Living in Central
Appalachia typically means that a person lives near family. When one lives near
their family there is typically the open invitation to visit anytime you are
near. In this chapter we use the imagery of sitting on the porch and
visiting/talking with wise and learned elder voices who have traveled the path
of liberation before us. This chapter explores the scholarly dialogue of liberation
theology in Central America, South America, and South India. The first
conversation partner is Dr. Leonardo Boff of Brazil, who
provides the framework of liberation theology through his Introduction
to Liberation Theology, St. Francis: A Model for Human Liberation, Jesus Christ
the Liberator. As a founding voice of the theological movement, Dr. Boff
provides a South American prospective in addition to helpful insights into the
models of Jesus and St. Francis for hillbillies seeking to live out human liberation.
The next
conversation partner is Jesuit professor, university president and faithful martyr
Father Ignacio Ellacuria of El Salvador. He provides a Central American
perspective in addition to an inspiration framework through the witness of his
life and death as a martyr. With the help of Dr. Jon Sobrino, Father Ellacuria
produced the key systematic theology of liberation through their editorial work
on Mysterium Liberationis and Systematic Theology: A Liberation
Perspective. For this project, Ellacuria’s idea of the Christian university
as a social conscious for the community is foundational to the use of UPIKE as
an Appalachian agent of liberation in the Central Appalachian region. Ellacuria’s
thoughts and voice will also be heard through his work Freedom Made Flesh.
The third
conversation partner comes from Dalit liberation theology. Within Dalit
theology the work of Peniel Rajkumar, Dalit
Theology and Dalit Liberation: Problems, Paradigms and Possibilities, and Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon with her work Liberation
Hermeneutics and India’s Dalits both prove to be
vital to the discussion of oppression and marginalization through othering of
the Dalit people.
The first elder we
hear from is Leonardo Boff. His foundational work provides a critical framework
for viewing basic theological terms from a liberation perspective. Boff, for
example, presents Jesus Christ as liberator. Boff argues that one does
liberation in three different levels yet in all three levels they have as their
foundation a commitment to the poor and oppressed. In the first level a person
commits in a limited and restrictive way to the base Christian community. The
second level, of which I seek to engage, is the back in forth of academic and
practical, while the third is the incarnational and more radical living and
working in permanent solidarity among the poor.[1] In
chapter six, I use Boff’s pastoral methodology of “See, Judge, Act” see appendix six as the pastoral method of outlining hollering
theology.
In his brief primer, Introduction
to Liberation Theology, Boff provides a first step into the liberation theological
discussion. When used in two undergraduate courses with students not having any
previous theological classes, the work proved beneficial for conversation. Boff
recognizes that liberation must first start with seeing the reality of one’s
context. One must see such things as hunger and addiction. Next one must label
the suffering for what it is and judge the pain through the language and lens
of scripture. Finally, the liberation theologian must act in a way that lifts
up the dignity and meets the expressed need of the one who is oppressed.
Liberation is a movement of theology that lives, labels, and loves from the
reality of oppression into the actualization of freedom.
In his text, he outlines the basis of liberation theology
which is a life that is lived and suffered with and among the poor, thus commiting
to a prophetic life of struggle in partnership with those who are debased and
marginalized. This commitment is expressed in liberation theology as faith
confronting the injustice done to the poor.[2]
Boff and this work are important to hollering theology because it speaks in a
common language and is solely dependent on the idea that the oppressed come
together to work on liberation. In Boff there is no sense of help from the
outside but an inner process of “conscientization,” which is also a key theme
from Paulo Freire and critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy is the educational
philosophy used in the teaching of each class that I research for this project.
Boff makes it clear that poverty is
oppression therefore work among the people cannot be done without social
analysis.[3]
Liberation theology relies on wisdom of the people and also requires a way of
challenging the entire paradigm of reality. Liberation theology is known for
its Marxist analysis as a way to challenge and confront oppressive structures
within the Church and it is this Marxist reliance that helps look at destructive
economic practices especially within an economy of extraction. Boff through
Marx helps label these practices as murderous and oppressive.
Boff pushes for a new way to read the Bible which is
critical in Appalachia as the Christian communities are more biblically driven
than theologically astute. Boff pushes for hermeneutics of liberation and the conversion
of the whole church to a preferential option for the poor, which is full
liberation.[4] His
work ultimately makes the case for a faith that does not talk about a
theological paradigm shift nor does it advocate for a theological lens, it acts
for liberation. Theology must always be in expressed in movement.[5]
Faith that does the work of love by being with the people, calls out the forces
of oppression and then moves toward healing of the brokenness. [6]
Beyond theories of
liberation, Boff uses St. Francis as a paradigm for the work of liberation.
Boff argues that St. Francis is the chief liberation theologian because he had
such affection for his fellow humans using brother over 240 times in his
writings.[7] In
addition, Francis held two key realities of the liberator in tension. First is
the suffering of Christ and the physical suffering that liberation entails.
Next, Francis held onto the love of Christ, which compels the liberator to
start and then keep up the work. St. Francis asked
for two graces: pain and love.[8] In
Francis one sees a complex character who is overwhelmed by the love of Christ
and the love for his fellow humans yet feels obsessed with the commitment to be
radical. Hollering theologians must be radical and believe that the impossible
can happen. The work feels daunting because the region has been made into a
commodity, the people have been trivialized, and the rest of the nation has
compartmentalized it as a wasteland good for only token acts of charity, recreational
four-wheeling, and moments of shaming humor. Francis, however, challenges human
exploitation for profit and invites people to embrace poverty as the way to
live and liberate. Boff helps frame the poverty of life vs the poverty of
death.[9]
When a person embraces life-giving poverty, the poor are dignified and granted
a status of equality and respect whereas the death-dealing poverty is
illegitimate and sinful.
St. Francis models
life-affirming poverty and for the hollering theologian, he becomes the
hillbilly of all hillbillies. It is important at this moment to distinguish
between a redneck and a hillbilly. Often times in the greater US, the terms are
seen as interchangeable. As Appalachian scholar Rusty Justice helps distinguishes
the two terms. He says a hillbilly is an Appalachian person who has low
self-esteem but high self-awareness but a redneck is a person from Appalachia
with a high self-esteem and low self-awareness. Hillbillies are by their nature
humble and in this humility, they can connect to the heart of St. Francis. Preeminent
Appalachian cultural scholar Loyal Jones argues that humility is one of the ten
key values of the people and culture.[10] This
humility leads to affirming others and does not seek to impose or dominate. St
Francis was the one who leaned into poverty as a pathway to humility.[11] Although humility marks the way of St. Francis and
of the hillbilly theologian, humility is not beating up oneself nor is it a unhealthy
denying of personhood.
[12]
Humility is the honest and deep
awareness that grinding poverty cannot remove dignity although it challenges it
and calls it into question. Even the poor have something to give and are therefore
equal members of the community. [13]
This humility then calls for the hillbilly liberator
to follow St. Francis and not fall into the temptation of “getting above one’s
raisin’,” nor to “get too big for one’s drawls.”
St. Francis calls for inner change of the agent of
liberation. In his own life this path of humility was modeled when he resigned
from the office of minister general in order to return to his original call and
passion to serve and live among the least.[14]
For St. Francis, and in many ways the hillbilly, the “the holy Gospel is more
important than all the rules.” For St. Francis sin is known in the ways in
which life is choked out.[15]
Hillbillies can relate as sin in central Appalachia is often fueled by
desperation. Miners are forced to feed their families by working within deadly
mining practices; students suffer in communities which undervalue education;
many use painkillers to cope with the angst of everyday realities. Desperation,
indeed, has birthed so many painful Appalachian realities.
Beyond St. Francis, in this work, Jesus Christ Liberator, Boff demands that the liberation activist be crucified with
Christ just as Christ is crucified among his people. The question of the book
is, “Who is Christ?” For Boff, Christ is the liberator who has a messianic
conscience.[16] Christ
is the one which all human evolution is pushing because when as a person defines
Christ, they are defining themselves and defining all of reality.[17]
Christ is the one who pays special attention to the voiceless and marginalized.
It is imperative to know that for Boff, Christ is beyond the historic figure of
Jesus of Nazareth. The Christ is the force of oneness and unity of God whereas
Jesus is the fullness of all humanity.[18]
In Christ, one sees God and the human cultural context merge which is a valued
insight for the hollering theologian. It allows the theologian to see and judge
the painful Appalachian lived reality with the aim of acting in Christ for the
work of healing. For Boff, there is nothing that does not come under the
umbrella of Christ’s salvation.[19]
The resurrected Christ makes known the definitive liberation.[20]
This definitive liberation makes known that Christ is dealing with the
very realness of the human reality, hence Christ is actively engaged in the
pains and realities of life in Central Appalachia. Boff argues that even the
pursuit of the historic Jesus does not negate the quest for knowing ourselves
and firstly seeing the realities of one’s life. Jesus is literally the
hillbilly’s future existence as Jesus of Nazareth becomes the mirror to live by
and the prototype of freedom.[21]
Boff beautifully offers the hillbilly a vision of Jesus that can be embraced
without any pretense and in deep humility: hillbillies must encounter Jesus for
who he truly is.[22]
For Boff, Jesus is the liberator who announces and
manifests the kingdom of God. This kingdom is consuming of all reality because
there is nothing that it does not touch. The kingdom is vaster than any
mountain in the Appalachian range and it is more compelling than the call to family
allegiance.[23]
Jesus the Christ, the man-God liberator, is the one who is the hillbilly of all
hillbillies. He is completely free to relate to God, others, and himself
without pretense, concern, or obligation because he is fully immersed into God.
Jesus is completely free so then he does not have to be against anything but
fully for love and freedom.[24]
Jesus is the one who fully empties himself for the sake of others and moves to
work against evil by love without the degradation of others. No true hillbilly
ever rises up by tearing down another. Jesus sees brotherhood as a necessary
sacrament for salvation and refuses to allow religion or any other structure to
limit humanities full freedom. Jesus takes God out of religion and pushes
salvation from one religious’ group to the good of humanity. Jesus makes a
sacrament of the ‘other’ and this movement is a shaping component for access
into the kingdom of God.[25]
Like Jesus the liberator and hillbilly, people will, at times, question their
origins and be labeled as troublemakers. [26]
Living out this freedom in Christ means challenging power structures.
The enemies of Jesus sought to scandalize him and make him appear
less important; they saw him as a dangerous imposter[27]
and, what is worse, a heretic[28]
who was possessed by the devil.[29]
Jesus was vilified because of his freedom[30]
yet Jesus never loses his focus on freedom. This focus in spite of being
vilified is empowering for the hillbilly. The free hillbilly, however, never
loses sight of the practical/real nature of things and is not one to get lost
in ideas or theories, especially when there are things that can be done for
others. The free hillbilly is one who helps neighbors and works tirelessly to
be aware of one’s own shortcomings rather than pointing the finger. The
hillbilly, can be inspired by Boff’s Christ the liberator, who knows that the
beginning of all lived encounters with God start with that which can be seen.
That which is seen, is the person right in front who lives up the holler.[31] As
the hollering theologian faces the death realities around them, the Christ also
lives among this pain and accompanies the hurting, the least, and the voiceless.
In this way of being, the liberator is never casting fingers at the hurting nor
is the other shamed, rather the person of power and agency always judges
oneself first. Boff says, “The misery of this world is an accusation against
yourself. It is not you who should judge misery, but misery judges you and your
system and makes you see its defects.”[32]
Boff’s view of the liberating Jesus becomes imperative for hollering
theology because it offers the central figure of Christianity as the agent of
salvation, freedom, and humble brotherhood. Also hollering theology is
dependent on Boff for Boff’s pastoral method and foundational use of liberation
language. Boff invites the theologian to put theology into motion and he then
lifts up St. Francis as a model for this liberating theology. Boff gives
hollering theology a picture of Jesus Christ as the fully free human who lives
out liberation in the midst of forces of oppression and opposition.
In addition to
Leonardo Boff, Father Ignacio Ellacuria is a key dialogue partner for the
formation of hollering theology. Father Ellacuria was a Jesuit philosopher who
taught in El Salvador during the brutal and horrific civil war. Father
Ellacuria desired to be the voice of the voiceless and to be one who helped
liberate the poor of El Salvador through his tireless commitment to truth,
battling the powers, and providing sacrificial scholarship. [33] He
was tenderly focused on the person of Jesus and it was said that when teaching about
Jesus, he would tear up with a tremor in his voice because of Christ’s
dedication to the poor and his death by the corrupt and deceptive state.[34] Ellacuria
is a model of the liberating professor who saw his academic position as
bringing to bear all of the intellectual resources of his university to the
support and benefit of the poor and oppressed in his nation. He strongly
believed that the work of liberation was a work of hope in the midst of
darkness and goring poverty. He famously said, “More and more now, it is the
university’s turn to stir up hope.”[35]
Hollering theology
lifts up Father Ellacuria as a key model of liberation because he courageously led
the University of Central America in a way of freedom and ultimately was only
stopped because he was massacred on the front lawn of the university on
November 16, 1989. Father Ellacuria was deeply committed to having his
university live out the truths of liberation theology by working to combat
injustice and be near the poor. He is famous for saying,
today in our situation the authenticity of
the people of God goes by way of poverty and justice: they are the touchstone
of the truth of the faith that is professed and of the genuineness of life as
it is lived out: poverty, which involves incarnating all our efforts and
incarnating ourselves in the reality of the oppressed majorities, and that will
necessarily entail a voluntary impoverishment and abnegation on the part of
those who wield power; justice, which involves giving to the people what
belongs to the people and struggling to uproot injustice and exploitation, and
to establish a new earth, wherein the life of the new human may be possible.[36]
Father Ellacuria
in his work, Freedom Made Flesh, sees
Christ as a rebel who is a greater political threat to society than the zealot
Barabbas. This is seen when the religious political powers work to manipulate
and play the crowd to call for Jesus’s crucifixion.[37] For
Ellacuria Jesus is both political and historical. Jesus was a rebel guerilla
bandit who suffered for a political crime.[38] He
sees Jesus as the yardstick for Christian living but not as an abstract or
personalized savior.[39]
Christ is the one who confronts and refuses to idly sit back as he operates in
the concrete history of the people.[40]
One of the key challenges of Jesus’ life is the nature of riches, wealth, and
poverty. Ellacuria does not idealize poverty nor does he condemn wealth, yet he
challenges systems which make people rich and the systems that create poverty.
Wealth is bad when it impacts the poor.[41] For Ellacuria poverty is a gateway for total
freedom from the clutches of wealth and the way that riches can own a person.[42]
Freedom is the ultimate goal of liberation because without freedom one cannot
be liberated. A key to the philosophy of Ellacuria is the role of human freedom
acting in the Church as the locale of God’s presence and the mediating of
Christ body to the world. Again, the very historical and fleshed out reality of
the Christ manifesting through the concrete and historic actions of people make
known the mysteries of life. Just as the Word was made flesh, so divinity is
again made flesh in the liberating actions of the Christian who works toward
freedom.
Ellacuria
continues to push traditional theological paradigms when he argues that the
second coming is paved by the Church acting in liberative ways in the concrete
world.[43]
Ellacuria is clear that theological concepts and abstractions will not be
sufficient for the historical times of pain and suffering that surrounded him.
Nor are abstractions sufficient for any time that hurt and despair caused by
poverty are at play. For Ellacuria, liberation is salvation and salvation is
liberation. Thus, it is the very nature of being “Christian” to be liberating,
and anti-Christ is anything that stands in the way of human liberty.[44] Anything
that opposes human freedom is sin.
So
often a major criticism of liberation theology is its stance on sin. This
criticism however appears to miss the nuanced argument that Ellacuria writes
when saying that sin is real, sin is prevalent, and sin is killing many. [45] Ellacuria wants to step back and look at the
larger systems at work. He seeks to “judge” the sin of the systems, which are
the true demonic agents of death. Ellacuria was aware and honest enough to also
admit how these sins play out in institutions that are created to do good. He
challenges the Church and the university to honestly examine itself in light of
sin.[46]
He becomes very suspicious of those in power and does not believe that
salvation will come from the conversion of those in authority. Salvation and
liberation come from below and is the work of the masses. It is a blind and
naïve hope to believe that the powerful will be converted or give power away
due to the political nature of how power plays through systems.[47] Ellacuria
emphasizes how sin plays through systems which are historically and concretely
rooted in present time and culture. This view of sin becomes key for the work of
hollering theology. Ellacuria is extremely careful to outline his thinking on
sin. He unashamedly embraces the historical reality of original sin, which he
believes is common to all humanity and manifests itself in structures of human
life. Of course, there is personal sin, which is done by personal choice yet
swayed and unconsciously impacted by human sinful structures.
Beyond personal
sin, there is historical sin, which is sin of the times of the present moment.[48]
Historical sin plays a big role in his thinking and is part of a larger
historical argument that is imperative for hollering theology. Ellacuria uses
the idea of the “process of historicization,” which argues for the Church being
incarnated in time, place, and in the set of conditions that each place exerts
on a given season.[49]
This historicization impacts all aspects of the Christian theological worldview.
In this view, salvation becomes actualized in the flesh of the local
surroundings. The very nature of Appalachian culture and the crisis of Central
Appalachia makes Ellacuria’s liberative philosophy imperative. Just as he
argued that the church must be Latin American to do battle with the Latin
American doers of death, so liberation theology must be hollering if it is
going to be an agent of liberation in the mountains of Central Appalachia.[50]
The necessity of
enculturating the work of liberation is essential to the work of hollering
theology especially as people struggle with “insider vs. outsider” boundaries
that Appalachian regionalism often causes. A massive push for hollering
theology from Ellacuria’s work is in relationship to his Marxists insights.
These insights can be applied in Appalachia. Ellacuria’s Marxist challenge is
worthy of further investigation as he argues that the source of sin may be an
ethos which is rooted in profit and the drive for private property. He slams
the soulless pursuit of profit and how Latin America has been crushed by greedy
outside economic interests.[51] Although
other liberation theologians took up arms in a Marxist resistance, Ellacuria
continued to make it clear that all violence is unnecessary and oppressive. He
did not look at violence from weapons and war only. Ellacuria was mindful to
highlight how violence is much deeper than smoking guns and bodies on
battlefields. Again, his voice becomes engaging to the hollering theologian
because he makes it clear that all injustice is at its root violent. The very
nature of the injustice points to the depth of the violence.[52] Appalachia
has a violent framework as this violence can be known in the removal of natives
in Appalachia, to a civil war that ripped the land in half, to the blood feuds,
to the violence of timber and coal removal, to the mineral wars and now the
violence of poverty and addiction which is killing thousands. Appalachia is a
land steeped in violence, therefore it must be liberated, and Father Ellacuria
adds key insights.
Ellacuria
is most helpful when looking within and challenging his readers to realize
their own participation in the structural and historic sins of their community
not only through original sin but through personal sin. This “participation” mainly
occurs when the Church ignores the cries of the poor by insulating their
realities from the pains of those around them. Ellacuria boldly declared, “to
be complacent in the face of the world’s need is to be guilty of practical
heresy.”[53] No
institution has clean hands from the blood stains of oppression and violence.
Even the university has been a complicated and at times willing participant in
oppression.[54] In this
pivot, Ellacuria is a vibrant, life-giving, and challenging dialogue partner.
He calls for introspection within Appalachian universities like UPIKE, pushing
them to consider how their presence, often representing a beacon of hope, can
at times oppress.
What makes
Ellacuria deeply Christian is not his labeling or judging of the situation as,
quite frankly, any Marxist social scientist can do. Rather, he urges acting in
society, consideration of the history of the moment, and enfleshing liberation
in an inherently Christian way. Father Ellacuria does not believe that Marxist
political and economic theory are enough to liberate. He sees all conversion starting
first with the heart as one must be converted to the poor, who are the living
body of Christ crucified in the history of the moment.[55] After this conversion then the work of
liberation can commence. In his last address before his assassination, he made his
commitment to the radical need for heart change clear as he declared that one
must be changed from the inside out in hopeful solidarity with the poor and
oppressed.[56]
Father Ellacuria,
greatest gift to this study is his image of the university as an agent of
liberation that works toward social/political transformation. His thoughts primarily
come from talks given in 1975 and especially 1982 at Santa Clara University. Further,
fellow professor and liberation theologian Jon Sobrino helps illuminate and
flesh out his work. Ellacuria speaks as a lifelong academic and university
rector. His academic leadership took a dramatic shift when he was assigned the
role of rector five months prior to Bishop Romero’s assassination. His teaching
was deeply rooted in the real needs and suffering of the poor in El Salvador.
It is said that every time he would prepare a lecture or new course, he
examined his conscience and the material asking, how the material would make an
impact upon life for the poor in El Salvador. If he could not answer with a
positive and liberative answer, then he would not teach the class.[57] Ellacuria’s
Christian university provides the intellectual connection and liberation praxis
for the dialogue of liberation theology, critical pedagogy, and historically
rooted Appalachian/cultural studies. The Christian university invites the
classroom to be the birthing room for stirring up energy for social change on
behalf of the poor. Ellacuria was convinced that the overall purpose of the
university is to be a “social force” that transforms the society in which it
dwells.[58]
This commitment seeks to transform the unacceptable realities of injustice and
oppression in the context of their communities yet the university also serves
with and for the poor as the poor are the loci of salvation. The poor are also God’s
agents of keeping the Christian university from worldliness.[59]
This new type of university was in a long line of Jesuit educational
institutions yet the work of UCA
became inspirational because it addressed the violent realities of their
context as a university, through teaching, doing research, and engaging in social projection
for the poor, all while in the midst of a horrific civil war.[60]
His most developed discussion of the
Christian university came when he outlined his entire thought by saying:
A Christian university must take into account
the Gospel preference for the poor. This does not mean that only the poor study
at the university; it does not mean that the university should abdicate its
mission of academic excellence — excellence is needed in order to solve complex
social problems. It does mean that the university should be present
intellectually where it is needed: to provide science for those who have no
science; to provide skills for the unskilled; to be a voice for those who do
not possess the academic qualifications to promote and legitimate their rights.[61]
The liberation of the poor and oppressed is not a side
mission; it is the reason for the universities’ existence. The work of truthful
liberation is the purpose of the university.[62]
Father Ellacuria provides a colossal vision for a church related institution,
like UPIKE.
When applying his vision of a
Christian university, four areas inform the expression of hollering theology at
UPIKE. The first element is to be dedicated to the poor and oppressed.
In light of the context in Central Appalachia, UPIKE must heed the call of
Ellacuria to see the university as not just a place for students to learn in
the classroom but to become agents of the social good that empower and liberate
the poor of their region. The university provides all of its resources for the
cause of the poor, especially its clout in the community, and its historic
voice through its network of alumni. This focus looks like offering technology,
insight, and volunteer hours to projects with the poor. Through teaching and
health initiatives the university goes to battle for justice and the needs of
the poor. Passion and ferociousness for the real situation of the oppressed is
the determination of the university to recognize the death-dealing effect that
poverty and oppression has upon a people. Therefore, the university pivots to
the poor and provides the same level of intense resources, just as a nation
would mobilize and organize for full-scale land war.[63]
As
the university serves the poor, it fights against the lies that cloak and
relativize the truth. The second element of being a Christian university is to manifest the truth in light of opposition.
Former ambassador to the US from El Salvador, and seminary student
of Ellacuria’s, Mr. Ruben Zamora said, “the university says the things that
nobody else would say and precious few wanted to hear.”[64] Christians
are followers of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life[65]
and an attack on the truth is anti-Christian. Making the truth relative also
fuels systems of domination and is often the first step in oppression. When
dictators seek to dominate, they first cut the press, the academy, and the Church.
As intellectuals and scholars, the university seeks to research and make known
the truth of the historic moment. Through
its prophetic scholarship, the university provides the blueprint for how truth
should be manifest in society.[66]
At UCA truth telling included a
scholarly magazine, a radio station, a leading academic journal, and an Institute
of Public Opinion so that the truth of the people could be voiced. Speaking and
manifesting the truth is especially critical at a place like UPIKE because it
is nearly as old as the town and carries a vital social influence in the
region. Dr. Sobrino argues if the university wants to be serious about pursuing
knowledge then it must speak unapologetic truth.[67]
Truth is imperative so that the poor can be empowered rather than simply
dominated through misunderstood and distorted realities. Truth tellers are the
prophets of the day and are often subject to the prophet’s reward of suffering
and pain.[68] Father Ellacuria and
UCA had ten bombs explode on campus,
the university was surrounded by soldiers and one student was even murdered.
There were lots of imprisonments, some professors had to flee the country,
finances were stripped and yet Ellacuria believed that this prophetic witness
was not brave. He believed it was the honest journey of the Salvadoran people
for which UCA lived with and among.[69]
The
third element of being a Christian university is the refusal to be neutral
as it is under Christian inspiration. The Christian university
must be clear and operate with authority having a bold conviction of goodness
because there are forces of evil crushing those who suffer. God’s inspiring
spirit does not lead to indifference or unending uncertainty, but to a clear
direction toward the Kingdom of God, love, and the determination of shifting
one’s preference toward the poor and least. Dr. Sobrino shares how people need
God’s spirit in this endeavor because through the Spirit’s inspiration, truth
comes to light and the university is given power.[70] Ellacuria makes it clear
that Christian inspiration shifts the university focus, moving from its own
interest to the needs of the oppressed majorities.[71] There is a distinctive
difference between the Christian university and that of the secular university.
A Christian is inspired by seeing the reign and kingdom of God made known in
the historic moment. Ellacuria was inspired with the vastness and limitless
nature of this vision as he believed societal transformation was possible when
partnering with the poor.[72]
Finally, the fourth
element of being a Christian university is to be a leader for social change. The Christian university is
an arm of the Church, as it exists for the common good, which is transforming
the darkness into light. Ellacuria saw the UCA as the agent of social change
just as Rev. David Blythe was inspired to make UPIKE a university that impacted
the region for liberative change.[73] In the present state of
things, the truth which must be witnessed by UPIKE, must declare that Eastern
Kentucky is behind in all major areas of life. In the region, people are dying
at a greater rate with a lower life span than the rest of the nation. So many
factors are stacked against hillbillies, yet the Christian university has the
power and calling to reshape the narrative while also ultimately transforming
the systems of oppression. Christian universities help to develop a social
conscience and make sure that the powers of the university are distributed
equally. This type of university cannot be the center for powers that are
destructive or the hub for powers that are already dominate in society. It must
use a kingdom methodology that is not linked to one political brand or powerful
affiliation and it must diligently avoid any type of rhetoric or propaganda
that favors the oppressor. The university must become the agent of cultural
truth, the force of transformation, and the prophetic institution which shifts its
focus to the poor no matter the cost. [74] This type of Christian university cannot be
neutral or else it will be a part of the problem. It is either a societal force
for liberation or an agent of oppression.[75] Ultimately Ellacuria’s vision of the
Christian university shows that one must bring all aspects of the academic
pursuit in engagement with the crucified peoples of one’s historic moment. For
Father Ellacuria, one cannot teach, learn, or be a disciple of Christ without
action for and with the poor. Also, the Christian university has the
inspiration to be an incarnation of Christ in this present moment.[76]
In addition to Ellacuria’s vision for the
Christian university as an agent that makes the truth known, hollering theology
must truthfully speak about the hillbilly reality. Today in Central
Appalachia, hillbillies face a force of oppression that stems from being culturally
devalued and declared as people who are less than. To address this system of
oppression, hollering theology finds guidance and dialogue within Dalit
theology. Dalit theology is the theological lens of Dalit caste Christians in
India. Dalits, or “untouchables,” are persons deemed
inherently unworthy/less than as they stand outside the caste system. There
are over 220 million Dalits yet they are nearly
silenced within the greater Indian society. From 2006-2019, there has been a 25
% rise in the rate of atrocities against Dalits.[77]
The suffering of the Dalits is deeper and inherently degrading. This horrific
suffering of the Dalit lived experience, can be a starting point of
conversation with hillbillies. The Dalits suffer from violence and
disempowerment at levels unknown to the hillbilly community yet for the two
million hillbillies living in Central Appalachia, being relegated to an unclean
status based on dialect and culture, some companionship can find amidst
elements of Dalit theology. Dalit oppression is rooted in the privileging of a
particular religious idea and its social reach. The Dalit experience shows how
specific religious patterns of dehumanization can permanently deny a person
social standing. Hillbillies can look to Dalit theology for insights into how religious
structural forces keep people oppressed, and at times fuel a damaging view of
selfhood.
Being Dalit, is being connected to brokenness. Preeminent
Indian theologian, Dr. K.P. Aleaz, defines a Dalit as “the broken, the opened,
the bisected, the driven asunder, the crushed, the displayed.”[78]
Through a few key Dalit theologians, the work of hollering theology can take on
greater vitality especially when examining the framework of inherent shame and
being cast out by dominant society.
As an Indian feminist Old Testament scholar who specializes
in caste issues, Dr. Monica Melanchthon offers a window into the perspective of
the inherent othering. She provides a way to engage the Bible through Dalit
eyes, thus empowering the theological and hermeneutic foundations for the othering
of Dalits as well as other marginalized communities. Her framework of hermeneutics
can be helpful for hillbillies to see shaming and othering within readings of
the Bible. In India, Dalits have a special relationship with the Bible and
claim Christianity at a higher rate than the rest of Indian society. Dalits
look to the Bible for hope. In the US, hillbillies claim a deeper affinity for
the Bible and often times hillbillies will look to the Bible for hope. The
Dalit hermeneutic lens is helpful to the hollering theologian because hillbillies
are often highly indifferent to the historical critical realities of scriptures.
Within Dalit theology, Dalits want to know how the Bible addresses the
suffering that they live. “Dalits are those who are struggling for life — a
life free from fear, humiliation, rejection, want, and deprivation. They see
God intervening on behalf of the victims whenever life is abused and destroyed.”[79]
Dalit theology provides hillbillies a window into seeking to know what the
Bible says to the pains of their family, their chances of social advancement,
and the anxiety related to the pains of addiction and disease in their hollers.
Dalits have a focus on land as land rights are deeply
violated among their communities. Without land, one can be stripped of their
social power as it is a powerful source of identity. In Appalachia, hillbillies
are rural people and tied to their land. The very name Appalachian is linked to
the mountain range in which hillbillies live. More than 70 % of Dalits are land
workers while only 10 % own their land, thus creating a crippling poverty that
traps over 50 %. Without land, Dalits do not have the power for
self-improvement thus forcing them to perform laboring positions for the
benefit of others especially those who are beyond and above their caste. The
withholding of land from the Dalits is an act of violence. [80]
Today, Dalits are seeking power
through political means of land access with the Indian government creating a
system of “schedule caste and sub-caste,” which constitutionally protects
rights and allotments for social, economic, and educational development in society.
Allotments, however, are not liberation and Dalits are still seen as
untouchable.
Again, hillbillies can look to the Dalit theologians as in Central
Appalachia, ownership of land/homes is a battle of power and social status. In
the region nearly 18 % of homes are worth less than $50,000, compared to
8 % nationally. Also, regionally, almost 40 % of rental housing is
unaffordable. The devious housing reality revolves around home ownership. 20 %
of owned homes are trailers/manufactured housing which is typically mortgaged
through high cost lending.[81] Hillbillies
are forced into the single-wide trailer stereotypes through this economic
system. Regionally as housing prices crush locals, more hillbillies are renting
and thus also damaging educational advancement of their children.[82]
Denial of land is
a critical way that Dalits are denied a voice in society. Also, Dalits face
many battles both within their nation but also within their hearts. Dalits seek
to improve their quality of living condition, yet the biggest obstacle may be
within their minds. Self-conceptualization is
foundational and freeing for the Dalit. Hillbillies can see some areas of
partnership as hillbillies also struggle with self-conceptualization. Self-conceptualization
is being aware of who one is and who are one’s “people.”[83]
Dalit identity is grounded in being a part of a people but due to being born
below caste, Dalits are untouchable. Hillbillies
have so much to learn from Dalits as hillbillies are rooted in being a part of
a region and a culture yet are treated with subconscious disdain due to
their dialect or their “hillbilly ways.” Hillbillies are
socially behind when they start speaking because their accent has been
culturally labeled as sounding “less educated” and “uncivilized.” Dalit
theologians provide hillbillies a window into the theological power of
challenging “otherness.”
Dalits use the dominant narratives of Indian society as launching
spots for the rebellion of redefinition. Dalits appeal to the liberating vision
of God in Christ as dominate religious systems have perpetually enslaved and
defined them as unclean.[84]
The power of seeing the liberating vision is powerful for hollering
theologians. Often hillbillies hold onto God even when others may see the
spirituality as a false connection. JD Vance records a humorous yet
illuminating vision of hillbilly spirituality:
During one of our many trips to Kentucky,
Mamaw was trying to merge onto the highway after a brief stop for gas. She
didn’t pay attention to the signs, so we found ourselves headed the wrong way
on a one-way exit ramp with angry motorists swerving out of our way. I was
screaming in terror, but after a U-turn on a three-lane interstate, the only
thing Mamaw said about the incident was, ‘We’re fine, goddammit. Don’t you know
Jesus rides in the car with me?’[85]
Holding
onto God as the One who knows the struggle is a liberative action, yet self-humiliation
and self-damnation lurk at every turn due to false labeling.
For the hillbilly, Dalit theology is a critical companion
as Dalits reframe the very idea of being a Dalit. So often hillbillies are
isolated under the cultural narratives of being a hillbilly. Dalit voices lead
the way in helping hillbillies think again about the use of the term hillbilly.
Pikeville Ky., hosts a three-day fair called Hillbilly Days, which raises money
for the Shriners Hospitals for Children,
yet is this fair reclaiming the hillbilly as a self-deprecating philanthropist,
or fueling internalizing oppression? Can the use of satire challenge a false consciousness?
One must heed the prophetic warning of the sin of participation with the
destructive seeds that can be created by owning and expressing labels.[86]
The hillbilly must tread lightly however as one can sin by participating in the
acts of failing to self-actualize[87]
yet also one must avoid delving into victim blaming and the scapegoating of
hillbillies.
Dalit theologians provide a model for hillbillies to work
through socially constructed shame by claiming the power to self-name and re-own
labels. This process can be seen when a hillbilly in Pikeville uses the
hillbilly name and proudly wears it on their chest. Dalits show how oppressed
persons reclaim the “shamed name” for a theological and hermeneutic paradigm.
To be liberated, hillbillies must be able to freely choose their own names.[88]
The faithful act of “naming” and “re-claiming,” prophetically challenges the multifaceted
sense of inferiority, a sense of shame, physical domination, and status as
untouchable that envelopes Dalits.”[89]
With Dalit theology comes the need for community
consciousness that pushes away fatalistic thinking and deterministic religious
views. This Dalit “pushing” can inspire hillbillies to push against the
religious paradigms which entrap hillbillies such as a deterministic Christian
expression found in some distortions of mountain religious fatalism. This
distortion can lock a person into believing that their conditions are God’s
will rather than the evil fruits of oppressive systems of domination. Historically,
Dalits have been and currently are victims to religious determinism because it
calls into question the very nature of their identity and creates an enslaved
consciousness that says, one’s fate is decreed by God/gods; therefore, they
must be subservient. Literally, to do God’s will is to remain at the bottom of
society.
Hollering theologians must look to the Dalit theologians
for vision into breaking the religious strangle hold. Dr. Ambedkar’s mantra for
the Dalits was ‘unite, educate, and agitate’ and finally we should notice the
land flowing with milk and honey.”[90]
Hillbillies need their own models of liberation. One such possible model is Dr.
W.C. Hambley, former mayor of Pikeville who literally moved mountains in
reshaping Eastern Kentucky. Dr Hambley argued that hillbillies are innovators
in ways that others deem impossible. No longer can hillbillies accept survival
and subservience because this view is a milder form of enslavement. Government
sponsored education and legal changes are not enough. Although helpful, legislation
cannot make hollering liberation a reality. Poverty of the oppressed mind calls
for the conversion of the heart.[91]
A goal of all liberation theology is to have the oppressed class self-identify
as the image of God while working for this to be actualized in society.
Oppression is resisted when the heart is divinized. Human dignity is more
valuable than economic liberation, yet dignity should never devalue or stall
the pursuit for economic and social liberation. For hollering theology, claiming
the dignity that accompanies being the image of God is the first step in the liberating
work.
A key voice in Dalit theology is Rev. Dr. Peniel Jesudason
Rufus Rajkumar who is the program executive for interreligious dialogue and cooperation
with the World Council of Churches. As a theologian who focuses on ethics and
applied theology, he provides theological and practical insights for hollering
theologians. His work, Dalit Theology and Dalit Liberation: Problems,
Paradigms and Perspectives, is critical for a dialogical study with
Appalachian cultural studies. Rajkumar highlights the truth that Dalits can
look to Jesus as the model of the actualized and liberated Dalit while also
seeing oneself as the image of God.[92]
By gleaning from Dalit theology, hillbillies can learn how to revision the
Christ as a liberated hillbilly. Literally Jesus can be seen as a hillbilly
Christ.
Within his Dalit theological
framework, the liberation path has two distinct elements, which are liberative
social vision and identity affirmation.[93]
In these two, Dr. Rajkumar brings to light cultural symbols which can be tools
for reclaiming self-identity and determinative agency. He highlights how symbols
of Dalit religion such as the goddess Ellaiyamman and the Dalit drum,
empower Dalits to hold onto deeply cherished items without seeing oneself as
less. Claiming cultural symbols provides deep motivation for hillbillies as
they can hold onto the banjo as a symbol for resistance, identity, and
empowerment. Dr. Sathianathan Clarke, Dalit professor of theology, continues by
bringing forth a Christology of the Dalit drum and interprets Christ as the drum.[94]
Hillbillies can use the banjo, thus creating a Christology of the banjo and
proclaiming the Christ as the banjo. Also, the banjo can be used to shattered the
enslaving single-story narrative of the exclusively white hillbilly. The banjo provides a starting place for further study in
resistance, renaming, and renewing the diversity and complexity of the hillbilly.
Hillbillies
are complex as not all hillbillies are Scotch-Irish bootleggers who wear
overalls and dig coal for a living. So too,
the banjo is a complex and hard to categorize.
The banjo is the best example of an
instrument that’s forever been caught between colliding vectors of American
culture —black and white, masculine and feminine, rural and urban, among
others. The instrument served as a means of preserving and syncretizing various
African aesthetics and belief systems among African-Americans, and also served
as an emblem of cultural crossover and collaboration with Anglo-Americans; but
equally, it was used as a tool of cultural exploitation, serving as an emblem
of racist slander and stereotyping through its use in blackface minstrelsy in
particular.[95]
Dr. Rajkumar argues that liberation theology is birthed
with one’s knowledge of God in the pains of daily life.[96]
God is in the midst of the social brokenness that oppression and domination
cause. As the community suffers together, God is forming a people. Just as the
Israelites were formed into a people through their 430 years of enslavement, so
too are Dalits. The hillbilly can glee powerful wisdom from this Dalit view of
communal suffering as a tool for formation. Hillbillies can look at the historic
sufferings of the Shawnee who were pushed from the land and forced to wander
among a land that was degraded to be a hunting ground and not a home. During
this time, the Shawnee were known as wanderers, because of structures of
oppression.[97] Dr.
Rajkumar connects Dalit suffering to how the Israelites embraced Abraham as a
wandering Aramean.[98]
Dalits use the power of collective memory to reclaim the narrative. By
recalling the Exodus and Abraham’s Aramean identity, Dalits have a vital theological
resource to address issues of roots, identity and consciousness in addition to
the realities of belonging to a community.[99]
Dalit theology carves a theological path for hillbillies to look to when calling
forth collective memory as a tool for liberation.
In addition, in the Dalit reframing
of Christ, hillbillies have been provided a framework to look again at Jesus.
Hillbillies can look to Jesus of Nazareth as a source of liberating identity.
Jesus of Nazareth was one whose identity did not go without being questioned or
scandalized. Dalits see Jesus as a Dalit. This “Dalitness” is an
empowering pathway for hillbillies to see Jesus. Due to Jesus’ nature as one
with mixed ancestry, most likely he wrestled with “otherness” regarding his
identity. “Otherness” is a daily Dalit reality.[100]
Also, Dalits look to the ways Jesus was mocked for being the carpenter’s son to
combat their societal rejection.[101]
Hillbillies can see the shamed nature of Jesus as a trail for those who are
deemed to talk funny[102]
and whose family’s dynamic maybe defined more by loyalty than bloodline.[103]
All of these theological and biblical resources are ways of liberating the hillbilly
mind from an enslaving self-identity. Dr. Rajkumar sees Dalit affiliation with
the unclean man of the Gerasenes.[104]
This man appears to be mentally enslaved as evidenced in his hiding in the
tombs and not believing he is worthy of Jesus’ affectionate attention. He saw
himself as only eligible to be tormented. “The story highlights the highly
disconcerting fact that internalization of the absoluteness of the oppressor
can result in self-destructive psychological states.”[105]
The shift of seeing oneself and one’s people in those who Jesus ministers is
helpful just as seeing oneself and one’s people in Jesus himself, invigorates
self-actualization.
Not only does the suffering of Christ show companionship
and solidarity with the suffering and marginalized Dalits, also Jesus is known
as the resistive force who did not leave prejudices unchallenged. In his own
community and within his own religious circle, Jesus opposes prejudice.[106]
Jesus is the one who takes on the title of Son of Man, a commoners’ term
and uses it as his primary self-descriptor. In his inaugural message to his
hometown synagogue, Jesus uses two examples from the Old Testament, showing
that liberation includes the outsiders.[107]
Dalits can relate with Jesus radically challenging the religious power
structures of the day, calling them to repent of their oppressive ways. In
addition, Dalits see themselves as the modern version of the first century Samaritans.
Jesus is a Dalit and he breaks open the system that put the “Dalit status of
untouchability” on others such as the Samaritans and Gentiles.
Jesus totally identified with the Dalits
of his day (Mark 2:15-16). The episode of the cleansing of the temple (Mark
11:15-19) is also very significant in the Indian Dalit context where the Dalits
had to struggle for the temple entry rights. Above all, Jesus’ Dalitness is
best manifested on the cross; on the cross he was the broken, the crushed, the
bisected. It is the Son of God who feels God-forsaken. The cross thus
symbolizes the Dalitness of both divinity and humanity. The feeling of being
God-forsaken is central to Dalit experiences and also, God will manifest his
salvation through Dalits as he did through Jesus.[108]
For many Dalits,
they see their conditions as a punishment. Again, hillbillies glean an
important lesson from Dalit theologians, as hillbillies often talk about their
condition of suffering as a personal punishment for sin rather than a product
of a corrupt and sinful system. A Dalit hermeneutic can empower a new vision
for hillbillies and this is seen in the Dalit interpretation of John 9:3. Dalits
use this passage to show that “blindness” is not a punishment from God but a
pathway for God’s glory. Being a Dalit is not about sin and deserving social
dislocation, but it is about God using them to manifest God’s glory due to the
fact that they are the weaker and crushed ones of society.[109]
Dalit theology can be called, “No people’s theology” because in their
disregarded state they become God’s people.
I want to be very
mindful of the pain and tragic suffering of Dalits, while also learning from
the insights of Dalit theology. Although radically different, at times hillbillies
are disregarded by society until they are needed to be the face of poverty, a
subject of charity, or an object of romanticized yesteryear. Hillbillies must
rise up and claim their identity in Christ thus claiming their own power.
Rather than being victims of a privatized gospel that makes one’s suffering
solely a product of personal moral failings, the hillbilly must oppose this
false and enslaving narrative. Dalit theologian V. Devasahayam adds clarity when
strongly encouraging Dalits to oppose the privatized gospel and the narrative
of personal redemption and instead focus on the oppressive systems of caste,
class, and patriarchy.[110]
Hillbillies must rise up as a people and claim the power for a movement of
transformation. Dalit theologian J. Susaimanickam claims that God leaves room for
Job to protest so God then becomes silent. In light of the world’s suffering,
God the Father is silent so that Jesus may protest through his cross and
martyrdom. In the silence, the hollering theologian rails against the injustice
on behalf of oppressed hillbillies.[111]
Pain and suffering
are a critical piece of the narrative and identity of the Dalits, as well as Jesus.
Death also plays a fundamental role. With oppressive structures come death and
lower life expectancy rates. Death is often lurking near the Dalit, yet Dalit
theology provides a voice of resistance to the forces of death. By looking to
the Dalit theologian, hollering theologians find a symbol for communal
resistance and empowerment. In the tomb of Jesus both the crucified Christ and
the suffering coal miner can be found. The miner is one who is buried temporarily
in the ground as a dark place of suffering and death who seeks to bring
redemption for those they love. The tomb is also a place of miraculous
resurrection. As Jesus lives again so too can the mines launch computer
programming through companies like Bit Source.[112] Mines
can also produce plentiful and lifegiving vegetables which is happening with App Harvest.[113] These
empty “mines are the sacred wombs of the earth” and can birth to new possibilities.[114] The
hillbilly miner, just like Christ, has sacrificially given one’s life for the
empowerment of the nation as they both defy death in the dark narrow
underground world. Together Dalits and the Christ strike up a creative resiliency
which inspires the drive for hillbillies to know internal freedom of consciousness
and God shaped self-image.[115]
In light of
hillbilly suffering, the hollering theologian must sit with the larger question
of God’s involvement in the region. Where is God in Appalachian suffering?
Where is God in the story of Appalachia? Although one cannot conclusively
answer these theological questions, the development of hollering theology
through this project seeks to provide a theological basis for hillbilly
liberation.
As we return to
the front porch imagery, the conversation with liberation theologian Leonardo
Boff gives the hollering theologian tools to see God’s hope and freedom in a
hurting culture. With the help of Father Ignacio Ellacuria, the hollering
theologian is given a vision of a Christian university that lives out the
mission of empowerment while also acts in historical ways to confront
oppression. Dalit theology comes along to help the hillbilly see one’s self as
the beloved of God who is partner with a Dalit Christ.
The
task of hollering theology is beautiful work because it is fueled with a vision
for a kingdom of hollers where there is no suffering due to early death, crying
from closed down mines, or pain of addiction. In this theology, God is known as
a gracious and hardworking Father who is in the midst of the family, working
out hope and help. Yet God is also suffering with the hillbilly in the process
of moving from hellish Harlan to Heaven on earth. Appalachian Christian
universities must work with and for the silenced majority of the mountain
people. To do so, it is imperative to hear the challenge of Dalit theology for
Appalachian society and look again at the Hillbilly Christ.
[2]
Leonardo Boff, Introduction to Liberation
Theology, Orbis, 1987, 3.
[3]
Ibid., 28.
[4]
Ibid., 46.
[9]
Ibid., 45.
[13]
Ibid., 85.
[18]
Ibid., 197.
[23]
Ibid., 55.
[33]
Teresa Whitfield, Paying the Price: Ignacio Ellacuria and the Murdered
Jesuits of El Salvador, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995, 204.
[34]
William Hogue, “The ideal of a Radical Christian Intellectual,” Religions,
14 September 2018, Accessed December 17, 2020,
www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/9/277/pdf
[36]
“Ignacio Ellacuria,” Ignatian Spirituality, Accessed December 16, 2020, https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/20th-century-ignatian-voices/ignacio-ellacuria-sj-1930-1989/
[42]
Ibid., 34.
[43]
Ibid., 84.
[45] Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology
of Liberation,” Vatican, 1984, accessed December 16, 2020, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html
[46] Ellacuria,
Freedom Made Flesh, 158.
[50]
Ibid., 134.
[53]
Ibid., 171.
[55]
Ibid., 243
[56] Jon Sobrino, “The Martyrs of the UCA: A Community of Work
and of Blood: What they worked for and why they were killed,” November 20, 2014,
Inside Loyola, accessed December 17, 2020, http://blogs.luc.edu/ips/fr-jon-sobrino-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-the-martyrs-of-the-university-of-central-america-uca/
[57] Paul
Lakeland, “A Martyr’s Perspective,” America: The Jesuit Review Magazine,
March 12, 2014, Accessed December 17, 2020, https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2014/03/12/martyrs-perspective
[58]
Ellacuría as cited in Jon Sobrino, Companions of Jesus, Orbis, 1990, 13.
[60] Charles
Currie, “Don’t just mourn for them; imitate them,” National Catholic
Reporter, November 13, 2009, Accessed December 17, 2020, https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/don-t-just-mourn-them-imitate-them
[61]
Ellacuria as cited Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, “The
Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher
Education,” Santa Clara University, October 6, 2000, Accessed December 17,
2020, https://www.scu.edu/ic/programs/ignatian-worldview/kolvenbach/
[62]
Ellacuría as cited in Graham Hunt, "Ignacio
Ellacuría and the University: Universitariamente Bajando De La Cruz a Los
Pueblos Crucificados," All Regis University Theses, 2008, 84, Accessed
December 17, 2020, https://epublications.regis.edu/theses/495
[63] Ibid.,
80.
[76]J. Matthew Ashley, “Ignacio Ellacuría and the Spiritual
Exercises of Ignatius Loyola,” Theological Studies 61, no. 1, February 2000:
16–39, https://doi.org/10.1177/004056390006100102.
[77] Nilanjana
Das, “The Impact of The Rise of Right-Wing Politics on Dalits In India Feminism
in India,” Feminism in India, May 7, 2020, accessed December 17, 2020, https://feminisminindia.com/2020/05/07/rise-of-right-wing-politics-dalits-india/
[79] Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon, “Liberation
Hermeneutics and India’s Dalits,” The Bible and the Hermeneutics of
Liberation, eds. Alejandro F. Botta, Pablo R. Andinach, Society of Biblical
Literature, 2009. 201.
[81]
“Housing in Appalachia,” The Housing Assistance Council, December 2011,
Accessed December 17, 2020, http://www.ruralhome.org/storage/documents/cen_appalachia.pdf
[82] ‘Social
Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing,’ The National Association of
Realtors Keeping Current Matters,
Accessed March 14, 2021, https://www.keepingcurrentmatters.com/2017/02/09/the-impact-of-homeownership-on-educational-achievement/#:~:text=Children%20of%20homeowners%20tend%20to,reading%20and%20fewer%20behavioral%20problems.&text=The%20average%20child%20of%20homeowners,a%20higher%20level%20of%20earnings
[84] Melanchthon,
200.
[86]
Niels Henrik Gregersen, The Gift of Grace: The Future of Lutheran Theology, Fortress,
2005, 55.
[89] Victor
Royce, “Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: Liberation of a Dalit,” Asia Journal
of Theology October, vol. 30(2), 162.
[90] Arvind
P. Nirmal, “Toward a Christian Dalit Theology,” An Eerdmans Reader in
Contemporary Political Theology, Craig Hovey, Jeffrey W. Bailey, William T.
Cavanaugh, eds., Eerdmans, 2011, 543.
[91] John
C.B. Webster, “Who is a Dalit?” Dalits In Modern India: Vision and Values,
S.M. Michael, ed., Los Angeles: Sage, 2007, 79.
[92] Peniel
Rajkumar, “Answering Some Questions —The Why, What and How of Dalit Theology,” Dalit
Theology and Dalit Liberation, Routledge, 2010, 40.
[95] Jason
Lee Oakes, “The Banjo at the Crossroads,” Smithsonian: Year of Music Object of the Day, August
27, 2019, Accessed December 17, 2020, https://music.si.edu/story/banjo-crossroads-smithsonian-year-music-object-day-august-27
[97] “The
Shawnee Indian Tribe,” Legends of America, Accessed December 17, 2020, https://www.legendsofamerica.com/shawnee-indians/#:~:text=The
percent20Shawnee percent20are percent20an percent20Algonquian,have
percent20numbered percent20about percent2010 percent2C000 percent20people.
[98]
Deuteronomy 26.
[104]
Mark 5:1-20.
[108] Aleaz,
148.
[110] Hebden,
137.
[111]
Ibid., 152.
[112]
Erica Peterson, “From Coal to Code: A New Path for Laid-Off Miners in
Kentucky,” May 6, 2016, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Accessed December 17, 2020, https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/05/06/477033781/from-coal-to-code-a-new-path-for-laid-off-miners-in-kentucky
[113]
Christopher Marquis, “AppHarvest’s Mega-Indoor Farm Offers Economic
Alternative to Coal Mining for Appalachia,” Forbes, Dec 15, 2020,
Accessed December 17, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/christophermarquis/2020/12/15/appharvests-mega-indoor-farm-offers-economic-alternative-to-coal-mining-for-appalachia/?sh=673b034348e8
[115] Aleaz,
156.
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