Toward a pedagogy of critical liberative theological consciousness: cultivating students as agents of social change

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Oliver Melton-Christian Thomas (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Leila Villaverde

Abstract: The central task of Toward a Pedagogy of Critical Liberative Theological Consciousness: Cultivating Students as Agents of Social Change is discovering pedagogical and theological wisdom for social transformation, through a dialogue with James H. Cone and Paulo Freire. Accordingly, it uncovers a deep concern with liberation, as a theological thrust countering oppressive ideologies, through curiosity, awareness, reflection, and response. I uncover this concern for liberation from dominant, oppressive ideologies by analyzing God of the Oppressed by James H. Cone and Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. I do so by utilizing critical hermeneutics, historical criticism, and critical exegesis. By way of their seminal works, God of the Oppressed and Pedagogy of the Oppressed, I engage these theorists in an imaginative dialogue so as to lay a foundation Toward a Pedagogy of Critical Liberative Theological Consciousness. As I perceive it, liberation may manifest within various aspects of pedagogical and theological activity – among them are rereading history, critical inquiry, lived experience, resistance to oppression, and scriptural interpretation. Therefore, cultivating a critical liberative theological consciousness is a process of disentangling theological and social formations that are destructive, constructing new/different ways of being in relations and transforming interpretive lenses that create hierarchies of humanity (and all of creation). I situate this study within a theological classroom, in an academic setting.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2020
Keywords
Black Liberation Theology, Critical Pedagogy, Cultural Foundations, Educational Studies, James H. Cone, Paulo Freire
Subjects
Critical pedagogy
Liberation theology
Black theology
Social justice and education

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