Liberation Theology

I've been hearing Liberation Theology over and over again in the last several weeks. Liberation Theology is a stream of thinking about God that places God on the side of the poor and oppressed. It is usually linked with environmental justice. It sees salvation not as something an individual achieves, but that is only conceivable as an entire group of people are liberated from oppression. One stream within Liberation Theology is Womanist theology, which speaks from the experiences of black women. The community argues "there is no salvation apart form my community."

At the green fair in Rochester a couple of weeks ago Jack Nelson Palmeyer talked about how we aren't going to fix the energy crisis if we don't also look at the plight of the world's very poor.

As I've been preparing for Guatemala I've been reexamining the Latin American roots of the original thinkers in the Liberation theology movement. These include people like Leonardo Boff and Gustavo Gutierrez.

This week as I was teaching my class on the work of Jesus I spoke of Liberation Theology. And we critiqued it!

I heard it again last night in Barack Obama's victory speech as he insisted that our nation will be better for all people.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

I think there is something very important in looking at the big picture. Building God's Kingdom is about so much more than making sure that individuals have a personal relationship with Jesus. It's about ending the oppression of the poor and of the earth. It's about making sure that everyone has some modicum of justice. It's about helping people have authentic relationships. In many ways, Liberation Theology makes a whole lot of sense.