Liberation in the Controversies of Jesus
Jon Sobrino writes in 'Jesus the Liberator': "Jesus' activity ... were 'signs' of the presence of the Kingdom, but in themselves did not make the Kingdom present nor were they aimed at bringing about the total transformation of society, though they laid down the lines the Kingdom should follow and aroused the hope that the Kingdom was possible in the midst of an oppressed reality." Sobrino then goes on to talk about Jesus' prophetic praxis - Jesus' 'de-ideologizing' activity in the process of His controversies that denounce oppressive social structures and His 'unmasking' of false visions of God that support authorities' manipulation of oppressive structures to maintain their power.
Sobrino is especially brilliant in his discussion of the 'unmasking' of oppressive religion (Mk 7:1-23 and Mt 15:1-20). In Sobrino's exegesis he speaks of Jesus' support of common human tradition that can provide an anodyne to the brutality of oppression carried out in the name of God. In particular it is Jesus' denunciation of the rich, the scribes and Pharisees, and the priests that is both prophetic and transformative.
This led to the Cross: "Jesus' death was not a mistake. It was the consequence of his life and this, in turn, was the consequence of his particular incarnation - in an anti-Kingdom which brings death - to defend its victims." After His death the abundant life promised in the Resurrection brings a New Covenant of abundant life promised in the full assurance of faith.
The "eu-aggelion" - the Good News - of Christ in today's world, following Sobrino, requires a reversal of contemporary practice and a search for an orthopathy that seeks the authentic meaning of Christ-as-euaggelion: 1/ that Jesus proclaims and initiates the Kingdom of God; 2/ that Jesus' PASCH is the ground of orthodoxy; and 3/ that Jesus' 'manner of being' is the ground of orthopathy. In all of this Jesus is the Liberator and the Christ.
His Life is the ground of sacrament:
"Throughout history it is the shared table that has continued to 'make the difference’ to the outcasts of the world. It is what makes it possible to hope for salvation and to present Jesus as EU-AGGELION. It is the social expression of the personal good news that is Jesus. And as in the case of his lordship, Jesus also leaves the means for him to go on being the good news in our hands - the building of the shared table." (Christ the Liberator, 218)
As if in answer to this
As if in answer to this need, orthopathy, rom "right" (ortho) "affections" (pathe), has arisen within Wesleyan and Pentecostal theology as an integrative concept that holds great promise for holistically reuniting spirituality and theology. In addition, orthopathy suggests creative ways of re-envisioning anthropology, epistemology, and ontology, no less important tasks for postmodern theology.
--Skip Horton-Parker
You feed my soul. You thrill my heart. And you keep sending me back to the dictionary.
"Throughout history it is
"Throughout history it is the shared table that has continued to 'make the difference’ to the outcasts of the world. It is what makes it possible to hope for salvation and to present Jesus as EU-AGGELION. It is the social expression of the personal good news that is Jesus. And as in the case of his lordship, Jesus also leaves the means for him to go on being the good news in our hands - the building of the shared table." (Christ the Liberator, 218)
Perhaps this is the objectionable part of Sobrino's writing, since in practice the standard appears to be not to share Jesus at the table. In practice, it is as though the Church cannot see all the similarities between itself and the "a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day" (Luke 16: 19-31).