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

Jerry Imbong

Uncovering Christianity’s ‘Dangerous Memory’

Christians for National Liberation (CNL) and the Church’s Revolutionary Legacy

Authors

Jerry Imbong Visayas State University

Keywords:

Dangerous Memory, Revolutionary Church, Alain Badiou, Event, Christians for National Liberation (CNL)

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.

Author Biography

Jerry Imbong, Visayas State University

Jerry Degollacion Imbong is a full-time faculty member of the Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences (DLABS), Visayas State University where he teaches Social Science courses. He finished his Masters in Philosophical Research at De La Salle University (DLSU) and is presently finishing his PhD in Philosophy also at DLSU. He took courses from Maryhill School of Theology both from the GTP and ATEP programs. He is actively involved in church- based justice and peace movements working with peasants, farmers, indigenous peoples, workers, and urban poor communities. He co- authored the book “Catechism on Labor” commissioned by Church- people Workers Solidarity (CWS). As a faculty researcher, his research interests include religion and society, peace studies and conflict resolution, and Indigenous Peoples’ resistance to neoliberal globalization.

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