Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 147:585 (Jan 1990)
Article: Major Flaws in Liberation Theology
Author: J. Ronald Blue

BSac 147:585 (Jan 90) p. 89

Major Flaws in Liberation Theology

J. Ronald Blue

Professor of World Missions
Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas

Liberation theology is one of the most significant movements springing from contemporary Latin America. What began among a few Latin theologians has grown into a recognized movement with influence all over the world. From the earliest expressions of the liberation theme by missionary Richard Schaull in 1955,1 the liberation motif appeared with increasing frequency in a number of progressive Roman Catholic councils and ecumenical conferences in the 1960s. It gained widespread recognition at the second Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM II) in Medellín, Colombia in 1968.

Liberation Theology is a “new way of ‘doing theology’ that radically challenges traditional concepts and practices.”2 Liberationists propose to free man from all that enslaves him socially, economically, and politically through peaceful protest or, if necessary, through revolutionary violence. While the social conditions that prompted the birth of liberation theology can be verified, the liberationist solutions need to be challenged. There are several major flaws in the proposed liberation cures.

Conditions in Latin America

The social frame of reference for liberation theology lies in the reality of poverty. Liberationism is rooted in the struggle to free people oppressed by unjust economic structures. As Carlos Fuentes has

BSac 147:585 (Jan 90) p. 90

declared: “South of your border, my North American friends, lies a continent in revolutionary ferment—a continent that possesses immense wealth and nevertheless lives in misery and a desolation you have never known and barely imagined.”3 The poverty, illiteracy, and hunger in Latin America are undisputed facts.

Poverty

Of Latin America’s 400 million people, 60 percent are reported to have incomes of less than $50 a year, and another 30 percent earn between $50 and $190 a year. This means 90 percent of the people have incomes below the subsistence level.4

An evident tension exists between these poor masses struggling for survival and the privileged elite who control the power structure comprised of large landowners, industrialists, professionals, bureaucrats, and the military and religious leaders. It is the power elite who primarily benefit from any economic advance in Latin America. The top 10 percent eat 41 percent of the meat and get 44 percent of the clothes, half the electri...