Up until this point, we have surveyed how Liberation Theology emerged from and functioned within the Latin American context. We have also seen how Liberation Theology seeks to address the issues that have been and continue to be of concern in the Latin American context. We now bring this series of essays to a conclusion by asking "What is the story of Latin America relative to the continued theological process in its context?" In many respects, the Latin American story is the story of all oppressed nations and social groups in the world. While the issues may not be the same in every context, the common denominator is oppression and injustice on the one hand, and how Christian theology and the Gospel of Jesus Christ address those issues, on the other.
The powerful theme of the Latin American story has great emancipatory significance to those who are engaged in the relentless struggle for meaning and personhood in the Caribbean and Latin America. Theology is an important dimension in the study of human existence, and those who engage in theological reflection should always take full account of the intercultural nature of our common experiences and aspirations. The intercultural theological process must play a crucial role if we are to engage in an authentic search for sustained personhood, spiritual maturity, authentic emancipation, and common growth toward the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is the goal of all our participation in theological reflection and Christian witness, this is the mission of Christ to which we profess allegiance. We therefore seek to explore the meaning and scope of the Latin American story as an intercultural matrix in the search for a new theological process with distinctive liberating concerns (Kortright Davis, Emanicipation Still Comin: Explorations in Caribbean Emancipatory Theology. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990, p. 117).
At this point, we may stop to ask "How can Liberation Theology address the issues of cultural, economic, racial, and social injustice in an environment which is not exactly monolithic?" Marshall Eakin presents to us the image of Latin America as a "collision of three powerful streams converging to produce a roaring river that mixed three peoples into a dazzling variety of combinations that were new and unique in world history (Marshall Eakin, The History of Latin America: Collision of Cultures. New York: Palgrave Mac Millan, 2007, p. 270)."
Over centuries, the turbulent river gradually diverged into many different streams, but all had their origins in the great river formed by the initial clash of Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Many Americas took shape within the political and cultural construct we now call Latin America, and the construct has been a work in progress. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the story of Latin America became more difficult to be narrated coherently. The collisions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries gave birth to a series of patterns with variations, but the narrative of conquest, colonization, and the emergence of new societies has a coherence that is lacking when we look at the region over the last century. The colonial era has a powerful unity created primarily by European conquest and colonialism and the multiple reactions to these wrenching transformations. By the end of the eighteenth century, the mighty river of Latin America had already begun to split off into many distinct streams, a trend that the wars for independence accelerated. The similar process of independence, early nation-building, and entry into the international economy, however, provide us with a new set of common patterns even as the newly emerging nations produce increasingly divergent paths (Ibid.)
If the region is not exactly monolithic, then Liberation Theology has a challenge in dealing with the context. Nevertheless, it also has opportunities to address in a coherent manner the issues that emerge out of each individual national context. The Exodus story remains the main theological paradigm which establishes the emergence, formation, and development of Liberation Theology in a Latin American context, and also constitutes the "driving power" that brings it into the context in a relevant manner.
Jose Miguez Bonino challenges us to take into account the religious diversity in Latin America. He says "Not all plurality is so peaceful. Social contradictions, ideological differences, and conflictive historical projects are also reflected in the religious world. They evoke religious and theological responses which create tension and conflict, only within religious groups, but perhaps even more, within them. Thus we are not facing a "return of the gods," but a "conflict of the gods (Jose Miguez Bonino, The Condition and Prospects of Christianity in Latin America." Guillermo Cook, ed., New Face of the Church in Latin America. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1994, p.261)."
Religion means different things to different people, and the concrete manifestation of their religious behavior often indicate what is their definitional approach. If religion is used merely as systematic attempt to supplement felt inefficiencies in the human order, then the rise in human sufficiency will create a corresponding fall in the need for religion. A fleeting glance at post-Christian Europe will illustrate this point clearly. If, on the other hand, religion consists of the movement of one's purposeful response to ultimate reality and the pursuit of total fulfillment, then it grows with the person and undergirds all human experiences. The Latin American story is the integrative experience of a people whose religion is characterized by this latter approach. Because their God has been "a help in ages past," Caribbean and Latin American people hold unflinchingly to the assurance that in prosperity or poverty, God is "the hope of years to come (Davis, op. cit., p. 117)."
The Latin American story is thus a most powerful framework through which Americans, especially those of African and indigenous descent, can move forward in an intercultural theological process in the struggle for Christian solidarity, and the search for more concrete expressions of human freedom. We contribute to each other's freedom by the collective engagement in the common discovery of our rich heritage. Many of the tensions that have existed between Latin Americans of African and indigenous background, on the one hand, and African Americans on the other, have resulted from a lack of knowledge of each other-from our reluctance to understand each other's historical and cultural struggles, and from our insensitivity in communicating with each other. The same holds true for Latin Americans of African and indigenous background on the one hand, and Latin Americans of European background on the other (Ibid., p. 126).
In essence, then, our struggle is an internal one as well one with external forces. It is the story of the fight to rid ourselves of the shackles of imposed external colonization, and at the same time, a struggle against the internal barriers which exist among us a colonized people. It would be totally be totally unfair to both assume and assert that our problems are due exclusively to our colonial legacy.
In conclusion, we may be considering the Latin American story as nothing more than a contemporary representation of the Joseph story. Joseph was Jacob's dreaming son. Nevertheless, his own experience of hurt by his brothers resulted in his own salvation, and that of his brothers. Egypt for them was the land of liberation from hunger, and subsequently became the land of bondage. The Latin American story is a continuing experience of Egypt. The eternal spiritual truth is "If you do not know your Egypt, then you cannot know your Exodus (Ibid.)."
The Latin American story will unfold over and over again. The story will be told over and over again. As long as oppression and suffering continue to be a reality of the Latin American region, there will not be an end to the story. There is a sense in which the Latin American story is a universal story. We conclude this series of essays by saying "The Struggle Continues."
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dr. Juan A. Carmona
No comments:
Post a Comment