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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
The growing national crisis of Peru in which death seems to triumph over life, especially for the poor, has not dimmed the hope of Gustavo Gutiérrez and others for the ultimate success of the poor to achieve liberation from poverty and injustice. Hope, for Gutiérrez, is far from wishful thinking. The case for hope results from the application of a complex epistemology which includes social scientific analysis, the “utopian imagination,” and faith in the God of Jesus Christ to the present socio-ecclesial reality of Peru. Among the reasons for hope are the fact of the church's evangelization of the poor, the new spirituality coming to birth among the poor, the rejection of fear in the face of the mounting persecution and martyrdom of Christian believers, and the universal church's adoption of a preferential option for the poor.
1 It is likely that 90 percent or more of Peru's indigenous population perished in the first 100 years after the conquest of the country by Francisco Pizarro in 1532. This demographic disaster resulted mostly from the spread of European diseases, but forced labor and outright war against the Indians also took a heavy toll (see Cook, Noble David, Demographic CoJIapse: Indian Peru, 1520-1620 [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981], 113–14).Google Scholar
2 Numbers tell part of the alarming and desperate story. In metropolitan Lima, a city of seven million people, only 5 percent of all workers earn more than the $200 per month which the government itself considers necessary to sustain a family of four. Unemployment is 8.3 percent while “underemployment” reaches 86.4 percent. Professionals such as teachers and nurses, who earn about $50 monthly, fall into the latter category. Most of the population must survive on income of $ 15 per month. Such poverty poses a direct threat to life itself. The infant mortality rate rose from 9 percent to 12 percent between August 1990 and May 1991. In recent years nearly half of all Peruvians die before the age of five while only one fifth of the population reaches the age of 65. The 260,000 cases and 2,288 deaths from cholera between January and June of 1991 received international attention, but similar epidemics of malaria, tuberculosis, yellow fever, and other diseases go unnoticed. The war between the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso and the military has claimed over 22,000 lives since 1980. See the Latin American Weekly Review for recent data, esp. the week of August 8, 1991.
3 In the twentieth century these include the Marxist indigenista José Carlos Mariátegui, political philosopher Víctor Andrés Belaúnde, and historian Jorge Basadre.
4 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, “Hacia el quinto centenario,” Páginas 99 (10 1989): 15.Google Scholar
5 The most recent full-length study published by Gutiérrez, is his Dios de la vida (Lima: Instituto Bartolomé de las Casas-Rímac and Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones, 1989)Google Scholar, an expanded version of the earlier (1982) biblical study of God. The English translation (Orbis Books) is expected in the fall of 1991. This work is a forceful explanation of the scriptural basis for his hope. See esp. chap. 6 on the Reign of God, and 208 on the “Reign of Life” (translation by the present author).
6 Ibid., 354.
7 A recent example of Gutiérrez's dedication to this task is his tribute to Germán Schmitz, missionary and for twenty years auxiliary bishop of Lima, who died November 28, 1990 (see Gutiérrez, Gustavo, “Monseñor Schmitz fue el prójimo más cercano de los pobres,” Páginas 107 (02 1991): 81–84).Google Scholar Writes Gutiérrez, “With the ‘poorest of the poor,’ walking with them, nourishing himself with their experiences, flowed the life of a man whose witness returns us to what is essential in our faith and our hope. Because of him many things that today worry and upset us in Peru and in the Church lose the importance they seemed to have. We always reorder our priorities to bring them in line with those who have known how to be faithful amid great difficulties and even misunderstandings—and Germán knew these along the way—but also amid great joys” (83).
8 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, The Power of the Poor in History, trans. Barr, Robert R. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1983), 71.Google Scholar
9 Gutiérrez, , “Hacia el quinto centenario,” 14.Google Scholar
10 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, Líneas pastorales de la Igiesia en América Latina: análisis teológico (Lima: CEP, 1970), 9–10.Google Scholar The book is based on a series of lectures given in 1964. This threefold approach may be seen in nearly all of Gutiérrez's work, including the sections in the final documents of the Medellín and Puebla conferences where his influence is most notable. For Medellín, see the “Introduction,” nos. 4-6; “Justice,” no. 4; and Peace,” no. 14. For Puebla, see nos. 321-29.
11 See, e.g., Romero, Fernando, “Organización popular: conquistas y neuvos retos,” Páginas 94 (12 1988): 13–20.Google Scholar
12 Catalina Romero, herself an example of this phenomenon, documents this development in Iglesia en el Perú: compromiso y renovación (1958-1984) (Lima: Instituto Bartolomé de las Casas-Rímac, 1987).Google Scholar See also “Universidad peruana: momento de decisión,” Páginas 103 (06 1990): 6–78Google Scholar, for a series of articles by, and interviews with, some of Peru's leading Christian intellectuals.
13 See the revised fifteenth-anniversary edition of Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, trans. Inda, Sister Caridad and Eagleson, John (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988), 135–40.Google Scholar
14 See “El Reino está cerca,” a brief biblical commentary in which Gutiérrez reaffirms “signs of the presence of the Kingdom in our own history.” This piece appeared in the column “Buena noticia” which Gutiérrez contributes to the biweekly newspaper Signos directed to base Christian communities in Peru, (Signos 11/13 [01 1991]: 2Google Scholar).
15 Writing in 1975 Gutiérrez said, “The God of biblical faith launches that faith into the future. Knowledge of Yahweh is an eschatological stance. God is love—love in the present and, fully, at the end of time. Hope is an essential element of a faith in accord with the Bible” (Power of the Poor, 6-7). In 1988, writing of a “more realistic project than what we have today,” he spoke of “a different realism, one which conforms to the reality that God wants. That new universe makes visible in the final analysis the gratuitousness of God's love, present now in the historical becoming of humanity” (“Una tierra nueva,” Páginas 94 [12 1988]: 11Google Scholar).
16 See Dios de la vida, 199-203.
17 Ibid., 200.
18 Ibid., 351-55.
19 Virtually every essay on Power of the Poor was written with the dual purpose of reassessing the current situation and spurring on those committed to liberation. An important recent example of such writing is the new introduction to his classic A Theology of Liberation called “Expanding the View,” xvii-xlvi.
20 Jon Sobrino has also recently analyzed the hope that flourishes in Latin America, despite the worsening situation for the great majority (see Sobrino, Jon, Ellacuría, Ignacio, et al., Companions of Jesus: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990).Google Scholar
21 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, The Truth Shall Make You Free: Confrontations, trans. O'Connell, Matthew J. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990), 148.Google Scholar The heart of this book is a vigorous response by Gutiérrez to critics of liberation theology and a development of the themes of gratuity and exigency, liberation, and liberation, and the preferential option for the poor.
22 For a good overview of this break, see Klaiber, Jeffrey S.J., La Iglesia en ei Perú: su historia social desde la independencia (Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1988)Google Scholar, and Romero, Catalina, “Evangelización: une neuva relación social,” Páginas 99 (10 1989): 17–26.Google Scholar
23 Translation from the Spanish by the present author (see Gutiérrez, Gustavo, La verdad los hará libres: confrontaciones [Lima: CEP and Institute Bartolomé de las Casas-Rímac, 1986], 213).Google Scholar The English translation of “aspiratión” by “aspiration” can be misleading (see The Truth, 149).
24 See “Firmes en la esperanza,” Páginas 107 (02 1991): 103–08Google Scholar, a document signed in December 1990 by over 1,000 priests and religious which demonstrates the profound, and seemingly unshakeable, effect the poor have had on the Church's pastoral agents in Peru.
25 Gutiérrez, , Dios de la vida (see n. 5 supra), 351–53.Google Scholar
26 See “Laicos pobres y seguimiento de Jesucristo,” Páginas 76 (04 1986)Google Scholar, a whole edition dedicated to a spirituality of the laity. See also “The Role of the Layman” and “The Church's Shortcomings,” statements from a meeting of representatives of lay apostolic groups in Peru in June 1968 in preparation for Medellín in Peruvian Bishops' Commission for Social Action, Between Honesty and Hope trans. Drury, John (Maryknoll, NY: Maryknoll Publications, 1970), 151–58.Google Scholar
27 Gutiérrez points out the emphasis in Mt 5:11 on the justice of the persecuted. He notes the contrast between Mt 5:11 and Lk 6:22. Matthew speaks of persecution “with lies” (in the Spanish edition of the Jerusalem Bible) while Luke omits this aspect of persecution “on account of the Son of Man.” The blessedness of those persecuted in the cause of Jesus arises not from the fact of their persecution but because their words and actions coincide. For Matthew inconsistency between words and works makes those Pharisees who are his targets liars (see Dios de la vida, 242-50). Thus, persecution suffered by hypocrites brings no blessing. Similarly, if the church is attacked justly (because of its hypocrisy, that is, its sin), there is no cause for blessing. Only when the church acts in accord with the gospel it preaches, and then is persecuted, does it fall under the beatitude proclaimed by Jesus.
28 In an interview several months before the tragedy in El Salvador, Gutiérrez said, “The truth is this: today whoever opposes the forms of violence which Peru is living through [poverty, terrorism, and military repression] is placing his or her own life at risk. We've arrived at this extreme” (“Nuestra fe: la mayor razón de esperanza,” Signos 9/24 [07 1989]: 9).Google Scholar
29 Celebrations of the anniversary of the assassination of El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero in March and of the murder of the four North American churchwomen in December provide examples.
30 “There is no way to have hope without maintaining a certain joy; hoping is always a source of joy” (Gutiérrez, , “Nuestra fe: la mayor razón de esperanza,” 9Google Scholar).
31 Gutiérrez, takes up these texts in The Truth, 167–71.Google Scholar
32 Mujica, Luis, “Carta desde Ayacucho,” Páginas 99 (10 1989): 91–93.Google Scholar
33 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People, trans. O'Connell, Matthew J. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1984), 115.Google Scholar
34 The decision by the poor to abandon fear is powerfully set forth in the Salvadoran novelist Argueta's, Manlio work One Day of Life, trans. Brow, Bill (New York: Aventura, 1983).Google Scholar
35 Gutiérrez, , Dios de la vida, 353.Google Scholar
36 Gutiérrez, , We Drink, 115.Google Scholar
37 Cited in Gutiérrez, , The Truth, 165.Google Scholar See also 165-68 where Gutiérrez takes up John XXIII's vision of the church.
38 See, e.g., the encyclical letters of Paul, John II, Laborem Excercens (1981)Google Scholar, no. 8, and Soliicitudo Rei Socialis (1987), nos. 42-43, and his letter to the bishops of Brazil (1986) published in Origins 16/1 (05 22, 1986): 13;Google Scholar the pastoral letter of the bishops of the United States, Economic Justice for All (Washington, DC: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1986)Google Scholar, no. 87; and the message of the bishops of Peru, , “Liberation and the Gospel,” no. 83, published in Origins 14/31 (01 17, 1985): 509–15.Google Scholar The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith affirms the preferential option in the introduction to Libertatis Nuntius (1984) as well as in nos. VI-5, IX-9, XI-18, and in Libertatis Conscientia (1986), nos. 46-50, and 66-68. God's preference for the poor is also asserted today by theological voices found far from contexts which have given rise to the various liberation theologies. See, e.g., the contributions of Lash, Nicholas, Schillebeeckx, Edward, and Brown, Robert McAfee in Ellis, Marc H. and Maduro, Otto, eds., The Future of Liberation Theology: Essays in Honor of Gustavo Gutiérrez (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989).Google Scholar Also see Tracy, David, Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987)Google Scholar, and Lohfink, Norbert F. S.J., Option for the Poor: The Basic Principle of Liberation Theology in the Light of the Bible (Berkeley, CA: BIBAL, 1987).Google Scholar
39 Gutiérrez, “La Iglesia de los pobres,” lecture at the XVI Jornada de Reflexión Teológica, Lima, February 11, 1986. Tape recording available at the Pontificia Universidad Católica, Lima.
40 For ample evidence see Signos de Nueva Evangelizacóin: Testimonios de la Iglesia en América Latina 1983-1987 published by the Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones (Lima: CEP, 1988).Google Scholar This 575-page collection of documents from virtually every corner of Latin America includes Gutiérrez's introductory essay “El evangelio de la liberación.”
41 Gutiérrez, , Dios de la vida, 203.Google Scholar
42 Ibid., 200-01.
43 Gutiérrez borrows this image of God from César Vallejo, Peru's, great poet, to close Dios de la vida, 355.Google Scholar