LIBERATION THEOLOGY

Basis - Past - Present - Future

by Manfred Davidmann

Summary

Here Manfred Davidmann combines information from both Christian and Jewish sources and discusses the origin of Christianity. He shows that it is possible to analyse effectively how the Christian Canon developed, the order in which the material was written, the arguments for and against basic tenets of the faith.

Liberation theologians maintain that Christian belief and practice ranges along a continuous scale between two forms, one at each end. At one end of this scale is the kind which in effect serves the establishment, that is those in authority such as a government, and this kind teaches that reward will be a better life in a life to come. Liberation theologians advocate the second kind of Christianity, at the other end of the scale. They emphasise compassion and leadership in the struggle against oppressors, in the struggle for a better life here and now in this life.

Manfred Davidmann concludes that Christianity is struggling forward towards its roots in response to the social and economic problems of global humanity at the present time. Towards what Jesus taught, towards the social laws and social system of the Torah which were being argued about and discussed by Paul and the writers of the Gospels (see the later "Origin of Christianity").

Contents

Life is a Struggle

Opposition

Good and Evil

Struggle Against Those who Wish to Oppress so as to Exploit

Views of Reality

Judaism

When Facts are Difficult to Find

The Social System and Laws of the Pentateuch

What Determined the Outcome

The Law and How it was Being Changed were Written Down at the Time

Christianity

Compiling of the Canon and of the Talmud

Struggle in all Institutions

We Struggle

They Recorded

What Actually Happened and Why

What the Central Arguments and Confrontations are About

Life Here and Now

Christianity Struggling Forward Towards its Roots

New Branches of Christianity

Basic Beliefs

The Right to the Land We Live In

Independence and Social Security; Material and Spiritual Freedom

References {..}

Relevant Current and Associated Works

Relevant Subject Index Pages and Site Overview

Life is a Struggle - Why?

Let me begin by telling you what is probably humanity's most closely guarded secret of our time.

After all, you will want to know why life is a struggle, why life is so tough for so many human beings on this planet.

You will want to know why thousands of years of struggle, why the enormous technological powers we command, why the vast human manpower, abilities and skills which are now at our disposal, have failed to provide us with secure lives of high quality.

And you will want to know that we have reached a major parting of the ways. We now have to either improve matters once and for all or else suffer consequences which threaten our survival on this planet as human beings.

And you will also want to know what can be done to improve matters.

So let us start by asking some basic questions:

Why do we have to struggle?
What are we struggling against?
What are we struggling for?
Why do we not have good lives of high quality?

Opposition

Where there is struggle there must be resistance, there is opposition. We have to struggle because our attempts to achieve good lives for ourselves and our children are being resisted, are opposed.

You know as well as I do that we have to struggle to protect earlier gains as well as to improve our lives. Hence we are struggling to defend our present standard of living and we are struggling to better it.

And this means that the opposition is attacking us to lower our standard of living and to prevent us from improving it.

You have known or suspected this already. Perhaps not in such clear simple language. Hardly anyone I have met has not at some time in their lives wondered why life was so tough and thought that we as thinking feeling human beings ought to be able to do very much better.

So now more questions present themselves:

Who or what is doing all this to us, is attacking us? Who or what is attempting to reduce the quality of our lives, is attempting to prevent us from improving it? Who or what is attempting to increase the toughness of life itself, is attempting to increase our need?

Why this intense, brutal and hidden struggle when there is enough for all of us, when all can have good secure lives of high quality.

Why is it done in such a hidden way, why the secrecy?

Good and Evil

Two sides are struggling with each other. This is, indeed, common knowledge.

We talk about 'good', and we talk about 'evil'. Opposites, struggling with each other. 'Good' and 'evil' struggle with each other and 'evil' is powerful and operates in furtive ways. Those who are good, who are on the side of good, sometimes have to endure and suffer much as a result.

The words 'good' and 'evil' are but labels for real and active basic forces or groups of people who are struggling with each other. It follows that many people who are good and yet lead hard lives and suffer, are casualties of conflict.

We are on the side of good while evil can be powerful. Surely evil can remain powerful only for as long as it remains hidden. It can manipulate and harm human beings only while hiding behind secular and religious masks of innocence and benevolence. Hence the masks.

In secular terms, what is it that would wish to prevent us from increasing our standard of living, that would wish to reduce our standard of living and our social security?

The answer is simple.

Struggle Against Those who Wish to Oppress so as to Exploit

We are struggling against those who wish to exploit others, who wish to oppress so as to exploit, who see their wealth and power increasing whenever they lower our pay relative to their own so as to increase their own profits and wealth and power over us.

It is they who wish to reduce, and so struggle to reduce, our social security since higher unemployment, greater personal need, and physical as well as emotional weakness, reduce our bargaining strength and make us more dependent on them for survival. They are enabled in this way to exploit us through our need and to push down our pay even further when compared with their own much greater gains. And this is why they are operating so furtively behind their masks.

Views of Reality

If you now feel like putting this down and doing something else, then you are being manipulated through your emotions. You can counter this by following some simple rules of communication, namely 'Listen to the full story before you make up your mind' and 'Do not jump to conclusions (such as good or bad, valid or invalid) before you have evaluated the evidence'.

And if the facts are unexpected or if you do not like the facts then don't blame me. I am merely recording them.

A key feature of reality, that is of what is actually happening, is that our attention is side-tracked into dead-end alleys and into self-defeating directions, away from real and towards fictitious foes. In this way the oppressor divides us against each other, a process known as 'divide and conquer'.

Oppressors can do such things because they operate and manipulate in furtive secretive ways within our communities, forming and manipulating our view of reality to make us serve willingly regardless of the cost to us, to our families and to our children.

Judaism

When Facts are Difficult to Find

When facts are difficult to find then let history speak. Let us look at the events which preceded Christianity and took place at its birth.

To do this we need first to look at Jewish belief and practice as it was at that time.

Recorded in the Pentateuch (Torah; Five books of Moses; Part of Old Testament) is the fascinating story of the struggle of the enslaved people for their freedom, of freedom gained by acts of God against the oppressor, of the consequent writing down of rules of behaviour and of a social system which, as is clearly stated, underlie all freedom and independence of mind and person.

The Social System and Laws of the Pentateuch

At this point let me give you some idea of the social system of the Pentateuch.

This, the small print of the Covenant, simply states that all are equal, that no person may oppress or exploit another, that all have the right to be free and independent masters of their own fate.

The country's wealth, and this applies particularly to productive capital, belongs to all equally and needs to be shared out.

Every person has the right to social security. This means that people are entitled to be supported by the community not only when they fall on hard times but also to maintain their independence as independent breadwinners for their families.

For example, the community has to provide backup funds to those who need them and they have to be provided as and when required. To prevent people being exploited through their need these funds have to be provided without charging interest and such 'loans' are cancelled every seventh year if the borrower has been unable to repay them. {2, 6}

Judaism is the only religion which states that God's will is that all people are equal and that they are entitled to an equal and fair share of the common wealth, that people serve the community which in turn serves them and that people need to behave in ways which guarantee their strength and independence as individuals and as a community.

Wherever there is freedom and independence and good life of high quality on this planet it exists to the extent to which the local communities approach and follow and live according to these social laws and according to this social system, as written down over three thousand years ago and recorded in the Pentateuch (Torah). {1}

The role of those who are rich is seen to be that of administering money on behalf of the community and not that of enriching themselves at the expense of the community. People are entitled to support from the community, not just when they are hungry or starving but to maintain their independence and improve their security {2, 6} at the common level.

It was laws such as these which the rich simply did not want to apply and instead of the community finding ways of disciplining them to make sure that they obeyed and followed the laws, they (the rich and powerful) had the laws changed on their own behalf to suit themselves. {3-6}

So about two thousand years ago, just before and during the formative years of Christianity, the Jewish establishment argued against the social laws and social system of the Pentateuch and succeeded in having the core laws of the Pentateuch bypassed and the whole social system abrogated, in effect annulled.

They then proceeded to cover the whole subject with written verbal smokescreens until even the memory of what they had done faded away and was forgotten.

What had taken place became what must surely be one of the most closely guarded secrets of the ages, only unearthed and published about ten years ago in 'The Truth about Hillel and his Times'. {4, 6}

What Determined the Outcome

What determined the outcome as before was that the people did not hold their establishment accountable for what the establishment was doing.

It was because the people could not ensure observance of the laws by their establishment that the country was lost on each occasion in the past. {2-3, 5-6}

The Law and How it was Being Changed were Written Down at the Time

Those Jews who objected bitterly to what their own establishment was doing decided to write down what the law was and how it was being changed and by whom. {1}

This process of writing and compiling what came to be known as the 'Talmud', took about as long to complete as that of finalising the Christian Canon, and both took place at the same time. The Talmud was then frozen, canonified, remained unaltered. Later comments or discussions were added by printing them beside or around the unchanged original text.

The unchanged original text of the Talmud provides us with unique and deep insight into the events preceding the destruction of Jerusalem and into the beginnings of Christianity. {4}

What we see recorded so uniquely, so faithfully and at such cost in the Talmud is a clear description of what happened to Jewish belief and practice in the days preceding Christianity and during Christianity's formative years. {4, 5}

It was because the writers felt so strongly about the brutal events which had taken place that they described, and so exposed for the first time, the basic core forces or groups of people who are struggling with each other.

In the Pentateuch we see described for the first time the history of the conflict between these two elemental and hidden forces or people, as well as a clear statement of how people need to behave if they wish to be free and independent and have lives of high quality. In the Talmud there is another clear statement of the existence of these forces, of how they operate and of the steps which need to be taken to ensure that good triumphs over evil, that freedom and independence take the place of oppression and exploitation. {4, 5)

The Jewish religion is the only one which lays down a system of social organisation and of individual behaviour which enables individuals to gain strength as individuals and as communities, which will ensure a good life of high quality here and now in this life. It states that this is the right of every individual and the Pentateuch gives rules of behaviour to ensure this among those who follow its laws.

However, the Judaism people practice today is far removed from that of the Pentateuch, because the Jewish establishment illegally edited out from belief and practice the social laws which ensured equality of wealth and guaranteed independence from oppression and exploitation. What they left was an empty but warm shell of ritual and the laws of behaviour which give people strength.

Christianity

Compiling of the Christian Canon and of the Jewish Talmud

It does seem more than coincidence that it took about four hundred years to complete the Talmud and that contemporaneously it took roughly the same time for Christianity to finalise what it believes in, namely for the Church hierarchy to select and approve the Bible books which were included in the Canon and thus became accepted as official doctrine.

The way in which the Talmud developed was that it was written in two distinct parts. {4}

First was written the Mishnah ('Repetition') which describes the reality of the conflict, the participants, the sides they represent, what happened.

Then, much later, was written the Gemara ('Tradition') which contains arguments and stories intended to make points about the Mishnah and most of the Talmud consists of Gemara.

At the end of the writing of the Gemara the actual message in the Mishnah had been buried in a mass of stories and arguments. From that time onwards the essential core legislation of the Pentateuch had been negated and bypassed and buried under arguments about many subjects.

It seems that a very similar process took place within Christianity as took place within Judaism. It took about four hundred years for written material and for people's memories to be changed, edited and modified, to conform to the establishment point of view.

If it had just been a matter of recording facts, of recording the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (the truth, nothing left out and nothing added), it would not have taken so long.

After ten or so generations people would be regarding as factual that which they were being told was factual. It may well have taken that long before the hierarchy's teachings had argued away evidence contrary to the establishment's viewpoint or buried it out of sight or declared it to be against established doctrine, in such ways discrediting opposing viewpoints which called for social justice according to the word of God.

The processes by which the establishment changed belief and practice at the time are clearly described in the contemporaneously written Talmud, as are the arguments used by both sides and how the people felt about what the scholars were doing on behalf of the rulers and their establishment. {5}

It follows that Christianity arose from the activities of Jews who, arguing against what their own establishment was doing, were however unable to prevent their establishment from editing out the essential social core laws from Jewish belief and practice. These Jews somehow got together to follow the word of God and then appear to have found that the only way to do this was to form separate communities outside the control of the Jewish establishment.

One of these seems to have been the Essenes whose Qumran scrolls appear to date back to the period just before and during the birth of Christianity and who lived together in co-operative communities. {5}

We see that Jewish attempts to argue against their establishment were by themselves unable to change the course of events. Their record of what the establishment had done and was doing was being buried under a mass of abstract arguments and stories.

The Christian Canon (New Testament) was being compiled during roughly the same period. What became the Christian Canon, meaning by this the 'agreed' version of events and teachings, also took hundreds of years before it was 'agreed'.

It simply took that long before a version was compiled which was acceptable to Christian establishments, which in this way was biased towards the point of view of the establishments, towards what the establishment wanted included or excluded, wanted said or unsaid. It continued to be compiled till it was approved by the establishments and here also the relevant social laws were side-tracked and bypassed. {10}

Struggle in All Institutions

When might is right then those who rule oppress so as to exploit. They somehow gained control and thus power over others. Those who are subservient to them (to their 'establishment') are all around us in all institutions.

Those who wish to oppress so as to exploit, who wish to get personal advantage for themselves at the expense of others, without regard to the cost to individuals or the community, are all around us at all levels.

So struggle between authoritarian ownership and rule on the one hand and people power on the other is taking place all around us in all institutions and groups and at all levels. The struggle is between on the one hand those who wish to use and misuse other people, who wish to order them about and domineer, who are greedy and, on the other hand, those to whom people are important and matter.

The oppressors operate in hidden ways, attempting to change our perception of reality, doing so bit by bit, then as today. So they distort, and maintain past distortions, to make us behave in ways which harm ourselves, which weaken us, which rob us of our individual and community independence and freedom, which enslave us.

But, having gained power and control, they then keep in place those laws of behaviour which give spiritual and character strength to individuals because they wanted their people to have the spiritual strength and character to serve, work and fight for them.

It appears that 'fundamentalist' religions, sects and organisations generally condition their adherents into blind obedience to the dictates of their figurehead(s) (head office establishment) combined with subservience towards authoritarian rulers and their establishments.

Subservience of 'fundamentalists' to the dictates of the rulers becomes evident when one considers what they stand for, that is whether they serve either the rulers or else God and people, in this life. Here one should consider particularly the social content of their teachings and their actions towards people.

They are trying to persuade us to accept the hardships and suffering we suffer so unnecessarily, misusing 'religion' for making us subservient to the exploiter.

We Struggle

Within democracy we can struggle openly towards real freedom but when we make progress towards merely power-sharing, the rulers' establishment attempts to persuade people to behave in ways which weaken people so that they lose their gains and can again be pushed into hardship and exploited further.

Hence the increasing promiscuity, viciousness, crime, unemployment, social insecurity, hardship and family breakup in democracies. These weaken the population and are aimed at preventing moves towards greater and real independence and freedom. {7}

To free ourselves from mental conditioning and brainwashing we have to follow the rules of behaviour such as the Ten Commandments and apply the social system of the Pentateuch. {2, 7}

Wherever there is any spiritual and material freedom today it exists because people followed these laws (rules) of behaviour and it exists to the extent to which they do so.

In other words, such freedom as we have exists because people followed and follow the teachings of Judaism and Christianity since the same rules are common to both Judaism and Christianity - the Pentateuch is part of both religions.

They Recorded

What Actually Happened and Why

One of the important aspects of the recent discoveries {1} about the material in the Talmud is that many, if not most, of the stories cannot be taken at their face value. The real meaning of the story, namely the message it contains and was written to convey, is below the surface but is consistent and clear. The stories hang together once you penetrate the smokescreen and become aware of the reality they are dealing with. {3-5}

The study of the meaning of the stories we have been told in the New Testament about Jesus and his sayings should now become a fairly straightforward matter, after studying the conventions used in the Talmud by writers who were compiling and writing the Talmud while the Christian Canon was being written and compiled. {1}

It then also becomes possible to analyse and show how the Canon developed, the order in which the material was written, the arguments for and against basic tenets of the faith.

All the indications are that the same sequence of events which was recorded with such clarity and certainty in the Talmud {1} is also told in the New Testament. It appears that the same and similar conventions and methods were used {10} to ensure that the story, the arguments both ways and the messages would be understood by those who had eyes to see (who had ears to hear).

The same techniques were used by the one side to ensure there could be no possibility of misunderstanding or intentional misinterpretation, by the other to distract attention from key matters and arguments, to bury essential core matters under and within much less important material.

The methods and techniques used by the writers of the Talmud are clearly illustrated by examples of their use in 'Freedom Now, Freedom for Ever'. {1}

What the Central Arguments and Confrontations are About

However, we are told that the matter at issue between Jews and their own establishment, and later between Christians and those Jews who blindly followed their own establishment, and then between Christians and their own establishment, was the keeping as a matter of belief and practice of the social laws and system of the Pentateuch.

What we are now seeing are dissenting voices being raised among deprived Christian communities such as disadvantaged South African negroes, South American indians, Indian indians, Filipinos. We see them arguing for a Christian belief which puts equality and independence among their most important goals, if not as the most important goal.

These 'liberation theologians' maintain that there are two kinds of Christianity.

One kind serves a ruling establishment, such as a home government, colonising empire or multinational, to convert conquered or dependent subject people into obedient oppressed and exploited subjects, brainwashing them into believing that their miserable lives are the will of god, that there is hope and that they will be rewarded by a better life in a life to come.

But liberation theologians advocate the second kind of Christianity which is one of compassion and leadership in the struggle against oppressors, in the struggle for a better life here and now in this life.

Life Here and Now

There is no way in which 'religion' can be separated from life here and now, from the events of the day, from life as it is and from life as it ought to be.

The questions one must ask about any religion are 'who benefits', who gains, who or what is favoured or supported by its teachings or beliefs, who or what is being preached against. To see what they are for, to see what they are against. Primarily one must ask 'who gains', because it is the person who gains who is the originator, who is controlling, who is being served by the 'religion'.

After all, a good life of high quality is now available to all individuals on this planet, it being entirely up to us whether we now organise to achieve this or whether we continue to let so many millions suffer and starve, whether we continue to let so many millions be oppressed and exploited by the few.

Yet most of us are still living in some kind of hell on earth instead of leading good and satisfying lives of high quality at a high standard of living.

But wherever there is extreme poverty and suffering and pain you are likely to find Christians and Jews who are struggling on the side of the oppressed. Christians, for example, such as priests who provide encouragement and guidance to oppressed and suffering people in their struggle for a better life against the ruling establishment, against the established ruling oppressors, doing so at much risk and without thought of personal gain.

Christianity Struggling Forward towards its Roots

So we see Christianity struggling forwards towards its roots.

It is doing so in accordance with the Cause-and-effect Relationship of the Pentateuch. This clearly states that inhumanity, suffering and oppression will increase until people return and follow the laws of the Pentateuch. These laws include its laws of behaviour and its social laws and its social system and these provide fairness and equality, independence and freedom, for all.

It is only when people struggle for a better life, struggle for these laws to be applied and followed, that a better quality of life can be achieved on this planet for all human beings, instead of just for a few at the expense of extreme poverty for the rest. {2}

New Branches of Christianity

So we now have new branches of Christianity forming themselves in different parts of the world. Consisting of Christians who are guiding and supporting deprived and suffering groups of people in their struggle for a better life: Liberation theologians in South America, the writers of the Kairos document in South Africa.

They are arguing that there are two kinds of Christianity. They say that there is the kind of Christianity that serves the rulers and their establishment and thus those who oppress and exploit. They say that there is also another kind of Christianity which bases its belief and practice on compassion for the poor and according to Christian texts which side with the poor against the rich, with the poor against the oppressor.

Their arguments are intuitive, abstract and based on emotions. Their arguments and beliefs are based on feelings and emotions no matter how good and right and proper, are based on biblical texts quoted out of context. They are based on a Canon which was compiled and edited by men at a time when the ruling establishment had absolute power and was thus able to ensure that its point of view carried greater weight {10}.

As long as this remains the basis of the beliefs of liberation theologians, then their beliefs can at some time in the future once again be negated and countered and turned into impotent dead-end or self-destructive directions by abstract arguments and statements about feelings and emotions, by quoting out of context.

Basic Beliefs

Christianity is struggling towards its roots.

This is similar to the situation the Jewish people found themselves in, in the days preceding Christianity.

Christianity was an attempt to return to the basic and core social laws and system of the Pentateuch after these had been subverted by the Jewish establishment. Now we see Christians intuitively moving in the direction of the social laws of the Pentateuch stating that Christianity itself had been subverted in the past by the establishment and that it is now necessary to reinstate the basic social laws of justice and human fairness.

Such attempts to return to a social system of fairness and equality and independence can be turned and defeated by the establishment just as was done in the early days of Christianity.

The way to prevent this happening again is to base the belief clearly on the God-given written social laws and social system and laws of behaviour of the Pentateuch (Torah). Belief would then be based on a deep understanding of the hidden reality of life, of the hidden manipulations of brutal inhuman oppressors against human beings who have to defend themselves and struggle against these inhuman mentalities in human form.

The Torah clearly shows how independence, freedom and the right to the land we live in, can be gained now and can be gained for ever. (1, 8}

The Right to the Land We Live In

In the language of religion, the land does not belong to anyone other than God.

Those who live in it may use and so benefit from the land but only as long as they follow God's laws.

If they do not, then in due course the land is repossessed and transferred to someone else.

Ignorance is no excuse. Those who stop following the law lose their entitlement to use it and are in due course driven out and persecuted.

History of the Jewish people in Israel proved this matter again and again.

In everyday language and in the language of science we know that people are affected and changed by their own behaviour and that communities stand or fall according to their actions, as a result of the behaviour of the community as a whole.

Oppress and exploit and your community will get weaker and weaker and fail in the end.

Follow a pattern of social behaviour and establish a social system which are based on social fairness and justice and you will gain strength and prosper and continue to do so while you are doing it.

Hence the right to the land and the future prosperity of its inhabitants depends on following these social laws and the social system of the Pentateuch.

Ignorance is no excuse. Ignorance cannot alter the effects of one's own actions.

Independence and Social Security; Material and Spiritual Freedom.

Our rapidly advancing knowledge and technology give the establishment new human and technological knowledge in fields such as biology, genetics, computer applications and manipulation by world-wide media. They are apparently already thinking of using knowledge such as this to change our way of life to oppress, exploit and enslave people in new ways.

Part of the struggle is that each one of us is subjected to establishment propaganda, conditioning and brainwashing attempts, to their use of the media for moulding our behaviour and thus our lives, to their present-day 'fundamentalist' conditioning {9}, to their 'social engineering' attempts.

It is important to counter this day by day and at all levels.

But we must advance towards real independence of mind and towards material independence and social security, towards freedom, by following the rules of behaviour and the social system of the Pentateuch.

This is the step ahead from democracy towards real material and spiritual freedom and this is the nature of the struggle. Like it or not, we are all part of it.

If the establishment were successful against us, then Genesis states that the planet would need to be, and would be, rendered uninhabitable for human beings.

References

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Copyright    ©    1991, 1994    Manfred Davidmann
ISBN 0 85192 050 0    Second Edition 1994
All rights reserved worldwide.

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