Gutiérrez, Gustavo (1928–)

Gustavo Gutiérrez is a Roman Catholic priest and theologian of liberation. His voluminous writings, his crucial influence in shaping key church pronouncements, and his pastoral work among the poor have exemplified the liberative potential in Christian discipleship. This potential is epitomized in Gutiérrez's advocacy of a preferential option for the poor.

Born in Lima, Perú, Gutiérrez experienced poverty and severe illness as a child. He studied medicine for 3 years before entering the seminary. Recognized for his keen intellect, Gutiérrez was sent to Europe for studies in philosophy, psychology, and theology. Ordained to the priesthood in 1959, he returned to Lima to take up parish and university work.

The signal event of the 1960s in the Catholic Church was the Second Vatican Council. From 1962 to 1965, the bishops of the church vindicated a new, constructive engagement with the modern world initiated, by and large, among the laity and lower levels of the hierarchy. Recognizing the revolutionary temper of the times, the Latin American bishops convened in 1968, in Medellín, Colombia, to address the specific challenges of their continent in light of Vatican II. Already in Latin America, reappraisal of modernity was well under way. In particular, social scientists articulated a radical critique of programs for economic development: They analyzed development as an elite cooptation of resources which the poor and excluded majorities could be using to achieve, instead, liberation from the inhuman conditions in which they lived.

Gutiérrez proposed a theology of liberation in a 1968 address. This it seems is the first use of the term anywhere. Soon after, Gutiérrez was deeply involved at Medellín, advising the bishops. Moreover, his work with students gave him intimate acquaintance with their hopes for a new kind of future. Among his parishioners, he nurtured and celebrated the dignity denied them in society. All of this fitted him to give voice to arguably the most important movement in Christian social engagement of the 20th century.

His systematic exposition of a theology of liberation, published in 1971, loosed controversy at home and abroad. Indeed, Gutiérrez's orthodoxy was investigated during the 1980s by the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Yet Gutiérrez's personal example and the ideas that reflect it have been absorbed and emulated not only by Christians but by Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and many others.

Central to Gutiérrez's life and work is his conviction that divine love shows special concern for those who are victimized by any and all barriers to fellowship with others and with God. This symbol, God's preferential option for the poor, is a key to retrieving—and advancing—a history in which human beings realize freedom ever more fully. Thus, the liberation of persons marginalized in society—economically, politically, and otherwise—is continuous with religious salvation.

Liberation theologians have been accused of simplistic utopianism. Yet Gutiérrez's profound elaboration of a simultaneously political and mystical interpretation of Christianity is rooted in the long-suffering of the poor through terrorism, exploitation, and international neglect.