The Passing of a Giant

When I was about a year into seminary, in one of my Systematic Theology courses with the professor who would encourage me to become an American Baptist, I became acquainted with Latin American liberation theology through the writings of Gustavo Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez was a Peruvian theologian who took seriously the idea that salvation doesn’t just have implications for the afterlife but that it also should have implications for now. He was specifically concerned that Western theology had not allowed for the idea that Jesus’ death and resurrection could save people from various oppressions they encountered in everyday life - especially poverty. Looking back, I’m amazed that this was such a new and profound idea to me!

Gutiérrez’s work made a lot of waves - including in the Catholic church that rejected some of his views as liberal and dangerous. You see, Gutiérrez believed in the preferential option for the poor - namely, that Jesus sought out the poor and that the poor could see Jesus more clearly than could the wealthy because they weren’t trapped by power and wealth.

Gutiérrez, the “Father of Liberation Theology,” died on Tuesday. Rest in peace, rise in glory.

So, today I want to leave you with some of his words to encourage you in your faith as you consider what it means to both be liberated by Jesus and to be a liberative presence in a world in which so many people remain trapped by various forms of poverty and prejudice. May his words encourage you like they have me for these past 20 years.

“There is no Christian life without ‘songs’ to the Lord, without thanksgiving for God’s love, and without prayer. But the songs are sung by persons living in particular historical situations, and these provide the framework within which they perceive God’s presence and also God’s absence (in the biblical sense of this term; see Jer. 7:1-7; Matt. 7:15-21). In our Latin American context we may well ask ourselves: How can we thank God for the gift of life when the reality around us is one of premature and unjustly inflicted death? How can we express joy at knowing ourselves to be loved by the Father when we see the suffering of our brothers and sisters? How can we sing when the suffering of an entire people chokes the sound in our throats?” ~ Gutiérrez, Gustavo. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003): 7.

“Life according to the Spirit is therefore not an existence at the level of the soul and in opposition to or apart from the body; it is an existence in accord with life, love, peace, and justice (the great values of the reign of God) and against death. Such is the spiritual life of Christians, ‘heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ’ (Rom. 8:17), because ‘all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God’ (Rom. 8:14).” Gutiérrez, We Drink from Our Own Wells, 71.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy

PS - Gutiérrez is most well known for his book A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988).