The Intersection: The theological place as a point of breakthrough

 

 

Paolo Cugini

Traditional theology often aspires to universality, starting from abstract metaphysical or dogmatic presuppositions. On the contrary, theology from the margins insists on contextuality. Intersection occurs when the periphery questions the center about its presumed neutrality. As Gustavo Gutiérrez states in his founding text: “Theology as a critical reflection on historical praxis in the light of faith does not replace the other functions of theology... but places them in a new perspective”. . The intersection lies in the fact that both theologies use the same sources, Scripture and Tradition, but theology from the margins changes the hermeneutic perspective. If tradition reads the text to preserve orthodoxy, the margin reads it to seek the presence of the Mystery in history, in daily experiences, especially those marked by exclusion and marginality.

Intersection is not just an encounter, it is a collision that reveals how the center is actually a margin of success that has established itself as the norm. It is not just a shift in geography, from the pulpit to the street, but in method. Theology from the margins does not simply add new themes such as poverty, gender, and ethnicity, but challenges the center's claim to objectivity. While classical theology perceives itself as an often aseptic and universal view from above, intersectional theology claims a view from below. The theological place becomes a breaking point because it transforms pain and exclusion from objects of charity into subjects of revelation. If for the center, Tradition is a repository to be safeguarded, for the margins, it is a fire to be stoked. Intersection occurs in the body: the sources are not only books, but the very flesh of history. To give just one example: reading Exodus from the center means celebrating a past liberation; reading it from the margins means identifying today's pharaohs and demanding a present liberation. The intersection, therefore, reveals that no theology is neutral; in fact, what calls itself universal often reflects only the dominant culture, that is, Western, male, and affluent. The periphery, by questioning the center, forces it to look in the mirror and recognize its own contextual limitations. Traditional theology, therefore, is like a solid wall; while the experience of the margin is the crack through which, according to the intuition of many liberation theologians, the light of Grace passes more purely, unfiltered by power.