Philippine E-Journals

Uncovering Christianity’s ‘Dangerous Memory’: Christians for National Liberation (CNL) and the Church’s Revolutionary Legacy

Jerry Degollacion Imbong

 

Abstract:

This paper examines how the Christian faith bifurcated from a tool of colonial rule into an armament of resistance against foreign domination. Using Johan Baptist Metz’s concept of ‘dangerous memory’ and Alain Badiou’s understanding of militancy, it explores how Christianization inspired Christians to tread the revolutionary path toward social and national liberation. It highlights contributions of Christian revolutionaries with its apex in the founding of Christians for National Liberation (CNL), thus, continuing the unfinished 1896 Revolution. By assimilating these ‘subversive memory’ into the narrative of commemoration, it hopes to rescue the revolutionary legacy of the Church from colonial prejudices, desecration, and oblivion.