Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
History and Religion
Gustavo Gutiérrez: Another Hopeful Reflection

Gustavo Gutiérrez: Another Hopeful Reflection

Last updated on: November 13, 2024 at 2:29 am by Michael Jimenez

0 Comments

Gustavo Gutiérrez: Another Hopeful Reflection 2024-11-13T02:29:13-04:00 Michael Jimenez

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Just a few months ago the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann died, and I decided to write about his legacy since he had made a big impact on my studies. In many ways he was the posterchild for Post-Holocaust theology and a host of other forms of Christian theological movements in the last few decades including liberation theology. Moltmann refused to let us forget about Auschwitz. But now he is gone. Now another titan of modern theology has also left us.

Just a few weeks ago, the father of Latin American Liberation Theology, Gustavo Gutiérrez, passed away. The Peruvian priest’s pioneering book A Theology of Liberation was published in 1971. It placed Latin American theology (and I would argue US Latino/a theology as well) on the map. In fact, it is hard to think about Christian history without considering Gutiérrez’s impact, especially as Latinos continue to gain more visibility in the public realm. The idea of doing theology with the intention of focusing on the poor in our midst was revolutionary for its time. The phrase “preferential option for the poor” is commonplace in Christian seminaries.

A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation 50th Anniversary Edition with New Introduction by Michael E. , (Paperback)

I recently reviewed Raúl E. Zegarra’s book A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason about Gutiérrez. One of the keys of this book was how Zegarra illustrated the importance of Gutiérrez’s work in the public sphere. Yes, he wrote theology for the church, and for its ethical mandate of the plight of the poor. However, he was also speaking to the general public and its indifference to the plight of poverty. In short, time and time again, the contribution of religious thinkers and movements is ignored because of some hypothetical, secular reading of history. In fact, challenging this trend, Gutiérrez and liberation theology would be referenced as a social-political and cultural phenomenon in history books. What I especially loved about Zegarra’s book was the way he placed Gutiérrez in conversation with other public intellectuals. For example, the study surprised me because the author claims that we should view Gutierrez in the company of American political thinker John Rawls rather than Marxist theorists. Again, what I love about this study is that Zegarra is taking a Christian Peruvian theologian like Gutiérrez and placing him in conversation with other public intellectuals and not just hiding him off in the realm of religious studies. Here is to wishing more conversation type pieces are made with Gutiérrez in mind. Considering Latinos are a current buzzword in the media nowadays, I am hoping Latino/Latin American models like Gutiérrez or even Pentecostal minister Jesse Miranda will be used to help study the theoretical and historical shifts.

A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason - Zegarra, Raúl E.

About a week after the US election, the media is once again discussing Latinos (they seem startled at the voting patterns every four years). They will probably not make any type of connection between Gutiérrez’s death and Latinos in the US public space. And frankly, I am not one to start as well. I tend to focus the lens backwards to see how we all got here and perhaps where we are all going. My review of Mike Madrid’s book The Latino Century helps put things in perspective. He has noted the rightward shift over the years, but my guess is even he would be surprised at this outcome. Whereas Gutiérrez’s pioneering book is roughly fifty years old, published just a few years after Cesar Chavez’s famous fast of 1968, this perhaps illustrates Madrid’s thesis that Latino/Latin American’s impact on society will only continue to grow and become more mainstream. Both Chavez and Gutiérrez popped up on the scene with the economy and poverty as a focal point; it is 2024 and not much has changed in that regard. Hopefully people begin to pay attention and study the complexity of Latinos. It will be interesting to examine how this plays out in the next election cycle. Analysis is the key term here. Reading Madrid, he seems like a lone voice. We obviously need more.

And perhaps this is where Zegarra’s study of Gutiérrez is most helpful: reminding the reader that his theology was able to bridge the concrete worlds of both the church and the public. His work was not so abstract and full of jargon that it was not useful for the regular parishioner nor heterodox that is unrecognizable from the church’s traditions. Gutiérrez is crystal clear that Christ is his primary focus in his work not his theoretical output. The focus on the poor and outcast is a clear thread throughout Christian history, Gutiérrez merely highlighting this point. This is a theology that can produce constructive conversations. It produces humility in its reader (and yes, we all could always use a little bit of that). Moreover, Gutiérrez might be the right source to have these tough talks in the Latino community.

Recently the Jewish author Yossi Klein Halevi, who has authored books like Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor or At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew’s Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land, declared that we are living at the end of the post-Holocaust era. With the death of Moltmann and Gutiérrez this year, the question of “post” eras is important for historians to debate. We are clearly navigating through some type of historical shift. As I noted at the beginning, with Moltmann gone will we begin to lose our memories of the horrors of the Auschwitz? The rise of anti-Semitism might be an indicator that we are—even as we wrestle with the implications of the marginalization of Palestinians. Now with Gutiérrez’s passing, are we perhaps moving into an era where we lose sight of theology coming out of Latin America? Global poverty or just the poverty we have in our own backyards? Are we divorcing ethics from economics? My fear with Gutiérrez’s death we are losing a voice who tried to be both honest toward history and faithful to his church.

In my reading, both liberation theologians held out hope as the key of their theologies. The compassion and concern for the “other,” as best illustrated by Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan, is the ethical foundation of their work. They prophetically spoke out about the injustices of the times but not to the point of giving up on reconciliation. For the sake of Christ’s church, we must not abandon these key ideas of hope and reconciliation.

History and Religion

Latin American Religious History

Previous Post

November 12, 2024

A Most Controversial Marriage

Next Post

November 14, 2024 Informal Empire and the Making of American Religion

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I love horror but would have to acclimate back to Lovecraft and especially Machen. Have ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"Very good point about MacDonald.I am certainly a Machen fan!"

philipjenkins

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"The Scottish author George MacDonald integrated fairy world into his fiction in a way that ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"I like the idea that we can have different streams. The coffee analogy is genius."

Lisa Clark Diller

How Do You Take Your Evangelicalism?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Hebrews, who serves as a copy and shadow of what is in heaven?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The priests in the earthly sanctuary The angels The prophets The apostles