lets get that A

the Filipino concept of the unity of self and others

Kapwa

a recognition of shared identity and an inner self shared with others

Kapwa

etymological presentation to sharing space together

ka-puwang

KEY IDEA OF KAPWA

'What can I do for those people?' to a more relational orientation: 'Who are we to one another, and how do we encounter one another as fellow persons?'

a 'place' or source/location from which theological reflection can take place

locus theologicus

TRUE OR FALSE: human experience is a locus

TRUE! God is present and continues to reveal Godself in human experiences

what has the the task of recognizing and interpreting that revelation

theology

three things experiences is

1. includes stories, situations and struggles

2. always socially located

3. never uniform, universal or neutral

asks what a particular experience reveals about God, human dignity, suffering, justice and the Gospel

Contextual theologizing

TRUE OR FALE: because of the fact that  'Experience is not neutral' that means 'facts do not exist.'

'Experience is not neutral' does not mean 'facts do not exist.'

• human experience is socially conditioned and interpreted from particular locations.

Structural standing of a person/group in society, shaped by historically and socially produced factors affecting power, resources, opportunity and vulnerability.

Social location

Social location question

Where do I/they stand within social structures?

Social identities/characteristics that locate a person within a hierarchy or context.

Social location markers

Social location markers questions

What characteristics/identities shape that location?

How one understands, lives and responds to the world, shaped by social location, life experience, immersion, self-awareness and relationships.

Positionality

Positionality questions

How does my location shape how I see and respond?

used to describe helping that unintentionally produces dependence, powerlessness or degradation because the giver controls the relationship

Toxic charity

an outside actor limits another's freedom or decision-making 'for their own good,' assuming superior knowledge of what is best

Paternalism

issues should be handled at the most immediate/local level capable of resolving them

Subsidiarity

The poor become __ in social systems

non-persons

this social group’s interests are treated as negligible

non-persons

emphasizes collective suffering created or maintained by historical structures

entire crucified peoples

poor individuals and peoples can be used to increase the abundance of more powerful actors

Exploitation

people may avoid knowing the causes of suffering because acknowledging them can implicate their own systems and practices

Lack of accountability/shared responsibility

injustice becomes dangerous when it is treated as ordinary or inevitable

Normalization

God's goodness is made real in God's love for those dispossessed by life and identification with victims

Preferential option for the poor

the cross is read as divine solidarity with suffering victims

God in solidarity

possession, position/prominence and prestige/power can function as false 'gods' when treated as ultimate

God against idolatry

faith must respond to crucified peoples by trying to bring them 'down from the cross.'

Faith that does justice

social conscience must identify sin in structures rather than normalizing it

Battling sin

seeing + feeling + acting; compassion is willingness to enter another's chaos

Mercy/compassion

frame of reference consisting of habits of mind and the resulting point of view expressed in action

worldview

Reject the fantasy of a completely neutral observer; acknowledge situated lived experience.

Positionality

Challenge fixed binaries and singular/exclusionary dominant perspectives.

Border pedagogy

Hold multiple cultural perspectives and learn diverse people's stories.

Multicultural self

Expand identity to include the more-than-human natural world.

Ecological self

Analyze multiple, concurrent forms of difference and power; reject either/or thinking.

Intersectionality

important political, social or economic events/developments that are widely known, although their full significance may not be widely understood

sign of the times

TRUE OR FALSE: Christian discernment romanticizes the world or deny genuine progress

FALSE: Christian discernment does not romanticize the world or deny genuine progress, but neither does it ignore suffering simply because progress exists

TRUE OR FALSE: the Church has the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and interpreting them in light of the Gospel

TRUE

describes faith as a universal human phenomenon

Roger Haight

means interpreting events in light of the ultimate object/vision/value/person to which one's faith is committed

Reading with the eyes of faith

asks 'What does this mean in light of the Gospel, and how should we respond?'

Faith-based discernment

Pastoral cycle

insertion/experience → social analysis → theological reflection → pastoral action

enter or attend to concrete reality rather than theorizing from a distance

insertion/experience

investigate causes, structures, relationships and patterns producing the situation

social analysis

interpret the situation in light of faith/Gospel

theological reflection

choose concrete action consistent with the discernment

pastoral action

where did Liberation theology come from

Gustavo Gutiérrez in Latin America

theology that brings the Gospel into concrete struggles for human liberation and seeks to express the Gospel's essential liberating core

the great hermeneutical principle of faith

Jesus Christ

describes the close historical relationship between Christian/religious authority and colonial political power

cross and the crown

• Voluntary

  Presented as a chosen lifestyle

  Not the same problem as structural material deprivation

  Not automatically anti-Gospel simply because it involves simplicity

  
  

Spiritual poverty

• Involuntary

  Caused by unjust social structures

  Primary focus of liberation-theology reflection

  Anti-Gospel / anti-Kingdom when produced by injustice

  
  

Material poverty

describes people previously absent from history becoming present through popular struggles for liberation and the historical consciousness generated by those struggles

irruption of the poor

theory and methodology of interpretation

Hermeneutics

The liberation-theology hermeneutical circle says

interpretation and present reality continually influence one another

• Asks what is wise, life-giving and valuable within a culture/text.

  Begins with respect and seeks meaning from an insider's perspective.

  Useful for recovering liberating resources that remain within a text/culture.

  Example: Mary Magdalene as a woman commissioned to proclaim the resurrection.

  
  

Hermeneutics of appreciation

• Asks what is distorted, hidden, oppressive or serving the status quo.

  Critiques theological formulations that justify oppression.

  Useful for exposing how religion can legitimize domination.

  Example: gendered interpretations that subordinate women.

  
  

Hermeneutics of suspicion

TRUE OR FALSE: Hermeneutics of suspicion mean rejecting Scripture

FALSE: It means critically examining interpretations and their social effects

TRUE OR FALSE: Hermeneutics of appreciation mean uncritical acceptance

FALSE: It seeks life-giving wisdom while remaining attentive to context.

why Church ≠ Kingdom of God

Ellacuría's formulation is that God's reign is universal and not limited to or equal to the Church

• Universal reign/order of God

  Broader than the institutional Church

  Normative horizon for human and social life

  Not limited to the Church

  
  

Kingdom of God

What does Lumen Gentium #9 call the Church?

The People of God.

How does God save people according to LG #9?

God does not save people as isolated individuals; He gathers them into a people.

What is the older formula for salvation outside the Church?

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus — “Outside the Church, no salvation.”

What does LG #14 retain about the Church?

The necessity of the Church for salvation.

What does LG #16 say about people who lack explicit knowledge of God?

Those who lack it through no fault of their own can still receive necessary helps for salvation

What must those without explicit knowledge of God do?

They must strive, with grace, to live good lives.

What role can truth and goodness play outside explicit Christianity?

They can be preparation for the Gospel.

What major shift does Vatican II make?

It moves from a narrower understanding of salvation toward a broader understanding.

• Human action helps create conditions for God's reign; God ultimately brings about the Kingdom.

  Work is cooperation with God, not autonomous control of God.

  
  

Kingdom as project

• Social transformation requires collaboration, cooperation, participation and movements.

  Individual decisions alone are insufficient for major social change.

  
  

Kingdom as social reality

• The Kingdom is experienced in this life through concrete communal service and changed social relationships.

  Communities become signs of the Kingdom.

  
  

Kingdom as concrete sign

the Kingdom challenges a prevailing social order that marginalizes people

Counterculture

the Kingdom addresses physical, spiritual and social dimensions rather than reducing salvation to one dimension

Integral/holistic development

historical structures that contradict God's desired order.

the 'anti-reign' or reign of sin

Jesus has the people recline/make themselves comfortable, interpreted as a banquet posture.

Reclining

the meal has someone organizing/introducing the festive meal

A host

the twelve baskets symbolize abundance rather than stinginess

Excess of food

The four-part formula condenses the meal/Eucharistic motif

Take → Bless → Break → Share

trademark of early Christian communities: gathering for a common meal in which people shared not only food but their whole existence

Breaking bread