[Jon Sobrino, Paul Burns, Francis McDonagh] Jesus the Liberator

8/11/2019 [Jon Sobrino, Paul Burns, Francis McDonagh] Jesus the Liberator

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JESUS THE LIBERATOR


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Jon Sobrino

JESUS THE LIBERATORA Historical-Theological Reading

of Jesus of Nazareth

Translated from the Spanish byPa ul Burns and Francis M cDonagh

BURNS & GATES


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First published in this translation in Great Britain 1994 byBURNS & OATESWellwood, North Farm Road,

Tunbridge W ells, Kent TN2 3DRand in the United States of America 1993 byOrbis Books, M aryknoll, New Y ork 10545

Published originally in Spain by Editorial Trotta, S.A.,M adrid, under the title Jesucristo liberador. Lecturahistorica-teologica de Jesus de Nazaret in 1991

Original edition Copyright Editora Vozes Ltda andEditorial Trotta, S.A., 1991

English translation Orbis Books, 1993

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproducedin any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche,mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or anyother means, know n or as yet unknow n, or stored in aninformation retrieval system, without written permissionobtained beforehand from Burns & Oates Limited.

Photograph of Jon Sobrino on back cover by Carlos Reyes.Front coven Cross, acrylic on wood, from La Palma, ElSalvador. Courtesy of CIIR.

ISBN 0 86012 200 X

Typeset by Search Press LimitedPrinted in Finland by Werner Soderstrom Oy


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ContentsAbbreviations and Short Forms viii

Introduction: W hy Another Book of Christology? 11. Foreword by W ay of Confession 12. The Reason for this Christology 43. Purpose, Content and Basic Orientation of this Book 64. A Christology from 1 Salvador, a Crucified People Living in Hope 7

PARTITHE METHOD OF LATIN AMERICAN CHRISTOLOGY

1. A New Image and a New Faith in Christ 111. "Christ the Liberator": the New Image and New Faith of the

Oppressed 122. The New Image of Christ as a Break w ith Alienating Images 143. The Image of Christ at M edellin and Puebla 174. The Consequences for Christology 22

2. The Ecclesial and Social Setting of Christology 231. The Issue of the "Setting" of Christology 232. The Ecclesial Setting: the Church of the Poor 283. The Social-Theologal Setting: the W orld of the Poor 314. Conclusion: from the Poor to Jesus of Nazareth 35

3. The Historical Jesus, the Starting Point for Christology 361. The Relationship Between Jesus and Christ 362. The D ifferent Starting Points of Christology 403. The Return to Jesus of Nazareth 444. The Systematic Significance of the "Historical Jesus" 475. The Return to Jesus in the New Testament 556. Latin Am erican Christology as "Gospel" Christology 60

PART IITHE MISSION AND FAITH OF JESUS

4. Jesus and the Kingdom of God 671. The Final Reality for Jesus: the Kingdom of God 672. The Notional Way: the Hoped-for Utopia in the Midst of the

Sufferings of History 703. The Way of the Addressee: the Kingdom of God is for the Poor 794. The W ay of the Practice of Jesus 87

V


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CONTENTS

Excursus 1: The Kingdom of God in Present-day Christologies 1051. The Re-Discovery of the Kingdom of God as the Ultimate and

Eschatological 106

2. The Kingdom of God in Modern Christologies 1103. The Kingdom of God in Latin American Christologies 121

5. Jesus and God (1): Jesus and a God-Father 1351. Jesus' Ideas about God 1362. Jesus' Prayer 1383. Trust in a God who is Father 1414. Openness to a Father who is God 1475. Jesus' Faith 1546. Who is God for Jesus? 1577. Conclusion: "Messiah," "Son," "Brother" 158

6. Jesus and God (2): Jesus' Prophetic Praxis as Upholdingthe True God 160

1. Prophecy and Anti-Kingdom 1602. Jesus' Controversies: God is Controversial 1623. Jesus' Unmaskings: Manipulating God 167

4. Denunciation of Oppressors and their Idols 1705. Conclusion: Jesus the "Prophet" 178

E x c u r s u s 2: T he Question of God: G od of Life and Idols of Death 1801. The Question of God as Atheism or Idolatry 1802. Jesus and the Question of God: Demythirying Divinity 1863. Jesus and the Question of God: Orthopraxis 189

PART IIITHE CROSS OF JESUS

7. The Death of Jesus (1): W hy Jesus was Killed 1951. Persecution: the Climate in which Jesus Lived 1962. Jesus' Consciousness in the Midst of Persecution 2003. Jesus' Trial 2044. Jesus' Death as a Consequence of His Mission 209

E x c u r s u s 3: Jesus and Violence 212

8. The Death of Jesus (2): Why Jesus Died 2191. The "Explanation" of the Cross in the Mystery of God 2202. From the Cross as Scandal to the Cross as Salvation 2213. The Manifestation of What is Pleasing to God 2274. The Credibility of God's Love 230


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CONTENTS vii

9. The Death of Jesus (3): The Crucified God 2331. The Silence of God on the Cross of Jesus 2352. G od's Suffering 240

3. K nowing God on Jesus' Cross 24610. The Death of Jesus (4): The Crucified People 254

1. The Crucified People as Y ahweh's Suffering Servant 2552. The Crucified People as a "M artyred People" 264

Epilogue 272

Notes 274

Index 303


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Abbreviations and Short Form sECA Es tud ios Cen tr aam er icanos . San Salvador.

GS Gaud ium et s p e s . Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Churchin the Modern World. Translations are from Walter Abbott, ed.,The D o c u m e n t s o f Vat ican II. Piscataway, N.J.: America Press,1966 and LondonDublin: G eoffrey Chapman, 1966.

Medellin Second General C onference of Latin American Bishops, held inMedellin, Colombia, in 1968. Translations of the final documentsare in Th e Church in the Prese n t -da y Transform at ion of of LatinAmerica. Washington, D.C.: USCC, 1970.

OC D F.L. Cross, ed., T h e Oxford D ic t ionary of th e Ch r is t ian C h u r c h .LondonNew YorkToronto: OUP, 1957.

PL Pa t ro log iae Cursus C o m p l e t us , Series Latina. Ed. J. P. Migne.Paris, 1844-55

Puebla Third General Conference of Latin American Bishops, held inPuebla, Mexico, in 1979. Translation of the final document in J.Eagleson and P. Scharper eds, Pueb l a and B e y o n d . Maiyknoll,N.Y.: Orbis, 1980; also in Puebla. Slough: St Paul, London:CIIR, 1980.

RLT Revista L a t in o a m e r ic a n a de Teo log l a . San Salvador.

ST St Thomas Aquinas, S um m a T h e o l o g ia e .

UR Unitat is r ed in tegra t io . Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism. InAbbott, D o c u m e n ts of Va tica n 11.

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This book is ded ica ted to the m e m o ry o fIgna cio Ellacur la , Seg und o M ontes , Igna cio M art in Ba ro ,

Juan Ra m o n M oreno , Am and o Lopez , Joaquin Lop ezy Lopez ,Jul ia Elba Ram os a n d Ce l ina Ram os


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Introduction

W h y A no the r Book of C hr isto logy?

1. Forew ord by W ay of ConfessionThis book seeks to present the Christ who is Jesus of Nazareth, and so I have calledit "Jesus the liberator." This choice of title was not easy, however, since writingfrom Latin America and specifically from El Salvador, w e tend to speak of "JesusChrist crucified.'* Faith points ineluctably to the first title; history forcefullyreminds us of the second. Nevertheless it is a fact that the return to Jesus of Nazarethhas been the means of retrieving, historically too, a new image of Christ and thatthis has developed a f r u i t f u l faith for believers, for the church and for the processesof liberation. Therefore, this book is written in the midst of crucifixion, butdefinitely in the hope of liberation.

Liberation and crucifixion provide the basic tension for C hristian faith and alsothe basic objective tension in christology on this continent. Here I prefer toconcentrate on the tensions inherent in the mere fact of try ing to write a christology.So, by w ay of personal confession, I w ish to start with some questions that facedme as I began to write this book. Is it possible to w rite a christology? And, moreimportantly, is it a useful thing to do? Do we need one? These questions are notpurely rhetorical, even if they may look it. At the least they should indicate that thisbook has not been w ritten as an intellectual exercise, nor as a routine one, and theyshould also serve as a warning against the tendency to trivialize the object ofchristology, Jesus Christ. So let us tackle these questions.

Of course it is po ssible to w rite a christology, since many have been writtenover the centuries and still are being w ritten. But in our days, theology is beingovertaken by a feeling of professional impotence in the face of innumerablewritings of every sort about Jesus Christ. It is practically impossible to keep trackof everything written from exegetic, dogm atic and systematic disciplines on JesusChrist,1 to take account of the new christologies being produced in other parts ofthe Third World, Asia and Africa, 2 and those being rewritten from a woman'sstandpoint.3 And it is quite impossible to take account of all the existential

1


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2 INTRODUCTION

christologies at work in the faith and religious practice of peoples, whether inliberating practice, popular religious expression, the infinitely varied religiousexpression of charismatic m ovem ents and sects, the "syncretist" expression of the

indigenous Latin Am erican peoples... .4

And yet all these christologies, learned andpopular, should in principle be taken into account. Jose Ignacio Gonzalez Faus istherefore right to begin his own christology w ith the confession: "Through my mostgrevious fault. For the brazenness and audacity of daring to write a christology."3

The difficulty is not only technical, however, it goes deeper than this. It stemsfrom the very "object" of christology, Jesus Christ, w hom we proclaim in faith asthe real, true and unsurpassable manifestation of the mystery of God and themystery of hum an beings. To face up to som ething that is really "m ystery" is noteasy, to formulate it and conceptualize it is even harder, to do so adequately isimpossible. Faith gives this unfathomable mystery a name, "Jesus Christ," butchristology cannot exhaust thisI trust it never willand should not give theimpression of knowing too much about Jesus Christ, w hich w ill only turn out laterto be the most obvious form of not knowing.

And let it not be thought that writing about a "liberator" Christa morehistorical one, thereforediminishes the difficulty. It is true that the term"liberation" describes realities that are not at all mysterious, but clear andnecessary: the end of oppression and crucifixion, the life and dignity of the poor andof all.... Bu t this same word "liberation" also points to a Utopia"integral"liberation in the true sense, though one little used by the m agisterium that of theKingdom of God coming to be a reality and human beings coming to be simplyhuman. This is why in Latin America we have devised the happy and necessaryexpression "mysterium " libera tionism Nor m ust one forget that this liberation isbrought about in the midst of and in the teeth of the presence of an evil soomnipresent, aberrant and enslaving, that it has to be called by its traditional name,"mysterium " iniquitatis.

Christology, then, is up against a m ystery. This does not m ean that its object isobscure or enigmatic, as if Christ could not be the object of knowledge andreflection. But it does mean that in this object there is as it were an "excess" ofluminosity in the presence of an "excess" of historical darkness, and that it thereforealways surpasses knowledge. The fact that Jesus Christ is a mystery always imposesa reserve on all christology, which is why Leonardo Boff starts his book on JesusChrist with this quote from Bonhoeffer: "Speaking of Christ means being silent."7

So reflecting on the possibility of christology always m eans tak ing account of whatis impossible in christology, and therefore of the need to partner words with silence,truth w ith p rovisionality.

In the second place, I do believe that christology is useful, that it can presentChrist in a m anner beneficial to the faith of believers, to the life of the church andto the configuration of history, but again, w ithou t rushing in. Above all, we needto remember that christologies are "transitory com positions that use contingentconceptual instruments",* that is, that they are by their natu re conceptually lim ited.


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W HY ANOTHER BOOK OF CHRISTOLOGY? 3

But beyond this lim itation, christology can be useful to good ends, but can also beused to bad ends, w hich should not surprise us, since, being m ade by hum an beings,it is also subject to sinfulness and manipulation. W e should not forget that

historically there have been heretical christologies, w hich have truncated the totaltruth of Christ, and, worse, there have been objectively harm ful christologies,which have put forward a different Christ and even one objectively contrary to Jesusof Nazareth. Let us remem ber that this continent has been subjected to centuriesof inhuman and anti-Christian oppression, w ithout christology giving any sign ofhaving noticed this and certainly w ithout it providing any prophetic denunciationin the name of Jesus Christ.

In this way christology, even in its orthodox forms, can become a mechanismto prevent faith from guiding the faithful to reproduce the reality of Jesus in theirown lives and to build the Kingdom of G od, proclaim ed by Jesus, in history. Thisis why Juan Luis Segundo, usi ng a deliberately shocking expression, set out to writean "anti-christology," "a speaking about Jesus that opens a w ay to seeing him aswitness to a still more hum an and liberated life."9 Christology therefore has to putan end to the apparent innocence of supposing that the m ere fact of writing aboutJesus m eans that what is said is first useful and then used correctly.

It should not be surp rising for theologians to set out their ow n limitations inchristology; a m inim um of honesty should force them to ask if they are going tobring their ow n limitations to it, and what these are, what dangers might beproducedeven w hen they set out to w rite a christology on the so holy and truetheme of "the liberating Jesus C hrist." All theologians b ring their ow n limitations,and even their own sinfulness. W e can only hope that christology will be useful,without forgetting that it can be useless, and even harmful.

Christology is, finally, necessary, since human beings are always affected,astonished or challenged by im portant realities, and this forces them to think.Christians, fu rtherm ore, are explicitly told to give reasons for the hope that they

have (1 Pet. 3:15). And in Latin Am erica, as we shall see, christology is a necessityfor historical reasons: we need to present a C hrist who, as a minim um , is the allyof liberation, not of oppression. But none of this can silence the question of whatis most necessary and whether and how christology relates to this.

If I may be allowed a personal comment, I have often thought, on seeing theproliferation of books on Christincluding my ownthat if we Christians couldput into practice a modest percentage of what is said in any normal work ofchristology, the w orld w ould change radicallyand the world is not changingradically. This, of course, is not just the fault of christology. But it does m ake onethink that in certain quarters there might be a sort of avidity and curiosity to see"what the latest book of christology has to say," and that christologies therebybecome m arket products or views put about in the Athenian market-place, fromwhich w e can all pick and choose at whim , com pare them, discuss them , defendthem or attack them . . . w hile everything stays exactly the same in reality.

W e sincerely believe that the new Latin Am erican christology has tried to serve


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4 INTRODUCTION

"the one thing necessary," but there is still a fear of w hat J. L. Sicre denounced inhis book on the p rophets of Israel hap pening: "The best way of avoiding the w ordof God is to study the w ord of God." 10

So, before starting

a christology and b efore Jesus

passes through

the filter

ofconcept and loses his freshness, it is good and necessary to allow oneself to beaffected and challenged by the gospel. It is true that w ithout the reasoning sup pliedby christology, reading the gospel can and usu ally does degenerate into dangerousfundamentalism, and this prov ides the need for christology . But w e m ust be carefu lnot to end up as enlightened christologues and illiterates of the gospel, ofovercoming "fundam entalism " w hile losing sigh t of the "fundamentals," w hat thewhole w orld u nderstands (or should understand) w ithou t too m any explanations:Jesus' option for the poor, his mercy and justice, his confrontation with thepowerful, his persecution and death resulting from all this, his revindicatingresurrection. And above all, that it is th is Jesus w e have to follow .

All I have said so far undoubtedly contains a lot of rhetoric, but it is not allrhetoric. And so at least one im portant conclusion can be draw n from it: the m odestyof christology. This modesty is imposed on it objectivelysomething that hasescaped the exaggerated "christocentrism" of W estern theologyby Christ him-self who, in John's theology, tends to w ithdraw in favour of the Sp irit.11 But I amreferring here to the modest fram e of m ind that should inform all christology. If

Pascal is right in stating tha t w ithout Jesus C hrist w e do not know w ho G od is orw ho hu m an beings are, nor w hat I ife is and w hat death is, then the m odesty requiredis clearly not fictitious . It is still less so if w e add tha t w ithout Jesus C hrist w e cannotfully know w hat liberation is or w hat opp ression is, nor w ho the G od of life is andw hat the idols of death are. C hristology cer tainly needs a m ax im u m of intellectualstrictness and energy, but it also needs a chastity of the intelligence. It needs toimmerse itself in the m ystery of C hrist, bu t without touching him, so to speak,without trying to get hold of h im .

2. T he Reason for th is C hr is to logyHav ing said a ll that, I ob viously need to give som e reason for p roducing a new bookof christology. I think there are tw o types of reason, one m ore contex tual, hav ingto do w ith the relevance of christology to the p resent situation, the other m orespecific, having to do w ith its p erm anent character.

Of the contextual reasons, the first is ethical in nature. In Latin Am erica, Jesusis still an im p ortant reality; he is present to the m asses, u nlik e in Africa and Asia,and he is still actively p resent, u nlik e i n Eu rope and the First W orld in general. Thi spresence is differentiated, naturally, bu t w hether it is as a reality of faith or as ahistorical personage or as a socio-cultural symbol, it is there. And not only is itthere, bu t it is used, in very varied ways, to defend one type or another of hum an,social and even political v entu re. All this to different degrees, of course, bu t it stillseems to me accurate to state that in a still culturally and socially Christiancontinent all are concerned to have Jesus C hrist on their side, or at least not to seem


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W HY ANOTHER BOOK OF CHRISTOLOOY ? 5

to have him against them . In this situation, given that Jesus C hrist is in fact used,it is the responsibility of christology to show his true face, so that he m ay be usedwell, so that Jesus C hrist m ay be at the service of the m ys te r ium liberations and

against the m y s t e riu m iniquita t is .The second reason is ecclesial. C hanges in the church, w hether in the directionof renovation, conservation or restoration, always seek to ju stify themselves by acertain image of Christ. Even w hen m any norm ative church docum ents on its ow nnature exist, the intuitioncorrect in itselfpersists that beyond such docum entsthe final criterion of truth has to be sought in Christ. Therefore, in the presentchurch situation of internal divisions and conflicts, all sides appeal to Christ Soit is im portant to put forward the truest possible im age of Christ, and, w here thebuilding of the church is concerned, to pu t forward the im age that will best serveit in its form ation as church of the poor, as it calls itself in its ow n docum ents.

Of the specific reasons, the first is set out by Jesus him self. To grasp him in faithw e have to let him ask: "And you, w ho do you say that I am?" (M ark 8:29). Ananswer, then, is not op tional, and if it is a reflective and conceptualized answ er, itis already, in some sense, christology. And if C hrist is grasped in his "universalsignificative intention,"12 then, furtherm ore, there has to be not just a christology,but a history of christologies in order to deal tangentially in history w ith its subjectmatter.

In Latin America, being questioned like this has another, existentially moreradical expression. Both Christ and the continent are today crucified. And theircrosses do not u st m ake one think and change one's m anner of thinking, t hey fo rceone to think . The relatively pacific "who do you say that I am ?" becom es a pressingqu estion in the m outh of the crucified Christ and of the crucified people. "Sufferingprecedes thinking/ 1 said Feuerbach, but the suffering of the cross also forciblyproduces thinking. If the situation of crucified peoplesand of C hrist in them does not force u s to think , one can ask w hat w ill, or w hat other thinking can be m ore

necessary and u rgent than this.The second specific reason also stems directly from the reality of Christ. Tograsp him in faith w e have to u nderstand him as eu-agge l ion , good news, theappearance of the goodness of G od (Tit. 3:4). This m eans that Christ, if graspedas such, p roduces joy and gratitude, and no joy and gratitude rem ain du m b forever.In many places in Latin America, unlike in other parts of the world, Christ isgrasped as good new s too, not ju st as crucified. So C hristians talk of C hrist w ithgratitude, and out of gratitude they talk of Christ. And the same happens inchristology.

In w ords devoid of cheap sp irituality bu t full of spiritual strength and intellectualprecision, Leonardo Boff states that "the tru e theologian can speak only from Jesus,that is, m oved by his reality exp erienced in faith and love." 13 W hat I should like toadd is that this experience not only enables us, but forces us to speak. Christologyis also done out of gratitude and love.

W e have to speak, on the one hand, out of the pain produced by seeing C hrist


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6 INTRODUCTION

made the object of hijacks and distortions, so that w e m ust go out and do battle andgive ourselves u p for h im , in an attem pt to m ake it harder for people to say of himthe terrible words used of God in the scriptures: "because of you his name is

blasphem ed am ong the nations." And, on the other hand, we have to speak of Christou t of the joy he produces: "W e give thank s to you , Father, for you r Son Jesus."

3. Purpose, Content and B asic Orientat ion of th is Book

Explaining the reasoning b ehind this w ork already hints at its pu rpose, b ut let m espell it out. Tins purpose of this christology is to pu t forward the truth of C hrist fromthe standpoint of liberation, and this m eans that it follows the lines I have set outsome years ago.14 In this sense, this christology does not claim to offer a totally

original viewpoint, although it does go deeper into central issues of oppression andliberation. The reason for this stress is that lib eration is correlative to opp ression,and this, in the shape of unjust povertyto w hich m ust be added ethnic, cu ltural,sexual and other oppressions13not only has not disappeared but has generallyincreased. To the reader w ho feels disapp pointed by the p rospect of "m ore of thesame," I can only say that on this continent w e still hav e "the same" oppression,and that this is on the increase, as the statistics show.

This fact is basic, and I have to insist on it because in som e qu arters the theologyof liberation is spoken of as thou gh it w ere a passing fashion and one that has alreadygiven all it had to give. But whether the specific products of the theology ofliberation satisfy or not is one thing, and whether the reality of oppression is apassing fashion is q u ite another. M ost regrettably , it certainly is not. And this, atthe very least, should be borne in m ind by those who state that this theology is a"contextual" theology. The context, certainly, is w hat goes on req uiring m ore, notless, liberation, w hat goes on requ iring a christology of liberation.10

The c o n t e n t of this christology is Jesus C hrist in his totality . In this volum e, aftersome methodological chapters, I m ake a historical-theological reading of the C hrist

w ho is Jesus of Nazareth, and in a second, forthcom ing volum e I shall exam ine thehistory of christologies and of faith in Jesus of N azareth proclaim ed as the C hristafter his resurrection.

In this volum e, I set out the life of Jesus in relation to three central dim ensionsof his life: his service to the Kingdom o fGod, his relationship to God- the-Fa therand his death on the cross. Throughou t this, I endeavour to stress the liberative, andso good-news, dim ension of both Jesus' m is s io n and h is p e r s o n . Jesus' mission isgood new s (the K ingdom , God's m ediation) and it is also good new s that it is this

very Jesus of Nazareth (God's m ediator) w ho carries it out.17

. From this p oint ofview , this christology seeks to give em phasis and prim acy to the flesh of Jesus andto encourage u s, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrew s says, to keep "ou r eyesfixed on Jesus" (Heb. 12:2).

The second volum e w ill deal w ith the final reality of Jesus proclaim ed as theChrist after the resurrection and confessed as true G od and true m an in dogm a. This


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W HY ANOTHER BOOK OF C H R IS TO LO G Y ? 7

will be done out of plain believing and ecclesial fidelity, but also because, asGonzalez Faus says, christological dogma offers "a structuring category ofreality."18 If Christ is like this, then reality too can be understood as the presence

of transcendence in history,19

each w ith the proper identity and autonomy, w ithoutmixture or separation, by which I mean w ithout the reductionisms that empoverishboth, to w hich hum an beings are so prone. That reality should be thus is, I hold,a good thing, and accepting that it is thus is also liberating.

Let m e add for the sake of clarity that presenting the content of Christ from aliberationist standpoint is, undoubtedly, a methodological choice, bu t it is not anarbitrary choice, nor is there any reason why it should be a m anipulative choice.I shall analyze this in Part I, but for the mom ent let m e simply say this: it is nottheoretically manipulative, since there is am ple biblical evidence for seeing theperson and mission of Christ as primarily liberative, and let us not forget that bothNew Testament and patristic christologies were m ade from a Salvationist stand-point; nor is it empirically manipulative, since experience shows that approachingJesus Christ from liberation is generallythough there are always exceptionsmore of a help than a hindrance to grasping and confessing his totality; and finallyit is not manipulative because christological reflections that start from the liberativeaspect do not usually reduce the totality of Christ, but, on the contrary, rediscoverdimensions of him absent from other christologies. In this sense, it is not right toa f f i r m that the theology (and christology) of liberation is a "genitive** theology,concerned solely w ith being "of liberation." This is certainly its main concern, butthis leads it to concern itself with the whole of theology and, in this case, ofchristology.

Finally, a word on the orientation of this christology. The "modesty" Imentioned earlier has its counterpart in the way christology can become mystagogy:that is, an introduction to the mystery. M ore specifically, this m eans that christologycan show a waythat of Jesusin w hich human beings can meet the m ystery, call

it "Father," as Jesus did, and nam e this Jesus as the Christ. Christology needs toand m ust draw out the powers of human intelligence, but also other hum an powers.Its approach has to be rigorously intellectualeven doctrinal, some would addbut its deepest essence lies in being something "spiritual";20 in that it should helppersons and communities to m eet Christ, to follow the cause of Jesus, to live as newmen and women and to conform this world to the heart of God.

4. A Christology from E l Salvador, a C rucified People L iving in Hope

To close this long introduction, I should say that the process of writing this bookhas been a slow one, owing to the situation in El Salvador. To put it simply, therehas not been m uch time to read and research all that I should have liked and shouldhave done. This book has been w ritten in the m iddle of war, of threats, of conflictand persecution, producing innumerable emergencies requiring an immediateresponse, and therefore innumerable interruptions to the work schedule. The


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8 T I O

murder-martyrdom of m y brother Jesuits, of Julia Elba and C elina Ram os, left m yheart frozen and virtually empty. But this is not the whole, or even the majorsignificance of this book b eing w ritten in El Salvador.

The reality of this country has m ade m e think a lot, and has also helped m e tothink about Jesus C hrist. This is w hy I began this introduction by asking about them ost appropriate title: Jesus liberator or crucified. In any case, so m uch tragedy andso m uch hope, so m uch sin and so m uch grace provide a pow erful hermeneuticalback drop for understanding C hrist and give the gospel the taste of reality.

The gospel's finest and most original phrasesoften taken for granted inchristologiesresound here with real power, as something real. It is a fact thatthere are crucified peoples, "flogged Christs," and this gives a better u nderstandingof Christ, the Suffering Servant of Y ahw eh, hidden am ong the poor. It is a fact thatthere are innu m erab le m artyrs who have given their lives out of love and w ho arestill present and active, and this helps us understand the martyr Jesus w ho w asraised from among the dead. It is a fact that m y brethren, the four U.S. missionariesand so many others are good news for the poor of this w orld, and this helps usunderstand Jesus and his G od as good new s. It is a fact that "in M onsignor Rom ero,G od passed through El Salvador," as Ignacio Ellacuria said, and this helps usunderstand that in Jesus, G od passed throu gh this w orld.

So m any w itnesses and m artyrs, so m any Christian m en and wom en w ho are like

Jesus, w ho m ake one think about Jesus and pu t one in m ind of him . W ith his usualflair, K arl Rahner said that being hu m an is "a defective m ode of b eing Christ." The"defective" puts us in the realm of hope, but that there shou ld really be "m odes ofbeing Christ" is a cause for thank sgiving, in one's p ersonal life above all, bu t alsoin the theoretical task of trying to w rite a christology.

The challenge posed by the situation of El Salvador does not render christologysuperfluous, bu t makes it all the more necessary to put all one's intellect intoelaborating a christology that w ill help the resu rrection of the Salvadorean people.But I also honestly believealthough the only argum ent I can pu t forward is thevulnerable one of reality that this reality itself clarifies w hat divinity is and w hathumanity is, and the C hrist w ho b rings the two together.

In the final analysis, this book does no m ore thanfrom Jesusraise the realityI have been exp eriencing into a theological concept, reflect on a christological faithI find as a living faith, and no m ore than p resent Christ, the great witness to God,from the sources in theology, of course, but also from the cloud of w itnesses w hoshed light on the w itness by definition. Because of this, despite everything, this bookhas been w ritten in hope and joy. The crucified Jesus Christ, so om nipresent, isreally good news, is truly a liberator Jesus C hrist.


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PARTI

T H E METHOD OFLATIN AM ERICAN CH RISTO LO GY


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Chapte r 1

A New Im age and a New Fa ith in C hr is t

In Latin America, faith in Christ succeeded in surviving through the centurieswithout special christological discussions, and it could be said that there was nospecifically Latin Am erican christology.1 It is true that at its beginnings there wasvery powerful meditation on the presence of Christ in the oppressed Indians, whichobjectively pointed towards a christology of the "body of C hrist." Guamin Poma,for example, said, "By faith we know clearly that w here there is a poor person there

is Jesus Christ himself,"2

andBartolomede las Casas declared, "In the Indies I leaveJesus Christ, our God, being whipped and afflicted, and buffeted and crucified, notonce but thousands of times, as often as the Spaniards assault and destroy thosepeople."3 Bu t this original christological insight did not thrive,4 and what becamethe tradition was a christology based on the dogmatic formulas, in whichhoweverwell they were known and understoodwhat was stressed was the divinity of Christrather than his real and lived hum anity.

However, if there were no Latin Am erican christologies until a few years ago,there were certainly images of Christ. On the one hand, there was the imagecorresponding to the official christology, an abstract image that gave no value towhat was central in Jesus of Nazareth. On the other hand, there was the image thatstressed the suffering of Jesus on the cross w ith which the poor identified, and w ithwhich they associated their ow n specific sufferingmassive, cruel, imposed andunjustwhich has accompanied them from the m oment Christ was first preachedto them until today.

From the beginning the defeated Indians who accepted Christ did so in aparticular way. They did not adopt him in a syncretistic w ay, but, of the Christ

brought by the conquerors they adopted precisely w hat made them most like him:a Christ who had himself been annihilated and conquered. In this suffering Christthey recognized themselves, and from him they learned patience and resignationto enable them to survive with a minim um of feeling on the cross that was laid onthem.5 W hat popular religion did down through the centuries, consciously or

11


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12 THE METHOD OF LATIN AMERICAN CHRISTOLOGY

unconsciously, was to reinterpret the divinity of C hrist (and the closeness to Godof the V irgin and the saints) as a sym bol of the u ltim ate redoub t of power in the faceof its impotence, but w hat it really sought was consolation in its desolation. Until

today the C hrist of the poor m asses of Latin A m erica is the suffering Christ,

w iththe result that Holy W eek is the m ost im portant religious occasion of the year, andw ithin that G ood Friday, and w ithin that the lay ing of Christ in the tom b.

1. Christ the Liberator**: the New Image a nd New Fa i th of the Oppressed

The image of C hrist and the inflicting of su ffering have been connected in LatinAmerica from the beginning, and continue to be so. Nevertheless, som ething newand su rprising happened som e years ago. The traditional suffering C hrist came tobe seen, not just as a symbol of su ffering to be identified w ith, but also and especiallyas a sym bol of protest against tha t suffering and, above all, as a sym bol of liberation.'"Today in the faith experience of m any C hristians in Latin Am erica," LeonardoBoff w rote in 1974, "Jesus is seen and loved as the Liberator." 6 This is som ethingnew and, after centuries of a one-sided im age of C hrist, really surp rising.

The fact that this new image of Christ exists is w hat we m ay call the mostimportant christological fact in Latin Am erica, a real "sign of the times," howeverw idespread it m ay be, a point I shall come back to. The truth of this im age w ill

need to be established, b u t, starting from the other end, I shall begin b y describingit to introduce the topic, since, as som ething real, it is what will inspire m ypresentation of Christ.

As a general justification of this choice, let me say that this im age better conveysthe relevance of C hrist for a continent of opp ression because it is "liberating," andbetter recovers the identity of Christwithout losing his totalitybecause itdirects us to "Jesus of Nazareth." And in this historic coincidence of relevance andidentity, Latin American christology differs from others, produced in the FirstW orld, w hose u nderlying p roblem is precisely to unify the two. W alter Kasper'sw ords at the beginning of his christology speak v olum es: "If the C hu rch w orriesabout identity, it risks a loss of relevance; if, on the other hand, it struggles forrelevance, it may forfeit its identity."7 Latin Am erican christology, in contrast,offers a new real im age that unifies bo th. Let us look at the essentials of this im age.

(a) Christ is seen, and this and other term s are used to describe him , above allas l ibe ra tor, w ith the power to lib erate from the v arious types of slavery that afflictthe poor of this con tinent, to give direction to this liberation and to insp ire believersto be its active agents. From this point of view , this im age is essentially

soteriological for the present, but it also has a New Testam ent origin in a v eryprecise sense: it retrieves the Jesus of Nazareth sent "to b ring good new s to the poor[and] to proclaim release to the captives" (Luke 4:18). From this central fact itrevalues the w hole life, action and destiny of Jesus in such a way that C hrist theliberatorw ithout any im p lication of ignoring the totality of C hristis, first andforemost, Jesus of Nazareth, the so-called historicalJesus.


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A NEW IM A G E AND A NEW FAITH IN CHRIST 13

(b) Corresponding to this new ima gzis a new way o f living ai th in C hrist. M anyChristians today believeexistentiallyin a way that is different and evencontrary to their form er way, have undergone a radical conversion in their mode

of belief and have borne witness to it by an impressive com m itment that includessacrificing their lives. M any Christians have been m urdered in Latin Am erica, butnot just any Christians, rather those who act consistently in accordance w ith thenew image of Christ the liberator. This fact of generalized martyrdom is the bestproof that there really is a new image of Christ, one m ore faithful to the Christ whois Jesus. Faith in Christ means, first and foremost, following Jesus .

(c) This Christ and this faith also provoke conflict. Jesus is for some, theoppressed, and aga ins t others, the oppressors. The poor proclaim him as the trueChrist, while their oppressors w arn against him , attack him , or at the very least seekto introduce other, alienating images of Christ.8 Follow ing Jesus essentiallyinvolves conflict because it m eans reproducing a w ay of acting in favour of onegroup of people and against another, and this gives rise to attacks and persecution.All this is well known and I will com e back to it later. W hat m ust be added hereto avoid oversimplification is that this new image also provokes conflict among thepoor because, w hile all of them seek the same salvation, that is, to deal w ith theessentials of life w ith a m inimum of efficiency and dignity,9 christological imagesof salvation that are anti-liberation keep ap pearing, such as those associated w ith

spiritualist movem ents and sects, "Jesus saves" or "G lory to the Lord." This isunderstandable because in socio-economic situations as tragic today as they werein the past, except that they are enduring and even worsening after the failure ofso m any hopes for liberation, there is nothing left for m any poor people except toclingalbeit in very different outward formsto the core of the old image, a Christfrom w hom alone salvation is to be expected, but a salvation that in the last resortis only transcendental, because it seems impossible to attain in history.10

Also, one should not exaggerate the quantitative spread of the new image andthe new faith, when both are under constant attack from opposed understandingsof religion and not sufficiently supported by the institutional church, and so I needto give some explanation for beginning w ith this im age and this faith. First of all,the qu antitative argum ent is not decisive for christology," though it is extremelyimportant for pastoral work. W hat m ust be appreciated is the qualitative dim en-sion, and that is impressive. After five centuries an image of Christ has appearedthat is different from and existentially contrary to the traditional one. This imagehas spread sufficiently w idely throughout the Latin Am erican continent and, mostimportant of all, has been accepted w ith surp rising universalityunlike the fate of

other images of Christ in other placesby educated Christians and the m asses, bybishops and lay people, by Latin Americans and those in solidarity with them inother parts of die w orld. This image and this faith are holding their ow n despitetheir intrinsic d i f fi c u l t y and the trials they have had to undergo. And finally , theycontinue to be the image and the f a i t h that are absolutely necessaryfrom the pointof view of the gospelin the cu rrent situation of the continent.


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14 THE M E TH O D OF LATIN A M E R IC A N CHRISTOLOGY

Whatever may be the scale and the future of the two phenomena, the fact in itselfdeserves due recognition. It is, and still remains today, the fundamental christologicalfact of Latin Am erica." Whatever its future, the Christ behind this image and this

faith is today something real; it is the C hrist w hom churches and peoples most need(relevance), and the one most like Jesus (identity). It is therefore also the Christof whom most account should be taken in the developm ent of a christology.

2. The New Image of C hr ist as a Break w i th A l iena t ing Images

This image of Christ the liberator ought not to be new, since it is substantially theimage of Jesus in the Gospels, as is admitted in a sense even by the two VaticanInstructions on liberation theology. "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a m essage ofliberty and a force for liberation." u "The gospel... is, by its very nature, a m essageof freedom and liberation."14 But this has not been the case, and the consequencesare well-known and objectively scandalous. Latin Am erica, a m assively Christiancontinent, has experienced ap palling opp ression w ithout faith in C hrist raising anyquestions about this or the image of Christ encouraging a suspicion that somethingwas very wrong on the continent. From that point of view, the new image of Christexpresses at least that suspicion, and at a deeper level signifies the abolition of thatscandalous situation. If for no other reason than this, the new image would havedone imm ense good.

W hy this scandal occurred in the past can be explained by various reasons, ofcourse. For the m oment I shall concentrate on the m ore specifically christologicalones: that is, how traditional christologies made possible and even encouraged animage of Christ that could be used by the powerful and in such a way that the poorhad no alternative but to cling to the one-sided suffering image. I shall analyze themalso because this is not ju st past history; these im ages are reviving and beingencouraged in various ways now.

The basic m echanism that produced the scandalous situation outlined aboveconsisted, schematically, of the follow ing steps: forget and reduce Jesus ofNazareth, so distort Christ and frequently turn him into his opposite. To pu t itbluntly, Christ was presented in such a w ay that believers, in order to be such, hadno reason to resem ble Jesus or follow and carry out Jesus' mission in support of theoppressed. W hat God had joined togetherthe bearer of the messianic hopes andthe liberation of the oppressedwas pu t asunder and even into opposition throughan image of Christ w ithout Jesus.

Without being anachronistic, we now need to analyze w hat was the objectiveresponsibilitywhatever the sub jective intentionof the procedure adopted bychristologies in this scandalous situ ation. I say "procedure" because the issue is notthe content of this or that christology, bu t som ething m ore im portant, an attitudewidespread until a few years ago in w hich Christ in himself was approached withnot even a suspicion, at least consciously, that the w ays used to present him werethose that suited the powerful and the oppressors. Let us look systematically at thefundamental structures of this distortion of Christ.


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A NEW IMAGE AND A NEW FAITH IN CHRIST 15

(a ) An "Abstract" Christ

Christologies usually offered an image of Christ as a sublime abstraction. "Sub-limity" as essential to an object of faith is obvious, but the "abstraction** is extremely

dangerous. This abstraction is possible because the sublime title "Christ" is anadjective which only receives its specific value from the specificity of the noun,Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus is forgotten, then it becomes possible to fill the adjectivewith w hatever suits at the time, w ithout checking whether Jesus was like that or not,or whether this means leaving the world sunk in its w retchedness or not; or worsestill, w ithout asking if this image legitimates the tragedy of the w orld or bringsliberation from it.

W hat I called possible very often really happened. The abstract Christ was

fleshed out, sometimes w ith the aid of something good in itself, sometimes withsomething extremely dangerous. In both cases, however, the consequences for thepoor were disastrous.

As an example of the first type, I shall mention the image o f Christ a s love. Thisasserts something true, obviously, but as long as there is no statement, in terms ofJesus, of what this love consists, w hat its forms and priorities are, the love remainsabstract; it may include, but also exclude or even reject, fundam ental form s ofJesus' love, such as justice and loving partiality for the poor. For centuries, the"charitable" or pu rely "assistentialist" Christ m ade us ignore or even reject Jesusthe prophet of justice. The consequence of this serious reduction was advantage fora minority and a neglect of justice for the majority.

As an example of the second type, I shall m ention the image o f Christ as power.It is completely understandable that popular religion should seek a power in Christ,but traditionally Christ as power has been (and continues to be) the image desiredabove all by the powerful. To obtain it they have to understand power in preciselythe opposite way to that in which Jesus understood it, power that is above andbecause it is above is sanctioned by G od. The "powerful" C hrist and the "almighty"

Lord w ho are above m ade us ignore and reject Jesus, whose pow er is service andwhose place is below, in the power of truth and love. They made it seem right thatthe place of power has to be above, because above is where Christ is. Theconsequences are to reinforce the si n f u l tendency to understand power in term s ofeffectiveness, as imposition sliding into oppression and so to justify, in Christ'sname, all sorts of authoritarianism and despotism in state and church.

( b ) Christ th e "Reconciler"This is another example of sublime abstraction, and I am m entioning it explicitlybecause of its impact on the glaring conflicts in Latin American society.

It is a fundamental truth that Christ is the reconciliation of human and divine,as the conciliar statements say, the "recapitulation of everything," in the beautifulwords of Irenaeus. But these statements are dangerous if made w ithout sufficientdialectic. In theoretical terms, it is dangerous to pass off as an adequate historicalstatement what is essentially a lim iting, eschatological statement. Historically, it


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is dangerous to profess faith in Christ the reconciler without having Jesus ofNazareth firmly in mind, and it is dangerous, when remembering him, to presenta peaceable Jesus with no prophetic condemnation, a Jesus who proclaimed

beatitudes for the poor (who, moreover, were usually not taken to be real poorpeople) and no curses on the rich, a Jesus who loves everyone, but withoutspecifying the different forms this love takes, defending the poor and issuing aradical call on their oppressors to be converted.

Traditional soteriology, too, has contributed to this naive and too readilyreconciling vision of Christ by interpreting his cross as the transcendentalreconciliation of God with human beings but outside the context of the historicalconflict caused by historical human sins. Paradoxically, the cross has been usedas a symbol for the greatest of conflicts and the greatest of sins on the cosmic andtranscendental plane, bu t not to reflect the most serious conflicts and the historicalsins that led Jesus to the cross and that today lead the crucified peoples there.

The practical consequences of this have been to produce an image of Christdevoid of the real conflict of history and Jesus' stand on it, which has encouragedquietist or ultra-pacifist ideologies and support for anything going by the nam e lawand order."

( c ) An "Abso lu te lyAbso lu te" Christ

This criticism m ay seem shocking, since it is obvious that, for Christian faith,Christ is an absolute, and it may also seem unjust, since the faith itselfandchristologies usually advert to thishas always presented Christ essentially "inrelation" to the Father and Spirit w ithin the Trinity.

Nevertheless the statement must be criticized if it leads us to ignore Jesus'constitutive historical relatedness to the Kingdom of God and the God of theKingdom. For this reason, Jesus' transcendent trinitarian relatedness has to besupplemented b y his historical relatedness: the fact that Jesus did not exist for

himself, but had a reference point in the Kingdom of God and the God of theKingdom, a Kingdom which, even after the resurrect ion, is attributed to the Father,until he is all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). I shall analyze this historical relatedness in detaillater, but I want to say here that this reminder is important because of theconsequences drawn from an absolutely absolute image of Christ, that is, whenChrist the mediator is made absolute and there is no sense of his constitutiverelatedness to what is mediated, the Kingdom of God.

One consequence is to make possible a personalist reduction of the faith, whichhas led, again, to an abandoning of the historical world to its wretchedness. Thisis the image of Christ as the ultimate "thou," in relation to whom Christian faithis decided and reaches its highest expression. The ideal of being for Christ, lovingChrist is, obviously, a good thing, bu t if there is a move from this to loving Christ"alone," and to regarding this as the only thing that really matters, it becomessomething dangerous, as is shown by the history of the life of perfection and thereligious life, since in the name of the highest love for the mediator it is possible


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which they had been condemned by sin, ignorance, hunger, poverty andoppression: in a w ord, b y the injustice and hatred which have their origin inhuman selfishness ("Justice," 3).

This text is not analytic, and various questions could be asked abou t it. What is thehierarchy of the servitudes and liberations, and the relationship betw een them ?How does C hrist b ring about this liberation? Nevertheless the text is novel andabove all programmatic: (1) It states that Christ came to bring freedom from avar ie ty of evi ls , m oral, physical and social, and in so doing effectively p u lls backthe concept of salvation m ore toward the activity of Jesus of Nazareth (w elcom ingsinners, miracles, condemnations) rather than associating it with the later(reductive) u niversalization of salvation as redemp tion from sins. (2) It states thatthese ev ils, all of them , are form s of servitude: that is, they represent personal andsocial situations of opp ression and, therefore, Christ's w ork cannot b e understoodonly as beneficent, b ut has to be understood formally as libera tion-, this, of course,recovers the original etym ological m eaning of the term "redem ption," in Latinr edempt io , restoration by m eans of paym ent of the slave's freedom , and in Hebrewgaal, "recovery by G od of w hat is his and lias been stolen, orphans, w idow s "

(it) T h e "principle of pa r t ia l i ty " : th e p o o r a nd poverty. M edellin professes thedivinity and hum anity of C hrist, bu t introduces into them the p rincip le of p artiality ,the poor and pov erty:

Christ ou r saviour not only loved the poor, but also, "being rich, becam e poor,"lived in poverty, centered his m ission on the proclamation to the poor of theirliberation and founded his C hurch as a sign of this pov erty am ong hum an beings("Poverty of the C hurch," 7 ).

This text invites qu estions about w ho the poor are and w hat poverty is, but its overallsignificance is unm istakab le. It introduces into all the di m ensions of Christ's b einghis relationship w ith the poor and w ith poverty. The transcendent hap pening thatoccurred in the incarnation is described as "becoming poor," metaphoricallanguage, of course, but stressing by its rep etition how far the divine has descended to the hu m an level and w ithin the human level to poverty. C hrist's historical life,his m ission and his pu rpose, are described clearly in term s of pov erty and his optionfor the poor.

How ever correct the (im plicit) exegesis of the biblical texts, these statementshave p rogram m atic value in introducing into ou r understanding of Christ w hat Iam calling the p rinciple of partiality. This is extrem ely im portant for christologybecause christology has u sually been based on the p rinciple of im partiality: C hristis universally "human" and b rings salvation to "all" hu m an beings and to all"equally," although in fact this universality is only ap p arent and in itself presup -


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A NEW IM A G E AND A NEW FAITH IN CHRIST 19

poses a viewnot formulated from the position of the poorof divinity, hum anityand salvation.

( i i i ) The herm eneut ical pr inciples: hope and pra ct ice. Medellin m entions thepresence of Christ in cu rrent history and ventures to list the signs of this:

Christ, actively present in our history, foreshadows his eschatological action notonly in the impatient human longing for total redemption, but also in thosevictories which, like signs of w hat is to come,hum an beings achieve throughactivity carried ou t in love ("Introduction," 5).17

The text refers to Gaudium e t spes 38, but spells it out forcefully in relation to LatinAmerica. In its w ording it mentions the "longings" and the "victories" in thecontext of the longed-for transformation of the continent, w hile Gaudium e t spesis content with m ore general statements, the encouragement Christ gives to "thosenoble longings... by which the human family strives to make its life m ore hum anand to render the whole earth subm issive to this goal."

The most important thing about this text, however, is that, w hile it does not sayspecifically in what form Christ is present in these longings and victories, it saysthat he is present in them and that he has to be discovered in them , which means

that these phenom ena become, for christology at least, herm eneutical settings forunderstanding Christ. And since "longings" refers to hope and "victories" toaction, both things can (and m ust) be interpreted as (logically prior) conditions forthe possibility of understanding Christ. In other words, unless we participate in theimpatient longing for total redemption and unless we participate in the transform-ing victories, we shall not adequately grasp the presence of Christ in history.

C i v ) The p resence of Christ in the oppressed. This topic, w hich lias not usuallybeen dealt w ith by christology, but has been relegated to spirituality, is taken upagain by M edellin. Its premise is that C hrist can and must be found today in history,but not where hum an beings would like to meet him , but where he is, even if thisplace is scandalous.

Medellin gives this problem first a traditional answer: Christ is present todayin the liturgy ("Liturgy," 2) and in the f a i t h comm unities that bear witness to him("Lay Movements," 12). But it adds as something new, if indirectly, his presenceamong the oppressed:

W here unjust social, political, economic and cultural inequalities are found,there is a rejection of the gift of the Lord's peace, even a rejection of the Lordhimself ("Peace," 14).

The text speaks directly of historical situations of injustice, and says of them thatthey are a rejection of the Lord. Its limitation lies in its failure to identify the victims


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20 THE M E TH O D OF LATIN AM ERICAN C H R IS TO L O G Y

of injustice as a positive presence of Christ, although it alludes to this in mentioningM atthew 25 in the references. The advantage is in the dynam ic language: Peoplecan be "rejected" only if they are really present, and if they are present they can also

be encountered, as P uebla w as to say magisterially.(b) Pueb la ' s Ch r is to log ica l Reflect ion

U nlike M edellin, Pu ebla w rote a chapter entitled, "The T ruth about Jesus Christ,the Sav ior W e Proclaim" (170-219), prom pted by a concern to defend orthodoxyfrom the real or imagined dangers of the first Latin Am erican christologies, a fearexpressed by John P aul II in his opening address." It is undeniab le that u nderlyingthe document there is a concern with orthodoxy and that there is no longer theassurance and boldness of M edellin's reflections.

However, this w orry was u nab le to stifle the ex isting liberationist im agery andchristology, as a num ber of texts show . The fundam ental reason for thisapartfrom the interest of a nu m ber of bishops and theologianslay in the surrou ndingsituation: the M edellin image prevailed because it w as m ore faithfu l to the gospeland m ore Latin A m erican. As a result, despite its ap p arent m onolithic characterand its doctri nal purpose, in the P uebla docum ent variou s christological im ages andstatements coexist and, cu riously, the richest and m ost novel appear in the chap ter,"A Preferential Option for the Poor," not in the chapter on christology.

As com pared w ith M edellin, Pueb la insists m ore on the doctrinal approach, w itha top-down history of salvation and christology (182-219). It reaffirms theincarnation and fullness of Christ, and does so to avoid a double danger (real,possible or im agined) said to be present in La tin Am erican christologies: thereduction of the totality of Christ to his humani ty, and the reduction of thathumanity to a C hrist who was "a politician, a leader, a revolutionary or a sim pleprophet" (178). Bu t this attitud e and these statem ents do not exhau st w hat Pueb lahad to say, nor are they w hat has had m ost influence subsequ ently.

First, Puebla recognizes and give thanks for the fact"w e hav e cause for joy"that there is in the People of G od "a search for the ever new face of C hrist, w ho isthe answ er to their legitim ate yearning for integral liberation" (173). It therebyreaffirms the legitimacy and need for a "new" image, despite centuries ofevangelization, and that an essential feature of this new im age is that it should be"liberating," and praises M edellin for hav ing encouraged this.

Second, Pu ebla m entions m any features of Jesus of Nazarethof the "historicalJesus"which, one assum es, are w hat w ill fill out the new and desired image ofChrist. On the one hand, in general, it avoids any deep analysis of the features ofJesus that historically provoked conflictthere is m erely a com m ent that "hispresence u nm asks the ev il one" (1 91 )b ut, on the other hand, it 1 ists others of greatimportance: his proclam ation of the K ingdom ; the b eatitudes (though referencedonly to M atthew 's v ersion, not Luke's) and the Serm on on the M ou n t as the newlaw of the K ingdom ; the call to follow h im , Jesus' inner life, including lus opennessto rejection by hu m an beings and to tem ptation; his su rrender to death as Y ahw eh's


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A NEW IM AGE A ND A NEW FAITH IN CHRIST 21

suffering servant and his resurrection (190-5). In other chapters it also stressesother features of the historical Jesus: his poverty (1141), his example as the goodshepherd (681) and his liberating character (1183,1194).

Finally, Puebla deals w ith the problem of the presence of Christ now in historyand of access to him , and does so in really vigorous and rigorous formu lations that,in my opinion, have no parallel in other church docum ents of the time. It restatesthe traditional formulas: Christ is present in his church, principally in holyscripture, in the proclamation of the word, in those w ho gather in his name and inthe person of their pastors. And it concludes, "W ith particular tenderness he choseto identify himself with those who are poorest and weakest" (196).

There is no reason to analyze these words as technical language, careful in allits details, but it is im portant to note that, depending on the places of C hrist'spresence that are m entioned, the text changes tone. Of the exalted Christ it saysthat he "lives" in the m idst of us, that he "is present" in the church spaces. But w henit m entions his presence in the poor, the language becomes m ore vigorous. It speaksof C hrist's "identification" w ith them and of "particular tenderness" toward them.There can thus be no doubt that, in speaking of C hrist's presence now in history,Puebla gives p riority to his presence in the poor.

The aspects of Christ revealed by the poor with whom Christ identifies are notanalyzed in the chapter on christology, though they are in the chapter on the

preferential option for the poor. This makes tw o m ain points. First, that the poorare those to whom C hrist's m ission is prim arily directed, simply because they arepoor, "whatever may be the moral or personal situation in which they findthemselves" (1142), and that the evangelization of the poor is the sign and proofpar excel lence of Jesus' mission (1142). In this way the essential correlationbetween the poor and Jesus' mission is reaffirmed.

This statement is Puebla's way of introducing the principle of partiality inChrist. The prim ary correlation is not between Jesus (and G od) and hu m an beingsin general, but between Jesus (and God) and the poor of this world, through w hich,subsequently, the universal correlation can be established. The im portant conclu-sion for christology is that to know Jesus it is indeed necessary to get to know thepoor.

The second point is that the poor are a sort of sacrament of the presence of Christ.Puebla does not use this language, but it does effectively and dynamically imply it:the poor possess for the church (and, we might add, for all) an "evangelizingpotential." "For the poor challenge the church constantly, sum m oning it toconversion; and many of the poor incarnate in their lives the evangelical valuesof solidarity, service, simplicity and openness to accepting the gift of God" (1147).

The poor, then, are a quasi-sacrament in two fundamental dimensions of Jesus'mission. In the first place, they call us to conversion, since their v ery condition,like that of Jesus crucified, is the greatest possible challenge that can be offered toChristians and human beings in general, and in this sense the poor exercise aprimary prophetic m inistry in their role as victims. And second, they o f f e r realities


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22 THE M ETHOD OF LATIN AM ERIC AN C HRISTOLOGY

and valu es like those that Jesus offered, and in th is sense are bearers of a gospel,exercising a p rim ary evangelization.

W hatever exam ples Pu ebla uses to illustrate the "evangelizing potential** of thepoor, the m ost im portant thing is that it form ulated the concept. The poor are thoseto w hom Jesus* m ission is p rim arily directed; this is a sup rem ely im portant andnovel idea. In addition, however, they make present Jesus the prophet andevangel izer. They are his dynam ic sacram ent.

4. The C onsequences for C hristology

I began m y discussion w ith som ething really hap p ening today in history , the newimage of C hrist and the new faith in Christ, and this is not the usual procedure.Other christologies u su ally start w ith texts from the past abou t Christ, and whenthey consider the present they do so m ore to show the difficulties it p resents for faithin C hrist than to show its possibilities. I began in this way, howev er, because I thinkthe reality of this im age and this faith, w ith their em phasis on liberation and on thepresence of C hrist now in our history , is a sign of the times.

This leaves reflection w ith various tasks. As far as content is concerned,christology m ust establish, from its sources, that C hrist is truly a liberator, and inw hat way. This leads to an analysis of the life and fate of Jesus, w lu'ch occupies thebulk of this book. As regards m ethod, w e have to determ ine the current l ocus in

which christology can and m ust be done, in accordance w ith this sign of the tim es(chapter 2), and we have to ju stify the decision to begin w ith the historical Jesus(chapter 3).


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Chapter 2

The Ecclesial and Social Setting ofChristology

The new image and the new faith have not appeared everywhere, but in particularplaces. Liberation christology, too, has not appeared everywhere, but, as a m atterof fact, in the places where the new image and the new faith have developed. Thisshows that there is a correlation between christology and actual faith, but also showsthat not all places are the same for the developm ent of christology, but that thereis something in the place where it is done that points it, or can point it, in a particular

direction. This is w hat I w ant to consider in this chapter.1. The Issue of the Setting*1 of ChristologyIn dealing with its object, Jesus Christ, christology has to take account of twofundamental things. The first and m ore obvious is the data the p a s t has given usabout Christ, that is, texts in w hich revelation has been expressed. The second,which receives less attention, is the rea lity of Christ in the present , that is, hispresence now in history, which is the correlative of real faith in Christ.

On this view, the ideal setting for doing christology would be the one w here thesources for the past can best be understood and w here the presence of Christ andthe reality of faith in him can best be grasped.

( a ) T h e Se t t ing o f Theology and the Sou rc e s of Reve la t ion

Christology's specific sources are God's revelation, embodied in texts from thepast, the New Testament in particular and its au thoritative interpretation by themagisterium. It m ight seem, therefore, that the "setting," or locus, of christologywas not very im portant, since there are sources for christology that predate anysettings, or that the setting w ould not be crucial and w ould function at the most asa pastoral demand to app ly to a particular situation the universal truth alreadyexpressed for all tim e in the deposit of faith. From this point of view, an analysisof the setting of theology, in the sense of a real place here and now , would not seemto be something crucial.

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24 THE M E T HO D OF LATIN AM ERICAN C HRISTOLOGY

But things are not that simple. W e might ask why "freedom" has beenrediscovered in progressive christologies as essential to the gospel, while thesechristologies have not rediscovered "liberation." And w e m ight ask w hy LatinAmerican christology has discovered "liberation," w hich was m ore or less absentfrom christologies for centuries,1 if, according to the two Vatican Instructions,liberation too is "essential" to the gospel message.

The basic reason is not that Latin America has better technical resources foranalyzing the "sources" of revelation, bu t lies in the situation of Latin Am erica. Thefirst Instruction itself im plies this, noting that the aspiration for liberation appearsstrongly "above all in peoples w ho know the bu rden of poverty and among thedeprived social strata" (I, 1). In Ignacio Ellacuria's words, "The typical placew here it appears is am ong the poor and dispossessed, and not am ong the rich whodispossess, who tend not to see and even to obscure justice and the need forliberation." 2

This m ay seem obvious, bu t it is crucial: people begin to talk about liberationwhere oppression is blatant. Not only this: it is in this setting and not in any otherthat liberation becomes a theological da tum in the strict sense and as such isrediscovered in revelation. "A sign of the times," in the strict sensew hich I shallexplain laterwas w hat Ellacuria called it.3

To this important example we could add other fundamental theological

rediscoveries m ade in the context of the Latin Am erican situation: the partialityof God and C hrist, the reality of the anti-K i ngdom against w hich the K ingdom m ustbe preached, or revaluations of elem ents included in christology b ut not taken veryseriously: the follow ing of Jesus, the beatitudes, the presence of Christ in the poor.What I w ant to stress now , however, is the fact that there are "settings" in w hichimportant elements in the "sources" of revelation, w hich had been buried, arerediscovered. If this is true, it is impossible to m ake an adeq uate distinction betweenthe "setting" and "source" of rev elation, or to accept the need for a "setting" forpastoral reasons on ly. That is w hy Ellacu ria said:

The distinction is not strict, still less ex clusive, since in a w ay the setting is thesource inasmuch as it enables the source to y ield one thing or another, so that,thanks to the setting and b y virtu e of it, particular conten ts become relevant andreally present. If this distinction is accepted, it w ould be a m istake to think thatdirect contact (even if in faith and lived in prayer) w ith the sources w ould sufficeto enable one to see in them and extract from them w hat is m ost adequate for w hattheological reflection has to construct.4

The conclusion as it affects christology is that one setting is not the sam e as anotherfor grasping w hat the New Testament w ritings in general and the Gospels inparticular say about Jesus. Both the im age of C hrist the liberator and the alienatingimages analyzed prev iously have been based on readings of the tex ts of revelation,and the fundam ental reason for the different readings w as the p lace from w hich theywere made.


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ECCLESIAL AND SOCIAL SETTINGS OF CHRISTOLOGY 25

(b ) The Sett ing of Theology and the Signs o f the Times

If the setting of christology is important to enable it to read its sources, it is evenmore im portant, by definition, if we take seriously the (possible) presence of C hrist

in current events. I want to say in advance that it is a fundamental truth fo r faiththat Christ is Lord of history and, more specifically, that he makes himself presentin it through a body. This, a fu ndamental truth for faith, ought to be fundam entalalso, in principle, for christology, although I do not think it has been. The resultis that christology has to repeat, in accordance w ith its sources, f /w f C hrist is presentin history today, but does not feel obliged to ask w ha t e l ement of Christ is presentand in wha t , or to incorporate this present Christ into its procedure.

This presence, undoubtedly, can only take the form of signs, but christology

should adm it at least the possibility that in these signs Christ becomes present. Ifthis possibility were not accepted in advance, and the reality of these signs, if theyreally exist, were not incorporated into christological method, christology wouldturn into mere reinterpretation, updated certainly, but working on the past, into anexposition, in terms of the present, of the New Testament christologies or into acomm entary on later reinterpretations of it. This m eans, in m y view , that it wouldfall into a sort of "christological deism," as though Christ had been present andactive at the origin of the faith, bu t had later lost interest in history or his presencecould not be detected.

The very fact of seeing the im portance of the presence here and now of Christand, in general, of God is in itself a great novelty. V atican II, moreover, made itcentral by mentioning the "signs of the tim es." In the council, recognizing thesesigns was declared to be essential for determ ining the mission of the church, butin my opinion it ought to be central for christology also. Let us therefore see whatthe signs of the times m ean, and explain it, since there are different understandingsof them.

At the council the expression "signs of the tim es" had two m eanings. On the

one hand, it had a historical-pas toral meaning: the signs of the times are "eventswhich characterize a period" (G S 4), and which are something new as comparedw ith other signs in the past. They are, then, particu lar historical phenom ena, andthe purpose of recognizing them, exam ining them, is directly pastoral: the churchneeds to identify them if its mission"to rescue and not to sit in judgm ent, to serveand not to be served," as it is defined in the closing lines of GS 3is to be carriedout in a relevant way.

On the other hand, "signs of the tim es" had a historical-theo loga l meaning. Thesigns are "happenings, needs and desires... au thentic signs of G od's presence andpurpose" (G S II).9 This statement, like the previous one, mentions historicalphenom ena, bu t addsand this is its crucial importancethat G od's presence orpurpose has to be discerned in them. History is seen here, not just in its changingand dense novelty, bu t in its sacramental dimension, in its ability to m anifest Godin the present.

Doctrinally, the (possible) existence of the signs of the times is now clear, and


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26 THE M ETHOD OF LATIN AM ERICAN CHRISTOLOG Y

in general christologies accept it as doctrine. How ever, the p roblem is w hether theyreally identify these signs of the tim es not only in their historical-pastoral sense,which they usually do, but p rim arily in the historical-theologal sense, w hich isinfrequ ent, and w hether, hav ing identified them , they integrate them into theirapproach. In my op inion this does not often happen, 6 but it does occur in LatinAmerican theology,7 follow ing the procedure of M edellin and Puebla.

The identification of the signs of the tim es in Latin Am erica is also carried outin christology, w hich is w hat I am m ost concerned to stress here. W e are told thatChrist is present in history and w here and how he is present. To concentrate on asupremely important example, the presence of Christ now in the oppressedmajorities is affirmed and proclaimed, and in the process the insight of GuamanPoma and Bartolom e de las Casas is retrieved, and w eight is givenu nusuallyto the p rincip le that christology is also the christology of the "body" of C hrist. InIgnacio Ellacuria's theological words, "This crucified people is the historicalcontinuation of the suffering servant of Yahweh." 8 In the pastoral words ofArchbishop Rom ero to peasants terrified after a m assacre, "Y ou are the im age ofthe pierced God." 9 These statem ents can b e discussed theoretically ,10 but w hat Iwant to emphasize here is that Latin American christology does mention thepresence of C hrist in the p resent situation, discovers it in the signs of the times,which it understands in the historical-theologal sense:

Among the m any signs alw ays appearing, som e striking, som e barely percep-tible, at any mom ent there is alw ays one w hich is prim ary, in the light of w hichthe others have to be identified and interpreted. This sign is alway s the p eoplecrucified in history."

To raise the situation of the Latin Am erican poor to that of "Yahweh's sufferingservant" or the "p ierced God" is to un derstand them as historical-theologal signsof the times.

This understanding of the signs of the tim es as historical-theologal is of coursea delicate m atter. Because of this L atin Am erican christology checks them againstand discerns them in the light of revelation. How ever, discernm ent itself is acreative act that does not derive m echanically from a pu re reading of revelation. Ifthe qu estion is asked once m ore w hy Latin Am erican christology feels the u rgencyand has the audacity to identify these signs of the tim es and is not content w ith adoctrine about them, the ultim ateu nprovablereason is that it is in the placefrom where they can be discerned.

(c) T h e Se t t ing o f T h e o l o g y a n d Ac tua l Fa ithIf, p e r impossible, there w as, in fact, no real faith in C hrist in history, C hrist w ou ldcease to be Christ. This form al statem ent, w hich som e may find audacious, meansthat it is im portant for christology not only to analyze the texts about Christ and takeaccount of his presence now in history, but also to discern and analyze real faithin C hrist. The theoretical prem ise is the correlation b e tween fides quae, the content


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ECCLESIAL AND SOCIAL SETTING S OF CHRISTOLOGY 27

of what is believed, that is, the reality of Jesus Christ, s a n d f ide s qua , the act ofbelieving in this content. It is not that faith creates its object, which is why wealways have to go back to the New Testament in order to see if the act of faith

corresponds to the reality of Christ, but it is nevertheless true that there is acorrelation between the act of believing and w hat is believed,12 in such a way thatthe one refers to the other and therefore "it is perfectly legitimate for a christologyto start from our relationship with Jesus Christ.**13

Analysis of actual faith in Christ is thus im portant a priori for christology, butI want to insist now that this is also the lesson of Latin Am erican experience. Notonly believers' "image" of Christ, but their act of faith, their response to andcorrespondence in the reality of their lives w ith this image, helps christology topenetrate the reality of Christ and understand the texts about him.

If this faith is u ltimate in character, this m eans that it is responding to an ultim atereality and so, whether or not the divinity of Christ is mentioned, the radical qualityof the act of faith is a statement that Christ is really an u ltimate. And the livedcontent of the act of faith also throws light on aspects of Christ. For example,discipleship in practice is an introduction to the Jesus we follow, real m artyrdomis an introduction to Jesus the martyr. Consequently, in analyzing the reality ofChrist, Latin Am erican christology has pu t emp hasis on one Jesus and not another,with specific features different from those of other christologies (p artiality for the

poor, his practice of denouncing and unmasking idols, a person merciful andfaithful to the last...).

And if we ask why Latin Am erican christology, unlike others, takes seriouslythe correlation between.// des quae and ides qua , why it does as a m atter of fact whatRahner describes as possible and legitimate, the reason again is the place where itis done.

( d ) T h e Set t ing o f Theology a s a Rea l S i tua t ion

W e have seen that the setting of christology is important in enabling it to makeadequate use of its sources, past and present. Nonetheless I have not yet offered aformal definition of this setting or said what its m aterial reality is. In my view, thisis where the fundam ental option must come. For some christologies the setting oftheology is basically texts,14 although they have to be read in a physical place andtake into account the new demands of the situation, the signs of the times in thehistorical-pastoral sense. For Latin Am erican christology the setting of theologyis first and foremost something real, a particular historical situation in which G odand Christ are believed to be continuing to make themselves present; this istherefore a theologal setting rather than a theological setting, a setting from whichthe texts of the past can be re-read m ore adequately.

The "setting" of christology is not, therefore, a direct categorial ubi, a particularplace in geographical or spatial terms (universities, seminaries, base comm unities,bishops' offices...) although it has to be in one or several of them, and each of themoffers advantages and disadvantages,15 and ideally the specific positive character-


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28 THE METHOD OF LATIN AMERICAN CHRISTOLOG Y

istic of each should be present in all of them. But "setting" here means first andforemost a quid , a substantial situation in which christology offers itself, allowsitself to be affected, questioned and enlightened.

To decide what this real place is, let us apply to christology the graphic wordsof Jose" Miranda: The question is not whether someone is seeking G od or not, butwhether he is seeking him where God himself said that he is." 16 The setting doesnot invent the content, bu t away from this setting it will be difficult to find him andto read adequately the texts about him. Going to this setting, remaining in it andallowing oneself to be affected by it, is essential to christology.

Latin American christologyand specifically as christologyidentifies itssetting, in the sense of a real situation, as the poor of this world, and this situationis what m ust be present in and permeate any particular setting in which christologyis done. In order to ustify this choice, christology can invoke a priori the correlationbetween Jesus and the poor and his presence in them, as it appears in the NewTestament, but it also has the a posteriori conviction that it obtains a wider andsharper view of everything from the perspective of the situation of the poor. Itbelieves that the entry of the poor on to the stage of history is the most importantfact (Gustavo G utierrez), a sign of the times, the presence of G od and his Christ.

In the last resort it is impossible to give a conclusive proof for this conviction,and the herm eneutical circle is alw ays in operation: w e see the choice of this setting

as demanded by revelation, bu t this demand is felt only once one is in the setting.17

The type of ju stification is the same as in the ju stification of faith in revelation, thehonest conviction that from this setting Christ "makes a difference for faith andchristology, 18 becomes relevant and at the same time discloses his identity.

Identifying a setting is , then, essential for christology. Throughout history therehave been various settings, bu t today in Latin America this setting is identified asthe world of the poor because they constitute the supreme, scandalous propheticand apocalyptic presence of the Christian God." 19 And if this is the case, christologyfaces, to put it very simply, the question asked b y the oppressed negroes in theUnited States, Were you there when they crucified m y Lord? Latin Americanchristology has a very dialectical Sitz im Leben or life-context. It is a Sitz im Lebe nundim To d e , a place of life, certainly, as w e shall see later, b u t also a place of death,the crucified people.

2. The Ecclesial Setting: the Church of th e Poor

In Latin American christology the situation of the poor doubles as an ecclesialsetting (something christologies in general take into account) and a social sett

[Jon Sobrino, Paul Burns, Francis McDonagh] Jesus the Liberator

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