Examining the position of Christian liberation theology in the Prophetic Pragmatism of Cornel West

Abstract

Cornel West considers the prophets to have two characteristics of love and courage against the devil of their time, and by naming his approach as Prophetic Pragmatism, he intends to cultivate these characteristics. He uses the tradition of pragmatism, Marxism, African-American Philosophy, and Christian liberation theology to arrive at prophetic pragmatism. In this article, using analytical-critical method, we investigate the place of Christian liberation theology in West's Prophetic Pragmatism. Due to the fact that most of the researches conducted on Prophetic Pragmatism either examine this approach in general or focus on examining the results of religious traditions in it, the evaluation of the place of Christian liberation theology has been neglected in it. The results of the present research show that social justice emerged from Christian liberating theology is opposed to the exercise of power and creates the necessity of Prophetic Pragmatism. Although liberation theology is not West's only source for Prophetic Pragmatism, it is the foundation without which this approach could not have emerged.

Keywords

• liberation theology
• prophetic pragmatism
• egalitarianism
• christianity