Liberation Theology

     For the next several days I am going to discuss a topic that many of you might not want to discuss.  However, I believe it is relevant in light of our current situation.  Perhaps the things I will discuss in the next few weeks will help us understand some of the dynamics that are taking place in our culture and the world in which we live.  I am going to discuss what has been called by scholars as liberation theology.

     The twentieth and now the twenty first century seem marked by a deep intellectual discomfort about the ways in which Western thought generally has framed its way of understanding the world.  Because culture is rapidly changing around us, people are prone to look for answers to interpret their culture and often to justify their culture.  With this attitude being so prevalent in society today one should not be surprised to see that one's approach to understanding God's Word is also suspect to rising changes.  Today there are many scholars that are calling for nothing less than a paradigm shift in the interpretation of Scripture.  These individuals believe it is time to do something new.  So I want to use these next several posts to examine some current trends in the area of liberation theology and see if these trends have merit or concern for the modern reader today.

     Let me start with a brief history of liberation theology.  Liberation theology has taken on a new role in today's society as people are looking to be liberated from what is perceived as oppressive interpretations.  The modern rise of liberation theology can be found in the teachings of Paul Ricoeur and what is called his hermeneutic of suspicion.  Ricoeur himself was influenced by the writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzche, and Sigmund Freud.  These three individuals set the stage for Ricoeur's hermeneutic of suspicion.  In remarking on their influence Riceour states, "all three clear the horizon for a more authentic word, for a new reign of Truth,  not only by means of a destructive critique, but by the invention of an art of interpreting."  In other words, these three men, in their own way, umasked a false understanding of the text by systematically applying a critique of suspicion, with the result that the true understanding may be found in the text.

     Building upon the teachings of these three men, Ricoeur believed that every interpreter of Scripture must look at a text and be suspicious of presuppositions that are being read and have been read into a text.  As a result, the interpreter must bring new meaning to the text to truly understand what the text is saying.  This new meaning will liberate the reader from any preconceived ideas and allow the text to speak to the reader without any cultural bias.  Though Ricoeur did not use the term liberate, his practice led to the rise of "liberators" who took his teaching the next step.

     The advocates of liberation hermeneutics have a strong desire not only to liberate themselves from an oppressive situation, but also to liberate the text from those who have used the text to support their own ideologies.  Latin American hermeneutics, black hermeneutics, and feminist heremeutics seek to liberate the biblical text from interpretations that have oppressed various segments of society throughout history.  These strands of liberation hermeneutics "bring together fundamental questions about the framework of knowledge, language and understanding with specific practices of biblical interpretation and re-interpretation."

     All of this serves as a background to what I want to write about the next few days.  We will look at these three theological ideas so that we can better understand the dynamics that shape much of our culture today.  Once we understand where they are coming from we will be better equipped to provide a legitimate rebuttal or defense of the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ.  So hang in there with me these next few days as you will discover that much of what I will be talking about will have relevance to our current situation.  It might help you understand what is happening in our country and our world today. 

     In my next post I will look at Latin American Hermeneutics and perhaps it will help us to understand the current situation we are experiencing in America today.  I will report what I understand and then you can decide if it has relevance.  God's blessings to you and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas in the days to come.