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A Discussion of the Hermeneutics of Liberation Theology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
Jorgen Moltmann has remarked that Reading the Bible with the eyes of the poor is a different thing from reading it with a full belly. If it is read in the light of the experience and hopes of the oppressed, the Bible's revolutionary themes — promise, exodus, resurrection and spirit — come alive.
These words go to the very heart of the matter of our concern in this essay — the hermeneutics of Liberation Theology. It is a subject of vital importance for the Church today. For Liberation Theology is developing creative and challenging insights, principles and procedures in the field of Biblical interpretation. There are several reasons for this.
1 Moltmann's observation here reflects an interest in the political and social relevance of Biblical texts. As a leading figure in European political theology which has affinities with political theologies developing in other parts of the world — Liberation Theology in the Third World, Black Theology in the US, feminist theologies in most Western nations — Moltmann's ideas are germane in any discussion of theologies of this nature. He has indeed exercised great influence upon the theologians of Liberation themselves.
2 The Church in the Power of the Spirit (London: SCM, 1978), p. 17.Google Scholar
3 Segundo, Juan Luis, The Liberation of Theology (New York: Orbis, 1976), p. 8Google Scholar. Throughout this essay ‘hermeneutics’ is used in the broad sense to include the whole interpretative process rather than in the narrow sense of‘exposition’ or ‘application of a text’ as distinct from exegesis.
4 Dussell, Enrique, History and the Theology of Liberation (New York: Orbis, 1976).Google Scholar
5 Cone, James A., God of the Oppressed (London: SCPK, 1976), p. 8.Google Scholar
6 Achtemeier, Paul J., An Introduction to the New Hermeneutic (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969), p. 15Google Scholar. ProfessorAchtemeier's, book was published in the same year as Rubem Alves, A Theology of Human Hope (Washington: Corpus), which was amongst the first of the major works of the theologians of Liberation.Google Scholar
7 Marshall, I. Howard (ed.), New Testament Interpretation (Exeter: Paternoster, 1977), Editor's Foreword.Google Scholar
8 Rohrbaugh, Richard, The Biblical Interpreter (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978).Google Scholar
9 See Clements, R. E.A Century of Old Testament Study (London: Lutterworth, 1976).Google Scholar
10 Wink, Walter, The Bible in Human Transformation (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975), pp. 1–15.Google Scholar
11 Segundo has written many articles and books including the five volume series, Theology for Artisans of a New Humanity. He discusses hermeneutics in The Liberation of Theology.
12 Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation (New York: Orbis, 1974).Google Scholar
13 Assmann, Hugo, Theology for a Nomad Church (New York: Orbis, 1976).Google Scholar
14 Bonino, José Miguez, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975).Google Scholar
15 Kirk, J. Andrew in Liberation Theology: An Evangelical View from the Third World (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1979), discusses the theology of Assmann, Gutierrez, Segundo, Croatto and Miranda, paying particular attention to their hermeneutical procedure.Google Scholar
16 Being and the Messiah: The Message of St. John (Orbis, 1977).Google Scholar
17 The first section of his A Theology of Liberation is essentially a discussion of theories of development.
18 A Theology of Human Hope, pp. 5ff.
19 Ibid., p. 7.
20 Ibid., p. 8.
21 Ibid., p. 9.
22 Ibid., pp. lOff.
23 The Spanish ‘conscientizacion’means literally ‘awareness’. In the case of the theologian it means an awareness of and sensitivity to the issues of society which will enable him to relate his Biblical and theological knowledge to them.
24 Ibid., p. 13.
25 Boff, Leonardo, Liberating Grace (Orbis, 1979), p. 79.Google Scholar
26 Bonino, Jose Miguez, Christians and Marxists, The Mutual Challenge to Revolution. First delivered as the 1974 London Lecture in Contemporary Christianity (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976), p. 19.Google Scholar
27 Ibid., pp. 13ff.
28 Ibid., pp.19ff.
29 Ibid., pp. 25ff.
30 The creation of a new hermeneutic involves the establishment of a relationship between the teaching of Scripture and the contemporary world. For the interpretation of Scripture must be tested in human experience; this is the essence of the interpretation of Scripture in terms of praxis.
31 Liberactiony Libertad: Pautas Hermeneuticas (Liberation and Freedom; Hermeneutical Guid Lines) Rev. Ed.Lima: Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones (CEP), September 1978Google Scholar. Now available in English. Exodus: A Hermeneutics of Freedom (New York: Orbis, 1981).Google Scholar
32 Notably the works of Gadamer and Ricoeur. For discussion of all aspects of the new Hermeneutic, see Robinson, James M. and Cobb, John B. Jr. (ed.), The New Hermtneutic (New York: Harper & Row, 1964).Google Scholar
33 Ibid., pp. 7–8.
34 OP. cit., pp. 3, 8.
35 Review in The Church Times of Clements, Ronald E., Old Testament Theology: A Fresh Approach (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1978).Google Scholar
36 Liberation of Theology, p. 3.
37 An article which appears in his book La Fuerza Historica de Los Pobres Seleccion de trabajos (The Historic Struggle of the Masses: Selected Works) Lima: CEP, 1979.Google Scholar
38 Dussell posits the thesis that the Church in Latin America is the extension of Spanish Christianity, which moved to the New World after the defeat of the Moors in the Middle Ages. He seeks to show that this is nothing less than evidence of the revelation of God in history. See the opening chapter of History and The Theology of Liberation. The concept of the revelation of God in history which is stressed in Liberation Theology was also a major tenet of the Biblical Theology Movement, the rise and demise of which has been so well documented by Childs, Brevard S. in Biblical Theology in Crisis (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970)Google Scholar. That Liberation Theology has much in common with the Biblical Theology Movement has been demonstrated by Phillips, Steven in The Use of Scripture in Liberation Theologies: An Examination of Juan Luis Segundo, James H. Cone, and Jürgen Moltmann. Doctoral dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1978.Google Scholar
39 Driver, John, Christian Mission and Social Justice. Co-ed, with Escobar, Samuel (Scottdald, Pennsylvania, 1978), p. 93.Google Scholar
40 Sobrino, Juan, Christology at the Crossroads: a Latin American Approach (London: S.C.M., 1978).Google Scholar
41 Interview with writer of this article, February 1980.
42 Clements, R. E., Old Testament Theology, p. 185.Google Scholar
43 Childs, Brevard S., Exodus (SCM, 1974), p. 471.Google Scholar
