THE LATIN AMERICAN STORY-THE CONCLUSION

DR. JUAN A. CARMONA 

Up until this point, we have surveyed how Liberation Theology emerged and functioned within the Latin American context.  We have also seen how Liberation Theology seeks to address the issues that have been and continue to be of concern in the Latin American context.  We now bring this series of essays to a conclusion by asking "What is the story of Latin America relative to the continued theological process in its context?"  In many respects, the Latin American story is the story of all oppressed nations and groups in the world.  While the issues may not be the same in every context, the common denominator is oppression and injustice, on the one hand, and how Christian theology and the Gospel of Jesus Christ address those issues, on the other.

The powerful theme of the Latin American story has great emancipatory significance to those who are engaged in the relentless struggle for meaning and personhood in the Caribbean and Latin America.  Theology is an important dimension in the study of human existence, and those who engage in theological reflection should always take full account of the intercultural nature of our common experiences and aspirations.  The intercultural theological process must play a critical role if we are to engage in an authentic search for sustained personhood, spiritual maturity, authentic emancipation, and common growth toward the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.  This is the goal of our participation in theological reflection and Christian witness; this is the mission of Christ to which we profess allegiance.  We therefore seek to explore the meaning and scope of the Latin American story as an intercultural matrix in the search for a new theological process with distinctive liberating connections (Kortright Davis, Emancipation Still Comin: Explorations in Caribbean Emancipatory Theology. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990, p. 117).

At this point we may stop to ask "How can Liberation Theology address the issues of cultural, economic, racial, and social injustice in an environment which is not exactly monolithic?" Marshall Eakin presents to us the image of Latin America as "a collision of three powerful streams converging to produce a roaring river that mixed three peoples into a dazzling variety of combinations that were new and unique in world history (Marshall Eakin, The History of Latin America: Collision of  Cultures. New York: Palgrave Mac Millan, 2007, p. 270)."

Over centuries , the turbulent river gradually diverged into many different streams, but all had their origins in the great river formed by the initial clash of Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans.  Many Americas took shape within the political and cultural construct we now call Latin America., and the construct has been a work in progress.  By the beginning of the twentieth century, the story of Latin America became more difficult for this history to be narrated coherently.  The collisions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, gave birth to a series of patterns with variations, but the narrative of conquest, colonization, and the emergence of new societies has a coherence that is lacking when we look at the region over the last century. The colonial era has a powerful unity primarily European conquest and colonialism, and the multiple reactions to these wrenching transformations.  By the end of the eighteenth century, the mighty river of Latin America had already begun to split off into many distinct streams, a trend that the wars for independence accelerated. The similar process of independence, early nation-building, and entry into the international economy, however, provide us with a new set of common patterns even as the newly emerging nations produce increasingly divergent paths (Ibid., ops. 270-21). 

If the region is not exactly monolithic, then Liberation Theology has a challenge in dealing with the context. Nevertheless, it also has opportunities to address in a coherent manner, the issues that emerge out of each individual national context.  The Exodus story remains the main theological paradigm which establishes the emergence, formation, and development of Liberation Theology in a Latin American context, and also constitutes the driving power that brings it into the context in a relevant manner.

Jose Miguez Bonino challenges us to take into account the religious diversity in Latin America.  He says, "Not all plurality is so peaceful.  Social contradictions, ideological differences, conflictive historical projects are also reflected in the religious world.  They evoke religious and theological responses which create tension and conflict, not only between religious groups, but, perhaps even more within them.  Thus we are not facing a "return of the gods," but "a conflict of the gods (Jose Miguez Bonino, "The Condition and Prospects of Christianity in Latin America," in the New Face of the Church in Latin America, Guillermo Cook, ed. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1994, p. 261)."  

Religion means different things to different people and the concrete manifestation of their religious behavior often indicate what is their definitional approach.  If religion is used merely as a systematic attempt to supplement felt inefficiencies in the human order, then the rise in human sufficiency will create a corresponding fall in the need for religion.  A fleeting glance at post-Christian Europe will illustrate this point quite clearly.  If, on the other hand, religion consists in the movement of one's purposeful response to ultimate reality and the pursuit of total fulfillment, then it grows with the person and undergirds all human experiences.  The Latin American story is the integrative experience of a people whose religion is characterized by this latter approach.  Because their God has been "a help in ages past," Caribbean and Latin American people hold unflinchingly to the assurance that, in prosperity or poverty, God is "the hope of years to come" (Davis, op. cit. p. 117). 

The Latin American story is thus a most powerful framework through which Americans, especially those of African and indigenous descent, can move forward in an intercultural theological process in the struggle for Christian solidarity and the search for more concrete expressions of human freedom. We can contribute to each other's freedom by the collective engagement in the common discovery of our rich heritage.  Many of the tensions that have existed between Latin Americans of African and indigenous background, on the one hand, and African Americans on the other, have resulted from a lack of knowledge of each other, from our reluctance to understand each other's historical and cultural struggles, and from our insensitivity in communicating with each other.  The same holds true for Latin Americans of African and indigenous background on the one hand, and Latin Americans of European background on the other (Ibid., p 126).

In essence, then our struggle is an internal one as well as with external forces.  It is the story of the fight to rid ourselves of the shackles of imposed external colonization, and at the same time, a struggle against the internal barriers which exist among us as a colonized people.  It would be totally unfair to both assume and assert  that our problems are due exclusively to our colonial legacy.

In conclusion, we may be considering the Latin American story as nothing more tan a contemporary representation of the Joseph story.  Joseph was Jacob's dreaming son.  Nevertheless, his own experience of hurt by his brothers resulted in his own salvation, and that of his brothers. Egypt for them was the land of liberation from hunger, and subsequently became the land of bondage.  The Latin American story is a continuing experience of Egypt, and the eternal spiritual truth is this: If you do not know your Egypt, then you cannot know your Exodus (Ibid. p. 129).

The Latin American story will unfold over and over again. The story will be told over and over again.  As long as oppression and suffering continue to be a reality in the Latin American region, there will not be an  end to the story.  There is a sense in which the Latin American story is a universal story.  We conclude this series of essays by saying "The Struggle Continues."

This essay is submitted in the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona

Past Professor of Theology

Tainan Theological College/Seminary 

 

THE LIFE OF LIBERATION: WE PRAISE GOD 

DR. JUAN A. CARMONA 

One of the many issues that comes up from time to time is that of the relationship between theology and worship.  I have often time advocated for and promoted the notion of a worshipful theology on the one hand, and a theology of worship on the other.  They are not contradictory to one another.  The Church of Jesu Christ needs to have a theology which celebrates the liberating and salvific works of God in history, and at the same time, a well thought-ought worship.  The two go "hand in hand." We cannot do a theology that does not have a component of celebration and praise, and neither can we have a worship which is based on blind and uninformed emotions.  

A big challenge for the Church of Christ in Latin America, and also for the Church which exists under oppressive conditions in all parts of the world is to consider the following questions:

1.  How can we as a Church construct and develop a theology which emerges not from ivory tower speculation, but rather from the reality of suffering?

2. How can we as a Christian community carry out celebration and worship in the midst of oppression and suffering?

3.  How can we as a Church make the distinction between faith as an anesthetic on the one hand, and faith as a lens of reality on the other?  

There are no east answers to the above questions.  The Church has a call from God to articulate its faith in such a way that it will be understandable to both its constituents and to the world to which it seeks to apply the message of liberation.  The Church is also called to teach its constituents and the world how to "sing the Lord's in a strange land."  The Church is, furthermore, called to enable its constituents to have a critical and analytical view of the socio-political environments in which it operates.

New ways of theological thought and praxis have been taking shape in Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Afro-America.  Theological initiatives have been flowering throughout the oppressed world, and the struggle for the pursuit of human freedom as the gift of God, who wills all persons to be free, has been gaining momentum.  The new wave of the articulation of the faith and the search for common dialogue and solidarity among Third World theologians have made an impressive mark on the consciousness of Third World theologians.  Black theology, Minjun theology, liberation theology, and emancipatory theology have all been promoted as authentic expressions of understanding the faith in Third World contexts.  Local theologians proclaim the Gospel of freedom as the essential meaning of the person and work of Jesus Christ.  A central theme is Paul's dictum in Galatian 5:1, "for freedom Christ has set us free, stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery (Kortright Davis, Emancipation Still Coming. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, p. 108)." 

"Freedom" and "liberation" are central motifs in Latin American theology.  We may ask "freedom" and "liberation" from what?  Classical evangelical theology tends to focus on individual  conversion from sin. The emphasis tends to be on liberation from individual sins such as sexual immorality, vices of alcohol, drug, and tobacco consumption, and in many cases, abstention from certain types of social entertainment.  The biblical concept of liberation, however, is more structural and systemic, which approaches human beings in their social settings.  

Traditional evangelical theology also focuses on "spiritual" liberation, which prepares people for celebration for the hereafter.  Liberation Theology focuses on having the Church carry out a liberating mission which will enable us to celebrate the "here and now," as we engage in God's liberating acts, which are designed to dismantle unjust social and political structures,  and replace them with structures which will allow all people to live in dignity.  

In spite of the many advances made in Liberation Theology-advances that have caused reactionary governments to take countervailing action and to encourage theological espionage (police interested in theology?), -there remains a need for substantial range of reflective action.  Because the notion of "liberation" has been overlaid with exclusive, and even divisive, ideological, and political concerns, the term "liberation" seems to be in urgent need of emancipation.  When North Atlantic liberals speak of "liberation," they often seem to mean something different from what the word stands for in the lives of those on the underside of  history.  And yet, both types of people are genuinely in search of freedom.  Therefore, the. importance of context must be borne in mind, since what is wine for one might be poison for another.  For those on the underside of history, i.e. the historically poor and oppressed, the notion of emancipation might be  more meaningful than the notion of liberation.  It ushers in a deeper range of theological reflection and response than is usually offered in the varieties in contemporary theology (Davis, op. cit., p. 106).

How, then, do we move forward from liberation to praise? As worship, Liberation Theology gives concrete meaning to the evangelical vision of a new heaven and a new earth by seeking to bring into historical reality the freedom from heaven on earth.  This emancipatory vision of present conditions in the light of future possibilities enkindles the heart with joyful courage and the lips with joyful praise (Ibid., p. 115). 

Howard Thurman says, "I will sing a new song. As difficult as it is, I must learn the new song that is capable of meeting the new need. I must fashion new words born of all the new growth of my life, mind, and spirit (Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart. Richmond: Friends United Press, 1976, p. 206)." 

This celebration in the midst of suffering is reflected in a song of the Latin American and Hispanic Churches, i.e. "Yo Canto en el Gozo, Yo Canto en la Prueba (I Sing in Times of Joy, I Sing in Times of Trial.  It also reflects the words of the Psalm writer who says "I will praise the Lord at all times, His praise will continually be in my mouth (Psalm 34)."  

Liberation Theology teaches us how to sing the Lord's song as we march towards freedom. The difficulties and troubles of the present do not hinder us from pursuing the freedom to which God has called us and to which God moves us.  The goal of complete liberation inspires us to remain in the struggle.

This essay is submitted in the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen!

Dr. Juan A. Carmona

Past Professor of Theology

Tainan Theological College/Seminary 

 

SPECIFIC ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY 

DR. JUAN A. CARMONA 

Like in other branches of theology, and like other theologies, Liberation Theology is an ongoing matter.  It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a "once and for all" type of movement or activity.  Neither is it a "finished product" that was once carved and handed down to posterity.  

In keeping with this series of essays, I reiterate that we need to be faithful to the message of  Liberation Theology.  Why do I say this?  It is because, for all intents and purposes, Liberation Theology is a contemporary restatement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is not the Gospel itself, nor can we put it on a par with Scripture in terms of a norm of or  standard of faith.  It takes the message of Scripture, especially the Gospel, and in fidelity to that message, applies it to the situation in which we are living today, i.e. situation in which society is divided into oppressed and oppressive social groups.

NEW HISTORICAL SITUATION: CHANGES IN LIBERATION THEOLOGY

The crisis of historical socialism in Eastern Europe and the advent of human-face perestroika in the Soviet Union ended the Cold War. The worldwide confrontation between East and West -the so-called socialist block and the so-called democratic block-ceased.  Now capitalism is being touted as the only alternative for all of humanity.  When capitalism was forced to compete with socialism, it was concerned with showing a human face, with carrying out development policies in the Third World so that poor nations would not opt for socialism.  Now that capitalism has no competitors, it no longer needs to keep up a humanitarian facade. Nor must it concern itself with Third World development. It can definitely impose itself as the only solution.  Now we have a totalitarian World Order.  The government of the United States, as international policeman, imposes its military and political hegemony upon the entire world in order to ensure the acceptance by all of one capitalist system.  The Third World has no alternative but to submit or perish (Pablo Richards, "Challenges to Liberation Theology" in New Face of the Church in Latin America. Guillermo Cooke ed, Maryknoll: Orbis Books. 1994, p. 246)

During the 1960's and 1970's, which saw the birth and maturation of Liberation Theology in Latin America, capitalism was promoting a development policy for poor nations that in the process made them more dependent.  The liberation concept was used, then, to construct a model for autonomous or non-dependent development, even substituting the term "liberation" for "development." A "theological break" took place as we moved from development theology to liberation theology.  Dependence theory made it possible and necessary to develop both a theory and a strategy for liberation and revolution in the Third World.  "Developmentalism" and "reformism" were radically critiqued as dependency models and the "ideological break" was expressed by the term "liberation.  This new all-embracing concept pointed to many new breaks.  It expressed a new theory and a new praxis.  It became the reference point that defined a new culture, new ethics, and a new spirituality, as well as a new theology (Ibid., p. 248).

These developments make us ask "Is Liberation Theology" a restating of the "faith once delivered to the saints, or is it pseudo-theology? Because of its emphasis on social revolution and transformation, there are many that take it to be a revolutionary movement wearing the garb of theology.  Because Liberation Theology does not support the "status quo," it is categorized as "theology stemming from demonic origins."

The challenge to Liberation Theology-all of these profound structural changes in the dominant system challenge us both theoretically and practically.  We need to develop new concepts to help us acquire a better grasp of the new historical reality, and the possibility of transformation.  With the so-called crisis of Marxism, attempts have been made to undermine the capacity to theorize-to destroy the theoretical space that is needed to resist and continue struggling.  The right to think alternatively is under threat as are the hopes and utopias.  Countering these realities, Liberation Theology must again engage in dialogue, both critically and creatively, with the social sciences-particularly with economics, ecology, and anthropology.  At this new juncture, we must repossess our historical rationale in order to think critically and systematically about our faith in the God of life (Ibid., p. 249).

TRANSFORMING LIBERATION PRACTICE: NEW ROLE FOR LIBERATION THEOLOGY

Liberation Theology, as mentioned before, is a critical and systematic reflection upon faith with a practice of liberation.  The concept of "practice" is therefore crucial to Liberation Theology.  The changes that have been previously described relative to the dominating system and in the situation of the poor, also modify liberation practice and the way we think about it.  This is, to be sure, a challenge for Liberation Theology.

The new world juncture demands new thinking about Liberation Theology. It challenges us with new concerns.  Liberation Theology has the maturity and the necessary strength to face up to this moment in history, with its concerns and challenges.  This is not the end of Liberation Theology, as some people may have hoped, but rather a historical opportunity for its rebirth.  The new juncture opens up unchartered paths for the growth of Liberation Theology.  But this will require that it be seriously reconceptualized and reformulated in response to the new historical situation (Ibid., p. 257).

Liberation Theology has a future.  This fact should be a source of hope for the poor and oppressed people of this world.  What ultimately matters is the future of liberation and the future of the poor.  Liberation Theology's future is a function of the vital future that we desire for our entire threatened planet and cosmos. The solidarity of all of the oppressed, as well as of that of all conscientious women and men is needed.  It is with hope and solidarity that Liberation Theology will be constructed for the twenty-first and subsequent centuries (Ibid.)

As pointed out in previous essays, Liberation Theology is not merely a "new school of thought," or even merely another school of theological thought.  Neither is Liberation Theology a new fad that will have its day and be gone.  Liberation Theology is not a fashion show, nor is it empty rhetorical regurgitation. Liberation Theology seeks to take seriously the message of the Gospel, and make it applicable to contemporary reality. As long as there is injustice and oppression in the world, there will always be a Liberation Theology.

This essay is submitted in the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona

Past Professor of Theology

Tainan Theological College/Seminary