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A review by rubiscodisco
A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation (Revised by Gustavo Gutiérrez, Gustavo Gutierrez
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.5
Well, this book certainly expanded my horizons and was informative, so I did like it. But then again, theology is one of my special interests (ironic as a nonbeliever, really, but that's neither here nor there).
I would say though that Gutierrez has a repetitive way of returning and returning again to one theme which becomes tedious as you read further and further into the book. He seems to have exhausted every permutation of a chapter or section header titled with words that include "liberation", "theology", "historical", and "salvation", and if not, he has at least exhausted me.
But, over the course of the text, he slowly pushes christian concepts such as Salvation, Sacrament, and the Kingdom of God into a cohesive interpretation which orients christianity towards the goal of liberation of the poor, disempowered, and colonized, against the bourgeoisie, the current political rulers, and the colonizers.
On the topic of prophecy, for example, he makes the elegant argument that biblical prophets make pronouncements that both decry the material state of affairs of their specific present (think of Isaiah making specific denouncements against the specific political situation of his time), but dimly portend a utopian future that is a radical break from the current socio-political and economic structure, achieved by the intervention of God. This is meant to model the prophetic role of the Church in its role of standing in solidarity with the liberation of the poor.
In any case he makes some very good points that I can't possibly fit into this review, and overall he is quite persuasive.
However, while for the most part I agree with the goals of the book, there are several times where I thought that the arguments put forth to make its case are weak. Without going into too much detail, there are just some facts about the structure and doctrine of the Catholic Church which are irreconcilable with the kind of Church Gustavo Gutiérrez wants it to become, so his attempts to reconcile them are not up to par.
I would say though that Gutierrez has a repetitive way of returning and returning again to one theme which becomes tedious as you read further and further into the book. He seems to have exhausted every permutation of a chapter or section header titled with words that include "liberation", "theology", "historical", and "salvation", and if not, he has at least exhausted me.
But, over the course of the text, he slowly pushes christian concepts such as Salvation, Sacrament, and the Kingdom of God into a cohesive interpretation which orients christianity towards the goal of liberation of the poor, disempowered, and colonized, against the bourgeoisie, the current political rulers, and the colonizers.
On the topic of prophecy, for example, he makes the elegant argument that biblical prophets make pronouncements that both decry the material state of affairs of their specific present (think of Isaiah making specific denouncements against the specific political situation of his time), but dimly portend a utopian future that is a radical break from the current socio-political and economic structure, achieved by the intervention of God. This is meant to model the prophetic role of the Church in its role of standing in solidarity with the liberation of the poor.
In any case he makes some very good points that I can't possibly fit into this review, and overall he is quite persuasive.
However, while for the most part I agree with the goals of the book, there are several times where I thought that the arguments put forth to make its case are weak. Without going into too much detail, there are just some facts about the structure and doctrine of the Catholic Church which are irreconcilable with the kind of Church Gustavo Gutiérrez wants it to become, so his attempts to reconcile them are not up to par.