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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 March 2013
As liberation theology spread across the globe in the seventh and eighth decades of the twentieth century, the need was felt for mutual learning and teaching among its proponents in various continents. The Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) was founded at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1976 to facilitate such a dialogue. This article explores the ways in which the thought of Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J., (a Spanish philosopher and theologian who was murdered in El Salvador in 1989) and Asian liberation theology can enrich each other.
After situating Ellacuría, especially his activities as rector of the Jesuit University of Central America, in the context of political and military conflicts of El Salvador, the essay expounds Ellacuría's philosophy of realidad historica, his theology of the People of God as el pueblo crucificado, and his understanding of a Catholic university as a “social force,” and shows how these three ideas can enrich Asian liberation theology. The essay then presents Asian liberation theology in the socio-political and religious contexts of Asia and explains how it can enrich Ellacuría's thought and by extension Latin American liberation theology in three areas: theological method, through the use of non-Christian religious sources, especially popular religion; theology of liberation, by attending to the efforts of non-Christian activists for justice and peace; and a new way of being church, through a triple dialogue: dialogue with the Asian people, especially their poor; dialogue with Asian cultures; and dialogue with Asian religions.
1 On the global character of liberation theology, see Phan, Peter C., “A Common Journey, Different Paths, the Same Destination: Method in Liberation Theologies,” in Phan, Peter C., Christianity with an Asian Face: Asian American Theology in the Making (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003), 26–46Google Scholar and Rowland, Christopher, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Liberation Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 For a brief history of EATWOT, see Fabella, Virginia, “EATWOT,” in Fabella, Virginia and Sugirtharajah, R. S., Dictionary of Third World Theologies (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000), 70–72.Google Scholar
3 For presentations of liberation from the global perspective, see Hennelly, Alfred T., Liberation Theologies: The Global Pursuit of Justice (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third, 1995)Google Scholar; Thistlethwaite, Susan Brookes and Engel, Mary Potter, eds., Lift Every Voice: Constructing Christian Theologies from the Underside, rev. ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998)Google Scholar; and Pope-Levison, Priscilla and Levison, John R., Jesus in Global Contexts (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1992).Google Scholar
4 Ellacuría, Ignacio, “La principialidad de la esencia en Xavier Zubiri” (Ph.D. Diss., Universidad Complutense, Madrid, 1965).Google Scholar
5 For a comprehensive account of Ellacuría's work in El Salvador and his murder, see Whitfield, Teresa, Paying the Price: Ignacio Ellacuría and the Murdered Jesuits of El Salvador (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994).Google Scholar For an exhaustive study of the Jesuits' murder, see Doggett, Martha, Death Foretold: The Jesuit Murders in El Salvador (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1993).Google Scholar For a theological study, see Sobrino, Jon, Ellacuría, Ignacio and Others, Companions of Jesus: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990).Google Scholar
6 Ellacuría, wrote over 250 essays between 1967–1989. Two books in theology are collections of his various essays: Teología politica (San Salvador: Ediciones del Secretariado Social Interdiocesano, 1973)Google Scholar [English translation by Drury, John, Freedom Made Flesh: The Mission of Christ and His Church (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1976)]Google Scholar; Conversión de la Iglesia al Reino de Dios: Para annunciarlo y realizarlo en la historia (Santander, Spain: Editorial Sal Terrae, 1984). As of 2004, UCA Editores has published twelve volumes of Ellacuría's writings: Filosofía de la realidad histórica, ed. González, Antonio (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1990)Google Scholar; Veinte años de historia en El Salvador (1969–1989): Escritos politicos, 3 vols. (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1991); Escritos filosóficos, 3 vols. (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1996, 1999, 2001); Escritos universitarios (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1999); and Escritos teológicos, 4 vols. (San Salvador: UCA Editores, 2000, 2003).
7 Burke, Kevin, The Ground Beneath the Cross: The Theology of Ignacio Ellacuría (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000), 204–05.Google Scholar
8 For an explanation of Ellacuría's philosophy of “historical reality,” see Burke, , The Ground Beneath the Cross, 43–72.Google Scholar
9 For Ellacuría's anthropology, see Burke, 73–97.
10 See Burke, 127.
11 On how the three acts realizing, shouldering, and taking charge of the weight of historical reality as analyzed by Ellacuría serve as the foundation for theological method and its operations, see Burke, 99–149.
12 See e.g., the works of Choan-Seng Song and Anthony de Mello.
13 On Ellacuría's soteriology, see Burke, 175–87.
14 On minjung theology, see Lee, Jung Young, ed., An Emerging Theology in World Perspective: Commentary on Korean Minjung Theology (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third, 1988)Google Scholar; Lee, Jae Hoon, The Exploration of the Inner Wounds: Han (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1994)Google Scholar; Yi, Sang-t'aek, Religion and Social Transformation in Korea: Minjung and Millenarianism (New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996)Google Scholar; An, Sang-jin, Continuity and Transformation: Religious Synthesis in East Asia (New York: Peter Lang, 2001).Google Scholar
15 On Dalit theology, see Prabhakar, M. E., ed., Towards a Dalit Theology (Delhi: ISPCK, 1988)Google Scholar; Nirmal, Arvind P., ed., Towards a Common Dalit Ideology (Madras: Nandan Offset, 1990)Google Scholar; Irudayaraj, Xavier, ed., Emerging Dalit Theology (Madras: Jesuit Theological Secretariate, 1990)Google Scholar; Wilfred, Felix, ed., Leave the Temple: Indian Paths to Human Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992)Google Scholar; Massey, James, ed., Indigenous People: Dalits. Dalit Issues in Today's Theological Debate (Delhi: ISPCK, 1994)Google Scholar; Massey, James, Towards Dalit Hermeneutics: Rereading the Text, the History and the Literature (Delhi: ISPCK, 1994)Google Scholar; Amaladoss, Michael, Life in Freedom: Liberation Theologies from Asia (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1997)Google Scholar; Ucko, Hans, The People and the People of God: Minjung and Dalit Theology in Interaction with Jewish-Christian Dialogue (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2002).Google Scholar From the religious backgrounds of the contributors, Dalit theology is very much an ecumenical and even interfaith effort.
16 See Thanzauva, K., Theology of Community: Tribal Theology in the Making (Aizawl, Mizoram: Mizo Theological Conference, 1997).Google Scholar
17 See Kyung, Chung Hyun, Struggle to Be the Sun Again: Introducing Asian Women's Theology (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990)Google Scholar and Puilan, Kwok, Introducing Asian Feminist Theology (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2000).Google Scholar
18 Sobrino, Jon, Ellacuría, Ignacio and Others, Companions of Jesus, 149.Google Scholar
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., 150.
21 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, 15th anniversary edition (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988), xxiii.Google Scholar
22 See Phan, Peter C., ed., The Asian Synod: Texts and Commentaries (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002).Google Scholar
23 See Paul, John II's apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia, nos. 5–8.Google Scholar The English text is available in Phan, , ed., The Asian Synod, 286–340.Google Scholar
24 The FABC was founded in 1970, on the occasion of Pope Paul VI's visit to Manila. Its statutes, approved by the Holy See ad experimentum in 1972, were amended several times and were approved each time by the Holy See. For the documents of the FABC and its various institutes, see Rosales, Gaudencio & Arévalo, C.G., eds., For All the Peoples of Asia: Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. Documents from 1970 to 1991 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992)Google Scholar; Eilers, Franz-Josef, ed., For All the Peoples of Asia: Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. Documents from 1992 to1996 (Quezon City: Claretian, 1997)Google Scholar; and idem, ed., For All the Peoples of Asia: Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. Documents from 1997 to 2001 (Quezon City: Claretian, 2002).
25 For an informative exposition of Asian liberation theologies, see Amaladoss, Life in Freedom.
26 On the need to use the introspective methods of Asian religious masters and the distinction between “enforced poverty” and “voluntary poverty,” see Pieris, Aloysius, An Asian Theology of Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988).Google Scholar
27 See Candelaria, Michael, Popular Religion and Liberation: The Dilemma of Liberation Theology (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Parker, Cristián, Popular Religion and Modernization in Latin America: A Different Logic, trans. Barr, Robert (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1996)Google Scholar; and Espín, Orlando, The Faith of the People: Theological Reflections on Popular Catholicism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1997).Google Scholar
28 On the Sarvodaya movement, see Bond, George D., “Sarvodaya Shramadana's Quest for Peace,” in Queen, Christopher, Prebish, Charles, and Keown, Damien, eds., Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 128–35.Google Scholar
29 For more details on these figures, see Amaladoss, , Life in Freedom, 58–64Google Scholar; 72–84.
30 For a presentation of Asian theologies on liberation, inculturation, and interreligious dialogue, see my recent trilogy: Christianity with an Asian Face: Asian American Theology in the Making (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003); In Our Tongues: Perspectives from Asia on Mission and Inculturation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003); and Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004).
31 For a lucid presentation of Catholic social teaching, see Curran, Charles E., Catholic Social Teaching 1891-Present: A Historical, Theological, and Ethical Analysis (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2002).Google Scholar
32 Brockman, James R., Romero: A Life (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989) 248.Google Scholar
33 The present essay originated as the inaugural lecture for the Ignacio Ellacuría Chair in Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University on March 3, 2004. The choice of Ignacio Ellacuría for the name of the Chair in Catholic Social Thought to honor and celebrate the life and work of the Jesuit and with him the others who were brutally murdered by members of the El Salvador army on November 16, 1989 could not be more inspired. The people who ordered the soldiers to shoot him and his companions at close range and blow out their brains with U.S.-issued M-16 rifles on the university lawn hoped to silence their voice on behalf of the poor and erase their witness to truth and justice. Ignacio Ellacuría first came to the United States in 1986 to attend a conference at Georgetown University alongside the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa and there he met Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Now, nineteen years later, he comes back to us in the form of an endowed chair named in his honor, with his passion for truth, his witness for justice, his philosophy of realidad historica, his liberation theology, his love for the crucified people, and above all as a Jesuit martyr. In naming the Chair in Catholic Social Thought after him, Georgetown University proclaims unambiguously that Ellacuría's and his colleagues' martyrdom was not in vain, that their voice for the voiceless will continue to resound down the ages, and that their witness to truth and justice unto death will remain a permanent source of inspiration for the whole church. I should like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who read my manuscript with great care. They will see that all their helpful suggestions have been taken into account.