In Rosemary Ruether’s “The Prophetic, Iconoclastic Christ”, there are two significant themes that emerge for me. First and foremost is the truth of the gospel presented as a dismantling of the current “hierarchy” or power structure. Ruether states that:
The gospel turns upside down the present order… This reversal of order is not simply a turning upside down of the present hierarchy, but aims at a new order where hierarchy itself is overcome as a principle of rule. (394)
This idea would then transcend the “personal savior” preached from the pulpits of so many of our American churches. This is not to say that our savior is not personal, calling each of us in unique and mysterious ways, or that we are not required to respond individually, but that personal voice draws us into relationship with the wider community of God’s creation, where a personal/individual beckoning becomes a guiding force pressing us toward a critical examination of established beliefs and/or institutions.
What would this “new order” look like? Is there any example we can look to that will serve as our guide as we seek to dismantle the power structures that force us to participate in systems that depend on the domination of others to perpetuate their existence? The obvious answer for Ruether is presented to us in the life of Jesus Christ. She says…
Jesus seeks to model, in his own life, a new concept of leadership based on service to others, even unto death. This is the model that he wishes to impart to his followers. In the new community based on the life of service to others, the lust for domination will be overcome at its source… (394)
The cliché, “servant-leadership”, so often used to describe the function of the Christian minister, is then called into question. Are we seeking to use servant leadership as just a rung on the ladder of spiritual progress, leading to the eventual “reigning with Christ” so often spoken of? Do we place ourselves in the position of servant-leader to gain some sort of cosmic advantage over those who we could not otherwise subjugate? So then it becomes crucial that we learn what it means to “respond authentically to each other” (397) to avoid “replacing one domination with another” (394).
The second theme that speaks to me is the idea that the most “oppressed of the oppressed” are “particularly receptive” to the gospel (396). Jesus, in the presentation of the Gospels, seems to be particularly concerned with the marginalized, where the oppression and domination of the Syro-phonecian woman, or the widow, or the prostitute are tragic examples of the consequences of hierarchies that are based upon a system that elevates some, by the marginalization of others. Witnessing their ready acceptance of the gospel message of liberation and empowerment, leads me to an examination of the “bottom-up” transformation that we are so often forced to use when combating issues of oppression.
Dismantling the system takes more than just liberating the oppressed. There must be a holistic or system-wide approach that seeks to transform all aspects of the oppressive hierarchy. Liberating the oppressed by force, even non-violent force, still leaves intact a significantly powerful portion of the oppressive hierarchy that then seeks to re-establish its domination of the marginalized. It even seeks to enlist the “newly empowered” to participate in oppression of their own; all in an attempt to return to the status quo.
Could it be that the “oppressed of the oppressed” are actually the ones who are blind to their own oppression, not realizing that they are slaves to their own “love of prestige, power, or wealth” (394). From our own perspective, it may look as if they are “better off”, but Jesus spoke of these people when he referred to how difficult it is for a rich man to enter heaven (Matthew 19:23). It seems that those who are blind to their own oppression often fail to respond to the message of the gospel. However, there are some instances where those who seem to be at the top of the power structure actually “get it”. There is Zacchaeus, the tax collector, for example, or Nicodemus, the religious leader.
So there is hope, that through the power of lives lived according to the example established by our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberation of the oppressed can serve as a healing balm for the blind eyes of the oppressors, leading to an eventual dismantling of the oppressive system that we humans have devised for ourselves, whereby we succeed in life by subjugating others.
