Is poverty a systematic condition?
I remember watching an incrediably powerful movie in my Intro to Christian Theology class with Steve Stell. Romero (1989).
As I am reading for my Sytematic Theology class 4 years later, I reaquaint myself with the story. A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez captured my attention of the Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero. Gutierrez, suggests that there is "a high price for being an authentic church of the poor". Speaking not only of monetary manners, but of hostile reactions to this sort of church. Romero received death threats for speaking against the powerful in his country who were oppressing the poor, "In the name of God and of this suffering people whose wailing mounts daily to heaven, I ask and beseech you, I order you: stop the repression!" He was killed the next day in Mass. As Gutierrez says, "Martyrdom (in the broad sense of the term) is the final accomplishment of life; in this case, it was a concrete gesture toward the poor and thereby an utterly free encounter with the Lord" (xIiii).
I am just beginning to learn about liberation theology, so I am unfamilar with the practicality of it. It amazes me, however, the passion and dedication it has for the poor and oppressed. It instills in me the question of how extreme will I go in my desire to help the poor; to think seriously about the system and to contemplate how to change it; and how the church can become a church for the poor.
I am also taking a class called Sin and Salvation in the Old Testament. We touched on similar issues in class today. Relavent to this discussion is the idea that the Church is more willing to help the poor through charitable acts than by working to change the system. To work to change the system is to become involved in politcs; the church distances itself from political issues, and, therefore, from the people who suffer. In this distancing ourselves from the suffering of others, are we not in a sense placing blinders on the suffering and falling into sins of omission? What, then, can be done?
posted by Mary @ 7:12 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Liberation Theology is a Jesuit contrived lie. Actually, its origins are in Anabaptistic communities (application of misinterpretation of Acts 2), which are to be repudiated by Presbyterians.
WCF XXVI:3 ...Nor doth their communion one with another, as saints, take away, or infringe the title or property which each man hath in his goods and possessions.
Ex 20:15; Eph 4:28; Acts 5:4
In my reading of this comment I was not fully aware of the direction of the statements, did not see sources for the claims against the Jesuits and Anabaptists, or explanations as to why the sited scriptures are relevant to the argument. It is also unclear to me how all this applies to the quoted section from WCF (Westminster Confession of Faith, I assume). I feel the need for clarification on the claims that “Liberation Theology is a Jesuit contrived lie” originating from Anabaptist communities as well as on the use of the Bible and WCF passages.
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