Liberation theology is religious phenomenon which bursts on the scene in the 1960’s. A consciousness for injustice was always prevalent in the Church, but the “theologies of liberation, particularly the classical Latin American variety, evolved in protest against the inability in Western church and missionary circles, both Catholic and Protestant, to grapple with the problems of systemic injustice.” (Boch 443) To truly understand the critiques of missiology which have been articulated by Latin American liberation theologies and Asian theologies, one must first understand liberation. What is liberation and what place does it have in the Christian mission? Liberation theology attempts to put a face on the poor, it is no longer just a generalized indictor implying we are all poor in spirit, but it truly illustrates poor. Liberation theology interprets the poor as being the “marginalized, those who lack every active or even passive participation in society.” (Boch 447) Poor are categorized as people who are left with the sense of helplessness and hopelessness because they have been subjected to “subhuman conditions” of life. In mission work there must be a cry for justice and not just a cry of conformity. Trying to simply confirm the religious sectors to look like the Western world is not liberation. There are many who believe if Third World countries had access to the technology of the West that would help to remedy the problem. Until the mindset of the masses is transformed this would only be putting a band aid on a broken bone; nothing would be done to try to set the bone back into place. The system of equality must be put back into place. Leveling the playing field and no longer subjecting persons to the degradation an...
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...t for a lifetime you teach him how to fish. Missionaries have to begin breaking the chains of social injustices by first breaking the silence. No longer can Christians sit idly by proclaiming the good news without first invoking a sense of justice in the land.
Works Cited
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...overall I find this theology refreshing; it is always good to help the less fortunate as Jesus did many times. Gustavo Gutierrez had such a passion for helping the poor in Latin America, witnessing first hand of their lack of hope and helplessness. One interesting thing that stood out to me was when Gustavo talked about the different kinds of poor people. I never realized how cultures and different societies are forgotten through history. Generation after generation they remain poor never able to get out of poverty. People sometimes have this pre-conceived idea about the poor, how they are dirty and different and almost not even human. This is where so many are wrong and we should be helping them not just by donating money, clothes, food, but give them the tools and resources needed to get out of poverty and start a better life, or this endless cycle will continue.
The missionary expansion and their work within different nations is a dilemma of well intentions versus prosperity and power. Many missionaries remained out of politics and out of local culture and only served the communities for the better. They increased educational opportunities and provided medical care; most importantly they served to ensure the communities could actively participate in the international community. While the government and businesses reaped the rewards of increased prosperity and power, these rewards were in many ways not the purpose of missionary expansion but merely an outcome.
In Miguel A. De La Torre’s Liberation Theology for Armchair Theologians the subject of liberation theology was explored. De La Torre biblically expressed Liberation theology by using the main point of the poor being followers of God and God himself is the leader of the poor, who will not let them down. Besides De La Torre, using the underrepresented society as an example of how Liberation Theology works, he uses a world view which taps into different theologies such as Black Theology, U.S. Feminist Theologies, Hispanic Theologies and many more. Although De La Torre lists different theologies from different groups they all tie in together melting into the pot of Liberation Theology.
Oxbrow, Mark. "Anglicans And Reconciling Mission: An Assessment Of Two Anglican International Gatherings." International Bulletin Of Missionary Research 33.1 (2009): 8-10. Religion and Philosophy Collection. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
Goheen, Michael, and Craig Bartholomew. Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008. Print.
There is rarely an in between and we rarely appreciate other cultures uniqueness as we compare it to our own. The Christian community has seen example after example of how missionaries have fallen short in their missionary purpose. In focusing more on the cultural differences missionaries erroneously shifted their focus to substituting how these cultures live their worldly life rather than how they think of their spiritual lives (Johnson-Hill, 1995). For that reason when dealing with a cross-cultural community, Christian’s always should exhibit a desire to learn about the different ethnicities and their cultures so they may appreciate their
Christian missionaries aimed to attend to the material and spiritual welfare of the Torres Strait Islander peoples who experienced enormous change from their interaction with European culture and
In the song “Prayer of the Refugee” by Rise Against, the listener is given a conflict theory on a macro level basis with overarching themes of globalization and the struggle of two very different socioeconomic groups. The chorus reflects their repeated reference to industrialized western influence in third world countries: “Don't hold me up now/ I can stand my own ground/ I don't need your help now/ You will let me down, down, down (“Rise Against,” n.d.)!” This line is a depiction of what the workers in these circumstances feel towards the power elite who oppress them by having disproportionate control over the political and wealth system (Benokraitis, 2010). In response, the workers openly demand to retain their sense of esteem by refusing the assistance the system provides. This suggests that power hungry corporations do more harm than help in undeveloped nations, causing struggle and immense tension.
One of the philosophies in which people differ is whether to target spiritual needs, basic human necessities, or both. Christian missionaries are known to display the love of God through compassionate works. Examples
On the second example of how the Bible offers different resources to the non-elite, I have drawn on examples from the 20th century, Latin American movement known as Liberation Theology. It was essential to mention the disturbing history t...
Hoffecker, Andrew W., ed. Building a Christian World View. Vol. 1. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1986.
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
Jones, Marge, and E. Grant Jones. Psychology of Missionary Adjustment. Springfield, Missouri: Logion Press, 1994.
The main purpose of this book is to explain how the Christian religion became a world religion. The author, Dana L. Robert, begins Christian Mission with the life and times of Christ in Jerusalem and how this led to the formation of the Catholic Empire. Next, Robert goes on to explain how missions, both catholic and protestant, came about and began to grow throughout the world. Then, the reader learns about the awakening as well as the struggles and conflicts within the global spreading of Christianity. After this, Robert shows that the world of missions is significantly influenced by the political and sociocultural world. The postscript demonstrates the true meaning of missions in a global, postcolonial age through the telling of the gospel message. This paper points out Dana L Robert’s most important arguments in order to answer the question of how Christianity became a world religion.