Leonardo Boff and Liberation Theology
by Eamonn Keane
Groome's shared Christian praxis draws heavily on concepts derived from certain forms of liberation theology. In 1984, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued an Instruction on Liberation Theology whose "precise purpose" was stated as: "To draw the attention of pastors, theologians, and all the faithful to the deviations, and risks of deviation, damaging to the faith and to Christian living, that are brought about by certain forms of liberation theology which use, in an insufficiently critical manner, concepts borrowed from Marxist thought."98 The Instruction also pointed out that Marxist-inspired liberation theologies draw the conclusion that class struggle "divides the Church herself, and that in light of this struggle even ecclesial realities must be judged."99 The publication of this CDF Instruction was ordered by Pope John Paul II. Speaking of the authority belonging to such Magisterial documents, the Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian said:
The Roman Pontiff fulfils his universal mission with the help of various bodies of the Roman Curia and in particular with that of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in matters of doctrine and morals. Consequently, the documents issued by this Congregation expressly approved by the Pope participate in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter."100
In Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II referred to the CDF Instruction on Liberation Theology in order to point to the "danger of an uncritical adoption by some liberation theologians of opinions and methods drawn from Marxism." In doing this, the Holy Father also recalled the "specific task and service" performed by the CDF to "the Roman Pontiff's universal Magisterium" when it issues documents such as the Instruction on Liberation Theology."101
Leonardo Boff is one of the leading liberation theologians to have come out of South America. In an article co-authored with his brother, Boff openly expressed his dependence on Marxist ideas by stating: "Liberation theology uses Marxism as an instrument ... liberation theology feels no obligation to account to social scientists for any use it makes—correct or otherwise—of Marxist terminology and ideas... Liberation theology freely borrows from Marxism."102
In the late 1980s, Boff wrote a Theological Reflection On Socialism in which he said: "The Socialist Revolution of 1917 marked something new in the history of humanity. The revolution was not alien to the Holy Ghost, in spite of all the contradictions the revolution encompassed." This Reflection On Socialism was first published in the November-December 1988 issue of the Brazilian Catholic Journal Vozes. The journal is operated by the Franciscan Order and at the time Boff was himself an editor. In 1991, Boff's Franciscan Superiors removed him as editor of Vozes and ordered him to stop publicising his views for one year. This move to censure Fr. Boff was supported by Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriquez who was President of the Latin American Bishops' Council. Some time after this happened, Boff left the priesthood.
A characteristic of Boff's work is that he often uses conventional theological language but empties it of its doctrinal content. He recommends Freire's pedagogical method as the most apt educational instrument for the diffusion of his own liberationist ideas. Also, he develops a model of the Church which he says is based on a "Communitarian Christianity" and places it in opposition to the hierarchically structured Church founded by Christ. He claims the ecclesiastical structure of the Catholic Church cannot be traced back any further than the third century. Finally, in terms of the theory of class struggle, Boff casts the "Roman Catholic Church" in the role of an oppressor.103
Boff's theology is a mishmash of Marxist theory and a defective Christology which was influenced by the ideas of Rudolf Bultmann and Karl Rahner under whom he studied in Munich. In describing Boff's Christology, Hans Urs von Balthasar said:
Boff seems to develop a Christology strongly influenced by Bultmann, with whom he suggests that we know very little about the historical Jesus. However, he believes that we can interpret the primary intention of Jesus as that of someone who understood himself in his role as liberator of the poor and oppressed ... The liberation—the `Kingdom of God'—which Jesus expected to result from it—had failed to come about, as expressed by the authentic cry on the Cross: `Why hast thou forsaken me?' The doctrine of substitution is rejected by Boff as well as by Rahner. It is up to us present-day Christians to adopt and execute what Jesus had wished and begun.104
In his book From Death To Life, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, O.P places Boff in the company of scholars such as Reimarus, Reuss, Schweitzer and Loisy—all of whom propagated the error that Jesus' disciples, and even Jesus himself, lived in an eschatological "high tension," expecting the imminent eruption of the kingdom of God and the overthrowing of this world. This error reached its high point in the writings of Rudolf Bultmann, who equated the Kingdom of God with the end of the world. Cardinal Schonborn points out that Boff assumed the correctness of Bultmann's theory.105
Boff's liberation theology has influenced Groome's ecclesiology. Coupled with this, it is interesting to note that Groome quotes approvingly Boff's statement that the Church's law on priestly celibacy "is tantamount to an unlawful violation of the rights of the faithful" and he agrees with Boff also that women should be ordained to the ministerial priesthood.106
Fr. Rodger Charles S .J., has stated that Boff's brand of liberation theology amounted to nothing less than "a total rejection of [the Catholic Church's] self-understanding through the centuries down to and through the Second Vatican Council."107
In his book Covenantal Theology, Fr. Donald Keefe S J., makes reference to Boff by saying:
Boff, following Rahner's lead ... argues that the humanity of the Theotokos [Greek term for Mary as the 'Mother of God'] is hypostatically united to the Holy Spirit, thereby presenting a feminine expression of God in history corresponding to that masculine expression found in the Incarnation of the Logos.108
Endnotes
98 Instruction On Certain Aspects Of The Theology Of Liberation, CDF, 1984. This statement of purpose appears in the introduction to the document.
99 Instruction On Certain Aspects Of The Theology Of Liberation, CDF, 1984, Part IX, n.2.
100 CDF The Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, n. 18. Cf. Code of Canon Law, cc. 360-361; Pope Paul VI, Apost. Const. Regimini Ecclesiae Universae, August 15, 1967, nn. 29-40, AAS 59 (1967), 879-899; Pope John Paul II, Apost. Const. Pastor Bonus, June 28, 1988, AAS 80 (1988), 873-874. The authoritative status of such documents emanating from the CDF was reaffirmed again recently by Pope John Paul in Fides et Ratio (cf. n. 54 together with footnote 70).
101 Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, n. 54.
102 Boff Brothers, cited by Rev. Professor J. H. Gillis in Liberation Theology: A Debate, Challenge Magazine, Canada, May 1990, p. 24
103 Everything I have here attributed to Boff is to be found in the concluding chapter of his book Good News to the Poor, Orbis Books, U.S.A., 1992.
104 Hans Urs von Balthasar. Test Everything: Hold Fast To What Is Good. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1989, pp. 41-42. Von Balthasar's identification of a nexus between Boff's defective Christological ideas and those of Rahner is not surprising. As we will see later, Groome's Christology is also defective. For example, he approves Rahner's suggestion for a reformulation of the teaching of the Council of Chalcedon on the `Person of Christ'-something with which there are serious problems as we shall see in Chapter 8. For a critique of Rahner's Christology, see Cardinal Ratzinger's Principles of Catholic Theology, op. cit. pp. 162-170. For an outline of the doctrinal problems that arise from Rahner's attempted reformulation of the dogma of Chalcedon, see The Mystery of Jesus Christ: A Christology and Soteriology Textbook by F Ocariz et.al., Four Courts Press, Dublin 1994, pp. 85 and 127-129.
105 Bishop Christoph Schonborn, O.P From Death To Life: The Christian Journey, Ignatius Press, San Francisco 1995. Cf. Book Review by Edith Myers,
Homiletic and Pastoral Review, January 1996, p. 77.
106 Thomas Groome, Sharing Faith, op. cit. pp. 328, 517n.111
107 Rodger Charles, S J., Christian Social Witness and Teaching: The Catholic Tradition from Genesis to Centesimus Annus, vol. 2, From Biblical Times to the late Nineteenth Century, Gracewing, Leominster, 1998, p.312.
108 Fr. Donald Keefe, S.J., Covenantal Theology: The Eucharistic Order of History (revised edition), Presidio Press, California, 1996, p. 188.
109 Cf. Sharing Faith, pp. 309nn. 21 and 21,341-42, 310n.29, 519.n18.
110 Fr Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., The Church With A Human Face: A New and Expanded Theology of Ministry, Crossroad, New York 1985, p. 40.
Excerpted from A Generation Betrayed by Eamonn Keane. Available from Amazon.com.
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