THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION: FAITH OR POLITICS? Joseph Gatt, O.C.D.
This article purports to be a contribution to the current debate on the theology of liberation. The recent "Instruction on Certain Aspects of the Theology of Liberation" has come out heavily against the alleged Marxist subversive elements of liberation theology. Our aim, however, is not to evaluate the Instruction's critique but to help in the understanding of the highly complex, at times elusive, phenomenon which is liberation theology - a complexity expressly recognised by the Vatican document (111,3; VI,8). We will present a general survey of the subject from two different points of view: the first part of this article will describe some of the main ideas of liberation theology as elaborated by the theologians of liberation themselves; the second part will list and explain the major objections which critics have been putting to the theology of liberation. Part One: The Theology of Liberation according to its Creators
1.
Historical Context Modern man has attained an acute historical and political consciousness. In such a continent as Latin America, he could not but become aware of the painful contradiction between his aspirations for freedom and justice, and a social order which effectively denied his human rights. In this living context, theologians have reopened the debate on the relation between theological reflection and political action.(l) There have been three precedents which, in fact, have helped the creation of liberation theology. The first is the political theology of Metz which describes the basic hermeneutical problem of theology as being the relations between theory and praxis, between the understanding of the faith and the social praxis. This German political theology, however, did not set
Born in Malta, in 1953, JOSEPH GATT entered the Discalced Carmelite Order and was ordained priest in 1979. He studied for a Baccalaureate in Theology at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Dublin, and specialized in Theological Anthropology at the 'Teresianum', Rome. He is a lecturer in Philosophy at I.N.S.E.R.M. - the Institute for religious students in Malta.
1.
G. Gutierrez-Merino, Movimenti di liberozione e te%gio, "Concilium", 3(1974), pp. 163 -164.