CRT Session 2 29 April 2005 Report

Preliminaries

1. Daniel spoke of his experience in facilitating a session on Liberation Theology during his seminary days and noted that because of its very diverse nature, it is difficult to structure a 'curriculum' for liberation theology (or more properly liberation theologies)

2. Dr Ibrahim Farajaje's article (Queer(y)ing Religious Education) was summarized. Our existing systems structure our identities as binary oppositions: male/ female, gay/straight, bodies/ spirits and each opposition carries structure that oppresses us with assumptions and expected behaviours when in reality we are diverse within the spectrum between these oppositions and hold within each our identities intersections of many such 'polar' structures. Our religious education should position us in the intersections of such definitions; and thereby freeing us from seeing us as minorities and breaks apart the dominant 'majority' claim.

3. Dahrendorf's article (The Rise and Fall of Meritocracy) was summarized. Political structures should be open to diversity, or else meritocracy merely perpetuate a class of its own members.

4. David noted that differences are wired into our beings and neccessarily creates different power platforms. Are therefore all oppressions wrong?

Our Personal Narratives

We spoke of sacred texts and values that inspire us, and our memories of oppression.


1. "The truth shall set you free"
I keep having to ask the question 'what is truth'?
Sometimes this allows me to empty my own presuppositions and see other people's truths.
It helps me to move on to a narrative of compassion and gives me a sense of freedom.

2. "For God so loved the world (John 3:16)"
The great love of God awes me and allows me to integrate my faith and sexuality and remain truthful to myself. I thereby can flourish under oppression.

3. I was brought up to believe that conforming is natural, be a good citizen and follow the rules. Authority is needed for social order.

4. "Meek shall inherit the earth". I struggle with this text. While it easily fits my non-abrasive nature and I try to develop a discipline of giving up power to others, it feels oppressive and unfair for myself. I also recognize that meekness has a shadow-side of being manipulative.

5. Being an ethnic minority makes me keenly aware of differences since young. Was inspired by a television show where a lesbian women stood up to an antagonistic audience and spoke of love.

6. I was thrown into the deep end since I was young and challenged to discover the world for my own. It often made me learn things the hard way.

7. I had been always different in school. Now I'm oppressed by others for not living up to the expectations of being a typical woman.

8. I remember in my home town, an old woman was asking for a drink of water. We normally boiled water before drinking it and I remember it was specifically told that she should be offered unboiled water. - How we treat our maids can be similar, in demanding separate utensils.

9. Offended by gay men who cannot recognize the needs of women.

10. Liberation starts with empathy. When we are conscious that bodies are subjugated.

Texts and Authorities

What kind of authorities do sacred texts have for us? Are they useful in helping us deal with oppression?
Where do we position ourselves in relation to these texts?

We considered different feminist hermeneutical approaches.
1 "Rejectionist" - Texts are not useful nor authoritative
2 "Loyalist" - Text cannot, by nature, be oppressive
3 " Revisionist" - patriachal aspects of text and tradition are historical accident and must be seen as part of their cultural context.
4 "Sublimationist" - Brings out the feminine in biblical symbolism
5 "Liberationist" - Brings together aspects of the above to liberate the reader

Reason for interpreter (reader) being the theological authority
- So what if we know the writer's intent? What is important is our reflection and response
Reason for historian being the theological authority, demanding contextual understanding
- We need to find kindred spirits who share our experience.
Synthesis of ideas
- Our authority lies in the interaction between an experiential component (our response), the interpretive community, and how we identify with aspects of the text.
Our Interpretive Community
- Our shared experience in FCC
- Our asking of common questions bring us into an interpretive community

Further Discussion

1. Sometimes we need to be freed from a discourse of anger
2. Christianity can be significantly oppressive
3. God has to be freed of our constraints.


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Synthesis

We long to be free. Part of this freedom is the ability to choose to be true to ourselves. This partly comes from the process of understanding God and the world from our own experiences upwards towards large theological concepts rather from a top-down acceptance of what others tell us. When we read the Bible we are aware of how our own experiences contribute to the texts' meaning, and we are open to how others are asking and answering similar questions. In order to be free, we also need to free God from our presuppositions. In our lives and works we often confront conflicts but when we recognize truths in other people's stories, we free ourselves to a place of compassion that brings us to the liberating truth.