Choosing to Stay: Reclaiming Christianity with Liberation Theology

Interrogating, unlearning, and healing from the harmful and limiting aspects of our religious traditions is essential work, but it can be a difficult journey.

When I began the process of deconstructing my evangelical Christian upbringing, I felt alone. The foundation of my identity was crumbling beneath me, the fabric of my life had begun to unravel, and I struggled to make sense of it and move forward without companions who understood what I was experiencing or guides who had walked that path before.

Eventually, I began to meet other young people who had also been hurt or disillusioned by the church. They shared about their own journeys with faith, their struggles with the church, and their doubts, which allowed me to be honest about my own. Through these sacred friendships, I began to find my footing again—albeit on new ground.

During these years, I also stumbled across the work of James Cone, one of the founders of Black liberation theology. Reading Cone’s ground-breaking text Black Theology and Black Power (1969) floored me, and it made me realize that more prophetic and inspiring expressions of Christianity existed than what I had previously been exposed to.

As I delved into the work of Cone and other progressive Christians, I saw that it was possible to reclaim my Christian faith. While I was working to release the patriarchal, white-centric, and conservative form of Christianity I had inherited, I didn’t have to lose the beautiful aspects of the tradition that I cherished. I could still study scripture, find inspiration in the radical example of Jesus, and marvel at the mystery of the incarnation. 

In liberation theologians like Cone, I found models of what it looks like to stick with the Christian tradition and wrestle with it in a productive and meaningful way.

Another figure who became a guiding light for me was Dorothee Sölle, a German Christian mystic, life-long activist, and liberation theologian. In their respective 20th-century contexts of Jim Crow America and post-Holocaust Germany, Cone and Sölle both recognized how Christianity at large had aligned itself with the powers that be. Christianity had become a religion devoid of spirit, another tool of the empire, and a far cry from its table-flipping origins.

Yet rather than walking away from the faith, Sölle and Cone reflected critically on their social and political contexts and re-interpreted Christianity in light of them. 

Cone recognized and radically affirmed the presence of the Divine amidst the Black Power movement. In A Black Theology of Liberation, he wrote, “...liberation of the oppressed is a part of the innermost nature of God. Liberation is not an afterthought, but the essence of divine activity.” Sölle came to a similar conclusion, arguing that God is present in all efforts for liberation: “Religion does not confirm that there are hungry people in the world; it interprets the hungry to be our brethren whom we allowed to starve.” 

The theology of both Sölle and Cone likewise shares a mystical heart. In their own distinct ways, they both identify the aim of the Christian life as growing in alignment with the Divine. Through the spiritual journey, we begin to adopt God’s will as our own, which is the desire for the liberation and flourishing of all. As Cone puts it: “Authentic living according to the Spirit means that one’s will becomes God's will, one’s actions become God’s action.” Or, in Sölle’s words: “to grow into Christ is to grow into the movement for resistance.”

In the wake of deconstruction, Sölle, Cone, and many others have helped me re-construct a new spiritual and theological foundation for my life. While all spiritual journeys are ongoing and life-long, I feel deeply grateful for the teachers and guides who have come across my path and have shown me that reclaiming Christianity is possible.

I’m excited to explore this theme more deeply through Copper Beech’s upcoming course “Re-membering & Healing Christianity,” which I am co-facilitating alongside the gifted Gabriela De Golia. For others who are grappling with their relationship to Christianity, I hope this course will serve as a stepping stone upon the path of healing and be supportive of your faith journey.

In the course, we will draw on the wisdom from Cone, Sölle, and other teachers as we reflect on how we can engage with Christianity in a new way and restore our relationships with ourselves, others, and the Divine. If this resonates with you, I hope you will consider joining us! There are scholarships available for this course and all are encouraged to apply. 

Wherever you are on your spiritual journey today, I hope you may be gentle with yourself, patient with your healing and growth, and cognizant of the magic and beauty that is within and around you at all times. ❤️

Ellie Hutchison Cervantes (she/her) is a lay spiritual leader, social impact communicator, and human rights advocate. She holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and is passionate about the intersection of spirituality and social change. View Ellie's full bio here.