Political Theology of Johannes Baptist Metz: A step towards a theology of remembrance

The political theology of Johannes Baptist Metz, the German Catholic Church priest and theologian, is a theological response and opposition to Western culture's individualism, the privatization of religion, and the values that become exchangeable since Enlightenment to the present day. Thus, in his works, Metz, focusing on the issue of suffering, gives an interpretation of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, which considers the foundation of religion, church, and Christian faith is the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ. As a memory of suffering, he believes this dangerous memory is a unique example of human suffering. This dangerous memory demands everyone to accept responsibility for the others by remembering the suffering of the past and especially the memory of the suffering of Jesus Christ. The objective representation of the Christian faith and the practical realization of this memory is to follow and imitate Jesus Christ in solidarity with the people who suffered and oppressed. This new political theology is based on Metz's personal experience of participating in World War II and the influence of Jewish-Christian and philosophical traditions, which, with the remembering and narrating the life of Jesus Christ, has a critical-corrective approach and offers a new meaning of Christian church and faith. In a descriptive-analytical way, this article examines the nature, roots, and the various dimensions of the Christian memory in the Metz political theology.