The Western world stood aghast in the wake of the factory collapse in Bangladesh, which cost the lives of over a thousand garment workers. The serious and systematic human and labour rights abuses, which mar the clothing industry, present a challenge to the church—how are we to respond? Employing Revelation 18 as a typological framework, this paper examines the role of lament (vv. 1–8) in ascribing collective responsibility and advancing collective repentance. In so doing, it seeks to determine an appropriate biblical and theological response to social sin while offering practical ministry strategies to redress the exploitation of workers in the textile industry. The paper concludes by recognising that the prophetic announcement of woe and judgement (vv. 9–24) affirms Christ’s championing of restorative justice.
BauckhamRichard, The Bible in Politics: How to Read the Bible Politically, 2nd edn (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).
4.
BierMiriam J.‘The Unique Contribution of Lamentations 4 in the Book of Lamentations: Metaphor and the Transition from Individual to Communal’, in BierM. J.BulkleyTim (eds), Spiritual Complaint: The Theology and Practice of Lament (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013), 18–33.
5.
BoaseElizabeth, ‘Blurring the Boundaries: The Rhetoric of Lament and Penitence in Isaiah 63:7–64:11’, in BierM. J.BulkleyT. (eds), Spiritual Complaint: The Theology and Practice of Lament (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013), 71–87.
6.
BrueggemannWalter, ‘The Costly Loss of Lament’. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament36 (1986): 57–71.
BrueggemannWalter, ‘Lament as Antidote to Silence’, The Living Pulpit11, no. 4 (October-December, 2002): 24–25.
9.
CarsonMarion, ‘The Harlot, the Beast and the Sex Trafficker: Reflections on some Recent Feminist Interpretations of Revelation 17–18’, Expository Times122, no. 5 (2011): 218–27.
10.
CollinsAdela Yarbro, ‘The Political Perspective of the Revelation to John’, Journal of Biblical Literature96, no. 2 (June, 1977): 241–56.
11.
de GruchyJohn W., Reconciliation: Restoring Justice (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002).
12.
DoreyAliDuffieldIan K.JulieUpton, ‘Rediscovering Lament as a Practice of the Church —Especially on Deprived Housing Estates’, Theology and Ministry8.1 (2012): 1–11.
13.
FoxvogLianaGearhartJudyMaherSamanthaParkerLizVanpeperstraeteBenZeldenrustIneke, Still Waiting: Six months after history’s deadliest apparel industry disaster, workers continue to fight for compensation (Amsterdam: Clean Clothes Campaign and International Labor Rights Forum, 2013).
14.
GregoryPeter F., ‘Its End is Destruction: Babylon the Great in the Book of Revelation’, Concordia Theological Quarterly73 (2009): 137–53.
15.
HaugenGary A., Good News about Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999).
16.
HayesKatherine M., ‘When None Repents, the Earth Laments: The Chorus of Lament in Jeremiah and Joe’, in BodaM. J.FalkD. K.WerlineR. A. (eds), Seeking the Favor of God: The Origins of Penitential Prayer in Second Temple Judaism, vol. 1, (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006), 119–43.
HimesKenneth R., ‘Social Sin and the Role of the Individual’, Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics (1986): 183–218.
19.
HorineSteven, ‘A Study of the Literary Genre of the Woe Oracle’, Calvary Baptist Theological Journal (1989): 74–97.
20.
JonesLogan C., ‘The Psalms of Lament and the Transformation of Sorrow’, Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling61 (2007): 47–58.
21.
KaiserWalter C.Jr., Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament: A Guide for the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003).
22.
KingMartin LutherJr., Stride Towards Freedom: The Montgomery Story (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2010).
23.
LakkisStephen, ‘“Have you any right to be angry?”: Lament as a Metric of Socio-Political and Theological Contex’, in HarastaE.BrockB. (eds), Evoking Lament: A Theological Discussion (London: T&T Clark, 2009), 168–82.
24.
LeeMichelle V., ‘A Call to Martyrdom: Function as Method and Message in Revelation’, Novum Testamentum40 (1998): 164–94.
25.
MillerArthur, The Crucible (New York: Penguin Classics, 2003).
26.
MoffatDonald P., ‘The Profit and Loss of Lament: Rethinking Aspects of the Relationship between Lament and Penitential Prayer’, in BierM. J.BulkeleyT. (eds), Spiritual Complaint: The Theology and Practice of Lament (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013), 88–101.
27.
NelsonDerek R., What’s Wrong with Sin: Sin in Individual and Social Perspective from Schleiermacher to Theories of Liberation (London: T&T Clark, 2009).
ProvanIain, ‘Foul spirits, Fornication and Finance: Revelation from an Old Testament perspective’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament64 (1996): 81–100.
30.
SanoffAlvin P., ‘One Must Not Forget’, U.S. News and World Report, October27, 1986.
31.
SchluterMichaelLeeDavid, The R Factor. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993.
32.
SpencerF. Scott, ‘2 Chronicles 28: 5–15 and the Parable of the Good Samaritan’, Westminster Theological Journal46 (1984): 317–49.
33.
SudermanW. Derek, ‘The Cost of Losing Lament for the Community of Faith: On Brueggemann, Ecclesiology, and the Social Audience of Prayer’, Journal of Theological Interpretation6 (2012): 201–218.
The Wheaton ’83 Statement, ‘Transformation: The Church in Response to Human Need’, in SamuelV.SugdenC. (eds), The Church in Response to Human Need (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987).
