RELIGION AND HUMAN SECURITY IN WARTIME
Reflection on the Dialectic of Oppression and Resistance in the Congo (DRC)
A STL Thesis by Emmanuel BUEYA
I chose the subject for my Thesis because it is both theologically and personally close to my heart. Having been brought up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, having learned from the tradition, the stories, the joys and the sorrows of my people about the past behind their present; and having, in my theological studies and training, become deeply concerned about the role of religion in the struggles of the people from whom I come, I felt that this study would help me personally and, by extension, lend some faint light of hope to the people for whom I have so much love. This light of which I speak is not the sun at noon, but more the first rays of the morning light and, perhaps the last glimmering of the evening sun. It is, nevertheless, an honest and heartfelt attempt to bring together, in some sensible form, the deep scars of hurt, the present situation and the possibility of healing found by the reverence of what went before and of the hope of what can come from a sincere understanding of the two.
My argument is that something is wrong with the perception, practice and opposing views of religious practice and understanding in the Congo. There is a reason for this wrong and the misunderstanding which keeps the people of the Congo in a state of subservience. I suggest a means of correcting this wrong. The means I suggest has as, its essence and understanding, a tolerance and a forceful faith in a sound theology that neither minimizes the past or the tradition nor flaunts a Christianity that continues to keep the people of the Congo in this state of subservience. I see the freedom won by Christ, the love He taught and the oppression which He condemned as a catalyst for moving the people of the Congo to a greater sense of freedom and a cognitive understanding of their past, their traditions and their faith. At the same time, I propose that a Christian Catholic Theology which comes from a sensus fidelium and, is, at the same time, true to the unsullied message of Christ, has the possibility of helping the people of the Congo to realize their destination as redeemed and cherished people of a loving God. Christ came and brought a sword. He came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
In order to present my thesis that religion, perceived and practiced as a set of symbolic forms and actions that that can help people to comprehend the conditions of their existence, I attempt to demonstrate how religion can empower people and give them the courage and the will to overcome oppression. I attempt to do this by: (1) analysis of the current situation of the Congolese People entangled in the web of foreign domination, regional invasion and local oppression.(2) a hermeneutic interpretive reflection of resistance to oppression as a process of conversion to freedom and from impoverishment to self-reliance.(3) An anthropological reflection of the current and deeply imbedded poor sense of self of the Congolese People and how a social imagination renewed and reformed by this reflection will enable them to be more self-determining. As a result of these three reflections, I hope to demonstrate how religion will no longer be just another chain of subservience but a means of freedom proclaimed by Christ echoing the words of Isaiah: "I came to set the captives free".
My argument is that something is wrong with the perception, practice and opposing views of religious practice and understanding in the Congo. There is a reason for this wrong and the misunderstanding which keeps the people of the Congo in a state of subservience. I suggest a means of correcting this wrong. The means I suggest has as, its essence and understanding, a tolerance and a forceful faith in a sound theology that neither minimizes the past or the tradition nor flaunts a Christianity that continues to keep the people of the Congo in this state of subservience. I see the freedom won by Christ, the love He taught and the oppression which He condemned as a catalyst for moving the people of the Congo to a greater sense of freedom and a cognitive understanding of their past, their traditions and their faith. At the same time, I propose that a Christian Catholic Theology which comes from a sensus fidelium and, is, at the same time, true to the unsullied message of Christ, has the possibility of helping the people of the Congo to realize their destination as redeemed and cherished people of a loving God. Christ came and brought a sword. He came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
In order to present my thesis that religion, perceived and practiced as a set of symbolic forms and actions that that can help people to comprehend the conditions of their existence, I attempt to demonstrate how religion can empower people and give them the courage and the will to overcome oppression. I attempt to do this by: (1) analysis of the current situation of the Congolese People entangled in the web of foreign domination, regional invasion and local oppression.(2) a hermeneutic interpretive reflection of resistance to oppression as a process of conversion to freedom and from impoverishment to self-reliance.(3) An anthropological reflection of the current and deeply imbedded poor sense of self of the Congolese People and how a social imagination renewed and reformed by this reflection will enable them to be more self-determining. As a result of these three reflections, I hope to demonstrate how religion will no longer be just another chain of subservience but a means of freedom proclaimed by Christ echoing the words of Isaiah: "I came to set the captives free".
