Liberation Theology and Latin America

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Article Review: Liberation of Theology by John Luis Segundo

Q1. The main purpose of this article is to argue for a different vision of Catholic theology, one which emphasizes liberating the oppressed versus traditional, doctrinal, textual hermeneutics. Segundo returns to the Jesus of the Bible and stresses Jesus’ commitment to the poor. He also argues for what he calls a hermeneutic circle, or hermeneutics which facilitates liberation, rather than subsuming liberation to traditional analysis of Biblical wording: Both methodology and content of theological analysis must be subjected to rigorous review (Segundo 5).

Q2. The key question Segundo is addressing is how to ensure that Biblical teachings retain a consistency and relevance to believers today, including “continuing changes in our present-day reality, both individual and societal” (Segundo 8). The question and its answer is clearly stated, which Segundo sees as the central question of all theological inquiry, to be relevant to people in the current day and age.

Q3. The most important information in this book is the fact that this is one of the foundational texts of what would become one of the major oppositional theological orientations of the Catholic Church, and also one of the most controversial. New realities demand new questions and new answers, according to Segundo, specifically questions which criticize capitalist norms. Ultimately, textual questions are social questions and social questions and the lived realities of people’s experiences should not be subordinated to the text.

Q4. The main inferences or conclusions in this book are that in the past Catholic theology has been overly focused upon questions which are not immediately relevant to today’s believers, specifically believers in poverty living in the type of conditions Segundo was presumably ministering to in Latin America, from where liberation theology originates. Although the theology outlined is certainly complex, the fact it is connected to tangible realities makes it considerably more clear and direct in its construction than other forms of theology, such as Scholasticism.

Q5. The main assumptions underlying the author’s thinking are that religion has an obligation to help others, not simply to be correct. Segundo takes Jesus’ stated mission in the Bible to help the poor, literally, as well for those who follow him to be poor.