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2: Protestantism
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34 — Rosemary Radford Ruether into a new warrior Savior myth upon whom a new system of imperial power could be built (Gebara, 1995b:53–70). for Gebara, feminist theology should reject absolutes of all kinds. feminist theologians should imagine neither a paradise of the beginning when there was no death or vulnerability, nor a paradise of the future when there will be no more death or vulnerability. We all need to withdraw from these projections and come to terms with the fragile and ambiguous nature of life always mixed with pain and death. Rather than seeking to flee to a future Reign of God freed from all evil, we need to learn to share with each other our fragile good and vulnerable joys and sorrows in a way that is truly mutual. This does not mean accepting the system of oppression as it is; we need to do what we can in our limited ways to dismantle the great systems of domination and exploitation, but not with the illusion that all pain and finitude will thereby disappear. Rather, to lessen unjust imbalances of power is at the same time to accept those limits of life which are always fraught with tragedy, as well as with joy and renewed hope.18 We must, as Gebara puts it, “take the side of the serpent” (of Genesis 2), refusing the orders of the patriarchal God that keeps us in a state of childish dependency. We can then recognize that the fragile fruit of the tree of life is indeed lovely and good for discernment. We can eat this fruit with relish, making it a part of our bodies and hearts. This is the real and possible redemption of life on earth. But it is real and possible only when we put aside the impossible redemptions of final conquest of all limits in a realm of immortal life untouched by sorrow, vulnerability, and finitude. Gebara’s theology, written in the 1990s and into the early twentyfirst century, appears quite different in style and tone from that of Ignacio ellacuría, written in the midst of the daily threats of state violence in the civil war of el Salvador in the 1980s. This difference is partly due to new situations in Latin America where poverty and violence are no less threatening, but experienced as more global and faceless. It is partly due to bringing in new dimensions of experience from women’s perspectives and from the ecological crisis, both off the map for ellacur ía. Yet with all their differences there are many similarities between them. ellacuría is not refuted, much less “superseded,” by Gebara or Gebara judged by ellacuría. Both are voices that need to be probed deeply and respectfully in the ongoing quest for a life-giving theology and community. 35 Liberation theology is misunderstood if it is seen mostly as a Roman Catholic phenomenon, invented by a select group of Latin American authors in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Crucial for the understanding of any liberation theology is that, unlike most other forms of theology , liberation theologies do not have their beginnings with great ideas developed in the academy or in the mind (or on the desk) of one or the other great theological thinker. Liberation theologies are linked to movements of liberation and to the theological questions that arise out of the struggles of these movements; key questions in these struggles concern how God and the communities of faith relate to the oppressed. Viewing liberation theology from a broader perspective that includes other religions and other Christian denominations will therefore lead to a more appropriate understanding of the phenomenon. In this chapter , we will look at protestant contributions and developments. Since liberation theology is related to various liberation movements , the conventional question that asks “who was first” is misleading . In fact, these different liberation theologies emerged at the same time and independently of each other. even the term “liberation theology ” was initially used without direct connection between the various liberation theologies—in other words, theologians did not copy this term from each other but came up with it in their own contexts without being aware that others had come up with the same term in different contexts. The first record of the term “liberation theology” in a publication in the United States can be found in an article published in 2 PRotestantIsM —Joerg Rieger [52.207.218.95] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:54 GMT) 36 — Joerg...