ABSTRACT Being the Church in the Face of State Violence: Lessons from Latin America Lauren E. Lee Director: Victor Hinojosa, Ph.D. During the Cold War, both Chile and El Salvador experienced times of extensive state violence, including the torture and disappearance of many of their own citizens. Ignacio Ellacuría, a Jesuit priest and liberation theologian, acted as a prophetic voice during the Salvadoran Civil War. I will examine his theology as a narrative of structural sin, redeemed through liberation, with the Church acting as a ‘historical sacrament.’ William Cavanaugh, an American theologian, assessed the use of torture in Chile as a tactic which tears apart both individual and social bodies. While the state uses torture to rend the society, and nationalism to bind atomized individuals to itself, he sees the re- membering of the Church in the Eucharist as the proper response to state violence. Through these authors, we see a Church that takes seriously its concern for the poor (in body and spirit) and we learn to seek unity that distinguishes the Church from the world as a space of faith, hope, and love. APPROVED BY DIRECTOR OF HONORS THESIS: _____________________________________________ Dr. Victor Hinojosa, Department of Political Science APPROVED BY THE HONORS PROGRAM: __________________________________________________ Dr. Elizabeth Corey, Director DATE: __________________________ BEING THE CHURCH IN THE FACE OF STATE VIOLENCE: LESSONS FROM LATIN AMERICA A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Baylor University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Program By Lauren E. Lee Waco, Texas May 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface . iii Acknowledgments . v Dedication . vii Introduction . 1 Chapter One: Ignacio Ellacuría . 15 Chapter Two: William Cavanaugh . 67 Conclusion: Being the Church . 120 Bibliography . 138 ii PREFACE When the sun rose this Easter morning, it was hidden by a thick bank of clouds. Permeating them was the grey light of morning, which would soon break through to the full sunlight of midday. On Friday night we left the chapel in silence, waiting in darkness, knowing that on Easter morning we would exclaim “He is risen, indeed!” He is, indeed, risen, but we often see Him through the clouds, as in a mirror dimly, while we wait for Him to shine forth like the noonday sun in all His glory. The Church is “in between,” knowing that Jesus has been raised and knowing that He will come again, but stricken by the pain of His body, the Church, and the darkness of Holy Saturday. We exalt Him, knowing that He will come again. We exalt Him, knowing that He has been raised to life eternal. And we exalt Him, knowing that the old things have passed away, that the new things have come. Christ has already come and He has not yet finished His work in the Church and the world. Nonetheless, the Church must abide in the already and the not yet in the face of state violence and suffering, poverty and oppression, sexual violence and emotional scars. When I began this project, I wanted to know how Christians could live as a faithful witness to the world through their political actions. Now, as I write the final lines, I see that the Church walks with Christ and with His disciples through Holy Week. In some ways, it walks the road of suffering with Christ as it should. In some ways, it stays faithful to the Rabbi and Lord. But, in other ways, it flees from the garden and leaves the Lord to walk alone, hiding in fear, denying its master and friend, or gathered together but inattentive to the Suffering Servant. This work is a testament to the struggle of the iii Church on Good Friday, to walk with the oppressed, the beaten, the broken, and, I hope, an encouraging reminder that His lowly band of disciples, committed to love the Living God and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, saw the resurrected Lord and lived as a witness to the Gospel. These authors call the body of Christ to witness to the Gospel in the dark day of waiting between Christ’s death and resurrection, between His ascension and His return. It is the mission of the Church to love the people of God and the potential people of God throughout the nations, witnessing to salvation and redemption in word and deed. May we live in that calling and bless His Name forever. Lauren Lee March 27th, 2016 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When I began this project, I was excited about Latin America and political theory. As I add the finishing touches, I am thankful that it morphed into a theological project, rooted in Latin America. I am tremendously grateful to the professors who have helped me discover this path and have been the agents of God’s guidance in my life. To the many at Baylor University with whom I have worked the last four years, thank you. A particular debt of gratitude is owed to Dr. Joan Supplee, who introduced me to Latin American history and was a mentor for me as a member of Baylor’s Model Organization of American States team, which became a passion and source of identity for me throughout my time at Baylor; to Dr. David Corey, who led me into the study of political theology and showed me the importance of answering broad questions about our interactions with one another, systems of power, and the search for freedom and happiness; and, to Dr. Junius Johnson, who has helped me to realize the immensity of the Christian tradition and the attention it requires and deserves. I would never have been able to complete this project had it not been for the guidance of three professors who would become my thesis committee members. Dr. Jonathan Tran began the discussion of political theology with Dr. Hinojosa and me a year ago, helping me to compile the reading list that would turn my attention toward William Cavanaugh. Dr. Matthew Whelan offered up Ignacio Ellacuría as an important political theologian in Latin America, then read drafts and provided direction that would bring the project into its final form. I am endlessly indebted to my thesis director, Dr. Victor Hinojosa, for his kindness to me. When he was not reading and commenting dozens of v drafts of half-completed chapters, he was acting as an academic mentor, a counselor, and a friend, who would help me maintain my sanity and find academic direction for the future. Finally, I cannot neglect to thank my family for their unending support. My grandparents, Shirley and Herbert Jabben and Kenneth and Miriam Lee have always painted a beautiful picture of the love of Christ. “Grandma Jabben” was a faithful caretaker to my grandfather during his last years, and has been a faithful grandmother to me as she made coffee and baked muffins while I furiously paged through Torture and Eucharist. Kenneth and Miriam Lee, through over sixty years of marriage, demonstrate to me Christ’s abiding kindness and joy. My brother, Zach, has shows his love and kindness towards me and provides an example of diligence and motivation as he continues the path to become a physician. My parents, David and Ellie Lee, have demonstrated their love through constant encouragement and sometimes through rounds of editing. I would never have completed this project without these years of their steady, loving guidance, forming me into my identity as a Child of God, a member of the body of Christ. They led me into the body of Christ, our loving family, at Westbrooke Church in Overland Park, Kansas, where I have formed the friendships that have guided my formation as a member of the Church. I hope that this thesis will serve as a testament to communities of Christian love and truth that have strengthened me for my journey thus far, and an encouragement for communities to come. vi DEDICATION For my parents, who have been the Church to me through their love and guidance on every step of my journey. vii INTRODUCTION Father Ignacio Ellacuría, S. J., a priest of the Jesuit order, was murdered in 1989 by a military squadron on the grounds of the one of the most important universities in El Salvador, the Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeon Cañas” (UCA), where he served as rector. The death of Ellacuría and five of his companions, their housekeeper, and her child, brought to light the level of atrocity being perpetrated during the Salvadoran Civil War. Before his life was cut short, Ellacuría left a powerful testimony for Christians in both his life and his work, contributing to the development of liberation theology. He criticized the state in El Salvador for the structures of sin it maintained and the oppression of its people. Only nine years after Ellacuría’s assassination, William T. Cavanaugh would publish his first book, Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ. Cavanaugh was an assistant professor at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota at the time, but his work was grounded five thousand miles away and twenty- five years earlier in Chile, just after the coup that would bring the military junta and General Augusto Pinochet Uguarte to power. In his work on the Chilean military dictatorship, Cavanaugh focuses on the Church and the power of the Eucharist in opposition to the dismantling of physical and social bodies, while in many of his other works he concentrates on the role of the Church as an alternate mode of society, in contrast to the state that seeks to become an idol. Drawing from two theologians with distinct backgrounds and apparently dissimilar expectations for the interaction between Church and state, this work will add to 1 the broad discussion of the work of the Church and the world.