my brain hurts.

But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
... james 1:10-11

we are studying the God of life by gustavo gutierrez in systematic theology. the class is an entry level theology class and this is really just a single encounter with one text from a liberation theology perspective. i have for years, struggled with many of the issues that liberation theology addresses. God has shown me what is good.... what do i do? in the scope of the world (after all, i live on much more than one dollar a day), i am rich. how do i not wither, blossom and beauty destroyed, but rather contribute to the beauty and the blossoming (justice... the flourishing of all people) in the world as a whole world?

there are questions i have in general about his theology present in the text.

i do not understand how he deals with the power of God. if indeed God is present in history working on the behalf of the oppressed, why does oppression still exist? why hasn't God just struck down all who participate in injustice?

i am also not comfortable with the way he presents theology in a dichotomy. rather than a typical saved/not saved way of defining people, the dichotomy presented here is oppressed and oppressor. the world is more complex than that, and he seems to acknowledge that on occasion. for me, it seems important to be upfront that oppressions interweave. the oppressed can turn around an oppress someone else. how do we live in this tension?

regardless of my theological confusion, gutierrez challenges me to wonder, from my perspective, how do i live into God's vision of justice for the world? being in the middle class in the united states at this point (all though that socio-economic position in this country is increasingly precarious) makes me rich by the standards of the world. i can buy my food. i can and do own a home. yada yada yada.

these are life long questions. gutierrez has some hard truths for me to listen to, but that i know in my heart are true. right now, the struggle makes my head and my heart hurt.