Correspondence author. E-mail: jose.castrillon@javeriana.edu.co
Liberation theology developed as a theology that focused on the injustices lived by the poor. The 70’s and the early 80’s were the peak of liberation theology with the main production of its authors. However, the enthusiasm for this theology and its academic production began to decrease in the middle of the 80’s. By exploring some theoretical elements of the first generation of liberation theology, we attempt to show that there is a crisis in the former liberation theology, and also that modern utopian reason is at the core of the origin of this crisis. Finally, this article critically analyzes the naive utopian belief in the emergence of ideal worlds in history and its influence on the vision of praxis in liberation theology as well as on modern social thought.
La teología de la liberación se desarrolló como una teología centrada en las injusticias padecidas por los pobres. Los años setenta y los inicios de ochenta fueron el apogeo de la teología de la liberación con la producción principal de sus autores. Sin embargo, el entusiasmo por esta teología y su producción académica comenzó a disminuir a mediados de los años ochenta. Al explorar algunos elementos teóricos de la primera generación de la teología de la liberación, intentamos mostrar que hay una crisis en la teología de la liberación precedente, y también que la razón utópica moderna está en el corazón del origen de esta crisis. Finalmente, este artículo analiza críticamente la ingenua creencia utópica en la generación de mundos ideales en la historia, así como su influencia sobre la visión de la praxis en la teología de la liberación y sobre el pensamiento social moderno.
Liberation theology was born as a theology that focuses on the situation of injustice and exclusion lived by the poor, claiming the necessity of praxis of transformation of the socio-economic and political capitalist structures that create poverty. It was born as a critical reflection on praxis in the light of the Word of God.
In the Latin American theological context, there is a tacit—and sometimes explicit—general acknowledgment that there is a turning point on liberation theology. Certain concrete situations, historical events and authors’ interpretations demonstrate the influence of this theology—particularly of its first generation with its aim of structural transformation— decreased in the Latin American Church context.
By the end of the 70’s, the Church had several concerns about the way Marxist tools were used in liberation theology. These concerns were present in texts like the conclusions of the Third Latin American Episcopal Conference (Puebla, 1979)
In this context, the paradigmatic text of these concerns is the Instruction
Another situation that led to the decline of the influence of this theology was the lack of support of the pastoral praxis of liberation and Base Ecclesial Communities in the dioceses
Later, and regarding the same concern about the lack of support of pastoral praxis, Pedro Trigo wrote a book with a suggestive title:
The lack of influence of the former liberation theology at the end of the 80’s was interpreted by theologians in two ways: as a general crisis of liberation theology or as a decline—or even a positive evolution—of this theology.
Theologians like Jung Mo Sung and Carlos Angarita hold that there is a general crisis in liberation theology. They claim the fall of the Berlin Wall was the starting point of this crisis. However, their main contribution is to describe the broad spectrum of alternatives proposed by theologians and Christian liberation movements in Latin America.
There are current theologians who also hold a more nuanced interpretation of the decline of liberation theology. A vindication of Latin American theological tradition that did not explicitly support the socio-economic and political approach of the first generation was present in the environment of the Latin American Continental Congress of Theology
The decline of the influence of former liberation theology in Latin American Church can be seen in two striking facts present in this Congress. The first was the introduction of new topics related to theologies of genre, black, indigenous, eco-theology and even postmodern liberation theology.
One may wonder if this behaviour was related to a conscious concern of the speakers about possible Roman Curia warnings for the use of Marxist categories in the Congress. However, if they were not afraid of these pressures in the past,
In sum, Vatican warnings, the lack of support of pastoral liberation praxis and the same liberation theologians’ concerns about the use of Marxist tools and instrumentals had an impact on the decline of influence of the former liberation theology. However, none of them were so crucial to explaining the origin and the nature of the ongoing crisis of this theology.
For most theologians, pastoral agents and ecclesiastical authorities, the collapse of historical Sovietism was the main influence in the development of this crisis.
Certainly, the collapse of historical Sovietism is an important
influence on the crisis of former liberation theology; however, its influence
is not central but attached to the main cause of the crisis: a naïve trust in
the human praxis as a teleological process of creation of
In 1971, Gustavo Gutierrez wrote his book
According to Gutierrez, there must be a connection between both of them—final salvation and human liberation. This intuition of the dialectical relationship between salvation and human liberation is present in the writings of the first generation of liberation theologians. However, there would be two complementary and sometimes intermingled positions about this relationship:
There are three striking points in these texts of the first generation of liberation theologians: the first one is that all of them were written before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the worldwide imposition of Neoliberalism. The second point is that all of them were written into a certain kind of millenarian theology influence, which implies a teleological expectative of both a final salvation and a human liberation.
The first element to understand these striking points is the teleological character of the former liberation theology. The connection between final salvation and human liberation suggests that the traditional trust in the unfailing salvific plan of God is made equivalent to the trust in human praxis as a teleological process of liberation of human history. Thus, in this context, the human history of liberation is understood in teleological terms.
At the beginning of this article, when assuming Mo Sung and Angarita’s proposal, we described the alternatives taken by liberationist groups and theologians after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Considering the fact that both alternatives to the crisis of liberation theology uphold the final redemption of history, it is therefore necessary to make an analysis of the main and most important influences in the development of this teleological thought, so as to later understand its influence on the present crisis of liberation theology.
For the first purpose, there are certain elements that could lead us to understand the usefulness of further elaboration of the teleological perspective in liberation theology: the particular kind of millenarianism of liberation theology and the emergence of liberation theology into a modern inductive method.
To start with, the answer to the question “What is the relationship between salvation and the process of human liberation throughout the history?” in liberation theology was carried out by assuming certain kind of millenarian teleological eschatology which took final salvation in history for granted.
On the one hand, millenarian movements, millenarian theologians, and even the paradigmatic text of Rev 20:1-6, do not play a direct role in the elaboration of the main liberation theology thesis about historical liberation throughout history.
We could even say that liberation theology is closer to millenarianism in its postmillennialist approach and its idea that the Kingdom will come gradually by the use of human instrumentalities. In fact, the Christian hope focused on a final judgement (Matt 25:31-46) and the emergence of a “new heaven” and a “new earth” (Rev 21:1) were taken by liberation theology from a postmillennialist perspective in terms of a theology that considered both, God and men’s salvific and liberationist actions, as necessary and complementary.
However, there is a methodological inversion between both approaches—the postmillennialist approach and liberation theology approach—in their starting point. On the one hand, the starting point of postmillennialism is a theological approach to the final salvation by the human action which would be secularized by modern political and philosophical thoughts.
Liberation theology was born into the context of the Modern rationality of social sciences.
In sum, liberation theology contains a certain kind of millenarianism that would believe in a human liberation in history and which would be influenced by the teleological perspective, which is present in modern social thought.
Gutierrez’s liberation theology emerged out of the same inductive method of the Second Vatican Council,
In this dialectic praxis, final salvation and historical liberation are necessarily intermingled. In fact, final salvation is not just related to a new “real life” after this historical life, but it is an intrahistorical reality of liberation from any alienation, which transforms and brings plenitude to human history.
Both liberation theology as well as Latin American pastoral theology incorporated the “see, judge, and act” method
The particular contribution of liberation theology was to appropriate this method in a more complex way by using what Clodovis Boff calls “mediations”: the socio-analytical, the hermeneutical and the practical mediations.
Certainly, the particular tasks of each one of the different mediations consider the same ones of the other Latin American approaches to the method. For Boff, the socio-analytical mediation is focused on the reality of the world of the poor and oppressed,
The liberationist approach to the structural situation of poverty and exclusion is already present in the three moments—or mediations—of the method, whereas the approach to the structural situation of poverty, in the traditional uses of the method, is mainly carried out in the “see” moment. The reason for an approach to the reality of poverty and exclusion in structural terms relates to the specific use of the instrumental of the social sciences in its inductive approach to reality. If in the traditional “see, judge, and act” methodological structure the “see” moment focuses on a description of the environment in which the person is living, in the liberationist method the “see” moment is based on a socio-analytical approach to reality in structural terms by using the tools of Dependency theory and those of a Marxist analysis of reality. There is a general acknowledgment between liberation theologians about the use of these two tools of the socials sciences in the socio-analytical mediation of the method of liberation theology. This acknowledgement is explicitly present in authors like Clodovis Boff and Enrique Dussel.
As a result, the praxis of liberation theology also entails the structural approach to the situation of poverty in Latin America. In this sense, this praxis must be political and also implies a faith, which leads to political commitments.
Dependency theory was the first instrumental of social analysis of the Latin American actuality used in liberation theology.
The use of Dependency theory, with its emphasis on the structural analysis of the nations’ dependency as a theoretical framework in liberation theology, explains why the praxis of the political level of liberation was privileged to the praxis of the anthropological and theological levels, as explained by Gutierrez.
The dialectical and conflictive analysis of reality in Dependency theory would lead liberation theologians to the dismissal of any capitalist system, but it was necessary to look for an alternative to the current system and its internal logic and historical unfolding. Together, the analysis of the structures of dependency, the critical reflection on the social exclusion and the commitment to a praxis of changing structures, would motivate the approach of liberation theology towards Marxist instruments.
The main distinction in the use of both tools of analysis—Dependency theory and Marxist analysis—is related to their particular influence over the liberationist method. Liberation theologians used Dependency theory to explain the position of Latin America in the world economy, and then, this tool of analysis was reduced to the sphere of the analytical mediation of the method. On the other hand, they would complement Dependency contributions by using insights from Marxism about praxis, class struggle, and the role of ideology as per their inner national situations.
In sum, the tools used to analyze the Latin American situation, borrowed from the social sciences, led liberation theology to the proposal of a necessary praxis of transformation of the structures of injustice and exclusion by the creation of a new kind of social and political structure. On the one hand, Dependency theory shows the need of structural liberation from the economic structures of dependency in which the Latin American society is immersed by creating a non-dependent society—even if this theory does not explicitly mention how this society should be. On the other hand, the Marxist analysis of reality shows the need of changing the current capitalist society of exclusion through the creation of a new kind of socialist Latin American society, where a new man would emerge.
As a result of the intermingled relationships between analysis of reality and praxis, the liberationist praxis of transformation of the socio-economic and political structures led to a latent teleological perspective, which is similar to the one that is already present in modern social thought. A teleological perspective by which this thought proclaims the advent of ideal worlds that would be “incarnated” in the society of free men, the anarchist society of spontaneous order, and the perfect bourgeois society. Consequently, the former liberation theology not only possessed the same advantages, but also the same limitations of modern social thought.
Taking into account the last affirmation, we will first analyze the naïve utopian rationality present in modern social thought, and subsequently the utopian crisis present in this thought and in the former liberation theology.
There is a certain utopian naivety that covers modern social thought—like the liberal, anarchist and soviet ones, the belief that the emergence of
For Hinkelammert, human beings approach reality from their experience—which is a product of their action. Through this experience, humans realize that reality transcends one’s action, and then, that one’s actions are limited. Thus, the knowledge obtained by the experience of human action is always limited, and thusly, the only way one can attempt to grasp the totality of reality is by using abstract and symbolic knowledge which is based on a principle: the impossibilities of human action.
However, the problem with empirical sciences and modern social thought is that when they dismiss the fact that abstract and symbolic thought departs from the impossibilities of human action, then they claim that they can reach teleologically ideal realities (the perpetuum mobile, the immortal man, unlimited knowledge, and so on) and
In this context, the anti-utopian reasoning of neoliberal thought emerged as a threat to utopian reasoning. This thought moves from the modern teleological vision of
The further elements of this anti-utopian thought are present in Karl Popper and Francis Fukuyama.
In
the first moment, according to Hinkelammert, Popper considers the economic
planning of socialism as the utopia of an infinite progress which is
impossible,
In
the second moment, the only rational and logical alternative to this socialist
utopia is an anti-interventionist policy that could potentially offer theories
and techniques as the only approach to perfect economic equilibrium.
In short, for Popper anti-utopian thought is not against thinking of
The final and definitive step of this anti-utopian thought arises with Fukuyama’s vision of the economic and politic liberal system as the end of history. Fukuyama sees this system as the most democratic and peaceful in the history of humanity and, therefore, as the final advanced state of humanity.
However, Fukuyama’s proposal is not based on a claim of the end of violence and problems that are still present in democratic liberal systems around the world, but on the naturalist fallacy: the claim that the state has a nature like the human one and in which plenitude would be liberal democracy
In sum, the main consequence of the last part of this process of
naturalization of liberal democracy and liberal economy in Fukuyama is the
attempt to destroy utopian reason. The end of history is the denial of the
imagination of ideal worlds and,
therefore, the prohibition of
Taking into account that liberation theology emerged in the context of modern social thought, we realize the main methodological element of this theology: the emphasis on praxis, is understood from the perspective of the tools of social sciences—and therefore, from the perspective of the necessary transforming experience of human action. In this sense, liberation theology, like modern social thought, is focused on a promethean image of the human being as one who is able to set up new and
There are some clues to the presence of this modern pretention of the emergence of
Some other clues are present in the analysis of the liberationist praxis
by Juan Carlos Scannone.
Theology from the pastoral praxis of the Church
through a liberating evangelization focused on the biblical and spiritual bases
of liberation. Theology from the praxis of the revolutionary groups,
which uses Marxist analysis of reality—whose rallying call was “historical materialism”—, in order to support the revolutionary
action (present in authors like Hugo Assmann and Christians for Socialism). Theology from the historical praxis, which looks for
the transformation of Latin American society, taking into account the Church’s
teachings and theological tradition (present in Gustavo Gutierrez’s “a theology of liberation” and its
further tradition
Theology from the praxis of the Latin American people,
which understands the people in an historical-cultural perspective, instead of
based on class, in order to look for the fulfillment of justice.
These streams of action are related to two modes of articulation: sacramental
Considering this naïve idea of a praxis that claims that it could create perfect realities, we can assert that the former liberation theology suffered not only from the flaws of a modern teleological pretention: the certitude that the utopia of ideal worlds will be realized within human history, but also the threats of neoliberal thought to utopian reason.
Daniel Bell holds that Fukuyama’s proclamation of “the end of history”, as the assertion of the unabashed victory of economic and politic capitalism over socialism, has had two consequences in liberation theology. Firstly, it leads liberation theology into the denunciation of the brutal and oppressive consequences of the hegemony of this worldwide system;
According to Bell, liberationist theologians like Leonardo Boff, Jon Sobrino, Pablo Richard and Franz Hinkelammert realized the unpleasant reality of the crisis of former liberation theology: the triumph of savage capitalism.
Finally, and considering the hegemony of the neoliberal system, the main challenge of liberation theology is not to face a disjunction between a naive utopia of a perfect society without classes or a realistic democratic Capitalist society; it is to face the presence of the anti-utopian reason present in neoliberal thought, in ways that are easier to see in liberation theology than in European traditional theological endeavours.
At the beginning of this article, we brought up Mo Sung and Angarita’s analysis of the alternatives taken by liberationist groups and theologians after the crisis of liberation theology which, according to them, were made more evident with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Socialist Bloc. They described the transcendental critique of modern utopian reason by members of the Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones (DEI) as the third alternative to the crisis. In this context, the main work of this alternative was Hinkelammert’s book Crítica a la Razón Utópica (Critique of Utopian Reason).
We already considered two main contributions of Hinkelammert’s book to the analysis of utopian reason.
According to Hinkelammert, a critique of utopian reason does not imply a dismissal of utopian thought and its proposal of
Therefore, we can assert that a transcendental critique of utopian reason in modern social thought can offer us certain elements in order to understand how this modern utopian rationality works, and then it will offer some other elements to liberation theology, to theologically reappraise the relationship between final salvation and the process of human liberation throughout history.
However, this critique, which is focused on the institutionalized human relationships of modern social thought, cannot go beyond the boundaries of human possibilities. Even if the
Yet, the world of human impossibilities is still present. In this context, the role of theology emerges as the revelation of God’s salvific action that lets us know the possibilities of liberation throughout history, in spite of our human impossibilities and teleological expectations.
This revelation of God’s salvific action arises in the sphere of liberation theology as human relationships of liberation throughout history that reveal the presence of God. On the one hand, Hinkelammert sees liberation theology’s contribution as a transcendental imagination of the relationships of mutual acknowledgement of our sensual reality as subjects of material needs.
On the other hand, it is only by the grace of God that we can carry out what is impossible for us as human beings: a relationality of liberation from the tendency of human relationships that so often lead to conflict and violence, in an attempt to protect human institutions—as can be seen in socialist and neoliberal systems. Thus, it is only by God’s grace that we can orient these relationships towards two essential pillars: the love of one’s enemy and the sacrificial offering of our lives for the sake of others.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to break away from trusting in the teleological character of modern social thought and its emphasis on the emergence of ideal worlds. This rupture can be carried out by orienting utopian thought towards an eschatological reflection, which above all, places humans into the perspective of already/but not yet presence of the latter times of our human history.
Therefore, some elements of liberation eschatology can be hermeneutical criteria for the vindication of humanity. It is in this sense that the human person can become the subject of praxis in the process of utopian reflection of the
Special thanks to Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colfuturo, and Dominican University College Foundation, who trusted my academic capabilities and provided the time and economic support that I needed—in order to develop the doctoral process.
I also want to thank Franz Hinkelammert and Carlos Angarita, whose theoretical framework had a very important influence in my first approach to liberation theology and its relationships with the Modern thought. It was in the reading of their books and in the dialogues with Carlos that the origin of my thesis began to take shape.
Finally, I am deeply grateful to my tutor Maxime Allard, who offered me insightful academic and methodological orientations for the development of my doctoral work. His valuable critics, advice and profound patience during four years were crucial in the result of my thesis.
Gutierrez,
Mo Sung, “Cristianismo de Liberación: ¿Fracaso de una Utopía?”, 2-3.
Celam, “Documento de Puebla. III Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano” 543-545. In spite of the preferential option for the poor, Puebla condemned the doctrines which were against the integral promotion and liberation of the human person (in his earthly and heavenly dimensions), as in the Marxist collectivism.
Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, “Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation
John Paul II, “
Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, “Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation’
Ibid.
Angarita, “Apuntes para Repensar la Teología de la Liberación en América Latina y el Caribe,” 38. Base Ecclesial Communities lived an internal dichotomy. They were caught between their commitment to the political struggle and their active presence in the ecclesiastical structure, which provoked the further loss of their influence in the Latin American Church.
Yet, according to Mo Sung, Base Ecclesial Communities are still alive and there are still Christian communities that have a pastoral praxis inspired by liberation theology (Mo Sung, “Cristianismo de Liberación: ¿Fracaso de una Utopía?”, 11).
Trigo,
Mo Sung, “Cristianismo de Liberación: ¿Fracaso de una Utopía?” 1-15; Angarita, “Apuntes para Repensar la Teología de la Liberación en América Latina y el Caribe,” 31-39. According to these authors, the alternatives proposed by theologians and Christian liberation movements were the following: (1) Propose new topics (theology of indigenous, black, women) in order to avoid facing the socialist crisis. (2) Preserve the “metaphysical truth” of the teleological and historical presence of the Kingdom of God in spite of the evidences. (3) A transcendental critique of modern utopian reason by members of the Departamento Ecuménico de Investigaciones (DEI)— especially Franz Hinkelammert—taking into account the role of utopia is to orient and guide the praxis. (4) Focus on the concrete micro-social and interpersonal relationships between people, as well as considering the limits that history and human condition have for creating a more just society.
This Congress was held in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, from 8 to 11 October, 2012. Theologians as Gustavo Gutierrez, Leonardo Boff, Jon Sobrino, Victor Codina and Jung Mo Sung attended.
Geraldo de Mori claims that the presence of new topics of liberation theology in this Congress of Theology (like cultural and religious pluralism in talks such as “Las Iglesias en el Continente 50 Años después del Vaticano II: Cuestiones Pendientes”, by Victor Codina, and “
Jorge Costadoat changes the name “liberation theology” for the broader name “theology born in Latin America after the Council” (Costadoat, “Conversando con Jorge Costadoat, S. J. Congreso Continental de Teología”). Luis Carlos Susin speaks about the emergence of new subjects different from the worker, such as women and homosexual people (Susin, “Nuevos sujetos y dialogo de culturas”). Leonardo Boff affirms that there is not a Marxist liberation theology, but only a liberation theology. It is not Marx, but Moses and Jesus’ God—father of the poor—the main influence in liberation theology (Boff, “El Lugar y el Papel de la Teología en los Procesos de Cambio del Continente en el Contexto Mundial. Congreso Continental de Teología”).
There were two important answers of liberation theologians to two Vatican actions: the first one is a defense of liberation theology regarding the instructions
Trigo,
Mo Sung, “Cristianismo de Liberación: ¿Fracaso de una Utopía?”, 8; Angarita, “Apuntes para Repensar la Teología de la Liberación en América Latina y el Caribe,” 31-32; Codina, “Las Iglesias en el Continente 50 Años después del Vaticano II: Cuestiones Pendientes”.
In this article we will follow the edition published by Ediciones Sígueme (1975). This choice is due to two factors: the strong influence that this book already had over Latin American theology in the middle of the 70’s; and that the main concerns of the Church about liberation theology only arose at the end of the 70’s.
In fact, the Continental Congress of Theology, in Brazil (2012), was organized as a celebration of the fourtieth anniversary of the publication of this book and of the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council.
Gutierrez,
We make this distinction between both positions in terms of a methodological clarification. However, it was not unusual that the same liberation theologians fluctuated between both positions—as in Gutierrez’ case.
Luyckx, “La teología de la liberación”; Cosmao, “La salvación a la luz de la teología de la liberación”; Scannone, “La teología de la liberación: caracterización, corrientes, etapas”; and Boff,
Boff,
Victor Codina and Benedict XVI related liberation theology to a theology of Millenarianism. The Pope was denouncing the limitations of a theology that—he said—was focused on an unfailing faith in the armed revolution as a historical process towards the final and imminent liberation of human beings (Benedict XVI, “Liberation Theology was Mere ‘Millenarism’ that Would Have no Justification Today”; whereas Victor Codina wondered—at the same time that he was reading his paper during the Continental Congress of Theology (2012)—if there has been a naive millenarism in this theology (Codina, “Las Iglesias en el Continente 50 Años después del Vaticano II: Cuestiones Pendientes”).
See the description of the four alternatives in Footnote 11.
It is important to consider a distinction between two kinds of millenarianism: “There was a general agreement in millennial theology that the world was to be transformed by the second coming of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth [...]. There were differences of view, however, between those Christians who believe that Christ’s second coming would precede the millennium (premillennialists) and those who thought that the second advent would follow the millennium (postmillennialists). From these differences stemmed others. The premillennialists were predisposed towards the establishment of the millennium by divine, cataclysmic action, whereas
Libanio, “Esperanza, Utopía, Resurrección”, 505-507. For Libanio, there is a particular contribution of liberation eschatology to the hope in the final advent of the Kingdom of God. According to him, theological hope emerges as a contribution in a situation which overcomes the limits of utopian thought: the human unviability of a situation. Utopian thought arises in situations which demand a change, a transformation of reality; nevertheless, there are situations of human unviability, in which there is no room for a utopian idea of change. It is in such contexts that Jesus’ resurrection emerges as a hope that goes beyond the limits of human history, which are the limits proper of utopian thought.
Yet, in these liberationist sources, there are some tangential mentions of some of the theologians of the early Church who favored millenarian thought, such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Papias, and Hyppolytus of Rome. Gustavo Gutierrez names Tertullian in his analysis of the religious freedom in the early Church (Gutierrez,
Schwarz,
“Millennialism,
also called millenarianism, is the hope that this imperfect world will pass
away and that a new, perfect world will replace it. Millennialism is a subset
of apocalypticism.” (Murphy,
“Modern revolutionaries such as the French Jacobins and the Russian
Bolsheviks detested traditional religion, but their conviction that the crimes
and follies of the past could be left behind in an all-encompassing
transformation of human life was a secular reincarnation of early Christian
beliefs.” (Gray,
It appears, at the end of the 60’s in Latin America, with the dismissal of New Christendom’s emphasis on developmental theories, the assumption of the thesis of Dependency theory and the further use of Marxist instrumental as a heuristic tool for the critical analysis of the historical reality.
Liberation theology, as a critical reflection (second moment) of the historical praxis (first moment) in the light of the Word of God, used new analytical and hermeneutical tools from the social sciences, in order to elaborate an approach to the historical reality of poverty and exclusion in Latin America.
“Joachim’s [of
Fiore] Trinitarian philosophy of history re-infused medieval Christianity with
eschatological fervour, and versions of his three-phase scheme reappear in many
later Christian thinkers. Taken up by a radical wing of the Franciscan order,
Joachite prophecy inspired millenarian movements in southern Europe [...]. The
division of human history into three ages had a profound impact on secular
thought... (Gray holds this influence is present in authors as Hegel, Marx,
Comte and in the ideology of Nazism).” (Gray,
The Council used an inductive method with the support of rational reflection and human sciences to understand the complexity of the modern world. This implied an epistemological change from a division between the sacred and the profane realities to the acknowledgement of the intrinsic link between them. In particular,
Gutierrez,
Paul VI, “Second Vatican Council II Closing Speech”. Here, Paul VI said the Church had its own type of humanism, in which the knowledge of man was a prerequisite of the knowledge of God.
Gutierrez,
Gutierrez,
Gutierrez,
Ibid., 212.
It would be in
It is also important to stress that other methods have been used in liberation theology, like Carlos Mesters’ methodology, which involves a reflection on the lives and actions of the poor through a popular approach to the Bible in three moments: reflection on reality [pre-text], the study of the Bible [text], and the communitarian experience of faith [con-text] (cfr.
Biord Castillo, “Ponderación Teológica del Metodo Ver-Juzgar-Actuar,” 6. According to Biord, the contribution of this method to Latin-American theology was to offer concrete tools for a pastoral praxis oriented to the transformation of Latin-American reality.
Boff, “Epistemología y Método de la Teología de la Liberación,” 101.
Ibid., 101.
Ibid., 107.
Boff, “Epistemología y Método de la Teología de la Liberación,” 101-104; Dussel, “Teología de la Liberación y Marxismo,” 121-132.
Boff, “Epistemología y Método de la Teología de la Liberación,” 112.
McGovern,
Dussel,
According to McGovern, there are two types of Dependency theory. In its former and stronger view, it tries to explain the causes of the existence of underdeveloped and developed countries by arguing that in the world system, the role of the underdeveloped countries is to provide natural resources, while the role of the developed countries is to provide technology and—at the same time—create economic, cultural and politic spheres of dependence in the underdeveloped countries. In its nuanced version, this theory takes into account the internal factors in the countries that also led to the situation of dependency in Latin America (McGovern,
Authors like Leonardo Boff, Hugo Assmann, and José Míguez Bonino, used the stronger version of Dependency theory that blamed Latin American underdevelopment on Northern development; whereas, there were later qualifications to this approach, and even to Dependency theory as a whole. Gustavo Gutierrez took up the qualifications made by Cardoso in his nuanced version of the theory and, finally, he would abandon Dependency theory in his 1988 “Introduction” to
Gutierrez,
According to McGovern, João Batista Libanio holds in
There has not been a homogeneous use of the Marxist instruments in liberation theology. According to Dussel, it could be held that, in a broad sense, the dialectical materialism in its mechanic and immanent philosophical analysis of history would be generally denied by liberation theologians. Moreover, liberation theologians, like Gustavo Gutierrez, Juan Luis Segundo, and Leonardo Boff , do not assume the dialectical materialism of Engels, Lenin or Stalin, but a more “humanist” Marx by Gramsci, Marcuse or Bloch. This Marxist “humanist” perspective that is focused on a social criticism of the reality is the one used by these theologians in order to elaborate a scientific approach to the causes of poverty and exclusion in Latin America (Dussel, “Teología de la Liberación y Marxismo,” 124-126).
McGovern,
On the one hand, from the perspective of the socio-analytical mediation, the concept of class struggle, as a “fact” that is already present in the Latin American reality and that implies a mandatory option for the poor, is present in Gustavo Gutierrez’s works,
Hinkelammert,
Ibid., 256-260.
Ibid., 186.
Kalberg, “Max Weber’s Types of Rationality: Cornerstones for the Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History,” 1158-1159.
Popper,
Hinkelammert,
Popper,
Ibid.
Fukuyama,
Ibid., 138.
The critical analysis of the promethean perspective of modern social thought is present in the liberationist thought of Franz Hinkelammert,
Gutierrez,
Ibid., 73-81.
Ibid., 52.
Scannone, “La Teología de la Liberación: Caracterización, Corrientes, Etapas,” 270-277.
Gutierrez,
Scannone, “La Teología de la Liberación: Caracterización, Corrientes, Etapas,” 273-277.
The sacramental articulation is related to different kinds of religious speeches (prophetic, pastoral, and revision of life) which, from their perspective of a spiritual discernment of the praxis, are used in the pastoral and popular liberationist environments as a first level of critique of the ideologies that distort the reality in general.
The scientific articulation uses the concepts of theology—including some philosophical ones—, social sciences and historical sciences in order to analyze in a more complex and structural way the historical situation of poverty. Besides, the scientific articulation elaborates a systematic critique of the ideologies that try to avoid, not only the understanding of the situation, but also the transformation of the structures that create this poverty.
A promethean image that is used to claim that an ideal and perfect human being will emerge in human history.
According to Petrella, one of the main problems in liberation theology was the lack of historical projects of liberation because of a gap between social sciences (reduced to the socio-analytical mediation) and theology (circumscribed to Christian tradition and the critique of idolatry); for him, the construction of these projects, within a less restrictive understanding of theology, must be seen as intrinsic to doing this theology (Petrella,
Bell,
Ibid., 43-44.
Ibid. For Bell, if liberation theology follows this same rationality of the capitalist deterritorialization of desire by dismissing the political role of the Church on behalf of the modern state as guarantor of justice and rights, then, this theology will succumb to the rationality of the struggle for particular group’s rights in opposition to other individual or people’s rights. Because of this alternative, for Bell, liberation theology is finally co-opted by the capitalist discipline of desire, in the same way that historical Marxism-Leninism was co-opted by capitalism.
Hinkelammert,
Ibid., 28-29.
“La ocupación teológica
del espacio teológico ocurre, con toda nitidez, recién cuando se ha pasado por
la crítica de las ilusiones, sea del tipo de la ilusión trascendental o de la
mitificación trascendental. Aparece entonces pura y simplemente la
imposibilidad humana de realizar lo humanamente lo imposible, y, limitandonos
aquí al análisis de la tradición cristiana, a partir del juicio constitutivo
del espacio teológico aparece Dios como aquel para el cual es posible realizar
eso que es humanamente imposible.” (Hinkelammert,
Ibid., 256. According to Hinkelammert, such imagination is present in the biblical texts of love to the neighbour (Luke 10:25-37) and communal supper (Luke 14:15-24).
Research article