Liberation Theology

Liberation Theology

By Alistair Kee

Victor Hugo declared that one thing stronger than armies is an idea whose hour has come. In the 1950s the idea of liberation came to colonial Africa and spread throughout the Third World. The idea seemed no sooner formulated than the im­perial powers rushed to be rid of their lands for which so many had died. Once the idea of liberation was expressed, its essential rightness could not be ignored and the will to maintain possession of the colonies col­lapsed. If this had been uniformly true, then of course there would not be such a thing as a theology of liberation. Liberation theology has arisen because liberation has not come about universally: the struggle continues, and insofar as it is a just struggle, some Christians have stated its biblical basis and the basis of their own support for the move­ment. In the African context the meaning of liberation was uncomplicated. The demand was to be free from colonial rule. Liberation was achieved by decolonization, whether by armed struggle or by non-violent protest or by negotiation. However, liberation move­ments in other parts of the world have been involved in more complicated situations: theological reflection on these has also been more complex.

The term liberation theology originated in Latin America, and was clearly influenced by the liberation movements in that part of the world. But these countries had long since been decolonized. From what did they need to be liberated? Dependence. The terms of international trade are such that Third-World countries not only are dependent upon the rich but are destined to remain so. With a few notable exceptions their econ­omies are geared to supply primary com­modities at low cost to the developed nations. These are then used in the manufacture of expensive goods which are sold to the poor countries. Economic colonialism is continued through international investment agencies. But dependence also takes place within countries. There is an enormous dif­ference between the standard of living of the rich and the mass of the people, whether in the illegal shanty towns around the cities or in the countryside. And finally there is de­pendence at an individual level. Poverty and hopelessness enter into the mind so that those who are marginal to the main eco­nomic and cultural life of the country remain outside.

In Latin America the liberation move­ments have therefore had to deal with a more complicated situation than old-fashioned colonialism, and have had to face problems apparently more intractible. Lib­eration theology has also addressed itself to these three areas. 'Liberation movement' suggests groups of bearded men with guns, ambushing government troops, but such struggle is not itself a liberation movement. Che Guevara said that he and his men spoke to the village people about their lives, and that was the revolution. Unless the people understand why things are as they are, unless they come to see themselves as cap­able of initiating and participating in change, then nothing can be achieved. This work is called 'conscientization', and it is the most fundamental level of liberation, the freeing of the mind. As these marginals, these objects within another's world, come to life there is a spiritual birth which has in practice led to a new appropriation of the word of God in the Bible, a new spirituality in the life of prayer. Even religious depend­ence is dismantled.

As conscientization proceeds, there is a growing appreciation of the inequalities and injustices experienced within the country. It is at this point that confrontation takes place. The marginals ask to be allowed to live as men in their own country, but asking achieves nothing. Those who benefit from existing structures are determined not to allow change, and they also control the forces of 'law and order'. When Oliver Twist asks for something to eat, it is he who is blamed for making trouble. Liberation theology has also developed at this stage, not least because of the responsibility of religion in the past for legitimizing these same structures of injustice, responsibility for impressing on the poor their duty to remain poor.

The theology of liberation presupposes the liberation of theology. Until theology ceases to identify with the values, interests and goals of those who benefit from struc­tural injustice, then theology can have nothing to contribute to the liberation movement. But a theology which has itself been liberated can contribute at each stage, including the third, that of international re­lations. In the developed countries theology still legitimizes an unjust world order. For this reason theologians from Latin America have toured the developed world, to lecture and to confer, to attempt to begin in the North the process of conscientization. They believe that until there is change within the North, no change can be effected in world relations.

Theologians in Latin America have now embarked on the revision of all Christian doctrine from the perspective of liberation. Liberation is a constant theme of both ot and nt, but it has become 'spiritualized' as if it referred only to some private, inner life of man. There are other more prophetic dimensions which are to be restored.

Not surprisingly, liberation theologies have arisen in other parts of the world. The contexts are always different, and conse­quently so are the theologies. Asian theolo­gies of liberation have meditated long on the experience there of persecution. In South Africa the liberation theology is concerned with internal colonialism. But wherever people are prevented from living their own lives Christians are reflecting on liberation. Thus there is black theology of liberation in the usa and there is also the theology of women's liberation (see also Feminist Theo­logy). These experiences contribute to the liberation of theology in the recognition of the part that religion has played in the dom­ination of race and of sex.

The main danger for these theologies is that as they are so closely in touch with people who are becoming liberated from one form of oppression that the theologies themselves may escape one master only to become enslaved to another. There is the danger in Latin America that instead of liberating theology, contact with the move­ment will lead Christians simply to legitimize revolution with a few biblical proof texts. There is the danger in the usa that black theology will in its desperation to show that it is entirely freed from white domination, fall into legitimizing black fascism. And there is a danger that feminist theology will, in escaping from Genesis 2, fail to rediscover Genesis 1. But liberation theology is itself an idea whose hour has come, and while it can be improved, it cannot be denied.

Bibliography. 

T. Balasuriya, The Eucharist and Human Liberation, 1979; J. M. Bonino, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation, 1975; E. Dussel, History and the Theology of Liber­ation, et 1976; J. England, Living Theology in Asia, 1981; G. Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, et 1974; A. Kee, A Reader in Political Theology, 1974; The Scope of Poli­tical Theology, 1978; J. Segundo, The Lib­eration of Theology, 1977; J. Sobrino, Christology at the Crossroads, 1978.

Source: Richardson/Bowden, A New Dictionary of Christian Theology.