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PREFACE

Ever since the World Student Christian Federation adopted "Christian Witness in the Struggle for Liberation" as the theme of its life and work, much effort has been concentrated not only in documenting but also in sharing reflections on various areas and aspects of struggle around the world. Such an effort has not always been easy. For one thing, the location of "witness" in the midst of "struggle" has meant the very drastic and radical revisioning of faith and of the shape that it takes in society, and that is never easy to do or even to suggest. For another, those who are most "qualified" to reflect on what "witness" there is or there might be in he "struggle" are precisely those people who are engaged in the struggle themselves. And more often than not such people do not have the time nor the luxury to put on paper their thoughts and their concerns.

In publishing this book, two things are primary in our minds. Though they are addressed to and rooted in a particular situation, indeed, perhaps because they are so, we think that there is much in what Feliciano V. Cariño, who was General Secretary of the Federation and now Dean of the college of Arts and Sciences of Philippine Christian University, has written that expresses the honoring of our heritage and the discernment of our times which the Christian community everywhere so badly needs. We think, more specifically, that in seeking to create awareness, stir involvement and expand the parameters of Christian participation in the Philippine

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struggle, these essays provide precisely the vital ingredients of analysis and theological reflection that are so crucial in our efforts at "movement building" and "Inter-movement Exchanges" in the region, and in the wider fellowship of the Federation and the ecumenical movement.

We are grateful to Fely, as Dr. Cariño is known to so many in the Federation, for having taken the time out from his very many involvements and work to produce this book, and to the Commission on Inter-Church Aid, Refugees and World Service (CICARWS) of the World Council of Churches for providing the support for this and other programs for "Inter-movement Exchanges" of WSCF Asia/Pacific Region.

Ahn Jaewoong