Toward a Theology of Struggle

The Theology of Struggle is a genuinely popular Fillipino theology rooted in the history and culture of a people who have endured colonial oppression at the hands of Spain, North America, and Japan, as well as neo-colonialism and home grown dictatorship. Because Christianity has played a role in assisting the history of oppression in the Phillippines, a theology of struggle must include a "struggle in theology," to wrest Christian symbols from the hands of the oppressors and return them to the poor. This theology, which is otherwise expressed in articles, poems, art, and action, receives its first systematic treatment in Toward a Theology of Struggle. In Part On, Fernandez establishes the historical and cultural context out of which the Theology of Struggle has emerged. Part Two represents Fernandez's own constructive work, in which he shows how a theology of struggle must address the quest for identity and peoplehood. In Part Three, Fernandez explores the question of theological method, outlining the areas of convergence and distinction between the Theology of struggle and other Third World theologies, as well as setting forth the distinctive challenge that this theology of the Philippines poses to the authority and dominance of Western theology as a whole.