Theological Studies 70 (2009)
JESUS OF GALILEE AND THE CRUCIFIED PEOPLE: THE CONTEXTUAL CHRISTOLOGY OF JON SOBRINO AND IGNACIO ELLACURÍA ROBERT LASSALLE-KLEIN
The author argues that the Christian historical realism of Ignacio Ellacurı́a and the “saving history” Christology of Jon Sobrino form a post-Vatican II contextual theology unified by two fundamental claims: the historical reality of Jesus is the real sign of the Word made flesh, and the analogatum princeps of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is to be found today among the “crucified peoples” victimized by various forms of oppression around the globe. Sobrino and Ellacurı́a are situated as important interpreters of Rahner, Ignatius Loyola, Augustine, Medellı́n, and key European phenomenologists.
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of Ignacio Ellacurı́a and the allied Christology of Jon Sobrino form what I believe may be the most fully developed contextual theology written since Vatican II.1 This remarkable collaboration reflects epoch-shaping events in Latin America and the HE FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY
ROBERT LASSALLE-KLEIN received his Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He is associate professor, chair of Religious Studies, and director of Pastoral Studies at Holy Names University, Oakland, Calif. Specializing in Christology, fundamental theology, and liberation theologies, he has recently published “La historización de la filosofı́a de la religión de Rahner en Ellacurı́a y Zubiri,” in Historia, Ética y Liberación, ed. Juan A. Nicolás and Héctor Samour (2007); and with Kevin Burke he has edited Love That Produces Hope: The Thought of Ignacio Ellacurı́a (2006). In progress is Blood and Ink: Ignacio Ellacurı́a, Jon Sobrino, and the Jesuit Martyrs of the University of Central America. 1
The English titles of the Orbis editions of Jon Sobrino’s two-volume Christology (which is the focus of much of this article) are seriously mistranslated from the Spanish, casting them in the model of Schillebeeckx’s two volumes, Jesus and Christ, and obscuring the focus of both volumes on Jesus Christ. Jesucristo liberador: Lecture histórica-teológica de Jesús de Nazaret (San Salvador: UCA, 1991) becomes Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological View (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1993); and La fe en Jesucristo: Ensayo desde las vı́ctimas (San Salvador: UCA, 1999) becomes Christ the Liberator: A View from the Victims (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 2001). Where I translate directly from the Spanish rather than quote the English, the Spanish version is cited first, followed by the English. It should be noted that the voluminous writings of Ignacio Ellacurı́a and Jon Sobrino cover in considerable depth many topics other than fundamental theology and Christology. 347