THE FILIPINO DEVOTION TO THE SANTO NIÑO
FROM FOLK CHRISTIANITY TO POST-COLONIAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Keywords:
Colonialism, Franciscan Theology of Incarnation, Immigration, Post-colonial Theology, Santo NiñoAbstract
The story of the image of the Santo Niño in the Philippines serves as the focal point of the story of the Filipino people. This paper maps the evolving image of the Santo Niño gleaned from the colonial history of the people. From this colonial experience, the paper weaves in the Filipinos’ quest for new identities when they regained their freedom and leave the country to better their economic lives. Here, their identities are renegotiated as immigrants of the United States of America, their former colonizer. All throughout the paper, the question is probed: “How has the image of the Santo Niño continually defined and shaped the Filipino way of seeing and knowing Jesus? “The Santo Niño grew into a man, crucified. The post-colonial theology that is constructed comes from this image of Jesus who bears the wounds of human injustices but resists the temptation to inflict the same pains on both the oppressors and the oppressed. The history of the people is retold in the Santo Niño, the Incarnate God.
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