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Handout #288 |
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The theology of liberation according to Gustavo Gutierrez |
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The issue of development does in fact find its true
place in the more universal, profound and radical perspective of liberation.
It is only within this framework that development finds its true meaning and
possibilities of accomplishing something worthwhile ...Humankind is seen as
assuming conscious responsibility for its own destiny ... In this
perspective the unfolding of all the dimensions of humanness is demanded -
persons who make themselves throughout their life and throughout history
...Finally, the word development to a certain extent limits and obscures the
theological problems implied in the process designated by this term. On the
contrary the word liberation allows for another approach leading to the
biblical sources which inspire the presence and action of man in history. In
the Bible, Christ is presented as the one who brings us liberation. Christ
the savior liberates from sin, which is the ultimate root of all disruption
of friendship and of all injustice and oppression. Christ makes humankind
truly free, that is to say, he enables us to live in communion with him; and
this is the basis for all human fellowship ...To speak about a theology of
liberation is to seek an answer to the following question: what relation is
there between salvation and the historical process of human liberation? A
Theology of Liberation, Orbis Books and SCM Press2 1988, 24f., 29.
Ernesto 'Che ' Guevara, who had been close to Fidel Castro, died in the fight for liberation in Bolivia in 1967. George Canalis compares him with Jesus. Nothing more resembles the life and death of Jesus than that of 'Che' Guevara, who did not consider it a privilege to cling being equal to Fidel, to live happily with his family as a minister in the first free country of America' but who willingly humbled himself by going into exile in a foreign and hostile land. In all things he became like to the anonymous partisans struggling for the liberation of their people. He shared without reserve or hesitation in all the circumstances of their perilous life until he met with death in the Bolivian forests, betrayed by his friends, pursued by the armed forces of imperialism ... |
