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__________________________________________________________________
Armando
de
la
Torre
The
Wordly
Failures
of
Liberation
Theology
“
A
specter
was
haunting
America
…
the
specter
of
the
Theology
of
Liberation
…
”
This
paraphrase
of
one
of
the
initial
statements
of
The
Communist
Manifesto
by
Karl
Marx
and
Friedrich
Engels
in
1848
comes
to
my
mind
readily
,
as
I
try
to
summarize
the
present
bankruptcy
of
a
theory
which
threatened
to
revolutionize
Latin
America
once
more
in
the
late
seventies
,
and
contaminated
increasingly
larger
segments
of
the
Catholic
clergy
in
the
United
States
as
well
.
There
were
several
doctrinaire
political
movements
of
presumed
Christian
inspiration
grouped
under
the
term
“
theology
of
Liberation
,”
which
had
in
common
a
curious
and
unprecedented
blend
of
solid
philosophical
,
and
even
theological
,
contemporary
thought
,
and
a
Hegelian
(
and
increasingly
Marxist
)
analysis
of
society
and
history
.
Roughly
,
one
can
distinguish
three
main
lines
of
thought
,
all
grouped
under
the
heading
of
the
ambiguous
term
“
Liberation
”:
The
second
:
the
Brazilian
Hugo
Assmann
put
forth
the
exact
opposite
,
which
barely
disguised
militant
Marxist
thought
under
superficially-taken
religious
terms
.
The
third
,
the
best
known
stream
of
Liberation
Theologians
,
headed
by
Father
Gustavo
Gutiérrez
of
Peru
,
followed
closely
by
the
Brazilian
brothers
Leonardo
and
Clodoveo
Boff
,
Franciscan
priests
,
and
Father
José
Luis
Segundo
,
of
Uruguay
.
1
1
Bibliography
on
this
issue
grows
by
leaps
and
bounds
.
Some
of
the
main
works
are
the
following
(
in
Spanish
):
I
.
Ellacuría
,
“
Tesis
sobre
la
posibilidad
,
necesidad
y
sentido
de
una
teología
latinoamericana
,”
in
Teología
y
Mundo
Contemporáneo
:
Homenaje
a
K
.
Rahner
en
su
70
cumpleaños
(
Cristiandad
,
Madrid
1975
),
pp
.
325-350
;
J
.
C
.
Scannone
,
“
Teología
de
la
Liberación
,”
in
C
.
Floristán
and
J
.
J
.
Tamayo
,
Conceptos
Fundamentales
de
la
Pastoral
(
Ediciones
Cristiandad
,
Madrid
,
1983
);
Gustavo
Gutiérrez
,
Teología
de
la
Liberación
(
Lima
,
1970
);
Hugo
Assmann
and
Franz
Hinkelammert
,
La
Idolatría
del
Mercado
(
Seminario
,
San
José
,
Costa
Rica
);
Hugo
Assmann
,
Teología
desde
la
praxis
de
liberación
:
Ensayo
teológico
desde
la
América
dependiente
(
Sígueme
,
Salamanca
,
1976
);
C
.
Boff
,
Teología
de
lo
político
,
sus
media-
The
first
,
most
eloquently
advocated
by
Cardinal
Pironio
,
and
the
closest
to
the
traditional
point
of
view
,
equates
“
libera-
Armando
de
la
Torre
es
Director
de
la
Escuela
tion
”
with
the
cleansing
of
the
soul
of
sin
,
Superior
de
Ciencias
Sociales
,
Universidad
the
latter
being
the
root
of
all
human
mis-
Francisco
Marroquín
.
ery
in
the
Pauline
interpretation
.
__________________________________________________________________
Laissez-Faire
27
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__________________________________________________________________
In
this
short
essay
,
I
will
try
to
analyze
Gutiérrez
’
work
,
which
I
consider
to
be
the
most
representative
.
But
before
going
into
a
more
detailed
discussion
of
his
thinking
,
I
wish
to
offer
some
preliminary
considerations
which
might
give
Anglo-Saxon
Catholic
observers
of
Latin
American
society
a
better
understanding
of
the
evolution
of
the
so-called
“
Theology
of
Liberation
.”
Since
roughly
the
mid-sixteenth
century
,
Latin
America
had
depended
on
Europe
—
and
to
a
lesser
extent
on
the
United
States
during
the
last
fifty
years
—
for
the
growth
and
vitality
of
its
religious
ciones
(
Sígueme
,
Salamanca
,
1980
)
and
Comunidad
eclesial-comunidad
política
:
Ensayos
de
eclesiología
política
(
Vozes
,
Petrópolis
,
1978
);
L
.
Boff
,
Teología
desde
el
cautiverio
(
Indo-American
Press
Service
,
Bogotá
,
1975
),
Jesucristo
y
la
liberación
del
hombre
(
Cristiandad
,
Madrid
,
1981
),
La
fe
en
la
periferia
del
mundo
:
El
caminar
de
la
iglesia
con
los
oprimidos
(
Sal
Térrea
,
Santander
,
1981
),
Iglesia
,
carisma
y
poder
:
Ensayos
de
eclesiología
militante
(
Sal
Térrea
,
Santander
,
1982
)
and
Eclesiogénesis
:
Las
comunidades
de
base
reinventan
la
iglesia
(
Sal
Térrea
,
Santander
,
1980
);
J
.
Bonino
,
La
fe
en
busca
de
eficacia
:
Una
interpretación
de
la
reflexión
teológica
latinoamericana
(
Sígueme
,
Salamanca
,
1977
);
A
.
López
Trujillo
,
Teología
liberadora
en
América
Latina
(
Paulinas
,
Bogotá
,
1978
)
and
Liberación
marxista
y
liberación
cristiana
(
BAC
,
Madrid
,
1974
);
José
Sobrino
,
Cristología
desde
América
Latina
:
Esbozo
a
partir
del
seguimiento
del
Jesús
histórico
(
CRT
,
México
,
1977
),
Jesús
en
América
Latina
:
Su
significado
para
la
fe
y
la
Cristología
(
Sal
Térrea
,
Santander
,
1982
)
and
Resurrección
de
la
verdadera
Iglesia
:
Los
pobres
,
lugar
teológico
de
la
eclesiología
(
Sal
Térrea
,
Santander
,
1981
);
S
.
Torres
(
ed
.),
Teología
de
la
liberación
y
comunidades
cristianas
de
base
(
Sígueme
,
Salamanca
,
1982
);
Comisión
Teológica
Internacional
,
Teología
de
la
liberación
(
BAC
,
Madrid
,
1978
).
life
.
Spanish
missionaries
,
as
eager
and
hardworking
as
they
were
to
win
souls
for
God
,
brought
with
them
a
Europeancentered
vision
of
the
Catholic
world
,
which
accounts
for
the
Spanish
traditional
lack
of
trust
in
native
Americans
until
well
into
the
nineteenth
century
.
This
ethnocentric
attitude
was
passed
on
to
the
children
and
grandchildren
of
the
Conquistadores
,
who
were
expected
to
live
and
behave
as
native
Spaniards
in
a
foreign
land
,
and
more
often
than
not
failed
to
live
up
to
these
expectations
.
Therefore
,
the
Catholic
Church
in
Latin
America
has
been
to
a
certain
extent
bereft
of
a
native
inborn
dynamism
to
sustain
its
growth
with
its
own
human
resources
.
This
is
apparent
still
in
the
inordinately
high
percentage
of
foreignborn
priests
and
nuns
at
the
service
of
the
local
Catholic
hierarchy
.
The
Church
was
seriously
wounded
by
two
historical
upheavals
:
one
,
the
expulsion
of
all
Jesuits
from
the
lands
subject
to
the
Bourbon
kings
between
1764
and
1773
,
which
robbed
the
Catholic
community
of
Spanish-speaking
America
of
thousands
of
their
most
energetic
and
successful
spiritual
leaders
and
missionaries
.
The
other
,
at
the
beginning
of
the
19
th
century
,
was
the
violent
separation
from
the
mother
country
of
almost
all
its
Spanish
provinces
in
America
(
Cuba
and
Puerto
Rico
were
exceptions
until
1898
).
The
hostile
anticlerical
animus
of
the
French
Revolution
greatly
influenced
the
Latin
American
movement
towards
independence
from
Spain
(
especially
under
the
aegis
of
secret
freemasonry
),
and
certainly
did
not
strengthen
the
position
of
the
Church
in
the
newly
sovereign
nations
.
This
latter
situation
was
compounded
by
the
refusal
of
the
Popes
to
name
new
__________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________
bishops
for
almost
a
third
of
a
century
after
independence
from
Spain
,
under
the
pretext
that
as
the
Pope
recognized
the
already
fictitious
suzerainty
of
the
Spanish
crown
over
these
lost
lands
,
any
bishop
named
by
him
would
still
be
considered
bound
by
an
oath
of
loyalty
to
the
kings
of
Spain
.
Due
to
this
policy
,
the
Church
suffered
varying
degrees
of
persecution
under
the
governments
of
the
self-styled
“
liberal
”
republican
parties
in
different
parts
of
Latin
America
,
and
did
not
start
to
make
a
comeback
until
the
beginning
of
the
20
th
century
.
The
colonial
Spanish
heritage
can
boast
of
some
truly
magnificent
accomplishments
,
but
it
also
left
behind
a
feeble
rate
of
growth
in
native
priests
and
members
of
religious
orders
,
an
unhealthy
reliance
on
those
coming
from
abroad
for
spiritual
nourishment
,
and
a
rather
languid
and
superficial
religious
life
among
the
masses
of
peasants
and
urban
workers
.
This
sorry
history
explains
to
some
extent
the
impact
that
a
few
bright
and
enterprising
native
priests
,
such
as
the
ones
mentioned
above
,
had
with
their
“
Theology
of
Liberation
”
among
the
least
educated
of
the
laymen
(
usually
to
be
found
among
the
fast
reproducing
working
class
members
of
society
).
This
impact
very
easily
spilled
over
into
violent
and
subversive
action
,
more
often
in
the
rural
areas
(
as
in
the
Mexican
uprisings
during
the
second
decade
of
the
20
th
century
),
while
more
recently
(
in
Nicaragua
,
for
example
)
even
posing
a
serious
threat
to
the
chain
of
command
of
the
official
hierarchy
of
the
Church
,
through
the
multiplication
of
“
comunidades
de
base
”—
community
cadres
—
often
,
particularly
in
Brazil
,
in
a
mood
defiant
of
the
same
hierarchy
.
Also
to
be
taken
into
consideration
is
the
fact
that
violent
politics
—
or
whatever
goes
under
this
guise
—
loomed
unfortunately
larger
than
ever
in
Latin
America
since
Fidel
Castro
took
over
power
in
Cuba
in
1959
.
Presently
,
it
is
receding
,
but
varieties
of
populism
(
Venezuela
under
Chávez
),
narco-guerrillas
(
as
in
Colombia
)
might
trigger
a
resurgence
in
political
violence
at
any
moment
.
One
important
reason
for
all
this
is
traceable
to
the
enormous
growth
of
the
public
sector
in
almost
all
the
Latin
American
countries
since
the
end
of
World
War
II
.
Many
large
enterprises
were
transferred
over
to
the
governmentrun
sector
,
and
a
hemorrhage
of
regulations
fell
on
the
private
sector
while
at
the
same
time
taxes
were
being
raised
everywhere
.
Another
reason
,
closely
linked
with
the
first
,
was
the
advent
of
the
so-called
“
dependency
theory
,”
the
only
genuine
Latin
American
“
contribution
”
to
the
explanation
of
their
well
known
poor
rate
of
economic
growth
since
the
mid
sixties
as
compared
to
the
“
Asian
tigers
”
in
the
Pacific
rim
(
Hong
Kong
,
Taiwan
,
Japan
,
South
Korea
,
Singapore
,
Malaysia
,
and
Thailand
).
This
theory
was
built
up
in
the
early
fifties
,
particularly
by
the
Argentine
Raúl
Prebisch
and
his
associates
at
the
Economic
Commission
for
Latin
America
(
CEPAL
),
the
regional
branch
of
the
United
Nations
,
headquartered
in
Santiago
,
Chile
.
It
rested
on
a
wrong
reading
of
the
terms
of
trade
between
more
developed
and
less
developed
economies
(
understanding
as
such
those
which
export
mainly
manufactured
goods
and
those
which
export
raw
materials
,
respectively
).
This
theory
,
which
runs
parallel
to
the
one
suggested
by
Lenin
thirty
years
ear-
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lier
,
starts
from
the
assumption
that
the
world
capitalist
system
entails
a
developed
“
center
”
(
the
United
States
,
Western
Europe
,
Japan
)
and
the
exploitation
of
a
backward
and
underdeveloped
broad
“
periphery
”
(
mainly
former
European
colonies
in
Africa
,
Asia
,
and
to
a
lesser
extent
Latin
America
).
At
certain
points
this
“
macro
”
view
overlaps
and
reinforces
the
interventionist
,
authoritarian
,
and
“
caudillistic
”
trends
among
Latin
American
“
strongmen
”,
and
as
such
is
felt
to
be
by
their
mass
constituencies
in
closer
accord
with
Latin
American
idiosyncrasies
.
No
mention
is
made
,
by
liberation
theologians
who
took
over
this
approach
,
of
the
free
price
system
as
a
means
of
information
for
producers
and
consumers
about
the
most
rational
allocation
of
resources
(
by
definition
always
scarce
),
nor
of
the
“
micro
”
principle
of
marginal
utility
,
or
of
the
law
of
decreasing
productivity
.
None
among
them
showed
any
understanding
of
the
nature
of
credit
,
capital
,
savings
,
investments
,
and
particularly
profits
.
They
evidently
were
not
acquainted
with
the
key
role
of
the
entrepreneur
among
the
other
factors
of
production
(
land
,
labor
,
capital
),
and
still
less
with
competitive
business
ethics
.
None
quoted
recent
trends
in
economic
thought
,
like
the
school
of
rational
expectations
or
the
economic
analysis
of
public
choice
.
They
were
,
for
all
theoretical
purposes
,
economic
illiterates
.
For
them
,
politics
is
a
struggle
over
power
between
classes
intent
on
exploiting
each
other
.
But
the
Kingdom
of
Heavens
must
resemble
a
classless
society
.
Therefore
,
given
that
the
wave
of
the
future
(“
a
providential
sign
”)
pointed
to
an
unavoidable
triumph
of
socialism
,
and
even
of
communism
,
Christians
should
join
forces
with
all
those
proletarians
organized
to
depose
the
dominant
bourgeoisie
,
even
,
if
necessary
,
by
violent
means
,
and
suppress
the
root
of
all
social
evils
:
private
property
.
One
more
point
of
importance
:
the
Catholic
Church
has
recently
been
undergoing
its
most
serious
crisis
since
the
Protestant
Reformation
.
For
thirty-five
years
,
the
aftermath
of
the
Second
Vatican
Council
has
been
widely
and
severely
felt
all
over
the
Catholic
world
,
but
nowhere
as
strongly
or
anxiously
as
in
Latin
American
.
The
doors
suddenly
were
thrown
open
to
the
winds
of
change
,
in
essence
secular
and
humanistic
,
that
had
been
blowing
outside
for
so
long
.
This
shocked
the
rigid
structure
of
the
Latin
American
hierarchy
to
its
foundations
,
almost
as
badly
as
when
these
countries
gained
their
independence
from
Spain
.
French-speaking
theologians
,
in
particular
,
provided
Latin
American
bishops
and
priests
with
the
mental
tools
of
critical
analysis
,
which
in
the
explosive
atmosphere
of
post-Castro
Latin
America
have
proven
to
be
fuses
to
time
bombs
.
Together
with
the
newly
approved
guidelines
for
the
liturgy
of
worship
and
pastoral
duties
,
new
theological
approaches
to
history
,
philosophy
,
and
the
social
sciences
flooded
into
Latin
America
.
Many
of
these
approaches
have
much
in
common
with
traditional
Marxist
dialectics
and
,
by
the
same
token
,
are
completely
foreign
to
the
individualist
and
empirical
philosophy
upon
which
most
of
the
democracies
of
the
Anglo-Saxon
societies
have
been
founded
.
These
radical
winds
of
change
had
their
official
beginnings
in
the
Gaudium
et
spes
constitution
on
“
the
Church
and
the
World
,”
issued
by
the
Second
Vatican
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Laissez-Faire
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