JS423 lectures 7-8

lecture 7-8

Terrorism and the American Dream

Terrorism is secondary violence. First violence is the system that allows sweeping oppression and exploitation of those who are economically weaker. By continually subscribing to the ideology of lifestyles that are systemically based on the exploitation of the weak, we are committing economic violence.

The American Dream – that perfect small town, where everyone is clean, white, beautiful and special, is a construct of the perfect society that is crafted to support a lifestyle that is grounded in economic oppression of the weak, both within America and in the world generally. If you happen to be a poor (Black/Hispanic) American, you are either absent from the dream or it is your own fault, you are; too stupid, lazy or immoral to know or deserve any better.

The American Dream is held in place by using those members of society who are most likely to be absent from the Dream. The military is full of young black and Hispanic soldiers, who’s only way of becoming part of the Dream is to die for it. Only then do they change from being disturbing ‘gang’ members into ‘worthwhile’ members of society.

This Dream comes with a price that is only now being fully realised. The Dream is being exported all around the world through the American media. Advertising American consumerism and movies about the wonderful way of life these beautiful people live is being pushed into the face of the 80% of the world that are struggling to feed themselves and who have no chance of experiencing this dream. Is it any wonder that these people are full of envy and hatred for a people that deliberately oppress them and glorify themselves for doing it!

And Australia believes and follows this Dream. We had our own dreams about a ‘fair go’ for all, but was there really any truth in it? Or was it too only for the white, bright Aussies, and if you were indigenous forget it! Either way, our dreams are being subsumed under the American Dream as we absorb more and more of their cultural take over.

If we are going to follow America in its constructed ideology, then we deserve to incur the envy and wrath of those we help to oppress.

JS423 Assignment 1: Lecture 4,5,6

Robin Martine Eve-Macleod
Grad dip ed
Lecture 4

The Moses Movement

Exodus: The Israelites – the chosen people were the poor, nomadic, slave class – without citizenship – without rights, Moses and the God Yahweh claim them as their own.

The biblical scholar Norman Gottlieb saw Exodus as the symbolic memories of the poor to legitimise their struggle against their oppressors, in Pharaohs Egypt. He saw Moses as a movement, rather than a single entity, whose central message was of equity and equality for the disenfranchised members of society under the Pharaohs – an egalitarian social project in opposition to the feudalism of Egyptian ruling class, that had the prophetic guidance of their god, Yahweh. In this light the “angel of death” killing all the 1st born “…the killing of the firstborn, the ones born to rule” (Brueggemann, p.22), is a symbolic act that disassociates God from the ruling class of Egypt, by eradicating those traditionally born to rule, through an act of guerrilla warfare.

Moses (and those associated with his ideology) is a “…paradigmatic prophet who sought to evoke in Israel an alternative consciousness.” (Brueggemann, p.15) The religious institutions of the Pharaohs preached the divine order of feudal Egypt, while Moses preached in direct opposition to that order, of a “free God” (Brueggemann, , p.17) who actively engages with the Israelites to overthrow their systemic oppression: “Moses dismantles the politics of oppression and exploitation by countering with a politics of justice and compassion.” (Brueggemann, p.16). And leads the chosen, the poor and oppressed out of domination, and into a new way of life.

Jesus can be seen as having inherited Moses’ social project. Jesus enhances and broadens the scope of the project and the ‘promised land’ becomes the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, not a piece of real estate, but a land of equity and equality for all. Furthermore he rejects violence as a means of attaining equity and equality, in favour of tolerance and love.

This Moses and God I can understand. Looking at the Old Testament like this makes explicable things that were irreconcilable for me, such as the horrific killing of the first born. Even if, like Jesus, I do not agree with the method, I can understand the sentiment.

Reference:
Brueggemann, W. “The alternative community of Moses” The Prophetic Imagination,


Lecture 5

Two “Projects”

The Moses movement achieves its goals. After about 250 years tensions begin to arise as class distinctions take prominence over equality and equity. At Mt Sinai Temple Law was used as a confirmation of hierarchical order and a tension develops between the “Prophetic” project of justice as preached by Moses and Jesus, and the “Purity” project of the Temple of Mt Sinai, in which the law is central: “The Jesus movement left the temple confines and showed the universal appeal and power of Jewish spirituality…A different language, a different culture- none of this was an obstacle. The experience opened them and awakened them to new thoughts. It did not strap them into a rigid orthodoxy.” (The Single Source of Morality and Religion, pp.62-3) The tension this created had a direct effect on Jesus, leading ultimately to his crucifixion, and continued throughout the Gospel in to theology of today.

Balance is essential to create a harmonious blend that gives structure to immutable truths, while seeking justice for all in the myriad ways of human relationships on Earth. Without balance the prophetic can become personal ideology which is little more than heresy, while rigid adherence to the law lacks the ability to work with local community nuances, and can lead to an idolatry of the Church.


Lecture 6

Jesus and the Crucifixion:

The popular view of Jesus’ death gives Jesus up to God as a sacrificial lamb in atonement for the sins of man, a blood sacrifice to a vengeful deity, language and ideology that was part of many religions of the ancient world, including the Old Testament.

In the 4th century Christianity became the state religion of Rome. The influx of pagans embracing Christianity needed to understand their new religion in terms of their past religious experiences, in which blood sacrifice was a central theme.
In the 12th century St Anselum used the ideology of atonement as a ‘sacred mimic of the feudal social order’ at a time when honour was a matter of blood, blood ancestry, blood contests.

However, the theology of atonement is at odds with the most powerful story of the New Testament, that of the prodigal son. This analogy is of God as the forgiving, loving father, who will go out to meet his wayward son, rather than wait in judgement. God embraces the sinners, and rejects the role of accountant requiring recompense to balance the books. It also negates Jesus’ life, as only his sacrifice is needed to expunge our guilt and satisfy God, his life is just filling in time until this ultimate act. If this was the case, why need he go through a human existence at all?

If the crucifixion is not an act of atonement, then it is a consequence of the life of Jesus, not the point of it. Jesus is the inheritor of the prophetic project of Moses that preaches equality and equity for all. Jesus lived and vociferously expounded a life that was in opposition to the current culture and power base of the day. His message was for all, not just those who lived rigidly by Temple Law (The Purity project), and it was in opposition to the structure of society under Roman Imperialism, all of which came to a head with the destruction of the Temple. His crucifixion was a direct consequence of his radical, compassionate, subversive and confronting preaching to the masses, “He has, in fact, dismantled the dominant culture and nullified its claims. The way of his ultimate criticism is his decisive solidarity with the marginal people and the accompanying vulnerability required by that solidarity.” (Brueggemann p.81)

At Gethsemene Jesus recognised that if he continued on this path he would die. He knew that some of his friend will denounce and reject him, but still he feels that to validate his vision of the Kingdom of Heaven must stand firm. His acceptance of death is an act of fidelity to the prophetic mission that he has inherited and lived his life in accordance with. His resurrection is God’s fidelity to Jesus, and thus the prophetic mission he died for: “As with Moses, so Jesus’ ministry and death opposed the politics of oppression with the politics of justice and compassion. As with Moses, so Jesus’ ministry and death resisted the economics of affluence and called for the economics of shared humanity. As with Moses, so Jesus’ ministry and death contradicted the religion of God’s captivity with the freedom of God to bring life where he will, even in the face of death.” (Brueggemann, p,95)

This is a comprehensible act of strength and compassion by Jesus, that is in keeping with his history, and that many others have also committed to with similar results.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr

(Speach: I Have a Dream)

Reference:
Brueggemann, W. “Criticism and Pathos in Jesus of Nazareth” The Prophetic Imagination,

JS423 assingment 1: Lecture 2 & 3

Robin Martine Eve-Macleod
Grad dip ed

Lecture 2

Sign’s of the Times:

Vatican II

Vatican II, convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962 (course reader: “An Evolving Social Message” Chap 2, p.9) was a huge step by church leaders worldwide to make the Church relevant to modern, post war society. Gutierrez was at Vatican II and was a founding father of the new ideals laid down. His motivation was in the extreme poverty and dehumanisation experienced by the majority of people, that he found on his return to Peru in the late 1940’s. They had no voice, while Christianity and the Church offered no critical edge on their entrenched suffering.

The council agreed that theology, and therefore the Church, needs to be contextualised, connected to and relevant to the concerns of modern life, not just expounded from tradition or as a means of justifying iniquity and inequality. Paul VI envisaged this as a “process …[of] three separate moments:

1 Evaluation and analysis of their contemporary situation.
2 Prayer, discernment, and reflection, brining the light of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church to bear on the situation.
3 Pastoral action which fights injustices, thus labouring to make the “reign” of God a reality.”(course reader: ”An Evolving Social Message” Chap 2, p.11)

These moments allow theology to respond to questions that life throws up by engaging in discourse between God and society. To do this effectively it is essential to engage in dialogues with the social sciences; Political science, economics, anthropology and sociology. This allows the Church to have different ideals in different situations, for instance; liberation theology in Asia, where so many religions co-exist, is essentially different from that of Peru, where Christianity predominates.

Lecture 3

What are the signs of the times?

Growing inequity; widespread poverty; encultured violence; mass displacement; intolerance; fear; despair; personal, political and global neglect.


80% of the world’s wealth and resources are owned by 20% of the world’s population.
The ‘poor’ countries are primarily those colonised during the imperialist expansion of the technologically advanced (ships, navigation, guns) counties of Europe and later America, from 1600-1945, and this created the North/South divide between wealthy, independent, imperial nations, and poor, colonised, exploited ones. Poverty is not an accident but a social and economic construct by Imperialist nations for the exploitation of subject peoples: To offer charity is to deny the injustice of the construct, rather than accepting responsibility and redressing the iniquity.

While 80% of the world’s population live in extreme hardship, the wealthy 20% are also exhibiting signs of terrible distress: “A cruel and endemic economic injustice, a soul-killing materialism, a life-destroying drug traffic, a persistent and pervasive racism, a massive breakdown of family life and structure, and an almost total collapse of moral values have all combined to create a climate of violence throughout this [any] country and a coldness of heart on our streets that make even veteran urban activists shiver.”(Wallis p.4). In Paulo Friere’s “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” – he says that the act of oppression causes a loss of humanity in the oppressor. And it is the none white members of the affluent societies who are suffering most: “The white racism that survived integration by selectively assimilating some blacks while inflicting upon poor black communities the worst conditions since slavery…” (Wallis p.8).

When the developmental status of a country is measured in economic terms people are seen as ‘tax payers’ and ‘consumers’ – no longer citizens or communities: “…the grindstone of our economy effectively leaves politics and political participation to the elites” (Wallis p.11), the effect of this is that politics works only for elitist, multinational, global corporations, and pays no head to the people it is supposed to govern and support, using ‘spin doctoring’ media to gain sway, rather than genuine political debate. And this consumerist society is not sustainable. The wealthy counties are stripping the world bare and creating ecological debt that our children will have to pay. As countries like India and China increase their prosperity, and thus, their ecological footprint, the rate of global destruction will increase exponentially. Global disaster is looming.

Reference:
Wallis, J. “Signs of a Crisis” The Soul of Politics: A practical and Prophetic Vision for Change, Harper Collins, 1994.

JS423 assignment 1: lecture 1

Robin Martine Eve-Macleod
Grad dip ed

Lecture 1

Political & Liberation Theology:
After Reagan’s peace accord in Latin America, the Guatemalan government were reluctant to participate in assessing human rights violations because many of those involved in the atrocities where still in positions of authority.

The Arch Diocese instigated a separate inquiry led by Bishop Juan Geradi “…the starting point of liberation theology is…the here-and-nowness of what is happening,” (McAfee Brown p.52).
Bishop Geradi published his findings in 3 volumes titled “Nunca Mas” (No More).

Two nights later, Bishop Geradi was betrayed and shot by the military, his killers were not found, until much later when Pope John Paul had Geradi’s case re-opened. He was killed because his report made common cause with the poor and helpless who had suffered at the hands of those who were still in power: “Liberation theologians…are talking about commitment to the poor, by which they mean taking sides with the poor in their struggle to escape from poverty and attain human dignity.” (McAfee Brown P.56).

The reports main theme of repatriation of those who died and were buried in anonymous mass grave was put into practice. Bodies from the graves overflowed from the small, local churches, and were laid out in the town square, for burial in very public ceremonies, lasting up to three days. This public display of personal loss and grief was essential to the community on many levels: It offered those who had lost loved ones closure: Reassured the community that no-one is forgotten: As a public acknowledgement that injustice had been done to the individuals and the community often by those who inhabit the institutions that made up the town square.

Repatriation of the dead was insisted on by the Church for several reasons: Christian burial is an essential part of pastoral care for the local priest, it is his duty: On a theological level this was an essential public announcement that the Church, and therefore God, stand in solidarity with justice. That God will not allow the darkness to keep hidden injustice, He will shine the light of awareness and compassion on those in need of justice, “The liberationist message …is that things need not remain the way they are, for the biblical God is working actively for justice and seeks to enlist all of God’s people in the struggle.” (McAfee Brown P.62).

Reference:
McAfee Brown, R. “A New Way of Encountering God,” ‘Liberation Theology’, An Introductory Guide.