Why Liberation Theology Is Irrelevant

We are in a new stage following the election. We wait to see how everything pans out. We gather the other pieces of our lives and take a deep breath. For me this resulted in moving my “Obama blog” to WordPress and widening its scope to include my main passions.

One of these is theology. I think theology is the problem, not the answer. Theology is what you do when you build an untenable propositional faith on a modest religious experience.

This leads to acceptance of a worldview that is, for purposes of this discussion, Christian. It might be Miuslim or any other religion. All turn modest religious experience into propositions that divide as they harden into “facts”. The result is the creation of churches based on creeds.

The earliest canonical (Bible) expression of what Jesus said the good news (gospel) is is in Mark. The good news is God’s at-handness.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Mark 1

Jesus propounded a way, not a theology. A way based on rejection of the far-off god of war and embrace of One who is within us, at hand. available. The way is elaborated in the Gospels and explicit in the only prayer Jesus taught. It makes forgiveness the main activity of a person every day.

There is no need for creed, for endless articulation of doctrines — a theological superstructure, fanciful and largely at odds with the way Jesus taught. Jesus taught peace not war, love not hate, unity not division.

Among the sins of theology: proposing pie in the sky, creating a church you are either for or against, requiring belief in things beyond anyone’s capacity to validate. This spins off into the worst sentimentality, hypocrisy and superstition.

The following, about liberation theology. illustrates the problem:

Christianity can no longer be dismissed as the opium of the people, nor can it be seen as merely fostering an attitude of critique: it has now become an active commitment to liberation…

The gospel is not aimed chiefly at “modern” men and women with their critical spirit, but first and foremost at “nonpersons,” those whose basic dignity and rights are denied them. This leads to reflection in a spirit of prophecy and solidarity aimed at making nonpersons full human beings, and then new men and women, according to the design of the “new Adam,” Jesus Christ. SOURCE

The way of Jesus is universal. It is no respecter of any constituency. Sadly, liberation theology plays the same game as every other theology.

Then there is the notion of making nonpersons persons. How patronizing is this! It has little to do with the universality Jesus taught.

We have not needed theology from the beginning. We have needed a teaching which is not a creed. A way which we prove by our character, not by articulating a theology that stands over against humankind.

Liberation theologians, like “prophets” in the UN, are part of a professional, paid system. Their theologies rarely waver from creedal faith. The only change is in claiming that Jesus was really concerned for outcasts. One could claim equally that he was concerned about his enemies, which included the theologians of the time.

The truly prophetic statement today is: Theology itself is a house of cards. Theology is the problem. Liberation theology included.

Which explains why, in an Obama time, I think more and more people will shed unhealthy religion and embrace unassuming, universal spirituality.

And maybe Kiva.

Here is a current attempt to explain what I think is a quite simple process, how eyes open when the creedal structure of Christianity is stripped away and Jesus emerges as the paradigm for a universal immanence, if I may speak theologically. 🙂