{"id":155,"date":"2009-12-07T12:44:55","date_gmt":"2009-12-07T19:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=155"},"modified":"2010-01-02T21:24:22","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T04:24:22","slug":"pope-benedict-rejects-liberation-theologies-and-exalts-mary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=155","title":{"rendered":"Pope Benedict Rejects Liberation Theologies and Exalts Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Printable PDF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In his 1st Encyclical, which is traditionally understood to be a new pope\u2019s manifesto for \t\t\t\this papacy, Pope Benedict XVI signals his continuity with his predecessor John Paul II. First, Benedict \t\t\t\tXVI strongly rejects liberation theologies, or any ideologies, controlling the programs of the church.1<\/sup> This \t\t\t\ttheme is accentuated in the text, including but not limited to the following:2<\/sup><\/p>\n

28a. The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics\u2026. \t\t\t\tThe Church\u2019s social teaching argues on the basis of reason and natural law.\u2026 It recognizes \t\t\t\tthat it is not the Church\u2019s responsibility to make this teaching prevail in political life. The \t\t\t\tChurch cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society \t\t\t\tpossible.\u2026 A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church.<\/strong><\/p>\n

29. We have seen that the formation of just structures is not directly the duty of the church, \t\t\t\tbut belongs to the world of politics, the sphere of autonomous use of reason\u2026. The \t\t\t\tdirect duty to work for a just ordering of society\u2026is proper to the lay faithful.<\/strong><\/p>\n

31. Christian charitable activity<\/strong> must be independent of parties and ideologies. \t\t\t\tIt is not a means of changing the world ideologically, and it is not at the service of worldly \t\t\t\tstratagems\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

33. With regard to the personnel who carry out the Church\u2019s charitable activity in the practical \t\t\t\tlevel, the essential has already been said: they must not be inspired by ideologies aimed \t\t\t\tat improving the world\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

35. [W]e are only instruments in the Lord\u2019s hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption \t\t\t\t\tof thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

37. An authentically religious attitude prevents man from presuming to judge God<\/strong>, \t\t\t\taccusing him of allowing poverty and failing to have compassion for his creatures.<\/p>\n

Secondly, in this encyclical Pope Benedict XVI exalts Mary, as did his predecessor, John Paul II, \t\t\t\twhose motto was \u201cTotus Tuus\u201d<\/em> (totally yours, Mary):<\/p>\n

41. Mary speaks and thinks with the Word of God\u2026her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts \t\t\t\tof God\u2026 Mary is completely imbued with the Word of God\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

42. Mary has truly become the Mother of all believers<\/strong>\u2026[Believers] constantly \t\t\t\texperience the gift of her goodness and the unfailing love which she pours out from the depths of \t\t\t\ther heart\u2026. To her we entrust the Church<\/strong> and her mission in the service of \t\t\t\tlove.<\/p>\n

\n

1<\/sup> In contrast, liberation theology is the driving force of mission in the ELCA under \t\t\t\tthe guise of the mandate to become \u201ca public church.\u201d The hallmarks of liberation theology \u2013 class \t\t\t\tanalysis, the preferential option for the poor, the church as a religious\/political change agent \u2013 are \t\t\t\tthe controlling motifs of the Presiding Bishop\u2019s special \u201ctheological consultant,\u201d Cynthia \t\t\t\tMoe-Lobeda, in her book, Public Church for the Life of the World<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In this book, Moe-Lobeda (like Hanson, a graduate of Union Seminary, a center for liberation theologies), \t\t\t\tlifts up \u201cexperience\u201d as a distinctive guidepost for Lutheran theology (4), \u201cthe \t\t\t\tpreferential option for the poor\u201d (29), the \u201cunique justice-making responsibility of \t\t\t\tthe church\u201d to unmask and challenge oppressive \u201csocial structures\u201d (26), and asserts \t\t\t\tthat \u201ccontext\u201d even defines the meaning of sin and salvation (37, 47-48).<\/p>\n

Hanson frequently commends Moe-Lobeda\u2019s vision and book, most recently in The Lutheran<\/em>, \t\t\t\tFebruary 2006, p. 53.<\/p>\n

Bishop Hanson affirms what Pop Benedict XVI rejects, a political mandate for the church to form \t\t\t\tjust social structures:<\/p>\n

\u201cA public church: being part of publicly turning this culture, this society<\/strong>, \t\t\t\taway from the patterns of consumptive living that are destroying species of life every day, toward \t\t\t\ta pattern of earth-sustaining life. Turning us away from a preoccupation with violence and war as \t\t\t\ta remedy for the world\u2019s conflicts, toward our vocation as peacemakers\u201d (Mark Hanson, \t\t\t\tAddress at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry,\u201d 3\/29\/04, emphasis \t\t\t\tadded).<\/p>\n

2<\/sup> Cited by paragraph; Vatican translation; emphasis added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Printable PDF In his 1st Encyclical, which is traditionally understood to be a new pope\u2019s manifesto for his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI signals his continuity with his predecessor John Paul II. First, Benedict XVI strongly rejects liberation theologies, or any ideologies, controlling the programs of the church.1 This theme is accentuated in the text, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-155","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155\/revisions\/157"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}