Liberation Theologies in the United States by Stacey Floyd-Thomas and Anthony Pinn - Book Report/Review Example

Liberation Theologies in the United States (137) The book Liberation Theologies in the United States by Stacey Floyd-Thomas and Anthony Pinn talks about the birth of the United States as a process involving destruction and reorganization of different worldviews and cultures (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 3).Subsequent years since its birth have seen the growth of its multicultural nature with many more racial groups establishing themselves in the United States. Minority groups found it hard to survive because of various restrictions and hindrances. Their social reorganization facilitated the emergence of various theologies. The authors explain how in the 20th century, so many of these theologies came up with the aim of bringing about liberation for different oppressed groups or simply transforming their social existence. These theologies have a religious commitment but their organization is purely political. The goal of these theologies was to bring about full citizenship and equality in the social and political spheres of the lives of people in United States. This discussion is a term paper the book Liberation Theologies in the United States by Stacey Floyd-Thomas and Anthony Pinn. General overview The authors provide an in-depth discussion about the origin and development of the liberation theologies in the United States. The book contains 10 liberation theologies which are all discussed in detail to the benefit of the reader. In this book each liberation theology is discussed in an exposition that displays its development, purpose and activities (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 6). Immediately before the first chapter, the authors provide a very informative discussion that delves into the beginning of the cultural and social disorganization that that came to characterize the US in the 20th century when most of the liberations came up. Through this introduction, they lay a very solid background of things that led to the emergence of liberation movements. In this section, the authors show how the Europeans came to America and triggered destruction of cultures and worldviews and the rearrangement of the same. They go on to explain the cause of the diversity of the US people in terms of culture. Part of the diversity they say, was caused by immigrations in the 18th century. The existence of diverse cultures resulted in oppression especially for the minority groups. Through this book, the authors are able to show the true colors of the United States in the past two centuries and how religion has been used by different groups of people to fight for their freedom. For along time, oppression has been the order of the day in the US. This kind of social and political arrangement where the minority are segregated has been the course of the struggles witnessed in history (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 22). Religion and theology according to the authors has been used by both sides of the social and political divide, to oppress or fight against oppression perpetuated against the minority. The authors discuss several events that constituted the struggle for liberation, the arguments raised by various theologians and those of critics and dissident voices. They also discuss the success and failure of each of the theologies in their pursuit for liberation. The first chapter is about the first liberation theology called black theology. In this chapter, Anthony Pinn describes US history as one that has political developments and religion converging at various levels. He digs deep into the history of the black community in America and explains that slave trade was responsible for black people going to the US. The book explains the role that religion played in the enslavement of Africans. It was used as a justification for discrimination against other people. The author goes on the talk about how the bible in Genesis and the New Testament was used to justify slavery for Africans and other injustices. He recounts the history of black theology and its struggles, successes and failures. The author also discusses mission and desire of black theologians to liberate the black community through incorporation of popular culture in its operations. The first chapter closes with a discussion on the perspective of black theologians on evil and liberation and the scope of black theology (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn, 33). Chapter 2 has an exposition on womanist theology by Stacey Floyd-Thomas. She begins with a historical background in which she refers to the sermon of Pauli Murray. The author lays a foundation for her discussion with this sermon in which the position of the woman in scripture is asserted. She delves into many issues revolving around womanist theology. The book provides an exposition on this that womanist theology seeks to address in the midst of discrimination and oppression. She goes on to talk about how the issue of embodiment and sexuality has not been able to enter the discussion about lesbianism and its acceptance by womanist theologians. The author then exposes some weaknesses in the womanist theology discussions. She says that womanist theology has had little impact while remaining theoretical especially because of the status of the black churches. With this, she sums up the chapter (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 39). Chapter 3 is about Latina Theology. The author says that the value of this theology can be realized when it is read with an understanding of the histories of Latinos within he Americas. The author shows how they are diverse and how Latino theology was started in order to bring them together and fight for their liberation I the United States. The authors make it clear that just like the other theologies, Latina theology was started for purposes of liberating the Latinos. They discuss some of the social and cultural ups and downs that compelled people to begin this theology. According to the author, there is no particular narrative line that can be found for Latinas. The theology was a kind of umbrella that represented the interests of so many groups. In chapter four the author provides an elaborate examination of the Hispanic Theology. The Latino or Hispanic Theology according to this book is not known to many people. This is not to say that it is new. It has been in the United States for along time alongside other theologies. The authors however present an exposition on this theology as they show its beginning and purpose. It is similar to other theologies in that its purpose was to fight for the liberation of the Hispanics in the US (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 90). In Chapter 5 the book deals with Asian American Theology. The author provides a background to this theology and what prompted its formation. Asian Americans especially the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese were badly discriminated against in America. The book gives the events that brought about discrimination. The author cites the legislations such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1824 as the things that resulted in social and political struggles in favor of Asian Americans. The Japanese American Internment during World War II was also a contributing factor (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 120).The book then goes on to discuss the activism and the groups that came up for this course and their activities. Besides the Asian American theology, there was the American Indian Theology as discussed in chapter 8. Indians originated in Asia but their issues were different form those of other Asians and therefore their theology developed around their spiritual persuasions. This theology was also used as a way of fighting fro the liberation of the Indians in America as the book shows. They had been forced to become Christians at their point of despair and this brought them a lot of trauma. The author discusses how they turned to the British for solace in the midst of their struggles (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 100). The rest of the chapters; 6, 7, 8, and 10 discuss issues on feminist theologies. A number of feminist theologies existed in the US including; Asian American Feminist Theology, Native Feminist Theology, Gay and Lesbian Theologies and Feminist Theologies. Generally, all these theologies were advanced to fight for social liberation and for the rights of the various groups associated with them. Feminist theologies were developed to fight for the right of the woman especially in a patriarchal society (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 157). In Chapter 6, the book shows that Asian American women’s theology started after the involvement of Christianity in colonialism. This development affected the Asian American women in so many different ways. Because of the culture and politics of the day these women abandoned their own culture and traditions. Their theology was therefore involved in the restoration of their identity as Asians and particularly Asian women. Chapter 7 of the book discusses the slow unfolding process of native women’s theology and how the perceived social justice and spirituality. Chapter nine is about Gay and lesbian theologies through which gay people and lesbian sought to have their rights recognized in America. Finally chapter ten of the book is an exposition on the feminist theology which sought to assert the position of women in society in relation to men (Floyd-Thomas & Pinn 210). Conclusion In conclusion, the paper has presented a discussion on the book; Liberation Theologies in the United States by Stacey Floyd-Thomas and Anthony Pinn. This is a very informative book since it contains a lot of information about the struggle for liberation in the US against oppression by the majority. Several minority groups exist in the US. They include blacks, Asian Americans, Latinos, Natives and American Indians among others. Theologians developed theological arguments for these groups and used them to further political interests. Besides these, other theologies existed as well and they include feminist theologies, gay and lesbian theologies, and native feminist theology among others. All these were responding to the ill in the social and political organization of the American society. The book shows that their response involved struggles based on interpretations of religious theologies. The book provides a detailed discussion on how these theologies were initiated, their progress, pitfalls, success and failures among many other things. Work Cited Floyd-Thomas, M. Stacey and Anthony, B. Pinn. Liberation Theologies in the United States: An Introduction. New York, London: New York University Press, 2010. Web. Read More