{"id":2693,"date":"2013-12-10T10:38:01","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T15:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/thecc\/?p=2693"},"modified":"2014-03-08T12:04:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-08T17:04:00","slug":"the-social-dimension-of-evangelization-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/2013\/12\/10\/the-social-dimension-of-evangelization-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Social Dimension of Evangelization (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>

From the Latin American Via Crucis (Way of the Cross)<\/em> installment by Adolfo P\u00e9rez Esquivel<\/p><\/div>\n

Latin America and the New Evangelization<\/b><\/p>\n

In my previous post<\/a>, I considered the historical precedent in magisterial and some bishops\u2019 writings on the New Evangelization (NE) to underscore the necessary social dimensions of sharing the Good News, that is, of evangelization. But I also highlighted a certain ambivalence about the terms and ideas of \u201cliberation\u201d and \u201csocial justice\u201d in their comments about the precise relationship between evangelization and work for societal change.<\/p>\n

It is illuminating to explore the position of Latin American bishops and liberation theologians on the topic of the NE, since a stress on the intimate connection between the Christian faith and work for social justice and \u201cpreferential option for the poor\u201d has become a hallmark of Latin American theology and pastoral practice. What is the contribution of Latin American bishops to the conversation about the socioeconomic aspects of evangelization?\u00a0 Responding to John Paul II\u2019s call for the NE in 1992, the Latin American bishops embraced the mission of the NE and, with John Paul II, suggest that \u201chuman development\u201d concerns can be understood as a dimension of the wider task of the NE. Yet importantly, they note the violations of human dignity associated with Christian evangelization in the Americas, for example: \u201cWith John Paul II,\u201d they write, \u201cwe want to ask God’s pardon for this ‘unknown holocaust’ in which \u2018baptized people who did not live their faith were involved.\u2019\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a> The bishops elaborate on evangelization\u2019s social justice dimensions and urge that the \u201cnew evangelization\u201d not become exploitive, but rather champion the poor\u2019s socioeconomic liberation.[2]<\/sup><\/a> For them, this is key if evangelization today is to be \u201cnew in its ardor, in its methods, and in its expression,\u201d as John Paul had remarked.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion perceptively note that the Latin American bishops generally read the term \u201cevangelization\u201d as \u201cliberation\u201d and social justice, as opposed to the U.S. bishops, who (with Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI) tend to read \u201cevangelization\u201d first and foremost as conversion and spiritual transformation.[4]<\/sup><\/a> I would also suggest that the response of the father of liberation theology, Gustavo Gutierrez, to the NE conversation is illuminating. Even more strongly than the Latin American bishops, he has underscored the importance of the social dimensions as not merely constitutive of, but the true heart of, any evangelization.\u00a0 Likewise, Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez has argued in A Theology of Liberation <\/i>that some past articulations of Catholic ecclesiology and missiology have actively legitimated lethal social systems, and actually violate, rather than promote, gospel imperatives.[5]<\/sup><\/a> In his biography of 16th<\/sup> century Spanish missionary to Americas, Bartolome de Las Casas, Guti\u00e9rrez recounts the awakening of Las Casas to this same conviction and defense of indigenous populations, even against the ecclesial authorities and theology of evangelization prevalent at that time.<\/p>\n

Christian Smith interprets Guti\u00e9rrez\u2019s work on Las Casas<\/i> not as merely historical theology, but precisely as a \u201ctheological counteroffensive\u201d to NE initiatives in Latin America, which he suggests have been wary of liberation theology\u2019s prevalence there.[6]<\/sup><\/a> It is highly significant, then, that when Guti\u00e9rrez suggests the contemporary relevance of Las Casas\u2019 life, he calls for the redefinition of \u201cevangelization\u201d from a liberationist perspective, not vice versa.[7]<\/sup><\/a> Guti\u00e9rrez writes:<\/p>\n

Las Casas would have read with great joy …Pope John Paul II\u2019s [writings on religious freedom]… Las Casas asks respect for the [life and] religious customs of the dwellers of the Indies and rejects the imposition of the gospel by means of power…. Here is the core of what we call today liberating evangelization<\/i>. Its urgency\u2026 today has not waned since the time of\u2026 Las Casas.[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

As we see, Guti\u00e9rrez reframes the concept of \u201cevangelization\u201d as one element of the liberationist project, not the reverse. It is noteworthy that in lieu of the term \u201cnew evangelization,\u201d whether consciously or not, he calls rather for a \u201cliberating evangelization.\u201d Likewise, Leonardo Boff has noted that any \u201cevangelization\u201d would have to be new, because the old evangelization was identified with tremendous human rights violations and genocide. Thus, any effective articulation of a \u201cnew evangelization,\u201d he insists, must first face head-on the injustices associated with the spread of Christianity throughout the world.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

To conclude, there is strong evidence that diverse theologies and agendas of Catholic clerical and lay leaders today are being negotiated in large part the galvanizing and inclusive term \u201cnew evangelization,\u201d which as Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion suggest, can thus be described as operating as as ideograph. The term’s\u00a0plasticity \u00a0allows its use among diverse groups and enables the Church to function as a \u201cheterogeneous organization that responds in both progressive and conservative manners to various socio-political contexts.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/a> Yet their research, along with Smith’s, suggests that\u00a0attempts by its key NE figures and groups to draw the language, mission, and practices of groups that closely identify with liberation theology and Catholic social teaching into the wider mission (and rhetoric) of the NE reflects deeper theological tensions.[11]<\/sup><\/a> Thus, for proponents of liberation- and social justice-oriented theologies, to appropriate or reject \u201cnew evangelization\u201d rhetoric remains a complicated strategic and theologically-freighted choice.<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> National Conference of Catholic Bishops (eds.). \u201cSanto Domingo Conclusions (Fourth General Conference of Latin American Bishops),\u201d trans. by Phillip Berryman (Washington, D.C.: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1992), 50. In Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion, \u201cSpecialized, Ecclesial Ideography,\u201d 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/a> Ibid., 97-102.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/a> Ibid., 57-59.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[4]<\/a> Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion. \u201cSpecialized, Ecclesial Ideography,\u201d 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/a> Christian Smith. “Las Casas” as Theological Counteroffensive: An Interpretation of Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez’s “Las Casas: In Search of the Poor of Jesus Christ,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion<\/i>, 41.1 (2002), 69-73.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[6]<\/a> Gustavo Gutierrez, Las Casas: In Search of the Poor of Jesus Christ<\/i> (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993), 262-3.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[7]<\/a> Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion. \u201cSpecialized, Ecclesial Ideography,\u201d 7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[8]<\/a> Christian Smith. “Las Casas” as Theological Counteroffensive,” 69-73. Emphasis mine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[9]<\/a> See L. Boff. New Evangelization: Good News to the Poor <\/i>(Nova Evangelizaca: Perspectiva dos Oprimidos<\/i>) trans. by Robert R. Barr (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[10]<\/a> Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion. \u201cSpecialized, Ecclesial Ideography,\u201d 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[11]<\/a> Bennett-Carpenter and McCallion. \u201cSpecialized, Ecclesial Ideography,\u201d 7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latin America and the New Evangelization In my previous post, I considered the historical precedent in magisterial and some bishops\u2019 writings on the New Evangelization (NE) to underscore the necessary social dimensions of sharing the Good News, that is, of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":858,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17909,53084],"class_list":["post-2693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evangelization","tag-pope-francis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/858"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2693"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2737,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693\/revisions\/2737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/thecc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}