Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Some proponents of emancipatory politics continue to hold firm to Karl Marx’s assertion that genuine emancipation from oppressive and exploitative relations requires “the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people.” On the other hand, and increasingly so in recent times, even some of the secular exponents of progressive politics have come to acknowledge the mobilizational capacities as well as the “untapped moral intuitions” (in Jürgen Habermas’s words) of public religiosity for unsettling the matrix of oppression. This paper begins by identifying Islamic liberation theology as a religious-political movement that contributes to emancipatory struggles against colonialism and imperialism, capitalism, theocratic as well as secular authoritarianism, racism, patriarchy and heteronormativity, and environmental destruction. Some of the leading figures of Islamic liberation theology (i.e. Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, Ali Shariati, Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, and Farid Esack) will be introduced, and their collective discourse will be distinguished from other major Islamic-political movements, such as Islamism and Islamic liberalism. Through a dialogical reading of Islamic liberation theology and theories of intersectionality (as articulated by leading black feminists such as Patricia Hill Collins, Audre Lorde, and bell hook), the paper then argues for a move from liberation theology to intersectional theology as a necessary development in emancipatory civic spirituality. This move, the paper contends, is not only needed to reflect our new understandings of the intersectionality of oppression and emancipation; it will also facilitate meaningful dialogue and cooperation between religious and secular agents of emancipatory projects.