In September 2013, Gustavo Gutiérrez, one of the fathers of liberation theology, celebrated a mass with Pope Francis, a startling turn of events given the ups and downs of that theological current. When he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger approved liberation theology, but with so many words of warning that it was close to a non-approval. Most of all, the Vatican and Catholic conservatives hoped that liberation theology would simply fade away. But it did not, and in a nearly 180-degree turnabout, the current prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, has recently co-authored a book on liberation theology with Father Gutiérrez.
The ups and downs of Catholic progressives in Latin America are one of the major themes of this latest work by Daniel Levine. The author, a long-time student of religion and politics in Latin America, covers these changes in the Catholic Church from the pre-Vatican II days, when it was, in Levine's term, a ‘lazy monopolist’, to a period of dynamic innovation beginning with the bishops' conference at Medellín, Colombia (1968), right up to the latest bishops' meeting at Aparecida (2007).
Levine aptly describes the forces that led to the changes in the Catholic Church. He studies particular events and national cases to illustrate his point. Catholic activists, theologians and bishops empowered the poor and actively engaged in promoting human rights and democracy, but this new engagement had its pitfalls. In some cases liberation theology created unrealistic expectations, and the institutional Church promoted lay movements but at the same time over-controlled them. As a result, some of those movements never acquired a life of their own and in many cases faded away. The author applies this same critical analysis to the Protestants, especially the Pentecostals. Once reluctant to go beyond the temple, by the 1990s they were fully engaged in politics, although not with the same progressive agenda as the Catholics.
Levine touches upon the topic of religion and violence, with particular reference to Camilo Torres, the Colombian priest who joined the guerrillas in 1966. Although one may admire Torres for his idealism, as Levine points out, he did not represent the liberation theology movement, which aimed at transforming society from below and without violence. The liberation theology movement spawned many human rights and peace movements which in the long run proved to be more effective.
Finally, the author proposes applying a comparative analysis on a worldwide basis to religiously inspired political movements. He points to the role of the churches in South Africa during the apartheid period and the Peoples' Power movement in the Philippines, which led to the overthrow of the dictator Marcos. In the Islamic world religion played a major role in challenging modern secular society.
Levine questions earlier assumptions of sociologists who have argued that religion is on the way out as societies become more sophisticated intellectually. At the same time, he does not accept the opposite premise that holds religion to be on the rise again. Rather, Levine argues that religious activists have successfully influenced events because they have adapted to the modern world. In Latin America most Catholic Church leaders and activists have come to accept religious pluralism and democracy. Also, as laypeople have become more self-assured, they have begun to speak for themselves and do not need to seek hierarchical approval to take a stance. For their part, although the Pentecostals have grown rapidly, they are still in the process of identifying themselves with the different national traditions.
On a smaller point, the author states that the predominant note at the bishops' conference at Aparecida was fear of institutional loss. What many participants feared was a repeat of the 1992 Santo Domingo assembly, when the Roman delegation imposed the agenda. Yet, at Aparecida, Benedict's opening address stressed the positive and the Roman delegates listened more than they spoke. Except for certain conservative bishops who abandoned the conference without signing the final document, the participants left with a renewed and positive sense of Church identity.
This is a masterful overview of the many ways in which religion, politics and society have interacted in the last 50 years in Latin America. Levine insightfully covers every important event in the evolution of Catholicism and Protestantism during that period. Since Latin America has returned to democracy (except for Cuba), the churches have maintained a much lower profile. But contrary to the predictions of the secularists, religion has not gone away and, as the author predicts, will continue to influence politics and society, albeit in more subtle and complex ways than in the stormy and heady days of Medellín.
