Liberation Theology

Context

After World War Two, relations between the US and Latin America were cordial on the surface, but underneath, tensions bubbled. Historian John Chasteen notes that American economists wanted to return to pre-war policies in which Latin America regained its “comparative advantage” in trade. However, nationalists and populists despised this pressure, instead wishing to continue industrialization (Chasteen 270). Despite their resistance, it seems that greater resistance-perhaps revolution-would be needed to upend the old order in various Latin American countries. To combat the influence of Americans and old elites, one such country, Peru, underwent a religious and class transformation in this period. The influence of Bartholome de las Casas, the Medellin Conference of 1968, and Marxism combined to convince Gustavo Gutiérrez, a theologian, that Christ had to be transformed from “a Spanish figure of blood and suffering to a militant symbol of protest” (Starn 309). In the Medellin Conference, various Catholic Bishops decided that Latin American Catholicism must represent the interests of the poor against the inequality and imperialism levied against them. This source is just one of many illuminating the fight for a new liberation theology in this period.

Summary

In this source, the movement of liberation theology is described, specifically as it relates to Peru. Gutiérrez, among many other Catholic officials at the time, had noticed the distinct lack of attention paid to the poor populations of Peru at this period. This went against the Bible’s teachings in their view, and Gutierrez cited the story of Cain and Abel, as well as Jesus himself, to argue that God had a predilection for the poor (Starn 310). The foundation of liberation theology was, for Gutiérrez, solidarity with poor populations. These populations had been taken advantage of during colonization and it was now God who would liberate them. The values of faith, hope, and love should inspire Christians, but Gutiérrez argues we should also correct those who deny the participation of marginalized groups in history (Starn 312). Unless Christians in Peru and elsewhere are committed to the poor rather than becoming allies with the privileged, they will be removed from the Christian message and lose touch with its original principles (Starn 312).

Conclusion

In terms of Latin America as a whole, Gutiérrez comes as yet another revolutionary in a sea of revolutionary change in the period of 1945 to around 1960. This primary source shows that there were many unique ways to rebel beyond the traditional image of revolution as seen in Cuba, however. For liberation theologists, the revolution was religious; it involved the Catholic Church becoming in touch with the downtrodden populations of Peru and combatting the oppression of the (mainly White) elite that had lasted centuries. Elsewhere, though revolutions took various shapes and sizes, the same was true: there was a movement against Neocolonialism and towards an independent Latin America (Chasteen 271).

Works Cited

Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire: a Concise History of Latin America. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

Gutiérrez, Gustavo. “Liberation Theology.” In The Peru Reader : History, Culture, Politics edited by Orin Starn, Carlos Iván Degregori, and Robin Kirk. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005.

By Matthew Akins