Indigenization and Liberation

All people must be able to indigenize the Christian faith through the love teachings of Jesus Christ in order to receive the revelation of the cross they bear and recognize the suffering cross from which they need to be liberated. If theology is not indigenized, Christianity remains a Westernized religion that dominates rather than liberates the oppressed by presenting the Christian faith with a Western slant cloaked as a universal religion. Rather than being opposed to each other, as formally thought by liberation theologians, indigenization and liberation are both hermeneutic procedures that seek to fulfill three functions; liberate Christianity from its religio-cultural and socio-political bondage to Westernized values; cater to and find solidarity with the poor and oppressed in their fight against systemic oppression; and finally, show that the struggle for political, social and economic justice—as well as the struggle for a religious and spiritual liberation that comes from the love of God, self and neighbor—is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ