JM Bonino, Revolutionary Theology Comes of Age

Chapter 5 – Hermeneutics, Truth and Praxis, pp. 86-105

p. 86

Charge of ideologisation leveled at lib theo =>

p. 87

Pedro Arana: ‘In the ideology of ISAL, God is translated by revolution’

p. 88

What is truth and what is its relation to the Gospel?

Lib theo rejects notion of truth as its own complete universe that is simply copied or
reproduced in correct propositions, or “any logos which is not a logos of praxis” (Assmann)

=> ‘there is no truth outside or beyond the concrete historical events in which men are
involved as agents’ – ‘no knowledge except in action itself, in the process of transforming
the world through participation in history’

p. 89

‘Faith is always a concrete obedience which relies on God’s promise and is vindicated in the
act of obedience’ (e.g. Abraham offering his son, Moses stepping into the Red Sea)

‘the faith of Israel is consistently portrayed, not as a gnosis, but as a way’ => ‘Faith is a
“walking”

p. 91

‘Every interpretation of the texts which is offered to us (whether as exegesis or as

systematic or as ethical interpretation) must be investigated in relation to the praxis out of
which it comes’
=> this is where the instruments created by the two modern masters in critical thought
(Freud and Marx) are useful

‘we cannot receive the theological interpretation coming from the rich world without
suspecting it and, therefore, asking what kind of praxis it supports, reflects, or legitimizes’

Marx and Freud help to uncover these, by denouncing God as an ideological construction
through which the inability to deal human, historical and material reality is disguised

p. 95

Every form of praxis articulates a view of reality

Assumption of Marxism not to do with abstract or eternal theory or dogmatic formulae, but
with scientific analysis and verifiable hypotheses

p. 96

Dialectical materialism and historical materialism often conceived as a metaphysical theory

– thus immediately conflicts with or rivals Christianity

Many Christians refuse elements of Marxism (class struggle etc), instead asserting “ethical
principles” – on other extreme, Marxism is assumed in absolute terms and as dogma and
Christian identity is lost

=>but a third way is possible – recognizes concrete and specific form of analysis is necessary
for Christian obedience, and that that analysis cannot be neutral and uncommitted
(pretense to be objective) because descriptive views take present reality as normative

p. 103

1) Reading of Gospels and history always a synthetic act - ‘Obedience is not found as
the conclusion of a syllogism but in the prophetic word of discernment received in
faith’
2) Cannot accept direct historical correspondence in either law or precedent – no direct
political conclusions derived from Jesus’ relationship to the Zealots

One must read the ‘direction’ of biblical text – Gospel points ‘to certain directions which
such concepts as liberation, righteousness, shalom, the poor, love help us to define’
Chapter 6 – Love, Reconciliation and Class Struggle, pp. 106-131

Chapter 8 – Church, People and the Avant Garde, pp. 154-174