Gustavo Gutiérrez
Credit: X/@Oikoumene
At the age of 96, the founder of Liberation Theology, whose movement profoundly influenced Latin America and beyond, passed away on October 22. An event that went unnoticed last year was the 50th anniversary of the English translation of his book on ‘Liberation Theology’.
Gutiérrez, a Peruvian theologian, was ordained a priest in 1959 and joined the Dominican Order in 2001. At the Latin American Bishop Council held in Medellín, Colombia, in 1968, Gustavo Gutiérrez first introduced the term ‘liberation theology’ in his paper, Towards a Theology of Liberation, observing that theology is reflection.
The core of his liberation theology was a new way of ‘being human and Christian’. As an adviser to the student movement, he spread liberation theology through its networks. During his visits to Louvain, Belgium, and Lyon, France, for higher studies, he was exposed to traditional European theology. Upon returning to Latin America, he realised that these theories had little relevance to the poverty and oppression there. His new theology advocated for a ‘preferential option for the poor’.
This theology, which adopted critical social analysis in grassroots training programmes, helped identify the oppressive structures that dehumanised people. The movement was primarily propagated through Christian Base Communities (CBC) or Basic Christian Communities (BCC), where participants, often peasants, learned basic reading and writing skills. These groups regularly met to reflect on the word of God from the perspective of the oppressed. Gutiérrez also organised Theological Reflection Workshops in summer, gathering people to discuss and deepen their understanding. CBCs and theological workshops created a strong movement at the grassroots level, uniting workers and peasants, primarily the poor and marginalised, across Latin American countries.
The 1960s also saw the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, as Americans of colour fought systemic racism. Martin Luther King Jr organised several protests, including the 1963 March on Washington. This struggle inspired ‘Black Theology’. James H Cone (1938–2018), an American theologian, published his work A Black Theology of Liberation in 1970. Gutiérrez published his Spanish version in 1971. In 1973, a symposium in Geneva brought both theologians together, enriching both theologies through their interaction. Minjung theology (Theology of the People) in South Korea and Dalit Theology in India were offshoots of Latin American Liberation Theology.
Gutiérrez’s movement began to decline in the 1990s due to factors such as the the Soviet Union’s movement, the Berlin Wall’s fall, and Eastern European countries leaving the Soviet political and social orbit. The Vatican promoted the ‘theology of reconciliation’ to replace the ‘theology of liberation’. Nevertheless, liberation theology achieved significant results in the early 21st century. By 2000, 18 out of 20 Latin American countries had revived democracy, with the exceptions of Cuba and Mexico. Evo Morales, the first Native American President of Bolivia (2006–2019), and former President of Ecuador Rafael Correa supported liberation theology. Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic priest and Bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro (1994–2005), served as President of Paraguay from 2008 to 2012. The greatest opposition to globalisation came from the Global South through the World Social Forum (WSF), started in 2000. The Nicaraguan revolution, led by the Sandinistas to overthrow the dictator Somoza, was inspired by this orientation.
Oscar Romero, the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, was assassinated while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. Initially opposed to liberation theology, Romeo bacame convinced of the principles following the 1977 killing of his Jesuit friend Rutilio Grande, who had organised peasants to fight for their rights.
The World Social Forum (WSF) convened for the first time in 2001, had its roots in Latin American activism. Civil society organisations and social movements from Global South, particularly from Latin America, participated in large numbers to outline their agenda against the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WSF remains a platform for these organisations and movements, meeting annually at national and continental levels. This legacy owes much to Gustavo Gutiérrez’s Liberation Movement. The WSF became a meeting point for civil society organisations and people’s movements. The fourth edition of the WSF was held in Mumbai in 2004, attracted over 75,000 attendees, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Walden Bello, founder of ‘Focus on the Global South’. The ASF slogan, ‘Another World is Possible,’ encapsulated the the impact of liberation theology, which shifted the debate within the Catholic Church, especially in developing nations, from development to liberation.
(The writer is Senior Fellow, LISSTAR, Loyola College (Autonomous), Chennai)