Gutierrez said poverty destroys faith and destroys the person and "is always an evil; it is never a good. He dismissed romantic ideas of poverty, calling it always an evil. In the Bible, however, there are two senses of poverty — material poverty and spiritual poverty as represented by the first Beatitude.
Spiritual poverty leads to a detachment from temporal life so as to do the will of God, he said. That detachment may lead to voluntary poverty, but that choice is out of solidarity with the poor, not solidarity with poverty. But the fact the poor die before their time must be addressed.
Gutierrez also spoke of Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who came to Peru in as a priest theologian to attend a four-day seminar on liberation theology, along with other theologians and professors from Germany and other European countries.
After several talks, Mueller decided to regularly come to Peru to teach theology to seminarians from poor, indigenous backgrounds without a good training in theology and to do pastoral work in poor parishes.
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If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you. News International Canada. Helena Burns. News Columnists Fr. Ron Rolheiser Mary Marrocco Fr. For him, the centre of the problem in Latin America is sin manifested in an unjust social structure, and puts emphasis on the dignity of the poor.
The division between the spiritual and the material, Gutierrez believes, is impossible. Robert R Barr. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, , We imitate Christ who emptied himself and enter into solidarity with the poor.
Gutierrez did a biblical analysis of poverty, in which he distinguishes poverty into a scandalous state and a spiritual infancy. Ferm Maryknoll Orbis, , There is a hunger for God, and on the other hunger for bread. The first step toward salvation is the transformation of society: the poor must be freed from economic, political, and social oppression. This will involve both struggle and conflict, but Gutierrez does not shy away from it.
The second step towards salvation is the transformation of the self: we must begin to exist as active agents rather than passively accepting the conditions of oppression and exploitation that surround us.
The third and final step is the transformation of our relationship with God -specifically, the liberation from sin.
Gutierrez interprets salvation ultimately as communion with God and one another in history and beyond it. For Gutierrez, salvation is not merely liberation; it is communion with God and one another in history and beyond. In the transformative communities, the poor and marginalized are set free for love and 21 Gutierrez, The Power of the Poor in History, In A Theology of Liberation, he made the soteriological point that human beings are call to meet God insofar as they constitute a community.
The journey of a people to liberation leads to encounter with God and a new creation community is simultaneously fashioned. In fact, it is the greatest change in theology that has taken place since the time when the Christian Church came to terms with the Roman Empire under Constantine; and since the time theology had been done from the side of the powerful.
This is true particularly of the modern period when the European countries expanded into other continents. They also provoked sharp opposition from many who saw liberation theology as an attempt to reduce Christianity to little more than Marxist or left-wing politics.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the firm critics of Gutierrez during the s. In the middle of that decade, the congregation twice issued official warnings against aspects of liberation theology, accusing him of insufficiently critical use of Marxist ideas. Although Gutierrez himself was not condemned, many other liberation theologians received Papal censure.
Because of the perceived connection between followers of liberation theology and leftist groups in Latin America, such as the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, many liberation-minded priests were killed in Central American countries during the wars and civil conflicts of the s.
Therefore, as in all movements, there exists a diversity of opinions. Gutierrez remains a key voice in liberation theology, which has come to include feminist and black theology. Matthew J. Robert R. Liberation theology brought the focus of the Church away from solely eternal salvation to the more pressing necessity of earthly liberation of the poor from oppression and suffering. Brown, Robert McAfee. Atlanta: John Knox, It fights against giving a solely fact oriented biographical account, looking into deeper themes and patterns.
This website has online versions of some of the documents created during the Vatican II meetings. These include transcripts of some of the conferences and general declarations formed as a result of the meetings.
Maryknoll, N. This book is the magnum opus of liberation theology. This work was the transformative piece that essentially beganthe more formally published aspect of the movement. Rosino Gibellini. Frontiers of Theology in Latin America. The piece focuses mainly on liberation praxis and the relationship between action and the Christian faith.
It outlines some of the major components of liberation theology. Hillar, Marian. A Survey. Marian Hillar and H. Humanism and Social Issues: Anthology of Essays.
Houston: Humanists Involved in Greater Houston, This article provides a very effective, critical survey of liberation theology with an explanation of its rise and fall along with the major features of the movement. The sections are separated to covered various themes of liberation theology such as the priority of praxis over theory or history as a focus of theology.
Klaiber, Jeffrey L. Washington, D. This book provides a comprehensive look at changes that occurred within the Peruvian Catholic Church from to It covers all the major movements and events that the Church experienced throughout this time period. Lynch, Edward A.
New York: Praeger, Lynch focuses the majority of the section on liberation theology discussing the conflicting relationship between Marx and the movement.
He argues that liberation theology takes a great deal more from Engels than it does Marx. In this article, Lynch outlines some of the reasons for the ultimate retreat of liberation theology.
Philadelphia: Temple UP, Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. This document is an online version of the original instruction issued by then Prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Sigmund, Paul E. Richard L. Rubenstein and John K. Public Policy. This article discusses the rise of liberation theology, discussing the history of the movement, the environment in which it formed and the critics to the movement.
Skidmore, Thomas E. Smith, and James Naylor Green. Modern Latin America.
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