Ethical Prophets along the Way

Those Hall of Famers

Rufus Burrow, Rufus Burrow Jr.

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532677793
  9781532677809
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532677816
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

The Hebrew prophets of ancient Israel strove to convey God's point of view to the people and the powers at a time when injustice, deceit, malfeasance, and crushing the poor and the oppressed was prominent--much like today! The prophets spoke courageously and emphatically about God's profound and unrelenting concern and compassion for human beings. Much influenced by the theology of prophecy developed by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, this book discusses the nature, meaning, and relevance of ethical prophecy at a time when democracy--in the United States of America and elsewhere--is under vicious assault from the religious and secular right and authoritarian politicians who openly flirt with and support murderous dictators, sexism, homophobia, racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred of Muslims both in word and practice. An examination of the contributions of eight powerful personalities from the period of American slavery through the post-civil rights era--Angelina Grimke, Ida B. Wells, Abraham J. Heschel, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Romero, and Alice Walker--offers a recipe for addressing this state of affairs.

7

Óscar Romero as Ethical Prophet

According to ethical prophecy God is thoroughly and unrelentingly involved in the lives and affairs of human beings. God is not indifferent to human beings but rather is concerned about even the smallest things that happen to them. This suggests that to be a Christian or other religious person, one must be concerned about the well-being of persons both because they are human beings and because they belong to and are loved by God. The Jew or the Christian who knows what it means to be truly Jewish or truly Christian is utterly concerned about the welfare of other human beings. Heschel reminds us that “a person cannot be religious and indifferent to other human beings’ plight and suffering.”666 One cannot honestly claim to love and to revere the God of the prophets while treating God’s children like nonpersons. To be religious is to be determined to do all one can to acknowledge, defend, and otherwise uphold the dignity and preciousness of human beings.

The prophet’s primary concern and the theme of his speeches is human conduct, both interpersonal and collective. He is concerned less with issues of private or personal morality, such as drinking, than with issues of public or social morality, such as war and economic injustice. He is concerned about righteousness and nothing but righteousness. This was the fundamental business of the Hebrew prophets.667 They strove to see the world as God sees it and to convey that perspective to the people and the world. Heschel reminds us that “the prophet does not see the world from the point of view of a political theory; he is a person who sees the world from the point of view of God; he sees the world through the eyes of God.”668 The prophet wants us to see what God sees, to know that what God sees is what we can be and do if we will proceed with courage and do it.

So thoroughly does God love and so involved is God in the affairs of human beings that it is never a matter solely of God or human beings to the prophet, but of God and human beings simultaneously. The prophet’s eye is always on the contemporary scene, even as his ear is always turned toward God. He “is a person struck by the glory and presence of God, overpowered by the hand of God.”669 We saw in chapter 1 that this led Heschel to suggest that the prophet’s “true greatness is his ability to hold God and man in a single thought.”670 He cannot think about God without thinking simultaneously about human beings. Neither can the prophet think about human beings without also thinking about God. To be a Christian must mean something much more substantial than merely joining and showing up at a church building on Sunday morning. One cannot, on this view, preach or talk about God and not at the same time exhibit outrage about the tragedy that is intra-community violence and murder among young Afrikan American males. What a profound statement uttered by Heschel—that the greatness of the ethical prophet is his ability to hold God and human beings in a single thought. Very few have done this better than Óscar Romero.

Óscar Arnulfo Romero

Óscar Arnulfo Romero (1917–80) was canonized by Pope Francis on October 14, 2018. After being appointed archbishop in El Salvador Romero had only three years to do the work of prophetic ministry. After his conversion to the poor his level of faithfulness and commitment to God were exemplary. To the chagrin of the powers he fell in love with the poor and the systematically left-outs and became their most forceful, dependable voice and champion.

Óscar Romero was a theologian in the best sense of the word. He understood what many academics and clergy did not (and do not), namely, that although crushing people and denying their basic humanity and dignity is a sociological, political, and economic problem, it is in the deepest, most fundamental sense a moral and theological problem. For such mistreatment of human beings is nothing short of total disrespect and disregard for the image of God in them, as well as God, since whatever is done to human beings, especially the least of our sisters and brothers, is done also to God. More than anything else, it is the business of the church, the clergy, and theologians to speak God’s truth about such misconduct and to speak it unremittingly with passion, courage, love, and an insistence on the need to do justice.

For those who knew him, it was not surprising that Óscar Romero was not an advocate of the prophetic church in Central America when he was initially appointed archbishop of El Salvador on February 22, 1977. Prior to his appointment, many of his priests considered him to be “reactionary” at best.671 They did not trust him and did not want him as their leader. He had been “a traditional cleric, a conservative theologian, a generous but reserved pastor, a man given to regular solitary times of prayer.”672 Salvadoran priests knew that the Vatican had been in consultation with various groups—especially the wealthy upper class—in the search for a new archbishop. The wealthy class heartily gave its support to Romero’s appointment, since they believed him to be “one of theirs.”...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Setting the Stage: Contributions of Abraham J. Heschel
• Angelina Grimké as Ethical Prophet
• Ida B. Wells-Barnett as Ethical Prophet251
• James Baldwin as Ethical Prophet
• Malcolm X as Ethical Prophet
• Martin Luther King Jr. as Ethical Prophet
• Óscar Romero as Ethical Prophet
• Alice Walker as Ethical Prophet
• Afterword
• Bibliography