Suffering, Salvation, and the Filipino: Francis Schüssler Fiorenza’s Theology of Divine Emancipatory Solidarity in the Context of Poverty and Marginalization

Francis Schüssler Fiorenza’s “emancipatory solidarity” theory is here proposed as the framework for an alternative Filipino soteriology that focuses not on the Cross as sole salvific event, but on Christ’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection in its entirety as key to human redemption in its fullness, including both the physical and spiritual dimensions. In contrast to the concept of redemption as the mere alleviation of suffering, this paper suggests an alternative interpretation of the Filipino virtue of fortitude in the face of suffering as in itself constitutive of a redemptive religious moment and experience.