Liberation Theologies | Bibliography | Asia
Chapter 6: Liberation and Deep Ecumenism. Liberation Theology in Asia
Bibliographies
See also PeaceDocs Peace Bibliography, Global South.
303. Suh, Chang Won. A Formulation of Minjung Theology. Toward a Socio-Historical Theology of Asia. Seoul: Nathan Publishing, 1990, pp. 253-82.
A collection of works of minjung theology, arranged by books and articles, most of which have been published in South Korea; as well as other influential books of liberation theology.
General
304. Abraham, K. C., ed. Third World Theologies. Commonalities and Divergences. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.
See 197.
305. Amirtham, Samuel, and John S. Pobee. Theology by the People. Reflections on Doing Theology in Community. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1986.
See 199.
306. Anderson, Gerald H., ed. Asian Voices in Christian Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1976.
Essays by M. M. Thomas, Lynn A. de Silva, U. Kyaw Than, Kosuke Koyama, Choang-seng Song and others on theology in India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Includes a briefly annotated bibliography of books and articles arranged by country.
307. Balasuriya, Tissa. The Eucharist and Human Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.
At the heart of liberation theology is the insight that internal spirituality cannot be divorced from the spirit of the world and that sacramental salvation is meaningless unless society, and the world itself as God’s creation, are also saved. Balasuriya here focuses on the meaning of the Eucharist in a liberation setting: that the sacrament of nourishment and salvation, of participation in divinity’s healing and grace, must have real meaning in a world where abundance and dire poverty, fullness and starvation vie in stark contrast. To “break bread” must have a real social, economic and political meaning if its sacramental meaning is to be real.
308. —. Jesus Christ and Human Liberation. London: SCM, 1977; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.
Not seen.
309. —. Planetary Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books; London: SCM, 1984.
This is a response to what Balasuriya sees as a planetary system of injustice brought about by the new economic and political unities of the world that enforce the prosperity of the few in the North against the misery of the majority in the South. It is a “world system of unjust relationships” that traditional theology, with its emphasis on individualistic piety, dominated by capitalist and bourgeois concerns, not only fails to address but in many cases actively condones as “Christian.”
Many of Balasuriya’s criticisms are reminiscent of Matthew Fox’s work (see 930-932). Christianity’s past has, the author notes, been culturally bound, tied to its European origins, church-centered, male-dominated, and age-dominated, that is tied to the values of aged male scholars and ecclesiatical hierarchs. In addition it is a pro-capitalist, anti-communist, and reactionary theology that revels in theory and flees relevance to the social and economic plight of most of the planet’s peoples.
Balasuriya therefore calls for a theology that is both contextual and global: that grows out of the experience and concerns of the people it addresses and that, at the same time, seeks to stress the unity of all humanity. In this desire it seeks a link to the liberation theologies of the world, whether Latin American, black, feminist, Asian, or European political.
A planetary theology would seek to build a new earth as it seeks a new heaven that hopes in the promise of the Cosmic Christ, emphasizes radical conversion, not only of individuals but also of structures – especially church structures – and insists on the necessity of struggle and liberation. In this process much of the old church thinking in ecclesiology, sacramental life and liturgy, and in forming a new spirituality of justice become key.
310. Bavarel, Michel. New Communities, New Ministries. The Church Resurgent in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Francis Martin, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.
See 206.
311. Chung, Hyun Kyung. Struggle to Be the Sun Again. Introducing Asian Women’s Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.
The author attempts to find the elements of a theology that is born from the experience of, and speaks to the souls, of Asian women. Themes include the historical and social background of women’s theology in Asia, the meaning of Jesus and Mary for women in Asia, a new Asian woman’s spirituality and women’s theology.
312. Commission on Theological Concerns of the Christian Conference of Asia, ed. Minjung Theology: People as the Subjects of History. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.
A collection of essays on “minjung” theology, which is the Korean word for “people’s.” It is a theology, like liberation theology, born out of the concern of the people’s praxis. Examines the historical, biblical, and contemporary roots of the theology.
313. Elwood, Douglas J., ed. Asian Christian Theology. Emerging Themes. Rev. ed. of What Asian Christians Are Thinking. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980.
Essays by Charles C. West, Kosuke Koyama, Shoki Cole, Jung Young Lee, Carlos H. Abesamis, S.J., Samuel Rayan, S.J., Masao Takenaka, Choan-seng Song, Lynn de Silva, Aloysius Pieris, S.J., Sebastian Kappen, S.J. and others on forming a Christian theology for Asia, varying understandings of humanity and nature in the West and East, the role of theology in Christian mission, a theology of pluralism, the theology and development of liberation. Part 7 presents various theological statements of the Asian churches and other Christian groups. Contains a useful bibliography of bibliographies and of journals on Asian Christianity.
314. —. Faith Encounters Ideology. Christian Discernment and Social Change. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day, 1985.
Not seen.
315. —. What Asian Christians Are Thinking. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers, 1976.
First edition of Asian Christian Theology. See above 313.
316. England, John C., ed. Living Theology in Asia. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1982.
A collection of readings, with introductions, on the theologies of South Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India. Authors include Kim Chi Ha, Takenaka Masao, Raymond Fung, Francisco Claver, Koson Srisang, H. Marianne Kartoppo, Aloysius Pieris, and Samuel Amirtham, among others.
317. Fabella, Virginia, M.M., ed. Asia’s Struggle for Full Humanity. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1980.
Essays by Fabella, Balasuriya, Eunice Santanade Velez, Samuel Rayan, Aloysius Pieris, Lynn de Silva, Sebastian Kappen, Rose Zoé Obianga, James Cone, Sergio Torres and others on the development of a liberation theology for Asia; “living in,” that is developing theology from the experience of sharing the life of the poor; on social, political and economic realities in Asia; on developing Christian theology against the background of Buddhism and other Asian religions; and developing an Asian women’s theology.
318. —, and Mercy Amba Oduyoye, eds. With Passion and Compassion. Third World Women Doing Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988, pp. 69-121.
Essays by Aruna Gnanadason, Mary John Mananzan, Christine Tse, Yong Ting Jin and Virginia Fabella. The Asian situation, like that of Africa, combines the legacy of colonialism with structures of oppression inherited from Asia’s traditional religions: Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism, in which the role and life of women are decidedly secondary. In such cases Christianity, not in its current ecclesiastical structures, but in a true reading of the Jesus community of the Bible, can be a liberation agent. Asia, the traditional home of deep and important spiritualities, can also nurture an emerging Christian woman’s spirituality that has compassion and liberation as its hallmarks: the women’s role of birthing, divorced from natalism and the idolization of motherhood, is the chief model in the quest for wholeness that the four major Asian religions vaunt but rarely put into practice when women are concerned. See also 214.
319. —, and Sun Ai Lee Park. We Dare to Dream. Doing Theology as Asian Women. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.
Not seen.
320. Ferm, Deane William. Profiles in Liberation. Thirty-Six Portraits of Third World Theologians. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.
Theologians from Africa, Asia and Latin America are discussed, including their lives, work and thought. Bibliographies of books and articles, as well as photographs, are provided for each. An excellent introduction. Asian theologians include Abesamis, Byung-Mu, Balasuriya, Koyama, Osthathios, Pieris, Rayan, and Choan-Seng Song. See also 215.
321. —. Third World Liberation Theologies. An Introductory Survey. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
Discusses the various forms of liberation theologies, their resemblances and differences, studies, and criticisms of this theology. See also 216.
322. —. Third World Liberation Theologies. A Reader. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
Selections from a host of liberation theologians, including Koyaa, Balasuriya, Ryan, Yong-Bok and others. See also 217.
323. Habito, Ruben. Total Liberation. Zen Spirituality and the Social Dimension. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989
This is a call for both Zen spirituality and Christian pietism to come together and then to refocus energies away from an inner salvation through separation and toward a salvation that comes about by participating in the divine activity of saving the world.
324. Hongi, Anton G. Trends in Present Asian Theology. Special Issue Exchange (Leiden) 32-33 (1982).
Not seen.
325. Mbiti, John S., ed. African and Asian Contributions to Contemporary Theology. Report. Céligny: Ecumenical Institute, 1977.
See 226.
326. Míguez Bonino, José. An Emerging Theology in World Perspective. Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.
An interesting example of how liberation theologies have self-consciously cross-polinated their insights and how, at root level, the problems that they address are the same all over the world.
327. Moon, Cyris Hee-Suk. A Korean Minjung Theology. An Old Testament Perspective. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.
A sociological interpretation of the Old Testament that sees the history of the Korean poor and oppressed foreshadowed in the story of the Hebrews’ liberation in Exodus. Includes an introduction to minjung (people’s) theology, the Hebrews in Exodus, the Hebrews of pre-monarchical Canaan, the rise of rulers and victims in Solomon’s Israel, and the role of the prophets in protesting injustice and oppression. Moon then examines the parallels in Korean minjung theology and examines the nature of a life that is both prophetic and liberating in today’s Korea.
South Asia
See also PeaceDocs, Texts, Hindu, Gandhian and Yogic.
328. Amaladoss, M., T. K. John, and G. Gispert-Sauch, eds. Theologizing in India. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1981.
Collected essays to ask the what, where, when, and whence of an Indian theology. Contributors include Peter Fernando, Ignatius Puthiadam, S.J., S. Kappen, Sara Grant, Felix Wilfred, and others.
329. Arokiasamy, S., S.J., and G. Gispert-Sauch, S.J., eds. Liberation in Asia. Theological Perspectives. Jesuit Theological Forum Reflections 1. Delhi: Vidyajyoti Faculty of Theology; Gujarat: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1987.
This book is a response to the Vatican’s Instruction on Certain Aspects and the Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation (123–124) and includes essays by Samuel Rayan, Aloysius Pieris, T. K. John, Errol D’Lima, Marianne Katoppo, George V. Lobo, and others. Topics in Part 1 include liberation theology in Asia, its relationship to Marxism, the issue of social class and class struggle, sinful structures, and the Gandhian praxis of liberation. Part 2 includes commentaries and reflections on the Instructions. In all, the book is a well positioned defense of emerging Asian liberation theology and an acceptance of the Vatican’s measured endorsement.
330. Boyd, Robin H. S. An Introduction to Indian Christian Theology. Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1975.
This is a very useful and informed survey of the varieties of Christian encounters with Indian religions: from refutations, to coexistence, to the formulation of a new Indian theology that will synthesize Christian revelation with Indian praxis. The work focuses on individual thinkers and follows their thought on all aspects of theology. Good bibliography.
331. Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.
Gandhian nonviolence as the path toward liberation from oppressions both physical and spiritual.
332. Mookenthottam, Antony, M.S.F.S. Towards a Theology in the Indian Context. Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 1980.
Topics include a brief review of Indian theology, of the Vedas and Upanishads, Jainism, Buddhism, the Bhagavadgita, and the view of reality and truth in the western Bible. The author then discusses the possibilities of a pluridimensional approach toward an Indian theology.
333. Pieris, Aloysius, S.J. An Asian Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.
Part 1 examines the impact of Vatican II in calling for an end to the dichotomies in Christian religious life between spirituality, contemplation, action, in the world and liturgy, calling for a more integralist view of life and creation, and a deeper understanding of Western spirituality and its relatedness and relevance to Asian spiritual and religious forms. It then focuses on questions of Jesus’ life of poverty and his option for the poor, the questions of ideology as an enemy of, and then a substitute for, religion and its relationship to the world of action.
Part 2 then highlights aspects of Asia’s non-Semitic religions, the issues of inculturation, Asian attitudes toward poverty and the poor, models of inculturation from the Mediterranean, northern Europe, which will not work for Asia, and finally of Christian monasticism, which Pieris claims is a working alternative.
Part 3 then outlines the elements of an Asian theology of liberation: the forms of speaking about God in language, in metaphysics and cosmology, in socio-economic discourse, and the role Asian religions have to play in the development of Asian Christianity. In conclusion Pieris returns to the theme of the poor and their essential role in defining and becoming the liberated person. Also contains a bibliography of Pieris’ articles that have appeared in English since 1968.
334. Prabhakar, M. E., ed. Towards a Dalit Theology. Delhi: ISPCK, 1988.
Essays by Saral K. Chatterji, Sundar Clarke, K. Wilson, M. Azariah, M. John, Swarnalata Devi, and others on a theology for the “untouchables.” Dalit, in both its Sanskrit and Hebrew roots, means “broken” or “downtrodden.” This is thus an attempt to create a theology for, and out of, the experience of the marginalized of Indian society both as a response to liberation theology and to the fact that many Christian dalits have converted to either Islam or Hinduism in the 1980s.
Thus a dalit theology seeks to foster liberation both within Indian society and within church structures that have adopted the rigid casteism of India. One of its chief targets is therefore the ideology of caste (varnashrama dharma) and the creation of a group of people as objects. Instead, a dalit theology would focus on making people their own subjects, first by fostering their own theologizing that stems from their own experience, whether they be the economically poor, or women and widows within their own classes. This is not without a process of struggle and alienation from the predominant brahim culture, however.
Like other liberation theologies, dalit theology also focuses on inner conversion: to lead to the dalits’ own consciousness of their worthiness and to dispel the Hindu and Jain notion of their present state being a result of sins in a previous life. It thus focuses on social sins against them and on reintegrating the divorce between a spiritual and physical reality. Above all, dalit theology means “doing theology” among and with the dalits themselves: a theology born out of praxis.
East Asia
See also PeaceDocs, Texts, Buddhist and Taoist.
335. Katoppo, Marianne. Compassionate and Free. An Asian Woman’s Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.
Woman as other, women’s liberation, women in Asian theology, from an Indonesian perspective.
336. Koyama, Kosuke. Mount Fugi and Mount Sinai. London: SCM, 1984; Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
This is a theological reflection on idolatry, especially in Japanese society, born out of the devastation of World War II, which saw both Hiroshima and the turning of Tokyo into a desert, like Sinai, through months of U.S. bombing. It is an attempt to find a theology that will focus on the God of creation with the insights of the Old Testament and, as with Jürgen Moltmann, the theology of the Cross to save us from despair. Reflections focus on four texts: Jeremiah 4:26, Psalm 121:2, Exodus 20:7, and Hosea 11:8.
337. —. Waterbuffalo Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1974.
The term derives from the author’s own ministry among the people of Thailand and the intimate connection between the Thai people and the water buffalo in their agrarian lives. It is a symbol for the author to discard all abstractions when doing theology, and to focus instead on the concrete realities and to fit theology to people’s experience. Topics include the interpretations of history and the world for the Asian reality, rooting the Gospel in both its Western traditions and new surroundings, an understanding of Buddhist life in Thailand, and attempting to interpret Christianity for an Asian life. Koyama calls for a multi-denominational approach to Asian Christianity in order to have religion more faithfully reflect local tradition and situations.
338. Lak, Yeow Choo. Doing Theology and People’s Movements in Asia. Singapore: Association for Theological Education in South East Asia, 1986; reprint (revised) ed., 1987.
Essays by Carlos Abesamis, S.J., John C. England, Staoshi Hirata, Eto Naozumi, Masao Takenaka and others on women’s liberation and women’s theology, Christian ties with peoples’ movements, theologizing through storytelling and through the experience of people’s movements, and new forms of biblical interpretation that derive from the experience of the world’s peoples. John C. England provides “People Movements as Source for Asian Theologians: A Bibliographical Survey,” arranged by topic and author, on pages 182-200.
339. Lee, Jung Young, ed. An Emerging Theology in World Perspective. Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1988.
“Minjung” is the Korean theology of the poor, oppressed, and destitute. Essays by José Míguez Bonino, Robert McAfee Brown, John B. Cobb, Harvey Cox, Kwesi A. Dickson, Kosuke Koyame, George Ogle, J. Deotis Roberts, Letty M. Russell, and C. S. Song attempt to meet minjung from various other liberating perspectives.
340. Liberation Theology and the Vatican Document. Vol. 3: Perspectives From the Third World. Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications, 1988.
The book is divided into two parts: six essays on liberation theology by leading theologians around the world, and a reprint of the Vatican document: Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation (see also 123-124), which is the final version of the Vatican statement. The essays range from analyses of how liberation theology has been articulated in the reality of the Third World to reviews of the Instruction and its success or failure in explaining liberation theology and in aiding the process of opting for the poor.
341. Suh, Chang Won. A Formulation of Minjung Theology. Toward a Socio-Historical Theology of Asia. Seoul: Nathan Publishing, 1990.
This is an introduction to this Third-World theology that is self-consciously attempting to rid itself of its European and North American baggage. Discusses the context of military oppression in South Korea; Korean Christians’ participation in the struggle for human rights; the intellectual content of the theology both formally and in its historical development; and its new contributions to the discussion of God, revelation, sin, liberation, Christology, the Holy Spirit, the church, and eschatology.
Final sections deal with minjung in the context of Asian theology, in nation building, indigenization, the people as subject of their own history and authors of their theology, and a new Asian hermeneutic. Contains an excellent bibliography of Korean minjung theology, most items published in South Korea, and on Asian theology in general.
342. Trompf, Garry W. The Gospel Is Not Western. Black Theologies from the Southwest Pacific. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987.
A collection by indigenous theologians from aboriginal Australia, the Torres Straits and Melanesia.
343. Witvliet, Theo. A Place in the Sun. An Introduction to Liberation Theology in the Third World. John Bowden, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
See 242.
The Philippines
344. Abesamis, Carlos H. Where Are We Going. Heaven or the New World? Manila: Foundation Press, 1983.
Not seen.
345. Claver, Francisco F. The Stones Will Cry Out. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1978.
A collection of letters from this bishop to his diocese on the conditions of oppression within the Philippines, the injustices and brutalities of their lives under tyranny. It focuses on the faith of the Philippine Christians, and the work of the basic Christian communities in bringing hope in the midst of this darkness.
346. Digan, Parig. Churches in Contestation. Asian Christian Social Protest. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.
An excellent introduction to Christianity in Asia. Digan’s account includes background on the origins and nature of Christianity there as a marginal, if not tenuous, Western cultural import. Tied to authoritarianism and colonialism, the church’s passive role merged well with the lack of an Asian tradition of protest. By the late twentieth century, however, this very marginality and Christianity’s base among the poor and oppressed had combined with an older Christian tradition of prophetic protest to forge a new Asian movement that began to fight against the “national security state” and its institutionalized oppression.
By the 1960s Asian bishops had begun organizing and launching programs for conscientization and social action that merged with the efforts of Vatican II and the emerging liberation theology in its option for the poor, influenced by Marx, Mao, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. This has led to a theology that also borrows from the Asian tradition of Buddhist nonviolence but that also sees violence as inevitable under certain conditions of oppression.
Digan then goes on to offer several examples of this new Christian activism at work in South Korea and in the Philippines. In the latter, under Jaime Cardinal Sin, the church has moved from its condemnation of revolutionary violence and reluctant support of oppressive state violence to a rejection of both. It acts, however, in a race against time between the communists and national security state and in fear of either communist infiltration of its work in the basic Christian communities or of government repression of these efforts.
347. Elwood, Douglas J. Faith Encounters Ideology. Christian Discernment and Social Change. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers, 1985.
Not seen.
348. Garcia, Ed. The Filipino Quest. A Just and Lasting Peace. Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications, 1988.
Begins with a narrative of the 1986 People’s Power revolution that overthrew Marcos and then proceeds into an analysis of the religious roots of the revolt: liberation theology’s role in shaping economic, social and political structures, but on a deeper level a liberationist reading of all these factors in the larger context of a people’s journey toward true justice and peace.
Even more interesting is Garcia’s analysis of the processes of securing human rights in a post-revolutionary situation and his analysis of the role of older structures, such as police and the military, in forming a new society. This is a hands-on narrative and handbook of the path to a new vision of liberation.
349. Gaspar, Karl. How Long? Prison Reflections from the Philippines. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.
In March 1983 Gaspar, a lay theologian and church worker, was kidnapped by forces directed by Juan Ponce Enrile. He was held without charge for two years and repeatedly interrogated on suspicion of being a communist leader.
This book is a collection of his letters that, together, form a diary of life in prison amid physical and mental deprivations, boredom, beatings and torture. Gaspar’s hopes and physical condition were kept alive, however, by the quick work of friends and organizations who got wind of his disappearance and continued to pressure the government for his eventual release. A living witness against the forces bent on silencing the work of religious liberation.
350. Hunt, Chester L. “Liberation Theology in the Philippines: A Test Case,” Christianity Today 26 (March 5, 1982): 24-26.
A negative assessment. Sees liberation theology as Marxist, pro-violence, -class war and -revolution, and anti-Western, anti-rational, and ideological. Only one-third of the Filipino clergy are really opposed to Cardinal Sin’s “critical collaboration.” In fact, most of the liberation theology emerging in the Philippines is pressed on the native clergy by foreigners. Yet these discontents have failed in their attempts to stir up anti-American feeling. Conscientization is similar to the Alinsky technique of exacerbating grievances to bring on the revolution. “Liberation theology brings the frustrated Filipino intellectual and the expatriate clergy together. It combines the usual Marxist views with long-standing nationalist grievances.” Written at a period when it looked as if the forces of reaction would succeed in silencing both the new theology and the voice of the people.
351. Lernoux, Penny. People of God. (See 120).
Pages 47-49 discuss Pope John Paul II’s displeasure with Cardinal Sin and the Filipino nonviolent revolution that seemed too popular and political for the pope’s taste. When no alternative seemed available, however, the papacy gave half-hearted support for the revolution. The pope has since, however, repeatedly attempted to humiliate and exclude Cardinal Sin from the favor of the Vatican.
352. Liberation Theology and the Vatican Document. Vol. 2: A Philippine Perspective. Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications, 1988.
A series of ten essays by Filipino pastoral workers, theologians and bishops on the first Vatican document. On the whole the essays attempt to read the document positively as an endorsement of their efforts to confront the realities of oppression and deprivation in the Philippines and to bring about justice in a way consistent with their Christian faith. On the other hand, these responses also highlight the fact that liberation theology is an import to the Filipino reality: what the experience of Latin America can bring to bear on their experience must now be matched with a home-grown perspective that is less concerned about institutional issues and dogmas than about real-life issues informed by the preferential option for the poor.
353. Rossa, Alberto, ed. The Theology of Liberation. Selected Writings from the Medellin Documents. Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1986.
These are documents selected to match the revolutionary situation in the Philippines and to show a path of nonviolent action.
354. Socio-Political Institute. With Raging Hope. A Compilation of Talks on the Church Involved in Social Transformation and Its Emerging Theology. Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian, n.d.
Not seen.
355. Torre, Edicio de la. Touching Ground, Taking Root. Theological and Political Reflections on the Philippine Struggle. Quezon City, Philippines: SPI, 1986.
De la Torre, a prominent social activist in the Philippines since the 1960s, reflects on the search for a Filipino theology in the context of the struggle for justice. Topics include the theological basis of reflection in peasant life, forging a theology neither Marxist-Maoist nor bourgeois, and the birth of liberation out of prison, oppression and struggle.
The Middle East
See also PeaceDocs, Texts, Jewish.
See also PeaceDocs, Texts, Islamic.
356. Ateek, Naim. Justice and Only Justice. A Palestinian Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.
Micah 6:18 lies at the heart of any meaningful movement in the Palestinian situation: “To act justly and to walk humbly with your God.” Ateek addresses himself to his own Palestinian community and seeks to bring about reconciliation based upon human compassion and a striving for justice that cannot meet hate or fear with either. Good discussion of the historical background, the biblical roots of Christian Palestinians’ work for justice and peace, the struggle for liberation, and the prophetic imperatives of a church that serves the oppressed and marginalized.
Discusses the historical background and current shape of the Jewish-Palestinian (Arab and Christian) conflict, anti-Semitism, Zionism, the birth of modern Israel; the life of Palestinians in modern Israel, voices of protest, and a Jewish theology of liberation.
Ateek then focuses on the biblical roots of a Palestinian theology, its uses and abuses, its confrontation with Zionism, both Christian and Jewish; the cry for justice and compassion; the role of the peacemaker and the church’s duty to make peace; the need for Palestinians and Jews to recognize the injustices committed against each other; and the threats and promises of the present situation.
357. Buber, Martin. A Land of Two Peoples. Martin Buber on Jews and Arabs. Paul Mendes-Flohr, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Martin Buber, the preeminent Jewish existentialist, the theologian of dialog, and “I and Thou,” was a fervent Zionist who saw no separation between his religious and philosophical thought and the life of action embodied in Zionism. In fact, for Buber, the state of Israel was the essential embodiment of Judaism because it gave the concrete manifestation of the religious and ethical traditions of Jewish life a reality test and an unfolding measure against praxis. Key to this Zionism, however, was Buber’s conviction that the life of Israel must be based on justice for all its citizens: Jewish and Palestinian.
It is this “Arab Question” that unites all the collected essays, mostly written as occasional pieces between the Balfour Declaration 1918 and his death in 1965. Throughout Buber seeks a theology of justice and liberation for both Jews and Palestinians that will bring forth the fullness of the biblical promise for Israel. A timely and well-edited collection.
358. Chakmakjian, Hagop. In Quest of Justice and Peace in the Middle East. The Palestinian Conflict in Biblical Perspective. New York: Vantage Books, 1980.
Not seen.
359. Children of the Stones. Jerusalem: Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence, 1988.
Not seen.
360. Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. On Earth As It Is in Heaven. Jews, Christians and Liberation Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987.
The reemergence of Hebrew scriptures and modern Jewish ethical themes in Christian action in the Third World offers new hope for a common ground based on the thawing of theological rigidity and on a common tradition. The Jewish understanding of God’s will in creation may be a bridge between these traditions.
Contents include discussions of the differences between Christianity and Judaism, how liberation theology has returned certain Christian ethical themes back into line with Judaism, and a new common ground for joint action.
361. Committee Confronting the Iron Fist, eds. We Will Be Free in Our Own Homeland. Jerusalem: CCIF, 1986.
The subtitle reads, A Collection of Readings for International Day of Fast and Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners.
362. Ellis, Marc H. Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation. The Uprising and the Future. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.
The Holocaust and the state of Israel are the twin poles for all Jewish theology in the “Third Era.” This is the period after the Holocaust that must inevitably replace the rabbinic age of the Diaspora and the age of the Temple of ancient Israel. Put in other terms, the memory of annihilation and the death of God is counterbalanced by new Jewish empowerment, both in Israel and in the West, especially in the U.S. While this is necessary and reflects new realities, Ellis warns, in the prophetic tradition, that Israel and world Judaism are now in danger of losing an essential component of Judaism: the religious core of its ethical life. Israel has increasingly opted for the legitimate exercise of power but has forgotten a key element of the Jewish tradition: the solidarity with the oppressed that was born from captivity in Egypt and that flourished even after its liberation. In this central reality Judaism has much to remember and to give to the rest of the world, for the vocabulary of liberation was first formed by the Jews in their historical experience.
The lessons and questions for today are thus just beginning to emerge. With the Palestinian intifada, or Uprising, the old categories of Holocaust theology must be expanded: Jews must face the reality that they are in danger of becoming the oppressors in their quest for security. A new theology of liberation that recognize the solidarity of all oppressed peoples must make its way back into a very sharply limited Jewish discourse, and only then will Judaism reclaim its full biblical and ethical heritage. A provocative book that raises controversial questions.
363. Elwood, Douglas J. Faith Encounters Ideology. Christian Discernment and Social Change. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day, 1985.
Not seen.
364. Grossman, David. The Yellow Wind. Haim Watzman, trans. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1988.
A collection of vignettes on the Palestinian people and the conditions under which they live in Israel and the West Bank.
365. Ruether, Rosemary Radford, and Herman J. Ruether. The Wrath of Jonah. The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.
Examines “the religious and ideological underpinnings of Zionism, of the Christian support for Zionism, and the tragic unfolding of the Zionist project in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The authors approach the subject with a deep affiliation for both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples, human rights and the injustices perpetrated against both Jews and Palestinians in the twentieth century. Topics include the meaning of the Holy Land in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, historical roots of the conflict, the roots of Zionism and its alliance with Christians, Palestinian nationalism, contradictions of the Jewish state, and Christian relations to both Judaism and Zionism today. The book concludes with examinations of Jewish and Christian Holocaust theology, and a theological and ethical evaluation of the Jewish land – religious community or secular nation – and the theology of redemption inherent in the revived Israel.
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