Liberation Theology at the Crossroads:
White, Robert E.
Liberation theology: lessons & limits During the nineteenth cen-tury, as Europe was undergoing a series of economic and political revolutions, the church aligned itself unambiguously on the side of...
...The history of modern Central America, for example, is in great part a search for spiritual and secular identity...
...Neoconservative critics are on the side of the angels when they attack some of the extremes of dependency theory and Marxism...
...The challenge for the church, according to Gutierrez, is no longer from the nonbeliever, but from the nonhuman, that is the man or woman "not recognized as human by the prevailing social order...
...In these countries, Beverly Hills and Calcutta exist side by side and anyone who seeks to mobilize the people peacefully and lawfully to change the inhuman conditions under which 90 percent of the people suffer is labeled a Communist and risks torture and death at the hands of the security forces...
...Instead, the neoconservatives prefer to condemn these thinkers on the grounds of Marxism and dependency theory which, as points out, are earlier attachments now largely left behind by most prominent Latin American theologians...
...Through the Latin American Bishops' Conferences at Medellin in 1968 and Puebla in 1979, the church laid down a "preferential option for the poor...
...At the centerpiece of this dialogue were the probing and creative works of men such as the Brazilian Franciscan, Leonardo Boff , and the Peruvian priest, Gustavo Gutierrez...
...Capitalism has played an important and positive role only in those countries where bankers, industrialists, and manufacturers function under the law...
...Before a country can become democratic it must first become independent...
...Leading the church into these new and only very partially charted waters were the theologians of liberation...
...The enlightened capitalism of the United States bears no relation whatsoever to the predatory capitalism that afflicts Guatemala and El Salvador...
...Yet the political, economic, and ecclesiastical dependency of much of Latin America is an indisputable fact...
...In this important and timely book, Paul Sigmund does a masterly job of pulling together the various strands of liberation theology, illustrating the historical crosscurrents at work with excellent case studies of the church's witness during the counterrevolution in Chile and the revolutions taking place in Nicaragua and El Salvador...
...The Salvadoran military, working hand in glove with powerful elements in the ruling ARENA party, killed liberation theologian Ignacio Ellacuria and his fellow Jesuits not because they were Marxists-they most emphatically were not-but because they stood for that "pluralistic, communitarian, public spirited, dynamic, and inventive liberal society" by which Michael Novak sets such great store...
...In the words of Paul VI at Medellin: "The poor of Latin America have a right not only to share in the fruits of the society, but also in the direction of that society...
...The history of modern Catholic social thought-beginning with Rerum novarum in 1891 down to Sollicitudo rei socialis in 1988-traces a delayed, yet largely successful effort to lead the church away from the Ptolemaic design of a single European model for Christian culture and civilization based on religious and secular monarchy, to the Copernican concept of the faith as a leaven in a pluralistic, secular world...
...The documents of Medellin and Puebla and the exchanges of letters between John Paul II and the Brazilian bishops represent a continuing process of reconciling Vatican concerns with the theology of liberation...
...Novak, for example, is quoted as naively suggesting that liberation theologians, instead of flirting with Marxism, should look to "pluralistic, communitarian, public spirited, dynamic, and inventive liberal society" for a model of genuine liberation...
...According to Boff, the church is "a special institutional articulation of Christianity" which at the same time is "a sinful and pilgrim organization far from the Father's house...
...Catholic theologians who tried to move toward resolving the conflict between democratic nationalism and Catholic doctrine were confronted with documents such as Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors, which condemned the proposition that "the Roman Pontiff should reconcile himself with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization...
...John Paul II set his qualified seal of approval on liberation theology in Sollicitudo rei socialis when he wrote: "A new way of confronting poverty and under-development has spread in some areas of the world, especially in Latin America...
...The aspiration to freedom from all forms of slavery affecting the individual and society is something noble and legitimate...
...He discusses the influence of Marxist thought and dependency theory and concludes that liberation theologians have experienced "a shift in their thinking from a view of the poor as the social base for the overthrow of capitalism to a concern with their empowerment and participation to make democracy effective...
...Revolutionary leaders in the struggle to overthrow the old order regarded the church as a pillar of reactionary thought...
...Neoconservative tirades against liberation theology usually stem from their total commitment to the market economy as the solution for the economic ills of the developing world as well as their almost total lack of knowledge of the Latin American reality...
...As the second half of the twentieth century began and the winds of change were sweeping through Latin America, the LIBERATION THEOLOGY AT THE CROSSROADS Paul E. Sigmund Oxford University Press, $29.95, 272 pp...
...Before a church can achieve authenticity in the eyes of its people it must first produce its own priests and prophets...
...This approach makes liberation the fundamental category and the first principle of action...
...The positive values as well as the deviations and risks of deviations which are damaging to the faith and are connected with this form of theological reflection and method have been appropriately pointed out...
...As Catholic thinking on how to organize modern society advanced, some theologians made regrettable forays into calls for social justice midwifed through a corporativism that provided the intellectual justification for Iberian and Latin American fascism...
...Vatican Council II thrust the church forward into a new worldwide role as witness to the values of justice and peace, community and development...
...Liberation theology: lessons & limits During the nineteenth cen-tury, as Europe was undergoing a series of economic and political revolutions, the church aligned itself unambiguously on the side of elitism and authority...
...In the chapter of "American Responses to Liberation Theology," Sigmund in his fair and even-handed way permits Michael Novak and other neoconservative critics to demonstrate in their own words that their intent is not to emulate Vatican theologians and seek to understand liberation theology as an evolving, flawed, yet remarkable effort to renew the Latin American church...
...This is, in fact, the purpose of development, or rather liberation and development, taking into account the intimate connection between the two...
...The key question for the church, Gutierrez believes, is how to bring good news to "a world that is not human and what the implications might be of telling nonhumans that they are children of God...
...At no time, however, did Rome threaten to sanction priests and theologians who identified the church with authoritarian regimes and anti-Semitic movements...
...Robert E. White church found itself inexorably drawn into the rush of ideas and events...
...The proper response to that is given by Hugo Assman: "Democratic values are revolutionary values...
Vol. 117 • March 1990 • No. 6
