The Catholic Liberation Theologians of Latin America have made an international impression on both Christian and broader secular assessments of the problem of oppression and poverty since their rise in the 1960s. Their influence has become so globally recognizable that “Liberation Theology” is understood in particular doctrinal and practical ways so much so that Ibrahim Abu-Rabiʿ used this label to describe Muslim Shiʿi leader Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah in his book Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World. However, in this chapter, Abu-Rabiʿ leaves the meaning of “Liberation Theology” within an unspoken, implicit comparison, never referencing or overtly comparing Fadlallah to any of the Latin American Christian sources. Since Abu-Rabiʿ, other scholars have made similarly casual comparisons between the Catholic Liberation Theologians and Shiʿi revolutionary intellectual Ali Shariati of Iran and other modern Muslim religious leaders.
These comparisons, although lacking explicit analysis, do strike me as warranted and productive. I aim to make those comparisons explicit. In doing so, I have set out to find characteristics that are shared between several paradigmatic thinkers, namely Catholic priest Gustavo Gutiérrez and Shiʿi Muslim revolutionary Ali Shariati. My goal is to create a loose framework by which we can characterize “liberation theology” or a “liberation ethic” that will allow for interreligious comparison between followers of these two traditions, and possibly into other traditions. Through the creation of this framework, my goal is to differentiate a type of ethic or theology (“liberation”) from other kinds of theology and/or other religiously motivated, politically active, social movements. The framework would also allow for rich comparison with multiple kinds of analysis: theological, ethical, exegetical, sociological, etc.
The framework that I will propose has two main components: 1) a theory of oppression, and, 2) a focus on praxis. A theory of oppression is central to identifying “liberation” as a type of theology or ethics. It is the thinkers’ articulation of that which they are offering liberation from. This will include theologically-founded interpretations of salvation history – God’s activity in human history – but it will most certainly also contain a critique of the concrete status quo that they believe creates the conditions of domination. Given different thinkers and contexts, the exact nature of the oppression has differences, but it will always take the form of social, political, and economic oppression in them all, most notably in post-colonial contexts.
The second feature of this framework is a focus on praxis. Liberation, more than anything else, describes a kind of theology or ethics that is concerned with action that changes the concrete conditions of the oppressed. However, this isn’t simply a social movement of activism. Praxis refers to action that is founded on serious, materialist reflection on the shared experience of oppression and the theological interpretations of that experience. As with the theory of oppression, praxis, and its experiential epistemology, can take different forms but the insistence on changing the concrete conditions of oppression is central to their ethical reflection.
In presenting this framework, I will provide examples of its usefulness for comparison using two figures: Gustavo Gutiérrez and Ali Shariati. Gutiérrez was a Peruvian Catholic priest who acted as one of the main voices in the development of Liberation Theology in Latin America. His major work, A Theology of Liberation, as well as his known contributions to the major theological treatises of the Latin American Conference of Bishops (CELAM), positions his work as central to understanding and comparing liberation theology and ethics. Gutiérrez describes his major interpretive lens as a “liberation-oppression axis” that is used to analyze human history and God’s action in that history. Of importance is his understanding of history as a process of human liberation and God’s place in that being both spiritual and concrete, liberation from sin as both a spiritual and a structural reality. Salvation, for Gutiérrez, is both a promise of a future after life as well as a call for a realization of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Ali Shariati was an Iranian, Shiʿi Muslim who acted as one of the ideological, revolutionary leaders who helped mobilize Iranians against Western imperialism and the authoritarian regime of the Shah. Shariati’s view of Islam is one of an “ideology and a social revolution,” that mirrors God’s concern with revolutionary justice on earth. Monotheism unifies all humanity under God against a polytheism that divides humans into arbitrary echelons, allowing for injustice and oppression. Shiʿism is the extension of this monotheism that rejects the temporary victories of tyranny in human history, looking towards a future where those who have been unjustly defeated are redeemed by God, just as he redeems the martyred family of the Prophet.
Both Gutiérrez’s and Shariati’s theories of oppression culminate in concrete critique of Western neo-imperialism and capitalism. Both men openly endorsed concrete social transformation, starting with consciousness production among the poor and oppressed and potentially leading to the use of force and even martyrdom. Through these two examples, I suggest that this framework can provide productive interreligious comparison, especially when describing how liberation guides ethical reflection and activism. This project aims to substantiate these comparisons and perhaps provide more opportunities for imagining what a liberation ethic might include.
“Liberation Theology” is still in its infancy stages of interreligious comparison and is predominantly understood solely in a Christian context. Even still, scholars are noticing similarities between Christians and Muslims, referring to some as “Islamic Liberation Theologians.” These comparisons are often without developing or defining what makes them “liberation.” In this paper, I will present a two-part framework that allows scholars to identify a type of theology or ethic as “liberation.” The first component of the framework is a theory of oppression, often in terms of salvation history and political oppression. The second component is a focus on praxis, the serious reflection on shared experiences of oppression that leads to the material liberation of the oppressed. To substantiate this framework, I will provide examples from two paradigmatic figures in Christianity and Islam: Gustavo Gutiérrez – Latin American Catholic priest – and Ali Shariati – Shia Muslim revolutionary.