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Someone, somewhere, supposedly said, “it’s not the things that we don’t know about the past that are the problem. It’s the things we know that just aren’t so.”
Engraving is another term for the “things we know that just aren’t so.” It applies to those ideas that are almost engraved on our brain, that even education doesn’t always remove. Perhaps a belief that the Earth gets warmer in the summer because it’s getting closer to the Sun; or that heavier objects really do fall faster than lighter objects.
Some engravings persist even after taking courses that teach the exact opposite of the engraving. While some claim that it takes years of advanced study to eliminate engravings, I think that may be optimistic. Engravings are powerful things.
This week Lilian Calles Barger and I discuss liberation theology, a movement arising in the 1960s … but I’ll stop there. I’m not sure that our conversation replaced the liberation theology engraving I’ve been carrying around. I have some more reflecting and studying to do about this aspect of the past. Lillian provides a thoughtful introduction, which I hope you’ll enjoy!
As you reflect on our conversation, I’d be interested to hear about engravings you might carry about this, or other, aspects of the past. Contact us here on the website or join our Facebook group, and suggest a topic for a future show!
For Further Reading
Secondary sources:
Burrow, Rufus. James H. Cone and Black Liberation Theology. Jefferson: McFarland & Co, 1994.
Smith, Christian. The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and Social Movement Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Gross, Rita M. Feminism and Religion: An Introduction. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
Primary sources:
Cone, James H. A Black Theology of Liberation. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970.
Gutiérrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1973.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. New Woman, New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation. New York: Seabury Press, 1975.