Religion exam 3

Question 7

Focus on the “preferential option for the poor”, stressing the current socioeconomic situation in sinful, unfair, oppressive, and the cause of social inequality. It proposes it is the Christian duty to fight against and change this system. Its ideas come for papal documents for the Second Vatican Council and Marxist class analysis. Liberation Theology way of thought has influenced the CEB, which has met millions of followers, but it is ultimately overshadowed by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement. Those who resist the Liberation Theology are Pope John Paul II, who is against Marxist analysis and solutions, military dictatorship that ran rampant during the 1970s, and other outside governments.

Liberation Theology influences

It was influenced by papal documents from Second Vatican Council and Marxist class analysis

Who were against LT?

Pope John Paul II, Military Dictatorship of 1970s, and other outside governments

What is Horton thesis?

Horton thesis was primarily focused on how modernization affects religious beliefs. He suggests that as people’s worldview evolved due to improvements in communication, increased trade, and expansion, local deities such as ancestors, nature spirits, and territorial deities won’t do. In this case, there is a shift from these lesser deities to a single, supreme God, like the Christian God

How does Horton thesis apply to African?

This thesis suggests an intellectual, non religious casual explanation to the spread of Christianity in Africa. It says that the shift in African was already in the air and inevitable before missionaries arrived. The missionaries acted as a catalyst that quickened the shift from lesser deities to one supreme God

Context: Missionaries assumptions

When entering the new world, the missionaries carried with them inherent assumptions of the Indians. They show the Indians as “others”, outside God’s grace that needed to be converted or eliminated. They also show themselves as superior, both intellectually and morally, to the Indians who they call savages.

Context: military campaigns

These assumptions and the movement of power from the papal control to the state transform the missions into military campaigns. They approach conversion of the Indians as a need to strip away their traditional culture, which they saw as evil and connected with the devil, to make way for Christianity. Anyone was resisted was converted through coercion and war. Force was seen as necessary, back by scripture, and the only way to interact with the Indians

How was force viewed?

Force was viewed as necessary, backed by scripture, and the only way to interact with the Indians.

Context: disease

Although millions were baptized by the missionaries effort, the cost of human life was enormous. A mere one-tenth Indians remained. This is in part due to disease brought from Europe call the “virgin soil” epidemics. In essence, this “violent evangelism” of the Americas were a nightmare filled with violence, destruction, and genocide. 

Bartolomé Las Casas

He was no immune to the assumption that plague his time period. However, after his two conversions, he sought a better, more humane way of converting the Indians. Life-revering Christianity is about the idea that all things are God’s creation and this must be respected, protected, and supported. Las Casas argues that the Indians are people and anyone who said they are lesser and thus are not deserving of God’s grace is wrong. He emphasizes that Indian people are sophisticated and can be talk to in a peaceful manner. Although Las Casas writings almost met deaf ears and he is not perfect in his actions, he stands against “the vast power of a desecrating Christendom” with a more humane approach.

What is Pentecostalism?

Pentecostalism’s name comes from Pentecost and means 50 days. The Holy Spirits came to the disciples during Pentecostal as Jesus said. The Holy Spirit gave the disciples the gift of speaking in tongues, known as glossollia, so they can spread the good news without restriction. Pentecostalism is a movement emphasizing the Holy Spirit possesses the body, known spirit baptism, and giving gifts such as speaking in tongues. The result is heightened awareness of God’s presence in one’s life, emphasizing that the miracle can still be seen and experienced in the present. Pentecostalism focuses on the experience of God’s work on people’s lives, following the approach of right feeling or orthopathy.

Pentecostalism’s result

The result is heightened awareness of God’s presence in one’s life, highlighting that the miracles of the past can still be seen and experienced in present. Pentecostalism focuses on the experiences of God’s work on people’s lives, following the approach of orthopathy or right feeling

Origin of Pentecostalism in America

Pentecostalism origin can be traced back to the United States. In Top