In the previous essay, I described some of the conditions in which incarcerated persons live. In this essay, I would like to talk about a theology which emerges from those conditions.
In the strictest sense of the word, theology is a discourse about God and things related to God. Theology reflects the ideas and notions that individuals and community of faith as a whole have about God. In that respect, I believe that it is safe to say that every member of the community of faith is a theologian. Every individual in the community and every community have something to say about God according to the way they perceive Her/Him.
For the purposes of this essay, I would say that there are two basic models of theology. One is what I would call "top down" theology, which in essence, is a theology handed down by the leaders of the Church and/or other faith communities and their educational institutions (theological schools). This type of theology consists of theories and ideas which are promoted by those in power and in the leadership of the institutional Church. This theology is for the most part, carved up independently of the "grass roots" members, i.e. the laity.
The other model of theology is what I would call "bottom up" theology which basically reflects the beliefs and experiences of the powerless in the Church and in society. This type of theology, like the theology of the first two centuries of Christianity, emerges from the experience of oppression, persecution, and suffering.
In this essay, I will making use of "bottom up" theology known in Latin America and in other parts of the developing world as "Liberation Theology," a movement which began in the late 1960's in Latin America, and has spread throughout the world into communities where people are oppressed because of class, gender, ethnicity/race, and sexual orientation. While there are various modalities in Liberation Theology reflecting these social realities, the underlying assumption is that oppression and suffering are the starting points for biblical interpretation and theological reflection. In essence, theologians of liberation believe that if theology does not reflect and and address the human condition of oppression and suffering, it is not only irrelevant, but to some extent demonic.
Liberation Theology is not just "another school of thought," or what some would consider another fad that "comes and goes." As long as there is oppression and suffering in the world, Liberation Theology will continue to exist. Liberation Theology emerged from a situation of suffering, and cannot cease to exist unless oppression and suffering are completely eradicated.
In a biblical and historical sense, Liberation Theology precedes historic and traditional Christian theology. Technically speaking, Liberation Theology began when Yahweh God was revealed to the Hebrew people as they suffered the misery of bondage in Egypt. Yahweh said to Moses "I have heard the cry of my people, and have descended to deliver them." Yahweh's self-disclosure was the clarion call for Liberation Theology to emerge. The theology that the Hebrews knew and were familiar with did not emerge from the academy nor from the magisterium of the Hebrew community. Their theology arose as a result of Yahweh's self-disclosure in the midst of their bondage and Yahweh's liberating and salvific activity relative to that bondage. It was the theology that guided them through the desert into the land of Promise. It was the theology that sustained them in times of heresy and national upheaval. It was the only theology that they knew.
What should be the theology that guides the ministry of the Church in the penal system? If we are speaking of a group of people who are rightly or wrongly convicted, and living in the Babylonian Captivity" of the penal system, then it is obvious that Liberation Theology in some form should be the theology that becomes the mechanism that the Church utilizes to carry out God's mission in that context. If the oppression and suffering of the Hebrew people were the locus and mode of divine revelation, then in the same vein, alienation, captivity, and suffering should be the the model for theologizing relative to the reality of incarceration.
People who are alienated from their families and from society, as well as suffering the abuse that occurs in the penal institutions, do not have the luxury or the interest to focus on the lofty ideals and platitudes of traditional theology. The question that comes into the mind of confined persons is "What does God have to do with us in this situation that we are in and what is God's role, if any, in our future upon release as we seek to reintegrate into society and be reunited with our families?" As a Christian theologian, I sustain that if theology does not emerge from or address the situation of captivity that prisoners find themselves in, it is totally irrelevant. For prison theology to be valid, it has to be a theology that is based on Yahweh having heard the cry of the people in bondage "behind the gates." While self-righteous people in society and in the Church continue to cry "Lock them up and throw away the keys," prisoners need to hear the voice that says "I have heard your cry and have descended to deliver you."
Through Moses, Yahweh liberated the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt. Through Jesus Christ, God has liberated both Jew and Gentile from the bondage of false and unnecessary allegiance to those who oppress them by lording it over them.
Through the ministry of Christs's Church, both behind and outside the gates, God's salvific activity continues to move forward. As stated at the beginning of this essay, oppression and suffering are the starting points for biblical interpretation and theological reflection. Liberation Theology, which is in essence, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, guides us in affirming that in Christ, the prisoners that we partner with in ministry, have experienced that if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona
Visiting Professor of Theology, Tainan Theological College/Seminary
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