Is The Gospel Woke?

It’s Liberation Theology and There’s Nothing Just About It.

Great pressure is now being applied to the Evangelical and Reformed world to socialize the gospel. Groups, writers, seminaries, mission organizations, denominations, churches, and pastors are being marshaled to correct the injustices and ills of Western societies. This is all being done in the name of “applying the gospel.” For some, it is no longer enough to proclaim the gospel as it is contained in Scripture, that is, in its simplicity. But now, ministers and churches are suffering profound implications if they do not join the leftist agenda of so-called equality and reparations. It seems many of the guardians of the Faith have already bought into this. Is this the gospel? If so, why then did the early church not do the same? Rome was filled with injustices and inequalities, the correcting of which neither Jesus nor Paul, nor any of the Apostles, included as a gospel mandate. 

Is the WOKE movement in churches and denominations these days the gospel? Or, is it what was called in the early twentieth century ‘The Social Gospel’ rejuvenated? Suddenly, it seems, the gospel is not the simple historical and theological content of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. It may be observed in passages such as James 4 that the gospel has ramifications toward the injustices of a culture, but nowhere is it demonstrable that the Church is to include the correction of such into the great commission. Christ commissioned His Church to go throughout the world preaching the gospel, the contents of which Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 15.

What we are actually witnessing is a rebirth of liberalism (see Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen) in Evangelical and Reformed institutions. From the very beginning, this emphasis has not set well with me. It has had an activist flavor to it from the outset. Christ calls us to be disciples, not activists, and there is a chasm of meaning between the two! At first, I thought we were simply watching young evangelicals repeat a mistake, namely, the Social Gospel initiative of the early Twentieth Century. The longer I have followed this movement and its spokesmen, the more I have become convinced that it has a more left-leaning origin. By this, I am not accusing anyone in particular of being “leftist.” I am simply asking that the good men and women, who I attribute pure motives, who are buying into this movement, stop and investigate its real origins. Compare these findings with the New Testament mission of the Church. This initiative is strongly political, which its defenders accuse others of placing too much emphasis upon. 

According to The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Liberation Theology is “More of a movement that attempts to unite theology and sociopolitical concerns than a new school of theological theory. It is more accurate to speak of liberation theology in the plural, for these theologies of liberation find contemporary expression among blacks, feminists, Asians, Hispanics, Americans, and Native Americans.” According to D.D. Webster, there are at least four distinguishing factors that play strongly in the origin of the so-called Liberation Theology. The first factor is immediately significant. Webster points out that Liberation Theology is a post-Enlightenment theological movement whose ideas can be traced to people such as Kant, Hegel, and Karl Marx. As Marxist ideology sought advantage over America through its southern border, Communist ideology was sown into the religious beliefs of South American cultures. 

Secondly, Webster notes that Liberation Theology has been greatly influenced by European radical theologies like Metz, Cox, and Moltmann. Of course, this factor supports the premise of the above comments that South America was fed communist ideology using its deep Christian (Catholic) beliefs. One might say that theology was weaponized, as is often done by radical regimes. 

Thirdly, Webster notes that it is, for the most part, a Roman Catholic theological movement. Once again, this lends support to the first notion that liberation, i.e., the socialist practice of dividing a culture into many feuding parties warring for their “rights” (i.e., dominance). By this concept, they break apart a cohesive society to the point that a militaristic communist party will be able to force the many small parties into submission, thus parlaying itself into power. This entrance was facilitated through Roman Catholic theology simply because of the prevalence of Roman Catholicism in Latin America. The people’s Faith is used against them, and they do not realize it. This is shown in Webster’s fourth factor, noting how Liberation Theology has been uniquely situated in Latin America. It is taught by theologians who espouse this ideology that their people have been victimized by colonialism, imperialism, and multinational corporations. This movement is distinctively anti-capitalist, as should be expected considering its origin. 

To the Christian who learns the facts, it becomes clear that ‘Liberation Theology’ does not liberate. It is not a theology, but an ideology. Neither is it just, nor even about justice. It was a strategy to fragment an existing government, in America’s case, capitalism, so that it could be overthrown by a new government, socialism. It is a political movement that uses religious sentiment to fuel its movement and make ‘converts.’ 

Defenders of the WOKE Gospel may assert that I have overplayed the link between Marxist Liberation Theology sown in South America and the new WOKE Gospel. But wait, consider one more thing. Even if I am pushing the comparison between the Social Justice Gospel and Liberation Theology too far, a thoughtful, reasoned, and objective person must admit that if these are not the same, the similarities are too numerous and too dangerous to overlook. There is only one Gospel (Galatians 1), and all those who preach a different one are to be accursed in our eyes. 

Serving HIM Together, 

Pastor Scott

February 27, 2019