scholarly journals Han and/as Ressentiment: Lessons from Minjung Theology

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Sam Han
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
English Language ◽  
Minjung Theology ◽  
Korean People ◽  
American Counterpart ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Cultural Concept ◽  
Lauren Berlant

Following calls in recent critical debates in English-language Korean studies to reevaluate the cultural concept of han (often translated as “resentment”), this article argues for its reconsideration from the vantage point of minjung theology, a theological perspective that emerged in South Korea in the 1970s, which has been dubbed the Korean version of “liberation theology”. Like its Latin American counterpart, minjung theology understood itself in explicitly political terms, seeking to reinvigorate debates around the question of theodicy—the problem of suffering vis-à-vis the existence of a divine being or order. Studying some of the ways in which minjung theologians connected the concept of han to matters of suffering, this article argues, offers an opening towards a redirection from han’s dominant understanding within academic discourse and public culture as a special and unique racial essence of Korean people. Moreover, by putting minjung theology in conversation with contemporary political theory, in particular the works of Wendy Brown and Lauren Berlant, this article hopes to bring minjung theology to the attention of critical theory.

scholarly journals Theodicy, Undeserved Suffering, and Compassionate Solidarity: An Interdisciplinary Reading of Hwang Sok-Yong’s The Guest

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 463
Author(s):  
Young Hoon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Minjung Theology ◽  
Johann Baptist Metz

The author explores theological questions regarding the Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong’s The Guest from interdisciplinary perspectives. This paper analyzes the novel in relation to the emotional complex of han as understood in Korean minjung theology, the political theology of Johann Baptist Metz, and Ignacio Ellacuría’s liberation theology. Drawing upon the perspectives of Korean, German, and Latin American scholars, this approach invites us to construct a discourse of theodicy in a fresh light, to reach a deeper level of theodical engagement with the universal problem of suffering, and to nurture the courage of hope for human beings in today’s stressed world. Contemplating the concrete depiction of human suffering in The Guest, the paper invites readers to deepen their understanding of God in terms of minjung theology’s thrust of resolving the painful feelings of han of the oppressed, Metz’s insight of suffering unto God as a sacramental encounter with God, and Ellacuría’s idea of giving witness to God’s power of the resurrection in eschatological hope. The paper concludes that the immensity of today’s human suffering asks for that compassionate solidarity with the crucified today which can generate hope in the contemporary milieu.

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.

The Strange Silence of Latin American Political Theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 147892992110233
Author(s):  
Cristian Pérez-Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Editorial Boards ◽  
Latin America And Caribbean ◽  
Latin American And Caribbean

Political theorists affiliated with Latin American and Caribbean academic institutions rarely publish in flagship journals or other important outlets of the discipline. Similarly, they are not members of the editorial boards of high-ranking, generalist or subfield journals, and their research is not included in the political theory canon of what students from other regions study. The aim of this article is not to explain the origins of this silence—though some possibilities are considered—but to describe some of the ways in which it manifests and why it matters. I argue that the exclusion or omission of Latin American and Caribbean voices is a negative outcome not only for Latin American and Caribbean political theorist but for the political theory subfield at large. In response, I defend a context-sensitive approach to political theory, which has the potential to provide greater voice to Latin American and Caribbean scholars while improving theoretical analysis of Latin America and Caribbean.

Liberation Theology in Latin America: Antecedents and Autochthony

1978 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-370
Author(s):  
Alan Neely
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Objective Analysis

Liberation theology surfaced at Medellin in 1968. Professor Neely, whose eleven-year service in Colombia included that date, fully acknowledges the importance of the CELAM conference. However, he feels that the beginnings or antecedents of this movement can be traced to a number of sources both in Latin America and elsewhere. We're deeply indebted to the author for this careful, objective analysis which views the Latin American developments in terms of a broader historical perspective.

scholarly journals IDENTIDAD DE LA TEOLOGÍA LATINOAMERICA Y LA TEOLOGÍA DE LA LIBERACIÓN

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Jorge Costadoat Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Age Of Maturity ◽  
The Status ◽  
Original Speech ◽  
America Latina ◽  
The Church

RESUMEN: El objetivo de esta investigación es suministrar argumentos para identificar la Teología latinoamericana con la Teología de la liberación, y viceversa. Entre estos argumentos se debe considerar la conciencia de alcanzar la “mayoría de edad” de la Iglesia en América Latina en el postconcilio; la convicción de los teólogos de la liberación de estar elaborando una “nueva manera” de hacer teo­logía; una toma de distancia del carácter ilustrado de la teología; y la posibilidad de reconocer en los acontecimientos regionales, particularmente en los pobres, un habla original de Dios. Este artículo pretende hacer una contribución al status quaestionis del método teológico.ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to provide arguments to identify Latin American Theology with Liberation Theology, and vice versa. Among these arguments, one should consider the awareness of the Church in Latin America reaching its “age of maturity” in the post-conciliar period. Other arguments are the conviction of liberation theologians to be elaborating a “new way” of doing theology; a distance from the illustrated characteristic of theology; and, the possibility of recognizing in regional events, particularly in the poor, God’s original speech. This article aims to contribute to the status quaestionis of the theological method.

Gender, Personhood and Theology

1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine L. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Feminist Theology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Academic Feminism ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Second Wave

One of the most significant phenomena within the Western Church over the past twenty-five years has been the emergence of feminist theology. Fuelled by the second wave of the modern women's movement, drawing upon the theoretical and critical stances of academic feminism, and inspired by Latin American Liberation Theology, feminist theologians have achieved a remarkable body of work in a relatively short time. They have sought to establish the opportunities and validate the methods by which women, long silenced as theological subjects, may articulate their perspectives and contribute towards the reconstruction of a more ‘inclusive’ theological discipline.

Liberation Theology and the Central America Solidarity Movement

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-126
Author(s):  
Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Central American ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Revolutionary Movements ◽  
School Of The Americas

This chapter examines the conditions that fostered liberation theology in Latin America. The chapter provides a brief overview of liberation theology’s central themes and how it fueled revolutionary movements in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It surveys the Catholic hierarchy’s responses, ranging from sympathy to condemnation, and highlights several US religious movements that expressed solidarity with Central American Catholics who were fighting for social justice. These organizations included Witness for Peace, which brought US Christians to the war zones of Nicaragua to deter combat attacks, and also Pledge of Resistance, which mobilized tens of thousands into action when US policy toward the region grew more bellicose. Finally, the chapter describes the School of the Americas Watch, which aimed to stop US training of Latin American militaries that were responsible for human rights atrocities.

Does Queer Political Theory Have a Future?

Shame ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan Popa
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Future ◽  
Eve Sedgwick ◽  
Lauren Berlant

In this final chapter I reflect upon the possibilities unleashed by recent scholarship in queer political theory. First, I discuss the future of queer political thinking by insisting that the act of interpretation has to draw on how one becomes both irritated by and surprised by scholarly arguments. As an affective practice, irritation offers the incentive to challenge what is already known while the surprise opens up a new territory for investigation. Second, to enact my interpretative method, I critically engage with the work of Eve Sedgwick, Leo Bersani, José Esteban Muñoz, and Lauren Berlant to argue that queer practices can articulate an equality-oriented vision of politics.

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