dc.contributor.author | Wortham, George Marvin | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-05-22T12:50:29Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-05-22T12:50:29Z | |
dc.date.issued | 1990 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30947 | |
dc.description.abstract | | en |
dc.description.abstract | What this study is intended to achieve is the critical assessment
of the theology which seeks to give meaning to this experience of
discipleship. It is this theology which has emerged from the Latin
American context which is to be placed in critical dialogue with the
theology of Reinhold Niebuhr. Both Liberation Theology and Niebuhrian
theology are concerning with social justice and its relation to
Christian faith. It is the thesis of this study that Niebuhrian
realism provides a theology which is better able to guide and give
meaning to discipleship which seeks social justice. At the same time
this study will examine the areas of Niebuhrian theology which are
challenged by the insights and criticisms of Liberation theology. The
end result of this study will be the explication of a Niebuhrian
realism which is 'liberative'. | en |
dc.description.abstract | Our examination of the theme of justice will begin with an
analysis and critique of Reinhold Niebuhr's understanding of justice.
This first section of our study will comprise four chapters which deal
with Niebuhr's anthropological realism, the values of justice, the
implementation of justice, and a final chapter of critique and comment.
At this point I need to take responsibility for my reading of Niebuhr.
I am conscious that I have organised and abstracted Niebuhr's position
in a systematic manner which is lacking in his own works. In this
manner I have reduced the dialectic tension and ambiguity experienced
in the reading of Niebuhr. Whether this is a loss or gain to
Niebuhrian theology I will leave to the reader to assess. A second
comment to be made concerning this analysis of Niebuhr's theology has
to do with the term 'Christian Realism'. In the following study I have
avoided the use of this term. This term has come to refer to Niebuhr's
theology and the theological movement related to it. It is my concern
in this study to deal specifically with Niebuhr's position and not the
post-Niebuhrian theological movement. | en |
dc.description.abstract | The next section of our study will involve placing Niebuhrian
theology in dialogue with Liberation theology. This dialogue will
begin with a comparison of theological method. Following this chapter
on theological method will be three chapters which deal with specific
theological topics and their relationship to social justice. These
topics are; sin, salvation, and christology. The final chapter in this
section will deal with the values and ethics of Liberation theology | en |
dc.description.abstract | It is necessary at this point to define what is meant by
'Liberation theologian' and how these theologians are chosen to be in
dialogue with Niebuhrian theology. Our study will be limited to
dialogue with Liberation theologians of Latin America. This
identification has do with context and commitment rather than
geographical location or cultural identity. These theologians write
with the socio-political and economic context of Latin American in mind
and with a commitment to social transformation which favours the poor
and oppressed of Latin America. The choice of specific Latin American
Liberation theologians will correspond to the topic under
consideration. Different Liberation theologians will be brought into
dialogue with Niebuhrian theology according to the subject matter which
their work addresses. This means that our choice of Liberation
theologians will be selective, but still representative. | en |
dc.description.abstract | Another issue to be addressed concerning Liberation theologians is
their differing theological traditions. In this study I have avoided
the identification of Liberation theologians as either Roman Catholic
or Protestant. It is not that this distinction is insignificant. It
is no accident that Protestant Liberation theology presents some of the
most significant challenges to the Niebuhrian position. This
distinction between theological traditions is avoided because of the
commonly-held ideas among the various theologians. It is very
difficult to make general statements concerning Liberation theologians
which identifies them as either Roman Catholic or Protestant. The
consideration of each specific theologian requires so much
qualification concerning his or her relation to a tradition, that such
identification seems counterproductive to the task at hand. | en |
dc.description.abstract | The final section of our study will be an attempt to present a
Niebuhrian theology modified by the critical insights of Liberation
theology. In this section we will consider a theology of justice which
is inclusive of the realism of Niebuhrian theology and also inclusive
of the historical commitment of Liberation theology. We will identify
this modified Niebuhrian theology as Liberative realism. | en |
dc.description.abstract | A concluding introductory comment needs to be made concerning the
limitations of this study. There are areas of justice and of
contemporary concern which are not addressed in this study, such as
issues of penal justice or ecological concerns. Both Liberation
theology and Nlebuhrian theology are primarily concerned with
distributive justice in regard to social life. They are concerned with
the structures and systems of justice and how they determine social
existence. A contemporary issue which neither Liberation theology or
Niebuhrian theology address is that of ecology. This is certainly a
growing issue in national and international justice concerning
pollution and the global affect of the decimation of the rain forests,
but it lies beyond the scope of this dissertation. | en |
dc.description.abstract | Another limit of this study is in regard to the ideological
plurality of social existence. This dissertation is concerned with
presenting a Christian theology of justice and does not deal with the
religious and secular diversity of which social life is composed. In
this regard, further study would be required which explores how a
Christian position on justice relates to a society in which there is a
variety of religious and secular positions in regard to social justice. | en |
dc.publisher | The University of Edinburgh | en |
dc.relation.ispartof | Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2018 Block 19 | en |
dc.relation.isreferencedby | Already catalogued | en |
dc.title | A study of the theme of justice in the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr in critical comparison with the theology of select Latin American liberation theologians | en |
dc.type | Thesis or Dissertation | en |
dc.type.qualificationlevel | Doctoral | en |
dc.type.qualificationname | PhD Doctor of Philosophy | en |