The Kingdom of God, Hope and Christian Ethics

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16
Author(s):  
David P. Gushee ◽  
Codi D. Norred
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Moral Action ◽  
Gustavo Gutierrez ◽  
Narrative Frame ◽  
Progressive Evangelicals

This article interrogates the use of a Kingdom-of-God narrative frame, in the work both of progressive evangelicals Glen Stassen and David Gushee ( Kingdom Ethics) and in liberation theology, claiming that this narrative has often inspired hope and moral action but can be questioned on a variety of theological and methodological grounds. It considers startling recent claims by liberation ethicist Miguel De la Torre that all talk of a coming Kingdom of God is mythic, a middle-class illusion that undermines radical commitment to ethical praxis for justice. Engagement with two classic liberationist texts (by Gustavo Gutiérrez and James Cone) confirms both that liberation theology offers a somewhat radicalized Kingdom-of-God narrative and that De la Torre’s new claims represent a clear break with liberationism. The article concludes by briefly considering options in eschatology for those who have heretofore invested considerable hope in an immanentist, participative, certainly-coming Kingdom-of-God narrative to ground their Christian ethics.

scholarly journals The Solved Conflict: Pope Francis and Liberation Theology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Jakob Løland
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gustavo Gutierrez ◽  
Global Church

AbstractThe battle for meaning and influence between Latin American liberations theologians and the Vatican was one of the most significant conflicts in the global Catholic church of the twentieth century. With the election of the Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio as head of the global church in 2013, the question about the legacy of liberation theology was actualized. The canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the pope’s approximation to the public figure of Gustavo Gutiérrez signaled a new approach to the liberation theology movement in the Vatican. This article argues that Pope Francis shares some of the main theological concerns as pontiff with liberation theology. Although the pope remains an outsider to liberation theology, he has in a sense solved the conflict between the Vatican and the Latin American social movement. Through an analysis of ecclesial documents and theological literature, his can be discerned on three levels. First, Pope Francis’ use of certain theological ideas from liberation theology has been made possible and less controversial by post-cold war contexts. Second, Pope Francis has contributed to the solution of this conflict through significant symbolic gestures rather than through a shift of official positions. Third, as Pope Francis, the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio has appropriated certain elements that are specific to liberation theology without acknowledging his intellectual debt to it.

A Brief History of Theosemiotic

Theosemiotic ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 15-42
Author(s):  
Michael L. Raposa
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
William James ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Historical Survey ◽  
Causal Influence ◽  
Gustavo Gutierrez ◽  
Book Of Nature ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
History Of

This chapter supplies a historical survey of theosemiotic, focused less on demonstrating actual lines of causal influence than on exposing the resonance of certain ideas articulated by thinkers sometimes far removed from each other in space and time. It links Peirce’s thought to that of earlier figures (like Augustine, Duns Scotus, John Poinsot, Jonathan Edwards, and Ralph Waldo Emerson), certain contemporaries (especially William James and Josiah Royce), and later thinkers and developments (most notably, H. Richard Niebuhr, Simone Weil, and Gustavo Gutierrez). The chapter begins with an examination of the religious significance of talk about the “book of nature” and concludes with the observation of a certain natural affinity between a theosemiotic inspired by Peirce’s pragmatism and Latin American liberation theology.

scholarly journals A Theological Implication of ‘Humility’ in Mark 10: 13-16 from the Perspective of the Parable of the Kingdom of God

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Halim Wiryadinata
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theological Implication ◽  
The Way

The parable of the Kingdom of God brings the seriousness of studying about the meaning of what the Lord Jesus Christ wants to say. There are many arguments to say about the meaning of the Kingdom of God, while a new approach of the twentieth century appears. The study of historical Jesus by N. T Wright gives the idea of Jesus, Israel, and the Cross. If the parable of the Kingdom of God is retelling the story of Israel, then the new concept of the Kingdom of God should be different from the old Israel. The concept of humility should be seen as the way out of the Kingdom of God. Mark 10: 13 – 16 where the Lord Jesus Christ uses the concept of the little children, it apparently shows the helplessness and humility concepts as the way out for the Kingdom of God. However, the concept of humility should be seen as the proclamation of the Kingdom of God in the perspective of a mission to the people. Finally, the concept of humility also should not beyond the limitation of the Gospel. It should be in the line of the meaning of the Gospel itself. We are encouraged not to repeat what history happens, but rather to learn from the history of Liberation Theology.   

scholarly journals The contribution of deontological Christian ethics to the contemporary human rights discourse

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Christian Ethics ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Deontological Ethics ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This article examines the possible role of a Christian deonto- logical ethics in the contemporary human rights debate. It concludes that a Christian deontological ethics in the Reformed tradition can be positively engaged in the human rights debate when Biblical theological topics are transposed into moral directives applicable to the current human rights concerns, such as religious extremism, femicide, ideologies of intolerance and ecocide. As an example of the applicability of a Christian deon- tological ethics from a reformed perspective, the following Bibli- cal topics are investigated: human dignity on the basis of the “imago dei”, creation and creational integrity, the kingdom of God and forgiveness. Furthermore, the article proposes that other concepts can be added to this list such as the Biblical idea of life, eschatology, covenant and holiness.

Gustavo Gutiérrez

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
Gustavo Gutierrez ◽  
God The Father ◽  
Economic Transaction

This chapter explains the soteriology of Gustavo Gutiérrez, one of the founders of liberation theology. Gutiérrez’s theology of salvation is centered around the communion of humans with one another and with God, found not necessarily in a forensic declaration, meritorious works, or exclusive claim to an economic transaction, but in relationship with God the Father who produces human flourishing.

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