Liberation Theology of Dalit, Tribal and Adivasi. Liberation is one of the great slogans of modern politics and one of the major themes of the Bible.
The Exodus from Egyptian bondage was the foundational narrative of the Jewish nation. And Jesus inaugurated his ministry by announcing that he had come ‘to release the oppressed. Scripture teaches that Christ brings redemption from slavery to sin. But it also depicts deliverance from material forms of oppression.
Dalit Adivasi and tribal liberation theology
Dalit Adivasi and tribal liberation theology is a systematic reflection on God and humankind from the perspective of the Dalit, Adivasi and tribal experiences. It sees God as struggling alongside the Dalit, Adivasi and Tribal in challenging the structures of caste and oppression, both within as well as outside the Church.
It has to base itself on the experiences of the Dalits as a whole and not merely that of the Dalit Christians alone.
Putting Liberation Theology into practice
The human yearning for what the New Testament calls aphesis – variously translated as freedom, pardon, release, deliverance, forgiveness, remission is as strong as it ever was.
Our most extreme bondage is our enslavement to sin and death, and at the heart of the gospel is the claim that Christ died for our sins’ (1 Corinthians 15:3). But as we preach Christ crucified, we should share Christ’s concern for the marginalized and the downtrodden.
Modern slavery is thriving, and millions of vulnerable people are subjected to debt bondage and trafficked across the globe. In many parts of the world. Women oppressed by honor killings, forced prostitution, genital excision, (sex-selective) abortion, and exclusion from education and literacy.
The poor exploit by unfair trade, and large swathes of the world’s population are denied fundamental religious freedoms.