God, Power and the Struggle for Liberation: A Feminist Contribution

Abstract

While revolutions have ever been a part of human history, the modern era has been particularly marked by the rise of the dispossessed of the world. The poor, persons of color, and women of all races and classes have each, in turn, challenged centuries-old patterns of domination and structures of oppression.1 And as these groups have developed their analyses of gender, class and race, they have as well, asserted that the realities of oppression are not separated from religious and theological beliefs and ideas, but that there exists a profound interconnection between these visions of reality and the systems that deny so many their humanity. In particular, proponents of liberation theology, black and feminist thought have focused their examination on the central symbols of the Western Christian tradition and most importantly the idea of God, in order to clarify the implications of this symbol system for political and social reality.2 This critical analysis is not an interesting but irrelevant sidelight for the powerless of the world. Rather, it is an imperative dimension of movements for liberation for, according to these thinkers, such analysis reveals how religious visions of reality function to sanction and provide support for oppressive political and societal structures and institutions; this critical exploration makes clear, in the words of liberation theologian, Juan Luis Segundo, that “our unjust society and our perverted idea of God are in close and terrible alliance.”3