Transformative theologies arising from Canadian margins: embodied and hope-filled, transformative theologies arise from suffering and resist violence

Catholic New Times, April 9, 2006 by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd

What does a theology from the margins of our Canadian society look like? What makes theologies from the margins liberating and transformative? I suggest characteristics, a checklist, for those attempting to connect with others living on the Canadian margins and "do" transformative theology.

Arises out of suffering

Feminist theologies intentionally begin from experience. It is important to define whose experiences shape a particular belief and whose experiences are left out.

As a woman, I have sometimes experienced silencing and violence directed at me because of my gender. My reflections are shaped by experiences of marginalization. As a white, middle-class, able-bodied person with a high level of academic education, my reflections are also shaped by tremendous privilege.

Transformative theologies from the marginalized arise out of experiences of suffering. The importance of suffering does not mean that it is necessary for salvation. Suffering born out of the pain of oppression does not purify nor is it God's will. Although I agree with scriptural passages suggesting that good can come out of suffering, it can never be justified on this basis.

Maiming of the earth and its creatures is evil. The cross is an evil instrument of torture, not an atoning symbol of victory. What the cross does symbolize is God's choice to suffer and die with us.

For the sake of justice some of us choose to suffer in solidarity. For the sake of spiritual renewal some of us choose to do without. For the sake of peace some of us choose to risk our lives. To choose suffering is not to justify or extol it, but to enter into it in order to bring an end to it.

A theology born out of suffering connects with the depths of life and has the credibility to address issues of justice. It aches with the pains of the people and the land without trying to dismiss, glorify or justify their suffering.

Hopeful and faith-filled

Only those of us who can afford the freedom of choice can tire and retire from the constant struggle for justice. I may work diligently against racism, conducting anti-racism workshops, and challenging people who make racist statements. However, I have the luxury of remaining silent when I am too tired and of choosing to work on something else.

My partner's Aboriginal daughter does not have this luxury. She is forced to deal with racism every day. No matter how tired she gets, how painful it is, how angry she feels, she cannot give into despair or she will not survive.

A colleague once told me of the horrible treatment she received when she, as a married heterosexual woman, began to preach and teach in support of the ordination and commissioning of lesbian and gay people. She was utterly exhausted by the constant barrage of hate and finally had to take a break from this work in order to protect her own health.

I understood and was appreciative of her choice to suffer in solidarity. I also felt a pain deep inside, knowing that those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual do not have the luxury of this choice. We cannot take a break. We live the constant barrage of hate. The only escape we have is to hide, to deny and to live a lie, slowly bashing ourselves to death. To survive is to reclaim the sacred and holy around and within us, and not lose hope of a kinder, gentler world, even in the face of hate.

Embodied

Transformative theologies are intimately engaged with life. Armchair theologians are not allowed. This type of theology is active, not passive. It is not a theology done to others, but a theology erupting from our own experiences of marginalization as they connect with other marginalized experiences.

This theology involves the head, the heart, the spirit, and the body. As we understand ourselves holistically, we know that to disengage the head from the heart or the spirit from the body is to distort God's creation and produce a dangerous theology, which may at best be irrelevant.

Persistently resists violence

Violence takes many forms. The most obvious is physical, namely environmental destruction, spousal abuse, child abuse, and the Holocaust extermination of undesirables (Jews, homosexuals, physically and mentally disabled, political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, anti-socials). It includes attacks targeted on people of particular identities (Black, Asian, Aboriginal, gay, Jewish, feminist), and attempts of genocide (the obliteration of the Beothuk Nation in Newfoundland, the massacre of people from Carry the Kettle Reserve in Saskatchewan, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, Rwanda, Burundi, Guatemala).

Psychological violence is more difficult to identify, but carries permanent scars. For example, physical abuse of children and partners is often accompanied by psychological attacks on self-esteem and self-concept.

A transformative theology resists these forms of physical and psychological violence. It recognizes that we, in all of our diversity, are made in the image of God, and we are good! It celebrates and respects the wondrous diversity of all creation, and mourns the extinction of species and peoples.