Has Liberation Theology Died?

Ecumenical Review, The, July, 1999 by Claudio de Oliveira Ribeiro

Through the base communities movement, communities in different parts of Brazil learned about democracy and participation, solidarity and sharing as new ways of being a church. The large number of base communities in rural areas learned about the struggle for land in the Bible, linking it to their struggle in the present; women learned about the struggle of women in the Bible and linked it with their struggle in the present; the poor learned about the injustices committed by the powerful in the Bible and were inspired by the action of the prophets.

In Brazil this process generated a series of political actions led by Roman Catholics, especially during the time of dictatorship (1964-85). Since then, the Christians' calling to be involved in the political life of the nation has been reaffirmed, confronting the capitalist system. Periodic national meetings, gathering thousands of people from all over the country, have made the base communities movement an "engine" of the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil. However, they have also been seen as a threat to the conservative hierarchy.

2. The challenges from economy and culture. The influence of Pope John Paul II, who has not always welcomed liberation theology, and the crisis in the socialist system especially after 1989 were among the factors which brought a time of crisis to the base communities movement. Some of its allies among the bishops and priests were silenced -- either by the Roman Catholic hierarchy or by their own perplexity at the new order. Members broke ranks: some engaged in political movements and gave up on the church; others moved to Pentecostal and evangelical churches, searching for support for their existential and financial issues. Those who were faithful to the proposal of liberation found themselves lost, lacking perspective.

Trying to pursue the method see-judge-act, to continue the educational process in the communities, the movement has been searching for ways to learn from and overcome the crisis. It has reaffirmed the need to be firmly rooted in the realities of life, not losing the method of keeping one eye on what is going on around them and the other on the Bible. It has learned that the socio-political emphasis which was encouraged from the 1960s to the 1980s overlooked some dimensions of life which are as important, such as existential and cultural issues and spirituality.

The economy and the culture are two key elements related to the mission of the community. The economy represents the continuing need to understand neo-liberal policies and the system of social exclusion. Some theologians such as Franz Hinkelammert, Hugo Assmann, Julio de Santa Ana and Jung Mo Sung, are trying to rethink liberation theology in the light of these new economic realities. Jung Mo Sung has shown that liberation theology, although it has socio-analytical mediation as the first step of its method, has in fact largely overlooked the economy in its analysis.(10)

The links between theology and economy are some of the most important issues for Latin American theology.(11) There is a concern to offer a critique of the ideologies and realities supported by prosperity theology. The base ecclesial communities understand the logic of the market system to be very distant from the gospel; and their concrete experience needs to be reflected on in the light of this conviction. The same applies to the relation between the economy and the ecological crisis.(12)