Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:19:51.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acting on Belief: Christian Perspectives on Suffering and Violence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2012

Cecelia Lynch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

What type of ethics should guide our behavior in contemporary conflicts? Religious groups working in many parts of the world are deeply involved in providing practical and theological answers to that question. This article examines two types of Judeo-Christian perspectives that stress the imperative to act to relieve suffering and transcend violence: liberation theology and the “religious humanitarian perspective.” Both perspectives draw linkages between ethical guidelines and action, and both have influenced broader political debates. The essay poses the following questions:

What are the ethical bases of action for contemporary activists and theologians in these traditions, and have these changed with political circumstances?; and

Are there ethical and practical connections between contemporary religious humanitarianism and liberation theology, and can they provide us with a coherent ethic of action to relieve suffering and reduce violence in the world?

These questions are analyzed in light of current theological conceptions of evil, religious pluralism, and the uneasy boundaries between violence and nonviolence.

Type
The Meaning of Kosovo
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 14 , March 2000 , pp. 83 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Minear, Larry and Weiss, Thomas G., Mercy Under Fire: War and the Global Humanitarian Community (Boulder: Westview, 1995Google Scholar); Minear, Larry and Weiss, Thomas G., Humanitarian Action in Times of War: A Handbook for Practitioners (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1993Google Scholar); Weiss, Thomas G. and Collins, Cindy, Humanitarian Challenges and Intervention: World Politics and the Dilemmas of Help (Boulder: Westview, 1996Google Scholar); Lederach, John Paul, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997Google Scholar); Lederach, John Paul, Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1995Google Scholar).

2 See Huntington, Samuel P., The Clash of Civilizations? The Debate, with responses by Fouad Ajami et al. (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1993Google Scholar); and for a more thoroughly researched perspective, Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber and Piscatori, James, eds., Transnational Religion and Fading States (Boulder: Westview Press, 1997Google Scholar).

3 Oliveros, Roberto, “History of the Theology of Liberation,” in Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J., and Jon Sobrino, S.J., Mysterium Liberationis: Fundamental Concepts of Liberation Theology (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1993), p. 16Google Scholar.

4 Brown, Robert McAfee, “Preface: After Ten Years,” in Gutierrez, Gustavo, The Power of the Poor in History, trans. Robert R. Barr (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1983), pp. vii–viiiGoogle Scholar.

5 Gutierrez, , “Theology from the Underside of History,” The Power of the Poor in History, chap. 7Google Scholar.

6 ACT International is a network of churches and related agencies responding to emergencies around the globe. ACT members have been active in emergencies for several decades. In 1995 they decided to join forces formally and stress a coordinated approach. ACT is based in the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches offices in Geneva. From Action by Churches Together in 1996 and ACT Mission Statement, http://www.wcc-coe.org/act/actfaq.htmGoogle Scholar.

7 The Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response is an NGO network that was founded in 1972 “to improve coordination and cooperation among humanitarian agencies involved in disaster assistance.” I wish to emphasize that the SCHR is not in itself a religious organization, but that many of its constituent members are. The SCHR sponsors the Sphere Project of Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response and, along with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, authored the Code of Conduct for NGOs in Disaster Relief. The Sphere Project, 1998, http://www.ifrc.org/pubs/sphereGoogle Scholar.

8 ACT Mission StatementGoogle Scholar.

9 I am grateful to Joel McClellan for insisting on this pointGoogle Scholar.

10 The workshop was held at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs in New York, December 2–4, 1999. I wish to thank the Carnegie Council and the Social Science Research Council/MacArthur Foundation Program on International Research for providing funding. I also wish to thank the participants: David Little of Harvard Divinity School, Sulak Sivaraksa of the Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute in Thailand, Rebecca Larson of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Joel McClellan of the Steering Committee on Humanitarian Response in Geneva, Suyapa Perez of the Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador, Dan Wessner of the Mennonite College of Canada in Winnipeg, and R. Scott Appleby of Notre Dame UniversityGoogle Scholar.

11 Gutierrez, , The Power of the Poor in History, p. 222Google Scholar.

12 Lohse, Bernhard, Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Work (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986Google Scholar). I am also indebted to Susan Schreiner on this point.

13 For example, Cotton Mather and arguments in favor of slavery from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuriesGoogle Scholar.

14 McGinn, Bernard, Anti-Christ: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994Google Scholar).

15 Here I refer to general trends in Christian theology, since at any given historical moment it is possible to construe evil as embodied by individuals (for example, Adolf Hitler) rather than social structures, and vice versaGoogle Scholar.

16 On the Social Gospel, see Curtis, Susan, A Consuming Faith: The Social Gospel and Modern American Culture (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991Google Scholar).

17 Niebuhr, Reinhold, Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics (New York: Scribners, 1932Google Scholar); and Christian Realism and Political Problems (New York: Scribners, 1953Google Scholar).

18 Gutierrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation, History, Politics and Salvation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1973), p. 175Google Scholar.

19 IbidGoogle Scholar.

20 Comments during Carnegie Council workshop, New York City, December 4, 1999Google Scholar.

21 Ellacuria and Sobrino, eds., Mysterium Liberationis; Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation.

22 Interview with Dean Brackley, S.J., San Salvador, May 1998Google Scholar.

23 I am indebted to Rebecca Larson for the term “creationist,” which denotes an ethic that attempts to include the ecological and gender concerns that have become significant issues for many involved in emergency reliefGoogle Scholar.

21 Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Geneva: The Sphere Project, 1998 a1999Google Scholar).

25 Carnegie Council workshop comments, December 4, 1999Google Scholar.

26 IbidGoogle Scholar.

27 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Letters & Papers From Prison, ed. Bethge, Eberhard (New York: MacMillan, 1971), pp. 326–29Google Scholar; see also Gutierrez, The Power of the Poor in History, chap. 8, pp. 222–29.

28 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Ethics (New York: Touchstone, 1995Google Scholar); Bonhoeffer, , Letters & Papers from Prison, p. 344Google Scholar.

29 Ellacuria, Ignacio, “The Historicity of Christian Salvation,” in Ellacuria, and Sobrino, , eds., Mysterium Liberationis, p. 254Google Scholar.

30 Richard, Pablo, “Theology in the Theology of Liberation,” in Ellacuria, and Sobrino, , eds., Mysterium Liberationis, p. 161Google Scholar.

31 Ibid., pp. 154–55Google Scholar; also comments of Suyapa Perez during Carnegie Council workshop, December 3, 1999.

32 Richard, , “Theology in the Theology of Liberation,” p. 155Google Scholar.

33 Tschuy includes in this reexamination the history of persecution of Christian heretics, Jews, and witches. Tschuy, Theo, Ethnic Conflict and Religion, Challenge to the Churches (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1997), p. 140Google Scholar.

34 Ariarajah, S. Wesley, Gospel and Culture: An Ongoing Discussion within the Ecumenical Movement, Pamphlet 1 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1994), pp. xii, 2–3Google Scholar.

35 Carnegie Council workshop discussion, December 3, 1999Google Scholar.

36 The list of organizations involved in the Geneva-based International Council of Voluntary Agencies, for example, includes the International Islamic Relief Organization and the Islamic African Relief Agency, http://www.icva.ch/member.htmGoogle Scholar.

37 “Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief,” 1994, sponsored by Caritas Internationalis, Catholic Relief Services, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Save the Children Alliance, the Lutheran World Federation, Oxfam, and the World Council of Churches, Geneva, 1998, also ACT (Action by Churches Together) Mission Statement, 1998. See especially point 3, “Notwithstanding the right of NGHAs to espouse particular political or religious opinions, we affirm that assistance will not be dependent on the adherence of the recipients to those opinions. We will not tie the promise, delivery or distribution of assistance to the embracing or acceptance of a particular political or religious creed,” and point 5, “We shall respect culture and custom.”

38 Griffiths, Paul J., Christianity Through Non-Christian Eyes (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996), p. 3Google Scholar.

39 See, for example, Ela, Jean-Marc, African Cry, trans. Robert R. Barr (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1986Google Scholar); and Martey, Emmanuel, African Theology, Inculturation and Liberation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996Google Scholar).

40 Oduyoye, Mercy Amba, Daughters of Anowa: African Women & Patriarchy (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1995), pp. 5–6Google Scholar.

41 Hyun-Kyung, Chung, “The Wisdom of Mothers Knows No Boundaries,” in Women's Perspectives, Articulating the Liberating Power of the Gospel, Pamphlet 14 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1996), pp. 30–33Google Scholar.

42 Iyer, Raghavan, The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 237Google Scholar.

43 Lynch, Cecelia, Beyond Appeasement: Interpreting Interwar Peace Movements in World Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999Google Scholar).

44 Romero, Oscar, The Violence of Love (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988Google Scholar).

45 Brown, Robert McAfee, Religion and Violence (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1973Google Scholar), especially chap. 4, “Enter: The Voice of the Third World.”

46 “Latin America: A Continent of Violence,” in Between Honesty and Hope: Documents from and about the Church in Latin America, trans. John Drury (Maryknoll: N.Y.: Maryknoll Publications, 1970Google Scholar), cited in Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, p. 126, fn. 41; see also Gerassi, John, ed., Revolutionary Priest: The Complete Writings & Messages of Camilo Torres (New York: Vintage Books, 1971Google Scholar).

47 Comments made by workshop participants, December 4, 1999Google Scholar.

48 These include the Quaker World Service, the Mennonite Central Committee, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, among othersGoogle Scholar.

49 Comments during workshop, December 4, 1999Google Scholar.

50 Moreover, given the liberal bent of most human rights discourses, such an ethic, depending on the way in which it is developed, can be open to the same criticisms leveled at these discourses—that they inevitably cover some forms of domination in an effort to expose othersGoogle Scholar.