Theology of Liberation Relevant - Report Example

THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION RELEVANT Table of Contents Introduction 3 Body 4 Conclusion 10 Bibliography 12 Thesis The theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence. Theology of Liberation Relevant Introduction The theory of liberation is a populist political movement dominant in Latin America that is within the Roman Catholic theology that has an interest in the teachings of Jesus into those intending to liberate people from political, social, and economic injustices. Ideally, critics have used this religion as a way of viewing the suffering of the poor 1through their eyes meaning that this religion criticizes Christianity and the Roman Catholic religions. Essentially, this theology took root within the Latin American region between the 1950s and 60s and has grown to include other denominations as much as it started in the Catholic Church as a theology of hope. The basic principle in this theology is that it negated the aspects presented by Marxism as this concept highly influenced the societal injustices that did not factor in the poor. The result of this was that some priests became radicals in that they joined trade unions and political parties in which others took up an extremist approach as they joined violent movements as a way of advocating their liberationist theology. One of the significant moves in which nuns and priests that supported this theology of hope in solidarity with the poor was that these liberationists moved to slums in order for them to share the suffering that the poor and who part of their congregation2. However, the mainstream Catholic theology was not in support of this approach to fighting the oppression of the poor in which the late Pope John II was vocal about this theology being a severe misinterpretation of the Catholic doctrine and teachings. With this, the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence. Body Ideally, the control of eighty percent of the global wealth is by five percent of the same in which this minute fraction gets to formulate policies that only seek to advance their interests at the expense of the poor. With this, the theology of liberation seeks to address this inequality by forcing the society to understand the real problems challenging the society rather than concerting their efforts on the spiritual matters only. Further, this theological influences its followers to live in hope in their present lives rather than having to reflect on how their afterlife will be as they languish in poverty as a result of the decisions made for them that are oppressive. For a long time, the Catholic as a theology supported the decisions made by the government and could not go contrary to them as much as these decisions were not in favour of the poor population. In a way, the theology of hope gained momentum as part of their belief that people should take up responsibility3 and make their lives better, either by joining political offices or by being vocal about the oppressive nature that government capitalists had become to their people. Their stand was that the poor were not to tolerate their miserable presence by being spectators as they await the afterlife promised in the bible. As much as people deemed themselves as being Catholic faithful, the theology of liberation asserts that faith requires the application of action, meaning that they had the responsibility of responding to these challenges. This is in tandem with the task given in the Hebrew Bible concerning taking care of widows, orphans and the forgotten fraction of the population whose needs were not in the priority list of those in authority. The implication of this is that the theology of liberation is still relevant today as it demands that those of faith to stop being spectators of life as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence as it. On the contrary, the only sure way in which an individual can understand the suffering of the poor is by being part of their lives and experiencing their day to day way of living before those in authority can formulate policies that may be damaging to these people. Essentially, this is one of the core practices in the theory of liberation in which liberationists have to participate in service programs in poverty stricken regions as part of developing an understanding about what theology of liberation is all about. In such programs, participants become aware of the oppressive situations that the poor deal with making it to be a practical way of experiencing the unjust treatments that society exposes people. Such an experience helps an individual to appreciate what they have and also try to make the lives of other poor people better because one can only relate to the poor if they have ever been homeless. Further, the theology does not require that a believer in the theory of liberation to visit Latin America and stay the poor people of this region, but rather it requires that a believer engages with the underprivileged people in the area that they live in. The implication of this is that an individual is able to make a significant impact from their areas that they live rather than spending money to visit Latin America in order for their theological beliefs to be complete. Using this as a basis, the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence as it allows believers to have a hands-on experience of oppression. Principally, the theology of liberation advocates of charity to the poor and the underprivileged members of society, meaning that allowing people to enjoy the privileges that life offers is one of the key aspects embedded in this theology. The theology of liberation tends to have a different interpretation of the events and teachings of Jesus in the bible meaning that the focus should not be entirely on the after life. Essentially, Jesus healed the sick, mingled with the poor, and fed the hungry as documented in the Bible meaning that the Son of God did not sit by and offer teachings to those that needed food because this was not the most practical way of dealing with this situation4. In the same manner, liberationist apply this context in a way that Jesus refused to accept the hungry to be in the same state knowing that there was a possible way of addressing this social problem. In order for an individual’s faith to be complete, their deed of abiding by the principles of Jesus begin working in the world before one can actually get into the spiritual aspect of their salvation. The other interpretation by liberationists is that Jesus spent most of his life living among the poor as compared to the Catholic priests of today that live in fancy hoes without caring about where the poverty-stricken people live in decent homes. Further, Jesus reached out to the social class that the society at that time had rejected, meaning that the Son of God did not come from the rich, but rather to the poor that theology should focus on. In this case, the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence such as living the life of poverty that Jesus lived. In recent years, the concern of policy makers and other relevant stakeholders has shifted to basing the policies that they intend to develop to from the perspective of the poor, which is one of the key pillars preached in the theology of liberation. Such policies include the National health policy debate witnessed in North America with the intention being, on bringing on board those that may not afford or have access to quality health care services. For a long time, the focus had been on how to improve on the quality of health care services to those that were paying for it, which was a capitalist thinking meaning that the poor did not have a right to such services because they did not belong to the wealthy or middle class. Ideally, this has a correlation with the principles embedded in the theology of liberation as this has brought hope to the suffering poor whose needs had been neglected for far too long. This makes the liberation theory to be relevant today because the society seeks to achieve the common good, which is a move from the conventional individualism5. In addition, focusing on those that some aspects of society have left behind in terms of development and access is one of the vital aspects of the liberation theory inclining that it brings hope to the oppressed. Subsequently, the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence because of its influence on the poor connecting with the rich. Another perceived deviant approach presented the liberation theory is that society is guilty of the social sin in which a significant fraction of the population lives in poverty and racism, which are sins that are not pleasing in God’s sight. The challenge in this view is that it is hard to identify the exact individuals that are guilty of this sin, which is contrary to the teachings of the bible in which one person is answerable to the sins that they commit as individuals. In the Bible, there is atonement of sin in which individuals can repent, receive redemption and become whole, meaning that there is no social sin. The implication of this is that the theology interprets the Bible in a way that promotes the ideals that it stands for, which are every member of society is guilty of influencing the sin of poverty that causes suffering of the underprivileged. In whichever context, God is not content with the world when He looks at the levels of poverty subjected to the poor by a fraction of the population and racism that spreads hate among communities. From this context, these aspects negate God’s will to the humankind, which is relatively the meaning of sin using the biblical point of view. In today’s word, the aspect of social sin as presented in the theology of liberation is still relevant because the number of sweatshops operated by companies has been on an increase with the influence of globalization. Liberationists tend to apply a somehow extremist approach in that they may opt not to buy products associated with the manufacture from sweatshops as a sign with the poor people that made them. In essence, those that work in the sweatshops owned by multinational companies may never get the opportunity to wear or use the products that they help manufacture because they cannot afford them because of the minimal pay that they receive. Moreover, the working conditions in these sweatshops are deplorable and at times go contrary to the human rights provisions in which the capitalist approach that is dominant in today’s society only allows the sweatshop owners to benefit from the labour of the poor. In line with this, liberationists tend to boycott these products as a way of illustrating their displeasure with the Capitalist aspect in society which is oppressive to the poor. The implication of this is that, the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence it highlights the inequalities that exist in the society. Part of the practice rooted in liberation spirituality is the soul searching aspect in which a liberationist has to find out the ways in which they led Jesus to die on the cross and apply the same principle in trying to help the poor people in society. This means that this theology moves from the spiritual point of view to one that intends to help relieve the suffering of the oppressed rather than participating in crucifying them to the problems. However, this theology also understands that complete eradication of poverty to a level that it no longer exists in the present world is not achievable, but this does not mean that people cannot do anything about it. In most cases, those that advocate for the rights and privileges of the poor end up ruffling feathers in quarters that have association with authority in which others lose their lives in the process of fulfilling the principles of liberalization. One such individual was the archbishop of San Salvador Romero y Galdamez Oscar Anurlfo, whose assassination in 1980 led him to be a martyr for the plight of the poor. In the same breath, liberationists are not afraid to stand up against violations of human rights in which Archbishop Galdamez adopted the liberation theology that did not associate with violence. Part of Galdamez advocacy inclined towards soldiers in which the message that the archbishop firmly communicated was that the soldiers were not to execute the orders by their government to violating human rights of citizens in El Salvador. The government at that time chose to assassinate those that did not agree with the legitimized terror practices that they were applying in which Galdamez was not in support of. Galdamez spoke on behalf of the Catholic martyrs that lost their lives while advocating for the poor and oppressed that led to his assassination as a way of silencing him permanently. In the theology of liberation, those that die in the course of such battles become martyrs in which believers that subscribe to this doctrine view them as their role models 6. The relevance of this is that the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence 7as was the case of Archbishop Galdamez despite the fact that he died while advocating for the same. Conclusion The theology of liberation has become a vehicle for delivering hope to those living under oppression as its principles assert that the poor should also be part of the society when making critical decisions. As witnessed above, the theology of liberation advocates for the society to view the challenges that it faces through the eyes of the suffering and advocates for equality as this helps in making the approach to be realistic. Other than that, liberationists interpret the teachings and practices of Jesus to be in tandem with what their doctrine stands for which is helping the poor. The implication of this is that theology is relevant in today’s world because it advocates for policy developers and governments to address the levels of oppression created by capitalism in view of the Marxist theory8. The relevance of this theology is a visible as it seeks to highlight ways in which inequalities affect the poor as liberationists live among them, which is a way of showing solidarity with their suffering. As a result, the theology of liberation is still relevant today as its doctrines have lessons in which the society can use in advocating for the rights of the poor without applying violence it highlights the inequalities that exist in the society. In the end, the liberation theory is relevant because it helps the society to take responsibility for causing harm to the poor as much as it may be costly because liberationists may lose their lives in the process. Bibliography Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology An Introduction, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2011). Althaus-Reid, Marcella. Liberation Theology and Sexuality. London: SCM Press, 2009. Betances, Emelio. The Catholic Church and Power Politics in Latin America: The Dominican Case in Comparative Perspective. Lanham, Md. [u.a.]: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Brady, Bernard V. Essential Catholic Social Thought. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2008. Buhring, Kurt. Conceptions of God, Freedom, and Ethics in African American and Jewish Theology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Curran, Charles E. The Moral Theology of Pope John Paul II. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2005. Dalton, Anne Marie, and Henry C. Simmons. Ecotheology and the Practice of Hope. 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