The Body of Christ: The Claim of the Crucified People on U.S. Theology and Ethics

Transcription

1 Journl of Hispnic / Ltino Theology Volume 5 Number 4 Article The Body of Christ: The Clim of the Crucified People on US Theology nd Ethics Robert Lsslle-Klein Jesuit School of Theology t Berkeley Follow this nd dditionl works t: Recommended Cittion Robert Lsslle-Klein, The Body of Christ: The Clim of the Crucified People on US Theology nd Ethics, Journl of Hispnic / Ltino Theology 5:4 (My 1998) This Article is brought to you for free nd open ccess by USF Scholrship: digitl Gleeson Librry Geschke Center It hs been ccepted for inclusion in Journl of Hispnic / Ltino Theology by n uthorized editor of USF Scholrship: digitl Gleeson Librry Geschke Center For more informtion, plese contct repository@usfcedu

2 historicl, rzor: " The 80th) of (florl 4L) lhl l viii, 5:4 (mm The Body of Christ: The Clim of the Crucified People on US Theology nd Ethics Robert Lsslle-chin Jesuit School of Theology t Berkeley Grdute lheologicl Union How do we tlk bout (Sod fter Auschwitz? you sk yourselves, over there, on the other side, of the se, in plenty How do we tlk bout (iod ingitio Auschwitz? sk my friends here, lden with reson, weeping nd blood, immersed in the dily deths ofmillions Mljeclro Csldélig Among so mny Sigm which lwys exist, some clling for ttention nd others brely perceptible, them is in every time one which is the principle one, by whose light the other should be discerned nd inter~ preted This Sign is lwys the historiclly crucifiedpeople, which joins to its permnence the, lwys distinctive historicl form of itscrucifi» lun mlgncio Ellcurid This essy will ddress the clim of the historicl relity of the cru- nd ethics s it 1:; done in the cified people of El Slvdor on theology United Sttes, in prt one I will explin the ide of the crucified people, grounding the concept in the historicl relity of the crucified people of El Mozote, El Slvdor, nd interpreting its mening with reference to governing theologicl concept: the reign of God The entire discussion will be offered s soteriologicl nrrtive exemplifying re- l edro (Tmirlélig, I odiwir wins pltmzs (Estell, 1989) 45 Quoted in ion Sobrino, Mus the lilmt utor: A Ht llllr rthifitlngi ilrowing0/7051 :ofnilznmlh, trins Pul Burm nd Frncis McDonngh (Mrylsnoll, NY; Orbis Books, W93) 253 2ignrio Ellruri, "Dicemir elsigno de los tiempo, Dilroni 17 (Jmi: ry/april, 1981)?)7-"1, mrkble nd profound overrching horizon of Christin historicl re» lism, In prt two I will develop n outline of forml philmophiml nd theologicl concept of the Christin historicl relism tht hs procluch this importnt new concept of the crucified peoples, it will use the concept of Christin historicl relism to interpret the importnt clims which the crucified people plce on theology nd ethics; Prt One: The l-listoricl leity Milli"Crurij irvlpeople nd Hit" RikiinofGoiil Tm?l ilsl tmitcal RMiirr or ii it} Cirur 1) Po Mi: in 1978 lgncio Ellcuri introd int i new ide for theology, spiritulity nd ethics in his esoy The Crucitiori People: An y in Historicl Soteriology He turns to the figure of the suffering servnt from Second lsih on which the primitive Christin community fristenecl in order to understnd )esus deth And he rgues "this entitles; us to use the imge to otter christologiml interprettion not only of "the deth of Iesus," but of the crucified people, which he defines s tht vst portion of humnkind, which is literlly nd ctully crucified by nturl, nd personl opp om ticuri lso reminds us of the disturbing, fct tht their ongoing crucifixion hs been defining spect of "the, relity of the world in which the church hs existed for lmost two thousnd yers, llitemllyl Since lows nnounced the pproch of the Reign ofgod, This imge of the crucified people now ppers in vrious forms in theologicl writings from throughout the Third World John Wliggo, writing n Africn Christology in Sitution ofsutiering, gks, "Who is Christ to the suffering people ofafric? In his study of Ugndn seminrins he finds "informnts str ssecl the Suffering Servnt who experienced suffering nd silently suffers with ll his, igncio illliictiri, "The (i rutitieti People il/lzrstvriimi lilimirimm {Mry knoll, NY; Ortiis Books, 1993) 55!) 604 trnslted from "1-1! pueblo crucihcrlo, ensyo de soteriologihistorin, Cruz y Rcwl is, ed lgncio ii llticuriii et t, (Mexico City:Cl R, l978) 4932 Aln inselt it» 5 ll Hugh! 71» (Willi) 3254i; Kc» vist Llimmmerirnu (trl eologtiz 18 (1989) 30 de lo iglriiiiii Rin de Dios (Sn Slvclo CA Editores, W84 o2, nd in the Spnish edition oi MySti rz um libemtm dor: UCA Editoi es, i990) Ellcuri, "The ( rucit ied People, 592, 7 ibid,, 580, njohn M, Wtiliggo, "Airlmn (hrisiology m Sitution oi Britten [(5 in Afric, Utiv Robert Schreitor (Mdryknoll, NY; Orbh Books, 19%, 1995 lh- 80, lhicli, 164,

3 i {which} The, the,, both force "Suffcring, Mornmn, Sll [\ olwrl Lizsmlli» Klein The Body(ll/Christ 51 children, é This leds him to crit,- "clssic christology," which tends to Shy from relting, tochrist s deth the diiily nd women, for filing to drw out prcticl nd concrete deths of men wys which Chri, m son live nd her witneos to thischristology An~ other Africn, Kwesi A Dickson, criticizes W«item theology for treting deth s n emhrmsmient to be p ed over s quickly possible" He is working to develop n Africn theology of the cm Writing lrom Seoul, Kore, Chung liyun Kyuni,r sserts tht the most previling imge of Jesus mong Asin women/s theologicl expressions is the imge ol the suffering servnt," sserting tht they re mking mening out of their suffering through the stories of Jesus life nd deth" She dds criticl note, sserting tht Asin women re well wre, tht "mking mening out of suffering is dngeroub businvss cn be both seed [or lihorrion nd n, opium for i,opprossion" Kosuke Koym, originlly from jpn nd ii leding figure in Asin Christin theology, drws ttention to the fct tht "the dominnt relity of Anin suffering is tht people re wnted: wsted by hunger, torture, deprivtion of rightg; wsted by economic exploit» lion, rcil nd ethnic discrimintion, eexul suppression wsted by loneliness, nonreltion, noncommunity l2 He quotes the blxth Assm hly of the Christin Conference of Asi (June 1977): hi this sitution we begin by stting tht people re not to be wsted, people re vluble, mde ingod s iingo And he, rgues, li person is strved, the living imge of (Sod is wsted empty stomch mens n insult to the imge oigod H Finlly, describing "Imus Christ in PopulrI iety in the Philip pines/ l Slvdor T, Mrtinez :r, To ntion, 70 percent of whose people live in bsolute poverty, conotcmtly mcndced by hunger nd disese, hy ignornce nd te», dcprived of eduction nd other bsic rights, where the, gp between the poor nd the, rich is ever widening, who do we my (, lirisl is?"" His nswer i5 to describe how Filipinos lbid,, 176, lbid, 168 Kwoi A, lilirkson, fllimlovyi; Afrim {Mri/knoll, NY; ()rbis Bot 1984? lm lb ( \iled in Robert Schreitcr, "lnlri iduction, 5 (#1851 in Afric, 7- (hung Hyun Kyung, Who l u; for A, n Women? Asin lcc,» oflesiis, ccl R S Sugirthrjh (Mr), knoll, N lrbl Sooks, 1993, WW5) 22-1, 3 hosoke Koymim, The Cruci Christ Chllenng Humn Power, Asin, 156,, 157, lvdor T, Mrtinez, lesus Christ in Populrl ioty in the Philippines, of lws, A ll)ld, 250 in hve repproprited nd incultumted trditionl imges from the culturl world of their Christin colonizcrb in order to drw ctive nlo gies between their own sitution of oppression nd tht of Jesus: lii Ltin Americ, Jon Sobrino/s recent work is thoroughly shped by wht he clls the miloglum primers between the deths of Jo nd the "cruci ed people"m His most recent christology, written in the midst of crucifixion, but definitely in the hope of libertion," rr gues tht libertion nd crucifixion provide the, bsic tension for Christin fith nd leo the bsic objective, tension in chi" tology on thiscontinent, {7 But he sserts tht it is the power of the historicl relity itself, which hs turned the ttention of Ltin Americn libertion theology towrd the crucified people in Ltin Americ, And their crosi 5 Christ nd the continent re tody crucified one to think The reltively pcific who do you sy tht I m?" becom % pressing question in the mouth of the cm cified Christ nd of the crucified people precede, k: mg, gid Feuerhch, but the suffering ot the ct lso hit hly produces thinking, if the Sitution of cm 1d poop nd of(fhri t inthem» does not force us to think, one cn sk wht will, or wht other thinking cn be more necessry nd urgent thn this? We turn for moment, then, to on gze the historicl relity of specific event of the crucifixion of the Slvdorn people We fich to locte our plce in the drm t the foot of their cross, The Historicl lez ti/ ofllze Crucificd Peopleof 7!Mozolr nd Our Plce t the Foot of Their Cross The events which occurred in the villge of iil Mozotc, Morzn, on December 10 nd ll, 1981, nd the weeks following, form hortv breking microcosm of the historicl relity of ElSolvclor s crucified people nd our plce iii the foot of their cro o, On Mrch l5, 1993, the United Ntions Commission on the Truth for El Slvdor issued its report From Mdness to Hope: The Twelwli 4 Wr in 15! Slvdor, l he report summrizes the brutl fcts of the cse: On December ltl, 1981, in the villge, [El ilvdor] of El Mozo Atlctl Bttlion detined, Without r is tni e, ll the men, women nd children who were in the plce, The following cly, Sobrino, [ex s the Libertor, 270 l, lhlbidv l " lbid, 3

4 filed L, they i [with] Slvdor, minim 52 (<01er 1ussnliv» Kim:,,,, l)ecomher ll, were delibertely nd sygtemdliclly executed over 200 The gure it; higher unidentified victims,w The repori provides hertbreking detil ofsoldiers svgery: During the morning, they [the troops! proceeded to interrogte torture nd execute the men in vrious loctions, Around noon, they begn tlking; out the women in groupe, seprting them from their children nd mchinegunning them Finlly they killed the Children A group of children who hd been locked in the convent were mchine-gunned through the window After extormiimtiiig the entire popultion, the soldiers set fire to the building The Commissioners dd tht the msscre ws plnned with other militry unite s prt of Opertion Resl!e,"" which proceeded for period of dys to crry out similr slughters of women nd children in the surrounding villges of [V Joy, L Rncheri, hosl oriles, Jocote Amrillo, nd Cerro l ndo They note the Armed Forces High Commnd of Slvdor then repetedly denied the msscre occurre while its own chief of stll, who ws; wre tht the msscre hd 00, curred, to undertke nyirivecitiy;lion 72 The widely repecied UN Truth Commi Qion report then explicitly links these {11:15th s to US, counterinsurgency policy, it explins, tht the Atlctl Bit lion ws Rpid Deployment infntry Bttlion (BIRI) specilly trined for counter i surgency wrfre, It ws the first unit of its kind in the rmed forces nd hd [just] completed its trining, under the supervision of United Sttes militry dvisers, t the beginning of tht yer, 1981? The report explicitly contrdicts ny impression tht Mozote might hve been n berrtion ofmili try policy restricted to the erly 19805, noting tht, lmost decde lter in 1989, members; of the very sme bttlion crried out the murtiers of sixjesuitb nd two women t the University lcél of Centrl Amer~ A 1991 report prepred by the Rnd Corportion for the Pentgon24 is even more ingistent on these points, tilted Ntions (iomm r lrwlw-ymr Wr it " lhid, HS " lhiri id, l2l vitl, lib " 3* Benjmin (: hwm z, Americn Conmyrmsu gmcy Doctrine nd El Slvdor: The Frustrtions of Rrgy om: m! My lllmiom of Ntion Building (Snt Monic, Clif; RAND, 1991) m on the Truth for lil Slvdor, From Mdness to lzmdor (Mrch 15, 1993)114 The BodynfChrisl 53 The very bttlion whobe members murdered the lesulix [oi the Univerity of Centrl Americn in liltw] hd been treted, trined, nd equipped by the United Sttes; it ws, indeed, the first Slvdorn bttlion designed to serve s; model of A thn ottlcient wepon in the tight ginst the l MiN The Atlmtl Bttlion hs hd prtlrulrly ferocious history, mg wring, {over 200] pesnte in ill Mo/ote in Will, killing dozens of villgers from lemiucingo nd Coppyo in l983, nd slughtering 68 in the hmlet of ins llnitos nd 50 t the (,itilsing River in1984? The Pentgon report, however, reches; further in situting the ctivities of the Atlctl Bttlion within the lrger horizon of US counterin surgericy policy, The writer explins tht the Regn Administrtion hd decided the Slvdorn Civil wr n provided idel testing ground 7 for testing theetiectiveneg of pthiemm "lowclntensity conflict doctrine, * But the seriou, nd intentionlity ot the US, government s involvement in this lgbll counterinsurgency "experi ment went fr beyond the sttus of mere dministrtion policy "this is best cptured by El Slvdor 5 decde of dominnce mong, toreign id commitments between 1981 nd lwl, The 1991 Pentgon re port sttes: The con ict there h» been the mot cxpent n ll from rm insur renc since Vietnm, Y b ) Amorimn eltort to hve hs ubtyorlved t FMLN is n cronym for the Fmbuurlo Mrti From for Ntionul Libertion, it ws officilly turmed on October it}, 1980, when eveml ot the mom importnt politicdlvmililry orgniztions working to overthrow the government of illstil Vdor united under its bnner, in 1970 the firm of wht would bect lme the live politl militry orgniztiom constituting the FMLN ws founded when 9 [- yzidor CyetnoCm pio resigned from the Cominun Prty of ill Slvdor (l CS), went underground, nd founded the Populr For of l ortion (H Ll In 1972 the Revolutionry Army of the People(ERT ) emerged from the Cormmmi-t Prty with different, younger, nd more dive, r comtitueucy in 1975 the Armed Forces of the Ntionl Resiutnce (FARM) ws formed by group which left the ERP when hrd line fction ssssinted Roun Dlton, lglslvridor s mom importnt living poet (then member of the [5l ), ostensibly becuse of l on the need to emphsize politiel s well 5 militry revolutionry trcti, _ following yer, on jnury 26, 1976, the Revolutionry Prty of Centrl Americn Workers (PRTC) ws founded during emigre of union workers, indivir: left the group which founded the ERP in {72, nd others Finlly, in 1979, {self formed the Armed Forces of Libertion (FA Ll "t Schwrl, Americh ( mmtmnymgency, 7t 2"l w l mbts n "rnk Aker, Shttering the V tnm ivndrome: A Ste nrio for Succes in Fl lvdor," unpublished mm pt, ll, ( ted in Michel Klre nd Peter Kornhiuh, eds, Low, [Him-iry Wr/ll irgmry, l mimurguilty nd Antiturmrism in (hr Eighties ( few York: hndout l luuse, W88) ill, BKSthwrz, Americn Cr>untvrmsuqycnry, l

5 ws, six r * 54 Robert LssnlloKle m the le $15 billion, over $1 billion of which l ; in militry nd When combined with over $850 million in unsubsidized credits nd n entimteti CIA investment of over {55th million, the totl expenditum pproches $6 billion Only five countries lt t k th more Americn id ech yer thn li ilvudor, ntion of 5,3 million people, This bckground, then, llows m to locte ourselves t the foot of em of the crucified children of [Ll Mozote In 1993 the UN, Truth Comm xon would report tht in the convent "M3 bodies were iden», titled, including 13} children under the ge of 12 [whose] ge The, report documents tht they verge hd ll been murdered with United Sttes-mnufctured M-16 rifles firing mmunition "mnufctured for the United Sttes Government t Lke City, Missouri? if nothing else, these fcts should leve US citizens wondering bout the clim of the historicl relity of the crucified people, of El Slvdor on theology nd ethics s it is done in this country, [on Sbrin on the: llinmriml Relity if [h Cruci nd Puplv nd the Kingdom of God l ni CRUCIl- IHJ [moi-hr: A l-loieriier; FACT In "The Crucified People: Yhweh s Suffering Servnt Tody, 1992 es y written for the five hundred yer nniversry of the rrivl of the Spnish in the Americs, Ion Sohrino clims most pproprite strtii 3 point for tlking bout the crucified peoples (given the occsion), lo sserts tht when the historicl relity of the crucified people shows us wht we re, we tend to ignore it, cover it or up, distort it, becuse it simply terrifies Lier Plying on the metphor of the discovery of the Americs, he, then proposes to "strt by dis-covering thecovercd up relity of our world? He finds lgncioellucurid s provoctive phrse tht cretion hs turned out bdly forcow i ont irmed by horrifying economic dt: {mm 1971 to 1990 the number of Ltin Americns living in poverty in- } ion Roport, H7 (+3354), 8 (#357), H") (#366) l he (Trucltied Peoples: Yhwehs Suffering, Servnt lody," The Principle QfMrcy: king the Crimi r dpmplefmm thy Cris: (Mri/knoll, NY; Urhi Books 1994,l 5 lted from Ell riuripio Mi» mli: Bruin (it In mix (s pueblo» rm sy ppers in revised nd e Sobriuo, (rucitieil Peoples, 40, lbid, The? BodyofChrisi 55 cresed from 7i to 183 millioni Since tho poor re those who die ~ before their time, s Gustvo (Jutiorrez repetedlysyg, Sobrino rea minds us tht these sttistics represent the suffering of hundredr of millions of men, women, nd children So too both john Pul ll (8olluiir twin mi socilis, 1987) nd Ltin Americn bishops confirm the relity of "the sitution of inhumn poverty in which millions of Ltin Americns live (Puebl, no, 29, 1979), Describing this relity s historicl disster, Soluino («smrts tht At the origin of Wht we cll Ltin Americ tody thou" lit-5 n originl nd originting sin To give one single fct: Some seventy yers lter l492, the indigenous popultion hd been reduced to 15 ptient; mny of their Cultures hd been destroyed nd suhleoted to nthropologicl deth This ws colossl LllSDSll?! historicl, tit slur, nd we hve to give it nme Our Current lnguge Gllo the, e pooplee "Third World, the South," developing Countries, These dooigntion re dl tempting to sy thl something is wrong, but rnch lnguge doe not communicute how wrong, Therofore We need to spek of Cruttihed peoples; metphoricl lnguge, of course, but lnguge which convoys much better thn (llllt l tho historicl eitormtty of the dis ter nd his mening tor fith" THE Ckucnrngo Prowl; Mnervio ltllt int: RilioN or (too Priority of the Reign Sobrino suggests tht "to cll the peoples of the Third World t ru ci eclpeople, Yhweh s sufferingservnt, [nrl the prewncc of the crucified Christ in history, is the mth importnt theologicl sttement we cn mke bout them," Accordingly, it Submitted to the "fundmentl methodologicl choice which Lllmlplll lt s e ery other Stte ment in Ltin Americn christology: to go bck to lesus in onlvr to rethink ll theologicl relities in terms of himmy And, for Sobrino, this will men tht the imge of the crucified peoples" must b J Qituted within wht ws the finl relity for lows: the Kingdom oi Sobrino presents severl resons why the reign oi God tunctiom» its theologicl ultimte for l min Americn libertion theology First, he " Sobrino, [2510; the Lilmtor, 278, n 30 Also tcosi ibrino,"crtu itieti l eoplo, Jl l >"Sobrino, [ lie Lilmrrilur, 251i Sobrino, "C ucitied Peoples, Sit " Sobrino,,é tiistlu? Libertor, 2M, Whirl, 266, See bohrino, lemursnd the Kingdom oicoil, Imus 1hr (,i/vmmr, «7-» M4, mp

6 will, r presents clims _ i through 5t» Ix oticirl Lizrd/10 Klein rgues tht "the Third World n historicl relity somehow oiilogous to tht in which the very notion ot Kingdom ofgod rose/ 4" Second, lib Artion theology s forml commitment to historicl, prophetic, prxic, nd populr vlues "cn be formulted genericlly s [ comrriitment to] the Kingdom s trnscendence in history Accordingly, Libertion theology to hve found in the Kingdom of God totlity from which it cn del with ll theologicl subjects nd lso rnk them in ccordnce with their closeness to the ultimte now mystery, formulted s [the] Kingdom of God/"2 Third, this helps libertion theology prcticlly to overcome the dnger of equting the Kingdom with the church," nd it Clriti s the "historh cl mlice of the, world" for the m wge of Jesus Fourth, it mkes SCRSC christologiclly since it retri ves the historicl Jesus nd i i,, the r mkes centrl the Kingdom tht Jesus preched, while pplying it to the historicl present/ l Sobrino believes this methodologicl commitment, together with the historicl relity ot the crucified people, plces severl clims on Christin theology nd ethics (especilly those clone from libertion perspective) "tor the obvious reson tht the Kingdom did not come in Jesus time, nd the present requires tht we set it in history M First, our plce t the loot of the cross of sultering peoples genertes the "bsic tsk to estblish, methodologiclly nd systemticlly relity of the ntiningdomi lhis is nec dry so tht the "slvtion brought by the Kingdom then, be ng sved in history from the evils ofhistory Second, libertion theology must tke "bsolutely seriously the question of who the Kingdom is for nd reffirm tht it belongs to the poor,"" liowever, Sobrino lso ddresses the question of how the kingdom is "for" the non-poor s well, in the kingdom, the nonrpoor re, evngelized by the poor, most especilly when the now poor ssume, role, of "rel kenosis, of rel service to nd support of the mterilly poor, of shring in nd tking on the fte of the poor/"t Third, the historicl relity of the crucified people "obliges us to mke [the kingdom] present through historicl meditions nd to bring it bout t ll levels of historicl relity, despite the tct tht it cnnot ever be hilly relized in history And fourth, theology proclims tht only when "humnkind becomes single people nd true people in 1lie Body of Christ 57 which reltionships of justice nd solidrity reign, then the Kingdom of God will hve come, 47 Mrtyrst the Kingdom This methodologicl pproch, nd the substntive clims plced on theology nd ethics by the crucified peoples, then leds Sobrino to serch for n nlogtmn prinpr between the innocent deth of the crucified people nd the mrtyrdom of lesus He turns first to the disstisfction expressed in one of Krl Rhner/s lst writings with the pplicbility of the usul understnding of mrtyrdom in dogmtics nd fundmentl theology (the "tree nd ptient cceptnce of deth for the cuse of the fith [including its morl teching] in its totlity, or with respect to prticulr doctrine but with the totlity of the fith lwys in view )* 3to the sitution of vrious Ltin Americn mrtyrs Rhner sks, Why should not someone like Bishop Romero, who died while fighting for justice in s *iety, struggle he wged out of the depths of his concern s Christin, why should he not be mrtyr? This question bolsters Sobrinos clim tht the role ot questions ofjus tice in the deths of so mny Ltin Americn mrtyrs "hve obliged theology to rethink its methodologicl pproch to Christin mrtyr dom the deth of Jesus R0 Consistent with the methodologicl principle enuncited bove, Sobrino then follows the work of Leonrdo Boff, who "begins his nlysis of mrtyrdom strting from Jesus Christ the bsic scrment of mrtyrdom? He rgues tht mrtyrs should be considered s mrtyrs of the kingdom of God" nd tht we should be ble to interpret the mening of their work in terms of its contribution to building the kingdom or defeting the nti~kingdom The logic of this pproch is grounded in fundmentl ssertion ofsobrino christology: Jesus did not prech himself nd did not come to ber witness to himself He preched God s Kingdom nd the God of the Kingdom, nd bore witness to it with his life 50 Jesus is lso witness nd mrtyr for the Kingdom of God And theretore, theologiclly those who tody ber Witness with their lives togod s kingdom, like Jesus, re mrtyrs, nd in them we find the rilogtum gtrirzps of mrtyrdom livid, 122, 3 l, *2 livid,28 ), n 31 lliid, l23, think, 125, lbidt, lzo, klbii l, llti "lbidt, l31 Josef Hoter nd Krl Rhner, Luxikrm fur I lzirologi mid Mlt, (2d ed (Preiburg: Herder, ) 7:136 Cited in Sobrino, Jesus Hw Libertor, 265 Krl Rinier, "l nieiisiom ot Mrtyrdom: A Ple tor the rodening of the Clssicl Concept, szcilium 163(1983) it) Cited in Sobrino, Jesus the Libertor, 265: 8 brino, Jesus the Libertor, 266, 5 [bid, 268

7 , These illustrte, historicl, is by trylingl 58 RobertLsgn-Klein Sobrino then identifies three typicl situtions" in which the cruci~ tied people" might legitimtely be understood s the mrtyred people" l here re those prietsts, nuns, ctech, delegtes of the words, students, trde unionism, pesnts, workers, techers, journlists, doctors, lwyers, etc, who structurlly reproduce the mrtyrdom of Jesus: "They defended the Kingdom nd ttcked the nti-kingdom with prophetic voice "nd were put todeth, 2 There re those who die n ethicl soldier s deth," defending the kingdom by open struggle using violence, l he suggests tht it is possible for them to reproduce centrl some sorl of element of mrtyrdom: lying down one s life [or love" So tht they too could be considered to shre in mrtyrdom by nlogyw Then finlly, there re the muscles who re innocently nd nonymously mur~ dercd, even though they hve not used ny explicit form of violence, even verbl, They Clo not ctively ly down their lives to defend the fith, or even, directly, to defend God s Kingdom They re the pesnts, children, Women nd old people, bove ll who died Slowly dy fter dy, nd die violently with incredible cruelty nd totllyunprotected i,we These words describe mny who died innocently t El Mozote in l98l, Sobrino suggests tht "in order to be ble to cll them mrtyrs must give deep thought to wht is mrtyrdom s nlogtlmi princcps, nd think bout it looking t the cross of Jesusi" Wht Sobrino finds there is not so much the ctive chrcter of the struggle ginst the nti ingdom," or free choice to undertke such struggle, Rther, he nds In comprison with Jesus deth, the deths of these murdered msses i i innocence becuse they hve done nothing to deserve deth except to be poor- hurl vulnerbility«-~becu5ethey re not even physiclly cpble of voiding it This spect of their suffering trnsforms it into cll to conversion nd repentnce, "for their deths mke cler tht it is these msses who re unjustly burdened with sin which hs been nnihilting them i msses, who re oppressed during their lives nd die in msscres, re the ones who illustrte best the vst suf fering of theworld 55 This leds Sobrino to the conclusion tht, "if we consider mrtyrdom in terms of the nthkitigdom S response to those who struggle ctively for the Kingdom, the mmlogtum prinreps of the mrtyr is tht exemplified by Archbishop Romero lilowever, if we 3 ~ lbid, 26"), lbid, 270, The Belly of ( mm 59 consider it in terms of relly bering the ein of the nti-kingdom, the rmlogtum princcps becomes the unprotected ms 3, who re put to deth in huge numbers innocenin nd nonymously" lie concludes with the deeply christologicl ssertion tht they re the ones who most bundntly nd cruelly fill up in their esh wht is lcking in Christ s pssion, They re the Suffering Servnt nd they cified C hrist t0dy 5" THE CRUCIFIED PEOPLE: BEARERS or SAivpgnow re the crul Wht exctly is the slvtion tht the cruci ed people bring? Sobrino wrns his reder tht cceptng tht God chooses: the crucified people nd mkes them the principl mens ofslvtion will turn out to be s scndlous s ccepting Gods choice of the Servnt nd the crucified Christ to bring slvtion/"w He then concretizes this by suggesting four wys in which the crucified peoples bring slvtion First, they re killed for the slvific ct of estblishing right nd jus tice, which they do simply by hving mde plce, {or their fmilies nd communities in world which is ctively hostile to their very existence?" By hving struggled to live under difficult circumstnces, they hve mde it possible (or their children, siblings, or prents to continue to struggle for life Second, the biblicl reveltion tht they hve been chosen by God "s bringers ofslvtion trneforms the scndl of their suffering; into powerful religious force {or the very necessry struggle for justice nd libertion? l hircl, their suffering revels tht the ffirmtion tht Jesus died for our sins, fund mentl stutement in the New Testment, mens relly to be crushed on prticulr historicl occsion ~bysinners, And it shows tht wht should be done bout sin, nother fundmentl question in the New Testment A cler; erdicte it hering it Fourth, the crucified people re "light to the ntions" " Here Sobrino mkes the powerful rgument tht the mere existence of the crucified people is wht cn-~ntl in the lst retort the only thing tht lbid, 271 "lbidv 259 lbicli, 260, * W ctechii lbid,, 258, Sobrino links this trit to prophetsz, prieth nd bishopss, nuns nd, pesnts nd workers, Studi ni nd leclur to estblish right nd justice, nd leves out the poor who die "p ely llowever, l m sserting Simply by supporting their fmilies nd neighbors who re persecuted, they re plying perhps the most importnt poysible role in the work to estblish righteousness nd justice l lbid, lbid, 26L

8 , it, cruci ed historiclly"72,, other 60 Ruth lussllr-klrin cn~unmsk the lie by which this world s relity is conceled Im prisonng truth with injustice, is the fundmentl sin of humn beings nd lso of ntions" For US, prctitioners of theology nd ethics still contemplting the crucified people of El Mozote, Sobrino s interprettion (following Ellcuri) of wht is positively reveled to us will be prticulrly disturbing These innocent children, crucified with bullets mnufctured for the United Sttes Government t lke City, Mis souri/" 2 revel tht the United St; is much worse oft thn Ltin Americ, Becuse the United Sttes h solution, but is bd solution, both for it nd for the world in generl, On the other hnd, in Ltin Americ there re no solutions, only problems But, however pinful this my be, it isbet ter to hve problems thn to hve hd solution for the future of his torv Sobrino then suggests (gin following Ellicuri) tht the poor offer substntive solution by embodying the possibilities of civi«liztion ofpoverty s opposed to the current "civiliztion of cpitl, in ll its cpitlist nd socilist fonns " This utopin ide is defined in terms of ll shring usterely in theerth s resources so tht they cn stretch toeverybody lie notes tht this kind of "shring chieves wht the First World does not offer: fellowship nd, with it, mening oflife Finlly, the crucified people live out "vlues tht re not offered elsewhere S Though it might be rgued tht "they generte these vlues becuse they hve nothing else to hng on to, their slvitic imr portunce should not be, trivilized or discounted Their lives offer "community ginst individulism, Cit-opertion ginst selfishness, simplicity ginst opulence, nd openness to trnscendence ginst bltnt positivism, so prevlent in the civiliztion of the western world" * The crucified people offer stubborn hope in the possibilities of history, nd continue to be ble to mnifest love in the fce of "structurlly selfish world" " in truth, the survivors of El Mozote, like so mny of the poor, hve shown willingness "to forgive their oppressors" nd open their rms nd ccept those who come to shre UN Commission Report, 117 (#354), lit; (#357), 119 (#366), migncio Ellcuri, Quinto Contcnrio Améric Ltin, descubrimiento o encubrimiento?" Rivi st [minorwnwicmiii d6 lbolugiii 21 (1990) 278 Cited in Sobrino, Jesus the Libertor, 26L M Sobrino, the Libertor, 262; Sobrino, Crucilit d Peoples, 54, Siblings, [es s the Libertor, 263 Sohrino, "Crucificd Peoples, 55, lhid, 56 " wht they hve with them Their suffering hs generted ity, which serves s model of how people one nother in humn nd Christin wy Amzingly, belief of the crucified people in the compssion The Bodyof C lirist 61 rel solidr nd churches cn relte to the continued of God nd the vlues of the kingdom offer fith, wy of being church, nd more genu~ inc, Christin, nd relevnt holiness for the world tody In the end, Sobrino sys tht while it is necessry for us to spek of A peoples, in truth "the solo objzittofll this tlk must be to bring them down from the cm " l Pressing the point, he reminds us tht "coming to terms with" the historicl relity ofgod s presence with the cruci ed people, hs to be ccompnied by crrying the cross nd tking responsibility for the crucified/"w Wht i believe this mens for us is tht the crucified children of El Mozote plce clim on US the ology nd ethics s it is done t the foot of their cross It mens tht, t the hour to truth, unless we profoundly ccept the truth of the cruci tied peoples nd the fundmentl responsibility of successive empires for their crucifixion, we will miss the min tct Tht is, tht in this world there is still enormous sinl Sin is wht killed the servnt-v the Son of God nd sin is wht continues to killgod s children And this sin is in icted by some upon others? Citing the words of Igncio Ellcuri, Sobrino suggests tht when "confronted with the crucified people worlds cn know their own truth from wht they produce, s in n inverted mirror"7 For Sobrino, the crucified people serve s the preeminent Sign of our times to "verify both the terrifying grip of the reign God s invittion of sin on our world nd the slvtion offered through to solidrity with the crucified peoples, if we re willing to lern nything from the crucifixion of our brothers nd sisters t El Mozote, we should know tht US theology nd ethics hve not cceeded in uo tngling our ctive collbortion with the kingdoms of sin, from the sving compssion of the reign of God medited to us through the crucified people Prt Two: of our world, Christin Historicl Relism nd the Crut ificdpeople Prt one of this essy interpreted the Concept of the crucified people by locting it within the lrger theologicl concept of the king- Ibid, 49 wsobrino, [ers the Libertor, 252 Sobrlno, "Crucified Peoples," 53 7 Sobrino, jesus the Libertor, 261 Sobrino, "Crucilied Peoples, 53

9 " [the] pprehending,, Ltin is to 62 Robert Lthllrchin dom of God, nd historicized it through the hertbreking story crucified people of El Mozote, El Slvdor The following outline A forml philosophicl nd theologicl concept of the Christin of the section will historicl relism tht produced this importnt new concept of the cru- d people it will rgue tht lgncio Ellcuris key concept of his tori iztion" (which lso shpes the work of Ion Sobrino) is quite prllel to the prgmtic mxim of Ci 8 Peirce And it will use this structure to substntite the importnt clims being plced on crucitied people on US theology nd ethics EuAcueiA S CH srian HISIORICAL REALISM AND i nit CoNcism or l ltsl ORKll/:AHON Christin l lisloricl Relism nd Ltin Americn Theologicl Method Our discussion so fr of the crucified people nd the kingdom of God hs been suffused with wht I would cll profound Christin historicl relism, embodied in the regulr ppel to the ide of histt, (r 9 3 rlity, The unique form of this relism is no ccident, nd it deserves our ttention, We gin py the tx {or the crucifixion of the children nd dults of ill Mozote (s we did in 198D when we do not tke seriously the clrii ms of those whom they hve dopted s their spokespersons, presuming they re not informed by sophisticted the ory, or experientil referents which cll for our ttention In this section we will look briefly t Igncio Ellcuri s forml (nd deeply Christin) philosophy of historicl relity Ellcuri is considered by mny to hve developed the most importnt ccount of the crucil (nd ubiquitous) Ltin Americn notion of historicl relity, so centrl to the theology oi libertion, nd the power of the concept of the crucified people, in 1975 Ellcuri wrote one oi his most importnt rticles, ppropritely entitled "Towrd Philosophicl Foundtion for Ltin Amerie cn Theologicl Method? He rgues tht libertion theology s inherent historicl relism distinguishes it philosophiclly from much of Europen theology He begins summrizing tour principles which the eminent Emerich Coreth develops from the philosophicl hermeneutics of Heidegger, Gdmer, nd Humbolt Ellcuri suggests these foundtions were currently held by mny EuropenJNorth Americn theologins s well: understnding hs circulr structure which compromises the strength of its clims; understnding is bsiclly the comprehension nd description of the structures of humn " lgncio lillcuri "liciu un tuiidmnontcion clelmétodo teologico Ltino~ oniericno," Estiulios tmtmummmnus (August/September, 1975) The Body oftfhrisl o3 mening; the world nd the things which we tke for grnted s our horizon re humn structures creted for the communiction nd mintennce of mening; nd ll knowledge, including theologicl knowledge, is bsiclly serch for mening" Surprisingly, however, Ellcuri trets these s philosophicl presuppositions which must be overcome" in order to "do justice the relity of humn knowing nd Americn theologiclthought This pproch, nd the lterntive presuppositions he develops, serve s short introduction toellc uri s understnding of historicl relism nd the unique imc portnce he plces on philosophy of historicl relity for grounding the clims of Ltin Americn libertion theology Ellcuri proposes "three lterntive fundmentl principles for conceptuliztion of humn understnding" s it opertes in "Ltin-Americn theologiclmethod/ 7 " First, "humn intelligence is not only essentilly nd permnently sensible, but it is there from the beginning nd fundmentlly biologicl ctivity/ 7" He quotes Zubiri s illustrtive dictum tht " species of idiots is not biologiclly vible And he rgues tht intelligence never loses its chrcter s n dptive function, even in its most bstrct or feeling-centered expressions, Second, he emphsizes tht the forml structure ofintelli gence not the understnding; of being or the grsp mening, but relity nd confronting oneself with tht relity/ 7" tlere, Ellcuri rst develops the dictum tht confronting oneself with rel things s rel" involves three steps: first, getting to know re lity; second, tking responsibility for doing something bout tht relity; third, ctully trnsformingrelity lbid 418 "Rid, *lbidu 418 tibil, 419 We should notice in this formultion brek with Knt s tendency to dichotomize the opertions of "sensibility" nd understnding, nd profound rejection of the bsi for Kntin nomindlism in fculty psychology A decde lter Ellcuri would finish the bulk of philosophicl opus (hilt) pges in length) describing the structurl unity of sensing nd understnding in humn knowing nd its role in creting nd understnding historicl relity:filoso tie, [ll relidd llisniri (Sn Slvdor: UCA liditores, 1990) 7 llllcuri, "Hci un hmdmentcion," 419 O h lbid The Spnish reds: cl timers? crgo dé In zeulidd, "il rumour mu lmili durl, nd "clcrxcmg vsc de l relidd A more literl trnsltion might red: getting cquinted with relity; crrying the burden of relity; nd tking chrge oi, or trnsforming relity The Word ply of the originl Spm cnnot relly be trnslted literlly My own trnsltion prllels the chrcteriztion of the three both of Ellcuri nd of Jon Sobrino in terms of the noetic, ethicl, nd prioricl dimensions

10 ,, To 64 Robert Lustre/111:,»Klein Students of philosophy will recc ignizein this direct ttck on the Husserlin Upli he which sought to brcket the question of relity (ie, whether the objects of consciousness ctully exist) from philosophy,m while focusing on the phenomenologicl description of the humn mind t work In fct, it isellcuri s thesis tht it is precisely the, subordintion of the question of the rel to tht of or mening, t lest to the rcheologicl description of humn consciousness creting mening for itself (which informs Heidegger work s well), which mkes fool of philosophy nd theology in much of the First World tody, He rgues tht, no mtter wht intellectuls my think, Precisely becuse of the priority which relity hs over mening, there is no rel chnge of mening, without rel chnge in relity; to try to chnge the first without trying to chnge the second is to misled the intelligence nd its primry function,, believe tht by chnging the interprettions of things tht the things themselves chnge, or, t lest, the profound consciousness ofone s loction in the world [would chngel, is grve epistemologicl error nd profound ethicl filure Interpretive chnges of mening, nd even purely objective nlyses of socil nd historicl relities, re not rel chnges And neither re they even rel chnges of mening itself, but usully chnges in its formultions However, this does not keep the intelligence from n hving irre~ plceble function, s theoreticl force, for the needed chnge in the technicl nd ethicl orders of historicl relity This leds, thn, to his third nd finl point: Humn intelligence is not only lwys historit l, but this historicity belongs to the essenv til structure of intelligence/"l The full impct of this clim forellcuri s historicl relism is im possible to grsp without relting it tozubiri s debte with theelm» pen struggle to choose between the Aristotelin turn to nture (or vrious subsequent forms of nturlism), nd the post~kntin turn to thesubject, Zubiri rejects both options with the clim tht neither _, oi intelligence, See Ion Sobrino, lgncio llllcuri, el hombre y el cristino," un» published mnuscript provided by uthor, Mrch 1994, 13, m In this connection Quentin lluuor rgues tht thisepochc is clerly derived from the Crtesin doubt, but Husserl is insistent in pointing out tht it is essentilly different 0 doubt relity, be it only methodiclly, is to tke- position with regrd to relity, nd this liusserl will not do; relity Simply does not enter into the question ofwht thi sre (Plumomunolngy: Its Gmesis nd Prospect [New York: Hrper lorchbooks, l958, l965] 49), uid, 420, lbid It is Antonio Gonzch who suggests this explntion in "Aproximcion l ohr lilosélic do IgncioEllcuri, Esludms Centnumwriczmos 45 (November / December 1990) 505% The Bodyof Christ 65 the intrinsic priority of knowing over relity, nor oi relity over knowing, is possible Knowing nd relity re strictly nd rigorously ol the sme genus in their root? Antonio Gonzlez, notes tht, ccording), to Ellcuri, this ssertion mens tht om hs gone beyond horizons of Hellenistic nturlism, nd modern suliiectiyism new horizon/w both the l, lto] Wht exctly is this new horizon which l illcuri believes plces Ltin Americn theology outside the mbit of Europen philosophy? In his Dynmic Structum ofrelity, first offered s course nd then published posthumously in 1989,Ellcuri s philosophicl mentor, Xvier Zubiri, provides n nswer, Zubiri nlyzes mtter, biologicl life, the humn person, society, nd the dynmic structure of history s subsystems of more comprehensive relity (the, c smos) He rgues tht, like ll the subsystems of relity, history is reciproclly interctive with the others, But it is lso inclusive of the othe is the simmmm of relity We cn see the implictions of this pproch in the difference between Heidegger s definition of s humnity "rtionl niml (emphsizing the gp tht seprtes humn rtionlity from niml nture) nd Zubiri s description of s humnity the "niml of relities"5b (emphsizing the strict historicl unity of intelligence nd rel ityt This follows from Zubiri s metph l pproch to historicl relity, in which humn rtionlity simultneously depends upon, integrtes, nd dds new something to niml nture And it isre ected inzubiri s notion tht humn history is t once prt oi, nd dds novum (something relly new) to, relity itself, Wht does humn history dd to relity? For Ellcuri, it dds prxis, understood s new level of relity (historicl relity), History evolves from, incorportes, nd trnsforms (within limits) ll of relv ity s other spects (including the systemic nd mteril properties of mtter, biologicl life, sentient life, nd humn life) it lso dds the content of history itselft In both cses, "l rxis is identified with the his nd trns- toricl process itself, in s much s this process is productive formtive""" both of previous history nd of nture lt is importnt to notice here tht l?curi s tretment of history s systemic dimension of relity llows him to spek of philosophy of 3 Xvier Zuhiri, lntlrligmtiu scntimtv: Intoligmri y militid (Mdrid: Alinx Editoril, 1980, Will, 1984) 10 l Gonzlez, "Aproximciénf 982 The following prgrph follows Gonzlez closely, See Aproxirn on, 984 "Xvier Zuhiri, my!le dimimic the l mlidmi (Mdrid: Alinm Editoril, WW), llllcuri himself noth thesigni cnce of this cimtrst in "lmrodmcion critic l ntropologi filosolic dczubiri, Relits 2 ( l970) lit-137, esp, 754i, 5 Ellcuri, [ ow/f 18In mzlxdmilll ltlflul, 505,

11 ,, lorl,essence 3, seprted in, 5p one 66 RobertLssIlK/eiu "historicl relity Indeed, he trets historicl relity s metphysi cl ctegory This bckground, then, helps us to understnd tht in the 1975 rticle Ellcuri is rguing from the premise tht historicity belongs not only to the essentil structure of intelligence," but to the essentil structure of relity i elf (historicl relity)! Accordingly Bllcuri presents Aristotle s clssic distinction between the opertions of humn knowng in thnri, pmxis, nd fro is, s representing three spects" of how histi iricl relity nd intelligence interct in the historicity of humn knowing This implies tht, whether theology is operting in the mode of interpretivethrim i, ethicl prxis, or techni clly constructive pnicsis, it must py ttention to the interction of his toricl relity nd intelligence in its work Returning to our exmple, this mens tht the scred sciences should function s wys of knowing, tking responsibility for, nd trnsforming the historicl relity of the crucified people, Methodologiclly, this leds Ellcuri to push theology: to free itself from the distortions which re creted by historicl ptterns of seeking "recognition by cdemic, revolutionryelites?3u to develop methods which cn ground truly Christin concepts like the people of God nd reveltion in the historicl relity of Ltin Americ; to develop proper reltionships between its interpretive prctices nd the type of socio~historicl commitments clled for in the Gospel; nd to mke use of seculr discourses from philosophy ences in order to better ground the work of theology in historicl relity, while simultneously being sure to gurd ginst disfiguring the purity nd plenitude of the fit when using these seculr discourses nd the socil sci Christin Historicl Relism nd Stcriolugy Ellcuri s 1975 rticle provides synops of the implictions for theologicl method which he drew from the philosophicl formliztion of his Christin historicl relism Almost decde lter, Ellcuri further elborted formlized concept of Christin historicl relism in n importnt l984 rticle, The Historicity of Christin Slvtion The rticle sks, Wht do humn efforts towrd historicl, even sociopoliticl libertion hve to do with the esteiblislunent of the Kingdom of God tht Jesuspreched? it proceeds under the ssumption tht "the problem is primrily problem of prxis It is the problem of Christins who, compelled by their fith nd s n objective reliztion of tht fith, so k to mke humn ction correspond s much s possible togod s will [or the kingdom of God] The Bodyof Christ 67 Ellcuri then mkes crucil move, explining, reveltion nd history s correltive relities in fct, the rticle will tht he will tret ssume tht there re not two histories, history of God nd one of humnity; scred nd profne history Rther there is single historicl relity in which both God nd humn beings intervene, so tht God s intervention does not occur without some form of humn prticiption, nd humn intervention does not occur without Gods presence in some form,, Ellcuri rgues tht this ssumption requires historic d tret ment of the concept of trnscendence Such n tretment rejects"per nicious philosophiclinfluences which hve identified trnscendence with seprteness, nd tught tht "historicl trnscendence is seprte from history" He rgues tht these philosophies re united by their interprettion tht the trnscendent must be outside or beyond wht is immeditely pprehended srel For them, the trnscendent is lwys "other, different, time, *e, or from the historicl object insted, Ellcuri rgues tor notion of trnscendence s something tht trnscends in lhistoryl nd not s something tht trnscends wy from; s something tht physiclly impels to more, but not by tking out of; s something tht pushes forwrd, but t the s me time retins" The Vlue of this pproch for theologicl understnding, of slvtion history is tht when one reches (30d historiclly does not bndon the humn, does not bndon rel history, but rther deepens one s roots, mking more present nd effective wht ws lredy effectivelypresent Here we see the deeply Christin impli» ctions of Ellcuris premise tht neither intelligence (in this cse, the ide of trnscendence) nor historicl relity ( which includes the ctul trnscendence of God in history) cn be plced bove the other, Ellcun then drws strtling insight from this rgument: "God cn be seprted from history, but history cnnot be seprted from God, Sin does not mke God dispper, but rther crucifies God/l The ide here is tht, no mtter how much one might deny God, the sving presence of God continues to permete historicl rel» ity of course, the rdicl denil of the historicl relity of God will hve rel implictions: crucifixion, But here the solidrity of Jesus nd the ide of the mrtyrsmwhich ccepts crucifixion s the price 0! love nd solido ity, nd hs the resurrection s its completion nd vlidtion vbecome 253 " l liilcuri, l lci un fundmentl 42 no Ignciolrillcuri/l listoricity oi Christin Slvtion," Mystwiimi Liberlioms, lbid lbid,, 254, " lbid,, 255i

12 in i understood, i the tht c drim, _ (78 RobertlxzswllerK/em tngible historicl signs of trnscendence nd hope Accordingly, Ellcuri refu cosmic dulisms s the finl explntion for the in humnity of sin, s ing, "it my be possible to divide history into history of sin nd grce; but the division presupposes the rel unity of history Wht this mens, of course, is tht we ber responsibility for in his- our ctions And, more we positively, hve crucil role to ply toric ing the kingdom of God Thus, it isellcuri s profound Christin historicl relism nd his commitment to the unifying role of grce in history which led him to ssert tht it is historicl relity itsle (which includes the relity of the kingdom s well s the nti-kingdom) which plces rdicl clim on the Christin disciple to tke the cru cified people down from the cross CHRISTIAN lrllsil olx li m Ri Al, AND 11 2 KiNti><iM 0F (Lion l-iisloricizliou M, (,Tiiociriio Prom ii, it is in the context of this profoundly Christin "historicl relism tht Ellcuri develops his key concept of "histori ztion In wht follows 1 will briefly suggest why I believe tht igmcio Ellcuri s key concept of"histi iricimtion" (which lso Shpes; the work of Jon So~ brino) is quite prllel to the prgmtic mxim of C S Peirce My reding, of tillticuri finds two primry uses of the term in his work First, in the Philosimllyof Hieiuric/ Relity, Ellcuri uses the exerts over the historicl nd nturl di- term historicizt ion to refer to the incorportive nd trnsformtive power which humn prxis men ons of relity ()n the one, hnd, "The historiciztion of nture concurs the tct tht humnity mkes history from nture nd with nture/ 5 On the other, prxis pproprites from historicl trdi~ lion its concepts, vlues, pmcticeu, nd other wys of being in relity, simultneously being shped by nd trnsforming them In its pri mry sense, then, historicimtion refers to this process However, in 1976 rticle entitled The Historic rtion of the Concept of Property s Principle of Deideologiztiou, lillcurii suggests tht in secondry sense, Demonstrting the impct of certin concepts within pr ticulr context is {lso} here s their historiciztion " [t is th econdry sense of the term (hving to do with verifying the truth clims proceeding from the first mening of the historiciztion of f l-llliicurin, les will dc I milimid losldrim, lot) ""ln histor in in del conccpto de ptopledd como principio dodesidcolo gimcion, 55m _(, mlnumwr lrmws 31 (1976)42 0 Trnsltion from "The H v tori tion of the Concept ofproperty, liitmnls 47 $01 tht Serve: Its: People: My intellectul john lisett nd Hugh Contribution of! lllllltlllf/s Mimliml lest/lilo, e, Lcey (Wshington, DC: (iuorgetown tlnivemty Prose, will} 1W The Bodyvjt ilzrist 59 of his occsionl concept) which predomintes in the gret mjority pieces, nd on which we will focus here Ellcuri mkes severl importnt clims in this piece whi i I would summrize under the following three the- es First, historicii, A tion is grounded in historicl relism indeed, concepts re historici ed "when they refer to historicl relit 53")" Ellcuri notes tht this in the opposite of being bstrct (in the negtive SenSe) iecond, historicized concepts re subject to vlidity tests Using,, notion of counter~ fctul proof,ellcuri rgues tht if hypotht cnnot be invli dted by dt, it isnot historicized Indeed, he suggests tht, in this cse, one is flling into sheer idelism, no mtter how much the relist or the mterilist one might clim to be" l hird, historiciztion is procedure for testing nd vlidting truth clims socited with concept Illcuri holds tht the truth of historicmed concept lies in its becomingrelity, such tht its "truth cn he meeured in {its} results/ ti He then -rts tht it is neces try to c<,>ntinullyreviee the content of given concept in light of its hintoricl effects, in order to mintin the essentil mening" of tht concept Thus mening is do termincd, t lest in prt, in terms of the prcticleffects»; of concept One ofellcuri s tsl rticles, published posthumo ly in 1990, otters summry of how he developed this pproch to lustoriciztion s procedure for testing nd vlidting truth clims during the lst fourteen yers of his life W Ellcuri begins by rguing tht it is indispensble to submit the concept of humn rights to hi toriciz tioni " He lso expresses the hope tht "thin higtoriciztion/ will illumine the theory nd empower the pmxis of humn rights," s Slvdorns try to decide wht to do with the Common good in so ciety which is not only divided but conflicted both by wr nd "the unjust distribution ofgoods " "" It ws to this ltter project tht Ellticuri, the public intellectul, dedicted most of his creer, Indeed he produced three mssive volunicw contining, hundreds of such rticles, posthumously published nd ppropritely entitled Winter mire deli mriu en el Slvdor (Sn Slvdor: UCA "ditores, 1W1} AntonioGonzélei, his student who edited l izt oft}: dz: [ retilidml _ suggest tht for tillcuri, in the histor tion of concepts like property, humn rights or the common good d 6 thing for understnding their hitorici itlon consists, their tretment in it toricl, tht is, tht it betting; from the fct tht they re linked to n historicl prxw" 3 Ellcun, lt, historizt ion delconcepto, 427, lbid, 42K m lgucioellcuri, "l listorimcion de los derechos hummios desdv lm pilot,» losopn midm; y ls myorispopulres, {studio Mirror;meriomm 302 (1990) R "5 lbid, 589

13 i, 7t} Robvrl [Assils Klein The rticle then explins tht the historiciztion of the concept of humn rights involves: the verifiction in prxis of whether the truth clims, justice clims, nd legl clims ssocited with specific humn rights re relized or not; the clrifiction of whether the right in question serves the mjority or just few; the identifiction of the historicl structures necessry to mke the right in question historiclly eifcctive; the cle-idcologiztion of theoreticl discussions which mis~ represent historicl relity, or which legitimize distortions like oppression nd slvery; nd the prudentil quntifiction of wht constitutes n cceptble time tble nd degree for the reliztion of the rights in qwxstim i,m2 While this rticle deserves its own extended tretment, for our purposes it suffices to note how it shows tht, t the time of his deth, Ellcuri hd continued to develop the elements of historiciztion which pper in the rticle from the mid 19705; Indeed, I would sug gest tht it shows tht Ellcuri continued to understnd historiciz» tion (t lest in prt) s methodologicl procedure () grounded in historicl relism, (b) subject to wide rnge of vlidity testing, nd (c) fundmentlly designed to test truth clims, Additionlly, it emblemizcs the continued development of his keen interest in the rel power of this procedure for determining the true mening of concept in n ideologiclly contested environment, Prgmtism It is hrd to miss the profound prllels between Ellcuri s procto dure ofhistoricizu on nd the prgmtic method of C S, Peirce, I will briefly comment on these prllels in order to dpt my own pprov priotion of Ellcuris Christin historicl relism to the semiotic di~ mensions of the tsk t hnd: tht of explining the strtling clim tht the crucified children of El Mozote re the symbol pr excellence of the historicl relity of the kingdom of God, These comments will be guided by the insight tht Peirce regrded prgmtism (just s Ellcun regrded historiciztion) s methodo~ logicl procedure "which is guided by constntly holding in view the purpose of the ides itnlyzes/ l3 in wht follows, I willbrie y trce some significnt prllels between l eirces prgmtic method nd Ellcuri/s method of historiciztion (the secondry sense of the term outlined bove) in regrds to the three fctors identified bove, lbid, 590, 7 mchrles S Peirce, Cilllt Chld Ppers of Chrles Snders Peirce, vol 5, ed, Chrles llrtshornc nd Pul Weiss (Cmbridge: Hrvrd University Press, 1960) pr grph 513, no l GROUNDED IN A FORM or REA! lsm The Bodyif Christ 71 Both Ellcuri nd Peirce distinguish relity from truth, while grounding truth in relity Peirce defines relity s "tht mode of being by virtue of which the rel thing is s it is, irrespectively of wht ny mind or ny definite collection of minds my represent it tobef l Truth, on the other hnd, is the correspondence of representtion with itsobject? 5 The point is tht truth for Peirce, which hs to do with the reltionship of n ide to its object, is ultimtely knowledge bout relity, which lwys mintins degree of independence, Ellcuri lso grounds his notion of truth in wht he understnds by relity In the Philosophyof Historicl Relity Ellcuri sserts tht historicl relity is the ultimte object of philosophy understood s n intrmundne metphys s not only becuse of its globlizing nd totlizing chrcter, but s the supreme mnifesttion ofrelity," "7 Thus relity lwys mintins degree of primcy nd utonomy, And Ellcurin/s philosophicl understnding of truth demnds corre spondence between the concept (or intelligence) nd historicl relity (though it is more thn tht), Like Ellcuri, Peirce believes tht key question is determining wht exctly this correspondence or reference of thought "to its object,consis sl in, Peircc s nswer to this question leds him to semiotic relism which is t once quite distinct, nd yet complementry to Ellcuri s historicl relism For Peirce, ll thought hs the chrcter of sign which is used to "stnd for n object independent of itself,"w It stnds for tht object, however, to somebody (or something) in whom it rouses second more developed sign, Tht more developed sign then functions s n "interpretnt" for the mening of the originl thought or signw Peirce describes this reltionship in terms of the tridic interction between sign, its object, nd n intorprctnt: A Sign, or repri smtzimm, is something which stnds to somebody for something in some respect or cpcity it ddrcsics somebody, tht is, cretes in the mind of tht person n equivlent sign, or perhps more developed sign Tht sign which it cretor; 1 cll the interprcmni of the first sign, The sign stnds for something, its chirl it lbid,, 9,566 Slbid, 5553f 3 For n elegnt explntion of this reltionship we john l~ iith,i m-pose nd Thought: The Mnming ofi mgnmtism (New Hven, Conn; Yle University Press, 197 l, curi,filmmfi dc l wlliin hisidric, 42 eirce, Collected Ppers, 1,538, c co [rm-n K Feihlomn, A72lnlrmlui lim to My Philosophy of (flirlvs t, Prints (Cmbridge, Mss: MIT Press, 1969, W70) 89 iilllcirce,coilec cd Pps,2228

14 not, the, V [historicl i to, true,, [they] i i {nyone 72 Robert Lssllc Klein W A,hve Seen tht for tillcuri "the forml structure of intelligence the understnding, of being or the grsp mening, but i pprehending relity nd confronting oneself with tht relity" This lso involves tridic reltionship which l would suggest cn he conv side,er in some wys s nlogous to (though significntly different from) tht described by Peirce The first two elements of Ellcuris scheme Agening to know relity nd tking, responsibility for doing bomething bout tht reulity-»~prllel his Steps of pprehending nd confronting; oneself with relity He, lso dds third element, ctully trnslorming n it)? This is bsed on the ssumption tht prxis,in«cluding; its signifying nd conceptulizing spects, in ctully identi~ tied with the historicl process eh X l 3 Working nlogiclly with this mteril, we might sy tht Ellcu ri s ctivities oi" getting to know, tking responoibility for, nd trnsforming relity could be understood to function s signs or symbolic ctions which stnd somebody for something," nd "crete in the V relity] of tht person [or persons] n equivlent Sign, or perhps more developedsign (understood new prxis), The ide here is tht when new Pl XlS i5 elicited s response to n originl prxis of getting to know nd tking responsibility {or historicl relity, some trnsformtion in historicl relity is produced This response, could he, Lind ood nlogiclly s the interpretnti We see this reflected in um 9 etforts lo historicize concepts like democrcy nd humn rights in order to clrify their rel mening truth i lims ssocited with them by politicl ledersv SUB or R) VAlll,ll ly Tl I Nt; nd to test Peirce, like llllcuriii, is lso interested in the question of vlidity testing, For Peirce, the question of vlidity is determined by logic, which he understnds s the science oi the generl necessiy lws of signs, H Peirce regrds logic s simply "nother nme for semiotic qusi-necessry, or forml doctrine ofsigns" " which governs the theory of rightresoning, determining wht resoning ought to lc/ m Vlidity is not only forml question for Peirce, however, His re lism leds him to lso tret s logic the science of i representtion" Peirce then develops his prgmtic method s the solution to lcuriu, I iloso dc In relmud lzisltiric, , lhid lbidi, R98, Peii ce, Collected Ppers, Hill ; 2% mid, 2227 Whirl, 27 lhidi, 131W, The Bodyof (Wrist 73 the problem of verifying truth Clims regrding the correspondence of thought or sign with its object Thus we see tht, for Peirce, the pry,- mtic method is Mxim of[logic/ 0 "logiclrule, W logicl doctrine, nd "theory of logicl nlysis, or true definition, 20 which grows out of his study of the forml lws of sign reltion But it is much more thn tht, for it crries him into the question of the ver ifiction of truth clims In this I find more developed prllel toellcuriu o notion tht historicized concepts re subject to vlidity test And we hve seen tht it is grounded in the distinction between truth nd relity, exemplified in lillcuri s dmonition tht stubborn llegince to "hypo, thesis [which] cnnot be invlidted by dt" shows tht "one is flling into sheer idelism, no mtter how much thei eiiliut or the m terilist i might clim tobe Most significnt for our purposes, however, is tht fct tht the vlidity qu on cnnot be treted prt from the role of historicizlion in exthlis 1mg the reltionship truth of to relity nd the veriliction of truth clims DESK ED FUR rm? ViiRlllit e it liwn D}? l Ru i ii (Xi Peirce prgmtic method is degigned to over the mening of concept nd to test its truth (mime; The essence of his formultion of the prgmtic method it: best cptured in his first formultion of the prgmtic mxim: "Consider wht effects, tht might conceivbly hve prcticl bering, we conceive the object of our conception to hve Then our conception of these efiec is the whole of our conception of theobject/1 Peirce is working here with the tridic reltioneliip between the Sign (our conception), its objoct (tht which the Sign or conception refers to), nd its interpretnt (the eyflrcts we conceive the object of our conception to hve) One wy tht Peirce explins the bsic point is his ide tht the mening of sign or concept my be sid to "consist in how it might cuse or, nything pprehending the Sign] toct/ 3 These ctions or effects then serve s the interpre» tnt of the rel mening of the originl Sign or concept Our conception of them is considered to be equivlent to our understnding of the mening of the originl Sign or concept, But wht if the rel ctions or effects we observe re different thn those we originlly predicted deductiver from our conception? Peirce believes tht cler nd rtionl thought bout something will formu- lhidv Sill Ibid,, 5465 lbid, 6,490 1 lhid 52V

15 [nyone i nd rnklingl,, clims 74 Robert Lsstzllchlein lte hypothesis bout the object, then use the hypothesis to predict the objects tutui ctions under Certin circumstnces The prgmtic mxim, then, is designed to help us to determine the truth of the forementioned hypothesis (or ide) by creting C(mzpmismi bctwcm the pre dicted nd the? zctm il( es (or between the hypotheticl mening nd the ctul mening) of the Sign or concept,m Ono must then judge whether the effects 7Ve evidence tht the lws postulted in the originl hypothesis do, in fct, govern the relity of the object, This is nlogous to the wy tillcuri s notion of historicizution works in providing principle of verifiction for the truth clims of given concept First, Ellcuri believes tht the wy concept represents historicl n-vlity to specific or persons cn groups serve severl purposes (ideologicl, truthful, legitimting, liberting, etcl lfind this to be n excellent exmple of wht Peirce mens by sign Second, Ellcuris notion tht historicimtion is demonstrting the impct of certin concepts within prticulr context" is prllel tol eirces ide tht in the prgmtic mxim tht the interpretnt of the mening of sign could be sid to consist in how it might cuse or, nything pprehending the Sign] to ct/ 1 Third, s l hve lredy suggested, his tridic notion tht the role of the concept in entering, tking responsibility tor, nd trnsforming historicl relity is somewht nlogous to Pei e s ide tht Sign refers to n objectfor subject in which it rous,, mother more developed sign, its intrrpretzmt As in ny nlogy, there re significnt differences between the work of those philosophers s well, though I do not hve time to explore them here Rther, my purpose is to brie y exploit the prllels in their work in order to develop hypothe s which trets thecruci tied people in the work 0t 15 icuri nd Sobrino s the interpretnt of the historlcimtion of the kingdom of (incl However, it is worth dding tht 1 would hope tht the convergence-s lt-tween two of the, most im portnt philosophers of Ltin nd North Americ would contribute to the frmework of future NorthSouth dilogues in the Americs The Crurri cdpetich Al? the Sign of the Hisliiricizntimi (2f Ili Kingdom ufgod I will rely on wht 1 hve just written to legitimte the following dpttion ofellcuri s Christin historicl relism to the semiotic climensions of n importnt tsk, In wht follows I will conclude by trying to historicize for Us, theology nd ethics the strtling clim tht the crucified children of lil Momte re the symbol pr excellence of the historicl relity of the kingdom of God, " 1 bid, livid, 5135 The Bodyof Christ 75 Jon $obrino hs rgued tht "libertion, theology to hve found in the Kingdom of God totlity from which it cn del with ll theologicl subjects, them in ccordnce with their closeness to the ultimte now mystery, formulted s lthel Kingdom ofcodf m Interpreting this semioticlly, I would sy tht Sobrino is rguing tht the kingdom of God functions s the preeminent sign of slvtion on the continent, Elsewhere, Sobrino writes tht, in the lst nlysis, wht libertion theology sys is tht the Reign built in i history tht, in the light of God is to be of fith, we see ourselves to be on the rod, s we ccomplish this prtil construction, to the de finitive Reign ofgod," " Here, following Peirce nd Ellcuri, I would rgue tht this mounts to sying tht the object of the reign of (ind is historicl relity This implies, then, tht the gol of Christin (1 ctplev ship is the reliztion (or historicixtion) of the reign of God in historicl relity, lf these ssertions re true, then one is forced to sk the: truth question in reference to relity: Does the concept of the reign of God preched by Jesus nd the church ctully correspond to historicl re s we lity hve it? This question, which hs chllenged the fith of,lesus followers in vrious forms since his crucifixion, must be confrontedi For those of us here I sk, wht is the mening of this reign of God, inititud by testis, in light of the helpless screms for mercy of the innocent children of El Mozote? Our herts re broken gin when, reminded by Church teching nd the exmple of the sints, we relize re our they chil dren, nd we re their prents We re horrified by the historicl relity tht our txes nd our bullets mke us their executioners, even s they cry to us for mercy The logic of the imges we hve explored in this essy leds us to the conclusion tht the crucified peoples themselves must finlly in of God for us, But this is too much terpret the mening of the kingdom for us! How cn the mening of the reign be reveled by the intentionl crucifixion of so mny Children? Here we turn gin to the words of Igncio Ellcuri: God cn be seprted from history, but history cnnot be seprted from God Sin does not mke God dispper[from history], but rther crucifies God in history, This strtling msight 5 Sobrino, lesus the Libertor, 289, n 3L 1 I ZlonSobrino, Centrl Position of the Reign of (Bud in Libertion Theology, Mysterium Libertionis: Fundmentl Concepts of Libertion Theology, ed, Igncio lcuri nd nd Jon Sbrin (Mry/knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993) 377, Published in Spnish s Centrlidd del reino de Dios en l toologi de l vliberi cion," Mys teriimz Libertionis; Conceptos Fumlmmtlr s de l lleologm dc l Libertion (Mdrid: Editoril Tmtt, 1990) 2:386, "7 lbicl 255