Political Theology & Liberation Theology

Political theology, understood in the restricted sense of Metz and Moltmann, is distinct from, though closely related to, the liberation theologies of Latin America. A common distinction made between the two is to consider their different contexts that give rise to their particular mode of theological reflection. This involves three aspects: the secularization of society, the privatization of faith, and the role of theology in the life of the Church. (7)

First, the German political theologians see the process of secularization in a positive light. The separation of church and state, the world ceasing to be the numinous, and the rise of the human subject in the search for emancipation, are key stages in the path to the freedom of faith expressed in human subjectivity. The Latin American liberation theologians criticise this projection as imposing the particular European model of church-state relationship on other regions. For them, the church is still very much bound up with the state. Secularization, while still in its beginning stages, leads not so much to the 'death-of -God' syndrome, but rather to a near schizophrenic dualism of faith and politics.

Second, the concern of political theology in Europe is to offer a critical corrective to the current existential theology which tends to advocate a privatization of faith in the wake of the secularization of society. In a secular society, Christian faith seems to have lost its public dimension except as a minority cult or even as expressions of personal, individual interest. Liberation theology from Latin America, on the other hand, is conceived as a critique of the Catholic liberal developmentalism that has been exported to the third world from the so-called developed countries. The model of development presupposes a social and economic structure that is not only insensitive to the real problems of the host nations, but is also instrumental in preserving the oppressive structures in these nations, thus perpetuating the evils of injustice. Liberation theology seeks to offer a radical break from the status quo based on a Christian foundation.

Third, the nature of political theology, in particular that of Metz and Moltmann, is more in the methodological realm. That is, they see the role of political theology as defining the context and the horizon in the task of doing theology. In their search to elaborate the relationship between religion and society, political theology tends to focus on the dialectics of theory and practices On the other hand, liberation theology seeks to give relevant interpretations of faith symbols of the Christian message of liberation. Their emphasis is less on methodology in the theological task. Rather their interest is centred more on the example of Jesus Christ as a bringer of liberation.

Despite the distinct differences between political theology and liberation theology, theologians from both sides do have a mutual influence on each other. For example, Sobrino’s heavy reliance on Moltmann’s theology of the cross in his Christlolgy at the Crossroads shows the methodological root of most Latin American theologians. Or, Metz’s second formulation of his political theology is the result of the critique of Latin American theologians who saw Metz’s theology of the world as no more than an extension of a form of Kantian political ethics in which the notion of faith is over-and-above and untouched by its historico-social context. (8)

It is not a matter of choosing between the one or the other, of political theology or liberation theology. Both are serious attempts to take theparticularity of history as the starting point for theological reflection. Their individual usefulness is determined more by the relevance of the issues out of which they are developed.

7)See F. P. Fiorenza, "Political Theology and Liberation Theology: an inquiry into their fundamental meaning", in Liberation, Revolution & Freedom, ed. by T. E. McFadden, Seabury Press, NY, 1975; also, C. Davis, Theology and Political Society, CUP, Cambridge, 1980, Chapter 1, "From Orthodoxy to Politics".

8)It is difficult to say how the mutual influences between theologians in the two continents are effected. The general impression is that the Latin American theologians depend on their European counterparts for method, while criticising them for not taking "praxis" seriously but of being concerned only with a "theology of praxis''.　

See G. Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, SCM Press, London, 1974.