In the previous essay, we reviewed a letter by Gregory Baum, a Professor of Theology at St. Michael's College in Toronto, to Sergio Torres, a Roman Catholic priest from Chile, and Executive Secretary of the Theology in the Americas Conference, held in Detroit in 1975. In this essay, we will consider Torres's response to Baum.
Torres says to Baum, "We in Chile and South America have experienced some forms of oppression that come from the national sectors, e.g., rich and powerful minorities who were denounced by the bishops at Medellin. But also we have seen how some American agencies and companies have undoubtedly intervened in the affairs of those countries (Torres in Eagleson and Torres, p. 90)."
In his letter, Torres is trying to make clear to Baum, economic, political, and social oppression in Latin America are the starting points for doing carrying out theological reflection. As we had seen in the previous essay, Baum had made it clear that he did not believe that Latin American theology should be the model from which people in North America (U.S.A. and Canada) must be learn. In fact, he was concerned about the fact that North Americans (specifically Canadians) were to quick and willing to learn from others. (Baum, in Eagleson and Torres, p.88).
Torres goes on to say, "The great difficulty with American middle-class people is that they ignore many of these activities. They don't feel personally bothered by them and so reject them. Even if they do recognize them, they feel powerless to change them. Our conference has felt that one way of drawing attention to the situation is to begin reflecting on the image that the U.S.A. projects in Latin America. The second step will be to study whether or not this corresponds to the reality, then we will try to reflect theologically on the conclusions and to leave open the field for a praxis of transformation and hope (Torres in Eagleson and Torres, p. 91)."
Some readers of this exchange between Baum and Torres may react by saying that political issues are overemphasized in Latin American theology. The question that some of us Christians in the U.S.A. may ask is "what does the Gospel have to do with politics?" Because of the degree of comfort and wealth that we live with in the U.S.A., many of us will tend to advocate for political "neutrality." Torres, like many other theologians from Latin America will emphasize that the Gospel itself is political in nature, especially in an environment where the masses of people are being marginalized in relation to economic well-being, housing, health, education, and are politically speaking, disenfranchised. Latin American theologians believe that the Gospel calls for a reordering and restructuring of society, and that indeed, there is no such thing as neutrality. Latin American theology stresses the fact that the Scriptures make it clear that we are either on the side of the oppressed, or on the side of the oppressor.
Torres tells Baum, " The central objective of the conference will be to analyze the economic and political situation, national and international, from the point of view of revelation, utilizing biblical categories of domination-liberation, found in the book of Exodus. The conference will not be held only for the purpose of listening to Latin Americans. Our meeting is centered on the American reality. The Latin Americans will share their experience and the criteria of their theological reflection (Torres in Eagleson and Torres, p. 91)."
Torres is making every attempt to assure Baum that the dialogue will be a two-way one. In other words, North Americans and Latin Americans will be listening to and sharing with each other.
This exchange between Baum and Torres raises the following questions which I invite you the reader to attempt responding to. They are the following:
1. In your opinion, should models of theology be imported from one part of the world to another?
2. In your opinion, should the role of Scripture may exclusive or shout it be primary in the formulation of a theological system?
3. Given the various principles of hermeneutics (biblical interpretation), and given the fact theology is or should be contextualized, what would you as a North American say should be the starting point for biblical interpretation and theological reflection?
Your response to these three questions should help us engage in healthy theological dialogue.
Grace and peace,
Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Carmona
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