Power in weakness

The heart of anti-imperial theory is that liberation comes from the victims of the empire. To undermine and eradicate the empire of course requires the appropriate use of power, but in the long run, power in itself is not enough to bring about a humane and humanizing liberation. For this reason, in the Christian biblical tradition, salvation arises from the weak and the small, from the powerless: a barren old woman, a small people, a marginal Jew; even more a suffering servant, chosen by God to bring salvation.... When we think of liberation from the empire today, we have to draw on this same powerful logic of the powerless--Jon Sobrino. We see that the apostle Paul's power is brought to an end in his weakness. He embraces this weakness all the more because that's where Christ's presence is revealed in him in a very real way.