...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 arose in catholic and protestant churches and it has three main expressions as discussed herein. Black Liberation Theology Black liberation theology strongly focuses on the African American community. This theory got formulated in 1969 by the Nation Committee of Black Church men as a civil rights movement. The key goal is to make Christianity real for the black people. The offshoot of this movement was in South America during the liberation of African American people from all kinds of injustices and bondage especially in the social, political and economical focus. Coined by James Cone in 1970, the movement focused on promoting communism and Marxism by incorporating religious interpretation. This theory focused on issues relating to deliverance...
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...Latin America’s history has been an arduous and long struggle in their attempt to break the chains that bound them. Since the conquista, conquering, of their lands during the colonial era, Latin America has been a region plagued with an oppressed poor. There have been people that have been the voice for the poor community in Latin America. These people are specific priest of the Catholic Church, these priests took it upon themselves to go against the status quo and appeal to the poor. These priests quickly became a beacon for the poor because with their guidance the poor were seeing a way out of the despair of poverty. The priest to place this feeling of helping the poor rather than the elite was the Dominican friar, Bartolome De Las Casas. He was the first priest to challenge the crowns of Portugal and Spain, because of their maltreatment to the indigenous people of the New World. In this day and age, the poor still go through a systemic way of oppression; in which the poor stay being the poor and they receive no help from the government and the concept of imperialism is continuously suffocating the poor. Until the archbishops of Latin America got together to discuss what should be their primary focus; out of that meeting the idea that the archbishops of Latin America should direct their energy to the poor was formed. That idea soon evolved into an ideology that came to be called, Liberation Theology. Gustavo Gutiérrez, whom admired the work that Bartolome De Las Casas had done...
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...Marxism Within Black Theology of Liberation. This study seeks to expose the ways in which Black Theology of Liberation was shaped by Marxism through the writings of its founders, concentrating predominantly on the need to bring about the liberation of the poor African-Americans from their repressive white racist oppressors by any means necessary, and the redistribution of wealth to those deprived of it by their white capitalist oppressors. The theme of this researched remained embed in my mind during, and after the 2008-09 presidential campaign of former Sen. Barack Obama, when some of his political opponents thought it beneficial to disclose Obama’s connections to a Black Theology of Liberation. Through this research I seek not only to obtain a broader understanding of this particular theology of liberation, but also to understand the Marxist ideological concept within the Black Theology of Liberation. Towards the culmination of the decade which witnessed the peak of the Civil Rights movement, black churches throughout America in the 1960s began to search for avenues through which they could help their communities cope with racial discrimination. Caught between the contradicting preachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, a peculiar young theology student from Union Theological Seminary of New York City, James H. Cone, published his proposal for a Black Theology of Liberation titled Black Theology and Black Power (1969). This first scholarly work served...
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...BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY: SO YOU THINK JESUS WAS WHITE? By Hosea Bennett OUTLINE I. Liberation Theology a. What is Liberation Theology? b. Its origins and roots II. Black Liberation Theology a. It‘s true meaning b. James Cone - It’s Founder c. Luke’s social message to all d. History of Black Catholics III. Black Spirituality & Culture. a. Black Spirituality b. What We Have Seen and Heard – Pastoral Letter on Evangelization c. Catholic Teaching on Racism IV. Conclusion INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about the true meaning of Black Liberation Theology. I want to present this paper as an enlightening pit of information to all who read it. I hope that will be an enlightenment and appreciation of the culture and spirituality of Blacks by non Blacks. And for Blacks I hope to affirm that our culture and spirituality is a depiction of our past, present, and future relationship with God. “Black Liberation Theology and Black Theology” are terms that walk hand in hand. For both share it’s African and slave roots since the 1560s. Long before the landing of The Mayflower at Plymouth...
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...Liberation theology grew out of the socio-economic context of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. As it was during the Cold War era, there was great sceptism towards capitalism and Marx’s teaching played an important role in the development of liberation theology, although liberation theologians were anxious to emphasise that Marx was only a useful ‘companion’ along the way, but there was only one teacher, Jesus (Boff). Alienation is important in liberation theology because it gives liberation theology a useful tool to critique capitalism, which many liberation theologians consider to be unjust. Marx teaches that the root cause of alienation is capitalism. Ownership of land gives individuals power over others; those without property and land are dispossessed and dehumanized. Those do not have control over the factors of production, i.e. the proletariat, have to work for those who have and sell their labour as a commodity and gives up his creative power. In this sense the worker is alienated from himself because the process of creation is a projection of his humanity and humans are designed to work and be productive, as Marx says, ‘In my production I would have objectified my individuality and so when I look at the object I would have the satisfaction of knowing my personality to be objective.’ Liberation theologians agree with this critique of capitalism because according to Genesis 1:28, men are created to work and be productive. When workers are alienated from themselves...
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...Title: Subtitle Gustavo Gutierrez “involvement in the liberation process.” Gustavo was born in Lima, Peru, he was an educated man with a master’s degree from the Institute of Catholic in Lyon. He was also a Peruvian theologian priest regarded as one of the major initiators of liberation theology in Latin America. He embraces the John Cardinal O’Hara Professorship of theology at the University of Notre Dame. He has been Prof. at Catholic University of Peru, and lecturer at many chief institutions of higher education in North America and Europe. He is a member of the Peruvian academic of language in recent years, he was awarded the Legion of honor by the French government for his diligent effort. He has also published in many journals. Interestingly, he was a board of director of an international Journal. He no doubt was a very brilliant scholar, because he also studied medicine, literature, psychology, and philosophy. He also gained a doctorate at an Institute in Lyon. Gutierrez has undoubtedly shown great interest in those that were less fortunate. I gathered from reading about his involvement in the liberation process that he has placed great emphasis on political and...
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...Case Study: Latin America and the Catholic Church By: Cody L. Bennett Being sided from revolts of people against the government by reform-minded Catholics in Nicaragua, the pope did the opposite for what these Catholics hoped that he would do for them. They were hoping that Pope John Paul II would speak out against the problems of the country. The sort of problems facing this country was starvation, poverty, and corruption exposed and held by the government. However, Pope John Paul II did the exact opposite by speaking about how they should, “ You peasants live in unjust and inhuman conditions but don’t be tempted to rise up in arms against your oppressors; and Archbishop Romero was a martyr but we must not allow his memory to be manipulated politically, etc., etc (Hoyt, 1996).” This gave way of how the Pope showed his intent of standing firm on what he believed what the Catholics of Nicaragua should do in response to their government. For the Catholics of Nicaragua, this was not enough. They started chanting sayings for what they wanted, which in deep meaning was to live in peace with God. However, Pope John Paul II stood firm without giving way to a mob of Catholics confronting the government physically. This was shown by how a man, Daniel Ortega, gave a speech to the Pope as he was making his way to his plane for departure. Daniel gave such an inspiring speech that to some it seemed that the Pope would make a response that met for what they wanted from him. “He almost...
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...------------------------------------------------- Religion in Latin America From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Religion in Latin America is characterized by the predominance of Catholic Christianity, as well as by the presence of other world religions. Contents [hide] * 1 Christianity * 2 Indigenous creeds * 3 Other world religions * 4 References * 5 Further reading ------------------------------------------------- Christianity[edit] The majority of Latin Americans are Christians (90%),[1] mostly Roman Catholics.[2] Membership in Protestant denominations is increasing, particularly in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala,El Salvador and Puerto Rico.[3] Brazil has an active quasi-socialist Roman Catholic movement known as Liberation Theology.[citation needed] Anglicanism also has a long and growing presence in Latin America ------------------------------------------------- Indigenous creeds[edit] Indigenous creeds and rituals are still practiced in countries with large percentages of Amerindians, such as Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. Various Afro-Latin American traditions such as Santería, Candomblé, Umbanda, Macumba, and tribal-voodoo religions are also practiced, mainly in Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti. ------------------------------------------------- Other world religions[edit] The Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab in Maicao, Colombia. Argentina hosts the largest communities of both Jews[4][5][6] and Muslims[7][8][9] in Latin America. Brazil is the country with more practitioners...
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...UNRISD U NITED N ATIONS R ESEARCH I NSTITUTE FOR S OCIAL D EVELOPMENT Religion, Fundamentalism and Ethnicity A Global Perspective Jeff Haynes UNRISD Discussion Paper 65 May 1995 UNRISD Discussion Papers are preliminary documents circulated in a limited number of copies to stimulate discussion and critical comment. The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is an autonomous agency engaging in multidisciplinary research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development. Its work is guided by the conviction that, for effective development policies to be formulated, an understanding of the social and political context is crucial. The Institute attempts to provide governments, development agencies, grassroots organizations and scholars with a better understanding of how development policies and processes of economic, social and environmental change affect different social groups. Working through an extensive network of national research centres, UNRISD aims to promote original research and strengthen research capacity in developing countries. Current research themes include: Crisis, Adjustment and Social Change; Socio-Economic and Political Consequences of the International Trade in Illicit Drugs; Environment, Sustainable Development and Social Change; Integrating Gender into Development Policy; Participation and Changes in Property Relations in Communist and Post-Communist Societies; and Political Violence and Social...
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...African Christianity: A case study on Theology in Africa Today Christianity is a term that is used very broadly. Over the past few decades Christianity has mainly been predominate in the West and looked upon as a Western religion. For example, one would not expect high number of Christians in places overseas like Indonesia where it is a Muslim majority country. But as times have gone on the number of Christians throughout the entire world have drastically increased since then. According to the Phew Form, the top countries with the largest number of Christians are the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Philippines, China, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia. In fact Indonesia actually contains more Christians than the combined 20 countries within Middle East-North Africa region (Phew, 2011, 13). According to Barrett, within multiple graphs and statistics shows rapid growth of Christianity in the developing countries of the Global South, in places like Asia, Africa, and Latin America (1970). About 90% of Christians live in countries where Christians are in the majority leaving approximately 10% of Christians worldwide living as minorities (Phew, 2011). Christianity is a religion that is found everywhere throughout the world. The religion today can definitely be said to be nothing at all alike as to what it was like a century ago. Christianity has truly become a global faith accepted by people, communities, and homes across the entire world....
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...Assess the view that religion was once mainly a conservative influence but today is more a force for social change (30 marks) In the past religions role as a conservative force was portrayed by the monarchy, ruling the divine rights in medieval Europe, and the Egyptian pharaohs were considered as almost God-like figures and so no one questioned their authority. Feminists and Marxists both agree that religion is a conditioning device that oppresses people, diluting the demand for social change to protect the interests of the men and the ruling class. This is partially supported by the Functionalist approach, Durkheim expressed the belief that religion provides social cement, reinforcing traditional beliefs chosen by religious moral code; such as the 10 commandments for Christianity, for the good of society. However there are numerous examples of ways where religion has acted as a force of change, such as the war in Palestine, the wars in former Yugoslavia and in a positive way, the actions of religious leaders, such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King. In today’s society religion has acted as both a conservative force and a force of social change, as shown by ‘Islamic Fundamentalists’ in Iran and Afghanistan, and Christian fundamentalism reintroducing the teachings of creationism in the US. Religion is also seen to be a conservative force because it functions to preserve things as they are, it stabilises society and maintains status quo. Most religions have conservative moral...
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...J. Carpenter 1 Sociological Perspectives on Religion By John Carpenter Sociology B1 CRN 12345 John Carpenter January 1, 2012 J. Carpenter 2 Emile Durkheim (1995: Original 1912) defined religion as a unified system of beliefs, rituals, and practices that define and express the nature of sacred things in relationship to the profane things of the world and, from a sociological perspective, the importance of religion as a social institution cannot be overstated. Consider the fact that literally all major world religions promote a standard of behavior in keeping with the tenets of their particular system of belief. And, with few exceptions, this behavior is motivated by an individual desire for a positive experience in this life and hopeful expectations of an eternal life to come. This individual standard of behavior is shared by a community of believers and practised as a group within the context of the larger society. As a result, religion can have a considerable degree of influence over every other social institution and the nature of the various beliefs, rituals, and practices acquire a cultural significance. Functionalism In support of the functionalist perspective, and in keeping with a macro approach to sociology, Durkheim (1995: Original 1912) placed a far greater emphasis on the collective life or community than he did on the individual. The nature of individual behavior was always considered in relationship to the degree of influence held by...
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...Gerloff Caribbean history of Christianity can be divided, with overlaps, into four main periods: the rather monolithic form of Spanish Catholicism from 1492, and of the Church of England from 1620; the arrival of the Evangelicals or nonconformist missionaries, Moravians, Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians from the mid-eighteenth century; consolidation and growth of various European denominations in the region in uneasy tension with the proliferation of independent black Christian groups and African religions in the post-emancipation era from 1833; the contest for political, economic and religious independence after 1870, including the shift from British Imperial intervention and influence to those from North America, and national independence after 1962. Contemporary studies in anthropology and sociology of religion speak of 'religions on the move', or the process of transmigration and transculturation, as it refers to dynamic, reciprocal, transitory and multidimensional creations in shaping a 'poly-contextual world'. This implies that religions have to be regarded as cultural and spiritual phenomena whose 'taken-for granted' essence1 has resulted from transcultural and transnational processes of mutual 1 Klaus Hock, University of Rostock, abstract for an essay on the African Christian Diaspora in Europe, January 2002 (unpublished); R. Stephen Warner, and Judith G. Wittner (eds.), 1 influence, interaction and continuous adaptation...
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...Islam * Us and them relationship * Religious conflict occurred due to Islamic law in the state * Christians felt at threat and marginalised * Stayed true to their identity, causing them to be under threat * Bombing of Christian churches, metal detectors installed | Maduro and Gramsci | Religion is a major source of conflict * Working class have a dual consciousness, mixture of ruling class ideology and their own experience of exploitation * If working class develop class consciousness, can fight to overthrow capitalism * Counter hegemony * Need organic intellectuals, can spread class consciousness through working class * Creates conflict, working class fighting against their oppression | Maduro, Liberation theology * Latin America * Clergy in Catholicism had utopian thought, challenged hegemony * Encouraged new...
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...Jan 2012 socio past paper Q1. Three reasons why members of minority ethnic groups may seem to be more religious than the majority of the population is as follows. Firstly, they may follow religions than are not declining in popularity like Sikhism and Islam whereas Christianity in certain countries is on the decline. Secondly, if they are immigrating to a new country, they may use religion as a cultural defence and so will become more religious. Finally their culture that they come from may use religion as an integral part of socialisation and so they will carry on practising it when the reach new places. Q2. Religious organisations have been around since the first civilizations, they have been integral to do the development of the human race and modern day society. In the current day, many researchers and sociologists believe that people have stopped becoming lifelong members of these organisations, in this essay I am going to assess this view and find out if it’s true. There is arguments on both sides regarding the extent to which secularisation (decline of religion) is present in the world today, some believe it is associated with the modern day societies. Modernists feel the same way seeing our societies as focusing more on developments into science and rational research. Because of this, many sociologists see religion as being “incompatible” with our societies. The sociologists Weber (1905), sees humanity as becoming disenchanted (preferring scientific explanations...
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