Philosophy and Religion, Part 9
Liberation Theology
In the last third of the 20th Century a phenomenon arose that
recalled Marx’s “Introduction to a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right”,
where Marx said:
“…the
criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.”
And:
“The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo,
the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.”
In other words, the criticism of religion was only a starting-point, and
not the main business. The main business is the restoration of humanity to
itself, not so much from out of the clutches of the religious clerics, but more
so from the under the boot of the bourgeoisie. The struggle begins, not against
religion, but within religion.
And so it came to pass that in the 1960s there arose, within and among
the ranks of the religious, a movement which had the same essential aims that
Marx had. This was Liberation Theology. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church in
particular recognised it for what it was, and suppressed it. The hierarchy of
the Protestant denominations saw it for what it was, and co-opted and neutered
its remnants, revising Liberation Theology’s “base community” idea into the
sectarian “basic Christian community”, and thereby reversing the liberation
that Liberation Theology had brought.
But in the mean time, Liberation Theology had a life, and it left a
legacy.
Father Joe Falkiner used sometimes to attend the Communist University.
The main attached/linked item today begins with an article of Father Joe’s from
2006 on Liberation Theology and Scripture, and continues with a short history
of Liberation Theology from two more of its well-known practitioners, Leonardo
and Clodovis Boff.
Father Joe quickly mentions that Liberation Theology “often used the educational methods of Paulo
Friere”, and that they used original scriptural texts, just as the Communist
University uses mainly original texts, and preferably not second-hand
commentary or analysis. Father Joe
writes: “… the theology was done jointly
by these people in the shantytowns and their priests, not solely by traditional
theologians based in seminaries and universities.”
This is what we as the CU do with politics, as well as religion, using
Paulo Freire’s methods.
We do not have a good picture of Father Joe Falkiner. Instead, the
picture above is of Bartolomé de las Casas, a
member of the same order (the Order of Preachers, a.k.a. Dominicans) as Father
Joe.
·
The above is to
introduce the original reading-text: Liberation Theology,
2006, Falkiner, L and C Boff.
