BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPPRESION AND THE YOKE OF ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Europe’s Discussion about Justice Problems – Perspectives – Visions Douwe Visser, Geneva, Switzerland � Introduction My wife and I were kept waiting at Schiphol Airport for our son to arrive from Accra. He had been there for three weeks as a steward at WARC’s General Council in August 2004. We saw that the KLM flight had landed so we could expect our son to come at any moment. It took a long time since he had decided to drink a coffee with a few of his fellow-stewards who had an ongoing flight from Amsterdam. In the mean time the delegation of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) had arrived. Knowing them I had a short conversation with them. They were clearly unhappy with many aspects of the past General Council. Not in the least with how the acceptance of the Accra Confession had gone. It was a short conversation but it showed a condensed level of bitterness and concern. In the months thereafter the evaluation of the Accra meeting and its outcome was done, at least in the Netherlands, in a more balanced and in a ‘less first reaction, emotional’ way. Critique on the Accra Confession and the way it was accepted by the General Council was streamlined in an attitude of taking up the challenge and working with it in the Dutch context. The Netherlands is just one country in Europe and the PKN is just one of the 215 member churches of the WARC, but the reception of the Accra Confession there is a good starting point for a more general reflection on Europe’s participation in the covenanting � �for �justice work of the �World � Alliance of Reformed Churches. What have been the problems? What have been perspectives and what are the visions ? Problems Discus sion 3 In May 2009 I had a consultation on Communion and Justice in Sao Paulo for WARC’s Latin American member churches. There were around 30 participants. In general they were staunch supporters of the Accra Confession and the covenanting for justice work. They were also clearly inspired by liberation theology models and they wanted the outcome of the consultation to show that as a �� – EUROPE’S DISCUSSION ABOUT JUSTICE – 29
asis. However it was also honestly said, that the liberation theology model had not been so helpful in a country like Cuba. That reminded me of reactions you can hear in Europe concerning the Eastern European context. Although nowhere in Europe Communism has the same position now as during the years of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War, the division between Eastern and Western Europe is still highly noticeable. It can be noticed also in the evaluation of the Accra Confession. The general feeling among Eastern European WARC member churches is critical, to say the least. One can hear sometimes that the language being used in the Accra Confession and also in the overall covenanting for justice work reminds one of the Marxist ideological language so favoured by the former communist regimes. Some also feel that there is no room for a critical approach as there was neither in communist countries. Above all many feel that the world wide economic models they now are part of, have improved their level of welfare far more than during the communist era. Of course not all are critical in this way and opinion has changed quite a bit during the recent credit crisis. But in general the word ‘capitalism’ has no longer the same pejorative connotation as often as in the global WARC context. The Western European situation is different. First of all a good number of theologians and economists within WARC member churches have been involved and have supported the so-called processus confessionis leading to the acceptance of the Accra Confession. Many European member churches were greatly interested in matters of global justice and sought to have this also worked out from a theological perspective. However in the run up to the Accra General Council and in the process after, there was a dominant feeling of not being heard and being misunderstood. The following factors played a role in this critical evaluation: Discus sion � � � � � n Europeans felt that in Accra the blame for injustice was put too easily on the shoulders of the global North. There was little criticism of actors of injustice within the South and if it was mentioned, it was also directly linked again to the dominance of global North actors. n There was the feeling that the floor in Accra was very much dominated by a very outspoken part of the WARC member churches without them listening to other voices or even preventing dissident voices to be heard. n The word ‘empire’ as defining the source of evil and injustice was not seen as helpful, especially when it was seen as uncritically linked to concrete regimes like the USA. n Within Europe it was felt that parts of the world with the loudest support for the Accra Confession were not doing much with it while within Europe more was being done notwithstanding the critical evaluation of Accra 2004. n An often-heard opinion is that there is a theological deficit within WARC’s covenanting for justice process. n Europeans felt that their critical questions were not taken seriously or that they �� 30 – EUROPE’S DISCUSSION ABOUT JUSTICE –
Page 1 and 2: eak the chains of oppresion and the
Page 4 and 5: BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPRESSION AND T
Page 6 and 7: PContents REAChing Preface There is
Page 8 and 9: PREFA ce There is No Unjust Communi
Page 10 and 11: PREFA ce Let us remember: there sho
Page 12 and 13: PREFA ce ed, stripped bare, when th
Page 14 and 15: PREAChing 1 Preaching on Justice: T
Page 16 and 17: PREAChing message of the free grace
Page 18 and 19: PREAChing come aware of how abundan
Page 20 and 21: PREAChing I draw attention again to
Page 22 and 23: PREAChing who believe that “those
Page 24 and 25: EnGAGEMEnT 2 Commitment after Accra
Page 26 and 27: EnGAGEMEnT which has become spiritu
Page 28 and 29: EnGAGEMEnT worries more, is more ea
Page 32 and 33: were being seen - because of this -
Page 34 and 35: Discus sion Church and State are fu
Page 36: The Reformed tradition with the ope
Page 39 and 40: DEMoc rAcy However democracy is sti
Page 41 and 42: DEMoc rAcy of the homo politicus -
Page 43 and 44: viewers, the programme is “cut to
Page 45 and 46: DEMoc rAcy Finally it would natural
Page 47 and 48: point modern democracies are open t
Page 49 and 50: DEMoc rAcy Naturally, in many cases
Page 52 and 53: cove nanTi ng 59 Europe’s Road to
Page 54 and 55: cove nanTi ng Western neighbor coun
Page 56 and 57: cove nanTi ng focused on. On the on
Page 58 and 59: 5 pE o H 6 Theology of hope in time
Page 60 and 61: At the bottom of these enormous ent
Page 62 and 63: The question has to be raised wheth
Page 64 and 65: in the communio with Christ. In thi
Page 66 and 67: anity has been closely related to e
Page 68 and 69: world: the oppressed, the poor, the
Page 70 and 71: 8 p EM ire 7 Empire - Provocation w
Page 72 and 73: EMpire thors also supply an ambitio
Page 74 and 75: EMpire Aspects of a difficult relat
Page 76 and 77: governments in southern countries e
Page 78 and 79: EMpire Talk of empire, as this exam
Page 80:
EMpire hand, and realpolitik talk a
Page 83 and 84:
Ethics two? Globethics.net proposes
Page 85 and 86:
Ethics 2. Performance-related justi
Page 87 and 88:
Ethics difficult to implement all o
Page 89 and 90:
Ethics instrument, which correspond
Page 91 and 92:
Ethics tice. In some cases it may s
Page 93 and 94:
Ethics 6. The Principle of Transpar
Page 95 and 96:
Ethics to others what we ourselves
Page 98 and 99:
Litur gy 49 The Liturgy of Holy Com
Page 100 and 101:
Litur gy chosen was that one of the
Page 102 and 103:
Litur gy stronger weighting towards
Page 104 and 105:
Litur gy It may be argued that few
Page 106 and 107:
Litur gy but here particularly so.
Page 108 and 109:
Litur gy turn out to be. For if we
Page 110:
For the shaping of the liturgy the
Page 113 and 114:
PRojec ts The scope of the children
Page 115 and 116:
DiaLo g ic analyses which already e
Page 117 and 118:
DiaLo g suppression as a power-alli
Page 119 and 120:
DiaLo g Dreaming a Different World
Page 121 and 122:
DiaLo g We remember together the in
Page 123 and 124:
The Further Development of the Conc
Page 125 and 126:
DiaLo g come to stand: do they belo
Page 127 and 128:
DiaLo g dividuals who come into vie
Page 129 and 130:
EXPLoita Tion formation and counsel
Page 131 and 132:
there is emerging here a specific i
Page 133 and 134:
EXPLoita Tion wealthier lands in No
Page 135 and 136:
study 5 of children’s attitudes t
Page 137 and 138:
EXPLoita Tion Christian understandi
Page 139 and 140:
EXPLoita Tion gal prosecution of cr
Page 141 and 142:
these questions. An approach that r
Page 143 and 144:
of governments for the regular fina
Page 145 and 146:
We recommend EXPLoita Tion The orga
Page 148 and 149:
Hope in God’s Future: Christian D
Page 150 and 151:
FuturE I Approaching God in the con
Page 152 and 153:
FuturE All of these changes will ha
Page 154 and 155:
FuturE ship; God’s sacrifice in C
Page 156 and 157:
FuturE between rich and poor becomi
Page 158 and 159:
FuturE Reflection 5 Low-lying count
Page 160 and 161:
gry and those now first finding the
Page 162 and 163:
FuturE Even to sinners like us, God
Page 164 and 165:
FuturE UK Government Committee on C
Page 166 and 167:
FuturE Reflection 11 “A commitmen
Page 168 and 169:
FuturE Alertness to disproportionat
Page 170:
FuturE set out on a journey of free
Page 173 and 174:
seeking 2. It has become much more
Page 175 and 176:
seeking tions and in the Synod, was
Page 177 and 178:
LEArnin G Praying for growth Food,
Page 179 and 180:
we, with 20% of world-population, a
Page 181 and 182:
LEArnin G hunger, but sooner from a
Page 183 and 184:
LEArnin G And they wonder: what doe
Page 185 and 186:
LEArnin G The richer the USA and Eu
Page 188 and 189:
A Globalance - Christian Perspectiv
Page 190 and 191:
A GLoB LAncE uence on political and
Page 192 and 193:
Recommendations The position paper
Page 194 and 195:
Pov y ert 17 „Don’t Leave Us Ha
Page 196 and 197:
Group Children’s Summit 2006” r
Page 198 and 199:
Pov erty our doorstep as relatively
Page 200 and 201:
Pov erty This well-founded option f
Page 202 and 203:
All these rights could be provided
Page 204:
Pov erty The action “Hiding is no
show all

BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPPRESION AND THE YOKE OF ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?