Freedom-Become-Authority

At the outset let me acknowledge that  the term "freedom-become-authority" is Freiren term used in his celebrated work The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Whether we are young or old one of the things that we find hard to accept is imposition of ideas. In other words authoritarianism. We have the inalienable right to decide for ourselves and direct our lives. At the same time our vocation to be more fully human is impossible by closing ourselves in without communion. Authoritarianism is an anti-thesis or negation of freedom and therefore we have no right to bow down to anyone who does not acknowledge our vocation as a human person capable of thinking and acting upon our own existential conditions.

Authority for us humans can only mean that we as free persons who live in communion in a society agree to give certain rights to some persons for a responsible use of all. And therefore, at the core of authority the roots of human freedom must lie. We Christians are set free by Christ's act of saving and therefore we are free beings; we do not command one another but as brothers and sisters freed by one and the same God edify and enhance the lives of everyone in the community. Freedom lies at the heart of all that we instruct and do.

Comments

anup said…
hi for freedom in the context of authority or with regard to authority the self freedom is necessary too...
February 1, 2011 at 12:17 AM
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