The Public Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez

The Public Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez For Dean Dettloff God or Solidarity: Liberation Theology as Social Movement Institute of Christian Studies, Toronto By Clinton E. Stockwell August 2024 This paper will explore some key elements in the public theology of Gustavo Gutierrez, the founder and key exemplar of Liberation Theology. Gutierrez’s theology was a response to his experience and observation of the poor in the context of Latin America, and in particular the barrios of Lima, Peru. There are other questions worth pondering. What is the role of context and the historical background of European colonization and development for the development of liberation theology? How different and how vital is a liberationist approach that values humanity and the voice of the poor over those who represent the wealthy and the powerful? How does the methodology of liberation theology differ from a traditional top down, methodologies that represent an academic or theological approach to poverty? How “evangelical” (in the Catholic sense) is Gutierrez’ theology when compared to more traditional or protestant understandings? These key questions will guide the general outline of this paper. Biography Who is Gustavo Gutierrez? Guitierrez was born in an older part of Lima, Peru on June 8, 1928. As of this writing he is now 96 years old and still living. When young, he developed osteomyelitis, which in addition to severe pain, he was bedridden until 18 years of age, was confined off and on to a wheelchair, and afterwards walked with a permanent limp. This seemed to have no impact on his intellectual capacity and may have been an inspiration. Because of the illness, Gutierrez was interested in medicine, and was interested in becoming a psychiatrist. Robert McAffee Brown, Gustavo Gutierrez: An Introduction to Liberation Theology (Orbis, 1990) p. 24. However, his years at San Marcos University increased his concern and sensitivity regarding the plight of the poor. There he majored in medicine and literature. He then moved away from medicine to becoming a priest and began the study of philosophy at the seminary in Santiago, Chile. Showing himself to be a promising young student and priest, he was sent to study in Belgium, France and Rome. He proved to be an excellent student and completed a master’s degree in philosophy and psychology on the subject “The Psychic Conflict in Sigmund Freud” (1955) graduating from the University of Louvain in Belgium. Guitierrez went on to the Catholic Institute at Lyons from 1955-1959, graduating with a master’s in theology there with a thesis on “Religious Liberty.” Brown 22-23. After Louvain, he became interested in newer expressions of contemporary theology, and arrived at Lyons studying with Henri de Lubac, Jean Danielou, and Yves Conger. His mastery of French led him to a stint at the University of Montreal as an instructor, and later to the University of Notre Dame in the United States. He also began to devour the works of Karl Rahner in theology and Gerhard von Rad in Old Testament studies, and in the work of Edward Schillebeeckx in New Testament studies. Brown, 25. He was fascinated with the work of protestant theologians Dietrich Bonhoeffer, James B. Nickoloff, ed. Gustavo Gutierrez: Essential Writings. (Orbis,1996), pp 35 ff. Karl Barth, Rudolph Bultmann, Johan Baptist Metz; and Jurgen Moltmann. Guitierrez was ordained in 1959 and returned to Lima and began teaching part time at the Catholic University of Lima in 1960. He had been working in the slums and among the poor of Lima since the early 1950s and was pastor of the Iglesia Cristo Redentor (Church of the Redeemer) in Rimac. His academic questions were never isolated from his experience as a priest and activist on behalf of the poor, which has since occupied his life and writings. He was Mestizo, part Spanish and part Amerindian, which no doubt influenced the development of his sympathies for each. Gutierrez began to examine the Christian faith in the light of skeptics like Albert Camus, Karl Marx and Ingmar Bergman. He also began reading Peruvian writers including Jose Maria Arguedas, an anthropologist; and Jose Carlos Mariategui, a scientist, and journalist. Curt Cadorette, From the Heart of the People: The Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez. (Meyer Stone Books, 1988) pp. 67-81. His interests and concerns about poverty and social class antagonism led him to Marx, but also to the French socialist Louis Althusser, the German socialist Ernst Bloch and the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci. Cadorette, pp 83 ff. Gutierrez was particularly attracted to the utopian ideals of Bloch, and the cultural theories of Gramsci, including the concept of the “organic intellectual.” On May 29, 1985, Father Gustavo Gutierrez received a doctorate in theology from the theological faculty of the Catholic Institute of Lyons. Unusual, the doctoral dissertation at this point consisted of a presentation, discussion and defense of his entire body of work, including his groundbreaking A Theology of Liberation (1971). Gustavo Gutierrez, The Truth Shall Make You Free: Confrontations (Orbis 1990): pp. 1-52). Guitierrez summarized his theology in response to one of the discussants as follows: The originality of this theology seems to me to consist in this: it is rooted in a Christian practice that endeavors to think the faith from the standpoint of a humiliated race --the Amerindians, the marginalized, women, the hopeless -- and to turn them, and the light of the double paradigm of the exodus and the cross, into a people of hope. This means an attempt to open a space in which hopelessness disappears. You [Christian Duquoc] move me especially when you reminded us that the God of our faith is a God of life who rejects every form of death. Gustavo Guttierrez, The Truth Shall Make Us Free (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1990) p. 20. Gutierrez is a member of many significant cultural organizations including the Peruvian Academy of Language, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received an honorary doctorate from Brown University, and the Legion of Honor from the French government. He also has received numerous awards including the Gitler Prize from Brandeis University; and the Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) award from St. Ambrose University. In 1974, Gutierrez founded the Lima branch of the Bartolome de Las Casas Institute. What is the “Bartolome De Las Casas Center?” The Center was established in 1974 by four French religious leaders from the Dominican order. Its goals were to “to be a leading reference institution in action-research, reflection, tolerance debate, [and] intercultural dialogue.” Source: The BCE Website: cbc.org.pe/quienes-somos-2/ The Institute seeks to represent the teachings and legacy of Las Casas, and today seeks to analyze contemporary social issues while educating the broader public through research, engagement with various publics and in collaboration with grassroots community-based organizations including the many active Communidades De Base in Central and South America. Its objectives of the Center include the following: Construction of alternative forms to hegemonic development that are truly sustainable, with awareness of planetary limits, multiculturalism, equity and inclusion. Strengthening citizenship and practices of democracy, consultation and participation. Defense of human, social, cultural, economic, environmental and political rights of the population. Strengthening critical capacities, with values ​​that put life and care at the center and promote consistent ethics. Fighting corruption and promoting transparency, responsibility and integrity. Fight against systemic and differentiated violence against women in the southern Andean Amazon, in contexts of extractivism. Articulation and alignment with the national policies of the National Agreement and the general guidelines of the updated Bicentennial Plan. Compliance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. National political and economic decentralization. Political influence for the escalation of proposals at different levels of the State. Strengthening alternative epistemologies to the Western and colonial ones, which take into account relationships based on the rights of nature and Andean-Amazonian ontologies. Promotion of transitions with a clear horizon of paradigm shift, towards forms of coexistence that allow and promote deep collectivity and sustainability. Articulation of proposals aimed at building Good Living from diversity Ibid. (Source: The BCE Website: cbc.org.pe/quienes-somos-2/). Gutierrez and the Legacy of Bartolome de Las Casas In 1993, Gustavo Gutierrez released his second most important book, Las Casas: In Search of the Poor in Jesus Christ (Orbis Books). Gustavo Guttierrez, Las Casas: In Search of the Poor in Jesus Christ. Orbis Books, 1993. Following the “discovery” of America by Christopher Columbus, the Catholic Church published a statement that would justify the conquest, conversion and enslavement of the indigenous population in the new world. In 1513, the Spanish produced the Requerimiento, https://press.rebus.community/openamlit/chapter/the-requerimiento/ “a declaration by the Spanish monarchy, written by the Council of Castille jurist Juan López de Palacios Rubios of Castille's divinely ordained right to take possession of the territories of the New World and to subjugate, exploit and, when necessary, to fight the native inhabitants.” The declaration was made on behalf of Ferdinand II of Aragon and his daughter, the Queen regnant Joanna of Castille. The Requerimiento (Spanish for "requirement" as in "demand") was read to Native Americans to inform them of Spain's rights to conquest. It was read in the European language, from a written document, both foreign to the indigenous population. The Spaniards thus considered those who resisted it as defying God's plan, and so used Catholic theology to justify their conquest. The Requerimiento (Requirement) rationalized the Spanish invasion of the Americas and sanctioned the subsequent colonization of the territories, demanding the local populations to accept Spanish rule and allow preaching to them by Catholic missionaries on pain of war, slavery or death. For a contemporary discussion of the impact of this doctrine, see Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999). The Requerimiento was less concerned about the demand for conversion, as it assumed the inhumanity and savagery of the indigenous populations. But it sanctioned the conquest and the enslavement of the indigenous and relegation of the tribes to the Encomienda and Mission systems . This practice was a form of serfdom, which basically tied the indigenous population to the enclosed lands controlled by the colonizers. This claim provided a legal loophole for punishment and execution of the population as rebellious vassals if they resisted, and the document stated: "We emphasize that any deaths that result from this [rejection of Christian rule] are your fault.” The document and its defense was an example of imperialism and colonization sanctioned by religious ideology. Bartolomé de Las Casas (11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as an historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became a Dominican friar. He was appointed as the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552) and the Historia de Las Indias, Bartolome de Las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552) and Historia de Las Indias (1550). (In Defense of the Indians, NIU Press 1992). chronicle the first decades of colonization of the Caribbean islands. He described the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous people. “At the very beginning of the evangelization of Latin America, Bartolome de Las Casas preached a God who was alive amid the situation of death. The encomienda system was rejected by Bartolome de Las Casas.” Essential Writings, 219. De Las Casas defended the indigenous population as fully human beings created in the image of God. He would become a heroic influence on life and writings of Gustavo Gutierrez. Towards the end of de Las Casas’ life and after he left the New World, Las Casas debated Juan Gines de Sepulveda (1490-1573) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juan-Gines-de-Sepulveda regarding the humanity and treatment of the indigenous population in the new world. Las Casas, pp. 132 ff. Sepúlveda was a Spanish humanist, philosopher, and theologian of the Spanish Renaissance. But he is mainly known for his participation in a famous debate with Las Casas in Valladolid, Spain, in 1550–1551. The debate centered on the legitimacy of the conquest and colonization of America by the Spanish Empire and on the treatment of the Native Americans. The main philosophical sources for Sepúlveda were Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Roman law and Christian theology. These influences allowed him to argue for the cultural superiority and domination of the Spanish over the Native Americans during and after the period of the conquest. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/valladolid-debate-rights-indigenous-people Las Casa’s observed that the cruel practices of the Conquistas disqualified their position as cruel and un-Christian. The theses Sepulveda defends, Las Casas wrote, have been the cause of unspeakable death and destruction: The so-called Conquistas and incoming Indus wiped out human populations without number and devastated the land over more than 2000 leagues, by new and various manners of cruelty and inhumanity on the part of the Spaniards in the Indies. Cited in Gustavo Guttierrez, The Power of the Poor in History (Obis Books, 1983): 196. Las Casas bore witness to medieval Christianity's confrontation with someone “other” than those humans who were known in European nations. Las Casas, though he was trained in traditional theology, articulated new perspectives in theology. He began to attach the suffering of the poor, the indigenous with the suffering of Christ on the cross. He began reading the Gospel from the viewpoint of the “scourged Christs of the Indies.” The Power of the Poor in History, 197. Las Casas was thus a great opponent of the 16th century Spanish conquest of the Americas. He reported back to Spain that “the Indians are dying before their time.” What Las Casas emphasized was that the early death of the poor is not God's will, but a rejection of it. To speak of the poor, thus, without opposing the poverty that kills them, is a major obstacle to announcing the Gospel. Gustavo Gutirrez and Dr. Paul Farmer. In the Company of the Poor: Conversations between Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez. Ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block (Orbis Books, 2013), p. 29. For the Conquerors, colonization of the lands that Columbus “discovered” were presented as a missionary endeavor. This was partially abetted by the Mercantilist view of the global economy that argued that there was a fixed amount of wealth in the world, and so that empires such as Spain must quickly claim their portion. This was further justified by the religion of the Church which claimed rule over the entire world. The incorporation of indigenous tribes into the Church became the ostensible reason for Spain's involvement in the Americas. Christian evangelistic goals were thus brought forward to justify the colonial enterprise. But, for Las Casas, they were also brought forward to indict it. Christianity was thus employed by him in defense of the poor indigenous population, which led to the controversial debate over the nature of human life, which persists into the present. For Bartolomeo de Las Casas, salvation, the great, lifelong concern of his, was the ultimate motive for his missionary activity. For him, it was bound up with the establishment of social justice. Thus, he was led to invert the hierarchy of problems traditionally posed by missionaries, on at least two points. First, the Spaniards were placing their own salvation in jeopardy by their behavior towards the Indians. Second, the prophetic perspective of Las Casas argued that under the gospel, one must see the Indians as poor persons in the gospel rather than as inhuman savages or the “heathen.” The Power of the Poor in History. pp. 194-55. Guitierrez emulated Las Casas’ concern for the pursuit of wealth by the colonizers accomplished at the expense of the poor. He argued that the Spanish seemed to worship the god of gold, rather than the God of the Bible and of Jesus Christ. Gutierez wrote, citing Las Casas: Idolatrous worship, in this case the worship of gold, so is death. In these lands, “because there were goods and riches there, which we have plundered and usurped with supreme cruelty, injustice, and tyranny, we have destroyed populations and created a wasteland.” Gold is mediator not of the gospel of life, but of injustice and death. Las Casas, 444). Liberation Theology: Praxis, Reflection, Annunciation Liberation theology must be understood as linked to and in continuity with the past. Gutierrez wrote: The theology of liberation seeks continuity, owned another horizon and in another age with the 16th century theology. And it seeks to break with the dominant theology marked by the modern period. Hence, before resuming. The threat of a theology that comes up from among the scourged Christ of the Indies, it will be appropriate to say something about the influence of the modern spirit on theological reflection in Latin America. The Power of the Poor in History, p. 198. When we think of the development of liberation theology, we naturally think of Gustavo Gutierrez, and his groundbreaking work, A Theology of Liberation (1971). Gustavo Guttierrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, 15th Anniversary ed., trans. Caridad Inda and John Eagleson (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1988) But there have been variations on the theme in recent times including black, feminist, womanist, Palestinian, Jewish and Asian takes on liberation theology. Also, liberation theology has evolved even in Gutierrez’s work. His writings demonstrate, however undeveloped, issues like globalization and the negative impact of “economic development” in the region. Contemporary concerns about the poor and poverty in Latin America have led liberation theologians to address many other related issues including the oppression of women, ecological devastation, the problem of pluralism, the effects of modernity, the reality of Neo Liberalism and the role of multinational corporations in our world. Liberation theology today addresses problems that are universal and global in nature, despite its origins in Latin America. While undeveloped, these issues are mentioned in the body of work of Gutierrez in anticipation of more current developments. Liberation Theology is anything but the spearhead of a secularizing approach or of bourgeois Christianity in Latin America. We think rather that [it is] a clear rejection, inspired by Christian faith, of the inhuman poverty existing and Latin America, [and] will militate against the negative side of secularism. In the modern spirit, the defense of life and the struggle for justice in Latin America bear the mark[s] of faith in the God of life…. The process of liberation has been watered by the blood of humble peasants and settlers who have endeavored to bear witness to the Christian faith, to solidarity with their poorer brothers and sisters. Essential Writings, p. 219. One of Gutierrez major concerns was that of individualism, a signature characteristic of modernity. For Gustavo, individualism represented the modern spirit, and flew in the face of the calls to community and the recognition that humans are part of both the global human family and also with ecological interconnections. The individual Is the absolute principle not only in economic activity but also in the building of society, for society is simply the sum total of the individual decisions that establish what Rousseau called a social contract. The individualistic route is also found in knowledge. Nothing is to be accepted as true that has not been submitted to the judgment of critical reason. Individual reason is sovereign and acknowledges no authority above itself. Radical individualism is an expression of self-sufficiency. We must recognize the existence of this individualism if we are to understand the contribution, but also the enormous limitations of the modern mentality. Essential writings, p. 216. The problem of individualism is at the heart of Guttierez’s understanding of sin. Sin is both personal and collective. It is also structural and systemic. It reflects the economic, cultural and political order of society that rewards the wealthy and powerful few and exploits the poor to enrich themselves. Sin is the break and undermining of relationships between people and their neighbors and the planet. It is a “break with God” and is rooted in “egotism, haughtiness, ambition, envy” that produces “injustice, domination, violence at every level, and conflicts between individuals, groups, social classes and peoples.” The Power of the Poor in History, 147. It produces corruption, hedonism” and undermines relationships between humans, the Creator and the whole of creation. Sin is the root of all injustice and oppression. Inbdividualism seeks to reject or ignore regulations set in place to preserve the planet and the common good. There is no love of God without the love for one’s neighbor, particularly for those who are the poor. To love God is to love the neighbor, and to love the neighbor is to love the poor. Sin is the breaking of these relationships caused by selfishness, greed, and the lust for wealth and power over others. For Gutierrez, the proclamation of the gospel, evangelization, is the announcement that relationships once broken are restored because the poor have the gospel preached to them (Luke 4: 13 ff). It is also accompanied by denunciation of the sins that are both personal and systemic, which leads to oppression and development and maintenance of social structures that reinforce the patterns of social injustice in the world. The social nature of sin results in slavery, hunger, misery, poverty, ignorance, hatred, and violence. Sin and radical individualism represent the opposites of the gospel. However, Liberation theology was not readily adopted by the Church, and was attacked and criticized as being Marxist, and heretical, a radical departure from tradition and church hierarchy. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger treated it so, and under his oversight, liberation theology was called into question, and many of its leaders were silenced including Leonardo Boff. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger “Liberation Theology (March 1984),” In: Alfred T. Hennelly, editor. Liberation Theology: A Documentary History (Orbis 1990), pp 367-74; and “The Instruction for the Doctrine of the Faith” (1986), in Hennelly, Liberation Theology, pp. 461-497. Fortunately, Gutierrez was able to stave off criticism due to his relatively conservative approach from within the system, and his support from fellow Peruvian clerics. From 1930 up to the Vatican 2, issues of poverty and the evangelization of the poor began to be examined by the Church. This would lead to post-Vatican Two councils in Medellin, Puebla and Santo Domingo. Gutierrez comments extensively on the documents presented by the pope or by gatherings of groups like CELAM, an organization of powerful bishops, or the Vatican court to ensure doctrinal integrity and conformity, the “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” Alfred T. Hennelly, ed., “Puebla Final Document: A Preferential Option for the Poor,” pp. 253-258; and” Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation,” (March 22, 1986) In: Liberation Theology: A Documentary History, ed. by Alfred T. Hennelly, pp. 461- 497. Gutierrez judiciously cites and incorporates elements from these conferences in his own writings. These included a modified and less threatening use of Marxist social analysis as an important way to analyze the economic problems facing the poor on a systemic basis. The socio Christian element, searching for a middle row between capitalism and socialism, espoused a social reform approach, and demonstrated an openness to the modern world, as well as, guardedly, to the liberal ideology whose genesis and characteristics were presented in the first part of this chapter. Today, hoping to profit by the political situation in Latin America, defenders of the socio Christian position are attempting to rejuvenate it and present it once more as the Christian solution to Latin Americans problems. Power of the Poor, p. 198. Methodology: Reflection on Praxis The methods used by liberation theology proponents are controversial, as they did not square with the top-down, hierarchical approach of traditional Catholic doctrine, and the presumed control of it by the church hierarchy. Cardinal Ratzinger and others argued that the creeds and the authority of the Church established the traditional norms for the development and propagation of true doctrine. The liberation theologians disagreed, though Gutierrez skillfully used the teachings of the church, including “The Chalcedonian principle” as the foundation for his theology. The Chalcedonian principle was that the union of the two natures of Christ suggests an integrated theology that combines the spiritual and material worlds. He also used extensive and well-documented use of the Bible to note biblical perspectives on poverty, the poor, and social justice as pervasive teachings in scripture. Essential Writings, 294, ff; A Theology of Liberation, pp. 165 ff; and his groundbreaking works, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1987); and his work on biblical theology, The God of Life. Trans. By Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991. He was studiously familiar with the accepted approaches to biblical scholarship by such luminaries as Gerhard von Rad. But along with this approach, Gutierrez insisted that the first act of engagement with the people around their struggles precedes the second act of proclamation. For Gutierrez and other liberation theologians, the priorities of context, the situation facing the poor from below, and the realty of structural oppression takes precedent. Proclamation must be accompanied by denunciation of the patterns of social injustice in Latin America and elsewhere. For Gutierrez, the issue is one of the starting points. Does one start with theology and the creeds of the church, or from the experience and context of the hard realities facing the poor? Personally, I hope they (The “Congregation” led by Joseph Ratzinger) and the document “Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology of Liberation,” by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, August 6, 1984. In: Hennelly, Liberation Theology: Documentary History, 393-414. they released … encourage a greater fidelity to the gospel, to the God of life revealed in Jesus Christ, and the poor and oppressed of my country. I also believe that {they] are a contribution that flows out of a concrete commitment to bring the gospel to, and stand in solidarity with, those who are denied their most fundamental rights. As the document itself states, “we must start from the practice, if by that we mean our pastoral practice and a social practice inspired by the gospel.” I believe the document is being very precise; this practice has been the starting point for all have been able to contribute to theological reflection in the church at large. Gustavo Gutirrez, “Criticism will Deepen, Clarify Liberation Theology,” Sept 14, 1984. In: Hennelly, Liberation Theology, p. 423. Gutierrez argued that orthopraxis is as important as orthodoxy and must be linked together in an integral manner. He accepted the circular hermeneutical device, called by many the hermeneutical circle, that the back-and-forth interaction between reflection and praxis, theory and practice, action and reflection was necessary if the gospel was going to be relevant to the situational needs of the poor of his parish. Such an approach emphasized the “preferential option for the poor,” that God favors and defends the poor against injustice, and this should also be the stance of the church. Others argue for the “epistemological privilege of the poor,” that the poor know their own situation better than the clerics from the outside, including those from the Vatican, and their voice and agency needs to be heeded and respected. Poverty is not just personal and is certainly not merely the plight of an individual, but embraces groups, and social classes. Poverty is experienced by classes of people who do not have the ownership of property, the ownership of land, or the freedom to pursue their own interests and to their own good. Poverty for Guttierrez “encompasses economic, social and political dimensions.” Poverty means an early death, and oppression is often accompanied by murder and violence. When a people are not taken into account, when the people is despised in one way or another, then in a certain sense the persons who belong to that people are also being killed. The dehumanizing of the other gives the oppressor the permission to treat that person as a nobody and sanctions any form of violence against them. Cited in Nickoloff, Essential Writings, 144. Guttierrez recognized that social science was helpful to give the religious leader the tools to analyze class conflicts, and to search for the root causes of injustice and poverty. However, Gutierrez was not supporting a social science approach as a substitute for the gospel or for evangelization. He was aware that such an approach could be idolatrous. Instead, he argued that evangelization needed to employ “two languages,” the prophetic voice and the contemplative voice. Each language needed each other for a more holistic approach to the gospel and to address the personal and structural conditions of injustice that the poor experienced daily. In his, The Power of the Poor in History, Gutierrez describes this approach to theology and praxis. In the events of history, we recognize fulfillment and promise. And all of this because Jesus is the Christ of God, the one sent by the Father: the Son. “Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only son” (John 3:16). For Jesus is the irruption into history of the one by whom everything was made, and everything was saved. This, then, is the fundamental hermeneutical circle: from the human being to God and from God to the human being, from history to faith and from faith to history, from the human word to the word of the Lord and from the word of the Lord to the human word, from the love of one's brothers and sisters to the love of the Father and from the love of the Father to the love of ones brothers and sisters, from human justice to God's holiness and from God's holiness to human justice. Theology -- understanding faith -- is animated by the desire to help others live according to the spirit. Cited in Essential Writings, 60. For Gutierrez, all language is contextual. The emphasis on the “first act” is the doing of the word, of the reflection on the reality of one’s experience. This approach, from below, recognizes the realty and truth of the experience of the poor, and argues for a “church of the poor,” whereby the poor are not just the recipients of the gospel, but are the speakers and proclaimers of it as well. The dabar (Heb. “word”) is not just spoken but acted upon. It is performative, and based in practice, and conveyed in story and reflection upon one’s own experience in context. Ibid, 72-73. The plight of the poor is not the fault or the blame of the poor but is a consequence of the structures of injustice built into an economic system that marginalizes, excludes, oppresses, victimizes, oppresses, denies and humiliates the poor. The use of the prophetic language employs a serious study of biblical texts that describe the plight of the poor, and the responsibility of the faithful to reach out to and include those who are the outcasts, the poor and the “others” of society. The prophet Isaiah announces that quote: “The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth.” Gutierrez goes on to say: Only if we know how to be silent and involve ourselves in the suffering of the poor will be able to speak out of their hope. Only if we take seriously the suffering of the innocent and live the mystery of the cross amid that suffering, but in the light of Easter, can we prevent our theology from being “windy arguments” (Job 16:3) ... But if we do, then we shall not deserve to hear from the poor the reproach that job through in the faces of [Job’s] friends: “What sorry comforters you are!” (16:2). On Job, p. 103. For Gutierrez, the task of the evangelizer is to find words that will announce the gospel to the millions who are starving. It must find a message that addressed and reverses the humiliation of the poor who are regarded as inferior, including women, especially women who are poor who are facing “systematic social injustice, a persistent high rate of infant mortality, those who simply disappear or are deprived of their freedom, the sufferings of people who are struggling for their right to live, the Exiles and the refugees, terrorism of every kind, and the corpse fields of common graves…. What we must deal with is not the past, but, unfortunately, a cruel present and a dark tunnel with no apparent end. On Job, p. 102. Theology is how we tell the poor: God Loves You? For Gutierrez, the poor of the world are the insignificant, the nobodies, who are dehumanized and exploited by the rich for their own greed, wealth and power. But these poor are also those created in the image of God and have infinite worth and dignity. The empowerment of the poor is the task of evangelization, to bring them good news, that they are, or could be, part of the Kingdom of God, the new community as a new humanity. For the most part, the ministry of Jesus was focused on the poor and the outcasts, and these include the widows and the orphans, women, the diseased, those considered to be both inhuman and the “other” in society, from the first century to the present. Good news to the poor, and the Messianic banquet, the Eucharist, is an invitation to the poor to be part of the new community that loves them for who they are. Gutierrez summarizes his commitment to the gospel and to the poor. I do theology as one who comes from a context of deep poverty, and those for me, the first question of theology is how do we say to the poor: “God loves you?” I understand that the words “God loves you” are not difficult to say. But this message—true as it is---presents a monumental challenge given the daily life of poor persons and their experience of exclusion and non-love, of being forgotten, of having no social rights. And so, what does it mean to take seriously the question of how to say and to show to persons living in the structure of violence, living in social injustice and seeming insignificance, that “God loves you?” This is the question that the theology of liberation attempts to answer. The answer to this question takes us to the heart of the Gospel, where we see the primacy of the poor in God's Kingdom. And thus, we address the poor not only to make life better for the poor, but also to announce the gospel to the world. Liberation from the sin of social injustice and exclusion is a clear sign of evangelization and the reality of God's reign on earth. The Company of the Poor, pp. 27- 28. The gospel brings hope to the poor and believes that the poor also bring hope to the world. The expectation and promise of the gospel envision a utopian hope for a different society and social order. Although a new society is not the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God embraces a new social order that affirms the dignity of all human beings, including the hope of a new and transformed earth. In the new earth, friendship between human beings and their kin in the planetary system is affirmed, transformed and established. God’s love is both universal, for all living beings, and also particular, especially for the poor via the “option for the poor.” The Kingdom of God “does not recognize the boundaries, of social class, race or gender.” Gustavo Guttierrez and Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller On the Side of the Poor (Orbis, 2013), p. 6; and, The Company, the Poor, pp 28-29. What the preferential option for the poor reveals is that the calculus and design of the gospel is not the same as our world’s. For Gutierrez, the gospel for the poor is also the hope of the poor. Any attempt to make progress in theology apart from the hope of the poor -- a hope from within their world and on their own terms-- could well gain a little here and a little there, perhaps, but would not give us the quantum leap we were looking for. This is important. The only way to come to a new theological focus and language was to sink our roots in the social life of the Latin American people, the people whose own roots are geographically, historically, and culturally so deep in this land; the slowly people who had so long kept silent and now suddenly wished to speak, to cry out. The Power of the Poor, p. 201. Guttierrez was motivated by the notion of God’s gratuitousness, the acts of grace. Love and kindness that would not require effort or mutuality on the part of the recipient. But more than this, Guttierrez believed that “disciples” then and now needed to be converted to the poor. The poor must become subjects of their own history, those who “drink from their own wells” -- waters that came from both material and spiritual resources. See Gustavo Gutirrez. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People, 20th anniversary ed., trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2003. For Guttierrez, “The future of history belongs to the poor and exploited. True liberation would be the work of the oppressed themselves. In them, the Lord saves history. The spirituality of liberation will have as its basis the spirituality of the anawim.” Gustavo Guttierrez. In: Daniel G. Groody, Selected with an Introduction. Gustavo Gutirrez, Spiritual Writings (Orbis, 2011), p. 51. . For Guttierrez, the love of God is the love of one’s neighbor, these are not separable. Following the words of Matthew’s Gospel, if you feed the hungry give water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, and visit those in prison “you have done it to me” by doing it to the poor, to the least of these my brothers and sisters. “The love for God is unavoidably expressed through love of one’s neighbor. Moreover, God is love in the neighbor: If a man says I love God but hates his brother, he is a liar. If he does not love the brother whom he has seen. It cannot be that he loves God, whom he has not seen” Essential Writings, p.154. The goal of evangelization is the establishment of community, to bring the Kingdom of God to the people, to welcome the poor, the stranger, the hungry and the outcasts of society into a new humanity and a new society. It is the gospel to the poor, good news to the “others” in society. This is solidarity, and to experience solidarity presumes a conversion to the poor, and a conversion to the gospel, which is not just to the poor, but from the poor as well (the option for the poor).” It is a call to commitment. but not a commitment in words only, and not for a timeless space outside of time and history. “A commitment within history calls for effective action within history, But the effort to achieve efficacy brings with it a deeper penetration into God's gratuitous love as a source of everything else and as the power that sweeps us along with it.” We Drink from our Own Wells, p. 93. The solidarity required by the preferential option for the poor forces us back to the fundamental Christian attitude: a grasp of the need for continual conversion. We are then able to find in the break with former ways and in our chosen new way deeper dimensions of a personal and social, material and spiritual, kind. The conversion to the Lord, to which solidarity with the oppressed brings us, calls for stubbornness and constancy on the road we have undertaken. We Drink From our Own Wells, p. 106. “Solidarity with the poor is a source of spirituality, the establishment of a community, a collective of those who have converted and changed their life orientations. It is a journey toward God.” It is a journey that accompanies and lives with and among the poor that gives both testimony and exposes the “inhuman situation of the poor exposes in all its cruelty, but that also allows its possibilities and hopes to be discovered.” The Company of the Poor, p. 150. Like the merciful Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke, the script is flipped. It is the “other,” the enemy, the Samaritan of another ethnicity and differing sacred house of worship who proves to be the good neighbor. In this case, it was not enough to bandage the wounds of the afflicted traveler, but the merciful Samaritan stayed with the man, made provisions for his injuries and recovery, and circled back to make sure the debts were paid, and that the injured person was on his way to healing and full recovery. The merciful Samaritan accompanied the injured traveler. He walked with him until the end of the journey was reached. Yet accompaniment is not simply walking together. It requires recognizing real work world complexities, acknowledging the nature of power and privilege, and being willing to address these while walking together. There is something fundamentally but beautifully radical in this idea. In a society so focused on individual attributes and achievement, this simple concept of walking beside another, humbly and ever toward justice, could change the world. The Company for the Poor, pp. 195 -196. It is not enough to proclaim hope in the world, but hope is done by accompaniment, and through participation in and through the faithful community, the ecclesia. This renewed understanding of the church as the people, the church of the poor, is a more tangible demonstration of God’s love in action in the real world. It is not enough to proclaim hope in the world, but one must be a hope to the others in our society, especially the poor. Hope is found subjectively in the struggles of the people for justice and inclusion. For Gustavo Guttierrez, the theology of liberation is the manifestation of hope, justice, peace, and freedom in the world, especially for those whose freedoms have been denied. In the churches of the poor, in the base communities, in civil society organizations that are announcing hope in the world, it is the realization that not only is a better world possible for everyone, but it is realizable as God’s will and intention, especially for those who have been shut out and ostracized from the goods and abundance of the earth. Bibliography Boff, Leonardo and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology. Orbis Books, 1989. Brown, Robert McAffee. Gustavo Gutierrez: An Introduction to Liberation Theology Orbis, 1990 (Wipf and Stock Reprint). Cadorette, Curt. From the Heart of the People: The Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez. Meyer Stone Books, 1988. De La Torre, Miguel. Liberation Theology for Armchair Theologians. Westminster John Knox Press, 2013. Ellis, Marc H. and Otto Maduro. The Future of Liberation Theology: Essays in Honor of Gustavo Gutierrez. Orbis, 1989. Groody, Daniel G. Selected with an Introduction. Gustavo Gutirrez, Spiritual Writings. Orbis, 2011. Gutierrez, Gustavo, “Criticism will Deepen, Clarify Liberation Theology,” In: Hennelly, Alfred T., Editor. Liberation Theology: A Documentary History. (Orbis, 1990): 419-424. Gutirrez, Gustavo. The God of Life, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991). Originally published as El Dios de la vida (Lima: CEP, 1989). Gutirrez, Gusttavo and Dr. Paul Farmer. In the Company of the Poor: Conversations between Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez. Ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block. Orbis Books, 2013. Gutierrez, Gustavo. Las Casas: In Search of the Poor of Jesus Christ, trans. Robert R. Barr (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1993). Originally published as En busca de los pobres de Jesucristo: El pensamiento de Bartolomé de las Casas (Lima: CEP, 1992). Gutierrez, Gustavo, “Liberation Praxis and Christian Faith,” In: Frontiers of Theology in Latin America, edited by Rosino Gibellini ((Orbis Books, 1979): 1-33. Gutierrez, Gustavo. On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1987). Originally published as Hablar de Dios desde el sufrimiento del inocente (Lima: CEP, 1986). Guitierrez, Gustavo and Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller. On the Side of the Poor: The Theology of Liberation. Orbis Books, 2015. Gutierrez, Gustavo. “Option for the Poor,” In: Systematic Theology: Perspectives from Liberation Theology, edited by Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Ellacuria. (Orbis Books, 1996): 22-37. Gutierrez, Gustavo. The Power of the Poor in History. Obis Books, 1983. (Wipf and Stock Reprint). Gutierrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, 15th Anniversary ed., trans. Caridad Inda and John Eagleson (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1988; 1st ed., Maryknoll: Orbis, 1973). Originally published as Teología de la liberación: Perspectivas (Lima: CEP, 1971). Gutierrez, Gustavo, “Toward a Theology of Liberation,” In: Hennelly, Alfred T., Editor. Liberation Theology: A Documentary History. (Orbis, 1990): 62-76. Gutierrez, Gustavo. The Truth Shall Make You Free: Confrontations, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1990). Originally published as La verdad los hará libres: Confrontaciones (Lima: CEP, 1986). Gutirrez, Gustavo. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People, 20th anniversary ed., trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2003; 1st ed., Maryknoll: Orbis, 1984). Originally published as Beber en su propio pozo: En el itinerario espiritual de un pueblo (Lima: CEP, 1983). Hennelly, Alfred T., Editor. Liberation Theology: A Documentary History. Orbis, 1990. Hesselmans, Marthe with Jonathan Teubner. Gustavo’s Guitierrez’s A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation. Macot International Limited, 2017). [Note: This introduction has an excellent bibliography]. Nickoloff, James B. Editor. Gustavo Gutierrez: Essential Writings. Orbis,1996. 26