Leonardo Boff: Jesus Christ Liberator, a Critical Christology for Our Times

 Book Report

Jesus Christ Liberator: a Critical Christology for Our Times

Part 1: Who is Jesus and What would Jesus do

WWJD, which means what would Jesus do, is a folk slogan among Christians. The question concerns what would our savior, Jesus Christ reacts upon different circumstances, especially on daily issues, for instance, someone cut your line, rude to your family members and so on and so forth. To Christians, how does Jesus responds imply how we should behave. That means to say, if we believe Jesus is going to do X at Y, as a follower of Jesus, in most cases, it is decent to do X at Y. Leonardo Boff’s Jesus Christ Liberator, should be best understood as a theological text that concerns WWJD at our time or as he has said a Christology for our time.

As a reader who reads the textbook as a reflection on Liberation Theology, I have to suggest at the very beginning that I do not gain much knowledge about what Liberation Theology is from the book. It appears to me that Boff has not tried to set boundaries for his theology. Maybe, as Boff has suggested at the Epilogue, he does not believe there is a structure for Liberation Theology, Liberation Theology is more like a contextual message that every Christian should, no matter they are living in Latin America, United State of America or even Hong Kong, echo. It is because Jesus Christ “IS” a liberator, He came to liberate the oppressed, not physically but spiritually and mentally.

So if the textbook cannot be viewed as a guideline of Liberation Theology, what are the themes of the book?  Roughly speaking, as a Latin-American theologian, he believed he has to speak for his people, for his country, he wanted to articulate a bottom up theological point of view rather than the traditional top down theological point of view. As a result, he has to ask and put forward a notion on WWJD in Latin America. Nevertheless, before investigating and arguing how Jesus is going to response towards the social injustices, like most theologians since the 19^th Century, he has to answer the question, who is Jesus Christ and what do we know about Him?

To most Christians, we are familiar with the life Jesus Christ base on the scared text Holy Bible; however, among scholars, especially those being influenced by the methodologies of historical criticism and contemporary hermeneutics, it appears to them that Jesus Christ in the Bible might not be the Jesus Christ who has existed 2000 years ago. Put things otherwise, these scholars question the accuracy of the Bible writers, if Jesus Christ in the Bible is just a mythological being like Odin or Thor, it is not overwhelming to say that the entire belief of Christianity is in a shaky ground or, using Jesus’ own parable, Christianity is built on sand.

Boff takes the question two fold, on the one hand, evidence by chapter 1 and 2, he believed that we have to take the criticism seriously, as theologians, it is their duty to outline the problem, bridging the gap on what makes the Bible’s record on Jesus accurate; on the other hand, as he has discussed very detail from the chapter from 3 to chapter 10 that, in some cases the “details” of an event of the Bible can be replaced by a “theological message”. For instance, where was the birthplace of Jesus? In the Bible, there are at least two different records on the birthplace of Jesus Christ, base on contemporary methodologies on historical record, either one of them is correct and as a result in either case the Bible is fallible. To Boff, this kind of view has missed the most important features of the Bible; the Holy Bible, rather than being a historical text about different events that happened, is a theological work that records the message from the Divine. Put things other way, where exactly did Jesus born is not important, what is important is, first, Jesus Christ did exist (being born); second, there is a theological meaning of postulating Jesus born in certain place. As a result, to Boff, the Bible is a reliable piece of work; Jesus who existed is Jesus in the Bible.

In the following chapters, after elaborating how the Bible is a reliable text for contemporary readers, Boff marched to his agenda, paralleling Jesus Christ as a liberator for our world. From chapter 3 onwards, because Boff has already discussed the validity of the Bible, Boff has spent a great deal of time in postulating a liberate Jesus Christ from the Good News, from his teaching, to his death and most importantly his resurrection. At this point, I believe, as Dr. Kung has once mentioned in his class of Christian Ethics, in most cases scholars do enjoy selectively used materials that favor their conclusion, especially among Christian writers. Here, I am not saying Boff has exaggerated the liberate side of Jesus, what I have to suggest here is that: following Boff’s endeavor, I have to agree that Jesus should be best understood as a liberator. By citing different passages from the Bible, it is quite clear to the reader that through different times in Jesus’ life, Jesus did try His best to re-new the soul of us. The only reason that I do not spend time in explaining Boff’s work is because, Boff’s arguments are quite straight forward and his premises do lead to his conclusion, there is nothing much for me to discuss here. However, at this point, I have to propose that, it does not mean Boff’s work is boring or without inspiration. On the very contrary, he has discussed things in detail with the a spirit which make readers, even knowing very little on complicated theological issues capture the essence of the debate, for example, he has spent nearly 1 and a half chapters in reliving the conflict about the godliness of Jesus and the human side of Jesus, he has discussed from the traditional understanding on the topic to how all these theses traditional views demand further elaboration and how we should interpret that contemporarily. So to sum up the work of Boff, I am convinced that Jesus did have a liberate side, He was here to give Christian new commands and re-new the old commands, through His life, from His teachings, to His death and finally His resurrection. So in the rest of this book report, I will explain in detail how does this mean to me and to us, Christians who live in Hong Kong.    

Part 2: What Should I do

As I have discussed since the very beginning, WWJD (today) is the main theme of the book, so if I am convinced that Jesus is somewhat a liberator for the oppressed, then as Christians, it is reasonable for us to ask, “What should we do if Jesus is a liberator?” I believe here, Boff, rather than restricting Liberation Theology with boundaries, he was opened to possibility. Put things otherwise, as Dr. Kung has suggested at the first lecture, Liberation Theology is a contextual theology, which all Christian share a content, a liberate Jesus, but different Christians in different continents do entitle to different fragments about how we should do.

As a Christian in Hong Kong who has been influenced by conventional Christology, it is my burden to ask, “Is it wrong for us to not think from a liberation angle?” At first, It might sound counter intuitive, if Jesus Christ’s followers do not walk the path once Jesus has walked. However, I cannot help but to ask, in helping the oppressed, do they need our help? Are they really being oppressed? Are they using our liberate minds for their well beings? All these questions demand an answer; however, since Boff has not given us a clear guideline on what Liberation Theology is, as a reader, I can just reflect to these questions by other possible means. (Boff did mention what people in wealthy countries in the end of the book; however, I take that as a rational conclusion, if Boff is right on A, B follows. Now I am asking granting A is contextually true, what should we do next, in Hong Kong, is it B or C?)

All these questions I have been asking are not practical but crucial towards how we should act, if Jesus has been a liberator. When we look back, it is without a doubt that Jesus’ life should be appropriately reviewed as a liberate Christ, He came to set the oppressed free. However, can we just parallel today’s Hong Kong with Jesus’ time? Here, I have taken the question in a more micro sense than Boff, to Boff, in a Globalized World, powerful and wealthy countries should be viewed as the elites in the day of Jesus; on the contrary, weak and poor countries have to be read as slaves or oppressed group in those days. I believe Boff is not wrong in viewing things that way, but the outlook is too brief, it has ignored many conflicts already inside a city, not to mention inside a country and among different countries. So here I would like to focus my time in discussing whether a liberate mind is appropriate in Hong Kong, but not whether liberate minds are decent from a theological perspective.

To say we have to liberate something or someone, it assumes something or someone is being deeply oppressed or deprived from one’s autonomy. Nonetheless, as a citizen of Hong Kong, I have to ask, do we really have those kinds of people in Hong Kong? Saying there are unfortunate, poor and troubled people in the society does not mean they are being oppressed or deprived, it is just a slippery slope to deviate less fortunate people as victims, in worst sense, it is just in itself paranoid. Put things otherwise, I believe, since Hong Kong is a very “blessed” society, we might not need a liberator, in fact what we need is a modified liberation theology, a theology of tolerance and sympathy.

It is not an easy task to convince Christians who already constituted the belief that some citizens in Hong Kong are deviated, labeled and have been treating unfairly. What I should add here is that, like how my Psychiatrist has once told me, we need a positive attitude to hardships, human has a tendency to treat oneself or someone as a victim; nevertheless, it is an unhealthy way to interpret our world. A healthy way to read adversaries  should be: be positive. Here I am not saying we should take every unfair treatment positively, quite the opposite, I am asking Christian to think negatively unless it is more reasonable to do so, helping those weaker and misfortunate group to regain their confidence, but not labeling them as deprived, else we might have just worst off the situation rather than helping at all.

Conclusion: An Apprication Theology

From Boff’s work, I am convinced that Jesus Christ has been a liberator and I believe under certain situation, for instance considering the validity of Globalization, there are many social issues that Christian should speak up and try to mediate. Nevertheless, I do not share the belief that Hong Kong is a place like Latin America in the 70’s last century or even contextually like the Latin American in the 70’s last century. It is true that there are unfortunates, weaker groups in Hong Kong; but I do not believe we should parallel these people with the slaves in Jesus’ time or citizens living in Boff’s context. Because, rather than thinking from such a critical angle, I believe a positive, appreciating angle is more appropriate in Hong Kong. If Jesus came to liberate the oppressed, I do not see why He would like people to deviate oneself as oppressed when they are not. I suppose Jesus would welcome people to be proud of taking different roles in the society who function differently. The point here is that, under certain context, we need a liberate side of Jesus, in a context like Hong Kong where there are very few cases of oppressed, appreciation of being different, tolerate the difference are far more important than liberation. As a result since Jesus has been a liberator and we are living in a world where there are far fewer oppressed, we should move a step further, appreciating the beautiful world we are living in. It is not a simple task, because most people do treat such an attitude as childish and naïve; but if we Christians do not know how to appreciate the great creation of God, then it is doubtful how we can do theology, at all.  

佳信物業管理有限公司社字樓D員公真係超IMPOLITE

今日收到張MEMO，佢話張CHEQUE寫錯字，之前我媽媽都試過寫錯字比佢地彈返轉頭。講真佢地張MEMO又HIGHLIGHT又呢樣個樣，比我既感覺係：錯一個字使唔使死？ 我之後打返去問，我既感覺係佢地好似唔想做，4月4號我地開業主大會，我就會問一問如果要加價，點解種要用佢地？ 又RUDE，做野又慢，平唔平就真係唔知啦？

林以諾博士定林以諾牧師？

A few days ago, when I was going gym in the morning I noticed an advertisement on the street. The slogan of the advertisement is "Men become crazy" and it features the notorious Christian Pastor 林以諾. Since I was really young, even considered myself as a liberal Christian, I have been feeling disgusted because he has made the Good News so cheap by presenting the Good News with stand up comedy. However, as the Bible has clearly stated, as servants, even we found someone behave problematically, it is God's reign to make judgement. As a result, I believe, optimistically, which as someone who should have a very close relationship with God, he must have received a message from God that allowed him to the Good News with a sense of humor. But at the moment I saw the advertisement, I could not help but wonder, to my understanding, most people who both hold the titles like Professor, Reverend or Doctor tend to call themselves Reverend someone someone rather than Professor or Doctor, even in most of his talk shops, has been calling himself Reverend 林以諾 rather than Doctor 林以諾, so why such a change?

The logical guess is, he has been awarded a doctorate degree from a university, thus he believes that it is appropriate to call himself Dr. 林以諾 rather than Rev. 林以諾. But as Christian, we should have question, is being a Dr. better than being a Rev.? At the very beginning, it is reasonable to ask, "Why make such a fuss on how he calls himself? If he is eligible to call himself either Dr. 林以諾 or Rev. 林以諾, it is his freedom of choice to call himself whatever he desires." My answer is Yes, we can careless about a lot of thing but as Christians, if we believe we are followers of Jesus Christ, we cannot justify our behavior with common sense or ideologies like freedom of oneself, we have to reconsider what does it mean for behaving  in different manners.

I believe, though it is just again a rational guess, since 林以諾's target audiences are non-believers, telling another as a Dr. compare to Rev enjoys the benefits like, firstly, it is  a neutral academic approval that most people recognize; secondly, in contemporary HK, he might have avoided being stereotype as a "moral conventionalist" who just speaks boring religious dogmas. In the very beginning, I comment 林以諾 as notorious simply because, as most scholars believe, he has slide and encroach by secularizations, he has been thinking what people need rather than what God desires. I believe, changing his title is another good example that how Rev. 林以諾 has tried his best to please the world rather than pleasing God. It is without a question he is doing something for God (at least this is what I wish he has been doing.); nevertheless, it appears to me, it is just a lack of faith to God. Protestant Christian, as I would say, care too much about how the world interpret us. Undoubtedly, as Dr. Kung always says, Christian is located in the public sphere that She has to dialogue with other parties; however, it does not necessary mean we have to give up our fragments, the properties that make us unique. 

It may be the case that preaching will be more effective by replacing Rev with Dr; but what we as Christians have to think really through is that: is preaching and letting more people believe in God through our efforts really what God would like us to do? Towards the question, different denominations do have their own perspective, I, after 2 years in CUHK, consider myself rather as a traditional Protestant, would have to say, it sucks big to be so lack of faith. One last thing, maybe it is God who wants Rev. 林以諾 to change his title, I am not God, I do not know. What is important here is that: unless you have a reason (from God) to follow the world, it is more reasonable not to. Being liberal, especially in a society that being deeply influenced by Enlightened thoughts, is easy; nevertheless, if we do not hold the notion and doctrines as dear. What make us different from a sales who is selling Good News to the mass?

幫媽媽平反

If you have been to my wedding, you should have learnt from me that my mother is the only thing I am proud of, other then being a Christian. In another words, my mother is the only person whom I care with my whole heart besides my wife Miann, Long Long, Eric and Eva. Since I was young, my mother has always been treated unfairly, people keep framing her and undermine her reputation. As her son, I am really sick of that and I have to say, enough, please be fair to my mother.

If anyone thinks my mother is luxurious. I would welcome that person to provide grounds on how she has been using "HER" money falsely. Undoubtedly, we Christians believe God grants us everything, so truly, it is His money, rather than my mother's. It is fine, then I have to ask who are you to judge how my mother has used the money God has given her to manage? Shouldn't the owner, not other passer by ask why she has been spending like that? Furthermore, in saying God is going to punish my mother of using the money unwisely presupposes that it is the case that my mother has used the money in an inappropriate way. So the question at the very beginning is still valid, since one is innocent before proven guilty, so unless one has a rational objective reason in concluding my mother has misused her wealth, it is reasonable to conclude that how she manage her wealth is none of anyone's freaking business.

If anyone thinks my mother has pretended as a sick person. I would welcome that person to go consult my mother's cardiologist with her, I do not mind to pay for the consultation fees, asking if Dr. Wong can provided that person with a comprehensive understanding of how sick my mother has been. It is just plainly ridiculous to say my mother is "looking for medicine" because she "is dead" without the medication.

If there is anything I have learnt from my mother, there is only one thing, do not be a virtuous person in Hong Kong. Be mean, be skeptical, be judgmental and this is how other people might respect you. It sucks big but this is the way people are. I feel even notorious that even people from her church has gather so many misunderstandings about her. Havn't the Bible taught you should not judge so that you will not be judged? If I am judged because I judge the other of judging my mother, I would ask for God to forgive me, I cannot control that, it is just plainly unfair. Unfair and Unfair.

The newly wedded Chengs Part 2

黃色小雞近況

多謝小關子幫手，聽日我會去藍田幫一個中三學生補英文。心情，都唔緊張既，之前幫D中學生補習都係咁。反而而家分配時間真係要諗諗，之前做個個RESEARCH，本身諗佳投搞，但係我中大既教授一路都末比返FEEDBACK我，卡住左。而家手頭上有3份ASSIGNMENT，我諗都係先交左佢地先。之後我要UNPACK天台D書，係天台SETUP STUDY ROOM。個SCHEDULE會係：

3月31日之前：完成3份ASSIGNMENT

4月15日之前：完成執天台

4月22日之前：同中大既教授討論RESEARCH方向，如果佢沒時間，我應該會做返KIM既野

豆奶熊近況

小熊昨日CONFIRM下星二會去上堂，不過個日食飯會MISS左第一堂。另外佢病左好多日，希望佢快D好返啦。

Dragon Age 2 Review

Dragon Age 2 has finally released on 3/8/2011, I have waited so long for the sequel of Dragon Age: Origins, the only game that I have played for more than 100 hours and gain 15 pounds because I refused to go work out and just called room services when I was living in the hotel. However, I am quite disappointed by DA 2, it is nothing like I have expected. Many reviews have said kind words on the game, especially how it has changed the traditional RPG style that there is always an evil entity awaiting to be defeated by the Heroes. I believe the political struggle of the character has been exaggerated, one of the unique features of DA is that: your decision is changing the world. In DA 2, you make decision but I sincerely doubt if these make things different. Simply saying, I expect something epic not just a daily decision that the results are determined by the developers.

Whether there is an evil entity is not my concern, considering the sega of DA universe, I am discontent about how the characters are stuck in one city only. Maybe BioWare is thinking to keep releasing further titles, if it is the case, DA 2, at best is just an expansion of the DAO. It is quite pathetic that in the game, the characters have repeatedly suggested that the main character has changed the world; sadly, nothing has been said about how the character has impacted the world, besides hi defeat of the Templar. As a player, this does not make any sense at all, I want to know more how things have been changed. When I finished the game, my first feeling is: WTF that's it? What's next? Unlike DAO, I do not see the storyline of DA 2 as a finished one, it leaves to many things unanswered and as storyline is one of the most playable features of the DA universe, it is sad to see BioWare has undermined what it has built beautifully at DAO.

To be fair, DA 2 is a good game compare to most of the games on the market. But, comparing to DAO, DA2 is just a B side disc, it lacks vigor and sparks. Maybe I have expected too much and that's why I am disappointed. My final ranking to the game 6.5/10 as a sequel of DAO, 8/10 as something independent from DAO. 

我應該做D咩？

What should I do? It is a question that demands an answer. To most of us, we work hard for food and play hard to celebrate our living, but as a Christian, I have to ask, is that it? For sure, the answer is negative, a definite no. If the answer is a certain no, the next question we have to ask should be, "What should you do?" In my life, I have always been interested in academic researches; however, as Miann and I have started our family and I have to pay my bills and having a career is necessary to me now. Some of my friends have suggested that why don't you work full time and conduct researches in spare time? My response is, studying, to me is a WORK, I need leisure time to replenish also. 

Undoubtedly, the world sucks and we hardly get what we want, if conducting researches is not something profitable, one should abandon the idea. Yes, it is true that I take academic researches as an obligation, an obligation to our Creator. As a result, my conflict is three-fold, firstly, I need a work for living, secondly, I believe I have a duty to conduct researches and lastly I want my spare time. The real question here is, how could I spend my time? For the time being, I really do not have an answer. Most probably, I will be working as a private tutor, earning 4k a month by spending 8-10 hours a week on lessons. The other time are reserve for studying and playing. Please pray for me.