Life in Freedom

by Amaladoss, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781608994090
• ISBN10: 1608994090
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Summary

In Life in Freedom Michael Amaladoss analyzes the many rich and complex strands of Asian religious thought on the notion and nature of the path toward liberation. As he shows, Asian "liberation theology" departs significantly from the Latin American model, with which it is commonly compared. Rather than put primary emphasis on economic issues, Asian cultures give much greater priority To The role of religion in the composition of a healthy society. In Part One Amaladoss discusses current liberation movements and thought in Korea, The Philippines, and India. In two other chapters, he shows also that the awakening of women is integral To The search for human freedom and development And The growing importance sound ecological policies in any valid approach to liberation in Asia. In Part Two Amaladoss discusses non-Christian approaches to human liberation and freedom, showing how the lives and thought of influential figures of other faiths have given distinctive shape to Asian approaches to liberation. Buddhists such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Hindus such as Mahatma Gandhi and E.V. Ramaswamy show that hostility to religion is remote from the most characteristic Asian liberation movements. Gandhi's entire politics was rooted in the notion that "to attain Truth or to realize God is the goal of human life." But God [for Gandhi] is realized concretely in the world and particularly in other people. Service to others then becomes a way to God and ultimately to human liberation. Similarly, Confucian traditions embody a deeply indigenous, Asian way of constructing reality as a sacred whole. In that construct, liberation and freedom take on meanings and dimensions functionally religious in the way they anchor individuals And The community To The cosmic whole. In Part Three, Amaladoss gives his own analysis and prophetic overview on how the plurality of images of liberation enriches the possibility for interreligious cooperation in overcoming the forces of oppression in Asia.

Author Biography

Michael Amaladoss, SJ, a former president of the International Association of Mission Studies, teaches and writes, on issues of interreligious concern and inculturation at the Vidjajyoti College of Theology in Delhi, India.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Liberation Movements
Minjung Theology of Korea	p. 3
The Origins	p. 3
The Minjung and Han	p. 4
Han and Dan	p. 5
A Minjung Reading of the Bible	p. 6
Moses and Jesus: A Contrast	p. 6
Minjung History as Salvation History	p. 7
An Inter-religious Liberative Tradition	p. 7
Minjung and Messianism	p. 8
Minjung, Jesus and the Spirit	p. 10
Significant Characteristics	p. 10
A Theology of Struggle from the Philippines	p. 12
The Socio-economic and Political Situation	p. 12
The Christian Response	p. 13
A Theology of Struggle	p. 14
Popular Expression	p. 15
A Desire for Change	p. 16
A New Spirituality	p. 16
Jesus and the Struggle	p. 18
Searching for a New Ecclesiology	p. 19
Struggle and Celebration	p. 20
New Social Analysis	p. 20
Liberation and Zen	p. 21
The Struggle Continues	p. 21
Dalit Theology in India	p. 22
The Caste System	p. 22
The Dalits	p. 23
Dalit Literature	p. 24
Dalit Christians	p. 25
Liberation Movements	p. 25
Dalit Theology	p. 27
A Dalit God	p. 28
Table Fellowship	p. 29
A New Community	p. 29
Liberating Praxis	p. 30
The Awakening of Women in Asia	p. 32
A Story of Oppression	p. 32
Various Types of Women's Movements	p. 33
Women and Nature	p. 35
A New Socio-cultural Order	p. 35
A Hermeneutic of Suspicion	p. 36
Open Foundational Traditions	p. 36
Counter-cultural Figures	p. 37
God, Male and Female	p. 38
Jesus in the Context of Feminism	p. 40
Mary and Women	p. 43
Women in Society	p. 43
In Harmony with the Earth	p. 44
The Environmental Crisis	p. 44
People's Movements in Asia	p. 45
Defending the Forests	p. 46
Protecting the Sea	p. 46
Damning the Dams	p. 47
Peasant Movements	p. 48
Polluting the Environment	p. 48
Having or Living	p. 48
Science, Technology and Violence	p. 49
Objectification and Dehumanization	p. 50
A Search for Integration	p. 51
Love and Wisdom	p. 53
Religions for Liberation
Hinduism and Liberation	p. 57
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi	p. 58
A Vision of Integral Liberation	p. 59
The Goal of Life: Truth	p. 61
The Way of Nonviolence	p. 62
Hindu Roots	p. 63
Swami Agnivesh	p. 64
True Religion Is Revolutionary	p. 64
Individual and Social Change	p. 65
Vision of a Vedic Society	p. 66
E. V. Ramaswamy	p. 67
A Denial of God	p. 68
A Secular Tradition	p. 69
A Negative Theology	p. 69
Buddhism and Liberation	p. 71
The Sarvodaya Sramadana Movement	p. 72
Sarvodaya or the Awakening of All	p. 72
Buddhist Roots	p. 73
Praxis in Community	p. 74
Criticisms	p. 75
Bhikkhu Buddhadasa	p. 76
Dhammic Socialism	p. 77
Reality as Interdependent	p. 78
Renunciation and Sharing	p. 79
Between Capitalism and Communism	p. 80
Thich Nhat Hanh	p. 81
Solidarity with Reality	p. 81
The Order of Interbeing	p. 82
The Mahayana Tradition	p. 84
Confucianism and Liberation	p. 85
An Absolute: Heaven/Way	p. 85
Kings and Scholar	p. 87
The Way and Its Virtues	p. 88
Rights and Rites	p. 90
The Family Tradition	p. 92
Christianity and Liberation	p. 93
Aloysius Pieris	p. 93
Religiosity and Poverty	p. 94
Option to 'Be' the Poor or to Be 'For' the Poor	p. 94
George Soares-Prabhu	p. 96
God as 'Abba'	p. 96
Love Leading to Justice	p. 96
Sebastian Kappen	p. 97
Revolution and Culture	p. 98
Counter-culture in Indian Tradition	p. 99
Culture: Traditional and Modern	p. 99
Jesus as Counter-cultural	p. 100
M. M. Thomas	p. 101
Christ and Reform Movements in India	p. 102
Salvation as Humanization	p. 102
Dialogue and Prophecy	p. 103
Christ and the Secular	p. 104
Islam and Liberation	p. 105
Mawlana Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi	p. 106
The Supremacy of God	p. 106
The Role of Conflict: Jihad	p. 107
The Role of Leadership	p. 108
Theo-democracy	p. 109
Dr. Ali Shariati	p. 110
Islam and True Humanism	p. 111
The God of the Oppressed	p. 113
The Context of Conflict	p. 114
The Role of Leaders	p. 115
Asghar Ali Engineer	p. 116
The Prophet and Liberation	p. 116
Justice in Practice	p. 117
The Place of Women in Islam	p. 118
Attitude to Other Religions	p. 118
Two Special Questions	p. 119
The Cosmic Religions and Liberation	p. 121
Cosmic and Metacosmic Religions	p. 121
Liberative Features of Cosmic Religiosity	p. 122
Cosmic Religiosity and Consciousness of Oppression	p. 123
Popular Response to Evil	p. 124
Ritual and Social Change	p. 126
Conclusion	p. 127
Conclusion
Life in Freedom	p. 131
Liberation as an Inter-religious Project	p. 131
Towards an Integral Liberation	p. 134
An Analysts of Society	p. 135
The Poor	p. 137
Religion and the Social Sciences	p. 138
The Asian Situation	p. 139
Jesus' Vision of a New Society	p. 139
The Reign of God and the Church	p. 141
Liberative Elements in Asian Religions	p. 142
Committed to Action	p. 143
A Nonviolent Struggle	p. 143
The Spirituality of Being Poor	p. 144
Conclusion: Life in Freedom	p. 144
Notes	p. 147
Selected Bibliography on Liberation	p. 163
Index	p. 176
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