Inteoduction To Liberation Theology

Question 1

What kind of theology is it

Answer 1

Liberation theology is a contextual theology - it was born in the Latin American slums of the late 1960s. It starts with the extreme injustice and poverty experienced there and asks ‘How should the Christian live and respond to this suffering’

• Amongst its key thinkers are Gustavo Gutierrez (1928-) & Leonardo Boff (1938-)

Question 2

How does Liberation link to Bonhoeffer

Answer 2

• Civil disobedience in the face of justice
• Costly grace: active participation against injustice
• Criticised cheap grace: you need to actively engage with prevention/removal of justice

Like Bonhoeffer context/experience matters greatly to Liberation theology

Question 3

Why do some Christians see Jesus as a liberator

Answer 3

• He protested in the table (against the injust money practices)
• Intersectional icon
• His values: sharing possessions
• Who you are on this earth was not about status
• He was born in a stable
• When he rode to Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey
• Make sure you’re rich in spirit, not just in rich ‘in your pocket’

Question 4

Conclusions drawn from the perspective of Jesus as a liberator are:

Answer 4

• God has (and Christians should have) a ‘preference for the poor’
• Christians should have solidarity with the poor; standing with them and suffering with them
• Orthopraxis (doing the right thing) is more important than orthodoxy (believing the right thing)

Question 5

How does Liberation theology differ from traditional theology

Answer 5

Whereas traditional theology has been done in university by intellectuals studying the Bible and then applying this to life (top down method ) liberation theology begins with the situation of the poor and then asks what does the Bible/Church have to say? (A ground up method)

Question 6

Criticisms/ historical observations of the Church where it has been used for social control

Answer 6

Catholic:
- The Vatican owns enough money to end world hunger - if they really cared, as Christians should, why wouldn’t they solve this issue
- Sale of indulgences (Medieval period)

Protestant”
- Ireland - made sure the catholics had nothing to ensure only the Protestants had nothing (economic control)

Question 7

What is Liberation theology

Answer 7

• It focuses on action first (Orthopraxy - right practice) rather than belief (orthodoxy- right belief)
• It requires Christians to reflect critically on their experiences in life
• It focsuses on the experiences of the poor and sees Christianity as an oppurtunity to respond to poverty and other examples of exploitation and alienation in the world (Jesus as a liberator and Bonhoeffer)
• It is a theory linked to Karl Marx’s (19th century German economic theorists) analysis of capitalism
• Capitalism, according to Marx, creates a world in which the wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of the few and at the expense of many.