By our nature, we are persons, and as persons, we are relational and therefore communal beings. We might fight against it, trying to cut ourselves off from everyone else and become totally independent individuals, but we cannot. We exist in relation to others, starting with our parents, showing that our very existence has us dependent upon others. We can’t do everything all by ourselves. Sadly, we have been led to believe otherwise. Individualism tells us everything lies on our own shoulders, which is why we often take the blame for things which are outside of our control. Walter Wink explained how this has affected us in ways which we do not often consider:
One legacy of the rampant individualism in our society is the tendency to react personally to the pain caused by institutions. People blame themselves when they get downsized. Or they blame the executive officers for their insensitivity. But to a high degree, corporate decisions are dictated by larger economic forces — invisible forces that determine the choices of those who set policy and fire workers.[1]
For our own well-being, we must stop ourselves from feeling guilty when we do not have the agency to be culpable for what happened. When we find the powers that be, and the structures in place, have eliminated free agency which should be there, we should look to restore that agency, realizing how difficult it might be and that until it is restored, we must not blame people who do not have the freedom needed to be responsible for their actions.
We must treat others the way we treat ourselves; it is easy for us to see when we find ourselves without freedom, to see where our culpability is diminished if not outright eliminated. We should realize the same is often true with others. We do not know the pressures they might have put on them which has diminished, if not outright, removed their agency. When a community, when an institution, imposes its will on others, and unjustly limits the options people have, we must work to fix the situation, realizing until we do, how many people will end up being stuck in their present situation, unable to do much to change things for themselves. This is why we must not blame the poor and vulnerable when poverty is imposed upon them from outside, such as through societal structures which make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to leave their poverty behind. Some might have opportunities others do not, making it appear all do, but the reality is usually far different, and they are the exceptions instead of the norm.
The powers that be, the systems which they have created, the structures which they have put in place, have often used the worst aspects of other structures and systems and used them in the creation of those which are with us today. They have often ignored the good which was found in those systems. That is, though there were many abuses in the medieval and classical eras, there was a greater sense of unity, a unity which we have lost with our modern day individualistic conception of society, a unity which helped people understand society should be taking care of everyone (instead of having that notion debated and denounced as we find happening with all those who claim such an ethical stand is “communistic”):
Medieval culture was organic, at least to the extent that it saw human beings, while still central, as embedded in nature and dependent upon God. For the last several centuries, for a variety of complex reasons, we have lost that sense of belonging. Protestant focus on the individual and otherworldly salvation, as well as Cartesian dualism of mind and body, divided what we are now trying to bring back together and what must be reintegrated if we and other beings are to survive and prosper. [2]
It is often this aspect of medieval society which has people look back to it with some sort of romantic longing; they see the good within that society while forgetting all the abuses which were found in it. This is why, when dealing our current situation, we should not want to simply return to the way things were in the past. That would bring back countless evils which we have overcome. Nonetheless, we should seek to restore the sense of community, and with it, the innate understanding that the common good, which we lost in the modern age. Sadly, the powers that be, the system which has been put in place over society, has taught people that they should be rugged individualists, making them deny the way government should work for the common good. Christians should know better. They have been told by Christ not to neglect their neighbor. They have been told to be concerned with those who are in need and not to ignore them. And Scripture shows them that those who govern society should be actively involved with the promotion of the common good and helping those in extreme need.
When Christians reject the preferential option for the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed based upon a political ideology, they let the spirit of the age (capitalism) get in the way of their faith until they end up confusing that ideology with their faith. Then, they not only end up defending the abuses of the modern age, but they often tend to find ways to blame its victims for the abuses they suffer.
Christians need to reject any system, any ideology, which dehumanizes people in order to maintain control. They must seek reform, making sure that the common good, and how the common good is to make things better for everyone, is at the forefront of their activity. As they do so, it is important for them to recognize that many who suffer from the system in place have been indoctrinated by that system, and so have become believers in it, incapable of critically examining it. They will do as they are told, but because they do not know better, they have little to no culpability for their actions. Similarly, we must realize that those who we are trying to help might themselves by among those indoctrinated, who will act in wrongs contrary to what is just. We must not to look to the poor and the oppressed with such eyes that we think they incapable of doing wrong. We can recognize this while still promoting the preferential option for the poor, vulnerable and oppressed, because that is what Jesus did in his earthly ministry: he went to those who not only suffered from the injustices of his day, but those who, often as a result of the pressures those injustices imposed upon them, were known sinners. He was with them, promoting them and their good; he worked to free them from their oppression by humanizing them, by healing them, and by helping them deal with the greatest oppressor of all, sin. This is why James Cone was right in saying:
The risk of faith means that the oppressed are not infallible. They often do not do the will of God which they proclaim. Thus being a member of the oppressed community does not grant one immunity from error and sin. However, it can grant one the knowledge that God is present with them in struggle despite their frailty. God takes their meager actions and transform them into liberating signs that the divine kingdom is coming. This knowledge lets the oppressed know that what they do is not in vain.[3]
Everyone we are dealing with are people with their own inherent dignity, whether or not they are oppressed or one of the oppressors. In a sense, everyone is a victim of oppression because of sin and the systemic structures sin has established in the world. However, there are those who are far more culpable than others, such as those who know the evils of the system and embrace it, gaining wealth, power, status, or the like at the expense of others. What is important is that we recognize, as Paul said, we are not always fighting against flesh and blood; we are fighting against spiritual powers or principles, the powers that be. Obviously, one key thing we need to change is our individualistic outlook to society, because then we will realize we will be able to change society for the better only when we work together instead of thinking we can do all thing all by ourselves. “A concrete commitment to the poor must also be accompanied by a change in mentality that can have an impact at the cultural level.”[4] We need to bring back the good which we see in past societies, the ability to view society as an organic whole, but we need to do so in a way which does not repeat the mistakes of the past (such as seen in the abuses found in medieval society, where the poor were mistreated and often treated as subhuman). This is how we can engage and develop that element of medieval society which we lost, not, of course, by just repeating how it was done in the past, but adapting its sensibility to meet social, technological, and moral developments which have come about in the modern age and its better appreciation of the dignity of the human person.
[1] Walter Wink, The Powers that Be (New York: Galilee Doubleday, 1998), 2.
[2] Sallie McFague, The Body of God: an Ecological Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 111.
[3] James H. Cone, God Of The Oppressed (New York: Seabury Press 1975), 208.
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