Est 4:14 I breathe and he will come from somewhere else
Psa 32:7 thou .. with songs of l shall surround me
Phi 1:19 for your prayer .. it will result in my l
Action and effect of obtaining freedom in some way. It implies the removal of some bondage or oppression.
Theologically, the concept alludes to liberation from the slavery of sin. It is Saint Paul who most insists on the slavery of sin in the old man and the liberation that Christ brought with the mystery of his Redemption and Resurrection.
In a country with a slave culture, such as the one underlying the people outlined in the Bible, it is normal for the term liberation to be used abundantly and always charged with a sense of independence and autonomy (Jud. 12. 8; Psalm 69 6; Dan 6. 27)
In the New Testament, especially in the Pauline Letters, the concept of liberation appears insistently. Terms like “loosen”, “loosen” (apolyo, antholypton) 129 times; freedom (eleuzeria) 42 times; other equivalents are used up to almost 30 times.
Liberation from sin, for Saint Paul, is the central idea of his theology: Rom. 6.18; Gal. 3.28; Gal. 5. 1; 1 Cor. 7. 21; Sant. 1. 25. These texts always include the idea that “where the Spirit is, there is liberation” (2 Cor. 3.17)
The Christian ascetic understood the liberating enterprise from sin as the center of all slogans. The fight against evil and the desire to take advantage of the freedom that Christ brought to his followers is the essence of what the Gospel text calls the “Kingdom of God.”
Liberation from evil was always the ideal of the disciples of the Crucified, since his redeeming or liberating death is what gives meaning to his sacrifice. Christianity does not admire or venerate suffering for its own sake, because that would be mere masochism and maladjustment. He understands it as “redemption”, as “rescue and destruction of sin. The crucifix is the emblem of the triumph of good over evil. It is liberation that gives meaning to the passion and death of the Lord.
Hundreds of biblical passages and texts, from the prophetic to the evangelical, clarify this perspective of liberation. It is important to educate Christians in this sense from the first years of life. Therefore, picking up the message of the prophets (Is. 61.2; Is. 58.6) Jesus himself appeared before his first followers saying: “The Spirit of the Lord has sent me to proclaim the liberation of the captives… and to proclaim freedom to all the oppressed.” (Luke 4.18).
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
Salvation in concrete circumstances
The Church has the mission of inserting the gospel in the concrete human circumstances of social, cultural and historical life, especially in those that are of poverty, suffering and marginalization. Evangelization is an “action for integral development and liberation from all oppression” (RMi 58; cf. AG 12). In union with Christ, the Church feels “intimate and truly in solidarity with the human race and its history” (GS 1), and, for this reason, “there is nothing truly human that does not find an echo in her heart” (ibid.).
The “liberation” of man in all his integrity is equivalent to the same “redemption” already accomplished by Christ, which must reach all human situations, because “the man to be evangelized is not an abstract being, but a being subject to social and economic problems” (EN 31). This anthropological dimension is framed within the theological-salvific dimension, since “the plan of creation cannot be dissociated from the plan of Redemption, which reaches very specific situations of injustice, which must be combated, and of justice that exists.” to restore” (ibid.). The balance between these two dimensions is found in the mandate of love.
evangelical liberation, integral
The liberation that stems from the gospel is comprehensive and “cannot be reduced to the simple and narrow economic, political, social or cultural dimension, but must encompass the entire man, in all his dimensions, including his openness to the Absolute, who is God” (EN 33). It is liberation that goes beyond all anthropology and ideology, and even “beyond history” (EN 28). He frees himself from all the servitudes of sin, to build communion with God and with all brothers. This liberation uses the evangelical means of service and love, in the light of the Sermon on the Mount, because “the truth about Jesus Christ, the truth about the Church, and the truth about man are founded on three great pillars” (Puebla 484). . Missionary spirituality is eminently liberating.
The theme of “liberation” has been presented with the dynamics of salvation history according to “Exodus” God frees his people from slavery (sin, oppression and injustice), taking them to the desert (where his law and his Word resonate ) and reach Jerusalem (the new salvific and messianic plans). Christ, the promised Messiah, through his death and resurrection, “has taken upon himself” this path of liberation (cf. Mt 8,17; Is 53,4), offering baptism and the new law of love, in order to do of humanity a single family of children of God. Liberation is reached through a life made an offering like that of Christ, “to gather into one the children of God who were scattered” (Jn 11:52).
The social doctrine of the Church presents the basic principles to free man from social injustice. This doctrine is “an instrument of evangelization, insofar as it announces God and the mystery of salvation in Christ for every man” (CA 54). In this evangelical perspective, the council invites Christians to take up this “struggle for justice and charity” (GS 72). The Christian message proposes a new model of man, saved in all his integrity, freed from all internal and external oppression stemming from ideological or practical materialism.
Eschatological and missionary dynamism
The path to this integral liberation passes through the education of the conscience “The Church educates consciences by revealing to the peoples the God they seek, but do not know; the greatness of man created in the image of God and loved by him; the equality of all men as children of God; the domain of nature created and placed at the service of man; the duty to work for the development of the whole man and of all men” (RMi 58). This education tends “towards integral development, open to the Absolute” (RMi 59).
The Church is, therefore, inserted in the world, with a dynamism by which she leads the whole of humanity towards a new land (GS 39). For this reason, the integral salvation that it offers is of an eschatological line, rooted in present realities in order to transform them from within and, in a special way, from the human heart. The insertion in human realities is authentic when it directs them towards their fullness in Christ. Integral liberation is inspired by hope, which is immanent and transcendent.
Evangelization tends, by its very nature, to a liberating and supportive action, to announce Christ as the only Savior, who assumes as his own the history of each person and of humanity as a whole. “Opening to God’s love is true liberation. In him, only in him, we are freed from all forms of alienation and loss, from the slavery of the power of sin and death” (RMi 11). This evangelizing action is liberating because it draws its impulse from faith, hope and charity; For this reason, it cannot be confused with any other social and political action. The Church announces and realizes evangelical liberation to the extent that she herself is liberating and renewing herself in the light of the beatitudes.
References Beatitudes, social doctrine of the Church, justice, freedom, preferential option for the poor, human promotion, redemption, ecclesial renewal, salvation, solidarity.
Reading of documents EN 9, 27, 30-39; RMi 58-59, 83; CEC 1741; Puebla 484-490.
Bibliography AA.VV., Liberation Theology (Burgos, Faculty of Theology, 1974); AA.VV., Libertatis Nuntius et Libertatis conscientia in formatione sacerdotali Seminarium 37 (1986) 431-661; J. ALFARO, Christian hope and liberation of man (Barcelona, Herder, 1972); (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) Instruction on Christian freedom and liberation “Libertatis conscientia” (March 22, 1986); CI GONZALEZ, Liberation theology in the light of John Paul II’s teaching in Latin America Gregorianum 67/1 (1986) 5-46; G. GUTIERREZ, Liberation Theology (Salamanca, Follow me, 1977); A. LOPEZ TRUJILLO, Marxist liberation and Christian liberation (BAC, Madrid, 1974); J. LOZANO BARRAGAN, The figure of Mary in liberation theology Ephemerides Mariologicae 42 (1992) 317-341; E. PIRONIO, Evangelization and liberation, in Evangelizzazione e culture (Rome, Pont. Univ. Urbaniana, 1976) II, 494-513.
(ESQUERDA BIFET, Juan, Dictionary of Evangelization, BAC, Madrid, 1998)
Source: Dictionary of Evangelization
1. Old Testament
(-> jubilee, sabbatical, exodus, slavery). At the root of biblical anthropology there is a principle of freedom, which is not understood in a metaphysical way, but personal and social, historical and transcendent. On this basis the hermeneutics of liberation is elaborated.
(1) Starting point. Personal and social freedom. They are inseparable, like the two moments of a human task, (a) Personal freedom is understood in the form of choosing between good* and evil (cf. Dt 30,15). According to Gn 2-3, that freedom in itself is insufficient, so that man cannot eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, closing himself in it; but it is necessary and is at the base of the entire biblical experience, (b) Social liberation is understood as a requirement to overcome a situation of slavery. This second experience of freedom is what defines man by making him capable of fulfilling the commandments: “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Dt 5,6; Ezra 20,2) . This is the freedom that is at the basis of the solemn confession of an ancient historical creed: “My father was a wandering Aramean, who went down to Egypt and dwelt there with a few men, and there grew up and became a great nation, strong and numerous; and the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, and put upon us hard bondage. And we cry out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers; and Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression… and he brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and with wonders” (Dt 25,5-8) . This experience of liberation constitutes the basic theme of the book of Exodus where Yahweh comes to reveal himself through Moses as the liberator of the people.
(2) Exodus. The principle of liberation. To achieve social freedom, which makes personal freedom and compliance with God’s commands possible, a process had to be followed that is set out in the book…