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

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world: the oppressed, the poor, the marginalized people. How do they become agents of change? Do we sufficiently understand the dehumanizing aspects of poverty, of oppression, of injustice? 21 Liberation and hope HopE The starting point for a theology of hope lies in the meaning of the cross and the resurrection of Christ. In the person of Christ, the age to come, which alone will endure for all eternity, has arrived. It arrived in his person and was redemptively present in his work on the cross. The cross of Christ is the judgment of the end of time now exhausted within time. For the people of God the ‘end time’ judgment has already happened. ‘Empire’ has already been conquered. The cross of Christ is the ultimate judgement on the powers in this world. This radical message means that we are liberated from all powers. We do not depend on them. We are free. Christian hope means learning to live in freedom. We are also freed of the burden to realize salvation in this world or to even change the world. The church does not change the world. The church proclaims that this world and its powers have been judged by the death and the resurrection of Christ. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross’’ (Colossians 2: 15). This creed is the most radical criticism of ‘Empire-like’ powers. Are these just words? The church lives from this reality and in doing so she gives shape to this new era. That is why the proclamation of the realm of Christ will inevitably lead to ‘signs’ in which the new reality of the Reign of God becomes apparent. Moltmann calls these signs ‘anticipations’ : they are sacraments of God’s real presence in reality. 22 These sacraments are provisional: � � they �remind us of the �eschatological � reality, but they are not that reality itself. They also have a character of ambiguity. The road towards the future is not linear and progressive. This has also to do with the character of the eschatological reality itself. God’s reign is not the reality present at the end of the road of human history. The eschaton is not the result of human enterprise and or the efforts of the church as the resurrection of Christ is not the foundation for the progress of history. It is on the contrary the ultimate crisis of history. The cross and the resurrection of Christ point to the eschaton as the transcendent reality of God, breaking in in our history. We should also notice that the signs or the sacraments of the Reign of God bear the shape of the cross. Not only because they are controversial and critical, but also because the charac- 21 An impressive view on this reality can be found in T.A. Mofokeng, The crucified among the crossbearers, Towards a Black Christology, Kampen, 1983 22 J. Moltmann, Theologie der Hoffnung, 314. �� – THEOLOGY OF HOPE IN TIMES OF GLOBALIZATION – 67
HopE ter they bear is not a triumphant one. They bear the signs of struggle, of tears and sometimes even blood. The resurrection of Christ can not be regarded without the perspective of the cross. That is why the Reign of God is primarily visible among the outcasts and the marginalized, among the victims of history. But the signs of God’s Reign will always be provisional. Even if we would succeed to save the present victims of our history, we are not able to save the victims of the past. Is there hope for them who we can not save? Or do we leave them as garbage at the refuse dump of history? A theology of hope should be able to answer these burning questions. It can only do so if it does not look upon eschatology as a final reality only. It also has to elaborate on the transcendent character of eschatology. The new reality of God fuels our hope even when hope is beyond our horizon and our possibilities. J.M. van ’t Kruis (1952) studied theology in Utrecht and Groningen (doctorate 1998). He was Pastor in the Netherlands Reformed Church (1977-1983), Teacher at the Theological Seminary of the Christian Church of Central Sulawesi – Indonesia (1985-1990) and Officer for the Relationship with Migrant Churches in the Netherlands (1990-2004). Currently he is Officer to the General Secretary of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. � � � � � �� 68 – THEOLOGY OF HOPE IN TIMES OF GLOBALIZATION –
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eak the chains of oppresion and the
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BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPRESSION AND T
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PContents REAChing Preface There is
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PREFA ce There is No Unjust Communi
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PREFA ce Let us remember: there sho
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PREFA ce ed, stripped bare, when th
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PREAChing 1 Preaching on Justice: T
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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 30 and 31: Europe’s Discussion about Justice
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
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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
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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
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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
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DiaLo g Dreaming a Different World
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DiaLo g We remember together the in
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The Further Development of the Conc
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DiaLo g come to stand: do they belo
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DiaLo g dividuals who come into vie
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EXPLoita Tion formation and counsel
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there is emerging here a specific i
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EXPLoita Tion wealthier lands in No
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study 5 of children’s attitudes t
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EXPLoita Tion Christian understandi
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EXPLoita Tion gal prosecution of cr
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these questions. An approach that r
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of governments for the regular fina
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We recommend EXPLoita Tion The orga
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Hope in God’s Future: Christian D
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FuturE I Approaching God in the con
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FuturE All of these changes will ha
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FuturE ship; God’s sacrifice in C
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FuturE between rich and poor becomi
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FuturE Reflection 5 Low-lying count
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gry and those now first finding the
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FuturE Even to sinners like us, God
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FuturE UK Government Committee on C
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FuturE Reflection 11 “A commitmen
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FuturE Alertness to disproportionat
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FuturE set out on a journey of free
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seeking 2. It has become much more
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seeking tions and in the Synod, was
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LEArnin G Praying for growth Food,
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we, with 20% of world-population, a
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LEArnin G hunger, but sooner from a
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LEArnin G And they wonder: what doe
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LEArnin G The richer the USA and Eu
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A Globalance - Christian Perspectiv
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A GLoB LAncE uence on political and
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Recommendations The position paper
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Pov y ert 17 „Don’t Leave Us Ha
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Group Children’s Summit 2006” r
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Pov erty our doorstep as relatively
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Pov erty This well-founded option f
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All these rights could be provided
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Pov erty The action “Hiding is no
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