Liberation Theology is cooked up in Latin America in response to accusations that the Roman Catholic church was only on the side of the rich oppressors. This brand of theology takes a lot of Marxist theory and funnels it into Christianity. Liberation Theologians look for instances in the Bible where acts of liberation of the poor and the oppressed take place. They figure the role of the church is to protect and elevate the poor and the oppressed. One of their justifications of this policy is that because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection the kingdom of God is already here. This concept of kingdom of God already present is also called realized eschatology. This is the part of Liberation theology which I find heretical.
I maintain that instead of a realized eschatology Christians need to live in a pre-figurative eschatology, that is living as if the Kingdom of God is already here, but at the same time is not yet here. That means we can acknowledge that God's message of salvation, given to us through the living word, that is Jesus, is true and real, and here, but we can also acknowledge that humanity was and is still so cruel that we crucify our God. To reiterate, we realize the hope that is in Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the very Son of God, and we still recognize the present reality of the nihilistic chaos of Sin, Death, and the Devil. With this pre-figurative eschatology, we should live in the hope of the already not yet come Kingdom of God.
In this way the Lutheran concept of Already-not-yet can redeem the heterodox base of Liberation Theology. My thought though is that maybe Lutheran Theologians need to create a new socially conscious theology, born not of Catholic shame toward their sins in Latin America, but instead some sort of North American prophetic movement where we may, like John the Baptist before us cry out
“In the Wilderness, make straight the path of the LORD.”In becoming a pre-figurative movement we could, to quote ol' Marx for a second,
“Ease the Birthing Pains”of the end times.
I hope that was more clear.
Anyways, I'd like to hear some comments about this thought.
Peace,
Chris
3 comments:
Chris, thanks for explaining the "already, not yet" concept. Every day we pray for God's kingdom to come, and it's difficult to describe to children (and adults) how God answers that prayer.
I have a lot of sympathy for liberation theologists and all they have tried to accomplish in Latin America. Many of our wealthy white (read: new-building campaign) churches could use a strong dose of that particular interpretation of the Gospel, in my opinion. We don't earn our salvation but it's long past time we started acting like we're saved.
How exactly do we "act" like were saved without being clobbered by the Law?
weeellll, I guess we get up in the morning and drown our sinful selves, allowing space for the person of Jesus to inhabit our arms, legs, stomachs and heads, then head on over to the telephone and call our grandmother to tell her we love her, then get in our car and go to work, etc. etc. etc.
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