Essay On Liberation
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Liberation Theology Essay
Arising out recent class discussion topics touching on the ideas of James Cone's ideas on Liberation
Theology and the relationship between the Cross and the Lynching Tree, our group decided to focus
the topic of our presentation around Liberation Theology. However, in order to create a counter
argument to stimulate further discourse, we introduced the Theology of Prosperity, as an opposing
theological concept, to our presentation. Hence, we came up with the topic of Liberation Theology
vs. Theology of Prosperity.
Firstly, it was necessary to give the class a concise definition of these broad theories, and follow
these definitions with general background explanation on the idea behind the respective theologies.
The definitions that we
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This idea, however, is very unpopular among the church.
Although this information on Liberation Theology is essential to understanding of this concept, the
focus of our presentation, in relation to our class, was Black Liberation Theology. It is easy to see
how African Americans relate to the idea of Liberation Theology, as a historically socially oppressed
group of peoples. The encompassed theme of Black Liberation theologians is the concept of God
emancipating African Americans from white racism. Jesus in Liberation Theology is commonly
represented as a 'Poor Black Man', therefore allowing the representation of a relatable figure for the
African American people. One way in which we felt the concept of Liberation Theology come
together with class discussion, was in relation to the Black Liberation Theologian, James Cone,
whom we had previously discussed in class time, leading up to this presentation.
When it came to the Theology of Prosperity we discovered that it boiled down to this: those who
have money, health, and are essentially successful in every facet of life have been rewarded for their
faith in God. This theology predicts that those who are not successful in every aspect of their lives,
whether it be financially, martially, health, general well–being, have not been completely faithful to
God. The Theology of Prosperity (Also referred to as 'Prosperity Gospel,'
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Liberation Theology Essay
Introduction According to Enns (2008), liberation theology attempts to infer the holy writ through
the plight of the poor. This movement originated from South America in the early 1950s when
Marxism was the most popular theory among the poor. It was a response to the ill–treatment and
poverty facing the ordinary people. It dealt with the issue of distribution of wealth among people in
order to upgrade the economic status in life. This movement had strong Romanian Catholic roots
bolstered in Colombia in 1968 at a conference where, the bishops proposed a merger between the
Karl Marx teachings with those of Jesus Christ. Liberation theology support was immense but
various critiques across the religious framework (Novak, 1991). This movement
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However, emergence of negative results due to black liberation was evident. This is because the
theory tends to separate the black and white Christian communities thus enhancing racism which is
not religious or biblical. By critically analysing the biblical way of life, a level of unity among the
people who share the same doctrine of Christ is expected. Black Liberation Theology initially
intended to assist the black community, but in reality it ended up hurting the more. It promoted
negative values for instance: racial tension, victimization, and Marxism ultimately leading to more
oppression. Latin American Liberation Theology The liberation theory originally developed from
ideologies and activities instigated by the Catholic missionaries in the colonial Latin America. Latin
American Liberation Theology says that there is oppression and exploitation of poor people by the
rich capitalist nations. The Latin people developed the theology by radical interpretation of the bible
biased to the people. The inclusion of armed pastors was one of the characteristics that brought this
movement in the limelight. This yearning for change got spurred by armed revolution. This is why;
so many churches had people carrying guns and other weapons to shoe how they were fighting for
their liberation. Critique of the Latin American Liberation Theology Latin American Liberation
Theology is one of the theologies that had a lot of impact on the
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Essay about Liberation Theology
Liberation Theology
I see [liberation theology] as a 'theology of the people,' rather than of professional theologians;
rising out of the cries of the oppressed; refined in the experience of those who may not even be able
to read and write; clarified in thousands of base communities; embodied in lives that risk everything
to be faithful to the good news that God hears their cry, sides with them in their distress, and works
with them for liberation– a liberation in which they play a central role even while recognizing that
the ultimate attainment of liberation will be God's gift. (McAfee).
Liberation Theology is a movement within the Catholic religion in Latin America that began around
1973 with the publication of A Theology of
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Before, the Church said of our suffering. "It's the will of God." Today they see that God doesn't want
people to suffer, suffer, suffer. Today we believe we should struggle for change. &endash;Goreth
Barradas, Brazilian Social Activist (Puelo 51).
The dominant spirituality of our church puts God on a mountaintop.
In this view, we Christians have to scale the mountain by degrees through the practice of moral
virtues. We spend our lives like the myth of Sisyphus, trying to carry the rock of virtues. Yet the
weight of our sins is very great, and each time we reach a certain height of the mountain, we fall to
the bottom, begin again, and fall yet again.
This is a non–liberation spirituality. A liberating spirituality is that of Jesus. Which is? Well, the
primary demand is not moral behavior to bring one closer to God. It's the inverse! There is not
mountain! Rather, there is a God who pours Godself out in love for all of us. &endash;Frei Betto,
Brazilian Catholic Priest (Puelo 90).
The connection of the Catholic religion with radical politics and activism is extremely controversial
in Latin America as well as the rest of the world. Pope John Paul II, and many others with an interest
in maintaining the hierarchical status quo of the Catholic Church are vehemently opposed to the idea
of Liberation Theology, and many activists find much resistance from this central authority
(Hadjor). However, although located mainly in Latin America the
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Animal Liberation Essay
Animal Liberation
Why is it that we as a society condemn the actions of a man against a man but very rarely a man
against an animal? I think this question must be understood if we are ever to change the rights
animals have. As of yet I don't believe animals have any actual rights. Rather humans have rights
that involve animals. If we are to truly allow animals to have rights the same or similar to humans
then we must first define what it is that makes us feel as if they are entitled to rights.
Peter Singer addresses the ordeal of animal rights better than I have ever seen anyone address it. His
analysis laid out in A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation is remarkably stated. He pushes the
viewer to see animals as equals to us.
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I didn't quite under stand what he meant by that and still insisted that it was only a bird.
Nevertheless, I finally agreed to stop shooting them. This was only to get out of the room and I took
no stock in what I had agreed to do. Later that week I was at it again, shooting at birds while my
father was at work. As I took aim at a large robin my father's words lingered in the back of my head.
I pushed them aside in my mind but the hesitation was just enough for my aim to be affected. The
pellet hit the robin and sent it to the ground but this time it didn't kill it immediately. It lay on the
ground squawking and flapping its wings. I stood there and watched the robin die and at that
moment my father's words took effect and as I witnessed the life slowly leave this creature I felt
tears welling up inside of me. It wasn't until then that I fully realized the effect my actions had. After
that I only raised my gun at another animal if I intended to bring it home and harvest the meat.
Reading the article by Peter Singer, I realize that while I have considered myself to be strongly for
animal rights and against animal testing and cruelty to animals, I have really only looked at the
issues from my point of view. I'm strongly against those things that don't directly affect me. I eat
meat and hunt and have never really had a problem with it. I'm appalled at the thought of testing our
products on animals but have no
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Liberation Theology Essay
Liberation Theology
Liberation theology is situational. The emergence of liberation theology and the interpretation of the
Bible under liberation theology stems directly to the participants place in society. As the title
suggests, liberation theology interprets the Bible as a document of hope that will give strength and
validity to a struggle against an oppressor. Liberation theology rises out of a new political
consciousness. The oppressed people have to realize they are oppressed and that the Bible text can
be used as a tool to overcome their oppressors. In regards to South Africa, there was an awakening
when the black people realized their lack of influence in politics, the huge economic disparity
between rich and poor, and their low
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State theology is controlled by the same people who control the political parities, the economic
situation, and the agents of oppression. In this theology, money talks
, and the people without money
have no voice. Apartheid was like a religion in that it was something people strongly believed in, it
used the Bible as justification, and it was practiced every day. The important item to remember is
that apartheid was created by humans. It was flawed (obviously) and actually worked in direct
opposition to the Church's teachings. As Boesak points out, "Can a Christian in a Christian country
with a host of Christian churches speak and preach about the sanctity of family life and about the
responsibility of parents and children and at the same time vote for a government and sustain and
aid a system that gives theological justification to laws that maintain that black people cannot live
together as husband and wife." (120) the hypocrisy here seems so blatant.
As liberation theology has moved on in the post Apartheid era, there has been several problems in its
adaptation. The South African liberation theology movement was based almost solely on racial
equality and the end to apartheid. When apartheid was dismantled, the movement had no direction,
even though several social issues still remained. The focus of the movement was so specific that it
made it difficult to transition to anything more inclusive.
Another problem with liberation theology is that the text it uses
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Black Liberation Theology Essay
Black Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their
struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from
bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who
struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery
, blacks concept of God was totally
different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual
savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. Although the
term black liberation theology is a fairly new, becoming popular in the early 1960's with Black
Theology and Black Power, a book written by James H. Cone, its
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While black power focuses on the political, social, and economic condition of black people
, Black
Theology sees black identity from a theological context. Much of black liberation theology's
foundation comes from God's deliverance of Israel from oppression under the Egyptians. According
to James Cone, "the consistent theme in Israelite prophecy is Yahweh's concern for "the lack of
social, economic, and political justice for those who are poor and unwanted in the society."# The
dominate view of Black Liberation theologists is "God in action, delivering the oppressed because
of His righteousness. He is to be seen, not in the transcendent way of Greek philosophy, but
immanent, among His people." God is "immanent"" because he is present in many historical
moments that focus on liberation of the poor. Its derives it beliefs from the fact that in the bible, God
often enters human affairs and takes the side of the oppressed, that god is heavily worshipped where
human beings experience humiliation and suffering. Because of these beliefs, blacks adopted a
gospel relevant to the uplifting of blacks and ending black struggle under white oppression.# Black
theology places both our past and present actions toward black liberation in a theological context,
eliminating all false Gods and creating value structures according to the God of black freedom.
Black theology can be traced back to when slavery times. During this time Christianity became the
blacks man's purpose of life,
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Liberation Theology Essay
Jeremy Partin I. Title Page II. Thesis Page III. Introduction Liberation theology in Latin America
was first introduced in the late 1960's, although it became famous after the writing of Gustavo
Gutierrez. The roots of liberation theology can be traced back to Europe because Catholic priests
were sent there to go to school. It was there where they became radicalized and sent back to Latin
America. This radicalization led many to start thinking differently, including Gutierrez. He and
others wanted to be independent from the usual European Catholic style. They wanted to create their
own theology for their culture. They believed that they should have their own institution to teach
their own beliefs to their own people. With these new
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It was a way of thinking and interpreting the bible. However it ended up being more than that. It
analyzed history from different perspectives and acknowledged Marxism thoughts. (V.A.1) One
main purpose of liberation theology was to help the poor. Gustavo Gutierrez coined the term
liberation theology, and is considered to be the father of it to most people. He believed praxis was
the starting point. Theology was the second stage. This was basically a practice of theory. Praxis
involved taking action for the poor and the oppressed. The start of this new was caused from various
reasons. One reason was that all bishops were sent to Europe to be educated. When they came back,
they would be radicalized. Latin Americans wanted their own schooling for priests. They didn't want
European ideas; they wanted their ideas from their culture. Another big problem was poverty and
human rights. Most Latin Americans were poverty stricken. Most countries in Latin America didn't
have any human rights. Therefore one their main focuses was social injustice. (V.A.1) During their
time period, many theologians were criticized or harassed. For example, there were fifteen attempts
to assassinate Dom Helder Camera, who was a significant figure in liberation theology. Many were
threatened. Some were arrested, tortured, or killed. While there were others who just disappeared.
However they still practiced their beliefs and spread their ideas. (V.B.2) One problem with
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