Creation in light of Liberation : Ensuring Connection between Life and Justice

The 10th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches(WCC) will be held for ten days from the 30th of October 2012 to the 8th of November in Busan, Korea under the theme, God of Life, lead us to Justice and Peace. For the first time in the history of the WCC, justice and peace have become the key words of the General Assembly. Life was chosen as a theme before (6th General Assembly in Vancouver, Canada), and Justice, Peace, and Creation: JPC have been death with since the Seoul Convention in 1990, but this is the first time that justice and peace have risen as the key words of the entire General Assembly. Now Christians in Korea, Asia, and all over the world are invited to contemplate more deeply about life, justice, and peace. It is one thing to contemplate these new ecumenical trinity agenda each and respectively; however, it is another to deal with these simultaneously and in a more integrated manner ensuring the interlocking and interpenetrating connection between them. As a matter of fact, theologians have already endeavored to ensure such connection. Indeed, one of the alarming features of the 21st Christian theology is that liberation theology and ecological theology have moved toward a point of convergence. Gustavo Gutierrez, the prominent Latin American liberation theologian, has made a crucial statement regarding the future of liberation theology: Recognizing the need to broaden our perspective on social solidarity including a respectful relationship with nature, he assured that a theology of creation and of life can provide fertile ground for ecological reflection on liberation.1