During the past two weeks, we have worked slowly through A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez, finding points to commend and critique along the way. In this concluding post, I tried to work through all the previous posts and gather together all of these observations in order to list them below. While Gutierrez is [...]
Archive for the ‘Liberation Theology’ Category
23 Apr
Material and Spiritual Poverty (Liberation Theology 11)
In this last chapter of A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez tries to synthesize two different ways of speaking of poverty in the Bible: material poverty and spiritual poverty. Most commonly, people think of poverty as material poverty, or “the lack of economic goods necessary for a human life” (163). The causes for material poverty, however, [...]
21 Apr
The Church in the World (Liberation Theology 10)
In chapter 12 of A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez meanders his way through the place of the church in liberation theology. Rather than summarize this in paragraph, I am simply going to list some of the most significant assertions and conclusions of the chapter:
• The church is a sacrament in the world, existing as a [...]
20 Apr
Hope and Politics (Liberation Theology 9)
In chapter 11 of A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez explores the nature of the Christian hope and how this relates to the political dimension of the gospel. Christians have a hope oriented to the future that informs the present and leads us to live boldly, sometimes in conflict and confrontation with the present political order. [...]
17 Apr
Liberating Spirituality (Liberation Theology 8)
Spirituality is a matter of communion with God and others, and this is only possible because God dwelt among us. Gutierrez explains this in chapter 10 of A Theology of Liberation by tracing the presence of God among his people through Scripture. Ultimately, God came to dwell with us as a human, and thus the [...]
15 Apr
Liberation and Salvation (Liberation Theology 7)
Chapter 10 of A Theology of Liberation is the first chapter in the book that is replete with Scripture. Gutierrez attempts in this chapter to defend his views of salvation from Scripture, and he does so from several different angles woven together throughout the chapter.
• Salvation as universal. Gutierrez claims that Paul clearly teaches the [...]
14 Apr
New Situation, New Questions (Liberation Theology 6)
As the church encounters new situations and social conditions, it must new questions about what it means to be the church and to live the truth in that context. In chapter 8 of A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez asserts that the new context in Latin America calls for new questions that will propel Christian theology [...]
13 Apr
From Ghetto Church to Radical Church (Liberation Theology 5)
The concern of Gustavo Gutierrez in chapter 7 of A Theology of Liberation is to highlight ways in which the Latin American church has begun to join the process of liberation, and how it can emerge fully from its ghetto position in society. Gutierrez traces changes among lay people, priests, and bishops who have become [...]
9 Apr
Liberation from Dependence (Liberation Theology 4)
Gutierrez begins chapter 6 of A Theology of Liberation with this important phrase: “dependence and liberation are correlative terms” (49). In other words, liberation must occur because dependence and the oppression it breeds exist. For Latin America, Gutierrez maintains that this dependence began with “the decade of development” (the 50s), in which Latin American countries [...]
8 Apr
The Relationship between Sacred and Secular (Liberation Theology 3)
In chapters 4 and 5 of A Theology of Liberation, Gustavo Gutierrez deals with the relationship between the church and the world, or between the sacred and secular spheres. In chapter 4, he traces the development of thought regarding this relationship, which moved from viewing the church as completely separate from the world to a [...]
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