Liberation theology Flashcards
When did liberation theology begin?
1964
What does it mean to be alienated by something?
Alienation is the act of isolating individuals or groups as a result of who they are. This often singles them out from society, denying them of humanity.
What does Marx say is the cause of alienation?
He suggests there is human activity behind the experience of the powerlessness.
Social institutions foster this behavior and have been shaped by human action.
Did Marx believe that humans had a fixed nature?
Marx did not believe that humans had a fixed nature but that humans had to work to survive.
Humans are conscious of their work and are social beings.
How does Marx’s view on humans having to work to survive link to Adam and God?
God out Adam to work in the Garden of Eden - shows the relationship between humans and work.
How does creating more than you need cause problems for society, according to Marx?
In creating surplus, society began to fracture as class divisions emerged between the powerful and powerless.
Who are serfs and how are they alienated?
Serfs work for the land but do not own it. They rely on feudal lords and must give the surplus to them.
How does Marx describe the worker (quote)?
‘depressed…both intellectually and physically, to the level of the machine, and from being a man becomes an abstract activity and a stomach’
How did Marx view the factory system as exploitative?
Workers cannot work independently from capitalism as the bourgeoisie are in control.
The stages of production are separate and workers have no sense of the whole - they never see the finished product.
Workers are therefore treated as means to an end.
What is social sin?
Refers to structural and systematic injustices in society that arise from collective human choices, rather than individual wrongdoing.
What is structural sin?
Means that humans are alienated from one another because they are not recognized as human beings.
What is an example of where structural sin was apparent?
During an Earthquake in Mexico City, factory owners saved the machinery before the people.
Quote from Faus on his views on structural sin?
‘When humans sin, they create structures of sin, which in their turn, make human beings sin’
What is the story of the Rich man and the Kingdom of God?
‘It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God’
How do liberation theologians understand the story of the Rich man differently to the ‘church’?
Church tradition = the man is not wrong for having wealth, it is a test of how he uses it.
Liberation = would question this as it favors capitalism.
How might the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus support liberation theology?
The rich man was punished with hell for not helping Lazarus during his life - this supports the claim that the poor are alienated.
What did liberation theology prioritise over orthodoxy?
Orthopraxy
What is a quote from Dom Helder Camara and what point is he making?
‘When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist’
Helder shows how theological action (orthopraxy) should come before orthodoxy.
What two parts does Gutierrez see liberation theology in?
- Social and economic oppression - poverty and oppression are caused by humans and can be remedied by humans, therefore humans must take responsibility.
- People must be liberated by sin - people must reconcile with God.
Why does Juan Segundo disagree with Gutierrez’s order of priorities?
Segundo disagrees with gutierrez’s claim that earthly liberation should come first.
He claims ‘liberation is first and foremost, liberation from the radical slavery of sin’.
Why did Juan Segundo feel that spiritual liberation should come first?
He believed that liberation should not solely focus on social and political liberation, but a deeper understanding of God’s role in liberation.
How would liberation theologians use the story of Moses to justify their ideas?
The story of Moses freeing the Israelites would justify the use of orthopraxy over orthodoxy as he used action.
This can also be used to support the preferential option for the poor.
What is the idea of reversal?
The idea that justice in the Kingdom of God is about reversing the opportunities of those on earth.
For example, the poor shall become rich.
What biblical story links to the idea of reversal?
The rich man and lazarus - lazarus was rewarded with heaven (reversal between being rich and poor).
