Social and Political Freedom: A Pastoral Theological Perspective—Part I

Abstract

Pastoral theology can contribute to the discourse on social-political freedom. More specifically, the concepts of care and faith—theologically, existentially, and psychologically understood—provide an innovative and illuminating perspective on the notions of social and political freedoms as well as how they are related. A focus on the dynamics of faith and care vis-a-vis freedom, for instance, also renders a diagnosis of the social-political pathologies of neoliberal capitalism with its atomization of human beings, distortion of accountability, and exploitation of human beings and the earth. To move in this direction, part I of this paper offers a brief overview of some of the salient features of discourses on political freedom in the West, namely, justice, equality, rights, reason, and agency. Noticeably absent is any connection between political freedom and civic care and civic faith. This sets the stage, then, for a discussion on care and faith vis-a-vis social and political freedom, which is developed in part II of this paper. Part II, which will appear in the next issue of this journal, develops a view of freedom relying first on the pre-political space of parent–child interactions and how they relate to the child’s emerging experience of and capacity for social freedom. Once this is developed, I shift to differentiating between social and political freedoms, which allows me to reimagine political freedom in terms of the dynamics of care and faith.