Remembering Dr Paul Farmer
Proponents of liberation theology have maintained for decades that people of faith must make a preferential option for the poor. As discussed by Leonardo Boff of Brazil, a leading contributor to the movement, "the church's option is a preferential option for the poor, against their poverty." The poor, Boff adds, "are those who suffer injustice. Their poverty is produced by mechanisms of impoverishment and exploitation. Their poverty is therefore an evil and an injustice."
There are important corollaries to this sense that injustice is being done. One is that the viewpoints of poor people will inevitably be suppressed or neglected as long as elites control most means of communication. Thus the observation and judgment steps will usually be difficult, because vested interests, including those controlling development efforts, have an obvious stake in shaping observations and in attenuating harsh judgments about deplorable conditions.
Finally, the liberation theologians and the base communities from which they draw their inspiration agree that it is necessary to act on these reflections. The act part of the formula implies much more than reporting one's findings. Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit theologian in EI Salvador, has put it this way: "There is no doubt that the only correct way to love the poor will be to struggle for their liberation. This liberation will consist, first and foremost, in their liberation at the most elementary level-that of their simple, physical life, which is what is at stake in the present situation."
Dr. Paul Farmer: Medicine and liberation theology | America Magazine
Proponents of liberation theology have maintained for decades that people of faith must make a preferential option for the poor. As discussed by Leonardo Boff of Brazil, a leading contributor to the movement, "the church's option is a preferential option for the poor, against their poverty." The poor, Boff adds, "are those who suffer injustice. Their poverty is produced by mechanisms of impoverishment and exploitation. Their poverty is therefore an evil and an injustice."
There are important corollaries to this sense that injustice is being done. One is that the viewpoints of poor people will inevitably be suppressed or neglected as long as elites control most means of communication. Thus the observation and judgment steps will usually be difficult, because vested interests, including those controlling development efforts, have an obvious stake in shaping observations and in attenuating harsh judgments about deplorable conditions.
Finally, the liberation theologians and the base communities from which they draw their inspiration agree that it is necessary to act on these reflections. The act part of the formula implies much more than reporting one's findings. Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit theologian in EI Salvador, has put it this way: "There is no doubt that the only correct way to love the poor will be to struggle for their liberation. This liberation will consist, first and foremost, in their liberation at the most elementary level-that of their simple, physical life, which is what is at stake in the present situation."
Dr. Paul Farmer: Medicine and liberation theology | America Magazine
