Theology without Deception (Jon Sobrino) - A Review
THEOLOGY WITHOUT DECEPTION: God, the Poor, and Reality in El Salvador. By Jon Sobrino, Conversations with Charo Mármol. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2023. Xi + 225 pages.
During
my time in seminary back in the early 1980s, I developed a strong interest in
Liberation Theology. With that in mind, I decided to write a paper on the
Christologies of Liberation theologians for my systematic theology class. One
of the books I turned to as I wrote that paper was Jon Sobrino's Christology
at the Crossroads: A Latin American Approach. Over the years, on occasion, I've
turned to Sobrino's works, several of which focus on Christology, for insight
into matters of theology and praxis. I've also followed his story, including
the murder of his colleagues at the University of Central America in November
1989. Sobrino likely survived that attack by a Salvadoran death squad because
he was out of the country. It was this
decades-long interest in both Liberation Theology and Sobrino's contributions
that led me to request a review copy of Sobrino's latest book: Theology
without Deception.
Sobrino’s
Theology Without Deception is largely based on conversations he had with
journalist Charo Mármol that took place over several years. While the book was
completed in 2015 it was not released. Since then, Sobrino had begun work on a
separate book that would expand on the earlier book. That expanded version of
the earlier book undertaken with Mármol has now been made available in
this volume. So, with the publication of Theology Without Deception we
have an opportunity to gain deeper insight into Sobrino’s story as well as the
development of Liberation Theology. We also gain insight into the realities of
life in Central America (a region of significant destabilizing U.S.
involvement), along with the involvement of the Jesuits in that region and the
struggles on the part of these Jesuits for justice that led to the deaths of several
religious figures including Archbishop Oscar Romero, who is now canonized as a
Catholic saint.
Fr. Jon
Sobrino was born in 1938 in Spain. He was a member of a family with largely
Basque ancestry. After studying at a Jesuit school in Barcelona, he entered the
Jesuit novitiate in 1956. He would then volunteer to go to Central America and continue
his novitiate in El Salvador. So, in 1957, Sobrino arrived in El Salvador, encountering
both the poverty and religiosity of the people of that nation for the first
time. The goal was to make these people good Catholics, "like us Castilians
and Basques" (p. 3). After taking his vows in 1958 he was sent to Cuba for
further education because since, at the time, there were no Jesuit educational
institutions in Central America. After the revolution in Cuba, he was sent to
Saint Louis University in the United States for further education. During his
time in St. Louis, he discovered a very different world from what he had
experienced in El Salvador and Cuba, as well as Franco's Spain. He would spend
five years in St. Louis, gaining a master's degree in engineering, even though
he had little interest in engineering. Despite his lack of interest, his order
perceived a need for such expertise and as a good Jesuit, he did as he was
asked. Ultimately, his superiors realized that he might be of greater use if he
took up a different vocation. Thus, he was sent to Germany where he wrote his
doctoral dissertation on the Christologies of Wolfhart Pannenberg and Jürgen
Moltmann.
Having
finished his education he returned to El Salvador, the topic of Chapter 2. It
was on the return to El Salvador that he had an awakening to the needs of the
poor, the reality of martyrdom among those who stood up for justice, and in the
course of this time gaining a glimpse of God. Sobrino points out that while in
St. Louis, he struggled with the question of God. Upon his return to El
Salvador, it was the situation faced by the poor in the region that led to a
spiritual awakening. In large part, this was due to his reading and use of
Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the teaching of the Exercises by
his mentor Ignacio Ellacuría. In essence, he claims to have awakened from a dream
that led to a realization of what it is to be human. While his questions about
God did not disappear, the negativity that had overshadowed him dissipated.
Thus, as for doing theology or being a theologian, it is in the context of
experiencing and conceptualizing reality using concepts from the Christian
tradition. For Sobrino, therefore, “doing theology is not the exercise of a
profession, certainly, but a way of being; it is not something that has
formally arisen for me because I am a Christian, but because I am human
(although the human in me has included the Christian from the beginning; it is
not, at first, a service to others, to the church, but a necessity for myself”
(p. 55). Thus, in whatever situation he finds himself, he asks the question
“who is Jesus?”
In
Chapter 3 Sobrino speaks to his calling by the Jesuit community in El Salvador to
teach theology. He discusses this calling in the context of the assassination
of fellow Jesuit Rutilio Grande, who devoted his life to working among the
poor, as well as his encounters with Pedro Arrupe, the head of the Jesuit
order. In this chapter, Sobrino shares his thoughts about the courses he taught
and the books he wrote as a professor of theology. Many of those courses and
books focused on Christology. As he taught and wrote on Christology, as well as
reflecting on the murders of Jesuits taking place around him, he faced the question
of the role the cross plays in Christian life and theology.
The
question of the role of the cross comes into play as we move into Chapter 4,
where Mármol
asks Sobrino about the key themes in his work. Sobrino lifts up four primary
themes that emerged in his theological work:
1) When it comes to the majority
of people in the world, they are crucified people. 2) With that in mind, the
second theme is Jesus of Nazareth (historical Jesus). 3) He then lifts up the ambiguities
of the conciliar church, as well as the existence of the church of the poor. 4)
The creation of a "new and necessary civilization,” that will deal with
the reality of poverty. This fourth theme emerged from the thought of Sobrino's
colleague, Ignacio Ellacuría. The message here is the call of followers of Jesus to overcome
the civilization of wealth so that everyone's needs might be met.
The
final chapter of Sorino’s Theology without Deception is titled "A
Long Epilogue." In this Epilogue Sobrino shares with Charo Mármol
about what it meant to walk with Oscar Romero and Ignacio Ellacuría,
as well as with Jesus of Nazareth and his God. Sobrino reflects here on the
canonization of Oscar Romero. He reflects also on the effects of the COVID-19
Pandemic, including the theological implications. This is a section that many
who have come to believe that the pandemic wasn’t much of anything might want
to read. One point I need to make here is that while Oscar Romero's story is
known to at least some Christians, Sobrino's reflections, based as they are on
his own experiences with Romero, can help expand our understanding of Romero’s
place in the larger story of Central America. As for his discussions of his
friend, the martyred Ellacuría, they reveal something about a
figure who played an important role in the development of Liberation Theology,
but who isn’t as well known to folks as Gustavo Gutierrez or Leonardo Boff.
Perhaps the reason Ellacuría is less well known is that he focused his
attention on the practical dimensions of liberation theology and less time
writing about it. Sobrino helps us better understand his contributions to
liberation theology, the church, and the cause of the poor, as well as the
implications of his martyrdom. Sobrino, writing in May of 2021, at the age of
eighty-two, in poor health, states that to walk with God involves walking with
Jesus, Ellacuría, and Romero, as well as men and women who are good human
beings. He offers three expressions of what it means to walk with God. First,
it means walking with humility and worrying about ourselves as if we are what
is ultimate. Secondly, it is to walk with hope. Third it involves walking with
gratitude (p. 202).
Sobrino’s
Theology without Deception closes with four appendices. These appendices
include transcriptions of the “Pact of the Catacombs, a Poor Servant Church,” which
emerged out of Vatican II. Secondly, he reproduces Ellacuría’s
letter from 1977 to Romero. There is a letter written in 1990 by Sobrino to
Ellacuría
on the first anniversary of his friend’s assassination, in which Sobrino gives
thanks that his friend left him with “nothing more essential than the practice
of compassion for a crucified people, and that nothing is more human and
humanizing than faith” (p. 211). Finally, the authors reproduce Ellacuría’s
commencement address delivered at Santa Clara University in 1982, “The Task of
a Christian University.” Sobrino’s friend reminds the people of that university
that a Christian university is not only involved in matters of the intellect,
but also its calling to be a social force called to transform the social reality
of which it is a part.
Reading
Sobrino’s reflections and thoughts about matters of theology and social
realities, especially the realities faced by the poor and the oppressed, opens
windows for further reflection about what it means to be a follower of Jesus
committed to the welfare of humanity. The conversations found here in Theology without Deception help us better understand the work done by members of the
church who were committed to justice, reminding us that church leaders such as
Oscar Romero acted despite facing significant opposition from his fellow
Salvadoran bishops. Therefore, Sobrino helps better understand the foundations
and impact of liberation theology. Sobrino confesses that he didn't spend much
time working among the poor since he had been called by the Jesuit order to
serve as a teacher and theologian, which means that some of his reflections are
more theoretical in nature, however, they emerged from living within a
community that produced figures such as St. Oscar Romero. Having read and
reflected on Sobrino’s memoir of his life and ministry, including his relationships
with important figures in the life of the church who were in life committed to
the good of humanity, I can say that this is a book worth spending time with.
Those who live in the First World and take up Sobrino’s Theology without Deception, will, hopefully, come to better understand the realities faced
by our neighbors in the Third World.
That is especially true of those living in Central America, some of whom
have been seeking a new life north of the United States border. Liberation
theology, of which Sobrino has been a leading figure, has lifted up the premise
that God has a preferential option for the poor. To read this book is to gain
better insight into what that might mean.
Comments