Give an example of a contemporary form of religious life. Explain in what way it differs from traditional church religion and why it is yet to be considered a religious phenomenon.
Give an example of a contemporary form of religious life. Explain in what way it differs from traditional church religion and why it is yet to be considered a religious phenomenon.
Liberation Theology is the new religious movements that this essay focus on, it will be compared to the Traditional Catholic church, in which it bases its roots.
Liberation Theology is a movement that came out of the Latin American churches, it evolved as a response to the lack of action of the Latin American church as a whole to respond to the needs of the society around them. There were many founding fathers of the work of liberation theology through living out its values and beliefs but only a few founding fathers came up with the concept: Liberation Theology. Gustavo Gutierrez was one of these theorists; he was not a scholar but a catholic priest living in Peru. There were many others like him at this time, who worked amongst the poor in Latin America, These priests came together to look at ways in which to use the gospel for a more liberating society for the oppressed indigenous people of Latin America.
This essay will look at the distinguishing features of the movement of liberation theology, why this movement emerged from the traditional catholic church of Latin America, and how these two religious groups differ in their ideas of how their religion should be practised, this will be looked at through the criticism of the catholic church upon this new movement. Within the liberation movement from Latin America, other movements such as Feminist liberation and black liberation theology emerged, these will be touched on to show the growth and variance of this new movement.
Philip Berryman describes Liberation Theology as these three aspects; 'An interpretation of Christian faith out of the suffering, struggle, and hope of the poor, a critique of society and the ideologies sustaining it, a critique of the activity of the church and of Christians from the angle of the poor' (Berryman 1987). Berryman's definition shows the different ways Liberation Theology arose to be one movement; It was a movement as a reaction to the cultural and political world going on around them (Gutierrez 1974), it shows that Liberation Theology can be seen as to be taking on many Marxist ideas of opposing the structure of society due to it being the culprit of keeping the poverty at the extremes it is., it also shows an activation by the poor to realise the state they are in and look positively to God as a means to help them make their way out of this poverty. (Gutierrez 1983:57)
In order to understand liberation theology one must first study the history before it. It is in understanding this history that we come to an awareness of the context in which the movement took place. Such awareness explains the societal need that liberation theology addressed.
With the colonisation of the Latin American states by the Spanish and Portuguese, along with them came Catholic Missionaries who believed it was their duty to convert the natives. This conversion to christianity created a confusion for the indigenous peoples as the Christian gospel inculcated a belief in a caring and loving God as they simultaneously watched the Spanish slaughtering their people, consequently the natives claimed parts of the religion on their own terms (Berryman 1987). Of those converted to Catholicism , they were taught that a 'natural order' enforced a hierarchy that placed God at the top, then the king, then the landowners, and then the natives at the bottom. Spanish colonization most often resulted in the establishment of structural domination and oppression of the native peoples (Chopp, 1986). As a result, the Christianity practiced was seen as being hypocritical through the eyes of the poor, (Chopp 1986), as they learnt of Jesus love but then were forced to live without freedom, this offered further contradiction as freedom through Jesus is what the bible teaches; 'I am the bread of life, whoever who comes to me will never be hungry again' (NLT 1996: John 6v35)
Liberation Theology is the new religious movements that this essay focus on, it will be compared to the Traditional Catholic church, in which it bases its roots.
Liberation Theology is a movement that came out of the Latin American churches, it evolved as a response to the lack of action of the Latin American church as a whole to respond to the needs of the society around them. There were many founding fathers of the work of liberation theology through living out its values and beliefs but only a few founding fathers came up with the concept: Liberation Theology. Gustavo Gutierrez was one of these theorists; he was not a scholar but a catholic priest living in Peru. There were many others like him at this time, who worked amongst the poor in Latin America, These priests came together to look at ways in which to use the gospel for a more liberating society for the oppressed indigenous people of Latin America.
This essay will look at the distinguishing features of the movement of liberation theology, why this movement emerged from the traditional catholic church of Latin America, and how these two religious groups differ in their ideas of how their religion should be practised, this will be looked at through the criticism of the catholic church upon this new movement. Within the liberation movement from Latin America, other movements such as Feminist liberation and black liberation theology emerged, these will be touched on to show the growth and variance of this new movement.
Philip Berryman describes Liberation Theology as these three aspects; 'An interpretation of Christian faith out of the suffering, struggle, and hope of the poor, a critique of society and the ideologies sustaining it, a critique of the activity of the church and of Christians from the angle of the poor' (Berryman 1987). Berryman's definition shows the different ways Liberation Theology arose to be one movement; It was a movement as a reaction to the cultural and political world going on around them (Gutierrez 1974), it shows that Liberation Theology can be seen as to be taking on many Marxist ideas of opposing the structure of society due to it being the culprit of keeping the poverty at the extremes it is., it also shows an activation by the poor to realise the state they are in and look positively to God as a means to help them make their way out of this poverty. (Gutierrez 1983:57)
In order to understand liberation theology one must first study the history before it. It is in understanding this history that we come to an awareness of the context in which the movement took place. Such awareness explains the societal need that liberation theology addressed.
With the colonisation of the Latin American states by the Spanish and Portuguese, along with them came Catholic Missionaries who believed it was their duty to convert the natives. This conversion to christianity created a confusion for the indigenous peoples as the Christian gospel inculcated a belief in a caring and loving God as they simultaneously watched the Spanish slaughtering their people, consequently the natives claimed parts of the religion on their own terms (Berryman 1987). Of those converted to Catholicism , they were taught that a 'natural order' enforced a hierarchy that placed God at the top, then the king, then the landowners, and then the natives at the bottom. Spanish colonization most often resulted in the establishment of structural domination and oppression of the native peoples (Chopp, 1986). As a result, the Christianity practiced was seen as being hypocritical through the eyes of the poor, (Chopp 1986), as they learnt of Jesus love but then were forced to live without freedom, this offered further contradiction as freedom through Jesus is what the bible teaches; 'I am the bread of life, whoever who comes to me will never be hungry again' (NLT 1996: John 6v35)
