Abstract

Author: Joshua Carey Coleman Title: Orthodoxy and the Existential Recovery of Liberation Theology Advisor: Frank Seeburger Degree Date: March 2008Past liberation theology has sought to reemphasize the concerns of the poor by recovering a union between theory and praxis in theological discourse. In doing this, Liberation thought has shied away from strands of asceticism that devalue the body and its needs. However, by focusing on the Augustinian tradition and ignoring alternative approaches, liberation thought has unduly relied on political theory when in fact ascetic theology is crucial to its overall aims. In adumbrating transformative action within asceticism, I will refer to the 4th century Cappadocian Fathers and their understanding of the person as an hypostasis, distinguishing this relational aspect of personhood from Augustine. By incorporating the doctrine of the Divine Energies from the Christian East, we see in St. Dionysius that the further the person climbs the ascetic ladder the more diverse and unique the experience of God and of oneself. This establishes a radically different option for communion and difference between particular persons. This also makes care for "these least" part and parcel of communion for all involved, for care giver and receiver, helping both overcome needs as drives. This understanding of communion leaves behind Marxist/materialist understandings of the masses and rather incorporates freedom and particularity in personhood. I will refer to Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition to establish that the rise of the social realm since Antiquity is largely due to the development of the nation-state and its reliance on a scientific methodology that grossly compromises human subjectivity. Thus political science, in the way Aristotle understood it as including both the particular and the universal, is no longer possible. However, this uncovering is not in itself sufficient for theological subjectivity, as the particular in a particular/universal dialectic is not strictly analogous to hypostasis/communion in a patristic dialectic. Of the many implications in Arendt's work, most important here are two: the co-opting of nature into property within Antiquity and the subsequent wealth-value given to property through the rise of the social realm as the predominate means of accessing the polis. For theology to say anything other than political theory, the doctrine of the Divine Energies are crucial to care for the particularities of "these least" and to avoid positing another ideology of post-enlightenment reason that is part of the continued split between theory and practice, creation and God. The Divine Energies make clear that spiritual discernment is not merely intellectual reflection, but participation in the eschaton who participates in this world. To "be not of this world" allows a deeper entry into the world and not independence from creation, as the doctrine of the Divine Energies emphasizes that creation is God's dwelling. This understanding is the first step toward overcoming subject/object being and to realize that communion with God and persons is necessary for one's own particular personhood. An important historical example of this occurs within the Jewish feast of Tabernacles which, made clear through the Christian feast of Palm Sunday, is an example of how recognition of the divine, specifically through liturgical action, is tied up with the delegation of resources and care for the poor