Christianity

• Does Christianity tackle social issues more effectively than Marxism? - YES

  • Christianity accepts that suffering is a part of life and tires to engage with that at every level, but it is lost effective when it does so at a local level
  • each individual responds to the need to build the Kingdom of God in their own context, rather that the Marxist approach of tackling society on a larger scale
  • the reality of God can touch people’s lives in a very real way; Marx rejects religion and says it is too focused on the after life
  • Christians might say that religion is more about people in this world than about the afterlife
• Does Christianity tackle social issues more effectively than Marxism? - NO

  • tackles social issues on a larger scale, Christianity assesses individual contexts
  • Christianity is too gentle when tackling poverty and oppression
  • the revolutionary uprising approach of Marxism is the only way to bring about significant change
  • Marx rejects religion and says it is too focused on the afterlife
• Has liberation theology engaged enough with Marxism? - YES (too much)

  • Communism has been shown to be unsuccessful and so Christianity should not have lived itself with this approach
  • Liberation theology had lost sight of Jesus’ death on the cross, which liberations people from sin
  • liberation theology argues that praxis will bring about change, God’s grace will bring this about according to the Christian message
  • liberation theology underestimates the complexity of society, it suggests all issues can be counteracted by liberation theology alone
  • dangerous to engage with some of liberation theology, it has denied the importance of the individual and God‘s existence , leading to unorthodox beliefs entering the Church
• Has liberation theology engaged enough with Marxism? - NO (not enough)

  • Marxism calls for an uprising, Christianity’s approach is too gentle to make an impact on social issues
  • fear of Marx’s atheism or promotion of violence has led his approach to be diluted too much
  • Christians talk about spiritual poverty and don’t focus enough on real, material poverty
• Is it right for Christians to prioritise on group over another? - No

  • liberation theology prioritises the poor and oppressed over other groups - Jesus works for the poor (outcasts), but it is not just the poor who are outcasts
  • liberation theology could be over-emphasising the poor to the detriment of the rich: Jesus died for all people
• Is it right for Christians to prioritise on group over another? - YES

  it is not so much the rich that are condemned for being rich, but those rich people who do not help the oppressed