Liberation theology adapts & endures:

...Juan Luis Segundo has always used Marxism quite selectively, balanced with theories from a large array of other social theorists...

...Liberation theologians speak of the "poor" of Latin America, with a special emphasis on landless peasants and those left marginalized and excluded from real participation in the economic-political life of Latin America...

...In theology itself, liberation theology has turned increasingly to Jesus...

...present-day liberation theologians reflect upon and give strong affirmation to ecclesial base communities...

...The new political context in many parts of Latin America has led liberation theologians to talk about building a "participatory democracy" from within civil society...

...A danger exists, certainly, that any self-criticism may be used by opponents to put down liberation theology or to give the appearance of dissension and division...

...A distinction, nevertheless, should still be made between liberation theology as such and liberation movements...

...Even the critics of Leonardo Boff do not accuse him of Marxism...

...Certainly developments that do occur will come from within the movement of liberation theology and not from outside observers...

...Movements cut off from support of the church are unlikely to have great impact...

...Some critics of liberation theology concentrate almost entirely on the social analysis and economic-political views they find in liberation theology...

...theologian J. J. Moeller credits liberation theology with some important contributions to theological method...

...Vatican criticisms have undoubtedly made liberation theology more cautious, but the goal of creating a truly "integral" liberation theology proceeds from a deeper conviction than a simple political need for accommodation...

...Priorities about maintaining orthodoxy and reasserting church authority appear to outweigh social concerns...

...As noted earlier, very few recent works in liberation theology contain any extended treatment of social analysis, and whatever judgment one makes about the validity or weakness of social analysis in liberation theology, its broadly stated, politico-economic options appear to have very little impact on macroplans in Latin American countries...

...Nearly all the criticisms focus on the dangers of using Marxist ideas or espousing socialism...

...Where the institutional church has responded to the concerns of liberation theology, it has gained respect from the youth of Latin America...

...The institutional church itself has accepted many of the most important points in liberation theology...

...It has listened to the cry of the poor, emphasizing that only by insertion into real conditions of oppression and suffering can theology be credible and the Gospel realized...

...Some liberation theologians have incorporated elements of social analysis used by activist groups...

...But healthy, supportive criticism could enhance the vitality of liberation theology and gain for it greater support...

...Its first formulations often mirrored attitudes prevalent in the late 1960s and early 1970s...

...More recent works in liberation theology contain very little social analysis, even of a macro kind...

...The initial impulse of liberation theology came from a new Christian awareness of the sufferings of the poor and a conviction that God remains present and active in the struggles of the poor to liberate themselves...

...European theology appears to have lost much of the vitality so evident in the epoch of Rahner, Congar, Schillebeeckx, Moltmann, and the generation of theologians who combined new biblical exegesis with the "rediscovery" of the humanity of Jesus...

...On the other hand, doing creative theology from one basic paradigm (challenging and deideologizing older interpretations of Christianity and gaining new insights from the perspective of the poor) may reach a limit...

...Still other critics of the theology of liberation, critics like John Meier, question the soundness of biblical scholarship used in some liberation works...

...Most are already spread thin trying to meet requests from a multitude of sources...

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...Liberation theologians use some elements of Marxist analysis because they see it as the principal method of critiquing capitalism (which they believe is the major cause of Latin America's problems) and because some of its ideas help to generate insights about the situation of Latin America...

...Even this initial period, however, did not simply represent a "Marxist phase...

...Liberation theology and the base community movement had parallel but distinct histories of development...

...Liberation theologians have also modified their politico-economic views in recent years...

...The Vatican instructions acknowledged "liberation" as a valid and even essential theme of Christian revelation...

...Liberation theology thus called for revolutionary change...

...capitalism became for many the single cause and catch-all explanation for the misery in Latin America...

...This trend in the hierarchy, combined with the worsening of economic conditions in most Latin American countries, does not presage a very promising future for the hopes expressed in liberation theology...

...But Latin American governments have proved all too adept at impeding or co-opting such movements...

...On the level of social analysis the global "dependent capitalism" critique has limited usefulness in developing a realistic "praxis" for social change...

...These political concerns, moreover, prompt most of the criticisms of liberation theology as a whole...

...The bishops at Puebla clearly affirmed a "preferential option for the poor...

...In principle at least, the institutional church has recognized the dignity of the poor and accepted the value most central to liberation theology: namely, that the poor should become active, participatory agents in shaping their own destinies...

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...LIBERATION THEOLOGY ADAPTS & ENDURES AND KEEPS A PERSPECTIVE FROM BELOW ARTHUR F. McGOVERN iberation theology has proven itself far more than the "passing fad" some early critics believed it would be...

...One might still question the adequacy of liberation theology's identification of capitalism as the principal source of Latin America's problems...

...A repetition of such a statement by a group of bishops would be almost inconceivable in contemporary Latin America...

...I would hope that more specific analyses would develop with a view to formulation of concrete strategies on specific issues like land reform, but also to make popular Christian movements more politically effective at a national level...

...Otto Maduro's reflections on its use of Marxism appear quite accurate: liberation theology "borrows" from Marxist analysis but criticizes too many aspects of Marxism to consider it a guiding force of analysis...

...Without any writings of liberation theology, radical Christian groups would still have formed in the 1960s and 1970s...

...Liberation theologians and the popular movements they support need to move beyond identifying the causes of poverty and underdevelopment and give more attention to how the poor can become more effective agents of social change...

...The difficulties under which liberation theologians work may also greatly constrict what they can achieve...

...A new student poll in 1978 showed a striking change, with three-fourths of the students declaring themselves "believers" and favorable to the church...

...On a theological level, the output of books on liberation theology continues to be impressive...

...Liberation theology has expanded into many new areas of theology...

...Theological reflection might also focus on the sources of strength that enable the poor to survive and even to celebrate despite the odds they face...

...Attitudes and decisions in the institutional church will greatly affect the future of both liberation theology and the base communities...

...They do not focus on the industrial "proletariat" that Marxists have viewed as the bearer of emancipation...

...Other critics focus on theology proper in liberation theology...

...Leonardo Boff and Juan Luis Segundo have been prolific in their output of works...

...U.S...

...Since Pope John Paul II came to office, he has replaced progressives with conservatives in nine of Brazil's thirty-six archdioceses, with only three progressive bishops appointed during the same period...

...It would require incredible cynicism to perceive such works as "covers" for some political purpose...

...Socialism no longer remains an unqualified paradigm for liberation aspirations...

...It recognizes especially the suffering and cross of Jesus, not with a traditional message of "accepting sufferings as part of one's lot in life," but as part of a painful process of struggle leading to hope, resurrection, and liberation...

...they have limited resources and only so much energy to give...

...Both liberation theology and the liberation movements (ranging from Christians who opted to join guerrilla groups, through activist groups like the Christians for Socialism, to very diverse groups of Christian base communities) grew out of the same historical context, but they had different origins and have different identities...

...Its emphasis on spirituality has been especially prominent...

...Women theologians could further enrich the movement...

...Liberation theology strives to keep alive the hopes embodied in Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God, so that one day the great hope expressed in the Book of Revelation may be celebrated: "See, I am making all things new" (Rev...

...To be ultimately successful, however, liberation work with the poor does require support from the institutional church (though church efforts alone will not decide the outcome...

...Some criticisms on this score appear valid, but do not take sufficiently into account liberation theology's principal concern to stress certain aspects of the Gospel that theology through the ages has downplayed or neglected...

...Some dozen or more books have been published in a projected 50-volume series out of Petropolis (and scheduled also for translation into English...

...In Chile, the Christians for Socialism movement, Chilean theologians like Pablo Richard and Diego Irarrazal, the Brazilian Hugo Assmann and others were swept up by Marxist ideas and translated the "will of God" into socialist aspirations...

...The initial importance given to the exodus as a biblical theme captured the sense of a dramatic breakaway from oppression into a new world of liberation...

...In Brazil, in the early 1960s, two-thirds of university students polled in Rio de Janeiro considered themselves unbelievers and viewed the church as "on the side of injustice...

...If the political involvement of the church remains controversial, the church has in practice devoted much greater pastoral efforts toward the poor than it did in ages past...

...Others see it as a challenge to church authority and as going beyond "official teachings" of the church...

...Some rays of hope, nevertheless, continue to break through...

...Catholic Press Association awarded prizes in 1988 to Leonardo Boff's Passion of Christ, Jorge Pixley's On Exodus, and Gutierrez's On Job as the outstanding books of the previous year in the categories of spirituality and biblical study, respectively...

...In Latin America, the developments in theology and in social movements cannot be separated entirely...

...ny assessment of liberation theology should also take into account the changes and developments it has undergone since its inception more than twenty years ago...

...It has shown the contribution that praxis can make to theology...

...These years were, in Gustavo Gutierrez's words, a time of great "revolutionary ferment...

...A few critics, like Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, direct their criticisms at both the social analysis and theology proper of liberation theology, but in doing so sometimes "read into" it much more than is actually stated...

...Liberation theology makes use of Marxist concepts but these concepts do not retain the same meanings they have in classic Marxism...

...new theologians are needed to carry forward the tradition...

...In a very real way it has made visible the sign that Jesus gave to the disciples of John the Baptist: "The poor have the good news preached to them...

...Christian activist groups and liberation theologians often worked together...

...It would require more intuitive and prescient capabilities than I possess to predict the future course that liberation theology will take or the political and religious impact it may have in years to come...

...The new head of the bishops conference in Peru, Bishop Ricardo Durand, is one of the fiercest critics of liberation theology...

...To complement development of strategies for social change, liberation theology could also serve the poor and pastoral agents by developing explicit ethical norms that could guide in evaluating what "means" are appropriate to Christian change and what means are not...

...The people are called to shape their own destiny...

...To construct a just society in Latin America and in Peru signifies liberation from the present situation of dependency, oppression, and exploitation in which the great majority of our people live...

...What liberation theology has already achieved is of great significance...

...Even then, however, theologians like Gutierrez, Jose Comblin, and Segundo Galilea distanced themselves from Marxist options and warned against christianizing any revolutionary ideology...

...Many must work under threats from the government and opposition from church authorities...

...In principle, as we noted above, the institutional church has stated an option for the poor and acknowledged liberation-including socio-political transformations-as important parts of the church's mission...

...Liberation theologians argued from the outset for a "contextual" theology that would reflect the culture and conditions of Latin America and not assume traditional European theology as the universal and unchanging theology of Christianity...

...The diocese of Recife and Olinda, for years one of the most progressive dioceses in Brazil, now has a conservative bishop...

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...Both supporters and critics alike tend to overestimate its political influence...

...Dependency theory, in its strong form, placed the blame for underdevelopment on advanced countries of the North...

...Almost all the works they cite date back to the 1970s, and works in theology are often lumped together with statements by the Christians for Socialism and other activist groups...

...Aspirations for a dramatic change and liberation of the poor influenced the social analysis first used...

...The Peruvian bishops, who a dozen years later would wrestle with a decision about condemning liberation theology, wrote a pastoral letter in 1971 calling for revolutionary change...

...If many bishops still try to restrain their clergy and religious from political involvement, they are quite unlikely to voice the unquestioned support for the status quo that once characterized much Christian teaching...

...Part of the development of strategies of social change might include, in reflecting on the experiences of the poor, a greater articulation of the values and specific aspirations of the poor (over and above the ultimate goal of liberation...

...Even Cardinal Lopez Trujillo rates concern for the poor the second most important priority for the church in Colombia, and he takes great pride in the forty new parishes created in poor barrios in five years...

...Liberation theology, says Moeller, has shown the need for theology to consider the role that socioeconomic conditions play in shaping culture and theology itself...

...Some would certainly criticize the openness of many liberation theologians to collaboration with Marxists...

...Even many in the hierarchy, however, expressed themselves in similar language...

...Praxis" connotes the living out of the Christian faith, not Marxist tactics of change...

...Socialism represented the hope for change...

...It has brought pride to the church in Latin America and made theology a subject of vital interest...

...Enthusiasm still runs high...

...The bishop of Cusco has dismantled social centers once looked upon as models of work for change...

...But liberation theology clearly makes "critical" use of Marxist ideas...

...As liberation theology moves toward the start of a new century, I would like to see innovations along several lines...

...Some target it as just one more expression of a modernist European theology, which they see as undermining the true, traditional faith...

...Some quarrels with the Vatican remain over issues of orthodoxy, but most liberation theologians have consciously attempted to keep their theological views consistent with the central tenets of the Christian faith, and some have reformulated their views to avoid any conflict with church doctrines...

...Popular movements" may indeed play a far more significant role in the future, pressing for social changes on a broader national level...

...Marxism did serve as a "tool" to challenge long-dominant ideologies that claimed to explain underdevelopment as "backwardness," and it pointed to "exploitation" of the poor as the true cause...

...The bishops in Brazil actively fought for human rights and in defense of the poor in the late 1960s and 1970s...

...It relies less on Exodus and Old Testament sources...

...The message of liberation theology and the development of base communities, on the other hand, have already made it possible for many poor to experience a new sense of dignity, a new awareness of God's special love for them, and an ability to work in COMING Commonweal's 65th Anniversary Issue NOVEMBER 17 solidarity to achieve significant social goals at community levels...

...Many critics, nevertheless, continue to define liberation theology by the statements of social analysis found in its earliest writings, linking these statements with radical groups from the early 1970s...

...But liberation theology itself has reflected changing conditions in Latin America...

...Certainly many Christians in the U.S...

...This means that the people ought to have a real and direct participation in a revolutionary action against oppressive structures and attitudes and for a just society for all...

...and Europe became politically involved in the sometimes radical movements of the 1960s without any input from liberation theology...

...Jon Sobrino does little social analysis, and what he does express does not reflect Marxism...

...It has challenged us to rethink the ways in which we understand and live out our faith...

...It has profoundly affected the life of the church in Latin America...

...In fact, groups did form in Brazil, Chile, and in Central America before the first works of liberation theology appeared...

...It has drawn the attention of the church and of many persons in various parts of the world, to the sufferings of the poor in Latin America...

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...But above all the remarkable capacity of so many of the poor in Latin America to keep going and even to celebrate life, joined with the continued dedication and vitality of many who work with the poor, testify that hope remains very much alive in Latin America despite disheartening conditions...

...One can only hope that the church's option for the poor will, in time, override other concerns and prove a positive force for change...

...In Chile, the defeat of General Pinochet in a referendum election gave new hope for democracy...

...The liberation theologians prominent a decade or more ago remain the key figures in liberation theology today...

...Class struggle" expresses the reality of social conflict in Latin America, not a program to stir up hatred or to eliminate some ruling class...

...Social analysis and solutions thus were repeatedly stated in broad, global terms of ultimate causes and ultimate aspirations...

...In a pastoral letter of 1915, the bishops of Brazil instructed their priests to "inculcate the spirit of obedience and submission to those who govern in civil society, in religion, and in the family...to lead the faithful to accept their proper situation and the conditions in which they were born and not to hate the modest and difficult life in which Providence has placed them...

...Moreover, leaders in such movements may well become targets of government repression and even of elimination, if government officials see that they have no support from the institutional church...

...In practice, however, an apparent trend in the appointment of new bishops raises doubts about the church's role in any new social transformations...

...The United States shows no sign as yet of developing policies that go much beyond measures to make sure that "communism" does not spread...

...In 1988, reports from Bolivia and Guatemala spoke of the reawakening of social concern within the church, with bishops in those countries becoming more outspoken on social issues...

...Theology has "come alive" and become a topic of serious interest...

...Liberation theology has matured sufficiently to include greater internal self-criticism...

...Peru, I am told, now has seven Opus Dei bishops...