justin dametz
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Theology, Graduate Student
- Justin DaMetz is a Masters student at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, in the area of Theology and Ethics. Justin's primary interests are in the areas of post-liberal, open and relational, and liberation theologies, specifically... moreJustin DaMetz is a Masters student at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, in the area of Theology and Ethics. Justin's primary interests are in the areas of post-liberal, open and relational, and liberation theologies, specifically the works of Jurgen Moltmann and Stanley Hauerwas. His primary research work currently focuses on formulating a theology of liberation for rural, white working class communities.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In The Politics of Jesus, Miguel De La Torre dismisses the promise of hope, positing a "theology of hopelessness" that declares hopes to be "a class privilege experienced by those protected from the realities of [Good] Friday or the opium... more
In The Politics of Jesus, Miguel De La Torre dismisses the promise of hope, positing a "theology of hopelessness" that declares hopes to be "a class privilege experienced by those protected from the realities of [Good] Friday or the opium that is used to numb that same reality until Sunday rolls around." This seems reasonable in light of everything said above, especially when one considers that De La Torre wrote those words more than two years ago, long before Donald Trump and the Alt-Right had barely entered the political consciousness of the United States and the world. However, in this paper, I posit that other Latinx scholars and theologians – specifically (but certainly not exclusively), Justo Gonzalez and Nancy Pineda-Madrid – provide the groundworks for a Latinx theology that also accounts for the suffering and death present in the world, while leaving open the possibility of eschatological hope.
In the end, I bring this together in what I call a theology of eschatologically-hopeful pessimism: a theology that holds deep pessimism about the future of world political and social structures as we know them at the same time as retaining hope about the ultimate aim of God in the world – that of a reconciled humanity, made whole. In doing this, I draw on the powerful work of the Latinx scholars listed above, centering their words about suffering and hope as an acknowledgement of the robust and vibrant Latinx culture in the United States and its ability to speak with more moral force than the deeply compromised white Protestant culture out of which I myself arrive. I also draw on process theology to provide some powerful concepts about God and Creation in constructing this tentative theology of hopeful pessimism.
In the end, I bring this together in what I call a theology of eschatologically-hopeful pessimism: a theology that holds deep pessimism about the future of world political and social structures as we know them at the same time as retaining hope about the ultimate aim of God in the world – that of a reconciled humanity, made whole. In doing this, I draw on the powerful work of the Latinx scholars listed above, centering their words about suffering and hope as an acknowledgement of the robust and vibrant Latinx culture in the United States and its ability to speak with more moral force than the deeply compromised white Protestant culture out of which I myself arrive. I also draw on process theology to provide some powerful concepts about God and Creation in constructing this tentative theology of hopeful pessimism.