Gustavo Gutierrez: Essential Writings

I love this book for many of the same reasons listed in the other positive reviews. It presents an oft-neglected expression of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians: that practical outpouring of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that ensures that all who are hungry have good food to eat, all who are thirsty have clean water to drink, all who are tired have a safe place to rest, all who are sick have access to healing, and all who are oppressed have a pathway to freedom. This is not “the social gospel”, it is “the gospel.” To pretend that all Jesus cares about is what happens after we do is to miss the bulk of what he taught and said.Having said all that, can we please do something about all the typos in the kindle edition of this book? I’m pretty sure Gutierrez was talking about a “fork in the road”, not a “fork in the toad” as pictured below at location 874 of 7220.

While the content is excellent (and I'm sure the print version would be likewise), the conversion process to Kindle version was done very poorly. Throughout, the OCR apparently has misread the letters, creating the types of typos that are common results of OCRs (e.g., "Lc" instead of "he"). This book was clearly not proofread and fixed after the conversion process.This is surely not an issue at all with the print version.

What a superb manner of treating how politics tries to manipulate even GOD and how evilhas no boundries. But at the same time it shows the courage of the saints both lay-and ecclesiasticalin the face of the fundamental option for the poorI definitely recommend it for others ( Especially as an eye-opener to the naive)

The book is in excellent condition. There were no scratches or marks or words written, it looks like a library book.

This is an edited review. Previously I gave it 5 stars in a humanist spirit. But a few years later looking backward, I have to admit its heresy. I ask anyone who read this and was mislead for forgiveness.Liberation theology does not point the reader or follower toward Jesus of Nazareth for forgiveness of sin and renewal of the spirit. Instead it is based on economics and social justice. We need social justice in this world, but what is most needful is the holy spirit, fixing our broken souls and bodies, and coming to know Jesus. Jesus came so that we might have life, not money. Of course, compassion and social justice should flow from those who know Jesus, but they are not ultimate aims. Jesus is that aim.Those who do not know the holy spirit will think that this book is needful in a world where it just seems like the rich are getting richer and wealth inequality is spiraling out of control. Their lamentation is probably justified. But the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity is Christ, not social justice. The poor did listen to Christ more than the rich, but only because they were free from the clutter and glut and distraction that wealth is.Liberation theology is in short communism in a religious dimension. In my experience with the poor, being poor doesn't make you automatically have better character. We still have problems. We still have flaws. Being poor is simply living without the clutter of a life of constant stimulation by wealth and the objects money can buy.I liked this book, because it brings up many controversial claims, and it discusses how mainstream churchgoers and mainstream churchianity has forgotten their love for brothers and sisters and mothers and sons and daughters who are poor. But the deepest aim of this theology isn't Christian. It's secular. It's based on money, still. The cure for social and economic disparities isn't some program or institution; it's Christ. Those who really know Him will take steps in that direction at His guidance.

This volume on the works of Gustavo Gutierrez is part of a series by Fortress Press entitled 'the Making of Modern Theology: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Texts'. Each of the volumes in the series focuses upon one particular theologian of note. These volumes are of use to students, seminarians, ministers and other readers interested in the development of theological ideas in the modern and postmodern world. Each volume is a reader of key texts from the theologian highlighted - the text entries are annotated a bit by the editors, and the editor of each volume provides an introduction setting the general stage for context and understanding.Editor James Nickoloff describes Gutierrez as being a theologian of liberation -- indeed, the advent of liberation theology in the twentieth century is one of the most dynamic and pervasive (and, at times, controversial) movements in theology in generations. Gutierrez is at the forefront of this movement. Gutierrez's theology of liberation rests on faith, hope and love, the traditional Pauline triad, but with radically different conclusions.Gutierrez is a priest of the Roman Catholic church in Peru -- many of the early leaders in liberation theology came from the Latin American countries, and many from the Roman Catholic faith. In the poverty and oppression of the people in these countries, both by foreign and domestic corporations and by the governmental/military authorities, the need for liberation was born. In the lack of appropriate response from the wealthy and powerful church hierarchy (Roman Catholicism is by far the dominant religious institution in Latin America), the call for a pastoral and theological response grew from the base communities.Gutierrez takes full advantage of the history of theology, including major works by twentieth-century theologians. In Gutierrez one hears echoes (directly and indirectly) of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Rahner, Paul Tillich and others -- however, he looks for concrete action in the social sphere that impacts communities rather than concentrating on individuals. Gutierrez also embraces a concept that makes many in the established church and theological strands uneasy -- the preferential option for the poor. Nickoloff includes a text in which Gutierrez discusses this in each part -- what is meant by 'preference', what is meant by 'option', and what is meant by 'poor'.Gutierrez does not see liberation theology as just a political or social movement; in discussing St. John of the Cross, he states that without prayer, contemplation, meditation and study, one cannot have an authentic Christian life. However, this same holds true for the action in the world, and in community -- without this, there is no authentic Christian expression. Gutierrez addresses this new framework of the preferential option for the poor and the call for action toward liberation in the classic systematic theological topics -- ecclesiology, soteriology, eschatology, etc.Nickoloff pulls together texts from the wide range of Gutierrez's work in a thematic arrangement which includes portions of all of Gutierrez's major works, many articles and lectures, and places them chronologically within the topics.Each volume in this series also has a selected bibliography section -- this one for Gutierrez is divided into two sections -- major works by Gutierrez in English, and secondary scholarship on Gutierrez in English. The book is not well indexed, compared to other volumes in this series, but it is still a serviceable one. This is a very good book for scholarship. Much of Gutierrez's work is in Spanish (as is evidenced by the bibliography); some of his work was in English -- thus, some of the work here is in translation.

good