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Academic Year 2005/2006

Liberation, Theology, Pentecostalism, and other Christianities in the Americas and Africa
RELI 279 SP

Liberation theology, with its advocacy of a "preferential option for the poor," offers those concerned with human rights a moral compass for future action. For liberation theology, "the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order (Guiterrez 1983)." Indeed, liberation theology has been a powerful influence in many human rights movements in the Americas, from the Sandinista revolution to social movements in grassroots Brazil. In contrast, for evangelical Christianity, the largest-growing religious movement in the Americas today, there is little imperative to contribute to the common good. Rather, the common good is a by-product of the righteous lives of believers, as they enact the outward signs of personal salvation. This course examines both religious thought and ethnographic writings on various Christianities of the Americas, with particular attention to the ways religious thinkers and religious communities grapple with and resolve questions of the common good, human rights and structural inequality.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS RELI    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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