South african liberation theologians biography free

About the Author s. The Author s. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Black Theology of Liberation BTL has done significant work for many decades in the struggle for the liberation of black people.

Black Theology of Liberation is a theology which restores human dignity and identity for black humanity, and it needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. One of the most important contributions BTL made was the creation of new forms of ecclesiological knowledge, resulting from a critical look at the use of the Bible with Eurocentric perspectives, and the organisational structures of the church divided between black and white, leading to, amongst others, the dismantlement of black African knowledge, systems and their culture.

From a black theological perspective, ecclesiology focused on restoration of the dignity of black persons by dismantling Eurocentric views about faith and ecclesiology that have continued to demonise black lives. Black theology, with its positive contribution, focused on racism and other constructs of oppression such as class, with very little and limited focus on sexism and patriarchy.

This article will demonstrate how significant the contribution of BTL has been and also decry or denounce the fact that patriarchal violence and the liberation of women were not given equal attention.

Why is liberation theology controversial

It is written from the perspective of BTL and premised by the experience of oppressed black persons. In this article, it has been stated that black persons and their lived experiences are epistemologies in the quest for liberation of black humanity as a whole. The article will therefore bring forth BTL epistemologies that have been put in the periphery by western theology.

As a starting point, this article analyses the influence made by Black Theology of Liberation BTL in creating black ecclesiological awareness. It is on the edifice of black consciousness BC philosophy that black theology came to existence, as the gospel that struggled against white racism and for the liberation of black people. At the centre of the struggle against white racism was the Bible and its interpretation.

James Cone argued that:. I want to speak on behalf of the voiceless black masses in the name of Jesus whose gospel I believed had been greatly distorted by the preaching and theology of the white churches.