This
week we discussed liberation theory in more depth. Liberation theory is the
idea that Jesus came to liberate the oppressed. Jesus himself was oppressed,
and in fact the whole bible tells a story of liberating the oppressed. This started from Moses and the Israelites
were slaves and who were liberated by God.
Therefore
the Bible is a call to stand with the oppressed. It is a call to oppose any oppression. Christians must stand in solidarity with the
oppressed. In our culture there is still
much oppression, and it is almost never focused on Christians. Some Christians believe that they are
oppressed, and there are places in the world where Christians are oppressed or
even just the religious are oppressed, but the US is not one of them. Christians can see themselves in almost every
aspect of our culture. They can see themselves in the leadership of our
government, in the leadership of our media; and Christians can find themselves
in pop culture. Christians are in fact free to express their faith.
Christians,
especially white Christians however must stand in solidarity with those who are
oppressed. Who is oppressed than? In the book Reading the Bible from the Margins De La Torre argues that the
oppressed are those who are not at the center of society. In the US this includes blacks,
non-Christians, women, the disabled, the homosexual and the poor. Because,
Jesus fought to alleviate oppression, so too must Christians.
There
are many ways that Christians can fight to alleviate oppression. Christians should stand with Black folk in
Ferguson, and fight oppression in other places against blacks. Christians should fight to end the wage gap,
or other forms of discrimination against women. Christians should fight for legislation
allowing for homosexual marriage.
Christians should not allow the disabled to be discriminated
against. Christians should do everything
they can to alleviate systems that cause poverty.
Liberation
theory is all quite mind blowing. I had
never really thought of how oppressed Jesus was. I never really examined how I
am part of the center, I am white and I am Christian. I do believe that
Christians should alleviate oppression.
I had just never thought of how burdened Jesus Christ must have
been. De LA Torre also discusses how, in
different languages, we get different perspectives. Specifically, he discusses
the Spanish Bible. In Spanish, they have many different words for you and for love.
The words that they use are affected by who they are talking to. The Spanish
often use the informal words when referring to God. This gives a very different
perspective to Spanish readers then English readers have. I never knew that before, and find it to be very
fascinating.
I
believe that Christians should alleviate forms of oppression. The more I read
liberation theory, the more I agree with it.
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