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Beyond Liberation Theology: A Polemic
Ivan Petrella provides a bold new interpretation of liberation theology's present state and future possibilities. In so doing, he challenges a number of established Instead of staying within the accepted norm of examining liberation theologies individually as if they were closed worlds, he dares develop a framework that tackles Latin American, Black, Womanist, and Hispanic/Latino(a) theologies together; instead of succumbing to the fashionable identity politics that rules liberationist discourse, he places poverty at the forefront of concern; instead of seeking to carve out a small space for theology in a secular world, he shows that only an expansive understanding of liberation theology can deal with contemporary challenges. The end result is a wake-up call for liberation theologians everywhere and a radical new direction for liberation theology itself.
- GenresReligion
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2008
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December 9, 2021
I take Petrella's arguments to be the following:
o Liberation theologies, in all their of variations and accents, have produced an array of positions that have made the advent of liberation theology one of the 20th century’s most influential theological traditions
o Whether liberation theologies be Black, Latin American, feminist, queer—or, as we have seen in more recent years, Islamic and ‘post-Christian—’ are irrefutably influential. Moreover, they offer to millions of people a reprieve from alienating and abstract theological discourses and religious practices.
o However, and this seems to be Petrella’s main point of contention with the trajectories of liberation theologies thus far, “there is a proliferation of liberation theologies of different stripes, yet they are all incapable of dealing with the spread of zones of social abandonment. Their incapacity, moreover, stems from their lack of attention to issues of economics and class” (3).
o Petrella developes an immanent critique of liberation theology—that is, he takes liberation theology on its own terms and displays how by its own definitions and aims, liberation theology does not fulfill its hopes and aims. In other words, he juxtaposes the proposed ends and ideals of liberation theology and goes on to show how those ends and ideals are not realized within liberation theology discourses
o Though liberation theologies have been right to note, as Petrella says, that “theology has traditionally been done from a standpoint of privilege” (134), Petrella goes on to articulate his critique of liberation theology by using what he calls ‘debilitating conditions’—monochromatism (or, the limiting of the pools of resources one can draw upon), amnesia (or, theologians ‘forgetting the problems they seek to tackle and the goals they want to pursue’ (93)), gigantism (or, a concession that oppression is insurmountable), and naivete (that is, when a theologian moves ‘from an incisive analysis of suffering to mere rhetoric’ (107))
o Liberation theologies, in all their of variations and accents, have produced an array of positions that have made the advent of liberation theology one of the 20th century’s most influential theological traditions
o Whether liberation theologies be Black, Latin American, feminist, queer—or, as we have seen in more recent years, Islamic and ‘post-Christian—’ are irrefutably influential. Moreover, they offer to millions of people a reprieve from alienating and abstract theological discourses and religious practices.
o However, and this seems to be Petrella’s main point of contention with the trajectories of liberation theologies thus far, “there is a proliferation of liberation theologies of different stripes, yet they are all incapable of dealing with the spread of zones of social abandonment. Their incapacity, moreover, stems from their lack of attention to issues of economics and class” (3).
o Petrella developes an immanent critique of liberation theology—that is, he takes liberation theology on its own terms and displays how by its own definitions and aims, liberation theology does not fulfill its hopes and aims. In other words, he juxtaposes the proposed ends and ideals of liberation theology and goes on to show how those ends and ideals are not realized within liberation theology discourses
o Though liberation theologies have been right to note, as Petrella says, that “theology has traditionally been done from a standpoint of privilege” (134), Petrella goes on to articulate his critique of liberation theology by using what he calls ‘debilitating conditions’—monochromatism (or, the limiting of the pools of resources one can draw upon), amnesia (or, theologians ‘forgetting the problems they seek to tackle and the goals they want to pursue’ (93)), gigantism (or, a concession that oppression is insurmountable), and naivete (that is, when a theologian moves ‘from an incisive analysis of suffering to mere rhetoric’ (107))
Displaying 1 of 1 review