Is a Christian theology of self-sacrifice, which attests collective freedom can only be found through embracing non-violence and self-sacrifice, an oppressive theology or a liberating theology for marginalized people? It is marginalized people and the planet itself that bear the weight and wounds of the human struggle for dominance.
To this broken system, Christ introduced and displayed self-sacrificing love, a way that values the other over the self. Many Christ-followers would attest that the Jesus-way of absorbing violence as opposed to responding in violence is the only manner in which healing will come to the communal human existence. In a Christian ethic, this responsibility of self-sacrificing love falls on the shoulders not just of those benefiting from the weak, but also on those at the bottom themselves, the very ones already disenfranchised by the broken system. Howard Thurman states, “The ethical demand upon the more privileged and the underprivileged is the same.”
The only way to answer the question above is to seek out the voices of those in our societies who have sacrificed the most; therefore, this paper is choosing to focus on the ideas of Womanist theologians, as Black women “do theology out of their tri-dimensional experience of racism/sexism/classism.” Some Womanist theologians argue that the Christian theology of the cross is oppressive--period. Others disagree. This paper has chosen to highlight the voices of those who find hope in the Christian message of self-sacrificing love even as they embody the suffering of that reality. Drawing on Black women’s ideas and voices, this paper will explain how an ethic of self-sacrifice, witnessed as lived-pain by the oppressed, is ‘necessary’, by re-examining how Jesus’ choice to experience pain was ‘necessary’.
Great job and great thoughts, Shawna!
Posted by: Tabitha R Sheeder | February 18, 2021 at 02:13 PM