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THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY of GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ By THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ by WILLIAM B. DUNCAN, B.A., M.A. A DISSERTATION IN POLITICAL SCIENCE Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Chairperson of the Committee Accepted Dean of the Graduate School May, 1995 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank, first of all. Professor Clarke Cochran for his assistance and support throughout my graduate education. His patience, tireless editing, and compassion were critical in the completion of my dissertation. I would also like to thank the members of my committee. Professors William Oden, Neale Pearson, Sue Tolleson Rinehart, and Charles Fox, for their help and encouragement. I would like to recognize the tremendous love, help, and loyalty of my grandmother, Rena McCutcheon Duncan, and my mother, Jeanne Hearn Duncan. I only wish my grandmother could have lived until the completion of my doctorate. I dedicate this manuscript to her memory. Many thanks go also to Jacquelyn and Stephan T. Richards for the countless ways they have helped me. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Debra Faye Browne-Duncan, and our son, David, for their love and support during the completion of this work. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION Theoretical Parameters Contemporary Criticism Scope and Methods The Voegelinian Model II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY Introduction Before Vatican II Vatican II CELAM Signs of the Times Encountering Liberation Solidarity and Prophetic Denunciation Liberation Theologians III. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ Introduction Gutierrez and Liberation Theology 111 Gutierrez's Background IV. MAN AND GOD Introduction Gutierrez's Anthropology The Impact of Modernity Faith and Humanity Gutierrez's Theology A Different View of God History and Theophany Conclusion V. WORLD AND SOCIETY Introduction Gutierrez's Worldly Theology The Hamartiosphere The World of the Poor Gutierrez's Social Theology Social Conflict and Agape The Hermeneutic Circle The Anthroposphere Conclusion VI. LIBERATION AND PRAXIS Introduction Gutierrez's Response IV From Development to Liberation Integral Liberation Gutierrez's Prescription Hodos: The Way Christian Base Communities Conclusion VII. CONCLUSION ENDNOTES REFERENCES V ABSTRACT Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian Roman Catholic priest and theologian, is one of the most recognized proponents of the religio-political movement known as Liberation Theology. Born of frustrations over the failure of many nations in Latin America to achieve a socially equitable level of economic, political and social development. Liberation Theology represents a radical religious response, analysis and critique of existing conditions in the region. This study examines the radical foundations of Gutierrez's works, in particular, his reliance upon the work of critical theorists such as Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx. Gutierrez's works are analyzed from the perspective of Eric Voegelin, a dedicated critic of the secular thought of both Hegel and Marx. This present study utilizes Voegelin's thought to construct an analytical matrix with which to examine the work of Gutierrez. It is argued that, based on this examination, Gutierrez does not fall victim to the "gnostic" temptations to which both Hegel and Marx ultimately succumbed in Voegelin's judgment. VI LIST OF TABLES 1. Analytical Matrix 2 . Man and God 3. World and Society 4. Response and Prescription 5. Summary of Findings Vll CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Of the many interesting phenomena to emerge from the contemporary milieu in Latin America the movement known as Liberation Theology has caught the attention of scholars, policy makers, and students of church-state relations. It challenges, and perhaps even threatens, persons to reconsider the relationship between the secular and religious world view and focuses attention on some major Western assumptions concerning this relationship. The movement has provoked strong responses from a variety of groups and individuals. Anyone seeking to understand, study, or analyze contemporary Latin American society must confront the movement and its implications for the future of the region. Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian priest, theologian, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, is a major proponent of Liberation Theology and, through his writings and activities, has played a major role in the evolution of the movement. It was at a meeting with peasants in the fishing village of Chimbote, Peru, in 1968 that he first used the concept "Liberation Theology" and in 1971 produced the seminal work, Teologia de la liberacion (A Theology of Liberation, 1988). This initial explication of the concept of a liberating theology has been followed by many books and articles continuing in his latest major work, first published as La verdad los hara litres: confrontationes (The Truth Shall Make You Free: Confrontations,(1990). As the subtitle to this work suggests, Gutierrez has challenged not only many within his own church, but others who, for one reason or another, object to his way of doing theology. Gutierrez' theology, qua theology, is beyond the scope of the present study; however, his theology has implications that go far beyond the parameters of strict reflections on scripture and church doctrine. Gutierrez specifically rejects, as do nearly all liberation theologians, what is known as the subject/object dichotomy, or—in respect to Gutierrez's specific interests—what is commonly called the separation of religion and politics. He asserts that the secularization of modern society this dichotomy has produced is a major symptom of modern society's current malaise. What he offers instead of modern society's de-divinized, materialistically oriented politics is a politics formed by religious faith and practice. He condemns religious attitudes that lead to the acceptance of the primacy of secular ideologies in the political realm and asserts that religion should and must also participate in it. Gutierrez's work, thus, challenges much contemporary thinking and assumptions concerning the evolution of modern politics; the assumptions of the modernization process as they are understood from the perspective of industrialized society also are challenged, as well as the ontological foundations of much of contemporary political philosophy. The profundity of this challenge has produced many reactions, studies, and reflection concerning his insights, and the claims of Liberation Theology. The present study will proceed by taking this challenge seriously and will produce an analysis of Gutierrez's work that goes beyond many contemporary analyses that are, at best, merely ideological prejudices in analytic form. Many works have treated Gutierrez's contributions seriously but have not gone beyond the traditional separation of religion and politics; still others, in their zeal to defend his works, have overlooked unresolved problems and contradictions. Fortunately, Gutierrez himself recognizes these difficulties and takes them seriously; he does not avoid criticism, nor does he relent in the face of it. It is Gutierrez's openness to dialogue that encourages an analysis of his work from a theoretical perspective. If the present study is to be different from those already mentioned, it must analyze the work of Gutierrez in a way that adequately addresses his central focus, his methodology, and his profound challenge to the status quo. There are, currently, many perspectives that are critical of the evolution of modern society, but few with the conceptual inclusivity of the political philosopher Eric Voegelin (1901-1985). In his work, Voegelin treats the languages of myth, religion, and philosophy as equivalent expressions of the same underlying unity in the human condition. Although Voegelin was primarily interested in the history and philosophy of the West, the significance of his work transcends cultural boundaries and is applicable to examining other cultural traditions (see, for example, Kwon 1991) . What is particularly attractive in Voegelin's work is his focus on experience as the pivotal concept in history, society, and personal development. He, like Gutierrez, drinks deep from the well of the past and is highly critical of modern ideologies that are founded on a reductionist view of reality. His philosophy includes a divine sphere of action in history, and this forms the core of his criticism of modern political philosophy's failure to recognize divine-human encounters. Not only does Voegelin offer an alternative to the modern reductionist theories, he provides a model for identifying and understanding how modern ideological movements become "derailed" from an authentic understanding of human potential into "ersatz religions" that try to replace the true order of being human with a misanthropic variant. What the present study does, then, is to utilize Voegelin to analyze the work of Gustavo Gutierrez in an attempt to determine if his work is, as many of his critics have charged, merely another revolutionary ideology leading to a reductionist dead end, or if it is an authentic quest for the meaning of existence. If Gutierrez's work does survive as an authentic expression of reality, then his work, and by extension, much of the content of the movement of Liberation Theology, may be seen in a new light. Theoretical Parameters Since the advent of Christianity, the tensions between the material and spiritual aspects of reality have become acute. In antiquity,
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