[Book Chapter] An Unsettling Public Theology: The Contribution of Liberation Theology to Public Church Ecclesiology in the Capitalocene

Book Chapter: Teologi Publik yang Meresahkan - Kontribusi Teologi Pembebasan dalam Eklesiologi Gereja Publik di Era Kapitalosen

("An Unsettling Public Theology: The Contribution of Liberation Theology to Public Church Ecclesiology in the Capitalocene)

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Author(s): Edward Daniel Simamora and John Christian Simon.

Chapter Title: Teologi Publik yang Meresahkan: Kontribusi Teologi Pembebasan Dalam Eklesiologi Gereja Publik di Era Kapitalosen (An Unsettling Public Theology: The Contribution of Liberation Theology to Public Church Ecclesiology in the Capitalocene).

Book Title: Tuhan Adalah Gembalaku: Antologi Reflektif Teologis Mensyukuri 75 Tahun GPIB, Seri 2B: Bersaksi dan Melayani di Ruang Publik (The Lord is My Shepherd: A Reflective Theological Anthology Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the GPIB, Series 2B: Witness and Service in the Public Sphere), edited by Sylvana Maria Apituley and John Christianto Simon.

Publisher: BPK Gunung Mulia, Jakarta, 2025.

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Oscar Romero once asked a question that continues to haunt anyone attempting to do serious theological work today: "A church that doesn't provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed—what gospel is that?"

This piercing inquiry serves as the epigraph for a new chapter I recently co-authored with John Christian Simon. Our piece, titled "Teologi Publik yang Meresahkan: Kontribusi Teologi Pembebasan Dalam Eklesiologi Gereja Publik di Era Kapitalosen" (An Unsettling Public Theology: The Contribution of Liberation Theology to Public Church Ecclesiology in the Capitalocene), has just been published as part of a three-volume anthology by BPK Gunung Mulia.

The anthology, Tuhan Adalah Gembalaku, was commissioned to mark the 75th anniversary of the GPIB (Gereja Protestan di Indonesia bagian Barat). Institutional milestones are frequently utilized as moments for self-congratulation. However, a robust public theology demands that we use such occasions for rigorous, systemic diagnosis instead.

The premise of our chapter is straightforward but demanding: the church's witness in the public square cannot afford to be passive. We are no longer merely living in the Anthropocene; we are deep within the Capitalocene. This distinction matters. The ecological ruin and profound socioeconomic disparities we witness are not simply the result of generic "human activity"—they are the direct outputs of a system engineered for relentless capital accumulation.

To grapple with this, we turned to the frequently misunderstood tradition of Latin American Liberation Theology. For decades, theologians in that specific context utilized robust, cross-disciplinary tools—including Marxist structural analysis—to strip away the ideological cover from systems of oppression. In Indonesia, the historical fear of Communism has often created an epistemic blind spot, preventing theologians from using these necessary analytical instruments. We argue that separating the political ideology from the analytical method is crucial if we are to accurately map out and dismantle pro-violence structures, even those hiding within our most sacred spaces.

Theology, if it is to mean anything, must leave the ivory tower and touch the asphalt. It has to engage with what is happening on the ground and in the air.

In the chapter, we ground our theological reflection in the recurring transboundary haze crises that choke Southeast Asia. The geopolitical "blame game" between Indonesia and Malaysia over forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan is not just a diplomatic failure; it is a vivid demonstration of structural sin.

When indigenous communities and the urban poor are forced to breathe toxic air while industrial-capitalist paradigms prioritize unpayable extraction, the church is required to take a political stance. True reconciliation cannot occur without confronting the root cause of these interconnected crises: systemic greed. This greed drives labor exploitation, identity-based injustice, and environmental devastation alike. Consequently, an adequate public theology must learn from the spiritual intelligence of indigenous peoples, whose survival depends on the earth, rather than the consumption patterns of the industrial apparatus.

It is my hope that this piece serves less as a definitive conclusion, and more as a starting point for necessary discomfort within our ongoing theological conversations in Indonesia. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this volume alongside my colleagues.

Bibliographic Details for Citation:

Simamora, Edward Daniel, and John Christian Simon. "Teologi Publik yang Meresahkan: Kontribusi Teologi Pembebasan Dalam Eklesiologi Gereja Publik di Era Kapitalosen." In Tuhan Adalah Gembalaku: Antologi Reflektif Teologis Mensyukuri 75 Tahun GPIB, Seri 2B: Bersaksi dan Melayani di Ruang Publik, edited by Sylvana Maria Apituley and John Christianto Simon. Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia, 2025.