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Liberation Theology 9 Bookdesign by Guenetabraham 2 Going to the Poor 29 Manufactured in the United States of America 3 Mirror of Life: the Bible Read by the Poor 45

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Liberation Theology 9 Bookdesign by Guenetabraham 2 Going to the Poor 29 Manufactured in the United States of America 3 Mirror of Life: the Bible Read by the Poor 45 Also by Phillip Berryman llBIRATION Inside Central America: The Essential Facts Past and 0 0 Present on El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, THE L GY and Costa Rica The Religious Roots of Rebellion: Christians in Central ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT THE American Revolutions REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA­ L--------AND BEYOND-------1 PHILLIP BERRYMAN TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS PHILADELPHIA f ··1 )Ii - .... !/ ! ,. ., r s ._. CONTENTS .., \.1 ~-·' .r, _,..,~~ l Copyright © 1987 by Phillip Berryman All rights reserved under International and Pan­ American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122. Published by arrangement with Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 86-051399 Intro9uction 1 ISBN 0-87722-479-X 1 Birth Pangs: Emergence of Liberation Theology 9 Bookdesign by GuenetAbraham 2 Going to the Poor 29 Manufactured in the United States of America 3 Mirror of Life: The Bible Read by the Poor 45 4 A New Model of Church: Christian Base Communities 63 5 Feet-on-the-Ground: From Experience to Theology 80 6 Captivity and Hope: Shifting Contexts of Liberation Theology 96 7 The Infinite Worth of the Poor: A Critical Vision of Human Rights 111 8 Taking Sides: Faith, Politics, and Ideology 125 INTRODUCTION 9 Utilizing Marxism: Observations on Practice and Theology 138 10 God of Life: The Religious Vision of Liberation Theology 151 11 Other Accents: Third World, Black, Hispanic, and Feminist Theologies 162 12 Does It Liberate? Objections to Liberation Theology 179 13 Looking Ahead 201 References 209 Index 223 N SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 23, 1980, I WAS IN THE crowded church in San Salvador where Archbishop Oscar Romero was preaching. Poor people, elbow to 0 elbow, overflowed from the aisles in the late morning heat. For over an hour Romero wove a commentary on the scriptural passages for the day, the fourth Sunday in Lent, around the theme of liberation in one's own person, in the community, and in relation to God. Romero's voice was being transmitted through the country­ side for the first time in weeks, after bomb damage to the archdiocesan radio station had been repaired. During the last part of the sermon Romero commented briefly on many events of the previous week that the media would not report or would cover only in distorted versions. The National Guard was ac­ cusing Father Ricardo Ayala of being involved with guerrillas; 2 L b e r a t o n T h e o 0 g y 3 the police had made a search of a parish house of some Belgian avenue in San Salvador, I began to wonder whether this sermon priests; the archdiocese was opening facilities to take in refu­ might not seal Romero's fate. gees fleeing violence in the countryside; troops had surrounded The next day in the street we found a mimeographed hate the national university for a whole day; other troops had sheet comparing Romero to Khomeini. On Monday evening, stormed the Catholic university and killed a student; through­ as we were interviewing the Salvadoran Human Rights Com­ out the week many people had been arrested unjustly. Amnesty mission, word arrived that Romero had been shot while saying International had found some 83 people had been killed be­ mass. We spent the next two days in the company of his tween March 10 and 14. (Although guerrilla war was not to stunned and grief-stricken coworkers; the funeral itself was dis­ break out for many months, the church later documented 588 rupted by a bomb and automatic weapon attack. killings during this month, almost all the work of government Those moments-that sermoQ, Romero's murder, his fu­ and right-wing forces.) neral-are among the most important in my life. They also Romero ended with a plea to members of the army and the express the core of liberation theology. What the archbishop security forces not to kill the peasants. said had an undeniable political impact-he was telling soldiers to disobey. Yet he was simply reminding them of God's com­ My brothers, they are part of our very own people. You are mand "Thou shalt not kill!" His aim in preaching was to point killing your own fellow peasants. God's law, "Thou shalt not to the genuine theological sense of the pain and struggle in El kill!" takes precedence over a human being's order to kill. No Salvador, and to enable people to continue hoping. Out of a soldier is obliged to obey an order that is against God's law. No similar kind of faith many Latin Americans have risked and one has to obey an immoral law. sacrificed their lives. Liberation theology has attracted considerable attention in He continued pleading with them-even ordering them-to stop recent years. On each of Pope John Paul H's major trips to the repression. Latin America (Mexico, 1979; Brazil, 1980; Central America, After the mass I was talking with a theologian who was close 1983; Andean countries of South America, 1985), he has is­ to Romero. When I expressed my concern about such a direct sued warnings apparently aimed at theologians. In September challenge to the military, he said the matter had been discussed 1984 the Vatican published a major document pointing to its during the regular Saturday afternoon meeting of a team of dangers, and in 1985 it silenced the Brazilian Franciscan priest priests, sisters, and lay people with whom Romero consulted Leonardo Boff. In Nicaragua priests serve in a revolutionary for his sermons. The team had agreed that the level of killing government, while the Catholic bishops are leading opposition made it necessary despite the risk. figures. I was in El Salvador with an ecumenical church group. After The controversy is not a purely internal church matter; it has the mass we attended a press conference, then met with Ro­ played a major role in the Reagan administration's efforts to mero and some of his advisors. With his crew cut and glasses, justify its Central American policy. A 1980 document blueprint­ and his clerical demeanor, Romero did not fit my idea of a ing a new policy on Latin America, written by the Committee prophet. Later in the afternoon we interviewed some of the of Santa Fe, whose members were part of the Reagan circle, first refugees of the conflict, whom he had received on the stated that "U.S. policy must begin to counter (not react against) grounds of the seminary where the archdiocesan offices were liberation theology as it is utilized in Latin America by the also located. Late that night, as I was walking down a deserted 'liberation theology' clergy." 4 L b e r a t o n T h e o 0 g y 5 Journalistic accounts all too easily reinforce simplistic ster­ It is at the same time an attempt to help the poor interpret eotypes, portraying liberation theology as an exotic brew of their own faith in a new way. To take a simple but central Marxism and Christianity, or as a movement of rebel priests example, in traditional Latin American piety Jesus is almost bent on challenging church authority. The aim of this book is mute, indeed most often represented dead on the cross. Per­ quite simply to get beyond the cliches and to explain what haps the fact that their society crucifies them and keeps them liberation theology is (primarily in Latin America), how it arose, mute makes ordinary Latin Americans identify with such a how it works in practice, and its implications. Some initial ob­ Christ. Liberation theology focuses on Jesus' life and message. servations may be helpful for beginning the discussion. For example, in his initial sermon, a kind of manifesto, Jesus Liberation theology is theology-that is, it is a systematic, quotes Isaiah, "He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, disciplined reflection on Christian faith and its implications. Its to proclaim liberty to captives . : . " and says that the passage proponents were trained as theologians, usually in Europe, and is fulfilled in him. The poor learn to read the Scripture in a they write about the same topics that Christian theologians have way that affirms their dignity and self-worth and their right to always taken up: God, creation, Jesus Christ, the church, grace, struggle together for a more decent life. and so forth. This point is not always self-evident. The Santa People do not simply happen to be poor; their poverty is Fe Committee accuses liberation theologians of using the largely a product of the way society is organized. Hence, lib­ church "as a political weapon against private property and pro­ eration theology is a critique of economic structures that enable ductive capitalism by infiltrating the religious community with some Latin Americans to jet to Miami or London to shop, ideas that are less Christian than Communist." while most of their fellow citizens do not have safe drinking Readers will be able to judge for themselves whether that water. In particular, liberation theologians have critiqued the accusation is accurate or fair. At this point I would simply assert ideologies that justify such inequality, including their use of that one cannot understand liberation theology unless one sees religious symbols. Military dictatorships have often practiced it as theology. torture to defend what they are fond of calling "Western 'Chris­ Unlike their colleagues in other parts of the world, these tian' civilization." theologians generally do not teach in universities and seminar­ A further area of questioning has been the activity of the ies, at least not full-time.
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