http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd8VrbHkhjQhttp://
BereanBeacon
April 06, 2008
Mrs. Waite's program is on every Saturday at about 4:15 p.m. Eastern (sometimes 4:20 p.m.) for 15 minutes. It is on Radio Station WNQM in Nashville, TN. It is also put on the Internet at the follow...
Mrs. Waite's program is on every Saturday at about 4:15 p.m. Eastern (sometimes 4:20 p.m.) for 15 minutes. It is on Radio Station WNQM in Nashville, TN. It is also put on the Internet at the following URL--http://wwcr.com/wwcr_listen.html When you get on that URL, select WNQM - Nashville, TN Program Guide Windows Media Player Real Media Player MP3 Players to tune in on her program.The Bible For Today.900 Park Avenue.Collingswood NJ 08108.Dr. D. A. Waite, Th.D., Ph.D..Pastor of the Bible For Today.Baptist Church.Orders - 1-800-John 10:9.or 1-800-564-6109.Q & A - 1-856-854-4452.or 1-856-854-4747.Fax - 1-856-854-2464.http://www.biblefortoday.org/ .BFT@BibleForToday.org
Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
At its inception, liberation theology was predominantly found in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. It is often cited as a form of Christian socialism, and it has enjoyed widespread influence in Latin America and among the Jesuits,...
Christian socialism Christian left social justice, poverty human rights
Marxist Edward Bellamy *
Tony Benn
Phillip Berryman *
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dorothy Day
Toni Negri
Leo Tolstoy
Mary Ward
Catholic Worker Movement
Christian Socialist Movement
Liberation theology- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberati...
.
Showing posts with label Liberation Theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberation Theology. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Christ’s Healing in a Changing World
By Jan Paulsen
What is the future of Seventh-day Adventist health ministries as it faces the challenges of a rapidly changing global environment? Following is an adaptation of the keynote address given by General Conference President Jan Paulsen on July 7, 2009, at the Health and Lifestyle Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the rise of the “prophets of secularization”—sociologists and political thinkers who predicted the decline of religious faith as a force in society. They simply took for granted that the more people were exposed to economic, scientific, and political advances, the more quickly they would shake off the old-fashioned shackles of faith. The death of religion was simply a matter of time.
The obituaries, though, were premature. We find ourselves today in a world where religious belief is clearly a significant and, in many places, a growing force in society. Instead of “secularization theory,” sociologists are now more likely to speak of a “post-secular” age.
But there is another powerful force of the twenty-first century, a force that is wholly a product of recent decades. Unlike religious belief, it is newborn, it is brash, it has few moorings in the past: I am speaking about the process of globalization, which is re-creating humanity’s social structures within a span of time that is quite simply breathtaking. Globalization acts as a vast, dynamic “transport system” that carries ideas, values, and people and deposits them anywhere and everywhere. Barriers of language, culture, and geography are no longer as meaningful as they once were. No institution—public or private, religious or secular—remains untouched.
Globalization is a fact; it is happening; it’s as unavoidable and unknowable as its ultimate consequences. Religion, similarly, is a reality that is with us. It’s here, and it’s a powerful force both within the lives of individuals and in the societies where they live. These two forces—globalization and religion—live together, interact with each other, and are often intertwined.
Guiding Values
For the health ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, surveying the changing global landscape on which it conducts its mission, these are significant issues.
As we walk into the future, there is no question that our commitment remains strong. We continue to place a high priority on facilitating, funding, and supporting professional medical and health care through our network of more than 600 hospitals, sanitariums, clinics, and dispensaries; through nutrition and other health programs; and through our advocacy of vegetarianism and alcohol- and drug-free living.
But while our commitment is clear, I believe it’s time to reflect in more depth on the values that should anchor us as we step onto the shifting ground of our changing world. And more than this, to ask ourselves what values we can, in turn, imprint upon this terrain. What unique mark can we make?
We need to ask ourselves: What does a distinctively Adventist approach to health ministries look like? What does it offer that isn’t already being offered by any number of alternate providers?
Let’s consider briefly four strands of thought woven throughout Adventist heritage and identity that are central to the health ministries of our church and which, I hope, will continue to guide us into the future. Obviously, this is not a finite list of values, but can perhaps serve as a starting point for an ongoing conversation.
Theology of Connection
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matt. 25:35, 36, NIV).
For Seventh-day Adventists, our model for relating to other people finds its beginning and end in Christ’s radical identification with humanity. An individualistic, inward-looking conception of Christianity is utterly at odds with a Savior who reached out to restore blind eyes, cure lepers, and heal an emotionally broken woman.
Quite simply, we cannot express our faith—our desire to imitate Christ—in seclusion; our values and our beliefs find their true meaning only within the context of human relationships. In the words of my former teacher Jürgen Moltmann, “Likeness to God cannot be lived in isolation. It can be lived only in human community” (J. Moltmann, God in Creation, p. 222).
So what does it mean to live in connection with others? It means that your problems are not yours alone; they are also mine. It means having a sense of solidarity with humanity that makes me vulnerable, also, to its hurts and pain.
Living in connection with others means seeing the large problems of society as collective human problems. I begin to see that poverty, for instance, is not just the result of random circumstances or arbitrary luck. If I live in comfort and someone else lives in distress, could there be a material relationship between these two conditions? Perhaps there is. In admitting this, my sense of isolation diminishes and my sense of responsibility for others grows.
How will this value express itself within the health ministries of our church? By deliberately placing ourselves in those places where there are “gaps” in access to health care; in offering service that pays no heed to a person’s religious, economic, or cultural background; in avoiding “parochial” thinking by forming creative partnerships with others who share our goal of relieving human suffering—be it a government agency, another faith-based organization, a local church or mosque. It means being motivated by self-giving love, not the desire for financial profit or increased influence.
Ultimately, living in connection with others means that “when we see human beings in distress, whether through affliction or through sin, we shall never say, This does not concern me” (The Desire of Ages, p. 504).
Theology of Human Dignity
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).
Whatever the Imago Dei means—and who has a complete definition of it?—it touches the whole person. God made us in His image—physical, spiritual, moral, social, emotional, intellectual beings.
But for Seventh-day Adventists, the immeasurable worth of every person derives from more than just this stamp of the Divine given at Creation. Human dignity springs not just from our origins but also from our potential and our destiny. This concept profoundly shapes the way we deal with people. In all our healing ministries, we see in each person not just “what is,” but “what is possible.”
It means also that we must, at times, have the courage to “wade into the fray,” to recognize and condemn structures or practices that diminish the dignity of our fellow human beings. This isn’t new territory for us. Hear the words of former General Conference president Arthur Daniels spoken about the ministry of Ellen White: “Slavery, the caste system, unjust racial prejudices, the oppression of the poor, the neglect of the unfortunate,—these all are set forth as unchristian and a serious menace to the well-being of the human race, and as evils which the church of Christ is appointed by her Lord to overthrow” (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 473).
Simply put, acknowledging the image of God in humanity means that we value people above everything else—and this fundamental premise runs throughout all we are and do as a church.
Theology of Hope
“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5, KJV).
For Seventh-day Adventists hope is a grand theme, an essential part of our spiritual “genetic blueprint.” But for us, hope doesn’t just point forward toward the grand epilogue of human history—the “what is to come.” Hope is the lens through which we view past, future, and present.
Our hope looks backward to the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection and finds there its touchstone. It’s a hope that looks forward to the moment of ultimate transformation—when all things are made new—and finds there its ideal, its motivation. And it’s a hope that looks outward to the realities as we meet them today and asks, What then can we do to start bridging the gap between what is and what is to be?
Some have been critical, and rightly so, of an eschatological perspective that serves simply to reconcile us to current miseries—an “apocalyptic lethargy.” But for Seventh-day Adventists the renewal of all things is not just a future event in history; it’s a process of renewal that begins now. Awaiting the “blessed hope” is not a passive exercise, but something that demands action in the present.
The healing ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is primarily about awakening hope—physical and spiritual. Although physical needs are often the most apparent, they are indivisible from emotional and spiritual needs. In ministering to the body, we can never ignore the spirit; and the most basic need of the spirit is hope.
Theology of Wholeness
“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:42, 43).
In Christ’s death and resurrection, we see vividly and starkly displayed the extreme contradictions of the human experience: the corrosive power of sin, and the creative power of God; the decay of fallen humanity, and God’s ability to renew and transform; the agony of separation from God, and the triumph of God claiming His own. In the death and resurrection of Christ this dialectic between decay and wholeness provides an unparalleled display of God’s creative and redemptive power.
Bringing wholeness out of decay, healing out of sickness, finding peace in chaos, bringing light into the darkness—this is the task that the followers of Christ have been given.
For Seventh-day Adventists, “wholeness” has another dimension. Our spirituality embraces the whole of human life; it recognizes that “the relation … between the mind and the body is very intimate” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 241), that we don’t live our lives in “segments” where physical health is merely a “piece” that can be separated from the totality of our existence.
Our approach to health is not just limited to the treatment of disease, or to defining what we eat or drink, or to training medical professionals; it’s a concept that encompasses all that contributes to the “completeness” of human existence.
Health ministry is therefore indivisible from our commitment to education, to human rights, to humanitarian work, to environmental care, to our desire to be a force for good in our communities. All these commitments find their beginning and end, their meaning and objective, in our spiritual mission, which gives life and force to all we do as a church.
A Good Life
This is where we stand today—at the edge of a new world that we can’t yet fully imagine, where the shifting plates of technology, economics, and politics are still re-creating our global landscape.
What will tomorrow look like? I don’t know; but I know that it’s not to be feared.
How will the health ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church impact tomorrow? I pray it will hold strongly to its commitment to create connection, promote human dignity, and offer hope and wholeness; that it will continue, in a multitude of ways, to help people achieve a “good” life.
In that simple word “good” lies an immense range of ideas—the ability to live fully, to love deeply, to breathe freely, to experience joy and the absence of fear, to know a hope that exists outside the bounds of what is finite and that will take us into God’s eternity. This is the good life Christ holds out to us; this is what defines the mission we have been given.
Jan Paulsen is president of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.
What is the future of Seventh-day Adventist health ministries as it faces the challenges of a rapidly changing global environment? Following is an adaptation of the keynote address given by General Conference President Jan Paulsen on July 7, 2009, at the Health and Lifestyle Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the rise of the “prophets of secularization”—sociologists and political thinkers who predicted the decline of religious faith as a force in society. They simply took for granted that the more people were exposed to economic, scientific, and political advances, the more quickly they would shake off the old-fashioned shackles of faith. The death of religion was simply a matter of time.
The obituaries, though, were premature. We find ourselves today in a world where religious belief is clearly a significant and, in many places, a growing force in society. Instead of “secularization theory,” sociologists are now more likely to speak of a “post-secular” age.
But there is another powerful force of the twenty-first century, a force that is wholly a product of recent decades. Unlike religious belief, it is newborn, it is brash, it has few moorings in the past: I am speaking about the process of globalization, which is re-creating humanity’s social structures within a span of time that is quite simply breathtaking. Globalization acts as a vast, dynamic “transport system” that carries ideas, values, and people and deposits them anywhere and everywhere. Barriers of language, culture, and geography are no longer as meaningful as they once were. No institution—public or private, religious or secular—remains untouched.
Globalization is a fact; it is happening; it’s as unavoidable and unknowable as its ultimate consequences. Religion, similarly, is a reality that is with us. It’s here, and it’s a powerful force both within the lives of individuals and in the societies where they live. These two forces—globalization and religion—live together, interact with each other, and are often intertwined.
Guiding Values
For the health ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, surveying the changing global landscape on which it conducts its mission, these are significant issues.
As we walk into the future, there is no question that our commitment remains strong. We continue to place a high priority on facilitating, funding, and supporting professional medical and health care through our network of more than 600 hospitals, sanitariums, clinics, and dispensaries; through nutrition and other health programs; and through our advocacy of vegetarianism and alcohol- and drug-free living.
But while our commitment is clear, I believe it’s time to reflect in more depth on the values that should anchor us as we step onto the shifting ground of our changing world. And more than this, to ask ourselves what values we can, in turn, imprint upon this terrain. What unique mark can we make?
We need to ask ourselves: What does a distinctively Adventist approach to health ministries look like? What does it offer that isn’t already being offered by any number of alternate providers?
Let’s consider briefly four strands of thought woven throughout Adventist heritage and identity that are central to the health ministries of our church and which, I hope, will continue to guide us into the future. Obviously, this is not a finite list of values, but can perhaps serve as a starting point for an ongoing conversation.
Theology of Connection
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matt. 25:35, 36, NIV).
For Seventh-day Adventists, our model for relating to other people finds its beginning and end in Christ’s radical identification with humanity. An individualistic, inward-looking conception of Christianity is utterly at odds with a Savior who reached out to restore blind eyes, cure lepers, and heal an emotionally broken woman.
Quite simply, we cannot express our faith—our desire to imitate Christ—in seclusion; our values and our beliefs find their true meaning only within the context of human relationships. In the words of my former teacher Jürgen Moltmann, “Likeness to God cannot be lived in isolation. It can be lived only in human community” (J. Moltmann, God in Creation, p. 222).
So what does it mean to live in connection with others? It means that your problems are not yours alone; they are also mine. It means having a sense of solidarity with humanity that makes me vulnerable, also, to its hurts and pain.
Living in connection with others means seeing the large problems of society as collective human problems. I begin to see that poverty, for instance, is not just the result of random circumstances or arbitrary luck. If I live in comfort and someone else lives in distress, could there be a material relationship between these two conditions? Perhaps there is. In admitting this, my sense of isolation diminishes and my sense of responsibility for others grows.
How will this value express itself within the health ministries of our church? By deliberately placing ourselves in those places where there are “gaps” in access to health care; in offering service that pays no heed to a person’s religious, economic, or cultural background; in avoiding “parochial” thinking by forming creative partnerships with others who share our goal of relieving human suffering—be it a government agency, another faith-based organization, a local church or mosque. It means being motivated by self-giving love, not the desire for financial profit or increased influence.
Ultimately, living in connection with others means that “when we see human beings in distress, whether through affliction or through sin, we shall never say, This does not concern me” (The Desire of Ages, p. 504).
Theology of Human Dignity
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).
Whatever the Imago Dei means—and who has a complete definition of it?—it touches the whole person. God made us in His image—physical, spiritual, moral, social, emotional, intellectual beings.
But for Seventh-day Adventists, the immeasurable worth of every person derives from more than just this stamp of the Divine given at Creation. Human dignity springs not just from our origins but also from our potential and our destiny. This concept profoundly shapes the way we deal with people. In all our healing ministries, we see in each person not just “what is,” but “what is possible.”
It means also that we must, at times, have the courage to “wade into the fray,” to recognize and condemn structures or practices that diminish the dignity of our fellow human beings. This isn’t new territory for us. Hear the words of former General Conference president Arthur Daniels spoken about the ministry of Ellen White: “Slavery, the caste system, unjust racial prejudices, the oppression of the poor, the neglect of the unfortunate,—these all are set forth as unchristian and a serious menace to the well-being of the human race, and as evils which the church of Christ is appointed by her Lord to overthrow” (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 473).
Simply put, acknowledging the image of God in humanity means that we value people above everything else—and this fundamental premise runs throughout all we are and do as a church.
Theology of Hope
“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5, KJV).
For Seventh-day Adventists hope is a grand theme, an essential part of our spiritual “genetic blueprint.” But for us, hope doesn’t just point forward toward the grand epilogue of human history—the “what is to come.” Hope is the lens through which we view past, future, and present.
Our hope looks backward to the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection and finds there its touchstone. It’s a hope that looks forward to the moment of ultimate transformation—when all things are made new—and finds there its ideal, its motivation. And it’s a hope that looks outward to the realities as we meet them today and asks, What then can we do to start bridging the gap between what is and what is to be?
Some have been critical, and rightly so, of an eschatological perspective that serves simply to reconcile us to current miseries—an “apocalyptic lethargy.” But for Seventh-day Adventists the renewal of all things is not just a future event in history; it’s a process of renewal that begins now. Awaiting the “blessed hope” is not a passive exercise, but something that demands action in the present.
The healing ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is primarily about awakening hope—physical and spiritual. Although physical needs are often the most apparent, they are indivisible from emotional and spiritual needs. In ministering to the body, we can never ignore the spirit; and the most basic need of the spirit is hope.
Theology of Wholeness
“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:42, 43).
In Christ’s death and resurrection, we see vividly and starkly displayed the extreme contradictions of the human experience: the corrosive power of sin, and the creative power of God; the decay of fallen humanity, and God’s ability to renew and transform; the agony of separation from God, and the triumph of God claiming His own. In the death and resurrection of Christ this dialectic between decay and wholeness provides an unparalleled display of God’s creative and redemptive power.
Bringing wholeness out of decay, healing out of sickness, finding peace in chaos, bringing light into the darkness—this is the task that the followers of Christ have been given.
For Seventh-day Adventists, “wholeness” has another dimension. Our spirituality embraces the whole of human life; it recognizes that “the relation … between the mind and the body is very intimate” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 241), that we don’t live our lives in “segments” where physical health is merely a “piece” that can be separated from the totality of our existence.
Our approach to health is not just limited to the treatment of disease, or to defining what we eat or drink, or to training medical professionals; it’s a concept that encompasses all that contributes to the “completeness” of human existence.
Health ministry is therefore indivisible from our commitment to education, to human rights, to humanitarian work, to environmental care, to our desire to be a force for good in our communities. All these commitments find their beginning and end, their meaning and objective, in our spiritual mission, which gives life and force to all we do as a church.
A Good Life
This is where we stand today—at the edge of a new world that we can’t yet fully imagine, where the shifting plates of technology, economics, and politics are still re-creating our global landscape.
What will tomorrow look like? I don’t know; but I know that it’s not to be feared.
How will the health ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church impact tomorrow? I pray it will hold strongly to its commitment to create connection, promote human dignity, and offer hope and wholeness; that it will continue, in a multitude of ways, to help people achieve a “good” life.
In that simple word “good” lies an immense range of ideas—the ability to live fully, to love deeply, to breathe freely, to experience joy and the absence of fear, to know a hope that exists outside the bounds of what is finite and that will take us into God’s eternity. This is the good life Christ holds out to us; this is what defines the mission we have been given.
Jan Paulsen is president of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.
.
.
.
.
P.S. Just who is Jürgen Moltmann?
.
Jürgen Moltmann (April 8, 1926 -) is a German theologian and Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He is most noted as a proponent of his "theology of hope" and for his incorporation of insights from liberation theology and ecology into mainstream trinitarian theology.
.
Galatians 1:6-9*
.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Report: Young Women and the Word - “Hearing Voices, Finding Your Own”
11 May 2008
Report: Young Women and the Word - “Hearing Voices, Finding Your Own”
By Trisha Famisaran
in
conference gender ministry
image:
Crossposted from SDA Gender Justice.
More than 50 participants and over 125 guests met at Campus Hill Church in Loma Linda, California, on April 12, 2008, for the first annual Young Women and the Word Conference. The inaugural theme, “Hearing Voices: Finding Your Own,” was an invitation for speakers, panelists, and attendees to consider the question of young women and leadership across professional lines.
Young Women and the Word was inspired by the annual Women and the Word seminar started by Kit Watts. Rooted in empowering women and men through in-depth scriptural study to pursue issues of gender equality throughout all levels of God’s human family, the Young Women and the Word strives to engage the youth in this passion and dream. Speakers and participants showed commitment to empowering, connecting, exploring, and supporting a generation of young women and men across professional lines; with a hope that they become leaders whose voices and actions reflect faith in an inclusive and loving God, the Creator who affirms both Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female because we are all one in Christ Jesus. While the Women’s Resource Center’s most immediate connections are with women in ministry it also seeks to help individuals make a real and intentional difference in the wider world, whether they work in healthcare, education, social justice, politics, parenting, or business.
Four universities in the North American Division sponsored women theology majors to attend the conference—Alyssa Foll (Southern Adventist University), Portia Howard (Oakwood College), Amanda Whithers (Walla Walla College), and Jacqueline Sanchez (Columbia Union College).
Alyssa Foll opened the conference with a scripture study, “In the Cave: Between Anointing and Appointing,” which was a touching account of the time David spent in the cave of Adullam found in 1 Samuel 22. Pastor Marlene Ferreras offered the morning worship sermon, “Breaking the Rules,” which was an insightful exploration into the relationship between Judah and Tamar found in Genesis 38. The morning worship service included special music by Patty Cabrera, songs of praise by students from Loma Linda Academy and La Sierra University, and a responsive reading by students from Loma Linda Academy and Orangewood Adventist Academy. Kendra Haloviak opened the afternoon sessions with a message titled “The Voices at the Well,” a study of Jesus and the Samaritan woman found in John 4.
La Sierra University students performed The Cost, an original drama written and directed by Kassy Skoretz. This powerful story critiques the notion that progress necessitates leaving some groups behind and asks whether progress is good, in itself. The script was heavily inspired by liberation theology, which is a commitment to the visibility and voice of marginalized people and God’s “priority for the poor” demonstrated in the life and teachings of Jesus.
Yami Bazan moderated a leadership panel that included Kathy Proffitt, Carla Lidner Baum, Portia Howard, and Julie Schaepper. Breakout sessions were led by Carla Gober (Spiritual Wholeness, Jessica Trevithick (Art and Media in Ministry), Dilys Brooks (The Woman in the Mirror), Prudence Pollard (Leadership), and the Students for Social Justice Club from La Sierra University. The conference closed with an Agape Supper, which included a special liturgy written and led by Patty Cabrera.
Report: Young Women and the Word - “Hearing Voices, Finding Your Own”
By Trisha Famisaran
in
conference gender ministry
image:
Crossposted from SDA Gender Justice.
More than 50 participants and over 125 guests met at Campus Hill Church in Loma Linda, California, on April 12, 2008, for the first annual Young Women and the Word Conference. The inaugural theme, “Hearing Voices: Finding Your Own,” was an invitation for speakers, panelists, and attendees to consider the question of young women and leadership across professional lines.
Young Women and the Word was inspired by the annual Women and the Word seminar started by Kit Watts. Rooted in empowering women and men through in-depth scriptural study to pursue issues of gender equality throughout all levels of God’s human family, the Young Women and the Word strives to engage the youth in this passion and dream. Speakers and participants showed commitment to empowering, connecting, exploring, and supporting a generation of young women and men across professional lines; with a hope that they become leaders whose voices and actions reflect faith in an inclusive and loving God, the Creator who affirms both Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female because we are all one in Christ Jesus. While the Women’s Resource Center’s most immediate connections are with women in ministry it also seeks to help individuals make a real and intentional difference in the wider world, whether they work in healthcare, education, social justice, politics, parenting, or business.Four universities in the North American Division sponsored women theology majors to attend the conference—Alyssa Foll (Southern Adventist University), Portia Howard (Oakwood College), Amanda Whithers (Walla Walla College), and Jacqueline Sanchez (Columbia Union College).
Alyssa Foll opened the conference with a scripture study, “In the Cave: Between Anointing and Appointing,” which was a touching account of the time David spent in the cave of Adullam found in 1 Samuel 22. Pastor Marlene Ferreras offered the morning worship sermon, “Breaking the Rules,” which was an insightful exploration into the relationship between Judah and Tamar found in Genesis 38. The morning worship service included special music by Patty Cabrera, songs of praise by students from Loma Linda Academy and La Sierra University, and a responsive reading by students from Loma Linda Academy and Orangewood Adventist Academy. Kendra Haloviak opened the afternoon sessions with a message titled “The Voices at the Well,” a study of Jesus and the Samaritan woman found in John 4.La Sierra University students performed The Cost, an original drama written and directed by Kassy Skoretz. This powerful story critiques the notion that progress necessitates leaving some groups behind and asks whether progress is good, in itself. The script was heavily inspired by liberation theology, which is a commitment to the visibility and voice of marginalized people and God’s “priority for the poor” demonstrated in the life and teachings of Jesus.
Yami Bazan moderated a leadership panel that included Kathy Proffitt, Carla Lidner Baum, Portia Howard, and Julie Schaepper. Breakout sessions were led by Carla Gober (Spiritual Wholeness, Jessica Trevithick (Art and Media in Ministry), Dilys Brooks (The Woman in the Mirror), Prudence Pollard (Leadership), and the Students for Social Justice Club from La Sierra University. The conference closed with an Agape Supper, which included a special liturgy written and led by Patty Cabrera.
Rundown of the Schedule:
9:30 am to 10:40 am - Sabbath School: “In the Cave: Between Anointing and Appointing” by Alyssa Foll (Theology Major, Southern Adventist University)
10:45 am to 12:30 pm - Church Service: “Breaking the Rules” by Marlene Ferreras (Youth Pastor, Campus Hill Church)
2:30 pm - Scripture Study: “The Voices at the Well” by Kendra Haloviak (Professor of New Testament, La Sierra University)
3:15 pm - Special Feature: “The Cost,” an original drama written by Kassy Skoretz (Undergraduate Student, La Sierra University)
4:15 pm - Special Feature: Leadership panel moderated by Yami Bazan, with audience participation, and featuring the following individuals:
Julie Schaepper (Director of Community-Academic Partners in Service at Loma Linda University)
Portia Howard (President of Sister Connection at Oakwood College)
Carla Lidner Baum (Director of the Dental Oncology Service at Loma Linda University)
Kathy Proffitt (Former United States Ambassador to the Republic of Malta and Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Call-America)
5:00 pm - Conversation Cafes:
Carla Gober (Spiritual Wholeness)
Dilys Brooks (The Woman in the Mirror)
Prudence Pollard (Leadership)
Jessica Trevithick (Arts/Media in Ministry)
Social Justice Club at La Sierra University (Social Justice)
6:00 pm - Agape Supper with Patty Cabrera
“Thanks for organizing this historic and inspiring day. I was truly blessed, as were many others I spoke to who also attended. We’d love this to be a ‘regular’! May God continue to use each of you in mighty ways.” - Cheryl Harvey Webster
“Thank you so much for making me feel welcome at the Young Women and the Word Conference. It was so nice to hear from other ladies in the ministry. I appreciate all the planning and work that went into the conference.” - Amanda Whithers
___
Adventist Gender Justice is edited by Trisha Famisaran.
Trisha Famisaran is currently enrolled in a Dual Degree program at Claremont Graduate University* for an M.A. in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Theology. She did undergraduate work in History and Political Science at La Sierra University in Riverside, California.
9:30 am to 10:40 am - Sabbath School: “In the Cave: Between Anointing and Appointing” by Alyssa Foll (Theology Major, Southern Adventist University)
10:45 am to 12:30 pm - Church Service: “Breaking the Rules” by Marlene Ferreras (Youth Pastor, Campus Hill Church)
2:30 pm - Scripture Study: “The Voices at the Well” by Kendra Haloviak (Professor of New Testament, La Sierra University)
3:15 pm - Special Feature: “The Cost,” an original drama written by Kassy Skoretz (Undergraduate Student, La Sierra University)
4:15 pm - Special Feature: Leadership panel moderated by Yami Bazan, with audience participation, and featuring the following individuals:
Julie Schaepper (Director of Community-Academic Partners in Service at Loma Linda University)
Portia Howard (President of Sister Connection at Oakwood College)
Carla Lidner Baum (Director of the Dental Oncology Service at Loma Linda University)
Kathy Proffitt (Former United States Ambassador to the Republic of Malta and Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Call-America)
5:00 pm - Conversation Cafes:
Carla Gober (Spiritual Wholeness)
Dilys Brooks (The Woman in the Mirror)
Prudence Pollard (Leadership)
Jessica Trevithick (Arts/Media in Ministry)
Social Justice Club at La Sierra University (Social Justice)
6:00 pm - Agape Supper with Patty Cabrera
“Thanks for organizing this historic and inspiring day. I was truly blessed, as were many others I spoke to who also attended. We’d love this to be a ‘regular’! May God continue to use each of you in mighty ways.” - Cheryl Harvey Webster
“Thank you so much for making me feel welcome at the Young Women and the Word Conference. It was so nice to hear from other ladies in the ministry. I appreciate all the planning and work that went into the conference.” - Amanda Whithers
___
Adventist Gender Justice is edited by Trisha Famisaran.
Trisha Famisaran is currently enrolled in a Dual Degree program at Claremont Graduate University* for an M.A. in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Theology. She did undergraduate work in History and Political Science at La Sierra University in Riverside, California.
Comments
We still have a long ways to go before women are given the equality that, I believe, God intended for them to have. But, in the meantime, you might enjoy something that my husband showed me yesterday. It was a copy of the “1943 Guide to Hiring Women” exerpted from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine, “written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.” Here are the first 3 out of 11:
1. “Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It’s always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
3. General experience indicates that ‘husky' girls – those who are just a little on the heavy side – are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.”
Well,I guess we have “…come a long ways, Baby” after all!!
Posted by: Gaylene (not verified) 11 May 2008 at 5:46
---------------------------------------------------------
I think I've come across an old copy of those "guidelines" before, or something similar (in a handbook, perhaps). I've been thinking about the GC meeting scheduled for 2010 and really hope that ordination and other issues surrounding gender justice are addressed. I wonder what can be done in the next 1.5 years to see that this happens. A lot of grassroots organizing took place before Utrecht.
On a similar note, I really hope to see gender justice back in formal discussion at the GC level through commissions or taskforces to talk about ordination, LGBT rights, rethinking normative gender ideals, and so forth. It seems apparent that a number of laypeople, theologians, and professors want to talk about it. These conversations have been powerful and constructive so far.
Posted by: Trisha (not verified) 14 May 2008 at 3:57
-------------------------------------------------------
A letter from the Nay 2008 Adventist World-NAD:
"I have a question: were women invited to the 2007 Annual Council? In an article that explicitly states that the council was convened to address specific challenges facing the church today, including cohabitation and same-sex partnerships, I was disheartened to note that all four photos attached to the article displayed only men. I hope these photos DO NOT accurately reflect the membership in attendance and that women were invited to attend as part of the 300 church leaders. No consensus will ever be found within a church that is not willing to listen to the voice of its entire membership."
Posted by: Elaine Nelson (not verified) 14 May 2008 at 5:27
Source: http://www.spectrummagazine.org/node/580
P.S. I decided to include the Comments to illustrate the extent of the departure from the established Adventist principles in certain circles. May God have mercy on His faithful remnant!
*Religion (Claremont Graduate University)
The CGU School of Religion has been touted in the media for its unique cross-faith design. Students can earn a degree with a focus in Mormon Studies, Catholicism, Islamic Studies, History of Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Indic Studies, Coptic Studies, Zoroastrianism; additional programs include Women's Studies in Religion, Theology, Ethics and Culture and Philosophy of Religion and Theology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_Graduate_University
Does someone believe anyone in this "bunch" will give the Third Angel's Message, or the Loud Cry?
I added Bolds and Highlights for emphasis.
Arsenio.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church
Liberation Theology was the perfect blueprint for the Sandinistas. It incorporated the very aim of Marxist-Leninism. It presumed the classic Marxist "struggle of the masses" to be free from all capitalist domination. And above all, the Marxist baby was at last wrapped in the very swaddling clothes of ancient [Roman] Catholic terminology.
From
THE JESUITS
The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church
by
Malachi Martin
["Father" Martin, a prolific RC author, was a long time Jesuit and remains a Roman Catholic in good standing. JP ]
Published by Simon & Schuster, NY
ISBN: 0-671-54505-1
page 56-62 . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE TESTING GROUND
. . . by the early seventies, at least seven years before their grab for power, the Sandinista leaders openly proclaimed their ultimate aim: to create a Marxist society in Nicaragua to serve as the womb from which Marxist revolution throughout Central America would be born. "Revolution throughout the Americas" was the slogan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From their beginnings as a group, when they were nothing more than rag-tag guerrillas, bank robbers, and hit-and-run terrorists, the Sandinistas understood full well that they had no hope of installing a Marxist regime in 91.6 percent Roman Catholic Nicaragua unless they could enlist - in effect, inhale - the active cooperation of the Catholic clergy, together with suitably altered [Roman Catholic] Church doctrine and [Roman Catholic] Church structure.
Mere passive connivance on the part of the clergy would not be enough. If the Sandinistas wanted the very soul of the people, they knew the road: [Roman] Catholicism was inextricably bound up in the warp and woof of Nicaraguan culture, language, way of thinking, and outlook, and was integral to all the hope of the people.
For some time, certain [Roman] Catholic theologians in Latin America - principally Jesuits of the post-World War II period - had been developing a new theology. They called it the Theology of Liberation, and based it on the theories of their European counterparts.
It was an elaborate and carefully worked out system, but its core principle is very simple: The whole and only meaning of Christianity as a religion comes down to one achievement - the liberation of men and women, by armed and violent revolution if necessary, from the economic, social, and political slavery imposed on them by U.S. capitalism; this is to be followed by the establishment of "democratic socialism."
In this "theological" system, the so-called "option" for the economically poor and the politically oppressed, originally described as a "preferential" option by Catholic bishops in Latin America at their conference in Medellin, Colombia, in 1968, became totally exclusive: There was one enemy - capitalist classes, middle and upper and lower, chiefly located in the United States. Only the "proletariat" - the "people" - was to be fomented by the imposition of Marxism.
Liberation Theology was the perfect blueprint for the Sandinistas.
It incorporated the very aim of Marxist-Leninism. It presumed the classic Marxist "struggle of the masses" to be free from all capitalist domination. And above all, the Marxist baby was at last wrapped in the very swaddling clothes of ancient Catholic terminology. Words and phrases laden with meaning for the people were co-opted and turned upside down.
The historical Jesus, for example, became an armed revolutionary. The mystical Christ became all the oppressed people, collectively. Mary the Virgin became the mother of all revolutionary heroes. The Eucharist became the bread freely made by liberated workers. Hell became the capitalist system. The American president, leader of the greatest capitalist country, became the Great Satan. Heaven became the earthly paradise of the workers from which capitalism is abolished. Justice became the uprooting of capitalist gains, which would be "returned" to the people, to the "mystical body" of Christ, the democratic socialists of Nicaragua. The Church became that mystical body, "the people," deciding its fate and determining how to worship, pray, and live, under the guidance of Marxist leaders.
It was a brilliant synthesis, ready-made and just waiting for the activists who would set about erecting a new sociopolitical structure on its basis, as a building rises from a blueprint.
The Nicaraguan people were the first guinea pigs on whom the theory was experimentally tried. And the priests who were charter members in the Sandinista leadership - Jesuit Fernando Cardenal Ernesto Cardenal, Miguel D'Escoto Brockman of the Maryknoll Fathers, Jesuit Alvaro Arguello, Edgar Parrales of the Managua diocese - made the experiment doubly blessed and likely to succeed.
If such men, duly ordained as priests, could successfully get this new "theological" message across - that the Sandinista revolution was really a religious matter sanctioned by legitimate Church spokesmen - they would have both the [Roman] Catholic clergy and the people as allies in a Marxist-style revolution by armed violence.
[no R. C. was ever excommunicated for engaging in violent revolution ..... JP ]
Without a doubt, the plan had been carefully thought out and elaborated, based on a profound analysis of the Nicaraguan people and of its clergy.
No doubt, too, the first connivers in the scheme were the priests themselves; there are even those in Managua today and among prominent Nicaraguan exiles in Panama, Honduras, and Miami, Florida,who point the finger at Fernando Cardenal as the prime architect of the scheme. But what evidence there is does suggest that he was not the only Jesuit involved.
In any case, the Sandinista undertaking was ever more brilliantly explained, refined, and dinned into the ears of seminarians, nuns, university students, and the popular mind by increasing numbers of their Jesuit, Franciscan, and Maryknoll teachers and lecturers throughout the schools of Central America. The seeding time was well spent in the view of ultimate Marxisation. The pathetic court testimony of the young Nicaraguan Edgard Lang Sacasa told the world as far back as 1977 that it had been his priest educators who had persuaded him and thousands like him to join the Sandinista guerrillas.
Hand in hand with this new Theology of Liberation went, of necessity, the establishment of a new and "pliant" Church structure to replace the old one.
In the traditional Roman Catholic structure, knowledge about God, Christ, Christian salvation, personal morality, and human destiny derived from the hierarchic pastors of the Church - namely, the Pope and his bishops.
They were the only authentic source of knowledge about the faith; apart from them, there was no accurate knowing possible about Christianity. Submission to them and acceptance of their teaching and laws were necessary for salvation.
It was precisely this structure, in which ultimate control is Rome's, that stood between the Sandinistas and the people. And it was precisely this structure that the earlier, European-based architect-theologians of Liberation Theology had criticized. This structure was, Liberation Theologians said, dictated by "a view from above" and "imposed from above" on the people "below."
Franciscan Liberation Theologian Leonardo Boff, teaching in a Brazilian seminary, put it in terms Fernando Cardenal and his clerical colleagues could champion: "There has been a historical process of expropriation of the means of production on the part of the clergy to the detriment of the Christian People." Boff was not talking about industry or commerce, but about theology and religious doctrine; the means of production - the "plant," as he called it - was the preaching of the Gospel.
Tccording to the new theologians, "Roman" and therefore "alien" imposition of religious doctrine was the very reason social injustice and political oppression flourished in lands where this hierarchic [Roman Catholic] Church flourished. In lands such as Latin American countries. In countries such as Nicaragua. On top of that, the argument went on, Christianity and specifically [Roman] Catholicism was not merely alien in and of itself, but had always accompanied actual invasion by alien European cultures. "Alien" - that was the key word.
To counter that alien, imposed structure, the new theologians looked "from below." From the level of the people. From the perspective of oppression and injustice - because that, they said, was all they found "below" among the people. The task, in other words, was to impose the "preferential option" on all the people, rich and poor alike. Immediately, as Fernando Cardenal and the other Sandinista priests quickly realized, a new concept of "Church" was born.
The ordinary body of believers, by revised definition, would become the very source of revelation. The faith of believers would "create" communities among those believers. Base Communities, they are called in Nicaragua and elsewhere in Latin America - "comunidades de base" . And those Communities taken together would form the new "Church," the "People's Church."
These Communities began to form years before the Nicaraguan revolution stormed onto the stage of geopolitics in 1979. Groupings of laymen and laywomen would gather regularly to pray, to read the Bible, to sing hymns, to discuss their local concrete problems in economics and politics; to choose not only their political leaders but their priests as well; and to determine not only the solutions to their secular problems, but how best to worship and what to believe.
It was a dream come true. A dream put into clear words by the same Father Boff: "The sacred power must be put back in the hands of the people." No teaching or directing authority would be allowed "from above," from the alien, hierarchic [Roman Catholic] Church. In fact, the very symbols of that Church must be firmly rejected.
Symbols and all else must only come "from below." From the people. From their Base Communities - nearly 1000 of them in Nicaragua alone, in time; and nearly 300,000 in Latin America at large. The idea of Base Communities spread to the United States, where they are sometimes called "Gatherings."
Fernando Cardenal, Ernesto Cardenal, Miguel D'Escoto Brockman, Edgar Parrales, and Alvaro Arguello were the showcase priests of the Sandinistas, the intended and willing legitimizers of this new "People's Church" that would appropriate
Source: http://www.starharbor.com/fr_martin/jesuits.html
From
THE JESUITS
The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church
by
Malachi Martin
["Father" Martin, a prolific RC author, was a long time Jesuit and remains a Roman Catholic in good standing. JP ]
Published by Simon & Schuster, NY
ISBN: 0-671-54505-1
page 56-62 . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE TESTING GROUND
. . . by the early seventies, at least seven years before their grab for power, the Sandinista leaders openly proclaimed their ultimate aim: to create a Marxist society in Nicaragua to serve as the womb from which Marxist revolution throughout Central America would be born. "Revolution throughout the Americas" was the slogan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From their beginnings as a group, when they were nothing more than rag-tag guerrillas, bank robbers, and hit-and-run terrorists, the Sandinistas understood full well that they had no hope of installing a Marxist regime in 91.6 percent Roman Catholic Nicaragua unless they could enlist - in effect, inhale - the active cooperation of the Catholic clergy, together with suitably altered [Roman Catholic] Church doctrine and [Roman Catholic] Church structure.
Mere passive connivance on the part of the clergy would not be enough. If the Sandinistas wanted the very soul of the people, they knew the road: [Roman] Catholicism was inextricably bound up in the warp and woof of Nicaraguan culture, language, way of thinking, and outlook, and was integral to all the hope of the people.
Here, Fernando Cardenal, as [Roman Catholic] priest and Jesuit,
was a towering influence.
was a towering influence.
For some time, certain [Roman] Catholic theologians in Latin America - principally Jesuits of the post-World War II period - had been developing a new theology. They called it the Theology of Liberation, and based it on the theories of their European counterparts.
It was an elaborate and carefully worked out system, but its core principle is very simple: The whole and only meaning of Christianity as a religion comes down to one achievement - the liberation of men and women, by armed and violent revolution if necessary, from the economic, social, and political slavery imposed on them by U.S. capitalism; this is to be followed by the establishment of "democratic socialism."
In this "theological" system, the so-called "option" for the economically poor and the politically oppressed, originally described as a "preferential" option by Catholic bishops in Latin America at their conference in Medellin, Colombia, in 1968, became totally exclusive: There was one enemy - capitalist classes, middle and upper and lower, chiefly located in the United States. Only the "proletariat" - the "people" - was to be fomented by the imposition of Marxism.
Liberation Theology was the perfect blueprint for the Sandinistas.
It incorporated the very aim of Marxist-Leninism. It presumed the classic Marxist "struggle of the masses" to be free from all capitalist domination. And above all, the Marxist baby was at last wrapped in the very swaddling clothes of ancient Catholic terminology. Words and phrases laden with meaning for the people were co-opted and turned upside down.
The historical Jesus, for example, became an armed revolutionary. The mystical Christ became all the oppressed people, collectively. Mary the Virgin became the mother of all revolutionary heroes. The Eucharist became the bread freely made by liberated workers. Hell became the capitalist system. The American president, leader of the greatest capitalist country, became the Great Satan. Heaven became the earthly paradise of the workers from which capitalism is abolished. Justice became the uprooting of capitalist gains, which would be "returned" to the people, to the "mystical body" of Christ, the democratic socialists of Nicaragua. The Church became that mystical body, "the people," deciding its fate and determining how to worship, pray, and live, under the guidance of Marxist leaders.
It was a brilliant synthesis, ready-made and just waiting for the activists who would set about erecting a new sociopolitical structure on its basis, as a building rises from a blueprint.
The Nicaraguan people were the first guinea pigs on whom the theory was experimentally tried. And the priests who were charter members in the Sandinista leadership - Jesuit Fernando Cardenal Ernesto Cardenal, Miguel D'Escoto Brockman of the Maryknoll Fathers, Jesuit Alvaro Arguello, Edgar Parrales of the Managua diocese - made the experiment doubly blessed and likely to succeed.
If such men, duly ordained as priests, could successfully get this new "theological" message across - that the Sandinista revolution was really a religious matter sanctioned by legitimate Church spokesmen - they would have both the [Roman] Catholic clergy and the people as allies in a Marxist-style revolution by armed violence.
[no R. C. was ever excommunicated for engaging in violent revolution ..... JP ]
Without a doubt, the plan had been carefully thought out and elaborated, based on a profound analysis of the Nicaraguan people and of its clergy.
No doubt, too, the first connivers in the scheme were the priests themselves; there are even those in Managua today and among prominent Nicaraguan exiles in Panama, Honduras, and Miami, Florida,who point the finger at Fernando Cardenal as the prime architect of the scheme. But what evidence there is does suggest that he was not the only Jesuit involved.
In any case, the Sandinista undertaking was ever more brilliantly explained, refined, and dinned into the ears of seminarians, nuns, university students, and the popular mind by increasing numbers of their Jesuit, Franciscan, and Maryknoll teachers and lecturers throughout the schools of Central America. The seeding time was well spent in the view of ultimate Marxisation. The pathetic court testimony of the young Nicaraguan Edgard Lang Sacasa told the world as far back as 1977 that it had been his priest educators who had persuaded him and thousands like him to join the Sandinista guerrillas.
Hand in hand with this new Theology of Liberation went, of necessity, the establishment of a new and "pliant" Church structure to replace the old one.
In the traditional Roman Catholic structure, knowledge about God, Christ, Christian salvation, personal morality, and human destiny derived from the hierarchic pastors of the Church - namely, the Pope and his bishops.
They were the only authentic source of knowledge about the faith; apart from them, there was no accurate knowing possible about Christianity. Submission to them and acceptance of their teaching and laws were necessary for salvation.
It was precisely this structure, in which ultimate control is Rome's, that stood between the Sandinistas and the people. And it was precisely this structure that the earlier, European-based architect-theologians of Liberation Theology had criticized. This structure was, Liberation Theologians said, dictated by "a view from above" and "imposed from above" on the people "below."
Franciscan Liberation Theologian Leonardo Boff, teaching in a Brazilian seminary, put it in terms Fernando Cardenal and his clerical colleagues could champion: "There has been a historical process of expropriation of the means of production on the part of the clergy to the detriment of the Christian People." Boff was not talking about industry or commerce, but about theology and religious doctrine; the means of production - the "plant," as he called it - was the preaching of the Gospel.
Tccording to the new theologians, "Roman" and therefore "alien" imposition of religious doctrine was the very reason social injustice and political oppression flourished in lands where this hierarchic [Roman Catholic] Church flourished. In lands such as Latin American countries. In countries such as Nicaragua. On top of that, the argument went on, Christianity and specifically [Roman] Catholicism was not merely alien in and of itself, but had always accompanied actual invasion by alien European cultures. "Alien" - that was the key word.
To counter that alien, imposed structure, the new theologians looked "from below." From the level of the people. From the perspective of oppression and injustice - because that, they said, was all they found "below" among the people. The task, in other words, was to impose the "preferential option" on all the people, rich and poor alike. Immediately, as Fernando Cardenal and the other Sandinista priests quickly realized, a new concept of "Church" was born.
The ordinary body of believers, by revised definition, would become the very source of revelation. The faith of believers would "create" communities among those believers. Base Communities, they are called in Nicaragua and elsewhere in Latin America - "comunidades de base" . And those Communities taken together would form the new "Church," the "People's Church."
These Communities began to form years before the Nicaraguan revolution stormed onto the stage of geopolitics in 1979. Groupings of laymen and laywomen would gather regularly to pray, to read the Bible, to sing hymns, to discuss their local concrete problems in economics and politics; to choose not only their political leaders but their priests as well; and to determine not only the solutions to their secular problems, but how best to worship and what to believe.
It was a dream come true. A dream put into clear words by the same Father Boff: "The sacred power must be put back in the hands of the people." No teaching or directing authority would be allowed "from above," from the alien, hierarchic [Roman Catholic] Church. In fact, the very symbols of that Church must be firmly rejected.
Symbols and all else must only come "from below." From the people. From their Base Communities - nearly 1000 of them in Nicaragua alone, in time; and nearly 300,000 in Latin America at large. The idea of Base Communities spread to the United States, where they are sometimes called "Gatherings."
Fernando Cardenal, Ernesto Cardenal, Miguel D'Escoto Brockman, Edgar Parrales, and Alvaro Arguello were the showcase priests of the Sandinistas, the intended and willing legitimizers of this new "People's Church" that would appropriate
Source: http://www.starharbor.com/fr_martin/jesuits.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)