The idea of poverty about faith and liberating theology is directly connected to major Biblical concepts. The struggle of the impoverished life is seen through the lens of liberation done by God towards people in need. Johnson (n.d.) constructs the following presumption: “Daily struggles for the survival manifest potent, tensible human strength” implying that the poorest follow the complex path (p. 74). Moral strength is needed to remain in trust in God while staying in a position of oppression. The regular praxis of unconditional love and trust in Christ, in the long run, is implemented into one of the key principles of the Christian faith. Johnson (n.d.) mentions the genuine love and all the charity done by Jesus to the poor, constructing the validity of liberation theology. The author explains liberation theology as the gift to humanity of all nations and statuses. The concept of justice and equality cannot be separated from God’s reign. Humans are all meant to be equal and the gap between people is what wounds the idea of God’s kingdom. The author constructs that the main goal of human beings is to ensure the establishment of justice for all and to combat structural violence toward the poor.
Latin American Bishops (1968) in their document focus on a multifaceted view of poverty in Latin America and beyond. While they stress the severity of poverty in the region there are also many points applicable to the world. The main point of the document is to spread awareness about the vulnerability of impoverished people and the church’s mission to follow Christ’s will in ending poverty. One of the key elements in the document is the distinction made between material and spiritual poverty. Moreover, Latin American Bishops (1968) highlight the commitment to poverty, the one Jesus had who “being rich became poor (p. 2). There are people open to experiencing the difficulties poor people go through to gain liberty from materialism. There is also an argument for the reformation of the existing system to the one without financial discrimination. Moreover, there is a note on inspiring people to be more modest in their means and more generous to those around them.
While Johnson (n.d.) acknowledges his status of not being poor, I stumbled with the question of whether the insight of the liberating theology has a concrete practical implication other than in charity. I would like to receive more clarity on this concept from a point of view of people who consider themselves to be rather average and what is in their powers to spread liberating theology. In my personal view, the spread of liberating power is important, and it is a human responsibility. However, I struggle to understand to what extent it should be inbuilt into a daily routine of one and what are the consequences. Moreover, it is interesting to see liberating theology in correlation with principles of Christians’ service and missions abroad.
I found insightful the linkage of Christ’s journey to the People of God and how as God’s children humans should follow the example of the Messiah. It is a silver lining to the whole text itself. Hence, there is an essentiality in an expansion of this idea towards the future frameworks on poverty and church. The development of Christ’s example to people in their everyday life may influence their understanding of money and prevent them from stepping on the consumerist side. Poverty could be only combated through the spread of the ideas formulated in the Medellin Document, and therefore there should be particularity around the issue.
References
Johnson, E.A. (n.d.) Liberating god of life context: Wretched poverty [PDF document]. Web.
Latin American Bishops (1968). Medellin document: Poverty of the Church, Columbia [PDF document]. Web.