- and it's difficult to confess things that you're not even aware you're complicit in.
Thanks for continuing to raise a prophetic voice.