M7 key figures

1. JUSTICE, LIBERATION,
AND SHALOM
SOME OF THE KEY PLAYERS IN THE DISCUSSIONS

2. REINHOLD NIEBUHR
Prophetic Christianity demands the impossible, so it
disintegrates into two contrasting types of religion:
One that denies the relevance of the ideal of love
One that tries to prove the relevance of the moral ideal for
everyday existence by reducing it to merely the common-
sense rules of conduct
The first is (generally) known as orthodox
Christianity; the second is modern secularism.

3. CHRISTIAN REALISM
Because humanity is inherently corrupt, the
perfection of the kingdom of God can never be fully
realized in this earthly life. Therefore, compromise
is an essential component of human existence.
We have to be realistic in our engagement with the
world.

4. CHRISTIAN REALISM
This was a reaction to what Niebuhr saw as the
utopic idealism of the Social Gospel movement,
particularly after the global horrors of the early
20th century.

5. WHAT DOES REINHOLD
NIEBUHR MEAN BY “AN
IMPOSSIBLE ETHICAL IDEAL”?
Prophetic Christianity "demands the impossible; and
by that demand emphasizes the impotence and
corruption of human nature."
The "ideal" of the life and love of Jesus are always
the standard set before the Christian believer, which
we are not allowed to forsake even though it is
unattainable.

6. IF THE "LOVE ETHIC" IS
IMPOSSIBLE, WHY IS IT STILL
RELEVANT?
Two mistakes to avoid -- either denying that this
ideal matters to physical daily life, or watering down
the ideal to secular conscience or "common sense".
However, the prophetic tradition insists on the
continuing relevance of this ideal, at every level of
experience.
Gratitude and contrition, good in spite of its evil, and
evil in spite of its good.

7. REINHOLD NIEBUHR
Do we agree?
What are its implications for the moral life of
the believer? For the moral life of the church?

8. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF
Shalom – “peace with justice” – is not just the
absence of violence or hostility; nor is it merely the
hard, sterile presence of justice. Rather, it is
enjoyment that arise from being in right and holy
relationship:
• With God
• With other people
• With the entirety of God’s creation

9. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF
Shalom is exhibited in community in several
ascending levels of godly holiness (whole-ness).
First, shalom is an ethical community. Without
justice, “shalom is wounded”.
This is true “even if there are no feelings of
hostility”.

10. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF
“Shalom cannot be secured in an unjust situation by
managing to get all concerned to feel content with their
lot in life. Shalom would not have been present even if
all the blacks in the United States had been content in
their state of slavery; it would not have been present in
South Africa even if all the blacks there felt happy. It is
because shalom is an ethical community that it is
wounded when justice is absent.”

11. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF
Second, it is a responsible community; it models
obedience to “God’s laws for the multifaceted existence
of his creatures.”
Finally, shalom is a delighted and delightful community.
The prophet Isaiah describes shalom as “images of
harmony”:
“Then a shoot shall grow from the stock of Jesse, and a branch
shall spring from his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and
power, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isa. 11:1-2)

12. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF
“Shalom is both God’s cause in the world and our
human calling. Even though the full incursion of shalom
into our history will be divine gift and not merely
human achievement…nonetheless it is shalom that we
are to work and struggle for. We are not to stand
around, hands folded, waiting for shalom to arrive. We
are workers in God’s cause, his peace-workers. The
missio Dei is our mission.”

13. NICHOLAS WOLTERSTORFF
Thus, “development and liberation must go hand in hand” if
shalom is to be achieved. “Ours is both a cultural mandate
and a liberation mandate.”
“…to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the
yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke…to
share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor
wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe
him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood”
(Isa. 58:6-7).

14. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
The “Aryan clauses” enacted by the Nazis forbade
Jews (or their spouses) from holding office.
They also forbade them from being baptized into the
German church, which had largely aligned itself with
the National Socialists.
This happened because of the German Christians’ conviction
that the German Church should be “truly German.”
Where might this be seen in our own context?

15. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was among the first
to pose the following questions:
“What is the church’s attitude to this action by
the state?”
“And what should the church do as a result of
it?”

16. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
The church must fight evil in three stages.
First, it must question state (national) injustice,
and it must call the state to responsibility,
holding the state responsible for the injustices
it commits.

17. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Second, it must help the victims of injustice,
whether or not they “belong to the Christian
community”.

18. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Third, the church may ultimately be called “not
just to bandage the victims who have fallen
under the wheel, but to put a spoke into the
wheel itself” so that the progress of injustice
will be halted.

19. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ
Peruvian Catholic priest
“A spirituality is a concrete way, inspired by the
Spirit, of living the Gospel; it is a definite way of
living “before the Lord”, in solidarity with all
human beings.”

20. CONVERSION TO GOD
AND NEIGHBOR
“A spirituality of liberation will focus on a conversion
to the neighbor, the oppressed person, the exploited
social class, the despised ethnic group, the
dominated country. Our conversion to the Lord
implies this conversion to the neighbor.”

21. COMMUNION WITH GOD
AS GIFT AND JOY
The communion that results from this conversion is a
gift from God. This creates a “living sense of
gratuitousness”, an active posture of living in
gratitude.
This, in turn, creates a deep and abiding sense of joy
in the believer who has been converted to God and
neighbor.

22. LEVELS OF LIBERATION
Three levels of liberation
• Liberation from oppressive social structures
• Liberation to profound inner freedom in face of
servitude
Viktor Frankl
Kunta Kinte
This usually requires community /alternative identity.
• Liberation to inner freedom from sin

23. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
What is the context of “Letter from a Birmingham
Jail”?
What were the social concerns he was addressing?
What were the criticisms he was receiving, and how
was he addressing them?

24. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
What does King say we must be willing to do if we
practice civil disobedience?
• Civil disobedience is practiced openly, not secretly.
• It is done lovingly and peacefully.
• It is willing to accept the civil penalty for these
actions.
This is what distinguishes it from criminal behavior.

25. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
The importance of criticism from inside
a tradition or system.
• OT prophets
• It calls a society back to its own best ideals.

26. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
King says that justice delayed
is often “justice denied.”
What does he mean by this?

27. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
What does King say is the more harmful
person (or persons) for the American
negro?
Why does he address this particular group of
people? What is a contemporary example of this?

28. SIDNEY CALLAHAN
What is the difference between
passivity, self-defeating behavior, and
patience?

29. What does Callahan say we must do
alongside bearing wrongs patiently?

30. DOROTHY DAY
For Gandhi, nonviolence was a result of “holding onto
truth. For Day, it was different – it arose from being
“held onto” by truth (the Truth of God in Christ).
Her nonviolence and radical Christian pacifism arose
from the grace and the discipline of “seeing Christ in
people.”

31. DOROTHY DAY
She was unimpressed with the “tepid” nature of
formal religion, particularly the Catholic church to
which she belonged.
“Where are the Catholics? “ she asked. “Where
were the saints trying to change the social order,
not just to minister to the slaves but to do away
with slavery?”

32. CHARITY OR JUSTICE?
“There is too much charity,” stated
Day,
“but too little justice.”

33. DOROTHY DAY
Together with French philosopher Peter Maurin, they
developed a three-pronged approach to the injustice
surrounding them:
• Discussions to clarify and focus their thought and
approach
• “Houses of hospitality” where Christ “could be met and
served daily through the practice of the Works of Mercy”
• Farming communities where the unemployed could have
land and meaningful work

34. DOROTHY DAY
Day’s radical pacifism was decidedly NOT passive: “We are not talking of
passive resistance.” Instead, it is based upon Christ’s “revolutionary
command” – not advice, not encouragement, but command – to love one
another.
It was also not a retreat from the world. “Engagement with the joys and
sorrows of the world is precisely where Christ is to be found.”
“Love and prayer are not passive, but a most active glowing
force.”

35. DOROTHY DAY
• Corporeal Works of Mercy: Feed the hungry, give drink to the
thirsty, clothe the naked, ransom the captive, shelter the
exposed, visit the sick, bury the dead.
• Spiritual Works of Mercy: admonish the sinner, instruct the
ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear
wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, pray for the living and the
dead.
Both must be practiced, and they must be practiced
together.

36. DOROTHY DAY
She drew heavily from the work of Thomas Aquinas
(the primary moral theologian for the Catholic
Church) which stated that “justice is the basis of a
proper social order, and that genuine and lasting
peace can only be established in the context of such
a social order.”
(Question – does thus sound like shalom?)

37. DOROTHY DAY
“We have seen His hands and His feet in the poor
around us. He has shown himself to us in them. We
start by loving them for Him, and we soon love them for
themselves, each a most unique person, most special!”
For Day, hospitality was nonviolence in action.