AFRICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY 

One of  the challenges of talking about African Liberation Theology is talking about African theology itself.  I say this, because there is a tendency in Western Christianity to believe that Christian theology is Euro-centered, and the failure to acknowledge that the African roots of Christian theology are much, much older than than the emergence of colonial Western Christian theology.  Some of the most well-known Christian theologians from the early days of Christianity came from Africa.  Among them are Tertullian and Augustine.  

African Liberation Theology is not a mere clone of Latin American Liberation Theology.  The diverse and rich culture of Africa, in addition to its unique experience of Christianity,  represents a fresh challenge to those seeking to understand African notions of liberation (Ferm, op. cit. p. 59).

One of the many reasons why there is reticence and resistance towards African theology in general, and African Liberation Theology in particular, is because of the notion that anything that comes out of Africa is inferior and even bordering on the demonic.  The Western theological enterprise is permeated by blatant racism, i.e. that notion that "white is right," and "universally valid in all times and in all places."  Therefore, the thinking goes, any theology coming out of the African continent must be "inferior" at best and "demonic" at worst.

As is well known, the Christian Church has existed in Northern Africa since early times.  Especially prominent was the Christian community in Alexandria (Egypt) at the time of Clement and Origen in the second and third centuries.  Later, in the fifth century, the Coptic Church of Egypt, which still flourishes today, emerged as an Egyptian nationalist movement opposing Byzantine imperialism.  But it was not until the fifteenth century, with the arrival of Portuguese explorers, that Africa south of the Sahara came into contact with Western Christian imperialism.  By the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries were spreading throughout sub-Saharan Africa, usually joining forces with Western colonial powers in exploiting the inhabitants, their lands and resources, with a "prophet, antilock, we have the truth, you don't" attitude.  As a result, racism and the aftertaste of slavery have deeply infected relationships between blacks and whites throughout Africa from the first colonial settlements to the present generation (Ferm, op. cit. p. 59).

Thus, although stressing liberation from social, economic, and political oppression like its Latin American obverse, African Liberation Theology is deeply concerned with racial oppression. This component is especially strong in South Africa, where racism in the form of apartheid had been extremely virulent.   Both African and North American black theologians have faulted Latin American theologians for failing to take the racial component seriously (Ibid.).

James Cone, the father of African-American Liberation Theology suggests the following:

The Latin American theologians' emphasis upon the class struggle, with almost no mention of race oppression, made black theologians suspicious of their white European identity (Sergio Torres and John Eagles, eds.; The Challenge of Basic Christian Communities (Maryknoll, N.Y., Orbis Books, 1981, p.266).

The question that I raise is here is whether Cone's question is a valid one.  I raise that question because I am not sure that Cone gives as much emphasis to class as he does to race.  This is not to say that one is important than the other.  This theologian is of the persuasion that if theology is to be truly liberate, that the emphases on class, gender, nationality, orientation, and race must be concomitant, i.e. that they all must be dealt with equally.  

Ruvimbo Taker of Zimbabwe note the following:

The fact that the cultures of the Indians and blacks have been ignored seems to indicate why they are absent from the larger participation in Latin American life.  The rich cultural attributes of the Indians and the blacks have been ignored by the Church in conformity with the ruling dominant class (Torres and Eagles, op. cit., p. 258)

Once again the issue of race, and also of ethnicity appears to be the dominant theme in the minds of some African theologians as well as in the minds of people like Cone and possibly other African American theologians.  Should the issue of race take precedence over all the other issues previously mentioned?  This theologian says "Absolutely not!"  

John Pobee points out:

With the exception of the Republic of South Africa, racial prejudice is not so bad in Africa as in America...Consequently, African theology, though interested in liberation, is not preoccupied with liberation as much as black theology is (Toward an African Theology. Nashville:Abingdon, 1979, p.39). 

In addition, African theologians have in recent years had a far greater appreciation for indigenous religions than have their Latin American counterparts.   Even the African churches have begun to show a willingness to incorporate indigenous beliefs and practices into their teachings.  This, however, has not always been the case.  The early missionaries who came from the First World brought with them a westernized version of Christianity that looked upon the African blacks as heathen and Africa itself as the "empire of Satan."  These missionaries were convinced that either the Africans had no religion at all or what religion they had was pagan.  In fact, perhaps the most potent factor in the development of independent churches throughout Africa was the failure of mission programs of the established churches to come to terms with the African religious heritage (Ferm, op. cit., p. 60).

Even today, the "indigenization" issue has not failed to generate controversy. On the one hand, the Christian churches would have difficulty coming to terms with certain African customs-for example, polygamy.  On the other hand, some theologians, especially in South Africa, have complained that the return to African roots has amounted to a digression from the burning social, racial, and economic issues of the day.  Unlike most of their Latin American counterparts, African theologians have been more sharply divided between those who favor indigenization as a way of liberating the oppressed.  Indeed, the latter group would not consider the former group to be liberation theologians in the true sense of the term.  It is surprising to discover that many African theologians, for whom indigenization is important in liberating African religion from foreign intrusion, are less involved than most South African theologians in the social problems that impede human liberation (Ibid.).

How then shall we begin a discussion of African Liberation Theology?  There are no easy answers to this question.  In subsequent articles, we will focus on how it functions in South Africa.  We will also consider a brief historical sketch of Christianity prior to the emergence of black theology on the 1960's. ( Ibid.). 

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona 

Past Visiting Professor of Theology

Tainan Theological College/Seminary                                                         

 

    LATIN AMERICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY 

    THE ISSUES OF POVERTY AND VIOLENCE 

   PABLO RICHARD 

I have stated several times, and other theologians of liberation have also either stated directly or intimidated that if theology (God-talk) avoids mention of the human condition of oppression and suffering, then it is not a valid theology.  If it fails to address these conditions, then it is God-talk in abstractions. It is, in essence, a theology of accommodation and avoidance. Liberation Theology is, on the other hand, a theology of denunciation and resistance.  It is a prophetic theology which seeks to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. 

How can we claim to be engaging in God-talk while ignoring  the human condition?  How can we engage in abstractions, semantics, and speculation and not address what human beings are going through?  How can we claim to decipher the mind of God when we avoid the clear voice of God that says, "I have heard the cry of my people?"  Pablo Richard reminds us of the need to deal with these issues in his theology.

Pablo Richard was a native of Chile and taught at the National University of Costa Rica.  He was one of the writers of the book, "The Idols of Death and the God of Life," Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983 (Ferm, op. cit., p. 138). 

In an engaging essay, "Biblical Theology of Confrontation with Idols," he traces the concept of idolatry in both the Old and New Testaments, noting how the Bible both denies and affirms liberation (Richard, chapter 1). 

In this affirmation of liberation there is the need for continuing struggle to free the oppressed from their idolatrous religious beliefs.  Richard sees the book of Exodus in terms of violence: violence on the part of the Israelites against the violence of their Egyptian oppressors. Richard sees the inevitability of violence in the movement from idolatry to liberation as crucial for our times as it was for the world of the Bible (Ferm, op, cit. p.52).  

What does "violence" mean?  Is violence something that people resort to when they don't get their way?  It is only when physical violence is imposed on innocent people, or does it also entail the auction of people as an act of rebellion against oppression?  Liberation theologians tend to view violence (armed struggle) as a just response to structural and systemic violence.  

Richard also takes pains to clarify the meaning of the phrase "people of God."  Some thinkers have sought to identify the "people of God" with the popular, hierarchical church.  But Richard prefers a more concrete, specific meaning, using the phrase to refer to the poor and oppressed, who because they have no power, are engaged in a constant uphill battle for justice and freedom.  This is where the real Church is to be found. Indeed, " to say 'church of the poor' is almost a redundancy; the church is either of the poor or it is not the church. Richard by no means wishes to exclude the rich from the church, but he does believe that the rich should cease to rich ("The Latin American Church, 1959-1978," Cross Currents, vol. 28, no. 1p. 36). 

Richard does not believe in advocating for what some would call "a theology of captivity."  He believes that this view leads to a defeatist attitude that can only weaken the determination of the oppressed and harm their course (Ferm, op. cit, p. 53). 

I do not believe that either Richard or any other liberation theologian are advocating for a "glorification" of poverty. In the same manner that they denounce excessive abundance, they also advocate for a just distribution of the good of the land. 

Is Richard advocating for socialism?  If he believes that the church should be the "church of the poor," then it would appear that Richard views the church as a model society which the secular society should try to emulate.  If this is the case, then what we are dealing with is Richard advocating for the non-poor members of the church to divest themselves of their opulence and become just like the regular members of the church (the poor).

Feel free to comment on this brief coverage of Pablo Richard 

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen. 

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona  

Past Visiting Professor of Latin American Theology

Tainan Theological College/Seminary, Tainan, Taiwan      

 LIBERATION THEOLOGY IN A CARIBBEAN PERSPECTIVE 

NOEL ERSKINE

DECOLONIZING THEOLOGY 

One of the functions of Liberation Theology in seeking to engage in God-talk from a Third World Perspective, is to decolonize the the theology which the Europeans imposed on people from the Third World and also in the U.S.A.  By decolonize, I mean stripping theology (God-talk) from those colonial elements that maintain non-white people in a position of economic, political, and social subservience. 

Noel Erskine is important for relating liberation theology to the Caribbean context.A native of Jamaica, Erskine is much more sensitive to racism than are his Latin American counterparts. Noel Leo Erskine was a member of the faculty of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (Ferm, op. cit., p. 127).

In his book, Decolonizing Theology: A Caribbean Perspective, he develops the theme that, just as the Caribbean has been wrongly interpreted from a First World Perspective, so too would it be incorrectly analyzed "through Latin American lenses (Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 198, p. 118). 

Erskine traces the unique history of the colonization of Jamaica, which involved the importation of Africa as slaves, and points out how the black experience of slavery in Jamaica differs from slavery in the context of North America (Ferm, op. cit. p. 51).  

For Erskine, the "decolonizing" of theology must recognize a powerful racial component that goes beyond socio-economic factors and class distinctions. Liberation from economic oppression is only part of the task. Integral freedom must be the goal of liberation (Ibid.).  

We find in Noel Erskine the same thing that we find in James Cone (the Father of African-American Liberation Theology) in the United States.  Both Cone and Erskine focus on liberation on something that needs to include race as much as the issues of gender, and social class.  

While Father Gustavo Gutierrrez, the Father of Latin American Liberation Theology focuses on "God's preferential option for the poor," Noel Erskine would focus on "God's preferential option for black people."  Neither Cone nor Erskine would imply that God favors black people because they are black, but rather because they are oppressed by the white power structure in the Caribbean and. in the U.S.A. 

Like Cone, Erskine would believes that if theology (God-talk) is done independently of the situation of oppression of black people, then  it is both demonic and irrelevant. Theological abstractions and speculation do not mean anything to people who are in economic, political, and social bondage.  

This particular Afro-Puerto Rican theologian (Yours truly) resonates with Erskine.  In order for theology to speak to colonized groups, it must raise the question "How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"  Theology has to address their colonial bondage and poverty, otherwise, it is empty talk and rhetorical sensationalism.  

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.  

Dr. Juan A. Carmona 

Past Visiting Professor of Latin American Theology 

Tainan Theological College/Seminary, Tainan, Taiwan 

                       LIBERATION THEOLOGY 

                       MARXISM AND CHRISTIAN THOUGHT 

                       OTTO MADURO 

Otto Maduro was an avowed Christian Marxist who admitted that Marx's social analysis must be radically reinterpreted for the Latin American context.  A native of Venezuela, he taught philosophy at the University of the Andes in Merida, Venezuela (Ferm, op. cit., p. 127).  

In his book, "Religion and Social Conflicts," he provides a critical social analysis of religion, arguing that the social function of a religion will vary according to the needs of a particular society (Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 1982).  

Heretofore, most sociology of religion emanating from Latin America has been done from a European perspective, thus suffering the same fate as European theology.  Maduro argues that there is no such thing as "the social function of religion in general;" Latin American social theorists in each country must develop a "Latin American praxis of the socialist self-liberation of the oppressed (Ibid., p. 32). 

Maduro belongs to the large group of Latin American liberation theologians-Juan Segundo, Jose Miguez Bonino,  Hugo Assmann, Gustavo Gutierrez, Jose Miranda-willing to incorporate Marxist insights, but only in a greatly modified form (Ferm, op. cit. p. 51). 

 I would argue that it is precisely because some of these Latin American theologians incorporate Marxist insights into their theology, that many people believe that Liberation Theology is nothing more than Marxism in disguise.  Unfortunately, many of them do not even know what Marxism is because they have not taken the time to engage in the literature in the field.  Their view of Marxism is based on what they have heard in the barber shop or in the market-place.  Their view of Marxism tends to be emotionally-based and driven, They tend to rely on rhetorical and sensationalist journalism. 

Subsequently, I would also argue that the view that many people of Liberation Theology is based on barber shop talk and market place rumors.  They are not familiar with, nor have any interest in, being familiar with what Liberation Theology is really all about.  They have not read a single book by any author of Liberation Theology.  They base their view of Liberation Theology on what others have said, which is usually defamatory propaganda.  

The question that I would raise relative to Maduro's theological orientation is whether theology (God-talk) should be based on divine revelation or sociological analysis.  Should we base ourselves on "what God has said," or should we base ourselves on how social scientists approach religion and theology from a secular standpoint?  

As a Christian theologian, I continue to believe that theology should be a "revealed religion," i.e. a set of beliefs based on God's self-disclosure in history through the prophets, through the traditions, through the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,  and in "these last days," through God's Son, Jesus Christ.  As a theologian who has a global perspective, I also believe that God's self-disclosure has been experienced by people outside of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions.  I do not believe for one single moment that any religious community or tradition has a monopoly on God's self-disclosure.  God is sovereign and reveals God-self that way that God wants to be revealed to humankind.  

Relative to Maduro's and other theologians of liberation utilizing sociological approaches to the fields of religion and theology, I would say that the social sciences are a way to decipher God's self-disclosure as filtered through human experience and knowledge.  Too often, believers, especially in the Judeo-Christian tradition tend to treat divine revelation as if the the text were "written in Heaven and thrown down to Earth," and bypassing culture and the human social condition.  God's self-disclosure is filtered through culture, language, and the understanding of the humanities, as well as the natural and the social sciences.  

Some may object to utilizing Marxist analysis to decipher divine revelation because of the supposed hostility between Marxism and religion.   I would argue that Marxism is not anti-religion per se, but rather than it is against privileged religion, i.e the role of religion that gives people a certain status in society, and that relegates others to secondary status so that the only thing they have is hope for a "hereafter" type reign of God.  

Marxist analysis is useful, though like every other branch of human knowledge, has its limitations. Maduro was absolutely correct when he stated that it must be radically interpreted in the Latin American context.  And so it goes with religion and theology.  How people engage in God-talk in the Latin American context must be affirmed, honored, respected and taken into consideration.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen. 

Dr. Juan A. Carmona 

Past Visiting Professor of Theology 

Tainan Theological College/Seminary, Tainan, Taiwan 

               

       

                     LATIN AMERICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY 

                     THE INCLUSION OF SEXISM AS A FORM OF OPPRESSION 

                      ELSA TAMEZ 

Elsa Tamez is another liberation theologian intent on developing a biblical hermeneutic that focuses on the Latin American oppressed. She served as a professor of biblical studies at the Seminario Biblico Latinoamericano en San Jose, Costa Rica (Ferm, op. cit. p. 127).

She saw the biblical drama as a continuing struggle on the part of the poor against the rich and comfortable-a theme that she does not find in European and North American forms of biblical theology (Ibid, p. 50).  

Tamez is one of the very few Latin American liberation theologians  who made extensive use of the writings of Jose Miranda. She is one of the very few who point to sexism as a major form of oppression.  She used the biblical story of Hagar as an example of a woman who suffered oppression for three reasons: class, race, and sex.  In a modern exposition of the Magnificat (Luke 1: 46-55), she ends by addressing God:

You have created us black, brown, yellow, white and red; male and female. We praise you because, in the midst of oppression, trials, tribulations, pain and injustice-caused by sinful human beings-you reign as our Sustainer.  As in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have shown us that suffering is not the end but that you are the supreme and final liberator ("Biblical Hermeneutics in the Theologies of Liberation," in Virginia Fabella and Sergio Torres, eds., Irruption of the Third World Theology: Challenge to Theology (Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 1983, p. 186).

So we find in Tamez's work that Liberation Theology does not only focus on social class issues, but also on issues of gender and race.  Women and non-Caucasian people are included among those who are dehumanized and oppressed because of their social condition.  

So we find, then, that Liberation Theology covers the wider gamut of human suffering.  It not only seeks to talk about the suffering, but to also to  talk to and  have ties of solidarity with the suffering.  

Theology is "God-talk."  It is not an exercise in semantics, or in abstract philosophical speculation. It is a discourse about God.  And this discourse does not take place aside from the human experience of suffering. Instead, it raise the question that the Israelites raised when they were in captivity in Babylon, i.e. "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" 

Liberation Theology seeks to engage in a discourse about God in the context of human relations and experiences.  It brings the message of God to the people in all kinds of bondage, i.e. "I have heard the cry of my people."

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen. 

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona 

Reformed Church in America 

Past Visiting Professor of Theology 

Tainan Theological College/Seminary, Tainan, Taiwan