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Introduction In the late 60s a new social and intellectual movement appeared on the Latin American continent. It was rooted in the Christian faith and Scriptures. Among the questions posed was: how should Christians respond to the existing social situation where most are suffering dehumanizing poverty, and what should the Church do about it?
It was recognised that the traditional theology with its abstract concepts had subverted the original spirit of the Gospel message and was irrelevant to the condition of the Third World masses. It had become essentially an ivory-tower pursuit by European scholars who tacitly accepted the capitalist order despite the huge injustices it had created. The basic concerns in Latin America shifted from mere belief in Christianity to its relevance in the struggle for a more just world. Out of such considerations was born "liberation theology," outlined for the first time by a Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez a few weeks before the Bishops conference CELAM at Medellín, Colombia in 1968. Gutierrez defined theology as a "critical reflection on praxis in the light of the word of God."
Three levels of meaning Liberation theology firstly recognizes a need for liberation from any kind of oppression - political, economic, social, sexual, racial, religious. Secondly, it asserts that the theology should not be imposed from above but must grow out of the basic Christian communities.
The main theme, liberation, is considered at three levels of meaning which are interconnected. At the social and political level liberation is an expression of aspirations of the oppressed peoples. This liberation emphasizes the conflict in the economical, social and political process between the oppressed and the oppressors. At the human level the liberation is conceived as a historical process in which people develop consciously their own destiny through the social changes. At the religious salvific level, liberation means liberation from sin, the ultimate source of all injustice and oppression. It brings man back into communion with God and fellow men, which is the radical, total liberation.
For the first time sin was formulated in social terms, not in the traditional way as an abstract act or attributed to the agency of Satan, or at best, a personal act. For the first time the religious, salvific plan was explicitly linked to the human experience in a society. Liberation sought an interpretation of Christian faith derived from the suffering, struggle, and hope of the poor. It also was a critique of society and the ideologies sustaining it.
A Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, developed a new method for teaching literacy to the masses of peasants through the process of consciousness-raising. The peasants had to realise that their abject poverty was not of their making and they did not have to put up with it. In analysing Latin American society, some Christians and missionaries began to utilize Marxist tools while rejecting the philosophy of dialectical materialism.
Historical context The Catholic Church was a major part of the machinery of conquest and colonization in Latin America. It all began with a decree issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI soon after Columbus’ first contact with the Americas. Alexander, one of the most dissolute of popes, gave the go-ahead for Spain and Portugal for ‘barbarous nations (to) be invaded and brought to the faith’ and to divide the New World between them. Bound by papal edicts, bishops and missionaries found themselves to be an integral part of the project of conquest and exploitation.
The conquest was undertaken with unbelievable cruelty and complete disregard to any human decency or so-called Christian values. There were only sporadic protests from missionaries like Bartolomé de las Casas in Hispaniola (16th century) or the Bishop of Nicaragua, Antonio de Valdivieso (stabbed to death in 1550). The conquistadores imposed a model of Christendom where civil and religious authorities were connected - religious authority being a ruling one and the civil authority executing the orders of the religious one. Clergy remained predominantly in the cities and towns serving primarily the ruling class (e.g. in schools) and enjoyed all the comforts provided by a privileged status and the ownership of land. Right until the 20th century, the bishops sided with the ruling classes.
In such a religiously dominated society there was no room for democracy and democratic institutions. Society was run by a rigid, hierarchical, feudal structure fixed once for ever, resembling the ecclesiastical institution. All this was quite opposite to the freer society developed in North America. However, in both North and South America, the beneficiaries were the white immigrants who had forced themselves on native Indian territory and grabbed their land. The natives and the African slaves were ruthlessly oppressed and exploited, with little opposition from the Christian authorities.
Priority of praxis over theory In the 1960s, with decolonisation well in progress, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) signalled the need for change and a more inclusive vision of the world. Latin American bishops insisted that the final documents should deal with the issues of development and human progress. The essence of revolution was the removal of power from the privileged to the poor majorities. Revolution could be peaceful if the privileged elites did not put up a violent resistance, and the Christians should become involved.
The encyclical of Pope Paul VI "Populorum Progressio" (1967) critiqued the international economic order and even explicitly condemned the capitalistic system for the social evils: "[It is a system] ... which considers profit as the key motive for economic progress, competition as the supreme law of economics, and private ownership of the means of production as an absolute right that has no limits and carries no corresponding social obligation".
However, like all popes before him, Paul VI was not prepared to alienate the ruling classes and offered no concrete prescriptions for the masses. In particular, he rejected armed struggle for liberation.
Theologians of liberation were not satisfied by one’s individual salvation within the tenets of the faith. They insisted on the primacy of praxis over the abstract constructs of the Catholic orthodoxy. Traditionally, priests preached resignation to "God's will" in a way that it reinforced the belief that the present distribution of wealth and power comes from God. Peasant society indoctrinated this way tended to internalize a fixed and even fatalistic view of the universe with symbols and rationalizations.
Gutierrez found three meanings of poverty: the dehumanizing lack of material goods, the openness to God and commitment to solidarity. The western theologians had spiritualised poverty whereas the Bible talks of material poverty as an evil resulting from the oppression of some people by others. Voluntary poverty is considered an act of love and liberation, of solidarity with the poor and those who suffer injustice. This commitment calls for giving up the relatively comfortable life and going to a barrio or a rural area to live with the people. By this act the clergy still would not become poor themselves. Next they have to develop a model of activities based on the work of Paulo Freire.
The former Jesuit Superior-General, the saintly Basque Fr. Pedro Arrupe, was firmly committed to the eradication of injustice and racism. Among his letters are 1) to American Jesuits on the racial problem (1967), 2) to Latin American Jesuits on the Social apostolate, 3) Witnessing to Justice (1972).
In the last, Arrupe stressed the "inseparability of promotion of justice and propagation of the faith". "The Church should, above all, be the Church of the poor and the oppressed, the refugees, those persecuted for their faith, those relegated by the rich and powerful to the margins of society... Today, in many parts of the world, the establishment which claims for itself the function of keeping the peace, in reality supports and perpetuates a real disorder, an institutionalised violence... The church must support all Christians engaged in the difficult, thankless or even dangerous task of upholding justice...Priest and religious have complained of insufficient support from their religious leaders...." Inspired by this vision, Jesuits such as the late Fr. Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay and Fr. Jon Sobrino of El Salvador played a leading role in the development of Latin American liberation theology. As usual, the Vatican feared community empowerment and loss of authority. The pressure to crack down on the Jesuits was building up since the early 1970s. John Paul’s encyclical "Redemptor Hominis" (1979) offered a Vatican perspective on liberation: "Injustice, the exploitation of human being by the state, institutions, and mechanisms of economic systems, must be called by their name." "... liberation must be inserted into the entire contemporary reality of human life." "... liberation is a faith reality, one of the basic biblical themes, deeply inscribed in the salvific mission of Christ, in the work of redemption, and in his teaching."
Liberation theology reminded the church to serve the Kingdom of God at the earthly level. The praxis of liberation theology finds its embodiment in the Christian ecclesial base communities - small, lay-led groups of Christians that see themselves as part of the Church and work together to improve their lot and establish a more just society. Base communities were a result of pastoral problems related to the lack of clergy in the country.
Church against liberation theology The Catholic Church saw these poor communities as a threat to its domination and resorted to intimidation and even violence against them. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith began a systematic campaign of repression against progressives like Archbishop Helder Camara, Gustavo Gutierrez and Franciscan priest Leonardo Boff.
The bastion of capitalism, the USA, too swung into action. The US position was that the ‘Communists’ were taken over the church. The CIA and conservative churchmen joined hands to destabilise the movement. In 1973, the US instituted the Trilateral Commission to disguise its ideology of imperial domination under the cover of advocacy of human rights and concern for national security. The CIA & State Department created front groups to attack liberation theology: – Puebla Institute published many disinformation books about Liberation Theology and later even took on the mantle of a human rights group. – Institute of Religion and Democracy - a CIA front organization linked to the State Department’s Office for Latin America, run by the National Security Council. – The Rand Corporation undertook research & published a special study entitled Changing Catholic Church.
In order to confront Liberation Theology, the Council for Inter-American Security had designed a strategy outlined in the Santa Fe document in 1980. The Reagan Adminstration based its attack on this document and was supported by Pope John Paul II (who took office in 1978). For example, at the 25th assembly of the Latin American bishops Conference (CELAM) in 1995, the bishops condemned the ‘the abolutism of market forces and the power of money’ and demanded that ‘the economy must be at the service of mankind and not vice versa.’ But the papal delegate at the conference called liberation theologians ‘stubborn men who will disappear in the end.’
In September 1996, Pope John Paul II went further and declared in Central America that liberation theology had died in Latin America but Leonardo Boff (who resigned in 1992 after constant Vatican harassment) told reporters that ‘Somebody made that line for him - it is well known that others write the Pope’s speeches.’
Conclusion We conclude with some more thoughts of Leonardo Boff, Professor of Ethics & Philosophy at the University of Rio e Janeiro posted at a Third World news agency in 1999: "Liberation theologians cannot accept a market doctrine that brings death to the majority of the human race. Too long we have been enslaved by a paradigm that divides us from Nature. The West-backed globalisation agenda seeks to homogenise humanity through the spread of western values. We are for multicultural and multi-faith societies and respect for diverse forms of social and political organisation. The Church must break away from the powers of this world and turn its attention to the oppressed who make up two-thirds of the world. We have to reject a Christianity which allies with the ruling classes against the poor."
Reference Liberation Theology: Religious response to social problems. (A Survey), (Eds) M. Hillar and H.R. Leuchtag, American Humanist Association, Houston, 1993. |