TO STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL LIBERATION

TOWARDS AN ECOLOGICAL THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION IN THE PHILIPPINE CONTEXT

Abstract

This dissertation offers a theological reflection on the praxis of
human and ecological struggle against oppressive relationships that
produce global/local (“glocal”) poverty and the ecological crisis. It
critically appropriates the framework of the emerging ecological
theology of liberation, which embraces the broader notion of the
preferential option for the poor — including the socio-economically                                                                                                                                                                          poor, the socio-culturally oppressed (the indigenous peoples and
women), and the victims of ecological exploitation (the natural
world). Following this framework, my theological approach consists
of three stages. First, I entered the “world” of the poor Filipinos
whose direct and immediate experiences with oppressive
relationships served as raw materials for my scientific analysis and
theological reflection. Second, I used the analytical mediation of the
social and ecological sciences to unmask the ideologies behind these
oppressive relationships. In light of the hermeneutic mediation of
Christian faith, I recognized these oppressive relationships as
counter-signs of the coming of God’s Kingdom, which is the total
liberation and salvation of the whole creation. And third, I used this
inclusive regnocentric perspective on liberation to propose some
transformative actions that appropriate the ethical imperatives of
ecological praxis.