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Transcript of What is the influence of liberation theology in Bolivia and does it offer hope for both liberation...
What is the influence of Liberation theology in
Bolivia & does it offer hope for both liberation and
reconstruction in the light of Bolivia’s colonial
history and colonised present?
President Evo Morales in front of a portrait of Che Guevara in his presidential suite.
August 2008
By Carol A. Kingston-Smith
Word Count: 19, 514
Presented as part of the requirement of the MA Degree in Global Issues in
Contemporary Mission, Redcliffe College.
“Liberation and reconstruction in Bolivia” Global Issues in Contemporary Mission – MA Dissertation
C.A. Kingston-Smith Page 2 of 115
DECLARATION
“This dissertation is the product of my own work. I declare also
that the dissertation is available for photocopying reference
purposes and Inter-Library Loan…”
Carol A. Kingston-Smith
………………………………………
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Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: To loose the chains of injustice
And untie the cords of the yoke, To the set the oppressed free
And break every yoke? (Isaiah 57:6)
“We are in a time of change (Pachakuti)…. The time has come to change the evil history
of the looting of our natural resources; of discrimination, humiliation,
hatred and contempt.” (Evo Morales in Hylton and Thomson 2007, 15)
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PREFACE
The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold; firstly, to explore the impact of
Liberation theology in Bolivia by examining, through a postcolonial lens of Bolivia‟s
history, whether its influence is discernable either as a Historical Project1 or as
essential elements which have percolated into the thinking and praxis of the Church.
The second purpose is to explore firstly, Liberation theology‟s potential to contribute
positively to the process of social reconstruction and secondly, the Church‟s
engagement with this process.
My interest in this area was aroused when I lived and worked in La Paz, Bolivia,
during a period of social revolution which culminated in the installation of Bolivia‟s
first indigenous president, Evo Morales. As the first ethnically indigenous president,
Morales had resisted neo-liberal capitalism since the eighties2 as a trade union leader
in the Bolivian lowlands. During the turbulent period of revolution known as Black
October (October 2003) through the early months of Morales‟ presidency, I was
exposed to many distinct confessional approaches in the Bolivian Church. Three, in
particular have impacted my thinking.
1 I use Historical Project to refer to the orthodox Marxist formulation of Liberation theology which
included revolutionary overthrow of power where necessary. 2 Paz Estensorro opened up Bolivia to neo-liberal reforms in the hope that it would bring about the
“economic miracle” Bolivia needed to reduce hyper-inflation and prosper. Harvard economist Jeffrey
Sachs was at the theoretical economic helm (Hylton &Thomson 2007, 95).
“Liberation and reconstruction in Bolivia” Global Issues in Contemporary Mission – MA Dissertation
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Firstly, an inculturationist approach to Christian theology and praxis, which has
continuity with Liberationist theology. Secondly, the strong social justice mandate of
the Methodist Church of Bolivia, manifested particularly in its close alliance to the
government of Evo Morales. Thirdly, an indigenous, charismatic church‟s approach
to the challenging process of reconciliation and reconstruction.
The sources used for this dissertation are predominantly books, journals and internet
articles and websites. I have also included perspectives gained from personal, face to
face interview, telephone and email communication.
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Tom Quenet, Methodist Church's Area
Secretary for the Americas & Caribbean. !Yuspagara tata! to Bishop Carlos Poma for
his time and open reflections. Finally, to my husband Andy who supported me fully
in this endeavour.
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CONTENTS
DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................................... 2
PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................ 4
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 7
Critical Experiences as Points of Orientation ..................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 11
AN EXAMINATION OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY ....................................................................... 11
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 11
1.1 Liberation‟s Dance in Historical Contexts .......................................................................... 11
1.2 What Kind of Theology is Liberation Theology? ............................................................... 13
1.3 Liberation Theology in the Twentieth Century Latin American Context: A New
Reformation?..................................................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 22
CHAPTER 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 24
AN EXAMINATION OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY‟S “ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS”. ................... 24
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 24
2.1 A Hermeneutical Key: Liberation‟s Preferential Option for the Poor ......................................... 26
2.2 The Kingdom of God in Liberation Theology ............................................................................ 31
2.2.1 Salvation and Conversion in the Kingdom .......................................................................... 34
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 38
CHAPTER 3: ......................................................................................................................................... 40
AN ANALYSIS OF BOLIVIA‟S COLONISED HISTORY ................................................................ 40
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 40
3.1 Bolivia: A Nation of Extremes and Contrasts ............................................................................. 41
3.2 A Historical Overview: Colonisation, Expropriation of Natural Resources and Loss of
Territories. ......................................................................................................................................... 43
3.2.1 Incan Colonisation: The Condor of the Andes .................................................................... 43
3.2.2 Spanish Colonisation: The Bull of the Empire .................................................................... 45
3.3 Features of Indigenous Revolt in the Imagination of the Present: “I will return as Millions” .... 48
3.4 The Third Colonisation: Neoliberal Capitalism-Revelation‟s Beast from the Sea? .................... 50
CHAPTER 4 .......................................................................................................................................... 54
A BOLIVIAN MODEL OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY? .................................................................. 54
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 54
4.1 Methodism‟s Condor as a Carrier of Social Liberation: Is Liberation Theology tucked under its
Wings? .............................................................................................................................................. 55
4.2 Using Bonino‟s Inventory of Liberation Theology‟s Historical Project in the Bolivian Context 58
4.3 A Different Plumage for Bolivian Liberation: An Inculturation Approach ................................ 64
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 69
CHAPTER 5 .......................................................................................................................................... 71
LIBERATION AND RECONSTRUCTION IN BOLIVIA: A CHALLENGE TO THE MISSIONAL
CHURCH ............................................................................................................................................... 71
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 71
5.1 Reconstruction as Liberation Continued ..................................................................................... 72
5.2 Evangelical Churches in Fight, Flight or Fright? ........................................................................ 77
5.3 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 80
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 83
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 88
APPENDIX 1: THE CHRIST WE SHARE ........................................................................................ 101
APPENDIX 2: A SUMMARY OF JESUS‟ “THIRD WAY” ............................................................. 105
APPENDIX 3: MAP OF BOLIVIA SHOWING LANDLOSS ........................................................... 107
APPENDIX 4: MORALES‟ INDIGENOUS INAUGURATION CEREMONY AT TIAHUANACO
............................................................................................................................................................. 109
APPENDIX 5: THE WIPHALA INDIGENOUS FLAG ..................................................................... 111
APPENDIX 6: THE RITUAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE CONDOR AND THE BULL ........... 114
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INTRODUCTION
Critical Experiences as Points of Orientation
In reflecting on Liberation theology and what it has meant and continues to mean in
the context of the peoples of Latin America, I am drawn to two pivotal sites of action.
I note these here because they present, in the flesh of experience, important issues
which must be grappled with at a theoretical level in an examination of Liberation
theology.
The first experience occurred shortly after my arrival in Bolivia and brought me face
to face with both the ideology and praxis of a Liberationist line of thinking. As I
grappled with the liminality of my immersion into a new culture, I cast back to
previous inter-cultural experiences: an early childhood living with a semi-nomadic
tribal group, mission trips to various countries and friends from across the globe. I
searched files on my Hard Drive and reflected afresh on the interaction of theory,
faith and experience which informs our praxis. As the stench of poverty, injustice and
corruption washed over me under the timeless beauty of the Andean snow-capped
mountains, I pressed Advanced Search and dragged up more files with useful
information. I opened up New Folder after New Folder: Extreme Poverty and
Disabled People, Causes of Street Children, Abandoned Elderly, What the Poor Say
about their Condition, Poverty and Familial Violence and so on. I set up a cross
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referencing links and began a painful and heart-searching examination of the
evidence. As I was immersed one day in these reflections, struggling to breathe the
air of hope, I was ambushed and taken hostage by these words3:
“Your life up to now is meaningless to your current situation, you have been
immersed and saturated in a colonial mindset which renders you unable to see
and think clearly. You must wipe from your consciousness everything you
perceived or conceived of before today. You have nothing to offer because
you are saturated in wrong thinking. The only way you will be useful here in
Bolivia is if you forget your past, cut yourself off from those of your kind and
live like the poor, with the poor. You must eat and get sick like the poor for
only then will you be able to empathise with them. You must let them teach
you for only they will bring you the revelation you need. They will lead you
on the road to recovery of your faith….they will lead you to conversion and
then perhaps to usefulness.”
As my whole life was diagnosed as an irretrievably corrupted Hard Drive I found
myself in a new liminal space, not of my own imagining but in the imaginations of
the Other4, an Other whom I had not heard speak their imaginings to me personally
before. This Other had taken this Other me hostage, not only in their own
imagination, but now also in my own.
The second pivotal experience took place as I sat at the back of a military banqueting
hall. The hall had been hired by a rapidly growing indigenous church for their Sunday
worship. As I sat on the overflow steps at the back, I reflected on the words on one of
the banners: “Passion for Jesus Compassion for the people” (translated from Spanish).
3I have used a degree of literary licence in compiling something of a composite statement from
comments made during my time in Bolivia. I think they are representative of attitudes expressed. 4Other is usually used in postcolonial writing to denote the interpretive, objectifying description of the
subaltern by the imperial subject, who ascribes to him or herself that interpretive power. I play with
the term here to suggest that both parties are guilty of Othering each other without commitment to
mutual dialogue.
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I noted the cross section of Bolivian society that were represented in this
congregation of some 600 people: cholitas5 sitting next to local businessmen, people I
knew who eked out a living in the interstitial spaces of the lives of the wealthy sitting
next to those same wealthy. Children who may be left at home with a sibling and a
mug of coca leaf tea while their parents worked to put food on the table, sat alongside
children who had maids and nursery nurses to care for them if their mum had a
hairdresser‟s appointment or a manicure.
My mind was exploding with the impossibly irreconcilable features of life in Bolivia;
a nation which, statisticians inform us, features the largest differential between the
wealthiest 10% and the poorest 10% (United Nations Human Development Report
2007-2008). Then, before me a drama unfolds of great daring, tremendous risk and
not a little hope.
The forty-something year old pastor began to speak a message of the need for
reconciliation between peoples in Bolivia. He spoke of the injustice, the corruption,
the greed and the racism which had carved up and divided and sub-divided the
peoples of Bolivia and then he turned to a line of people, sitting in chairs on the
platform. Each person represented a class or ethnic group in Bolivian society and he
invited the congregation to reflect on whether they held a grudge or judgement or
unforgiveness against any one these people represented. He took up a bowl of water
and a towel and went and removed the shoes of a cholita and wept as he washed her
5Cholita is the name given to the traditionally dressed (at least in colonial terms) Aymara or Quechua
woman with the characteristic bowler hat, lama-wool shawl and voluminous multi-petticoated skirt.
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feet and confessed how as a younger man he had treated his cholita maid with scorn
and had even hit her if she had not ironed his shirt correctly and he asked this
“representative” to forgive him. Likewise she wept and confessed hateful and
judgmental attitudes towards people like him. He then invited his congregation to do
the same. As a low moan and even an occasional wail of pain broke through the
worship band‟s accompanying music, a steady stream of people moved along the
seated representatives. I found myself again enveloped in an imagination which was
not my own but of which I had unwittingly and painfully become a part.
These pivotal experiences and many others urged me on to a deeper reflection of the
purpose of Christian mission which forced a re-consideration of a number of things
and led to the creation of New Folders such as Impact of Neo-liberal Economics on
Poverty, Globalisation, Liberation Theology, Inculturation and so on. This work
represents an interaction with these Folders.
In Chapter 1 I will examine the characteristics of Latin American Liberation theology
before examining its essential elements in more detail, in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 I
will introduce the Bolivian context through a postcolonial historical lens before
exploring, in Chapter 4, signs of Liberation theology‟s presence in the country. In
Chapter 5, I will explore the challenge of reconstruction and ask, in the light of my
analysis in Chapter 4, what Liberation theology may contribute to this process in
Bolivia and how the Evangelical Church is responding to the challenges of this
period. I conclude with some recommendations for further thinking and work.
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CHAPTER 1
AN EXAMINATION OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY
Introduction
In this introductory chapter I want to highlight three points which I consider to be
important for my analysis later on. These are, firstly, the historical pattern and
potential of Liberation thinking to emerge and to challenge “dominant patterns of
interpretation” (Rowland 1999, 12). Secondly, Liberation theology‟s particular
character as a counter-hegemonic, contextual theology. Thirdly, its particular
historical roots as a “New Reformation” (Shaull, 1991) in the more recent context of
Latin American history.
1.1 Liberation’s Dance in Historical Contexts
In the case of Liberation theology, it would seem true that there is nothing new under
the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Previous epochs have produced similar analysis of and
resistance to oppressive status quo and it is of great interest to trace the trajectories
and outcomes of these resistances.
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In the social-political and ecclesial turbulence of the post-Protestant Reformation
period, social reform movements erupted which were deeply challenging to the status
quo of the time (Mursell 2001, 381). The “Diggers” (aka the True Levellers) refused,
on both spiritual and moral grounds, to accept the status quo of their epoch. Common
people were mobilised against the bourgeois landowners by charismatic leaders like
Gerrard Winstanley (1609-1676). He proclaimed not only a social but an ecological
liberation which bears a remarkable resemblance to both the Liberation praxis
emerging from the Latin American late twentieth century context and to current
ecological liberationist thinking (Rowland, 1999, 11-12 & Diggers 1 & 2, 2008).
This and other resistance movements are salutary appraisals of the potential
complicity and violence of status quo in both the Church and society. These
movements challenge the “deceit” of learning and wealth without humane praxis
(Rowland 1999, 12). Later, in the late eighteenth Century early nineteenth Century,
William Blake, also ill at ease with what he perceived was the self-satisfied patriarchy
of the Church and high society of his time, explored creatively ways in which the
Bible could be liberated from “dominant patterns of interpretation” (Rowland 1999,
12).
So then, it is clear that Liberation thinking has accompanied both the Church and
society for some time. Its hermeneutical key has consistently been the reading of
scripture and the analysis of society from the perspective of the marginalised, the
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poor and the oppressed. This hermeneutic has invariably challenged, if not disrupted,
the status quo of the time.
1.2 What Kind of Theology is Liberation Theology?
If we understand theology to be “the study of religious faith, practice, and experience;
especially: the study of God and of God's relation to the world” (Merriam-Webster 1,
2008), then, by implication, we must make two assumptions. The first is that that this
discourse must take special account of matters of context of life in time and space
being encountered by the people and the second has to do with our apprehension of
God‟s self-revelation within that context.
Liberation theology combines both these aspects under a new hermeneutic which
constitutes a radical departure from a classical historical-critical methodology. Its
central challenge is that if our thinking about God does not admit the encounter of
every aspect of life as experienced on earth then our thinking falls short in both its
comprehensiveness and its practical relevance. Orlando Costas advances his own
insights into the importance of context: “Christian theology is not an abstract,
speculative or purely rational reflection-although to be sure, it is philosophical in the
sense that it is a theoretical, intellectual, ordered reflection on the structures,
categories and concepts of reality as a whole and their meaning for the people of
God” (Costas 1989, 2).
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Liberation theologians seek to go one step further, in that, it is not sufficient to simply
describe a given context or revelation. The context must be first interpreted and it is
first and foremost the interpretation of context which informs our interaction with
scripture and our apprehension of God‟s revelation, which in turn, informs our praxis
within a given context.
It is at this very point of interpretation of context that Liberation theology has been
heavily criticised (especially in its earlier formulations) for its seemingly uncritical
reliance on the social sciences, in particular Marxism, as its interpretive lens (Kee
1990, 199; Kirk 1997, 38-41). However, in his recent revised edition of his Theology
of Liberation, Gutierrez is at pains to emphasise that the interpretive context lies
within the community of faith itself where reflective praxis is “nourished by the
charisms of prophecy, government and the teaching that reside in the church and
guide its efforts.” (Gutierrez 2001, 27).
For the purposes of this dissertation it is important to note the inherent dualism in
Liberation thinking which is linked to Marxian categories6 but which is further
exposed in Segundo‟s use of a hermeneutic of suspicion7. This hermeneutic suggests
the possibility, or even arguably, the probability (and this is the Liberationist‟s
premise) that there exists a dominant status quo seeking to preserve a line of
interpretation which favours their own position and which “explains” the presence of
6Marx divides society down economic lines.
7Segundo‟s hermeneutical circle derives from an application of Freud‟s interpretation of Ricoeur‟s
“hermeneutic of suspicion”. He advocates it as a way of “doing theology” as it adequately provides an
"analytical instrument of suspicion . . . designed to discard . . . the commonplace, the tranquilizing
escapisms, the false explanations" (O'Donnell 1982, 28-34).
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unpleasant elements of context (such as dehumanizing poverty) in ways which do not
ultimately challenge the status quo8 .
So then, Liberation theology‟s central, and openly confessed, methodological bias is
that the truest (in the sense of the one with the greatest import for Christian praxis)
perspective or interpretation of a given historical context is to be found amongst the
poor. This requires that both the interpretive (interaction with and reflection on the
context) and the praxic (implementation of liberative strategies) phases of theology
must have a bias to the poor.
This primacy bias is underpinned by the Liberationist‟s understanding that Jesus‟
incarnational life and ministry is one which models both experiential solidarity with
poverty and oppression (interpretive) and a ministerial (praxis) bias to the poor. Here
again, we can see that, for Liberation theology, the matter of perceiving revelation is
principally one which affirms Christ‟s presence among the poor.9
8Status quo in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is described as the “existing state of affairs” (Merriam-
Webster 2, 2008), which is a neutral definition. Liberation theology tends to project a universally
negative interpretation of status quo as being a selfish and self-preserving state. Less attention is given
to the presence of oppressive structures of status quo amongst the poor and oppressed themselves. An
application of Elaine Storkey‟s distinction, from a feminist perspective, between malignant and benign
aspects of patriarchy (Storkey 1985, 108), for example, would seem to offer a framework for more
hopeful and nuanced deconstruction which does not assume status quo to be the monolithic evil that it
seems to be in Liberation thinking. 9 The Christophanic application of the crucified Christ represented in the poor as “crucified peoples” in
need of resurrection based on Matthew 25:31-46. See Appendix 1 The Tortured Christ.
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Liberation theology does share some characteristics of Liberal theologies, such as the
Social Gospel or European Political theology (Braaten 1977 in Bosch 1991, 438), in
that it prioritises social concern and eschews transcendental tendencies in favour of a
more immanent and anthropocentric theological understanding. However, and
importantly, Liberation theology self-distinguishes from the progressive,
“technological humanist‟s” evolutionary trajectory by being more radically
Biblicist10
. Its central question is not, ultimately, the same as that of the secular
humanist: “Does God exist?”. It is essentially pragmatic, in that it seeks to discern
and then demonstrate whose side God is on (Fabella and Torres 1983 in Bosch 1991,
439).
Thus, Liberation theology is counter-hegemonic in that, unlike the progressives, its
central enemy is not nature but “one structure of human power which exploits and
destroys the powerless” (Bosch 1991, 439) and which can be challenged not by
technology and progress, but by revolutionary overthrow of that power. Perhaps
Liberation theology could be best described as an anti-imperial theology?
Pottenger advances a helpful analysis of the tensions which describe Liberation
theology‟s task which we will be specifically reflecting on in the context of Bolivia;
he says:
10
Biblicist interpretations of scripture tend to use Bible texts in an isolated way by lifting them out of
their immediate contexts or out of the whole context of Scripture (Biblicism, 2008). Liberation
Theologians have been criticized by Biblical scholars for neglecting to note the differences in
circumstances between the biblical context and the present in both their interpretation and application
of biblical paradigms such as the Exodus.
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…the project of liberation attempts to restore the sense of community of
classical and medieval eras while maintaining the scientific, technological,
and economic advances achieved in the modern era. In this regard, liberation
theologians propose no less than the construction of a new, and third, form of
the state based on a new tension to hold the disparate parts of society together;
a tension similar to, yet significantly different from, the tensions of both
feudal societies and liberal states (Pottenger 1989, 162-163)
Thus, if Pottenger‟s reading is right, and I think that he is, then we can discern a
central concern of Liberation theology as being a quest for genuine community in a
world where increasingly centrifugal market forces radically separate out
heterogeneous communities in the binary categories of “have” and “have not”. In this
respect, I would judge that Liberation theology, with its counter-hegemonic bias
towards the poor, is making a valid contribution to a very problematical social reality.
1.3 Liberation Theology in the Twentieth Century Latin American
Context: A New Reformation?
In order to examine the presence of liberationist thinking in the Bolivian context it is
important to cast back and understand more precisely the context in which it emerged
and discern points of continuity.
The development of Liberation theology in Latin America has both strong Catholic
and Protestant roots but has undoubtedly been exploited most explicitly in the form of
the orthodox Historical Project by Catholic academics and theologians. Rene Padilla,
one of the fathers of the Latin American protestant holistic mission movement,
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laments that the liberative theory of Reformed theology, which the Latin American
continent inherited from Protestant missionaries, has historically too easily been
divorced from meaningful and liberative action. He notes that the Protestant
contribution to the development of Liberation theology, the book “A Theology of
Human Hope” by Rubem Alves in 1969, actually predated by two years Gutierrez‟ A
Theology of Liberation and he attributes the holistic and liberating vision of Alves‟ to
the deposit of a minority of missionaries like the Scottish Stanley Rycroft, which
departed from the mainstream “soul winning” models of evangelism (Padilla 1, nd).
However, long before Protestant missionaries landed in Latin America, prophetic
consciousness was raised by Catholic people like Bartolome de Las Casas and
Antonio de Montesinos who read the gospel in the light of their context working with
the indigenous peoples during a time marked by conflictive and oppressive imperial
and religious encounter (Boff &Boff 1987, 6)11
.
Notwithstanding, it was the middle of the twentieth century that the specific
conditions which led to the emergence of Liberation theology were present. In the
1950‟s and 1960‟s, the increasing turbulence of capitalist dependency and industrial
development, coupled with a sharp increase in nationalism and military dictatorships,
11
It is important to note here both the distinctions and convergences of Liberation theology and
Inculturation theology. For Roman Catholic theologian in an Asian context, Aloysius Pieris
“inculturation and liberation, rightly understood, are names for the same process” (Pieris 1988 in Pato
1997). For Martey speaking from an African context, liberation and inculturation complement each
other. He describes inculturation and liberation as “hermeneutic procedures that seek both
understanding of the African cultural-political reality and interpretation of this reality in the light of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, so as to bring about transformation of the oppressive status quo” and
concludes that the real hope for African theology lies in the dialectical encounter between
indigenisation and liberation theologies and in their potential for convergence (Martey 1993 in Pato,
1997).
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produced two important features; the first being the marked increase in an oppressive
national security and the second being the increased segregation and marginalisation
of rural peasants. This marginalisation led to the formation of strong popular
movements in search of social betterment, which contributed to the increasing “pre-
revolutionary” atmosphere.
At the same time and, arguably, as a direct response to what was happening in
society, the Church began to be renewed in its commitment to social action and a
number of new movements were born which essentially embraced the progressivist
modernising agenda under the umbrella of European thinking. The foundation of the
first Base Ecclesial Communities (CEB‟s) was one such movement. It was later in the
1960‟s, when the sociological analysis of poverty and underdevelopment brought the
developmental model into crisis and initiated an alternative analysis of poverty and so
called under-development.
The conclusions of this analysis were that capitalism benefits first the first world and
“its disadvantages were meted out to the historically backward and underdeveloped
countries” (Boff & Boff 1987, 68). This called for, not an ongoing participation with,
but rather a breaking away from European progressivism. This was facilitated by the
coming together of the previously mentioned Christian lay groups, the CEB‟s and the
popular movements in a struggle for social and political liberation with the attested
ultimate aim of “a complete and integral liberation” (Boff & Boff 1987, 68).
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What is clear then, is that the church responded to the demands of its “context within
context”12
; firstly in reaching out (albeit naively) in practical ways and secondly, by
engaging in a process of socio-political analysis of the possible causes of increasing
marginalisation and poverty. This renewed analysis resulted in an epistemological
break with the activism which had originally led the church into its engagement but
which was no longer seen as accurately oriented (Padilla 1, nd).
At this point, two alternatives lay before the Church which are important to note in
the Bolivian context discussed in Chapter 5: either to retreat back from its social
engagement altogether or alternatively, to reformulate its engagement to more
adequately address the newly perceived ideology of oppression.
This dialogue between the church and society in Latin America coincided with the
greater creativity and freedom afforded by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)
which spawned new foundational thinking amongst both Catholics and Protestants
who were seeking to address the special problems of the Latin context. This thinking
was made explicit in the radical departure from the status quo in a commitment to
take a “preferential option for the poor” at the Bishop‟s Councils of Medellin (1968),
Puebla (1979) and more latterly, Santo Domingo (1992) (Rowland 1999, 5).
Thus, conscious reflections on liberation themes which emerged publically in 1968 at
Medellin and went on to be developed both intellectually and praxically by writers
12
This “context within context” refers specifically to the context of the socially and economically
marginalised within the wider socio-political context.
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such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Miguez Bonino, Leonardo and Clodovis Boff, were
fermented in a context of extreme poverty and social and economic inequality and
repression which was the grinding experience of reality of the majority of people in
Latin America.
Richard Shaull insightfully makes links with the historical emergence of Liberation
theology, what he terms the “New Reformation” in Latin America (Shaull 1991, 11),
with the Reformation period in Europe. His key thesis is that the church, like any
other institution, must avoid the danger of “repetition of past responses to a changing
human situation… (which) can lead to stagnation, sclerosis and death” (Shaull 1991,
15).
Shaull posits that, in the same way that, for Luther, justification by faith became a
new hermeneutical key or lens through which to read the whole of scripture, so too,
for the “New Reformation” breed of Liberation theologians, God‟s preferential option
for the poor and His dynamic action in history to bring about liberation in the fullest
sense, became an important hermeneutical key (Shaull 1991, 20-21). In his earlier
writings, he notes that “New interpretations of the faith, in response to new situations,
can only be evaluated adequately by the development of new criteria” and that “the
truth of any new interpretation of the Christian message will ultimately be
demonstrated, not by reason alone, but by history.” (Shaull 1985, 7).
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I would question how he would propose to evaluate and interpret that history, with
what criteria would he discern the truth and its connections to a particular system of
thought or action? However, I do agree with Shaull that the paradigmatic shift in the
doing of theology from the perspective of the poor does constitute a “New
Reformation” and as such is faced inevitably with the limitations of the tools of its
architects.
Conclusion
In this chapter I have sought to draw attention to three specific attributes of Liberation
theology. Firstly, the historical pattern of Liberation thinking to emerge and to
challenge “dominant patterns of interpretation” (Rowland 1999, 12). Secondly, its
particular character as a counter-hegemonic, contextual theology. Thirdly, its
particular historical presence as a “New Reformation” (Shaull, 1991) in the more
recent context of Latin American history. My reason for focalising these attributes is
to provide a background to the examination in more detail of the presence of
Liberation thinking and praxis in the current Bolivian context.
My own conviction is that Liberation theology has offered a much needed emphasis
on the deconstruction, or the “unmasking”, of causes of poverty in Latin America
which have increasingly breached the experience of community. It rightly seeks to
address and unmask the realities which it judges to have impoverished and oppressed
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millions of people in Latin America and in doing so, it seeks to both reform the
church from within and revolutionise the world from without.
In the next chapter I will interact in more detail with the essential elements of
Liberation theology in order to better analyse in Chapter 4, both signs of its presence
in Bolivia and its potential to bring about positive change in the Bolivian context.
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CHAPTER 2
AN EXAMINATION OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY’S
“ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS”.
Introduction
Liberation theology, even in the Latin American context in which it was birthed,
would be more accurately described as theologies in that its theory and praxis have
been developed with distinct emphases in both academia and at the grass roots in the
Ecclesial Base Communities (CEB‟s). Liberation theology emerged out of the faith
and hope in suffering of the poor who experienced, on a daily basis, the paradox of
“proclaiming the life of the risen Jesus and the conditions of death in which
(they)…were living” (Gutierrez 2001, 29). As such, its primary concern was the
articulation of a meaningful theology of life where death was so manifestly apparent.
We could summarise crudely Liberation theology thinking as follows: Evil manifests
in specific historical contexts in socially divisive structures and in order to best
discern its presence in a given context we must seek a perspective from the
“underside”; that is, using the hermeneutical key of God‟s preferential option for the
poor. This is so, because human nature tends towards oppression and social science
teaches us that status quo in a system or context is maintained by those with power
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and usually for reasons of self-interest. Furthermore, God‟s preferential option for
the poor is clearly demonstrated and interpreted through Jesus‟ incarnational life
(interpreted de facto as one of experiencing poverty and marginalisation) and of his
ministerial bias towards the poor. This therefore, should be our bias in interpretation
and praxis. Ideology, which is “a system of means that are used to attain an end or a
goal” (Segundo 1975 in Petrella 2006, 35) must itself be critiqued with a hermeneutic
of suspicion and reconstructed to ensure that liberation ideology continues to be
liberative for the “underside” of humanity. Sin and salvation are understood and
applied in the “modern paradigm” (Bosch 1991, 395) using Marxist categories which
describe sin as the alienation between humans. Salvation comes through the
“termination of perverted and unjust structures” (Greshake 1983 and Grundel 1983 in
Bosch 1991, 396). The use of the exodus narrative is judged as being the best, most
holistic, biblical paradigm of God‟s salvific, liberative intentions.
These core elements, which make up the framework of Liberation theology, could
each be critiqued at great length, criss-crossing as they do, both liberal and
postmodern theological categories. However, for my purposes, I will restrict my
examination firstly, to Liberation theology‟s hermeneutical key; its preferential option
for the poor and secondly, its representation of the Reign or Kingdom of God and
thirdly, its articulation of salvation and liberation as visible signs of God‟s Kingdom
on earth.
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2.1 A Hermeneutical Key: Liberation’s Preferential Option for the Poor
Liberation theology rests firmly on a number of interpretive assumptions about God‟s
bias to the poor and the oppressed. These are based on, firstly, the Old Testament
social justice writings of the prophets. Secondly, a reading of the exodus account
which is seen as representing a holistic paradigm of God‟s salvific purposes. Thirdly,
Jesus‟ own incarnational life of marginalisation and poverty and his ministerial bias
to the poor.
It is not my intention to take up Liberation‟s application of the exodus narrative as its
central model of God‟s will to engage the poor in their own liberation. However, it is
worth underlining two points about the exodus narrative. First, the exodus represents
a biblical liberation paradigm which is a holistic one. It resulted in freedom from the
tyranny of foreign, autocratic power, excessive state interference in family life and
the unjust, economic exploitation and spiritual restrictions which had prevented
unhindered worship and covenant relationship with God (Wright 2004, 156). The
second point is that Israel did, in turn, go on to oppress and exploit others (as well as
to worship idols) and as a result Israel suffered further oppression. This is useful in
reminding us of God‟s universally applied opposition to exploitation and injustice
(Wright 2004, 476). The real task lies then, not in demonstrating that God is against
exploitation and injustice but in discerning when this exploitation is indeed happening
in any given historical contexts.
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With regard to Jesus‟ own incarnational life, Liberation theology makes the
assumption that Jesus was both marginalised and poor. This been hotly debated by
both scholars and laypersons alike. Horsley and Hanson‟s thorough appraisal of
peasant life in Palestine at the time of Jesus suggests that his life was in fact more
oppressed and poor than has been traditionally assumed in North Atlantic theology
(Horsley and Hanson 1985, 1-4).
Indeed, textual evidences suggest his family was poor; for example, his parents were
only able to make the poor person‟s offering in the temple of two doves or pigeons
(Luke 2:24 and Bock 1996, 92) and they had no family tomb in which to place Jesus‟
body after his crucifixion and so relied on the unusually bold and kind gesture of the
wealthy disciple Joseph of Arimethea (Mat. 27:57, Wilkins 2004, 912). Old
Testament prophetic literature also indicates the social status of the “Suffering
Servant” as being one of suffering and marginalisation in the sense of lacking esteem
and privilege (Isaiah 53). It seems to me to be reasonable to conclude that Jesus‟ life
was one of experiencing material poverty but that it is also worth noting that his
chosen disciples came from a broader economic spectrum.
Liberation theology also assumes that Jesus‟ own ministry was characterised by a bias
to the poor. When we examine Jesus‟ ministry, as recorded in the gospel accounts,
there are clear evidences of his bias (though not exclusive focus) towards the
economically poor and particularly towards the marginalised and weak in the wider
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sense in both his teaching and his actions. However, for Walter Wink Jesus‟ actions
were primarily designed to be a challenge to domination systems.
This challenge to domination systems is exemplified in the way that Jesus often
challenges the religious status quo: he speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well
(John 4:27) and shows compassion and mercy to the woman caught in adultery (John
7:53-8:11). He receives the gift of expensive perfume poured over his feet by the
“sinful” woman, breaking social and morally exclusive codes of behaviour (Luke
7:36). Significantly also, he elevate the status of children (Mark 10:13-16) and in
doing so, he challenges those who want to enter the Kingdom to “relinquish all claims
of power and domination over others” (Jeremias in Wink 1992, 130). He lets the
unclean touch him (Mark 5:24) and his teachings, such as the Sermon on the Plain
(Luke 6:16-30), make very clear that God‟s special care and mercy are extended
towards the materially poor and physically hungry (Bock 1996, 186).
Jesus‟ bias therefore, in my opinion, could be said to be more accurately, a bias
towards the powerless or the dominated and that this consequentially includes, in
many cases, the materially poor.
Parallel to the assumptions discussed above is another assumption which is important
to the understanding of Liberation theology‟s commitment to political action; to what
extent did Jesus fulfil the expected Jewish messianic mandate of political resistance
and overthrow of the imperial powers of his time? In Jesus of Nazareth‟s time, it was
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the Jewish zealots who did not accept the status quo of the imperial Roman rule. They
formulated both teaching and praxis which constituted this political resistance
movement (Zealot 2008). Although one or more of Jesus‟ disciples were in all
probability aligned with the zealot movement, Jesus himself does not appear to
endorse it (Eagleton, 2008).
However, a different line is taken by some scholars who argue that too many
inaccurate interpretations have been ascribed to the zealot movement which have
been “historically ill-founded and misleading” (Horsley and Hanson 1985, 253). They
argue instead, that the zealot movement proper developed in response to renewed
Roman repression as a direct result of the 66 AD revolt some forty years after Jesus‟
life and ministry and that his teachings may have contributed to the development of
this movement (Horsley and Hanson 1985, 256). However, they fail to address the
significance of the biblical reference to Simon the disciple being named a zealot
which could have represented a stream of resistance or a growing movement even if it
was not a formal one (Matthew 10:4).
Gutierrez, on the other hand, assumes Jesus‟ alliance with the zealot movement13
more positively, though he also notes that Jesus‟ mission did not ultimately conform
to the narrow nationalism of the zealots (Gutierrez 2001, 212). Jesus‟ own political
ambiguity can be seen by the fact that he endorses the paying of imperial taxes
(Matthew 22:21) and he also rebukes Peter‟s violent activism on his behalf in the
13
“Movement” might be the most appropriate way of describing counter-hegemonic patterns of
thought and social resistance which had yet to be crystallised into a historical project of its time as
Horsley and Hanson suggest above.
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Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:10-11). Jesus evidently perceives great faith even in
the pawns of the domination system in that he heals a centurion‟s14
servant who, he
said, had a faith such as had not been seen “even in Israel” (Luke 7:2-10).
However, Jesus does also take up more explicitly the challenges and issues of
imperial domination and his recommended path of political resistance is depicted by
Wink as a radically activist but non-violent one (Matthew 5:38-42). Wink has
researched and uncovered an unusually powerful interpretation to Jesus‟ teaching in
these verses and he asserts that it is designed to conscientise a people for a social
revolution of “recovered dignity and freedom” within a framework of renewed
community (Wink 1992, 183; see Appendix 2). Importantly, as Wink stresses, non-
violent resistance must be undergirded by the love Jesus describes “for their
enemies”.
In summary then, by opting for the poor as its interpretive centre, Liberation theology
is not just anthropocentric but subaltern-centric and as such, reinforces a “national
popular” tradition in Bolivia which is nurtured by the subaltern political history
attributed to Bolivian political theorist Rene Zavaleta (Hylton & Thomson 2007, 7).
However, it is also Christocentric in that the centrality of the cross of Jesus becomes
representative of the “Crucified Peoples”. In this way, Jesus Christ becomes not only
the symbol of Liberator but also of the Crucified Oppressed and of their need for
14
Wink notes that the centurion was unlikely to have been a Roman as in Galilee it was the client King
Herod‟s militia who kept order. Nevertheless, he represented a domination system which was part of
the Imperial control. (Wink 1992, 117)
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resurrection (see Appendix 1: The Tortured Christ; Matthew 25:31-46; Boff & Boff
1987, 4)15
.
My own conclusion is that Liberation theology‟s hermeneutical key is a solidly
biblical one which adequately reflects both the merciful and just character of God.
However, I welcome the extending of the orthodox category of poverty in recent
years to include more specific aspects of poverty experienced under the rubrics of
gender, ecology, race and age.
2.2 The Kingdom of God in Liberation Theology
Gutierrez deals extensively with the tensions of linking the growth of Christ‟s
Kingdom with earthly progress proceeding from human effort but he rightly identifies
the lack of specificity in the Gaudium et spes‟ statement which notes that „earthly
progress must be carefully distinguished from the growth of Christ‟s Kingdom.
Nevertheless, to the extent that the former can contribute to the better ordering of
human society, it is of vital concern to the Kingdom of God‟ (no. 39 in Gutierrez
2001, 167).
Liberation theology‟s primary anxiety is to seek to concretise human involvement in
the establishment of God‟s Kingdom and especially to establish a “communion”
amongst all peoples, which can only be achieved by lifting those whose lives are
15
See footnote 9
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marked by a sub-human and explicitly sinful state of poverty and oppression
(Gutierrez 2001, 170). Populorum progressio depicts most clearly the situation: “Less
human conditions first affect those who are so poor as to lack the minimum essentials
for life;…then they affect those who are oppressed by social structures which have
been created by abuses of ownership or by abuses of power, by the exploitation of the
workers or by unfair business deals‟ (Populorum progressio in Gutierrez 2001, 170).
This concern with the “sub-human” condition is important to note because it is the
key to Liberation theology‟s particularity. In one sense, one could say that it is a pre-
evangelistic theology in that its focus is the humanising of the “sub-human” to
receive the Good News in communion with the rest of humanity.
The main contention here would be that of linking God‟s Reign with a particular
historical process of resistance, especially one which was ideologically committed to
a potentially violent overthrow of power16
and which ultimately proved largely
unsuccessful, as demonstrated by the fall of communism (Kirk 1979, 31; Linden
1997, 33).
Gutierrez himself expresses the tension between the participation of human action
with God‟s grace and mercy: “Without historical moments of liberation, the Kingdom
does not grow, but the process of liberation will not destroy the roots of oppression,
16
Violence can be seen to be necessary as a means to bring about liberation for oppressed under an act
of second violence; the first violence being the structures of oppression. (Camara in Kirk 1979, 31).
This is essentially the “Just war” concept.
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of exploitation amongst human beings, unless the advent of the Kingdom is above all
a grace, a gift (Gutierrez in Rowland 1999, 34).
Bonino differentiates Liberation theology from European progressive Political
theology in a number of ways and, importantly has retained a much stronger link with
the concept of the Kingdom of God present in Liberation theology as against Political
theology‟s more analogous relationship between politics and God‟s reign. His central
question is “(does) Human action in its diverse dimensions-political, cultural,
economic-have any value in terms of the Kingdom which God prepares and will
gloriously establish in the Parousia of the Lord?” (Bonino 1975, 139 bracket word
mine). Clearly, his own conviction is affirmative.
So then, I would accept, as do Gutierrez and Bonino, that human participation in the
bringing about of justice and liberation for the oppressed is a part of the inauguration
of the Reign of God in time and space. However, I would qualify that human
participation needs to reveal both the justice and the mercy of God‟s Reign. After all
one can liberate a prisoner by killing the jailor or by “converting” him (Acts 16:29-
36). Would the prisoner‟s freedom alone be the fullest sign of the Reign of God?
Thus, I would argue that it is not solely liberation but reconciliation between the
oppressor and the oppressed which marks the Kingdom‟s fullest presence as a
liberative, domination-free communion amongst God‟s peoples. This is perhaps best
expressed in the biblical metaphor of the New Heavens and the New Earth in Isaiah
where the “wolf will feed with the lamb” (Isaiah 65: 25).
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2.2.1 Salvation and Conversion in the Kingdom
In the context of affirming humanity‟s active participation in the bringing about of the
Kingdom of God on earth, Gutierrez develops both a doctrine of liberation for the
poor and oppressed and a doctrine of conversion which is directed primarily to the
non-poor and the oppressor. It would seem that Liberation theology has provided a
twin track approach to salvation. One group, the “crucified” poor, is “resurrected” by
the overthrow of unjust conditions. The other group, the non-poor are saved or
converted by breaking their ties to oppressive systems and by turning to their poor
neighbour in works of loving justice with “com-passion”. Boff is emphatic that
suffering with the poor is an expression of commitment and solidarity which helps
avoid the type of condescending and de-humanising charity performed out of
loveless, pity-filled duty (Boff and Boff 1987, 2; Gutierrez 2001, 183-192).
In this soteriological model, the poor and the rich are expressed in Manichean
categories of oppressed and oppressor. What is less clear is how to categorise the
oppressive poor; those poor who oppress and exploit others or the benevolent rich;
those rich who help the poor?
Postcolonial writers have identified the phenomenon of mimicry as being learnt
(colonial) behaviours which are internalized by the colonised, especially by the elites,
who then go on to repeat these, often damaging, behaviours within their own social
groupings (Bhabha 1994, 125). It is this more subtle cycle which I feel is
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insufficiently addressed in Liberation theology but which Wink discerns, I think very
precisely, in his analysis and explication of the “spirit of domination”. His thesis is
that as humans, we all are susceptible to dominator tendencies and that we must learn
to both recognise and respond to these in individual and structural form in both
ourselves and in others and society at large in order to avoid perpetuating dominator
systems (Wink 1992, ch.5).
As part of the process of liberation, the poor must take responsibility and ownership
for both their own predicament and the actions needed to redress imbalances. This
process has been named in Liberation theology as the “conscientisation”17
of the
poor. Populorum Progressio states that our focus must be on “…building a world
where all persons, no matter what their race, religion, or nationality, can live a fully
human life” (Populorum Progressio, no. 47 in Hennelly 1997, 68). In Liberation
theology, much of this “building” depends on the empowerment of the poor to help
them recognise both the domination systems which oppress them and their role in
throwing off this domination.
This model of conscientisation is built on the insights and work of both the
psychiatrist Franz Fanon and the pedagogue Paolo Freire. Fanon asserts that the
political education of the masses must empower them to believe that “everything
17
Conscientisation was a term which emerged from round table meetings of the Brazilian Institute of
Higher Studies (ISEB) to represent an educational program which enables “humans (who) take on a
role as subjects making the world, remaking the world; it asks humans to fashion their existence out of
the material that life offers them. The more they are conscientised, the more they exist.”(Hennelly
1997, 7)
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depends on them; that if we (society) stagnate it is their responsibility, that if we go
forward it is due to them too, that there is no such thing as a demiurge, that there is no
famous man who will take responsibility for everything” (Fanon in Gutierrez 2001,
note 34, 340, bracket mine; Gutierrez 2001, 11).
Thus, it is clear that these working strands of political, psychological and educational
ideology represent the Liberationist‟s theological collapsing of the work of creation
into the work of salvation. The work of creation, initiated by God, has been handed
over to man to “steward” or “cultivate”. This stewardship or cultivation work is
represented in Liberation theology, by the work of conscientisation. It is through this
transformative work, that we become more fully human and (re)build the human
community which is, in and of itself, a salvific, re-creative act. These important and
eminently practical theological observations are crystallised most consciously in the
work of Segundo18
.
Liberation theology then, clearly refuses to settle for a psycho-spiritual salvation
which does not immerse itself in the mire of humanity‟s material struggle to throw off
oppression, poverty and injustice, but which stands only as an observational or, at
best, a prophetic critique of it.
However, as alluded to earlier, Liberation theology has been critiqued, particularly in
its earlier formulations, as being too exclusive in its bias. This has resulted in the
18
Kirk postulates that Segundo‟s thinking is a synthesis of Teilhard de Chardin‟s evolutionist,
Christophanic vision and the pressing need for the Church to be “wholly at the service of a dialectical
process of change which will lead to greater justice and solidarity” (Kirk 1979, 67).
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Liberation Project developing something of a Manichean tendency to dualism which,
to my mind, has both increased the imagined power of the “Monolithic Other”
(Petrella 2006, 111), while at the same time reduced the creative, regenerative and
reconstructive power of the oppressed (Linden 1998, 33), as I will address later.
Feminist critique also notes that Liberation theology has been guilty of subverting
traditional hegemonic dualisms to its own ends with the result of a reformulated
“patriarchy from the underside” which continues to oppress the poor child, woman
and nature (Vuola in Rieger 2003, 106; Kwok Pui-lan in Rieger 2003, 81; Wright
1999, 155).
Notwithstanding the questions one may raise about the small print of Liberation
soteriology, it is right and clear in reminding us that we have active roles to play in
the “working out of our salvation” (Philippians 2:12). The “struggle to become free”
(which is ultimately a struggle for rich and poor alike) of which Gutierrez speaks,
defines our active engagement with God‟s redeeming project of salvation and re-
creation.
In Liberation theology, conversion and salvation are developed in a number of
concrete ways within the Kingdom of God paradigm. Whilst assuming a clear vertical
axis Liberation theologians have been more consciously developing the horizontal
axis in an insistent recognition of the need to concretise the visible presence of
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liberation and of salvation as ongoing creative, re-creative and salvific acts in the
physical spaces of the present (Wright 1999, 159).
Conclusion
Liberation theology has been a critical development in a century where Christianity
has, for the most part, sided with the wealthy status quo on the Latin continent. It has
served as a concrete pastoral and political critique of elements of exploitative
hegemony which are dissimulated, at times, even under the cassocks of the Church.
I embrace Liberation thinking‟s bias to the poor as being thoroughly biblical and I
welcome the challenge to think critically about ways in which power is distributed in
historical contexts. I have concerns though, that in its monolithic “Othering” of the
oppressor19
, Liberation theology has not emerged equipped with tools to move more
surely towards an adequate and explicit synthesis of a model which can take us on
from Egypt, through the Wilderness to the Promise Land.
In other words, Liberation theology has, by its own intent and design, been focused
on the crisis of emancipation for the survival and humanisation of life, which was the
primary and urgent context of its inception. However, its tools seem less suited the
creation of liminal, safe spaces beyond the walls of dominator rhetoric where
authentic dialogue can take place and where “In Christ and through the Spirit, persons
19
In the Bolivian context this Other would be the USA, neo-liberalism and any who affiliate or who
are judged to be representative of either.
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are becoming one in the very heart of history, as they confront and struggle against all
that divides and opposes them.” (Gutierrez, 2001, 157-158).
In the next chapter, I will engage more closely with the Bolivian context by
examining the current socio-political situation through a postcolonial lens of its
colonised history. I use the Andean symbol of the ritualised struggle between the
condor and the bull as a motif for the depiction of the historical tensions in the
country and I refer to the metaphor of Revelation‟s Beast from the Sea (Revelation
13) to represent the growing perception amongst Liberation theologians of the
oppressive reality of the hegemony and imperial power of current forms of neo-liberal
capitalism. In Chapter 4 I will examine evidence for the presence of Liberation
thinking and action in the light of this analysis of the Bolivian context.
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CHAPTER 3:
AN ANALYSIS OF BOLIVIA’S COLONISED HISTORY
Introduction
A historical perspective is essential for understanding what is taking place in Bolivia
today. The current revolutionary struggles in Bolivia have their roots firmly
embedded in a colonial history which has spawned two types of major socio-political
revolution: an anti-colonial, indigenous revolution led by Tupaj Amaru in 1780-81
and a national-popular revolution of the peasant and progressive middle classes who
overthrew oligarchy in 1852. These two revolutions were spawned by distinct
ideologies which analysts discern to have found a turbulent confluence in resistance
to aspects of neo-liberalism in the early years of the twenty first century in what some
suggest constitutes a third revolution (Hylton & Thomson 2007,7).
In this chapter I will examine features of Bolivia‟s colonial history which I consider
to be important to the analysis of the influence and role of Liberation theology in
Bolivia which I will address in Chapter 5.
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3.1 Bolivia: A Nation of Extremes and Contrasts
Bolivia stands at the end of the first decade of the twenty first century as the poorest
country in its continent with a National Income per head at around US$900(£550 my
calculation) per annum at the end of 2003. Nearly 60% of Bolivia‟s population is
classified as poor and of that 60% roughly half are classified as “extremely poor”
with incomes of below US$1 a day. Approximately 16% of the population has
sufficient income only to cover basic needs (Crabtree 2005, 7).
Social inequality is also deemed by the World Bank‟s study in 2004 to be the highest
on the continent. Privatisation and other liberalising policies have increased that
inequality, in that the rich have become richer over the last twenty years but the levels
of poverty have remained static or even increased. Some statistics indicate a 7%
increase in the rates of poverty in rural regions during the years 1997-2002 (Postero
2007, 3). Bolivia has little hope of achieving the United Nations Millennium
Development Goal of halving the number of those living in poverty by 2015
(Crabtree 2005, 7).
Thus, it is evident that the principle struggle in Bolivia is one of social and economic
justice in a nation “built on a fabric of exploitation and exclusion: a weft of racism
and discrimination and a warp of foreign domination and despoliation” (Kohl and
Farthing 2006, 4). As Crabtree indicates above, the wealthy and politically well-
connected have gained the most from economic policies rolled out over the past
quarter of a century.
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These socio-economic factors have served to further divide and undermine a sense of
social cohesion and common interest amongst the peoples of Bolivia. The class
structure, though complex, does travel down ethnic lines with the pure indigenous
generally to be found on the bottom rungs (Crabtree 2005, 9).
Bolivia‟s history is as complex as it is long (Klein 2003, xi) and unsurprisingly, as a
multiply-colonised country, there are many interpretative accounts offered. There is
not scope to pursue an in depth analysis, but I do want to draw attention to a number
of salient themes in Bolivia‟s socio-political trajectory which I think are of particular
importance to this piece of work.
These themes relate to the impact that colonisation has had on firstly, the
management of natural resources, secondly, indigenous culture and spirituality and
thirdly, the establishment of national borders and formation of a new national
identity. These three facets of Bolivia‟s colonial history interact with each other in a
number of ways and produce powerful memories which influence people‟s thinking
about the future. Memories, constructed in the wake of what Bolivia‟s “underside”
would most certainly describe as a bloody and oppressive history, fuel today‟s
growing indigenous social movements. These movements have mounted a significant
challenge to both the minority hegemony of the elite within the country and the
perceived neo-colonisation of neoliberalism.
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Before examining the effects of the Columbian era I will begin by examining the
features of a culturally and geographically more proximate colonisation; that of the
Inca.
3.2 A Historical Overview: Colonisation, Expropriation of Natural
Resources and Loss of Territories.
Archeological records of civilization (from excavation of pottery remnants) date back
to 3200 BC in the region and spun cotton from burial cloths from 2500 BC (Klein
2003, 10) in the Andean regions. The establishment of the highly complex social and
religious civilization centred on Tiahuanaco, Lake Titicaca, dates back to
approximately 100 AD with further expansion after about 600 AD (Klein 2003, 11).
The period of Bolivian history for which written records exist did not commence until
the establishment of the Aymara kingdoms which dominated the Bolivian highlands
from the end of the twelfth century until the arrival of the Spanish colonisers in the
sixteenth century (Klein 2003, 11). In the mid-fifteenth century however, it was the
expansionist prowess of the Quechuan peoples (the Incas), originally from the region
around Cuzco, which began to dominate the previously Aymara-held kingdoms.
3.2.1 Incan Colonisation: The Condor of the Andes
This first, Incan, colonisation of the region, was a relatively non-confrontational one
which “did little to disturb the fabric of Aymara life” (Klein 2003, 17). Historians
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surmise that the lack of unity amongst the powerful and wealthy, warlike Aymara
kingdoms actually facilitated the gradual colonisation by the Incas.
The Incan Empire, though authoritarian, was largely benevolent. It became one of the
most sophisticated civil and economic pre-sixteenth Century empire‟s on the
Continent. Unusually high and consistent levels of prosperity were due, firstly, to the
considerable mineral wealth the land offered and secondly, to Incan commitment to
forms of economic and social justice which rendered it “one of the greatest
experiments in human organisation that the world had seen” (Klein 2003, 20).
By the time of the Spanish conquest, the Incan Empire consisted of about three
million Indians of different groups, co-existing with internal social organisation intact
in a non-market exchange system20
. The colonised Aymara and Uru and other groups
were free to maintain, to a large extent, their cultural traditions and civic regulations
(usos y costubres21
) and even religious rites. These were effectively embraced under
the banner of a syncretic, state religion which stressed ethical, civic virtue (Klein
2003, 18).
The benefit for the colonised peoples was an active participation in a prosperous
Empire where resources were largely shared. There clearly were class distinctions,
20
The Incan Empire has been judged as being one of the more densely populated peasant societies in
the world of its time (Klein 2003, 23). 21
Indianist movements today have sought to revive both the memory and practice of traditional cultural
forms and practices both in a renewal of Andean spirituality and socio-political organisation. Bishop
Poma speaks of this, in Freire‟s terminology, as a form of Conscientisation. (Poma 2008, personal
interview; Garcia Linera 2005, 2). Conscientisation is further propelled by the work of NGO‟s,
indigenous elders (ancianos) and Aymara intellectuals under the National Council of Ayllus and
Markas of Qullasuyo (CONAMAQ) working to recover and reconstruct lost identity (Albro 2006, 15).
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notably in the form of nobility and hierarchy as well as the evidence of private
property (Klein 2003, 18). Nonetheless, the overriding picture is one of a prevailing
commitment to social justice22
, the exchange of goods for survival and the mutual
enhancement of living conditions (Klein 2003, 19).
Significantly, however, in the same way that the colonisation of the Aymara by the
Inca was eased by internal strife between Aymara Kingdoms, so the Spanish
colonisers, in the latter half of the Sixteenth Century, were enabled by the fact that the
Incan Empire was on the brink of civil war. Internal skirmishes severely reduced the
united, indigenous resistance to the Spaniards (Kohl and Farthing 2006, 37).
3.2.2 Spanish Colonisation: The Bull of the Empire
The arrival of the Spanish brought a new aspect to colonisation which was to turn the
imagination of proud and successful, albeit squabbling, peoples sour. It shared none
of the characteristics of the indigenous empire in terms of culture and socio-religious
and civic structure and thus brought about a much greater clash of cultures.
I will turn now to examine its effects in the following four areas: social rupture and
reorganisation, expropriation of natural wealth, forcible and uncontextualised
proselytisation and the loss of territories. Understanding the impact of these four main
22
The Incas were known to provide very good working conditions with state insurance, maintenance
and compensation for families. Thus, the original Incan mita enforced draft labour code, was very fair
and workers were drafted for only short periods of time. (Klein 2003, 19)
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areas remains crucial to interpreting the present day context of conflicts and longing
for liberation addressed in this dissertation.
Firstly, then, the social structure of indigenous life was ruptured with the arrival of
the Spanish and the motivation and character of the early Spanish migrants influenced
greatly the nature of this restructuring. Historian, Professor Herbert Klein notes that
the early colonisers were principally insatiably power-hungry, marginalised non-
peasant groups from Spain (Klein 2003, 26). Upward mobility in social and economic
status amongst the wealthy, class-conscious European elite and nobility was largely
non-negotiable in Spain. The New World, however, afforded opportunities for the
migrant colonisers, not only for wealth but also for power and status.
Consequently, in the new “American Spain”, a new peasant class had to be
established and the colonised peoples were forcibly submitted to a pattern of racial
discrimination and class oppression soon after the first phase of Spanish conquest in
the 1530‟s (Klein 2003, 26).
Secondly, Spanish colonisation was characterised by a massive expropriation of
wealth. Notably, the Spaniards used trickery and false promises to alleviate tensions
on their arrival (Klein 2003, 29) and by the time the trust of the indigenous people
had been broken, the Spaniards were too strong to be successfully ousted (Klein
2003, 30). The subsequent subjugation of the people led swiftly into the expropriation
of the minerals by the Spaniards, who used a partial application of the indigenous
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civic labour code, the mita, to conscript miners. The capitalist Toledo reduced
extraction costs to expropriate the land‟s wealth with no benefit and a great deal of
damage to the indigenous community at large (Klein 2003, 39). Even today, people
speak of the fact that the silver mined at Potosi (Cerro Rico) could have built a bridge
all the way to Spain. Others say the bridge could have been built with the bones of the
estimated eight million people who died in the mines (Galeano in Dangl 2007, 15).
Thus, from early on, features of ethnocentric disregard for Andean models of social
organisation such as the mita with the abuse of trust, dishonesty, greed and oppressive
injustice marked the progress of Spanish colonisation.
However, a third feature of Spanish colonisation was to further oppress the
subjugated Andean people. With the arrival of the first Spanish settlers in 1538, the
Spanish Crown forcibly sponsored the establishment of the State Catholicism in the
Upper Peru region and this was soon followed by other non-secular, missionary
Catholic orders (Klein 2003, 44). It was from these latter Catholic orders that priests,
such as Bartolome de las Casas, began to question and actively defy Catholic
assumptions about the “natural slave” status of the Amerindians and their probable
“no soul” animal status (Padilla, nd).
Fourthly and lastly, the loss of Bolivia‟s strategic and mineral-rich strip of Pacific
coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific in 1879-1883 and its larger land losses to
Brazil in 1867 and 1903 with a later significant loss of territories to Paraguay
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following the Chaco War of 1931-1935 have resulted in a powerful memory of loss
and domination by neighbouring countries (see Appendix 3) which intensify Bolivia‟s
victim identity in new ways. These land losses are still talked about and remembered
in national songs sung by school children today.
Thus, the Spanish colonisation of the Andean region known today as Bolivia was
culturally, politically, economically and religiously quite distinct to the previous
colonisation by the Inca. In effect, the previously heterogeneous, but relatively
equitable society under Incan rule was fractured down to a servile peasant class.
Indigenous nobility were co-opted as colonial puppets and indigenous resistance was
quelled with bullets and torture (Klein 2003, 29 & Dangl 2007, 16).
3.3 Features of Indigenous Revolt in the Imagination of the Present: “I
will return as Millions”
A final element, which is important to our analysis, is that of the indigenous
resistance to the Spanish colonisation, which culminated in the “Age of Andean
Insurrection” (Stern in Kohl and Farthing 2006, 39).
After two hundred and fifty years of oppressive rule, the Spanish control began to
weaken due to shortage of funds and, between 1742 and 1782 a series of indigenous,
Aymara-led insurrections spread across the high plateau (altiplano) culminating in a
six month siege on La Paz by tens of thousands of Aymara warriors, led by Tupaj
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Katari.23
The siege eventually failed, though an estimated half of the urban population
died in the fighting (Klein 2003, 76) and Tupaj Katari was quartered by four running
stallions as a warning to future insurrectionists (Kohl and Farthing 2006, 39).24
Tupaj Katari‟s last act of resistance and the Tupaj Amaru rebellions as a whole have
been taken up powerfully in the imaginations of indigenous resistance movements
since and continue today to be invoked in resistance to the hegemony of both national
elites and neo-liberal expansionism (Kohl and Farthing 2006, 39 & Thomson in Kohl
and Farthing 2006, 169).
Thus, some one hundred and eighty years after Bolivian independence from Spain
and five hundred years after its initial colonisation by Spain, two years before Evo
Morales was elected the first indigenous president of the Republic of Bolivia, it is no
surprise to hear him say: “After more than five hundred years, we, the Quechuas and
Aymaras, are still the rightful owners of this land. We, the indigenous people, after
five hundred years of resistance, are retaking power. This retaking of power is
oriented toward the recovery of our own riches, our own natural resources…”
(Morales in Dangl 2007, 198).
23
Tupaj Katari was, in fact, a commoner called Julian Apaza who payed homage to Tomas Katari and
Tupaj Amaru, two Indian nobles who had fronted the Tupaj Amaru rebellions, by appropriating their
names (Klein 2003, 74-75). 24
He is famously said to have ended his life with the words “I will return as millions” (Attributed to
Tupaj Katari 1781 in Hylton and Thomson 2007, Forward quotes, no page).
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So then, Bolivia‟s historical majority were affected by crushing oppression and
despoliation of their culture, spirituality and ancient connections to the land. The
results of Spanish colonisation were, firstly, servile social re-structuring, secondly,
the expropriation of natural wealth, thirdly, the poor contextualisation of Christianity
and fourthly, the subsequent loss of territories in colonial-led wars with neighbouring
countries.
The more recent effects of neo-liberal policies which I will examine in the following
section must be understood in the light of this history from the “underside” in order to
understand the extent to which they have reinvigorated an already powerfully
organised, social imagination to reclaim, not only justice, but also an assertive
identity.
3.4 The Third Colonisation: Neoliberal Capitalism-Revelation’s Beast
from the Sea?
I would like to interact further with the more recent effects of neo-liberalism in
Bolivia as this is the proverbial last straw in the more recent social rupture of the
country.
In 2005, the Aymara Evo Morales achieved a significant presidential victory, having
contested the neoliberal economic model and promised to renationalise natural
resources (specifically natural gas) for the benefit of all Bolivians. The balance of
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power was decisively shifted in Bolivia. Whilst his victory is of an as yet unknown
duration, it does powerfully resurrect a hope and a renewed sense of identity amongst
Bolivia‟s most marginalised, indigenous peoples. It also demonstrates Zavaleta‟s
political theory that the subaltern majority can challenge the status quo and bring
about a rupture with the fundamental ideas of neoliberalism, multiculturalism and
democracy (Postero 2007, 2).
However, this victory for the indigenous imagination has come at a price and will
face an uncertain future. The price is the further rupturing of trust between both the
elite creole classes and the indigenous majority and between indigenous and mestizo
or cholo groupings themselves, who continue to struggle to envision a future built on
the corruption and antagonism of the past centuries overlaid with the failure of the
last twenty years of neo-liberal capitalism to improve the lot of the poor (Hylton and
Thomson 2007, 3).
Spanish colonisation brought with it a form of Sixteenth Century capitalism based
primarily on export of natural resources which was particularly implemented
alongside the social reconstruction efforts of Francisco de Toledo (Kohl and Farthing
2007, 38). Then, when Bolivia won independence in 1825, after a sixteen year war, it
was primarily to fulfill the ambitions of the creole elite and had little to do with
establishing internal cohesion and national identity in a territory of supreme
geographic and ethnic diversity (Kohl and Farthing 2007, 40). It was not until after
the 1952 revolution and the Chaco War, followed by the Agrarian Reform in 1953,
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that indigenous peoples gained citizenship rights even approximating those of the
elites in this new and artificially created “nation” (Kohl and Farthing 2007, 47).
It was in this very recent social context of shaky citizenship that economic inequality
became ever more apparent when, in 1985, Paz Estenssoro initiated South America‟s
second most radical neoliberal restructuring programme called the New Economic
Policy (NEP). The NEP had highly acclaimed success in bringing down the country‟s
hyperinflation from an annual rate of 20,000 per cent to 9 per cent in just a few
months (Kohl and Farthing 2007, 61). However, as a result of closing state mines,
floating the currency against the dollar and privatising state-owned enterprises,
Bolivia was opened up once again with the enforced abandonment of protectionist
policies, to direct foreign investment and increased foreign control of its resources.
The cost of this radical economic restructuring was the loss of 20,000 miner jobs in
the first year and over 35,000 manufacturing jobs over a five year period (Crabtree in
Kohl and Farthing 2007, 61). In order to counter the social devastation brought about
by the radical adjustments, the World Bank created a Social Emergency Fund (SEF).
In doing so, it arguably inaugurated an era of growing dependency on externally run,
non-governmental organisations (NGO‟s), who appropriated and managed the newly
available funds to run the country‟s social projects.
In addition, the Church, both the Catholic Church and the plethora of Protestant
denominations which had sprung up since the beginning of the twentieth century,
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began to involve itself more with social action in the face of the glaring poverty in
Bolivia.
Thus, though well-intentioned, both the church, funded and resourced from outside
the country and similarly the NGO‟s, funded by the World Bank, contributed to social
stabilisation under the harsh impact of the rollout of neoliberal policy in Bolivia. This
arguably smoothed the way for and even facilitated neoliberalism‟s ultimate
“success” after its very shaky start (Kohl and Farthing 2007, 62). Bolivia was once
again colonised and increasingly being “acted upon” by foreigners.
John Crabtree, Research Associate at Oxford University and Andean expert,
concludes that, despite the inherent difficulties of pinpointing cause and effects of
liberalising policies, over the last twenty years the rich have got richer and the poor
have remained poor (Crabtree 2005, 8). One is obliged to reflect on the impact this
must have on a majority social imagination already filled with memories of crushing
inequality, domination and oppression.
The very real challenge for the Church is how to respond with integrity and efficacy
to the politically and economically created poverty of the majority people‟s of
Bolivia?
In the next chapter, I will look more closely at whether and in what ways I perceive
Liberation theology to have played a significant part in the recent people‟s revolution.
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CHAPTER 4
A BOLIVIAN MODEL OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY?
Introduction
Evo Morales is the first indigenous (Aymara) President of the Republic of Bolivia.
His presidential inauguration ceremony in early 2006 was the triumphant and quasi-
messianic culmination of several years of growing social unrest which had led to a
peoples‟ revolution. My thesis is that this social revolution correlates closely at key
points with Liberation theology‟s Historical Project. From a poor, indigenous lama-
herder background, Morales rose to power in resistance to the dominant neo-liberal
politics of the last two decades, on the back of a social revolution led by the
indigenous majority of Bolivia and supported by the progressive middles classes.
However, in spite of striking similarities with the Historical Liberation Project, it is
evident that the turbulent confluence of indigenous and Marxist ideology does present
some striking differences. Notably, I propose that Methodism has emerged as the
most visible “confessional player” in this neo-Liberation Project rather than the
Catholic Church. I will therefore interact with the perspectives of Carlos Poma, the
current Methodist Bishop of Bolivia and personal friend and spiritual advisor to Evo
Morales in order to examine whether Morales‟ rise to power in any way represents a
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resurrection of the original Liberation Project. I will seek to base my interaction on
my analysis of the socio-political situation as presented by various writers at this time
of critical change in the Bolivian Republic.
4.1 Methodism’s Condor as a Carrier of Social Liberation: Is
Liberation Theology tucked under its Wings?
The Methodist Church in Bolivia is closely intertwined with the current socialist
government and fervently believes that this governmental shift is an auspicious
moment of Pachakuti25
or kairos time.
In 1978, when the first indigenous Methodist Bishop was elected in Bolivia, a
prophecy was given that “as it is in the church so it will be in the state”. This
prophecy nurtured the hopes of many of Bolivia‟s indigenous majority, that one day
an Indian would rise to presidential power (Poma 2008).
When, in January 2006, at the ancient spiritual and civic centre of the ancient,
indigenous empire, Tiahuanaco, Evo Morales was sworn in as the first indigenous
president in an ancestral ceremony (see Appendix 4), the apocalyptic fervour was at
25
Pachakuti is a complex Andean concept of the turning over of time which can be used to represent a
particularly auspicious time. It has been used in recent times in Bolivia in somewhat the same manner
as the concept of the inbreaking Reign of God on earth. Bishop Poma explains the importance of
Pachakuti to Andean spirituality thus: “Pachakuti is the Andean cosmic concept of the turning over of
time and space-an end and a beginning of history. These cycles last 1000 years…it is a cosmic cycle
that defines our history and Evo‟s election inaugurates the tenth cosmic cycle.” (Bishop Poma, July
2008).
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an all-time high. Bishop Carlos Poma said at the time: “We are happy and thankful to
God and the Andean deities for the return of the great Pachakuti-the Kingdom of
God” (Poma in Boots 2006, 2). This use of apocalyptic-type Andean terminology is
highly indicative of the integration of socio-political events into an Andean
cosmovision which has a powerful representation in the imagination of the people.
Shortly after his inauguration as president, Morales named Casimira Rodriguez
Romero, a Methodist laywoman, as the new justice minister of Bolivia. She attributes
her passion for justice to her Christian faith: “…my life started to be filled with hope
and faith, because I realised God was with the poor, denouncing injustice and healing
the sick.” (Rodriguez Romero 2006).
In 2006, the United Methodist Church of Bolivia was awarded the Order of the
Condor26
. The previous Methodist Bishop, Eugenio Poma, was appointed Bolivian
Ambassador to Denmark in 2007 and the current Bishop has a close friendship with
and informal chaplaincy relationship to the President (Poma 2008). It is clear that
Methodism has a key and visible role in the current socio-political context of Bolivia.
The reason for this is fairly obvious; Methodism is more consciously rooted in a
Wesleyan social justice ethic which encourages challenge to the status quo in the
social, religious and political arena (Methodist Church of Great Britain 1, 2008). The
Methodist Church has categorically affirmed the “commitment of individual
26
The Order of the Condor is the highest civic award. It was awarded in honour of the work of the
Methodist church in Bolivia to alleviate social suffering.
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Christians to work for social and political change (which) should be recognised as a
fully legitimate form of Christian discipleship (Methodist Church of Great Britain 2,
2008). It is, therefore, perhaps better equipped to take the struggle against social
injustice to a political level than the average Protestant church. A concern however, in
the Bolivian context, is that its close alliance to the current socialist government
brings with it the risk of losing its “critical distance” from government (Quenet 2008).
In a country where the Church has been seen by some as both a result of and an ally
to both the historical and the neo-colonisation processes (Klein 2003, 44), Methodism
has presented a confessional alternative which gives credence to socio-political
context and praxis with a bias to the poor. In addition, it has been inclusive in its
relating to elements of traditional Andean spirituality (Poma 2008).
However, this inclusionary stance has led to charges of syncretism. Bishop Poma
contests that Andean spirituality has been “demonised” and that Christians have
failed to discern, through interreligious dialogue, the depth of consensus between
Andean and Christian cosmology (Poma 2008). He regards this as religious
pedanticism which distracts from the central issues of Christian service and solidarity
with the poor in the face of injustice: “The Church has received the mission to declare
God‟s good news of the liberation and redemption of the poor through the spirit of
justice….to denounce the structures of injustice that lead to death…and to preach the
year of the Lord‟s favour” (Poma in Boots 2006, 2).
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So, Methodism‟s commitment to social justice and the inculturation of the gospel has
afforded it a position of political approval at a time when the Catholic Church has
been criticised by the new government (The Christian Post, 2006).
In section 4.3 I will discuss how Methodism perceives itself as part of a Neo-
Liberation Project. First though, I will look at Bonino‟s understanding of what
constitutes a Liberation Project. I posit that such a project is in evidence in Bolivia
today, albeit in an altered form, at the turbulent confluence of three powerful streams
of ideology: Indigenous, Christian and Marxist.
4.2 Using Bonino’s Inventory of Liberation Theology’s Historical
Project in the Bolivian Context
In this section I propose that Bolivia has produced, over recent years, a Neo-
Historical Liberation Project which carries the important hall marks of the original
Historical Project. I will interact with Bonino‟s diagnostic list of elements of what
constitutes a Liberation Project here to analyse whether there is any justification for
suggesting that Liberation theology is evidenced as an authentic Historical Project in
the Bolivian context.
Miguez Bonino differentiates Liberation theology from European Political theology
in a number of ways and, importantly, has retained a much stronger link with the
concept of the “Reign of God” present in Liberation theology. He rejects positions in
which “historical action is not really significant for the Kingdom” (Bonino 1975, 140)
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and describes a Historical Project as being “a midway term between utopia…and a
program, a technically developed model for the organisation of society” (Bonino
1975, 147).
In this section, I will use the criteria or elements which Bonino has described as
needing to be in evidence in order to constitute a Historical Liberation Project in
order to interact with aspects of the recent social and political revolution in Bolivia.
My use of Bonino‟s inventory does not necessarily imply my own agreement with
these criteria as being signs of God‟s Kingdom, but is solely to demonstrate, using
Liberation theology‟s own categories, signs of its presence in the Bolivian context.
Bonino‟s first criterion is that of the rejection of capitalist “developmental”
approaches to solving both political and economic problems in the Latin American
context. This is precisely what has happened in Bolivia over recent years. Firstly, the
growing recognition of the failure of twenty years of neoliberal policy has led to
groundswell rejection of those policies by political opposition parties. Secondly and
more recently, a conscious turning away by the new, socialist government from
further integration into the neo-liberal economic order, which is regarded as being
oppressive (Hylton &Thomson 2007, 4, 15 & 144).
Bonino‟s second criterion is the political and social mobilisation of the masses to
remove from power those elites who cooperate with foreign interests. Again, this is
exactly what happened in 2003 when between 250,000 and 500,000 thousand
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indigenous people marched on La Paz and demanded the resignation of President
Sanchez de Lozada (Hylton & Thomson 2007, 9-17). The Methodist Church
involvement in these marches is undisputed (Bishop Poma 2008) and though
committed, in principle, to social challenge through non-violent resistance and
demonstration, Methodists alongside people from other denominations in Bolivia
have identified strongly and even, at times, violently (Quenet 2008) with the
indigenous social movements activated in resistance to the privatisation of water in
2000, and Hydrocarbons (natural gas) in 2003. These protests culminated in the
revolutionary overthrow of the neo-liberal elite government and historians Hylton and
Thomson note that “In no other Latin American country have popular forces achieved
so much through their own initiative.” (Hylton & Thomson 2007, 8).
Thirdly, Bonino notes the importance of a centralised state to act as an effective
buffer against local and foreign resistance. Bolivia is regarded by analysts as having
relatively weak and strongly contested state (Spence & Shenkin 2006, no page).
Recent proposals by the President actually indicate his desire to grant increased levels
of autonomy and his government in fact criticises centralism which “bureaucratises
and impedes access to resources for the municipalities and indigenous communities
and restricts democracy.” (Bolivia Rising 2 2008). This would seem an
extraordinarily bold move in the face of very intense minority opposition, but it
nonetheless reflects his personal conviction that power must be with the people. It
also, perhaps, reflects his renewed confidence in the will of the people in the light of
his recent and unprecedented 67% vote of confidence.
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Fourthly, Bonino refers to a process of conscientisation which empowers the people
in their own emancipation. This has taken place in Bolivia in the context of its
powerful subaltern political history. The confluence of indigenous social organisation
and resistance rooted in the traditional ayllu and the national-popular trade union
movements have, in a tinku27
styled dialogue served to enlighten the subaltern
majority.
In addition to this, Christianity, perhaps especially Methodism, has contributed to the
process of conscientisation in the form of discipleship for social justice28
. These
movements articulate what Gutierrez‟ refers to as Freire‟s “denouncing” and
“announcing” from the margins (Gutierrez 2001, 218; Poma 2008) which has meant
that “impressive popular power has flowed from the bottom up, setting the parameters
for national, political and economic debate” (Hylton and Thomson 2007, 8).
The language of Liberation was clearly in evidence in a recent speech given by Evo
Morales: “We need to create the consciousness of the Bolivian people in order to
consolidate the process of change” and he went on to echo Fanon in reminding the
people that in Bolivia “there will not be any [white knight] that will save the Bolivian
27
Hylton &Thomson refer to the Andean concept of the tinku fight or dance as a process by which
two different energies struggle to move towards a position of synthesis (Hylton &Thomson 2007, 146) 28
Bishop Poma asserts that Morales participated in Methodist discipleship courses during his days as a
union leader in the Bolivian lowlands (Poma 2008).
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people. Only the consciousness of the people will save the people” (Bolivia Rising 1
2008)29
.
Bonino‟s fifth element states that the primary emphasis for change should be
concentrated in the political sphere. Again, this is precisely where revolutionary
energy has concentrated its efforts in the Bolivian situation. The Methodist Church in
Bolivia has consciously supported and encouraged the participation of its members in
the politics of the country (Poma 2008). The social revolution of recent years in
Bolivia has been a political one aimed at challenging the neo-liberal politics of the
previous governments (Hylton and Thomson 2007, Ch.10).
Sixthly, Bonino stresses that Liberation theology must not dogmatically install other
political models but must search for the most suitable model for the context. Although
close alliances have been noted between Morales and Castro of Cuba and indeed
Chavez of Venezuela, it is clear that the Morales-Garcia Linares‟ partnership is not
espousing an orthodox form of Marxism but rather looking to formulate a form of
Andean-Amazonian capitalism in dialogue with both the indigenous culture and right
wing opposition.
Finally, Bonino stresses that liberation and development must encompass more than
simply economic betterment and must produce “a “new man”…shaped by solidarity
and creativity over against the individualistic, distorted humanity of the present
29
Gutierrez cites Fanon‟s words “there is no famous man who will take responsibility for
everything…the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people” (Gutierrez 2001, 340 notes 34).
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system.” (Bonino 1975, 40). This is how many would like to envision the future in
Bolivia and there is no doubt that this is how Morales projects his own vision.
However, some Marxist critics regard his public acts as being more akin to a
postmodern play on “cultural and symbolical action and 'political theater', over and
against substantive class struggles, changes in property and class relations” (Petras
2007).
The Liberation concept of the “Reign of God” as the concrete realisation of the
Kingdom through specific human action in historical contexts has nonetheless been
the majority perception amongst Methodists and the indigenous majority of the
overthrow of a neo-liberal government and the installing of Evo Morales‟ presidency.
This was described as the auspicious inauguration of Pachakuti which, as alluded to
before, bears some resemblance to the Liberationist messianic theme of bringing
about the Reign of God‟s justice- the Kingdom of God on earth. What remains to be
seen then is whether the sustained implementation of policies which improve the real
circumstances of the poor in the country can be maintained with the demands of a
diverse nation.
In summary then, if we compare the current situation in Bolivia with Bonino‟s
summary of constitutive elements of a Historical Liberation Project, there are points
of correlation. However, there are also points of divergence, such as Morales‟
government ostensibly moving towards less rather than more centralised control and a
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less rigorous articulation of Marxist political theory which commentators note is part
of the features of the Latin swing to the left in recent years known as the “pink tide.”
I will now move on to engage with how Bishop Poma perceives the current era.
4.3 A Different Plumage for Bolivian Liberation: An Inculturation
Approach
Bishop Poma regards the current political scene as being more related to a propitious
inauguration of Pachakuti rather than the background toil of Marxist ideologues. He
bases this judgment on the fundamental differences in the socio-political soil out of
which the Bolivian social revolution took place in 2003.
Firstly, he asserts that, unlike Liberation theology, which was nourished by the
educated elite within the European intellectual context, both Methodism and Morales‟
political and religious praxis is rooted and grounded in the living contexts and
indigenous cultural heritage and spirituality of the Bolivian people.
Secondly, he feels that Liberation theology itself was divisive and exclusionary and
as such, did not fit well with the consensual culture of the Andean peoples. Alvaro
Garcia Linera, the socialist intellectual and current vice-president, who spent five
years in prison for his participation the leadership of the radical Tupak Katari
Guerrilla Army, has a different view.
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He agrees that, as Poma suggests, Marxist categories, which underpinned Liberation
theological discourse and praxis, have traditionally met with considerable resistance
by the community structures of the indigenous majority as not being congruent with
indigenous community identity. However, he notes that, over the last ten years, the
growing resistance to the perceived failure of the neocolonial threat of neoliberalism
has led to the reformulation of a dual variant of “Indianismo”. The first is the more
moderate movement towards socialism (MAS party) of the current President Evo
Morales and the second is represented by the radical Indigenous Pachakuti movement
(MIP-CSUTCB). The more moderate movement he defines as “left indianista” as it
encompasses both the “national-popular, Marxist and left memory formed in previous
decades” (Garcia Linera 2005, 4).
So, there is some disagreement as to what degree Marxism has influenced the
indigenous social models. Significantly, Hylton and Thomson note that “Judging
from history, the encounter between Indian and left/popular nationalist elements is
likely to be touchy and transitory.” (Hylton and Thomson 2007, 148).
However, I would like to interact more with Bishop Poma‟s casting of the indigenous
model, as he sees it as being the model for reconstruction in the country. Poma‟s
understanding is based on the distinctions of the Andean cosmovision which underpin
the social indigenous movements within Andean Bolivia today. Andean cosmovision
is organised around the four principles of harmony, equality, solidarity and
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reciprocity, which Bishop Poma pointed out were the equal sides (as opposed to most
nation‟s unequal rectangular flags) of the rainbow-coloured, indigenous Wiphala flag
(see Appendix 5).
These indigenous principles are best represented within the context of the ayllu, the
basic form of pre-colonial indigenous community. The ayllu has a socio-political
mandate in that it is responsible for the “rotation of responsibilities” (cargos),
“service to the community” (thaki) and the working through of “deliberation and
community consensus” (Kawiltu) (Albro 2006,16). The community assembly always
elects two representatives, who must be a man and a woman, as an equal pair. Bishop
Poma asserts this as a powerful foundational principle which is based on deeply held
beliefs about the need for complementarity (chacha-warmi: man-woman) within
social structures.
This complementarity is very similar to the concept of partnership about which Riane
Eisler writes extensively from an economic perspective in her book The Real Wealth
of the Nations (Eisler 2007). In her view, the neoliberal economic system urgently
needs to be more partnership oriented and less dominance oriented. This, she
suggests, is critical if we are going to value the sustaining role of caring and nurturing
for both human capital and for the planet and its resources. She, like Bishop Poma,
notes the inherent violence of a dominator-based ideology like Marxism, which had
simply reversed the dictatorship of the elite to that of the proletariat. This style of
dominator power, she argues, is one which rapidly resorts to violence and is the
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antithesis of Jesus‟ teaching on caring, compassion, empathy and non-violence, the
“fundamentals of partnership” (Eisler 2007, chapter 7, 203).
Albro takes up the Andean chachi-warmi concept of complementarity more explicitly
in a national political context and notes that this could constitutionally be represented
by two Bolivians, non-indigenous and indigenous, the elite and the excluded, to
implement the concept of complementarity within the national ayllu. He also notes
that the current President has, in fact, cited the restoration of the ayllu as a goal for his
government in the formation of a new constitution (Albro 2006, 16).
However, despite its hopeful emphasis on inclusion, it would be facile to suppose that
the ayllu concept itself is impervious to dominator factors which Wink notes have a
way of infiltrating social systems (Wink 1992, ch.10). It is clear that this utopian
dream of an indigenous-styled, inclusive democracy is some way off. In the harsh
light of the reality of injustices (passionately perceived by both the indigenous and
the elites and all social groupings which lay between) there seems to be much
evidence of exclusion, racism and ever deepening rifts. Bishop Poma mentions the
hanging of several dogs in a public square by an indigenous town mayor (who
happened also to be the town‟s Methodist minister30
), as a demonstration against the
neo-liberal elites of the eastern territories of Santa Cruz (Poma 2008). Similarly,
reports of the rise of racist, right-wing protests articulate the intensity of minority
30
Let the transparency and integrity of such an admission be greatly admired. Bishop Poma took
necessary reparative action in the light of this incident.
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division and racial hatred present in the country which some fear may lead to a civil
war and others liken to a second Rwanda waiting to happen (anon 2008)31
.
Nonetheless, as Bishop Poma emphasises, this traditional form of democracy is based
on much more inclusive categories of representation which offset the traditional
dualisms inherent in Marxism and which open up dialogical spaces where the
indigenous identity can be an assertive one rather than either hegemonic or oppressed.
In Albro‟s words, the ayllu concept “promises a fruitful vocabulary and set of
practices for constructing an alternative, and dialogic, democratic public, while
dramatizing the reconstitution of this public as an assertive political subject” (Albro
2006, 16).
So then, it would be fair to say that, although historically culturally resistant to the
“foreign” categories of European Marxism32
, with the passage of time and the
restructuring of indigenous social identity, there is a degree of growing
complementarity between indigenous and Marxist ideology (Garcia Linera 2005, 4).
This may have favoured a liberation praxis which, up until now, may not have been
the case.
31
This individual wished to remain anonymous because of his sensitive role in Latin America. 32
The first socialist party in Bolivia was formed in 1921 (Klein 2003, 165),
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Conclusion
I have explored Methodism‟s close alliance with the present Indigenous Government
and have used Bonino‟s inventory of constitutive elements of a Historical Project of
Liberation to analyse a revolutionary period of Bolivia‟s history. I suggest that we
can discern a number of striking correlations between the Historical Liberation
Project and what has been unfolding in Bolivia.
Firstly, we can discern Liberation thinking‟s distinctive bias to the poor clearly
manifest in both Methodism and the current government‟s primary emphasis.
Secondly, we can view the mass mobilisation of indigenous peoples33
in resistance to
the growing inequalities experienced under the rollout of neo-liberal policy, in
particular, in 2000 and 2003, as bringing about a definitive rupture with the status
quo. This revolution of the poor again mirrors Liberation ideology of rupture and
breaking free from tyranny (Gutierrez 2001, 198 & 199). Thirdly, we can discern the
Andean concept of Pachakuti in Methodism‟s contextualised socio-religious
discourse. The Pachakuti concept closely resembles Liberation theology‟s
conceptualisation of the in-breaking Reign and Rule of God.
However, there do remain some significant qualitative differences also rooted, as
Poma rightly notes, in the revived sense of Andean cosmovision and social
structuring around renewed categories of indigenous identity and socio-political
33
Evo Morales referred to these mobilisations of thousands of rural and urban indigenous who
descended on Cochabamba and La Paz respectively as a fulfilment of Tupaj Katari‟s last words: “I will
return as millions” (Morales cited in Hylton & Thomson 2007, 127).
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organisation primarily deployed by the concept of the ayllu. It is specifically in this
substantial difference that I detect cause for renewed hope in the reconstructive phase
of a liberation narrative which I will discuss in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER 5
LIBERATION AND RECONSTRUCTION IN BOLIVIA: A
CHALLENGE TO THE MISSIONAL CHURCH
“Looking back we will move forward” Carlos Mamani Condori
1992 (Condori in Albro 2005, preface)
Introduction
So far, I have examined the Historical Liberation Project, articulated its core elements
and examined evidences of their presence as a neo-Historical Liberation Project in the
Bolivian context. As a result of my inquiry I have exposed a deeper vein of cultural
ideology which, though superficially appears congruent with Marxist ideology and
orthodox Liberation thinking, nonetheless is qualitatively distinct: Andean ideology
framed within the context of the social construction of the ayllu. It is this non-
European, indigenous, cultural ideology which, I propose, lends specific hope to the
reconstructive phase of the Liberation Project in the Bolivian context.
In this chapter I will begin with a brief examination of Reconstructive theology and
Liberation theology‟s potential to contribute to this process. I will also seek to make
links with what I regard as the specific reconstructive potential of the ayllu. I will
then seek to examine with the position of the Evangelical Church in the light of the
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current socio-political crisis. I conclude by offering suggestions of steps which the
missional church in Bolivia could take in order to move towards a deeper contextual
relevance and support a process of social and political justice and reconciliation
within the country‟s fractured social identity
5.1 Reconstruction as Liberation Continued
Standing in the rubble of toppled status quo may be a historical moment of cathartic
relief. However, ruptures of status quo are rapidly followed by conditions of social
anomie which are known to produce social dysfunction (Durkheim 1897). Clearly,
the exodus from Egypt was swift in its concluding moments but the journey beyond
oppression, reconstructing social order in an oppressive wilderness was another
journey altogether. Villa-Vicencio, from a South African context, crystallises the
question thus: “Can liberation theology liberate the liberated- both from complacency
and cynicism?...Can liberation theology be more than a theology of resistance? (Villa-
Vicencio in Wright 1999, 154). It is to this part of the Liberation narrative that I turn
now.
The task of Reconstructive theology is to address specifically what happens after the
revolution of social liberation (Villa-Vicencio 1992, 7) and Liberation theologians
would argue that it has no role until after the overthrow of tyranny has been achieved.
Once the old order has been overturned, reconstruction can take place through the
important breaking down of prejudices of race, class and gender and the complex task
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of creating an inclusive society built on values which sustain, at the very least, the
majority. Villa-Vicencio describes Reconstructive theology as being “remedial and
compensatory (with) a special responsibility to put right past wrongs and old abuses
(through) affirmative action” (Villa-Vicencio 1992, 15).
Importantly, he goes on to assert that Liberation theology‟s hermeneutical key is also
the key to the door of reconstruction in that, constitutionally, society must be built on
norms which, in biblical terms show a preferential option for the poor, oppressed and
marginalised. (Villa-Vicencio 1992, 16). In fact, in recognising, what Wink identifies
as being the “spirit of domination” (Wink, 1992, chs. 5&6), which has the tendency to
re-incarnate and persist within social constructions, Villa-Vicencio is highly
pragmatic in his approach to reconstruction: “For the dreams of the oppressed to
become a reality they are to be translated into political programmes and law-making
that benefit those who have longed for, and fought for the new age, while protecting
the new society against the abuses which marked past oppression.” (Villa-Vicencio
1992, 29).
In Bolivia, identity is a highly contested construct, partly owing to the complexity of
its colonial past and partly owing to the new complexities of an economic present
which has been dominated by external control and which has had the effect of
restructuring society in new ways according to global market logic (Castells 2004).
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In fact, many of Bolivia‟s indigenous would relate to a Diaspora community identity,
in that, psychological if not also physical displacement from the land has created in
many the need to “maintain a memory, vision or myth about their original homeland”
(Clifford 1994). In the Andean imagination, this memory is rendered more acute by
their conceptualisation of time; the past is located in front of them, as seen, whereas
the unknown future is behind them (Hylton & Thomson 2007, 149). The effects of
centuries of “deeply negating…oppressive and exclusionary experience” (Bhabha
1994, xi) have fomented a need to recast assertive identity by the majority indigenous
of the country and it is precisely this identity void that Indianista groups and
indigenous scholars are working intellectually and praxically to fill34
.
This indigenous social momentum must be taken seriously by a missional church
committed to its mandate of liberation and justice for the oppressed whilst
maintaining the creative tension of “unity within reconciled diversity” in the process
of reconstruction (Meyer in Bosch 1991, 457).
So then, in seeking to discern the role of the missional church in such a process of
reconstruction as faces Bolivia at this time, it is clear that to sidestep the socio-
political mandate would be to miss entirely the door to fruitful involvement with the
processes of both liberation and reconstruction. In point of fact, to avoid engagement
with the socio-political processes would be to avoid engagement with the vast
34
The Andean Oral History Workshop (THOA) has been working on the reconstruction of the ayllu
concept and CONAMAQ is the representative body of the national ayllu council (Andolina 2001, 4-5).
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majority of the peoples of Bolivia who perceive this time as a kairos or Pachakuti
time of civil and political option for the poor which must be seized with both hands.
Villa-Vicencio depicts this engagement quite clearly, in that he does not propose
merely to position ourselves in the liminal “nexus of powerlessness and power” but to
emphatically “resist obsolete First World visions of economic development, which
result in the economic development of the few at the expense of the many…the
dominant nations at the expense of the dependent nations.” (Villa-Vicencio 1992, 30).
His claims echo those of Franz Hinkelammert who mounts a critique of capitalist
idolatry and modernity in general. Hinkelammert regards Liberation theology as
essentially a theology of life which must not accept that the despoliation of the lives
of many (through neo-liberalisation) comes as an inevitable sacrifice for the
economic nirvana of the few (Hinkelammert in Petrella 2006, 8-11).
By requiring the missional Church to take reconstructive actions, Villa-Vicencio is
fully aware of the delicate balance of avoiding both the absolutisation of relative
ideologies and political systems and the other extreme of denigration of all political
ideology as sinful or inadequate (Villa-Vicencio 1992, 41). His position mirrors that
of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) which was
founded on the conviction that firstly, so called underdeveloped countries were the
“result of long years of exploitation and domination - economic, political, and
cultural” and thus the.victims of a particular strategy (ideology) of development
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undertaken by the first world. Secondly, that theology, in order to be relevant, must
be contextualised and reformulated specifically from the perspective of
marginalisation and poverty in order for it to “become meaningful to peoples
struggling for a more just and egalitarian world” (EATWOT 2008).
In Bolivia, specifically, issues relating to social and ecological justice from an
indigenous perspective are taken up by the Ecumenical Institute of Higher Education
in Andean Theology (ISEAT). Their perception, like that of Bishop Poma‟s views of
the short comings of Liberation theology, is that the spirituality of social and
economic justice which manifests itself in Bolivian politics and the work of NGO‟s is
not generally an Andean one and in fact tends to “deconstruct Andean forms of
traditional rural and indigenous identity” (Miguez 2007, 23, my translation).
Thus, the task is a complex one and one where Liberation thinking has much to offer
in dialogue with the wider confessional and civic community. The question which
needs to be explored is to what extent and in what ways are the traditional Protestant
churches (i.e. those directly produced by missionary activity) and the indigenous
Church movements engaging with this moment of opportunity and challenge?
This is precisely what I will now turn to in the next section in which I will examine
the engagement of one representative element of the Evangelical Church in Bolivia
with the current socio-political situation.
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5.2 Evangelical Churches in Fight, Flight or Fright?
The Methodist Church, which is wholeheartedly and some may suggest, rather
uncritically, embracing and participating in the current indigenous-shaped, “pink”
agenda, could possibly be described as being in “fight” mode in the sense that they
are engaging most visibly at least in the physical processes of the revolution.
I will now turn to examine the response of the National Association of Evangelicals
of Bolivia (ANDEB) to the current shifts in power in the country and examine firstly,
to what extent they see this as a propitious moment of opportunity and secondly how
they perceive their role.
My investigation is limited to the reading of material published on their official
website35
which, albeit limited, does focus engagement in response to the published
draft of the Government‟s proposed new Constitution.
On their website, ANDEB express unreserved support to the Government‟s aim of
achieving greater justice for the poor. However, what seems to be largely absent, is
firstly, a process of serious dialogue to affirm the manifesto for greater social justice
and secondly, a commitment to a critical self-examination of what elements of
injustice and inequality and racism addressed in the Constitution, may be manifest
within and through the life of the local church. ANDEB does, however, invite
comment, recognising that “now is the time to debate and to orient ourselves as the
35
Attempts to make direct contact via email were unproductive.
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God‟s people” (ANDEB 1 2008, my translation), though it is not entirely clear what
they envision by “orient”. They proceed to note disapproval of the involvement of
“certain” Evangelical Christians in the political movement who are trying to
encourage the church to support them in bringing greater justice to the country.
ANDEB comments that this “can, in no way happen if we are to remain faithful to the
word of God” (ANDEB 2 2008, 4th paragraph, my translation). It is not clear exactly
what aspect of political involvement is condemned but it is possible that this
expresses an underlying concern regarding the involvement of Christians in action
which could culminate in violence.
In a letter to the President in March of this year, ANDEB acknowledges the need for
greater justice and equality and the elimination of racism in the country but suggests
that the “answer is not to be racist or make radical laws as no one has the right to
think or feel that they are better than someone else” (ANDEB 3, 2008, 3rd
paragraph,
my translation). This would seem to echo my own concerns that dominator systems
are powerfully at work which radicalise and divide people down identity lines, be it
ethnic, class, gender or political.
If we examine the concerns raised by ANDEB directly with the President with
regards to the new constitution they fall broadly into three main areas: the assuming
by the state the role of Protector of Indigenous Spirituality which ANDEB suggests
may ultimately affect the liberty of conscience and freedom of religion and which
amounts to promoting a statist religion. Secondly, the granting of greater sexual
liberty and erosion of the traditional family unit which ANDEB regard as an erosion
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of Christian principals of living and which may impose employment rights
incompatible with the Church‟s own constitution. Thirdly, there is a noted absence of
reference to the protection of the unborn child.
These are important concerns in a country such as Bolivia, where both the indigenous
traditional values and a strong conservative Christian presence would find such shifts
very challenging and threatening. Their concerns are also importantly leveled at
ambiguities in the document which could be interpreted to restrict civil liberty in
areas such as education and family life. It is promising that ANDEB is seeking to
engage thoroughly with the process of drafting the new constitution, but, their
position does seem largely defensive and perhaps lacks the proactive creativity and
clarity of a carpe diem confidence.36
Thus, it does seem that, rather than perceiving a Kairos moment, a window of liminal
opportunity, which should capture the imagination of a missional, pilgrim people, the
Evangelical Church has opted for a somewhat defensive stance towards the new
government and its proposed constitution, which includes open criticism of those
Christians who have opted to be part of the struggle for greater justice in their
country.
36
Since writing this ANDEB have published on their site the report of a working group which
analyses the Proposed Constitution in greater depth. Their results present a more nuanced and positive
interaction (ANDEB 4, 2008). However, I would still maintain that there has not been the proactive
engagement with areas of real Christian opportunity to support a mandate of justice for the poor.
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Historically, there has been much blood shed and wounds opened in the political
struggle, which has proved to be very divisive and a recent phone conversation with a
Bolivian pastor confirms that new tensions and divisions are indeed opening up
within the Bolivian Church as a result of this social and political revolution (Mamani,
2008).
Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect an assertive engagement by the Evangelical Church
with the political and social revolution that is currently taking place when they
themselves are still struggling to decolonise their own religious imaginations and
assert an authentic and united, inculturated presence of the Gospel.
5.3 Recommendations
In a period of high-intensity and significant social change in Bolivia, a new challenge
for the Church has unfolded, quite dramatically, at a political level. This challenge
has both pragmatic and ethical-moral elements and is characterised by its clear
emphasis on the needs of the poor and marginalised in the country.
It would seem that elements of the Church, such as the Methodists, are primed and
ready to engage with the challenges and opportunities which present themselves, no
longer on the margins of social and political reality but at the centre of a process of
social and political reconstruction, which could radically transform both the social
reality and the recognition of the character of the people of YHWE. As I have
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intimated, I am not sure that the opportunity has been fully recognised or grasped by
other parts of the Protestant Church.
This reticence to engage may be partly due to the clouding of the waters by elements
which may perpetuate a dominator spirit of exclusion and oppression which the
Church should rightly resist. Perhaps a more significant factor however, is the lack of
development of vision and understanding from within the Church in the whole area of
political and ethical responsibility. This was confirmed in a conversation I had with
Ricardo Pereira, a Bolivian church leader and businessman who has also had
involvement in politics (Pereira 2006).
ANDEB has rightly taken the step of engaging with an important element of this
socio-political shifting by responding to the draft constitution. However, it would
seem both necessary and valuable to begin a process of conscientisation of the
Church at a number of levels.
The first task would seem to be the most immediately obvious and urgent. This would
be to equip the Christian church as a whole with clear information and support to the
process of engaging with integrity and good conscience in the socio-political
movements which are living realities of their communities. This would likely include
presentation of Bible-based material to guide local churches and Christian discussion
forums, using the benefits of radio, television and web-based communications as well
as local Church group events. This material would need to be aimed at articulating
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relevant biblical teaching with respect to issues of social justice and Christian ethics
and politics. In this way, people can be encouraged to participate with integrity and
passion in the process of moving towards the reconstruction of a more just society.
A second and longer-term goal would be to recognise the valuable contribution
people of faith make to the formal civic and political arenas and to begin a process of
encouraging young people to move into politics as Christians with a holistic mandate.
This task of Christian witness is still largely underdeveloped in Bolivia (Pereira
2006).
A third task for the church would be the authentic re-examination (and perhaps even
re-articulation) of its calling to firstly, its inculturated presence in Bolivia and
secondly, its calling to missional witness to both the global church and the world at
large. The role it plays within its own context will become a witness to other parts of
the global church. However, this would require a greater level of unity amongst the
Church in Bolivia than is currently evidenced.
A task for further research may be to pursue in more depth an analysis of the concept
of the ayllu in relation to its potential to contribute to forging better-inculturated
models for the Bolivian Church and theology. Orta, explores the use of the ayllu
concept in social and religious organisation and he regards that inculturational
theology has already taken greater account of cultural, ethnic and gender factors
which esteem the traditional ayllu concept “valuing it as a model space of communal
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solidarity and communal worship” (Orta 2008). One could only imagine the
potential of an authentic, inculturated presence of a Church oriented around God‟s
preferential option to the poor in a country such as Bolivia.
Conclusion
In my first chapter I introduced Liberation theology as a type of reformation in
theological thinking. Liberation theology emerged in the 1960‟s from the context of
Catholic and Protestant social teachings grappling with the realities of severe human
oppression, poverty and alienation in Latin America. In focalising structures of
organisational and economic power from the perspective of the poor and oppressed,
Liberation theology has given an interpretive voice to the marginalised in a way not
achieved by theology before.
Over the last fifty years this “voice” has raised a lament of injustice across the globe
as Liberation theology has caught the imaginations of oppressed everywhere and
given them permission to speak on their own behalf. However, it has done more than
that; firstly, it has challenged the oppressed to dream new dreams and to begin to take
concrete steps, as a resurrecting people, in realising those dreams as signs of
liberating good news of God‟s reign on earth. Secondly, it has invited the non-poor to
be “part of a community of interpretation and action in a Church committed to the
poor…(in) an increasingly individualistic age lacking global concern.” (Rowland
1999, 10).
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C.A. Kingston-Smith Page 84 of 115
In this paper I have focused my engagement with Liberation theology from within the
context of Bolivia. I have posed two primary questions; the first was to ask: “What is
the influence of Liberation theology in Bolivia?” In order to answer this primary
question, I have engaged with an examination of Liberation theology within the
current Bolivian context using a postcolonial historical lens to illuminate this
analysis. Through an exploration of the central characteristics of Liberation theology I
have proposed that important elements of the Historical Liberation Project, such as a
bias to the poor, a confessional mobilisation or conscientisation of the poor on their
own behalf, a clear vision of the in breaking Reign of God through the concrete
actions for social justice and an overthrow of perceived structures of injustice are
very much in evidence in the Bolivian context.
My own conviction is that Liberation thinking has influenced the revolutionary
events of the previous few years in Bolivia. Although the foundations of Liberation
theology are expounded most self-consciously in Catholic writing and praxis, its
essential elements have been taken up by many Protestant churches working in the
context of dehumanising poverty. Evidence of inculturationist confessional
approaches, similar to that described in my Introduction, alongside Methodism‟s
more visible social justice mandate indicate just how dispersed Liberation thinking
has become in the wider Church since the 1960‟s.
The second question I posed was: “Does Liberation theology offer hope for both
liberation and reconstruction?” In answering this question I have sought to interact
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C.A. Kingston-Smith Page 85 of 115
critically with what are perceived as inherent weaknesses of Liberation theology as
well as its strengths and to suggest ways in which this can impact the processes of
liberation and particularly reconstruction.
My thinking was particularly influenced by a “pivotal site of action” which I
introduced in the first chapter; that of an encounter with a liberationist line of
thinking. This encounter highlights a theoretical concern that there exists the tendency
of a “perspective of the poor” becoming a “hegemony of the poor”. As I encountered,
Liberation theology promotes a strong emphasis on a “hermeneutic of suspicion”
whereby “only those who have access to privileged knowledge may interpret the
context and are able to say what the gospel for the context is…(and where) anything
“non-victims” think is irremediably tainted as “false consciousness” and judged to be
beyond the pale of God‟s justice” (Stackhouse 1988 in Bosch 1991, 430). This would
seem to represent the material equivalent of gnosticism and in effect, can be both
harsh and divisive. Nevertheless, Liberation‟s commitment to establishing justice
through concrete action through the mobilisation of the poor and vulnerable on their
own behalf is a powerful challenge to models of Christian action which encourage
dependency.
So, does Liberation theology offer hope for both liberation and reconstruction in
Bolivia? My own conviction is that it does, but only within a continuing context of
commitment to true dialogue, both within the wider confessional community and the
actual, socio-political context. I have alluded to Liberation thinking‟s potential to
“Liberation and reconstruction in Bolivia” Global Issues in Contemporary Mission – MA Dissertation
C.A. Kingston-Smith Page 86 of 115
“other” and exclude and this is made more potent in the Bolivian multi-ethnic context
where categories of culture and ethnicity, which are negatively expressed through
racism, radically intensify Marxian categories of elite and proletariat resulting in
potentially dangerous new tensions. I have suggested that weakness may be partially
overcome by the appropriate integration of the Andean social concept of the ayllu
which offers new dialogical and reconstructive “space” which may be lacking in
Liberation theology.
A secondary task of this paper was to examine how the challenge of current
revolutionary events is being perceived or acted upon by Protestant Church in the
light of the need for both liberation and reconstruction in Bolivia by the majority of
the people. I identify the seeming reticence of the parts of the Protestant Church, as
represented by ANDEB, to engage proactively with a socio-political mandate which,
I suggest, is opening up fresh and potentially transformative opportunities to further
the cause of socio-economic justice in the country. In recognising this, I make
suggestions of action which could be taken by the Church to better equip and prepare
for a role actively biased to the needs and perspectives of the poor.
The struggle taking place in Bolivia is symbolised in a profound way in the violent
ritual between the Indigenous condor and the Colonial bull (see Appendix 6) where
both the indigenous and the colonial elements presenced alongside each other for over
four centuries continue to struggle for supremacy. I propose that the resources present
in Andean soil in the concept of partnership and complementarity of the ayllu, could
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C.A. Kingston-Smith Page 87 of 115
bring this violent tension into a mutually-sustaining partnership which may resist the
temptation to dominate and “other” in order to stand united and resist the Beast of
Sea- the relentless and ultimate colonisation of the imagination? As Bolivia‟s own
history has shown again and again, united they stand and divided they fall.
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C.A. Kingston-Smith Page 88 of 115
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APPENDIX 1: THE CHRIST WE SHARE
(Taken from The Christ we Share: A World Church Resource for local Mission,
CMS, USPG, Methodist Church 3rd
Edition, 2004).
The Laughing Christ (anon)
The Tortured Christ (Brazil)
The Wanted Christ (anon)
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APPENDIX 2: A SUMMARY OF JESUS’ “THIRD WAY”
[Taken from Walter Wink‟s Engaging the Powers 1992, 186-187]
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Jesus’ Third Way
Seize the moral initiative
Find a creative alternative to violence
Assert your own humanity and dignity as a person
Meet force with ridicule or humor
Break the cycle of humiliation
Refuse to submit to or accept the inferior position
Expose the injustice of the system
Take control of the power dynamic
Shame the oppressor into repentance
Stand your ground
Make the Powers make decisions for which they are not prepared
Recognise your own power
Be willing to suffer rather than retaliate
Force the oppressor to see you in a new light
Deprive the oppressor of a situation where a show of force is effective
Be willing to undergo the penalty of breaking unjust laws
Die to fear of the old order and its rules
Seek the oppressor‟s transformation
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APPENDIX 3: MAP OF BOLIVIA SHOWING LANDLOSS
(Copied from Wikipaedia URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bolivia )
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APPENDIX 4: MORALES’ INDIGENOUS
INAUGURATION CEREMONY AT TIAHUANACO
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APPENDIX 5: THE WIPHALA INDIGENOUS FLAG
(Information and images copied directly from Andean First Nations Council URL:
http://www.pusinsuyu.com/english/html/wiphala.html )
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The word Wiphala comes from two Aymara words:
“Wiphay” which is an expression of joy approximately
meaning “Go”, and “phalax” which is the sound produced
by a flag floating in the wind.”
Wiphalas of the Four Suyus
Each region (Suyu) of the Andean
Territory has its own Wiphala of
corresponding color:
Antisuyu : Green
Cuntisuyu: Yellow
Qullasuyu: White
Chinchaysuyu: Red
Each Suyu also has its own Wiphala of
49 squares, identificated by the color of
the diagonal line (from left to right and
from up to down) attributed to each Suyu. .
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Wiphala of 49 squares
Each color owns a meaning. The Wiphala is not only a
flag, but also the representation of the Lunar-Solar
calendar of the Andean First Nations..
The Wiphala, present in every community event and
ceremony, identifies the communitarian system of the Andes, based on equality,
equity, harmony, solidarity and reciprocity.
Moreover, it is a symbol of the First Nations’ resistance, its use having been
illegalized by the Republics, but nowadays it is floating in the wind like never
before in the Andean First Nations Territory. It is another manifestation of the
Pachakuti Era, the return to the Earth without evil.
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APPENDIX 6: THE RITUAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN
THE CONDOR AND THE BULL