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NEW YORK, July 15, 2010—Dr. Anthony Bradley, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at The King’s College, appeared on the "Glenn Beck" show on Fox News this week. Beck invited Bradley to speak on black liberation theology for an episode focusing on social justice and liberation theology.
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Bradley, who also serves as a research fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, is the author of "Liberating Black Theology: The Bible and the Black Experience in America." The book looks at the theology that grew out of the civil rights movement, which inspired figures such as Cornell West and James Cone. The movement developed, however, into a theory of oppression, which replaced discussions of personal sin and redemption.
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Bradley explains that this narrative is both false and inadequate, arguing that social injustice and human dignity must be seen in conjunction with personal morality. He said, “The fact of the fall and the accomplished redemptive work of Christ serve as the true foundation for the liberation of black people.”
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On the program, Beck argued that massive redistribution perverts the idea of social justice and is a product of Marxist liberation movements that also influenced the church. "Collective salvation," he said, is primarily concerned with redistribution whereas true salvation is individual, beginning with the atoning grace of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, with virtuous implications for the public good.
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According to Bradley, this is one of the issues with black liberation theology. “One of the major problems with this theology is that it reduces Christianity to being just a political theology,” he said. “To reduce it to a political theology is completely inconsistent with the history of Christianity.”
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“What you find is a theology that deals almost exclusively with people’s external reality and problems and doesn’t deal with their internal ones. That’s a huge problem,” he said.
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To view a clip from the show, please click here: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4281358/beck-liberation-theology-and-social-justice
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The King’s College is located in the Empire State Building in New York City.
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For more information about The
King's College please contact: |
| Warren Smith |
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| 212.659.7200 |
