Gustavo Gutierrez and a critical discussion for the position of liberation theology.
In this essay I am going to be using Gustavo Guitierrez and is work in liberation theology. I will be looking at the history of lib theology its place in a social context and the critism of it by its oponants.
If we begin by looking at the origins of the liberation theology we find that there is a long tradition of men from the latin america church who have spoken out about the postion of the church in relation to the treatment of the people part of the poorest areas. During the 1950's and 1960's Latin America saw rapid development in the industrial sector and created a much wealthier middle class. One of the negative results of this development was the marginalisation of the rural populus and the consquencial influx of peasants into the urban areas. Although this influx provided a cheap workforce for the growing industrial sector the infrastructed to give adequate standard of living was lacking. The influence of foreign business investment created an agreeable government system which used miltary force to protect it's business interest and foreign investment. Boff writes in his book "Introducing Liberation Theology".
"In this context the socialist revolution in Cuba stood out as an alternative leading to the dissolution of the chief cause of underdevelopment: dependence. Pockets of armed uprising appeared in many countries, aimed at overthrowing the ruling powers and installing socialist-inspired regimes. There was a great stirring for change among the popular sections of society, a truly prerevolutionary atmosphere."(Boff.1987.)
Inbetween these two opposing forces the the latin american churches at the beginning of the 1960's starting to engage with the missional doctrine in a new way. Catholic Bishop having been critised for the growing secularisation of the population and the influence of the protanstant missionaries, began to address these issues. One of the main problems was the starce numbers of those in the clergy that were providing a service of care to those in the poorer demographics and the elavated standard of living of those in the church. (Hillar.1993).
In 1962 and 1965 the documents of the second vatican council Latin american Bishops stated that social economic development for everyone was an imparetive. This lead to the freedom of the bishops to impliment actions in order to deal with the growing problems.
Lectures given by Gustavo Gutiérrez in Montreal in 1967 and at Chimbote in Peru on the poverty of the Third World and the challenge it posed to the development of a pastoral strategy of liberation were a further powerful impetus toward a theology of liberation. Its outlines were first put forward at the theological congress at Cartigny, Switzerland, in 1969: "Toward a Theology of Liberation." (Boff,1987.)
This new theology of Liberation challenged the more traditional theology in that the dogma and abstract concepts became less relevant. The focus of the issues that were immediate in the present world became the centeral point in which the gospel message was to be interpreted. This concern became about how Christianity played its role in striving for a more just world. Gustavo Guitierrez describe this as a "critical reflection of praxis in light of the word of God". This is seeing the application of the gospel and its effects of those subject to it. The basic principles of the theology are freedom from oppresion of any kind and that Christian communities must not be subject to a authoritive imposition either. This enable those who are poor to speak out against the church.The theological expression of liberation is expressed by the freedom and liberation from sin. The manifestation of which is in the negative experience of those in society. Guitierrez and many other catholic priest understood from working with the poor of the fundamental obsticle in that of the traditional theology in the church.There was a belief of "God's will" and that the present distribution of wealth was in accordance to that.
"Peasant society indoctrinated this way tended to internalize a fixed and even fatalistic view of the universe with symbols and rationalizations"(Hilar.1993.)
Guitierrez had a redefinition within liberation theology of salvation. In the past salvation had been a concern of numbers, how many people were saved.Guitierrez saw that the link between liberation and salvation was the reforming of the church to play an active role.In order for the church to actively be able to make change it must create a new relationship with politics.
"Gutierrez wants the Church not to take over politics, but to “de-privatize” religion and become an “institution of social criticism”.24 While traditional approach to politics stresses a peaceful coexistence of privatized faith and a secularized world,literally giving to Caesar what is Caesar‟s,Gutierrez‟s vision of political Jesus is different".(Chalupníček.2010.).
Chalupnicek raises the point that Jesus was more concerned with the individual than with the political system because of the expecten end times. From this Chalupnicek shows how Gutierrez acknowledges this and demonstrates that the restructuring of this message is that the gospel should be viewed in the light of the poor. That all are made in the image of God and that any oppression is an act against God. Another view of this is that poverty is like "spiritual childhood" making the distinction between that of spiritual poverty and that of material poverty.Gutierrez warns against of material poverty saying that it would cause a "Canonization" of a social class. (Chalupnicek.2010).
Critism of liberation theology has come from it's revolutionary nature. In two documents Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith the claim that Liberation theology does nothing to bring a solution to the problem of intolerable poverty in many countries. But Instead makes matter worse by radicalising the masses.
"In the theological literature one can find frequent references and allusions to Marxism and Marx, in the social and economical analysis. It does not mean the acceptance of marxism, and especially, of course, the concept of life, its philosophy to the exclusion of the Christian faith. Some go so far as to affirm that there is no systematic theology in North America today without the analysis of Marx"(Hillar.1993.)
This is said by the opponants of liberation theology to create a false view of reality for the poor in which the framework of marxism using Christian terms over simplfies the circumstances in which the problems arises from.Again we begin to see the resistance from the traditional views from the Catholic church saying that it is only God that cause an end to suffering. Their position that human action decreases the role of God shows a passivity to the causes of suffering. Gutierrez position that human have free will and that reform of the church would put the power back in the hands of the people but that they should be lead by the holy spirit put his position in a place that is as difficult to negotiate from as that of the Catholic church and their stance. The cause of oppressive structures being set up by the actions of people and the difficulty in them being removed. The contridiction of the position of the Catholic church is that by evangelizing and bringing more people to Christ that this problem would be solved.
Oppressive structures do exist, but the causality of their creation is quite opposite to
what liberation theologians say: they “are the result of man‟s actions and so are
consequences more than causes. The root of evil, then, lies in free and responsible
persons who have to be converted by the grace of Jesus Christ”.Calls for revolutions
should therefore be replaced by calls for conversion. (Chalupnicek.2010).
If we look at the current situation we begin to see that not only has the same issues of the 1960's latin america which birthed liberation theology are now more widespread across the world. The gap between rich and poor has caused a ever shrinking middle class the population is becoming ever more polerised.There have been many improvements the collapse of the authoritarian socialism of the Eastern European countries. These fundementaly did not have a respect for human rights. Market economics are unable to work within the contraints of social and economic equality. The raw materials produced by countries in latin america has created a burden of debt in which the poor are unable to escape.From the perspective of liberation theology the issues raised of oppressed people also uncovered the discrimnation of women something that was overlooked. The critical reflecltion of theology demonstrates that the affirmation of life is a basic human right. Not only is poverty about the material but also what it does to a persons character.(Rowland.1999).
"At around the middle of the twentieth century, a number of develop-ments helped to revive and to relaunch the theme of poverty within the universal Church. There was a demand for a radical and authentic witness of poverty arising from new religious communities. This came from among those concerned with the growing estrangement from faith evident among the labour movement, in the development of the social teaching of the Church and in some spiritual and pastoral tendencies, especially in Europe.This concern was categorically and prophetically expressed by Pope John XXIII at the Vatican Council: in the call for the Church to become the Church of all, and in particular the Church of the poor"(Rowland.1999).
A big challenge to that of liberation theology is that due to the collapse of soviet block and marxist view from the social science.There needs to be a revaluation of liberation theology in order serperate the core values from that of marxism.New socio-political ideologies need to be incorporated so that a more up to date system can be used to allow for the change in circumstances.
"No doubt this reads like a social manifesto! Jesus himself lived like a poor, in real material poverty, not a spiritual one. His criterion of a just life was practical material aid for one's neighbor! Jesus made enemies by denouncing the organized and ritualized religion of his time that was not committed to the love of one's neighbor. He was executed by the order of the Church authority that felt threatened in its organization and power. The New Testamental communities of the faithful are seen as the first "comunidades de base". How revealing this reading of the Bible is in the light of the fact that the Catholic Church also felt that its power was threatened by the base communities and objected to that aspect of the theology of liberation"(Hilber.1993.)
nism) to be faithful to the God of Jesus Christ.These two languages try to communicate the gift of the Kingdom of God revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the heart of the message that we go on rediscovering from our own reality. It is this that brings us together as a community, as a Church, within which we try to think through our faith. Theology is done in a Church which must provide in human history the testimony to a life victorious over death. To be a witness to the resurrection means choosing life, life in all its forms, since nothing escapes the universality of the Kingdom of God. This testimony of life (material and spiritual life, personal and social life, life present and future) assumes particular importance in a continent charac-terised by premature and unjust death, and also by the struggle for free-dom from oppression. This reality of death and sin is a negation of the resurrection. For this reason, the witness of the resurrection is he who can always ask ironically (according to Scripture) ‘Death, where is yourvictory?’(Rowland.1999).
bibliography.
C.Rowland.1999.iTHE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO LIBERATION THEOLOGY.University of Oxford.
M.Hillar.1993.LIBERATION THEOLOGY: RELIGIOUS RESPONSE TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS.American Humanist Association, Houston.
C.Boff.1987.Introducing Liberation Theology.Orbis Book.
