The True Church and the Poor

Book excerpt: Of Jon Sobrino's first book, 'Christology at the Crossroads', the 'Church Times' wrote: It is radical without being reductionist. It is relentless in its refusal to let us avoid the challenge of Jesus by sliding into theological or cultic abstractions. It will stimulate, illuminate, and infuriate those whose minds are jaded by the current state of British theology. And, like all great theology, it will bring you uncomfortably close to the living Jesus. This second book, also written out of the hell of El Salvador, is if anything even more powerful and uncomfortable. Dedicated To all men and women of El Salvador who have given their lives for the kingdom of God, it took shape while Bishop Romero, his priests, Christian peasant leaders, and catechists lived and died. Doing theology in this situation requires that theology not only follows a specific method but that it also has a specific character. Theology in this situation becomes responsible. Theologians do not arbitrarily decide to study this or that theme; the theme is forced upon them by reality. Theology becomes practical because its motivating concern is not pure thought nor even pure truth but rather the building of the kingdom of God and of a church that will be at the service of this kingdom. Theology becomes evangelical in the true sense of that word: it is done with pleasure in the Good News and with joy that there is salvation for the poor. Finally, theology becomes a response of gratitude because its starting point is the primordial Christian experience that 'something has been given to us'. What has been given to us is the mystery of God present in Jesus and in a church that is poor and is of the poor.