Analyzing Social Justice and Theology Essay

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Social Justice and Theology

Black Liberation theology offers a much needed critic of classical theology, and the various ways in which it favors, and even fosters the racially oppressive behavior and attitudes that many white people have towards marginalized people. However, while Black Liberation has adequately pushed back against the issue of white supremacy, it has done so without giving a sufficient attention to the issue of patriarchy, which has an oppressive affect on women of color. It is an issue of intersectionality. While the issue of racial oppression is extremely important, it should not be elevated to a point where it is deemed to be more important than the liberation of women of color. This paper will look into the role of the Black Liberation Theology in shaping social justice with regards to women of color and classical theology.

Introduction

Almost all liberation theologies and movements have arisen out of a non-religious context. The liberation movements of The Latin Americans, Black Americans, American women, Black South Africans and Asians, have had ideologies that are a break from "Christian theology." "

As a shared assessment, liberation theologies promote thoughtful questions into the normative usage of religious Scripture, convention and understanding in Christian theology. Liberation theologians stress that the leading theologies of the West have been utilized to support the conventional mandate of the time (Grant, "Black Theology" 320). The church and its representatives have been too content with whatever the ruling classes deemed feasible. The interpretation of God's word has remained flexible and open to whatever twists the regime sees as more adjusting and convenient. This is one of the major reasons why religious doctrine of the time has never appealed to liberation theologians; their opinions were opposed by the political establishments of the time.

Paradoxically, the disapproval that liberation theology has towards classical theology has become against liberation theories themselves. Just like many European and American theologians that have accepted the Western oppression sewn in the theologies of the past, some liberation theologians too have accepted the oppressive aspects of their liberation struggles. The problem arises where one evil is replaced by another, when racism is abandoned, sexism is accepted. Where classism is questioned, racism and sexism have opened sails. And where sexism is rejected, racism and classism are often overlooked (Grant, "Black Theology" 320).

What is asserted in this essay is the position of the black woman and the clout of assumptions surrounding them in the liberation theory, in general, and black theology in particular. The Black liberation is a critique of the classical theology and how it harbors white supremacy and racial radicalism towards the marginalized communities. While the Black Liberation theology has resisted white supremacy, it has ignored the issues of patriarchy; so tightly knit with the problem of marginalization. This leaves the women of color oppressed, and ultimately, it is also a problem of intersectionality. The problem of racial tyranny is an imperative issue; however, it should not be raised so high that the freedom and rights of black women take a back seat to it.

The Black Liberation Movement and the theology it revolves around, is dipped in religious salvation. Their approach to Jesus is more literal -- a poor, oppressed human being, who rose from his trials as a free man-reborn, no longer a slave to the bounds of his earthly existence. It is not hard to see how his premise connects extremely well with the Black Liberation Movement. The "Holy Spirit" is not just holy, but also free! The image of God in the black churches of the time was a grand entity, one that sets His believers free, quite like the way He saved the Jewish slaves through Moses. According to James Hal Cone, a black theologian and strong advocate of the black liberation ideology, spoke of God as the champion of the victimized, specifically the African-American community (Cone, "A Black Theology of Liberation" 56-7).

However, like most other theologies and options, the Black Liberation Theology focuses on the black Man not woman. Their brand of oppression was a double edged sword, racism and sexism. Their experiences and desire for freedom and liberation is overlooked, making the black feminists feel that the black liberation theology can only gain legitimacy once it discards ALL forms of bias, which of course means race and gender (Hopkins, 30) During the earlier days, the Black Liberation Movement catered only to the men; women of color were discriminated in white and black churches.

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Black Theology

The historical progress of the Black Church, their sessions and groups within principally White churches, have been driven by the yearning of Black people to preserve their human pride and their need for human fairness in an environment where they were denied this basic right by the dominant social and ecclesial wing of society. Catholic and protestant churches alike had conceded Christianity to the White supremacist, adjusting the mandate of the powerful to conform to the then prevalent social norms of segregation, servitude and slavery.

Ecclesial institutions wore the white supremacists cloak and legitimized its theology to ensure that its members could own slaves, and restrict black participation with a guilt free conscious. Under the shelter of the Civil Rights Movement, a theological basis for a specifically black liberation theology was founded. The Black peoples' quest for liberation recognized and evaluated the structures and examples of connections that kept on underestimating, depreciating, abusing, and generally propagating the persecution and dehumanization of their race. In the United States, the religious ideology of Christianity and Christ was mutilated and concentrated on racism. The base of this racist ideology legitimized Black oppression and was mainly focused on segregation and a white supremacist agenda. This gross misrepresentation of the religion led to the reevaluation of the Christian context and why Jesus has always and will always be the liberator and Messiah of the oppressed. A number of Catholic social-justice activists, that included theologians, participated in another struggle against poverty and subjugation in Latin America that also engaged the Latin American liberation theology. While the premise may be similar, these struggles spoke different languages and ended up ignoring each other. The Black Liberation Theology was ignored by many Latin American activists who in their biases were blind to the struggle. Moreover, racial oppression came forward as the main cause that had led to oppression and poverty within the U.S. (Phelps, 673).

The Black Liberation Theory focuses on the church's relationship with its followers and questions the ideologies it seeks to establish while assisting and accommodating the powerful. The Black Theology demands support for the oppressed in their fight against the culture of slavery and servitude in society. They challenged the church to renounce the deterioration, dehumanization and oppression of the suffering communities. The challenge put forward by the Black Liberation Theology is ultimately a goal set for the church and the movement itself to achieve liberation and communion. Intra-ecclesial communion, ecumenical communion and facing public trials and outrage were the main focus at the 1985 synod. The church was expected to support the fundamentals of communion, which were a commitment to reconciliation, righteousness and freedom for the black population towards a new era of love. Commitment to liberation was directly linked to commitment to communion. Human freedom is a basic right, a pre-requisite for an ethical existence. A community cannot exist upon terms of slavery and servitude (Phelps, 673-4).

The Black Theology and Lack of Representation for Women of Color

Two assumptions can immediately be made when examining black theology:

(1) There is no place for women of color in this theology

(2) Black men are given the representation of black women as well.

Both of these assumptions need to be eradicated, as they are false. These assumptions restrict women of color to certain societal parameters and roles, arising out of a male dominated culture.

It is necessary to make one of two assumptions while examining Black Theology: (1) there is no place for black women in the enterprise, or (2) black men are capable of speaking for us. Both assumptions need to be eradicated as they are false. In a culture like this, men have the authority to speak for women, regarding all matters, and it is no coincidence that almost all the known faces of the Black Liberation Theology are men. This was an expected outcome of the disparity of power and status between the genders. Professional theology required a high level of intellect and training (Grant, "Black Theology and the Black Women "322").

This "mastery" was naturally not expected of women from the word go. The parameters of intelligence and skill accommodated only men. It is not surprising that the ability to "reason" and the door to logical discourse, debates, philosophy and rigorous intellectual training is something beyond the realm of women. Since time immemorial, men have been associated with terms of reason and decision making, whereas women were categorized with instinct and emotionalism. Women.....

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