The True Church and the Poor
O'Donovan, Leo J.
THE CHALLENGE REMAINS: LIBERATION THEOLOGY "85--II I I Reenvisioning church Yet the controversy over liberation theology in Peru has important implications beyond the future of liberation...
...He now develops his ecclesiology from an emphasis on the church as the sacrament of Christ to an emphasis on the church as the sacrament of the Spirit...
...THE CHALLENGE REMAINS: LIBERATION THEOLOGY "85--II I I Reenvisioning church Yet the controversy over liberation theology in Peru has important implications beyond the future of liberation theology in the church, and beyond the church in Peru...
...If our church is to be truly universal, if the Gospel is to be fully enculturated in each region and nation, if the church is to truly become the People of God rather than an institutional structure, then the relationship between Vatican and bishops, the responsibility of bishops for the local church, the role of theologians in the church, and the ability of the laity to participate fully in the definition of what faith is in the midst of real human life must all be painstakingly worked out...
...For Boff this alternative model is the church as the sacrament of the Spirit with charisms as its organizing principle...
...Brien, have often objected that liberation theology in its commitment to justice in the world overlooks the need for justice within the church...
...Throughout Church: Charism and Power Boff argues that liberation theology is as much a vision of the church and Catholicism as it is a vision of a new politics...
...It presupposes an equality of persons that does not exclude women from ordination...
...Christian spirituality with its belief in God's righteousness and kingdom does not withdraw from social responsibility but makes ethical and social behavior a criterion of Christian existence...
...The preferential option for the poor demands certain shifts within Roman Catholicism...
...He builds on the historical consensus worked out by Cardinal Ratzinger and others in regard to the foundation of the church...
...Boff interprets eschatology as an "inaugural eschatology" and thereby undercuts the previous interpretations of The Lord's Prayer as simply an apocalyptic expectation of the end-time...
...The sanctification of God's name implies the irreducibility of the human person...
...If one reads Boff for answers to some of these problems, one will be disappointed, for he does not focus upon his choice of political options, but rather upon the necessary changes within the church...
...His German doctoral dissertation has long been the classic study on the nature of the church as a sacrament...
...Since Jesus' mission was primarily to Israel, the foundation of the church takes place only after his death and resurrection...
...Re8 February 1985:81...
...The church is a postEaster creation of the Spirit...
...From the perspective of North America and the pluralistic situation in the United States, liberation theology does not reflect sufficiently on the pluralism of the political programs and the option for the poor, and on the need for a political ethics to mediate between Christian faith and political praxis...
...Taking up this challenge, Boff argues that liberation theology entails the formation of the church in base communities, not simply as a pastoral activity, but as the very function of theology and the center of Christian and Catholic identity...
...He stresses that God's reign has begun in Christ, awaits an eschatological completion, but its presence entails a commitment to justice for the poor...
...Such a vision of the church leads to the present theological controversy surrounding Boff's work...
...The struggle for justice and rights in the world is intertwined with the struggle for justice and rights in the church...
...In the contemporary situation the base communities exemplify within the present that structure of the formation of the church under the influence of God's Spirit...
...North American theologians, especially Richard McBoff (cont...
...Continued from page 79) helplessness...
...Boff's strength lies in his analysis of traditional theology, especially the origin and nature of the church...
...Church: Charism and Power develops as its central thesis that the liberation of the world cannot take place with out a prior liberation of the church...
...Moreover, it must be done if the church is to have a meaningful role in the social task of transforming the world in the direction of the Kingdom of God...
...It challenges the church to shake off its characteristics as an upper- and middle-class church and to acquire those characteristics attuned to the poor...
...He offers a vision of liberation theology that is at the same time a new vision of the Catholic church...
...It requires a conversion of the institutional church from a reliance on power and coercion to deal with dissent to an openness for free speech...
...This cannot be done without conflict, but perhaps the Spirit is telling us from Peru that it can be done with some degree of humility, compassion, and respect...
...And it demands an alternative model and structure of the church that overcomes the split between a teaching church and a discerning church...
...Boff draws out the systematic and practical implications of this position for the nature, formation, and structure of the church...
...It entails a shift from theology as an exposition of the deposit of the faith to theology as the discernment of the signs of the times, especially the need for justice and the presence of God's Spirit in the church's concern for liberation...
Vol. 112 • February 1985 • No. 3
