Participating in God’s Liberative Act

Abstract

Another image of God which emerged in our reflections in Part I on the theists’ experiences of suffering and on their practical responses to its challenge is that of God as liberator. In the preceding chapter we noted the need to develop this image further because of the challenge of certain kinds of suffering. In this respect Latin American liberation theology has led the way in highlighting the importance of this image of God as liberator. Rebecca Chopp writes that this metaphor, which is at the centre of Latin American liberation theology, has been influenced no doubt by culture, but it is also uniquely Christian in the light of Scripture, Christian tradition, and church teachings:

The metaphor of God as liberator provokes the movement of liberating praxis, judges historical situations, recalls the dangerous memories of Christian tradition, and gives hope for the journey to freedom. As the central metaphor, God as liberator relates to other symbols popular in Latin American liberation theology—to the suffering Christ, to the church as sacrament of history, to Christ liberating culture, and to symbols of popular religion.¹