Always a Theology of the People: Theology in the Anglophone Caribbean

Abstract

Anglophone Caribbean theology is a theology of the people, developing autonomously from the theology of the people developed by Argentine theologians. Their idea that a people’s concrete, day-to-day practice of their religious faith carries the authentic culture of a country, is an authentic source of Christian wisdom, yields true insights of God’s presence and activity in the world. This faith of the people, contextualized but not suppressed within the life of the Church overall and tapped into by its theologians, serve to evangelize a country and its people by calling a country and its people to a conversion to who they ought to be, a people of God who incarnate the Christian faith according to their unique genius, and share the fruits of the wisdom drawn from the lived experience of Christian faith by participating in the Church’s evangelizing mission. This idea finds affinity with the mission of the Caribbean theological project: cultural liberation from colonialism and neocolonialism which brings about a sense of inferiority and dependency by the people of the Caribbean toward global social and political powers. Instead, Caribbean theology seeks to build a unique Caribbean identity which fulfills the full humanity of the people of that region.