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Faith as Freedom: Solidarity with the Alienated and Confidence in the Future*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Gustavo Gutierrez
Gustavo Gutierrez*
Affiliation:
Catholic University, Peru
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Abstract

An introductory discussion of Christian perspectives on freedom is followed by a consideration of the developments that preceded the genesis of Liberation Theology. That leads into the issues: Given the complexity of contemporary structures in a technological society where the number of those marginated by the system has become acute, who is my neighbor and how do I concretely love him or her? Transformation of history requires action flowing from faith and a willingness to live conflict. But how does one announce God as Father in a non-human world? What are the implications when we tell a non-person that he or she is a son or daughter of God? Believers must develop a critical consciousness and a praxis which confronts the actual conditions of life. To be a Church is to be in solidarity with all who suffer but we must remember that the gospel message is not ideological since it does not identify with any social form. It hopes against hope.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , Spring 1975 , pp. 25 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 1975

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Footnotes

*

This article is a somewhat abridged and edited version of a paper presented at the Theology Institute of Villanova University on June 18, 1974. The complete version will be published in Living with Change, Experience, Faith, ed. Francis A. Eigo, O.S.A. (Villanova, Pa.: Villanova University Press, Summer 1975).

References

1 See Metz, J. B., Theology of the World, trans. Glen-Doepel, William (New York, 1969)Google Scholar; See also “Politische Theologie in der Diskussion,” in Peukert, Helmut, ed., Diskussion zur “Politische Theologie” (Munich-Mainz, 1969)Google Scholar. See Xhaufflaire, M., La “Théologie Politique” (Paris, 1972)Google Scholar.

2 See “The Church's Social Function in the Light of a ‘Political Theology,’” Faith and the World of Politics, ed. Metz, Johannes B., in Concilium 36 (New York: Paulist Press, 1968), p. 9Google Scholar.

3 Claude Geffré has pointed this out very well, putting political theology in the context of fundamental theology in “Recent Developments in Fundamental Theology: An Interpretation,” The Development of Fundamental Theology, ed. Metz, Johannes B., in Concilium 46 (New York: Paulist Press, 1969), pp. 5–28Google Scholar.

4 Metz, , Theology of the World, p. 110Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., p. 112.

6 See the texts of different sectors of the Latin American Church in Between Honesty and Hope (Maryknoll, 1970)Google Scholar; see also Signos de Liberación (Lima, 1973)Google Scholar.

7 See the reflection about the Enlightenment by Kant in his book Philosophy of History and by Hegel in his lectures about Philosophy of History. See on this subject the classic work of Cassirer, E., La Philosophie des Lumières (Paris, 1970)Google Scholar [German edition: Die Philosophie der Aufklärung (Tübingen, 1932)]Google Scholar; and the more recent book of Oelmuller, W., Die unbefriedigte Aufklärung (Frankfurt, 1969)Google Scholar. In a theological perspective, see Metz, J. B., Moltmann, J., and Oelmuller, W., Kirche im Prozess der Aufklärung, Aspekte einer neuen “Politischen Theologie” (Munich, 1970)Google Scholar.

8 About the concrete political options that this liberating praxis assumes at present, see our work A Theology of Liberation, Chapters VI and VII. See also the conclusions from the first meeting of Christians for Socialism (Santiago de Chile, 1972) in Signos de Liberación, pp. 238-243.

9 See the richer commentaries of J. Linskens about the Christian as witness of Christ's Resurrection, “The Paschal Mystery,” in Scripture Today Series (private publication from Mexican-American Cultural Center, San Antonio, Texas, 1974)Google Scholar.

10 See Schnackenburg, R., L'existence chrétienne selon le Nouveau Testament, I (Paris, 1971), p. 35Google Scholar.

11 We spoke about evangelical poverty more in the Theology of Liberation, Chapter XIII.

12 In this framework, we must perhaps rethink the reflections of Duns Scotus about Praxis (and not only action), God as cognoscibile and operabile, and theology as practical science. For a modern perspective, see Oudenrijn, Frans v.v., Kritische Theologie als Kritik der Theologie (München-Mainz, 1972)Google Scholar.

13 Cf. Gutierrez, G., “La Pastoral de la Iglesia en América Latina” (Montevideo, 1968)Google Scholar, Notes on a Theology of Liberation (Lausanne, 1970)Google Scholar. This manner of perceiving theology is one of the first intuitions of the Theology of Liberation.

14 “Justice,” No. 3 in Documents of the Second General Conference of Latin American Bishops, Medellín, Colombia, 1968 Bogota, 1970)Google Scholar.

15 There is, at present, a great effort to domesticate the Theology of Liberation, for example, by using its terms but emptied of their meaning, or by speaking of a noncommitted pluralism.

16 Cf., for example, Cone, James H., A Black Theology of Liberation (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1971)Google Scholar, and Elizondo, Virgilio, “A Theological Interpretation of the Mexican-American Experience,” in Introduction to Pastoral Theology (San Antonio, Texas: Mexican-American Cultural Center, 1974), pp. 95–111Google Scholar.

17 It is clear, for example, that the indigenous people and cultures of Latin America are not sufficiently represented in our efforts at theological reflection.

18 Y. Congar has frequently underlined this tie between theology and announcement. See Situation et tâches présentes de la théologie (Paris, 1967)Google Scholar.

19 “Being a child is the characteristic of the kingly rule ….” Jeremias, J., New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus (New York, 1971) pp. 180–181Google Scholar.

20 See Cazelles, H., Ecriture, Parole et Esprit (Paris, 1970), p. 76Google Scholar.

21 See the work of Dussel, Enrique, Historia de la Iglesia en America Latina (Barcelona, 1972)Google Scholar.

22 See the recent and courageous observations of K. Rahner on the construction of Church from the people in The Shape of the Church to Come (New York: Seabury, 1974)Google Scholar.

23 If the base ecclesial community (CEB) does not place itself in this framework, it risks becoming a form of evasion from conflictual history.

24 Cf. Arroyo, Gonzalo, “Rebeldia cristiana y compromiso communitario,” Mensaje 167 (1968), pp. 78–83Google Scholar. This article marks the genesis of many experiences and reflections in Latin America.