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Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. The world that he knew in his youth was a world of injustice and oppression against the poor. While still early in his career as a priest, Gutierrez began drawing on both philosophers and theologians in European tradition to develop his own beliefs. Gutierrez does theology from the perspective of the poor within the church. The following basic principles guided him in his theological exercise.
Based on these principles Gutierrez organized his theology specifically on the beliefs that i God loves all persons equally and gratuitously; and ii God loves the poor preferentially. The primary starting place in his liberation theology is that Christians ought to have a preferential option for the poor. He developed and explained his theology in a number of books he wrote,10 which may be summed up in this essay under the following headings: i Defining Liberation Theology, ii The Preferential Option for the Poor, and iii Liberation and Salvation.
Defining Liberation Theology Liberation theology is a theology, not the political movement with which many people equate it. It is a logical set of religious ideas about and promoting liberation from injustice and oppression of any kind with its basis in the Bible. It is a theological reflection Theology of Liberation challenged the church to accept the demands of the New Testament and involve itself in the struggles of the poor.
For him, the centre of the problem in Latin America is sin manifested in an unjust social structure, and puts emphasis on the dignity of the poor.
The division between the spiritual and the material, Gutierrez believes, is impossible. Robert R Barr. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, , We imitate Christ who emptied himself and enter into solidarity with the poor. Gutierrez did a biblical analysis of poverty, in which he distinguishes poverty into a scandalous state and a spiritual infancy.
Ferm Maryknoll Orbis, , There is a hunger for God, and on the other hunger for bread. The first step toward salvation is the transformation of society: the poor must be freed from economic, political, and social oppression.
This will involve both struggle and conflict, but Gutierrez does not shy away from it. The second step towards salvation is the transformation of the self: we must begin to exist as active agents rather than passively accepting the conditions of oppression and exploitation that surround us. The third and final step is the transformation of our relationship with God -specifically, the liberation from sin.
Gutierrez interprets salvation ultimately as communion with God and one another in history and beyond it. For Gutierrez, salvation is not merely liberation; it is communion with God and one another in history and beyond.
In the transformative communities, the poor and marginalized are set free for love and 21 Gutierrez, The Power of the Poor in History, In A Theology of Liberation, he made the soteriological point that human beings are call to meet God insofar as they constitute a community. The journey of a people to liberation leads to encounter with God and a new creation community is simultaneously fashioned. In fact, it is the greatest change in theology that has taken place since the time when the Christian Church came to terms with the Roman Empire under Constantine; and since the time theology had been done from the side of the powerful.
This is true particularly of the modern period when the European countries expanded into other continents. They also provoked sharp opposition from many who saw liberation theology as an attempt to reduce Christianity to little more than Marxist or left-wing politics. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the firm critics of Gutierrez during the s. In the middle of that decade, the congregation twice issued official warnings against aspects of liberation theology, accusing him of insufficiently critical use of Marxist ideas.
Although Gutierrez himself was not condemned, many other liberation theologians received Papal censure. Because of the perceived connection between followers of liberation theology and leftist groups in Latin America, such as the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, many liberation-minded priests were killed in Central American countries during the wars and civil conflicts of the s.
Therefore, as in all movements, there exists a diversity of opinions. Gutierrez remains a key voice in liberation theology, which has come to include feminist and black theology. Matthew J. Robert R. Nickeloff, ed. Department of Theology: People. Fawcett, Bruce G. Gutierrez, Gustavo.
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