This will be the first in a series of five essays focusing on Liberation Theology. The term "Liberation Theology" has become familiar to many people for better or for worse. The unfortunate thing is that even many, if not most of the people who have heard the term, or even about the theology itself, have a negative view of it without knowing anything or very little about it. Many people base their views and opinions about Liberation Theology on what they have heard others say about it. In other words, their evaluations and opinions about Liberation Theology are based on rumors that they have heard either on the streets, in the market-place, or in the barber shop. People tend to opine without bothering to read the literature in the field. Their opinions and perspectives about Liberation Theology are based on second-hand information which is usually not accurate. This second-hand information usually seeks to demonize and discredit Liberation Theology. Among the reasons that are given to defame and discredit Liberation Theology are the following:
1. It is a theology which emerged within the confines of the Roman Catholic Church. Those who reject Liberation Theology on that basis tend to assume and belief that the entirety of Roman Catholic theology is apostate, false, and heretical. According to that point of view, since Roman Catholicism is a falsification of Christianity, any doctrinal declaration that comes out of the mouth of Catholics must be considered false from the onset. To that assumption, I would respond as follows:
Liberation Theology, in the strictest sense of the word, did not emerge out of Roman Catholicism. Liberation Theology began during the time that the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. Yahweh God spoke to Moses and said to him, " I have heard the cry, the agony, and the misery of my people, and I am descending to liberate them." The knowledge of God on the part of the Hebrew people would emerge out of God's liberating acts in history, both during the period of bondage in
Egypt, and subsequently during the Exile in Babylon. The theology of the Hebrew/Jewish people did not originate in the ivory towers of academic institutions, nor in the comfort of air-conditioned spaces. Their theology was not a system of mere philosophical speculation, nor "heady thinking," nor "mental gymnastics," nor what African American theologian James Cone would call "intellectual masturbation." The theology of the Hebrew/Jewish people was rooted in their historical condition of bondage and oppression and in God's intervention to liberate them from those conditions.
I would add that this writer does not subscribe to the belief that the entirety of Roman Catholic theology is false. There are aspects of Catholic theology that I do not agree with, just as there are aspects of Protestant/Evangelical theology that I am not perfectly comfortable with. However, to disagree with certain parts of a church's doctrines should not lead us to reject the entirety of their theological system. There is a combination of truth and error in every church. No one church can claim to have it "all together." No one church can claim or pretend to have a monopoly on divine truth.
I would add that though a Catholic priest (Father Gustavo Gutierrez) was the first to coin the term "Liberation Theology," and even though Liberation Theology as a modern way of thinking started in the Catholic Church, there are Protestant ministers and theologians who have adopted Liberation Theology as a paradigm for doing both ministry and theology. Names like Ester and Mortimer Arias, and Jose Miguez Bonino are Protestant leaders, amongst others, whose names will appear in these essays. This writer (yours truly) himself, wrote his doctoral dissertation on Liberation Theology in 1982 relative to the political status of Puerto Rico, and has also incorporated Liberation Theology in his recently completed book "The Puerto Rican Diaspora: A Model Theology." I have also written a series of articles on theology from a prison standpoint utilizing Liberation Theology as a means of analyzing the conditions of incarceration from a theological standpoint.
2. Liberation Theology does not conform to the standards of Euro-American theology. Any system of thought which does not conform to Euro-American thinking is inferior and invalid. After all, Euro-American thinking is universally valid, in all times and in all places. Euro-American thinking should be "normative" for all churches and theological institutions. Euro-American thinking should prevail in other areas of life as well, but especially to any discourse about God. To that arrogant, imperialistic, pompous-ass, presumptuous, and racist position, this Afro-Puerto Rican theologian says "Pure, absolute, and unadulterated bullshit." That attitude is reflective of the notion that anything that is white is superior. As will be discovered, Liberation Theology challenges the notion that Euro-American theology is superior to all others. It will soon become apparent, that Euro-American theology serves to legitimize the white-power structure on a global basis. Liberation Theology takes the Euro-American -centered scholarship out of its comfort zone.
3. Liberation Theology is "Marxist, revolutionary, and socialist in disguise." This notion rests on false assumptions. While some Liberation theologians make use of Marxist socialist analysis, the basic root of Liberation Theology is the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, which emphasizes equality and justice for all humankind.
4. Liberation Theology goes against "what the Bible says." Any person who is acquainted and familiar with the literature of Liberation Theology will have to admit that this statement is naïve at best and totally dishonest at worst. Liberation Theology seeks to take "what the Bible says," and make it relevant to the situation of oppressed social groups and nations. When one reads any type of written documentation in Liberation Theology, one will discover, that Liberation Theology seeks to make an honest restatement and application of the Christian faith and message in today's world.
The essays to follow on Liberation Theology will focus on the following topics:
The Definition of Liberation Theology
The Assumptions of Liberation theologians
The Diversity in Liberation Theology
The Role of Scripture, History, and Praxis in Liberation Theology.
In the meantime, you, the reader, are invited and encouraged to do some research of your own on Liberation Theology. Avoid basing yourself on what other writers say about Liberation Theology, and read books and other written material by Liberation authors for yourself. In this manner, you view of Liberation Theology will be less biased.
I invite you to comment on this introductory essay, as well as on subsequent essays. Your contributions will be important to this discourse.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Carmona
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