: School ofT heology at Clarem Ti Li BEFA TION eal RHEOLOGY .K445 .1@90. Marx and the Failure:o f Liberation Theology DeLaSa. Dneiefm enP : y o y BT $3,957 KYY4S MARX , 1990 and the FAILURE of LIBERATION THEOLOGY ALISTAIR KEE @) @ SCM PRESS London TRINITY PRESS INTERNATIONAL Philadelphia First published 1990 SCM Press Ltd Trinity Press International 26-30 Tottenham Road 3725 Chestnut Street London N1 4BZ ~ Philadelphia, Pa. 19104 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers, SCM Press and Trinity Press International. » Copyright © Alistair Kee 1990 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Kee, Alistair - Marx and the failure of liberation theology. 1. Liberation theology I. Title 261.8 ISBN 0-334-02437-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kee, Alistair, 1937- Marx and the failure of liberation theology/Alistair Kee. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-334-02437-4 1. Liberation theology. 2. Marx, Karl, 1818-1883—Religion. I. Title BT83.57.K445 1990 230’ .046—dc20 89-48336 Phototypeset by Input Typesetting Ltd, London and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Theology Library SCHOOL OF THEOLOSE AT CLAREMONT aioe |e e Contents Introduction Marx and the Renewal of Religion 1x Part One MArx’s CRITICISMS OF RELIGION Marx and Faith (a) Positive experience of religion (b) Conversion Religion as Reconciliation 12 (a) Negative experience of religion {2 (b) Hegel and the rational 16 (c) Atheism and treason 20 (d) Prometheus bound 26 (e) Opiate of the poor 30 (f) Liberation by redemption 35 (g) Reconciliation in Christ 39 Religion as Reversal 41 (a) Religion as projection 41 (b) Inverted world | 45 (c) Secular reversals 49 (d) Economic reversals 54 (e) Human essence of religion 60 Religion as Ideology 69 (a) The Holy Family 69 (b) Farewell to Feuerbach 16) (c) A second conversion V7, (d) False consciousness fis (e) Religion and the ruling class 82 Contents Historical Materialism as Religion 88 (a) Materialism 88 (b) Historical materialism 90 (c) Base and superstructure 96 (d) Meaning in history 104 (e) The necessity of Hegel 109 (f) Ideological faith 116 (g) Marx’s fetish an 121 Part Two MARX AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY 129 Redemption and Revolution 151 (a) Theology and social being . 131 (b) Cuba and unredeemed America 132 (c) The revolutionary as priest 140 (d) The spiral of violence 146 (e) Marginal Marx 156 (f) Conciliar developments 159 The Influence of Marx on Liberation Theology 163 (a) An ecumenical theology of liberation 163 (b) A theology provoked by Marxism 164 (c) The new theological epoch 169 (d) The underside of history 174 (e) The owl of theology 179 The Use of Marx in Liberation Theology 182 (a) Hermeneutical spiral 182 (b) Theologies of explanation and change 189 (c) Epistemological presuppositions 195 (d) Unavoidable historical mediation 199 Marxist Liberation Theology 202 (a) Faith and dialectics 202 (b) Religious capitalism 210 (c) Halo of the revolution 220 (d) Christians for Socialism 228 10 Evaluation of Marx in Liberation Theology 232 (a) The unsubstitutability of Marx 2395 (b) Faith and ideology 240 (c) Atheism as an ally 245 (d) Marx the Christian humanist 249 Vi Contents Part Three BEYOND LIBERATION THEOLOGY Za) 11 Marx and the Failure of Liberation Theology py) (a) Selective criticism ‘ 257 (b) Peasant theology 260 (c) Failing the people 263 12 Religion in the Next Epoch 268 (a) Confirmation of historical materialism 268 (b) The European way Zhe (c) Supersession of capitalism 274 (e) Religion and historical materialism 278 Notes 284 Index US) Vii kee Waal ret ‘ habe kepeial s parde eidrg e + ‘Lise 1