LATIN AMERICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY: HUGO ASSMANN 

Hugo Assmann's advocacy of Liberation Theology has made him persona non grata in several Latin American countries.  Exiled from Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay, he found a place on the faculty of  the school of journalism at the University of Costa Rica (Ferm, op. cit., p. 32). 

Assmann's greatest strength lies in his ability to synthesize the major themes of Latin American Liberation Theology.  In his best known work, Theology for a Nomad Church (1976) he spells out a theology of liberation that has taken place since Medellin (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1976).  

The starting point is that every human act has a social and political setting and the Christian obligation is to work for a socio-political setting in which everyone can be fully human.  None of the "progressivist theologies" of the developed countries -secular theology, death of God theology, political theology, theology of hope-has been specific enough to be applied to the Latin American context-nor have the intraecclesiastical reforms of Vatical II, or the Christian-Marxist dialogues in Europe.  Assmann quotes with approval Jose Comblin's Assertion, "Any Latin American who has studied in Europe has to undergo detoxification before they can begin to act ((Ibid., p. 56)

This raises a very interesting question.  Are Assmann and Comblin intimating that any theology that comes out of Europe is inherently and naturally toxic, and maybe even heretical?  It appears that they are both assuming that a true liberation theologian must divest herself/himself of all European theological assumptions and presuppositions.  

Assmann singles out for special criticism European political theology, especially its failure to appreciate the need to join with the poor in overcoming oppressive political structures.  It is all very well for European theologians to talk about the importance of the role of theology in the ongoing political process and the need for Christians to be involved in political change.  Latin American theology goes beyond European political theology when it moves from abstractions to partnership with the poor in the revolutionary struggle (Ferm, op. cit. p. 32).

How is theology aligned with those involved in the revolutionary struggle?  I humbly submit that the linguistic content of theology needs to be understandable to those engaged in the revolutionary struggle. Those involved in the struggle must understand theological language in order to establish a theological underpinning to their revolutionary actions.  They need to deal with the question of "What role, if any, does God play in our struggle?"  If theology is detached from this question and in turn disengages itself from the struggle, then it is a false and irrelevant theology.  If God is not part of our struggle to construct a more just society, then. we want nothing to do with God or anything associated with God.  

Like Juan Luis Segundo, Assmann sees a new methodology as the key to Liberation Theology, a methodology grounded in the social sciences.  The essential task of theology is to analyze the actual conditions in which persons live, a task that  Assmann calls "the socialization of theology."  And when we analyze these conditions, we discover that violence has been institutionalized, as has poverty and oppression.  Here is another difference between Latin American theology and its European and North American counterparts-North Atlantic theology has never sensitive to institutionalized oppression that permits millions of human beings to remain under the poverty line.  Any theology that does not have as its starting point a preference for the poor will ignore their cries and proceed to ask the raw abstract questions that and be satisfied with wrong idealistic answers (Ferm, op. cit, p. 320).  

This goes in keeping with the theological orientation of the late Dr. James Cone, professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, when he stated that if theology does not  address the conditions and status of oppressed and suffering people, that it is then, not only irrelevant, but also demonic and heretical.  If theology is to be not only effective, but also faithful to the message of the Gospel, then it must address both in its linguistic content and thrust, an orientation towards being in solidarity with the oppressed and suffering of the world.  It must have as its central axiom,  the biblical statement of "I have heard the cry of my people."  

Assmann maintains that the worst temptation for theology is to engage in absolutes.  Indeed, even the Bible, tradition, and the Magisterium or teaching authority of the Church, history of dogma, and so on, are but secondary sources of truth.  Assmann insists that a normative authoritarian theological perspective cannot take precedence over a commitment to the poor and oppressed (Assmann, op. cit. p. 104).  

When theology as a task is a message of solidarity with oppression and suffering, it ceases to be a task of establishing theological "correctness" in the classic sense of the word.  "Correct theology," in this case, becomes one which is "correct" only to the extent that it addresses and has something to say about the human condition.  It is only "correct" when it serves as the propelling engine for revolutionary action in the world relative to the pursuit of the construction of a society in which justice will prevail.

Hugo Assmann is a Latin American liberation theologian who has suffered political exile in his espousal of the plight of the poor and oppressed.  But he is convinced that the poor know about the world as God intended it to be than does anyone else.  This is precisely why Assmann insists that Christians should not hesitate to side with the poor. For, by seeing the world from the epistemological privilege of the poor, Christians will advance not only the liberation of the poor, but their own liberation as well (Ferm, op. cit. p. 34).

As a student of Latin American theology, and as a theologian of liberation, I humbly and respectfully submit that theology has to be "the voice of the poor."  It cannot be the mouthpiece of the elites who just love to hear themselves talk, nor the dictums of those whose only concern is with "right doctrine" in the classical sense of the word.  In Liberation Theology, we not only speak "about," but also "to" the poor. In Liberation Theology, the poor speak for themselves and on behalf of their fellow sufferers.  Theology is about solidarity.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona 

Past Visiting Professor of Theology 

Tainan Theological College/Seminary