Las Casas: In Search of the Poor of Jesus Christ

710 Pages·1993·20.857 MB·English

by  Gustavo Gutiérrez, Robert R. Barr

LAS CASAS
Gustavo Gutierrez ·
LAS CASAS
In Search of the Poor of
Jesus Christ
Gustavo Gutierrez
ORBIS/ISBN 0-88344-838-6
"Christ did not die for Gold." -Las Casas
In this passionate work, the pioneering
author of A Theology of Liberation delves
into the life, thought, and contemporary
meaning of Bartolome de Las Casas, six
teenth-century Dominican priest, prophet,
m
and "Defender of the Indians" the New
World. Writing against the backdrop of the
fifth centenary of the conquest of the Amer
icas, Gutierrez seeks in the remarkable fig
ure of Las Casas the roots of a different
history and a gospel uncontaminated by
force and exploitation.
Las Casas, who arrived in the New World
in 1502, underwent a conversion after wit
nessing the injustices inflicted on the Indi
ans. Proclaiming that Jesus Christ was
being crucified in the poor, he went on to
spend a lifetime challenging the Church
and the Empire of his day. His voluminous
writings, along with those of his numerous
adversaries, provide the substance for
Gutierrez's reflections.
What emerges is both a prophet of unques
tioned courage and a theologian of remark
able depth, whose vision continues to set
in relief the challenge of the gospel in a
world of injustice. Not only did Las Casas
point the way to such contemporary themes
as the church's "preferential option for the
poor" and the denunciation of "social sin,''
but he anticipated by centuries the princi
ples of religious freedom, the rights of con
science, and the salvation of non
Christians, articulated at Vatican II.
By affirming the full humanity of the Indian,
Las Casas set himself in passionate oppo
sition to the wars of conquest and the brutal
exploitation of the encomienda system.
These were supposedly justified by the
Indians' inferiority as well as the need to
force their submission to the Christian faith.
Las Casas charged that the Indians were
human beings, entitled to full human rights;
going further, he identified them with the
poor of the Gospel, and ultimately Christ
himself. Arguing that persuasion and dia
logue were the only legitimate way of
spreading the gospel, he regarded as scan
dalous and sacrilegious any effort to extend
Christianity through force or coercion. As
salvation in Christ was strictly bound up
with the establishment of social justice, Las
Casas charged that it was the salvation of
the Spanish Christians, rather than of these
"infidels,'' that was in peril.
Through the poor of his time, Las Casas
was moved to rediscover the radical chal
lenge of the gospel. Gutierrez writes from a
similar location and with a similar pathos.
Far from a dry exercise in historical retrieval,
Las Casas represents the author's most
recent effort to articulate the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in our own world and time,
now as then marked by oppression as well
as the struggle for liberation.
Gustavo Gutierrez, a native of Lima, Peru,
was educated in Lima, Chile, and Europe
and was ordained in 1959. In his work,
Gutierrez's theological training is joined
with his experience of living and working
among the poor of Rimac, a Lima slum,
where he also founded and directs the Bar
tolome de Las Casas Center. He is profes
sor of theology at the Catholic University in
Lima and advisor to the National Union of
Catholic Students. His books include the
classic A Theology of Liberation, The Power
of the Poor in History, We Drink from Our
Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a Peo
ple, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of
the Innocent, and The God of Life.
Cover design by Brian Germain
Cover art by Robert Lentz
DRBISOBOOKS
Maryknoll, New York 10545
"Las Casas saw in the Indian, in this "other," this one-different-from-the
Westerner, the poor one of the·gospel, and ultimately Christ himself. This
is without a doubt the very key to the_L ascasian spirituality and theology
... The right to life and liberty, the right to be different, the perspective
.o f the poor - these are intimately connected notions in the experience
our friar has of the God of Jesus Christ, in whom he believes with all his
strength . . . Despite the obvious distance between historical contexts,
Bartolome's commitment constitutes a challenge for us today ...
"We have no intention of positing facile equations between eras
endowed each with its own coordinates and personality. But neither must
we fail to perceive the points of contact between them or the teachings
that we can gather from the past ...
"Part of this memory means acknowiedging our responsibility in what
the poor have always had to suffer. The Christian manner of assuming
this responsibility is to beg humble forgiveness from God and the victims
of history for our complicity, explicit, or tacit, past and present, as indi
viduals and as a church. To ask to be forgiven expresses a will to change
in our behavior and reasserts the obligation of being an efficacious sign
in the history of the Reign of love and justice. It is not a fixation on the
past. It is a step toward the future."
- Gustavo Gutierrez
ISBN 0~88344-838-6
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LAS CASAS
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LAS CA SAS
IN SEARCH OF THE POOR
OF JESUS CHRIST
Gustavo Gutierrez
Translated by Robert R. Barr
ORBIS BOOKS
Maryknoll, New York 10545
The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll) recruits and
trains people for overseas rnissionary service. Through Orbis Books, Mary
knoll aims to foster the international dialogue that is essential to mission.
The books published, huweve1~ reßect the opinions of their uuthors und arc
not meant to represent the official position of the society.
Originally published as En Busca de los Pobres de jesucristo, copyright © 1992
by the Jnstituto Bartolomc de las Casas-Rimac, Ricardu Bt!uliu 763, Aparlado
3090, Lima 25, Peru, and the Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones (CEP),
Lampa 808, Of. 601, Apartado 6118, Lima, Peru.
English translation copyright © 1993 by Orbis Books
Published in the United States by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 10545
Manufactured in the United Stales of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Queries regarding rights and permissions should be addresscd to: Orbis
Books, P.O. Box 308, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0308
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gutierrez, Gustavo, 1928-
[En busca de los pobres de Jesucristo. English]
Las Casas : in search of the poor of Jesus Christ / Gustavo
Gutierrez ; translated by Robert R. Barr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-88344-838-6
1. Casas, Bartolome de las, 1474-1566. 2. Indians, Treatment of
Latin America. 3. Missions-Latin America-History. 4. Spain
Colonies-Latll1 America. 5. Liberation theology. 1. Titlc.
F1411.G97913 1993
282'.092-dc20 93-42517
CIP