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Liberation theology is a synthesis of Christian theology and Marxistsocio-economic analyses that emphasizes social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples.[1] In the 1950s and the 1960s, liberation theology was the political praxis of Latin American theologians, such as Gustavo Gutiérrez of Peru, Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay, and Jon Sobrino of Spain, who popularized the phrase 'Preferential option for the poor'.
The Latin American context also produced evangelical advocates of liberation theology, such as C. René Padilla of Ecuador, Samuel Escobar of Peru, and Orlando E. Costas of Puerto Rico, who, in the 1970s, called for integral mission, emphasizing evangelism and social responsibility.
Theologies of liberation have developed in other parts of the world such as black theology in the United States and South Africa, Palestinian liberation theology, Dalit theology in India, and Minjung theology in South Korea.
- 1Latin American liberation theology
- 1.4Brazilian liberation theology
- 1.4.2Liberation theology and indigenous Brazil
- 1.5Vatican reaction
- 1.4Brazilian liberation theology
- 2Latin American integral mission
- 6See also
- 6.1People
Latin American liberation theology[edit]
The best-known form of liberation theology is that which developed within the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s, arising principally as a moral reaction to the poverty and social injustice in the region. The term was coined in 1971 by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movement's defining books, A Theology of Liberation. Other noted exponents include Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Jon Sobrino of Spain, and Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay.[2][3]
Latin American liberation theology met opposition in the United States,[4] which accused it of using 'Marxist concepts', and led to admonishment by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 1984 and 1986. While stating that 'in itself, the expression 'theology of liberation' is a thoroughly valid term', [1] The Vatican rejected certain forms of Latin American liberation theology for focusing on institutionalized or systemic sin and for identifying Catholic Church hierarchy in South America as members of the same privileged class that had long been oppressing indigenous populations from the arrival of Pizarro onward.[5]
History[edit]
A major player in the formation of liberation theology was the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM). Csr harmony bluetooth stack download free. Created in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, CELAM pushed the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) toward a more socially oriented stance.[6] However, CELAM never supported liberation theology as such, since liberation theology was frowned upon by the Vatican, with Pope Paul VI trying to slow the movement after the Second Vatican Council.[7][citation needed]
More or less at the same time as the initial publications of Latin American liberation theology are also found voices of Black liberation theology and feminist liberation theology.[8]
After the Second Vatican Council, CELAM held two conferences which were important in determining the future of liberation theology: the first was held in Medellín, Colombia, in 1968, and the second in Puebla, Mexico, in January 1979.[6] The Medellín conference debated how to apply the teachings of Vatican II to Latin America, and its conclusions were strongly influenced by liberation theology.[5] Although liberation theology grew out of these officially recognized ideas, the Medellín document is not a liberation theology document. It did, however, lay the groundwork, and since then liberation theology has developed rapidly in the Latin American Catholic Church.[9]
Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo was a central figure after the Medellín Conference, who as priest in Bogota he did not attend, and was elected in 1972 as general secretary of CELAM, and then, its president in 1979 (at the Puebla conference). He represented a more orthodox position, becoming a favourite of Pope John Paul II and the 'principal scourge of liberation theology.'[10] Trujillo's faction became predominant in CELAM after the 1972 Sucre conference, and in the Roman Curia after the CELAM conference in Puebla, Mexico, in January 1979.
Despite the orthodox bishops' predominance in CELAM, a more radical form of liberation theology remained much supported in South America. Thus, the 1979 Puebla Conference was an opportunity for orthodox bishops to reassert control of the radical elements, but they failed. At the Puebla Conference, the orthodox reorientation was met by strong opposition from the liberal part of the clergy, which supported the concept of a 'preferential option for the poor'. This concept had been approved at the Medellín conference by Ricard Durand, president of the Commission about Poverty.
Pope John Paul II gave the opening speech at the Puebla Conference. The general tone of his remarks was conciliatory. He criticized radical liberation theology, saying, 'this idea of Christ as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth, does not tally with the Church's catechesis';[11] however, he did acknowledge that 'the growing wealth of a few parallels the growing poverty of the masses,'[11] and affirmed both the principle of private property and that the Church 'must preach, educate individuals and collectivities, form public opinion, and offer orientations to the leaders of the peoples' towards the goal of a 'more just and equitable distribution of goods'.[11]
Some liberation theologians, however, including Gustavo Gutiérrez, had been barred from attending the Puebla Conference. Working from a seminary and with aid from sympathetic, liberal bishops, they partially obstructed other clergy's efforts to ensure that the Puebla Conference documents satisfied conservative concerns. Within four hours of the Pope's speech, Gutiérrez and the other priests wrote a 20-page refutation, which was circulated at the conference, and has been claimed to have influenced the final outcome of the conference. According to a socio-political study of liberation theology in Latin America, a quarter of the final Puebla documents were written by theologians who were not invited to the conference.[12]
Theology[edit]
Liberation theology could be interpreted as an attempt to return to the gospel of the early church where Christianity is politically and culturally decentralized.[13]
Liberation theology proposes to fight poverty by addressing its alleged source, the sin of greed. In so doing, it explores the relationship between Christian theology (especially Roman Catholic) and political activism, especially in relation to economic justice, poverty, and human rights. The principal methodological innovation is seeing theology from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed. For example, Jon Sobrino argues that the poor are a privileged channel of God's grace.
Some liberation theologians base their social action upon the Bible scriptures describing the mission of Jesus Christ, as bringing a sword (social unrest), e.g., Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 10:34, Luke 22:35–38 — and not as bringing peace (social order).[better source needed] This biblical interpretation is a call to action against poverty, and the sin engendering it, to affect Jesus Christ's mission of justice in this world.
Gustavo Gutiérrez gave the movement its name with his 1971 book, A Theology of Liberation.[14] In this book, Gutiérrez combined populist ideas with the social teachings of the Catholic Church. He was influenced by an existing socialist current in the Church which included organizations such as the Catholic Worker Movement and the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne, a Belgian Christian youth worker organization. He was also influenced by Paul Gauthier's The Poor, Jesus and the Church (1965). Gutiérrez's book is based on an understanding of history in which the human being is seen as assuming conscious responsibility for human destiny, and yet Christ the Saviour liberates the human race from sin, which is the root of all disruption of friendship and of all injustice and oppression.[15]
Gutiérrez also popularized the phrase 'preferential option for the poor', which became a slogan of liberation theology and later appeared in addresses of the Pope.[16] Drawing from the biblical motif on the poor, Gutiérrez asserts that God is revealed as having a preference for those people who are “insignificant', 'marginalized', “unimportant', 'needy', 'despised', and 'defenseless'. Moreover, he makes clear that terminology of 'the poor' in scripture has social and economic connotations that etymologically go back to the Greek word, ptōchos.[17] To be sure, as to not misinterpret Gutiérrez's definition of the term 'preferential option', he stresses, 'Preference implies the universality of God’s love, which excludes no one. It is only within the framework of this universality that we can understand the preference, that is, 'what comes first'.'[18]
Gutiérrez emphasized practice (or, more technically, 'praxis') over doctrine. Gutiérrez clarified his position by advocating a circular relationship between orthodoxy and orthopraxis seeing the two as having a symbiotic relationship.[19] Gutierrez' reading of prophets condemning oppression and injustice against the poor (i.e., Jeremiah 22:13–17) informs his assertion that to know God (orthodoxy) is to do justice (orthopraxis).[20] Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), however, criticized liberation theology for elevating orthopraxis to the level of orthodoxy.[21] Richard McBrien summarizes this concept as follows:
God is disclosed in the historical 'praxis' of liberation. It is the situation, and our passionate and reflective involvement in it, which mediates the Word of God. Today that Word is mediated through the cries of the poor and the oppressed.[22]
Another important hallmark for Gutiérrez's brand of liberation theology is an interpretation of revelation as 'history'. For example, Gutiérrez wrote:
History is the scene of the revelation God makes of the mystery of his person. His word reaches us in the measure of our involvement in the evolution of history.[23]
Gutiérrez also considered the Church to be the 'sacrament of history', an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, thus pointing to the doctrine of universal salvation as the true means to eternal life, and assigning the Church itself to a somewhat temporal role, namely, liberation.
Practice[edit]
One of the most radical aspects of liberation theology was the social organization, or reorganization, of church practice through the model of Christian base communities. Liberation theology strove to be a bottom-up movement in practice, with biblical interpretation and liturgical practice designed by lay practitioners themselves, rather than by the orthodox Church hierarchy. In this context, sacred text interpretation is understood as 'praxis'. Liberation theology seeks to interpret the actions of the Catholic Church and the teachings of Jesus Christ from the perspective of the poor and disadvantaged. In Latin America, liberation theologians specifically target the severe disparities between rich and poor in the existing social and economic orders within the nations' political and corporate structures. It is a strong critique of the various economic and social structures, such as an oppressive government, dependence upon First World countries and the traditional hierarchical Church, that allow some to be extremely rich while others are unable to even have safe drinking water.[9]
The journalist and writer Penny Lernoux described this aspect of liberation theology in her numerous and committed writings intended to explain the movement's ideas in North America. Base communities were small gatherings, usually outside of churches, in which the Bible could be discussed, and Mass could be said. They were especially active in rural parts of Latin America where parish priests were not always available, as they placed a high value on lay participation. In May 2007, it was estimated that 80,000 base communities existed in Brazil.[24]
Contemporaneously, Fanmi Lavalas in Haiti, the Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil, and Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa are three organizations that make use of liberation theology.[25]
Brazilian liberation theology[edit]
The Brazilian Catholic Church is arguably one of the most theologically progressive Catholic congregations due, in large part, to a history of violent military and political conflicts as well as a divisive socioeconomic climate. During Brazil's military rule from 1964 to 1985, the Catholic Church and its members assumed responsibility to provide services to the poor and disenfranchised, often under threat of persecution. The Vatican II and Medellín conference innovations in liberation theology entered the Brazilian Church as the Brazilian lower classes experienced sharply deteriorating economic and political conditions. Among these were an increase in landownership concentration, a decline in wages and standards of living, and a rise in the military state's political repression and violence, including mass detainment, torture, and the assassination of political opponents.[26]
Base ecclesial communities[edit]
After decades of repression from the government authorities, the liberationist Catholic Church in Brazil is absent of traditional centralization and encourages an increased lay participation. Faced with a severe priest shortage, much of the Brazilian Catholic Church is organized into Base Ecclesial Communities or, 'CEBs' in which the Mass, community spirituality programs, and community needs are led or addressed by a single clergy member or a trained lay member in either a small chapel or an individual's home. The CEBs introduced new social ideas and democratic methods which led to many participants' active involvement in popular movements of Brazil that worked for progressive social change. An example of progressive social change initiated by the CEBs is in Nova Iguaçu. A health program began there to try to organize the population in order to remedy widespread malnutrition, open sewers, and other health hazards.[9] Eventually the neighbourhood initiative reached a national interest level where it then became a mass movement in nearly every neighbourhood. Initiatives like the health program in Nova Iguaçu illustrate how CEBs have helped the transition from military to democratic rule.
While liberation theology has brought about significant progressive reforms in Brazil, anthropologist Robin Nagle questions the effectiveness of Catholic Church theology in Brazil. Nagle concentrates on the conflict between conservatives and liberationists in Recife, Brazil, in 1990. The poor neighbourhood of Morro da Conceição had a liberationist priest named Reginaldo who was expelled by the traditionalist archbishop because the archbishop found Reginaldo's politics and social theology annoying and adverse to his own agenda. When Reginaldo and his followers refused to accept the expulsion and the new priest, the archbishop called in the Military Police. Conversely, the event did not cause a mass response because the liberationist agenda aroused distrust and even hatred among many of its intended audience. The main reason was that it was too much to ask poor parishioners to embrace a Church focused more on the troubles of this life than solace in the next.[27]
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While Robin Nagle claims that liberation theology is ineffective for genuine social change, anthropologist Manuel Vásquez argues that liberation theology embraced by CEBs create a twofold effect, because it not only provided moral justification for resistance but it also served as a means to organize the resistance. Many people come to the CEB through conversion experiences, but also because they are keenly concerned with the spiritual and infrastructural needs of their community.[28] Through his fieldwork in working-class neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro, Vásquez reveals that CEBs combat disenfranchisement but also serve to overcome the obstacles associated with materialism and globalization. The social and political impact can be viewed in terms of initial consciousness-raising, the motivation for involvement, the sense of community they develop, the experience of grassroots democracy, the direct actions they engage in, and finally, directly political actions.[9]
Liberation theology and indigenous Brazil[edit]
The Tapeba[edit]
Anthropologist and author Max Maranhão Piorsky Aires analyzes the influence of liberation theology on the transformation of the indigenous Tapeba people of Brazil from poor, uneducated inhabitants neglected by the state to rights-bearing and involved citizens. Specifically he largely attributes the work of the Brazilian Catholic Church to the progression of the Tapeba. The Catholic Church enlisted state authorities, anthropologists, and journalists to help uncover the identity of neglected indigenous peoples of Brazil. Early recognition by missionaries and followers of liberation theology stimulated indigenous identification of the Tapeba population as a possibility for attaining rights, especially land, health, and education.[29] The Church gathered and contributed historical knowledge of indigenous territory and identity of the Tapeba in Caucaia that ultimately succeeded in the tribes obtaining a legally codified identity as well as a rightful place as Brazilian subjects.
Gurupá[edit]
In Gurupá, the Catholic Church employed liberation theology to defend indigenous tribes, farmers, and extractors from land expropriation by federal or corporate forces. New religious ideas, in the form of liberation theology, have fortified and legitimized an evolving political culture of resistance.[26] Meanwhile, the Church-supported Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs) have promoted stronger social connections among community members that has led to more effective activism in Gurupá. Anthropologist Richard Pace's study of Gurupá revealed that CEBs assured safety in united activism, and, combined with liberation theology, encouraged members to challenge landowner's commercial monopolies and fight for better standards of living. Pace references a specific incident in the CEB of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, in which a community of 24 families of farmers, timber extractors, and traders resisted an extra-regional timber extraction firm. The community negotiated an agreement with the firm that gained them a higher standard of living that included imported goods, increased food availability, and access to health care. While severe social dislocations such as government-initiated capitalist penetration, land expropriation, and poor wages persist, small-farmer activism is fortified by liberation theology and receives structural support from unions, political parties, and church organizations.[26]
Vatican reaction[edit]
Joseph Ratzinger[edit]
In March 1983, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), made ten observations of Gustavo Gutiérrez's theology, accusing Gutiérrez of politically interpreting the Bible in supporting temporal messianism, and stating that the predominance of orthopraxis over orthodoxy in his thought proved a Marxist influence. Ratzinger objected that the spiritual concept of the Church as 'People of God' is transformed into a 'Marxist myth'. In liberation theology he declared, the 'people' is the antithesis of the hierarchy, the antithesis of all institutions, which are seen as oppressive powers. Ultimately anyone who participates in the class struggle is a member of the 'people'; the 'Church of the people' becomes the antagonist of the hierarchical Church.'[30]
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Ratzinger did praise liberation theology in some respects, including its ideal of justice, its rejection of violence, and its stress on 'the responsibility which Christians necessarily bear for the poor and oppressed'.[30] He subsequently stated that no one could be neutral in the face of injustice, and referred to the 'crimes' of colonialism and the 'scandal' of the arms race. Nonetheless, media reports tended to assume that the condemnation of 'liberation theology' meant a rejection of such attitudes and an endorsement of conservative politics.[citation needed]
In 1984, it was reported that a meeting occurred between the CDF and the CELAM bishops, during which a rift developed between Ratzinger and some of the bishops,[10] with Ratzinger issuing official condemnations of certain elements of liberation theology.[31][32] These 'Instructions' rejected as Marxist the idea that class struggle is fundamental to history, and rejected the interpretation of religious phenomena such as the Exodus and the Eucharist in exclusively political terms. Ratzinger further stated that liberation theology had a major flaw in that it attempted to apply Christ's sermon on the mount teachings about the poor to present social situations.[33] He asserted that Christ's teaching on the poor meant that we will be judged when we die, with particular attention to how we personally have treated the poor.
Ratzinger also argued that liberation theology is not originally a 'grass-roots' movement among the poor, but rather, a creation of Western intellectuals: 'an attempt to test, in a concrete scenario, ideologies that have been invented in the laboratory by European theologians' and in a certain sense itself a form of 'cultural imperialism'. Ratzinger saw this as a reaction to the demise or near-demise of the 'Marxist myth' in the West.[30]
Throughout the 1990s, Ratzinger, as prefect of the CDF, continued to condemn these elements in liberation theology, and prohibited dissident priests from teaching such doctrines in the Catholic Church's name. Leonardo Boff was suspended and others were censured. Tissa Balasuriya, in Sri Lanka, was excommunicated. Sebastian Kappen, an Indian theologian, was also censured for his book Jesus and Freedom.[34] Under Ratzinger's influence, theological formation schools were forbidden from using the Catholic Church's organization and grounds to teach liberation theology in the sense of theology using unacceptable Marxist ideas, not in the broader sense.
Towards reconciliation under Pope Francis[edit]
According to Roberto Bosca, a historian at Austral University in Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio (later Pope Francis) had 'a reputation as an opponent of liberation theology during the 1970s' but he 'accepted the premise of liberation theology, especially the option for the poor, but in a 'nonideological' fashion.'[35] Before becoming Pope, Bergoglio said, 'The option for the poor comes from the first centuries of Christianity. It's the Gospel itself. If you were to read one of the sermons of the first fathers of the Church, from the second or third centuries, about how you should treat the poor, you’d say it was Maoist or Trotskyist. The Church has always had the honor of this preferential option for the poor .. At the Second Vatican Council the Church was redefined as the People of God and this idea really took off at the Second Conference of the Latin-American bishops in Medellín.'[36] Bosca said Bergoglio was not opposed to liberation theology itself but to 'giving a Catholic blessing to armed insurgency', specifically the Montoneros, who claimed liberation theology as part of their political ideology.[35]Blase Bonpane, a former Maryknoll father and founding director of the Office of the Americas, said 'The new pope has not been comfortable with liberation theology.'[37]
On September 11, 2013, Pope Francis hosted Gutiérrez in his residence, where he concelebrated mass with Gutiérrez and Gerhard Müller, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[38] Some saw this meeting as a sign of warming relations between the hierarchy and liberation theologians.[39][40] The same month, L'Osservatore Romano published an article by Archbishop Müller praising Gutiérrez.[39] On January 18, 2014, Pope Francis met with Arturo Paoli, an Italian priest whom the Pope knew from Paoli's long service in Argentina. Paoli is recognized as an exponent of liberation theology avant la lettre and the meeting was seen as a sign of 'reconciliation' between the Vatican and the liberationists.[41]
Miguel d'Escoto, a Maryknoll priest from Nicaragua, had been sanctioned with an a divinis suspension from his public functions in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, for political activity in the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Pope Francis lifted the suspension in August 2014, in response to a request by d'Escoto.[42]
At a 2015 press conference in the Vatican hosted by Caritas International, the federation of Catholic relief agencies, Gutiérrez noted that while there had been some difficult moments in the past dialogue with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, liberation theology had never been condemned. Although he saw an increasingly clear emphasis on Church teachings on the poor, he did not consider that liberation theology was undergoing a rehabilitation, since it had never been 'dishabilitated'.[43]
In January, 2019, during the World Youth Day in Panama, Pope Francis discussed changing attitudes to liberation theology during an extended discussion with a group of thirty Jesuits from Central America. He noted that he had a devotion to the martyred Salvadoran Jesuit priest, Rutilio Grande, even before he came to know Oscar Romero well. Francis commented that 'Today we old people laugh about how worried we were about liberation theology. What was missing then was communication to the outside about how things really were.'[44]
Accusations[edit]
Communist era general of Romania's secret police, Ion Mihai Pacepa, claims that the KGB created liberation theology.[45] Commentators, notably John L. Allen of Crux on the left[46] and Damian Thompson of The Spectator on the right,[47] have suspected these claims are exaggerated.
US political reactions[edit]
In 1983 US vice presidentGeorge H. W. Bush said he could not comprehend how Catholic theologians could harmonize Catholicism and Marxism and support revolutionaries in Central America. 'I'm puzzled. I just don't understand it.'[48]
Latin American integral mission[edit]
Integral mission or holistic mission is a term coined in Spanish as misión integral in the 1970s by members of the evangelical group Latin American Theological Fellowship (or FTL, its Spanish acronym) to describe an understanding of Christian mission which embraces both the evangelism and social responsibility. Since Lausanne 1974, integral mission has influenced a significant number of evangelicals around the world.[49][50]
The word integral is used in Spanish to describe wholeness (as in wholemeal bread or whole wheat).[50] Theologians use it to describe an understanding of Christian mission that affirms the importance of expressing the love of God and neighbourly love through every means possible. Proponents such as C. René Padilla of Ecuador,[51]Samuel Escobar of Peru,[52] and Orlando E. Costas of Puerto Rico[53] have wanted to emphasize the breadth of the Good News and of the Christian mission, and used the word integral to signal their discomfort with conceptions of Christian mission based on a dichotomy between evangelism and social involvement.
The proponents of integral mission argue that the concept of integral mission is nothing new – rather, it is rooted in Scripture and wonderfully exemplified in Jesus’ own ministry. 'Integral mission' is only a distinct vocabulary for a holistic understanding of mission that has become important in the past forty years in order to distinguish it from widely held but dualistic approaches that emphasize either evangelism or social responsibility.[50]
Camilo Torres[edit]
The priest Camilo Torres (a leader of the Colombian guerrilla group ELN)[54] celebrated the Eucharist only among those engaged in armed struggle against the army of the Colombian state. He also fought for the ELN.[55]
Black theology[edit]
Black theology refers to a theological perspective which originated in some black churches in the United States and later in other parts of the world, which contextualizes Christianity in an attempt to help those of African descent overcome oppression. It especially focuses on the injustices committed against African Americans and black South Africans during American segregation and apartheid, respectively.
Black theology seeks to liberate people of color from multiple forms of political, social, economic, and religious subjugation and views Christian theology as a theology of liberation—'a rational study of the being of God in the world in light of the existential situation of an oppressed community, relating the forces of liberation to the essence of the Gospel, which is Jesus Christ,' writes James Hal Cone, one of the original advocates of the perspective. Black theology mixes Christianity with questions of civil rights, particularly raised by the Black Power movement and the Black Consciousness Movement.
Palestinian liberation theology[edit]
Palestinian liberation theology is an expression of political theology and a contextual theology that represents an attempt by a number of independently working Palestinian theologians from various denominations—mostly Protestant mainline churches—to articulate the gospel message in such a way as to make that liberating gospel relevant to the perceived needs of their indigenous flocks. As a rule, this articulation involves a condemnation of the State of Israel, a theological underpinning of Palestinian resistance to Israel as well as Palestinian national aspirations, and an intense valorization of Palestinian ethnic and cultural identity as guarantors of a truer grasp of the gospel by virtue of the fact that they are inhabitants of the land of Jesus and the Bible. The principal figure in Palestinian liberation theology is the Anglican cleric Naim Ateek, founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.[56]
Related movements[edit]
- Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa[57]
- Dalit theology in India
- Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil
- Lavalas in Haiti[57]
- FSLN in Nicaragua (see The Catholic Church and the Nicaraguan Revolution)
- FMLN in El Salvador
- Christians for Socialism (Cristianos por el socialismo)
See also[edit]
People[edit]
Theologians[edit]
- Marcella Althaus-Reid, Argentina – Scotland (1952–2009)
- Paulo Evaristo Arns, Brazil (1921–2016)
- Rubem Alves, Brazil (1933–2014)
- Naim Ateek, Palestine (b. 1937)
- Alan Boesak, South Africa (b. 1945)
- Leonardo Boff, Brazil (b. 1938)
- Robert McAfee Brown, US (1920–2001)
- Hélder Câmara, Brazil (1909–1999), Archbishop of Olinda and Recife
- Pedro Casaldáliga, Spain – Brazil (b. 1928)
- Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaragua (b. 1925)
- Fernando Cardenal, Nicaragua (1934–2016)
- José Severino Croatto [es; de], Argentina (1930–2004)
- Miguel A. De La Torre, US Cuban
- Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, Nicaragua (b. 1933)
- Jean Marc Ela, Cameroon (b. 1936)
- Virgilio Elizondo, US (1935–2016)
- Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J., Spain – El Salvador (1930–1989)
- Marc H. Ellis, US (b. 1952)
- Giovanni Franzoni, Italy (b. 1928)
- Paul Gauthier, France (1914–2002)
- Ivone Gebara, Brazil (b. 1944)
- Gustavo Gutiérrez, Peru (b. 1928)
- Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuba (1943-2012)
- Gérard Jean-Juste, Haiti (b. 1947)
- Sebastian Kappen, India (1924–1993)
- Aloisio Leo Arlindo Lorscheider, Brazil (1924–2007)
- Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., Spain – El Salvador (1942–1989)
- Johann Baptist Metz, Germany (b. 1928)
- Jürgen Moltmann, Germany (b. 1926)
- Segundo Montes, S.J., Spain – El Salvador (1933–1989)
- Ivan Petrella, Argentina (b. 1969)
- Rubin Phillip, South Africa (b. 1948)
- Samuel Ruiz, Mexico (1924–2011)
- Juan Luis Segundo, S.J., Uruguay (1925–1996)
- Jon Sobrino, S.J., Spain – El Salvador (b. 1938)
- Dorothee Sölle, Germany (1929–2003)
- George V. Pixley, US (b. 1937)
- Jung Mo Sung, Brazil (b. 1957)
References[edit]
- ^Dictionary of Historical Terms (1998), Second Edition, Chris Cook, ed., p. 203.
- ^Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism (Harper Collins, 1994), chapter IV.
- ^Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, First (Spanish) edition published in Lima, Peru, 1971; first English edition published by Orbis Books (Maryknoll, New York), 1973.
- ^Travis Kitchens (June 21, 2010). 'Chomsky on Religion'. Retrieved October 17, 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ abWojda, Paul J., 'Liberation theology,' in R.P. McBrien, ed., The Catholic Encyclopedia (Harper Collins, 1995).
- ^ abRobert Pelton, 'Latin America, Catholicism in' in R.P. McBrien, ed., The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Harper Collins, 1995.
- ^According to Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, liberation theology was simultaneously created by the Reflection Task Force of CELAM, and by Rubem Alves's book, Towards a Theology of Liberation (1968). However, Cardinal Trujillo had himself been general secretary of CELAM, and president of CELAM's Reflection Task Force. Cardinal Samorè, who as leader of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America was in charge of relations between the Roman Curia and CELAM, was ordered to put a stop to liberation theology, which was judged antithetical to the Catholic Church's global teachings.
- ^Vuola, Elina (2005). 'Liberation Theology'. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
- ^ abcdLiberation Theology and Its Role in Latin America. Elisabeth Erin Williams. Monitor: Journal of International Studies. The College of William and Mary.
- ^ abCurti, Elena (May 8, 2010). 'Study in Scarlet'. The Tablet. p. 4. ISSN0039-8837. (Available upon request)
- ^ abc'To members of the 3rd General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, Puebla – Republic of Mexico (January 28, 1979) – John Paul II'. w2.vatican.va. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
- ^Smith, Christian. The Emergence of Liberation Theology
- ^ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLES, Populorum Progressio, Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Paul VI promulgated on March 26, 1967
- ^Gutiérrez, Gustavo (1971). Teología de la liberación: perspectivas. Lima, Perú: Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones (CEP).
- ^Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation(London: SCM Press,1974) 36f
- ^Ratzinger, Joseph (February 21, 2008). 'Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Fathers of the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus'. Speeches February 2008. The Holy See.
- ^Gutierrez, Gustavo. The God of Life. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1991. (Original: El Dios de la vida. Lima: CEP, 1989.) p. 112
- ^Nickoloff, James B. ed. Gustavo Gutierrez: Essential Writings. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1996, p. 145
- ^Gutierrez, Gustavo. The Truth Shall Make You Free: Confrontations. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1990. (Original: La verdad los hara libres: confrontaciones. Lima: CEP, 1986)
- ^Gutierrez, Gustavo. The Power of Poor in History. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1983. (Original: La fuerza historica de los obres: seleccion de trabajos. Lima: CEP, 1971.)
- ^Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal (2007). 'Liberation Theology: Preliminary Notes,' in The Ratzinger Report. (2007). Reprinted in: J.F. Thornton and S.B. Varenne, eds., The Essential Pope Benedict XVI. Online version: Harper Collins.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- ^McBrien, R.P. 'Catholicism' (Harper Collins, 1995), pp. 249–250.
- ^Gutierrez, G. 'Faith as Freedom,' ‘’Horizons’’ 2/1, Spring 1975, p.32
- ^'As Pope Heads to Brazil, a Rival Theology Persists'The New York Times May 7, 2007.
- ^Liberation TheologyArchived March 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Canada & the World, February 10, 2010
- ^ abcPACE, R. (1992), Social conflict and political activism in the Brazilian Amazon: a case study of Gurupá. American Ethnologist, 19: 710–732. doi: 10.1525/ae.1992.19.4.02a00050
- ^Claiming the Virgin:The Broken Promise of Liberation Theology in Brazil. Robin Nagle. New York: Routledge, 1997. xii+224 pp., addendums, notes, glossary, bibliography, index.
- ^The Brazilian Popular Church and the Crisis of Modernity. Manuel A. Vasquez. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 302 pp.
- ^Legalizing Indigenous Identities: The Tapeba Struggle for Land and Schools in Caucaia, Brazil. Max Maranhao Piorsky Aires. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 320–340. 2012.
- ^ abcRatzinger, Joseph Cardinal (2007). 'Liberation Theology: Preliminary Notes,' in The Ratzinger Report. Reprinted in: J.F. Thornton and S.B. Varenne, eds., The Essential Pope Benedict XVI. Online version: Harper Collins, 2007.
- ^Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, (September 13, 1984). 'Instruction on certain aspects of the 'Theology of Liberation,' Origins 14/13. Online version.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)Online version
- ^Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, . (April 17, 1986). 'Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation,' Origins 15/44.
- ^Ratzinger, Cardinal (1985). op cit.
- ^Kappen, Sebastian (1977). Jesus and Freedom. In 1980, the CDF asked the General of the Society of Jesus (of which Kappen was a member) to disavow this book. Kappen responded with a pamphlet entitled 'Censorship and the Future of Asian Theology.' No further action was taken by the Vatican on this matter.
- ^ abAllen, John L. Jr. (April 12, 2013). 'Hard questions about Francis in Argentina and a lesson from Chile'. National Catholic Reporter.
- ^Transcript of 2010 judicial inquiry, 'Bergoglio Declara ante el TOF No 5Archived June 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine,' translated in Ivereigh, Austen (November 25, 2014), The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope (Kindle ed.), New York: Henry Holt and Co. (published 2014), locations 1897–1903, ISBN978-1-62779-158-8
- ^Bernstein, Dennis J. (March 19, 2013). 'Liberation Theology Haunts New Pope'. Consortium News.
- ^McElwee, Joshua J. (February 14, 2019), 'Francis reveals he concelebrated Mass with Cardinal Muller and Gustavo Gutierrez', National Catholic Reporter, retrieved February 14, 2019
- ^ abRocca, Francis X. (September 13, 2013). 'Under Pope Francis, liberation theology comes of age'. Catholic News Service. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^McElwee, Joshua J. (September 25, 2013). 'Pope meets with liberation theology pioneer'. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^Allen Jr., John L. (January 24, 2014). 'Truisms in Catholic life and a rundown of Rome news'. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^'BBC News – Pope reinstates suspended Nicaraguan priest D'Escoto'. BBC News.
- ^O'Connell, Gerard (May 12, 2015), 'Updated: Gutiérrez: 'The Vatican Never Condemned the Theology of Liberation'', America, archived from the original on May 26, 2015, retrieved May 25, 2015
- ^Pope Francis (February 14, 2019), Spadaro, Antonio (ed.), ''Put your lives at stake': Pope Francis in dialogue with the Jesuits of Central America', La Civilità Catolica, retrieved February 14, 2019
- ^Former Soviet spy: We created Liberation Theology, Catholic News Agency, 1 May 2015.
- ^Allen, John L. Jr. (May 5, 2015). 'Did the KGB 'create' Latin America's liberation theology?'. Crux. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
- ^Thompson, Damian (May 2, 2015). 'Former Communist spy: KGB created Catholic liberation theology'. The Spectator. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
- ^John M. Goshko, 'Catholic Aid to Marxists Puzzles Bush,' Washington Post, 1983 March 3
- ^Stanley, Brian (2013). The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott. Grand Rapids, MI: InterVarsity Press. pp. 151–180. ISBN978-0-8308-2585-1.
- ^ abcKirkpatrick, David C. (2016). 'The Widening of Christian Mission: C. René Padilla and the Intellectual Origins of Integral Mission'. In Sexton, Jason S.; Weston, Paul (eds.). The End of Theology: Shaping Theology for the Sake of Mission. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. pp. 193–210. ISBN978-1-5064-0592-6.
- ^Padilla, C. René (2010). Mission Between the Times: Essays on the Kingdom. Carlisle: Langham Monographs. ISBN978-1-907713-01-9.
- ^Escobar, Samuel (2003). A Time of Mission: The Challenge for Global Christianity. Carlisle: Langham Global Library. ISBN978-1-907713-02-6.
- ^Costas, Orlando E. (1974). The Church and its Mission: A Shattering Critique from the Third World. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN978-0-8423-0275-3.
- ^'Bienvenido/a a nuestra página Web – Ejército de Liberación Nacional'. Eln-voces.com. May 26, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
- ^'Camilo Torres Restrepo 1929–1966'. Filosofia.org. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
- ^Ateek, Naim (1989). Justice and only Justice. Orbis.
- ^ ab'Interactivist: Liberation Theology – Abahlali baseMjondolo'. abahlali.org.
Further reading[edit]
- Lernoux, Penny, Cry of the people: United States involvement in the rise of fascism, torture, and murder and the persecution of the Catholic Church in Latin America. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.
- Alves, Rubem, Towards a Theology of Liberation (1968).
- De La Torre, Miguel A., Handbook on U.S. Theologies of Liberation (Chalice Press, 2004).
- Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal, 'Liberation Theology' (preliminary notes to 1984 Instruction)
- Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation, Orbis Books, 1988.
- Kirylo, James D. Paulo Freire: The Man from Recife. New York: Peter Lang, 2011.
- Nash, Ronald, ed. Liberation Theology. First ed. Milford, Mich.: Mott Media, 1984. ISBN0-88062-121-4
- Smith, Christian, The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and the Social Movement Theory, University of Chicago Press, 1991.
- Marxism and Missions / Missions et Marxisme, special issue of the journal Social Sciences and Missions, Volume 22/2, 2009
Pacepa, I. M. and Rychlak, R. J, 'Disinformation,' Washington, DC: WND Books, Inc., 2013.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liberation theology. |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Liberation theology |
- Liberation Theology Video from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liberation_theology&oldid=911174150'
Author | Khaled Hosseini |
---|---|
Cover artist | Honi Werner |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | |
Publisher | Riverhead Books |
Publication date | May 29, 2003 |
Pages | 372 |
ISBN | 1-57322-245-3 |
OCLC | 51615359 |
813/.6 21 | |
LC Class | PS3608.O832 K58 2003 |
The Kite Runner is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini.[1] Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, whose closest friend is Hassan. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet military intervention, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
Hosseini has commented that he considers The Kite Runner to be a father–son story, emphasizing the familial aspects of the narrative, an element that he continued to use in his later works.[2] Themes of guilt and redemption feature prominently in the novel,[3] with a pivotal scene depicting an act of sexual assault that happens against Hassan that Amir fails to prevent. The latter half of the book centers on Amir's attempts to atone for this transgression by rescuing Hassan's son two decades later.
The Kite Runner became a bestseller after being printed in paperback and was popularized in book clubs. It was a number one New York Times bestseller for over two years,[4] with over seven million copies sold in the United States.[5] Reviews were generally positive, though parts of the plot drew significant controversy in Afghanistan. A number of adaptations were created following publication, including a 2007 film of the same name, several stage performances, and a graphic novel.
- 2Plot summary
- 5Critical reception
- 6Adaptations
Composition and publication[edit]
Khaled Hosseini, 2007
Khaled Hosseini worked as a medical internist at Kaiser Hospital in Mountain View, California for several years before publishing The Kite Runner.[3][6][7] In 1999, Hosseini learned through a news report that the Taliban had banned kite flying in Afghanistan,[8] a restriction he found particularly cruel.[9] The news 'struck a personal chord' for him, as he had grown up with the sport while living in Afghanistan. He was motivated to write a 25-page short story about two boys who fly kites in Kabul.[8] Hosseini submitted copies to Esquire and The New Yorker, both of which rejected it.[9] He rediscovered the manuscript in his garage in March 2001 and began to expand it to novel format at the suggestion of a friend.[8][9] According to Hosseini, the narrative became 'much darker' than he originally intended.[8] His editor, Cindy Spiegel, 'helped him rework the last third of his manuscript', something she describes as relatively common for a first novel.[9]
As with Hosseini's subsequent novels, The Kite Runner covers a multigenerational period and focuses on the relationship between parents and their children.[2] The latter was unintentional; Hosseini developed an interest in the theme while in the process of writing.[2] He later divulged that he frequently came up with pieces of the plot by drawing pictures of it.[7] For example, he did not decide to make Amir and Hassan brothers until after he had 'doodled it'.[7]
Like Amir, the protagonist of the novel, Hosseini was born in Afghanistan and left the country as a youth, not returning until 2003.[10] Thus, he was frequently questioned about the extent of the autobiographical aspects of the book.[9] In response, he said, 'When I say some of it is me, then people look unsatisfied. The parallels are pretty obvious, but .. I left a few things ambiguous because I wanted to drive the book clubs crazy.'[9] Having left the country around the time of the Soviet invasion, he felt a certain amount of survivor's guilt: 'Whenever I read stories about Afghanistan my reaction was always tinged with guilt. A lot of my childhood friends had a very hard time. Some of our cousins died. One died in a fuel truck trying to escape Afghanistan [an incident that Hosseini fictionalizes in The Kite Runner]. Talk about guilt. He was one of the kids I grew up with flying kites. His father was shot.'[2][11] Regardless, he maintains that the plot is fictional.[8] Later, when writing his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns (then titled Dreaming in Titanic City), Hosseini remarked that he was happy that the main characters were women as it 'should put the end to the autobiographical question once and for all'.[9]
Riverhead Books published The Kite Runner, ordering an initial printing of 50,000 copies in hardback.[9][12] It was released on May 29, 2003, and the paperback edition was released a year later.[9][13] Hosseini took a year-long absence from practicing medicine to promote the book, signing copies, speaking at various events, and raising funds for Afghan causes.[9] Originally published in English, The Kite Runner was later translated into 42 languages for publication in 38 countries.[14] In 2013, Riverhead released the 10th anniversary edition with a new gold-rimmed cover and a foreword by Hosseini.[15] That same year, on May 21, Khaled Hosseini published another book called And the Mountains Echoed.
Plot summary[edit]
Part I[edit]
Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul, setting of Part I
Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, Amir's father's servant, spend their days kite fighting in the hitherto peaceful city of Kabul. Hassan is a successful 'kite runner' for Amir; he knows where the kite will land without watching it.Both boys are motherless: Amir's mother died in childbirth, while Hassan's mother, Sanaubar, simply abandoned him and Ali. Amir's father, a wealthy merchant Amir affectionately refers to as Baba, loves both boys. He makes a point of buying Hassan exactly the same things as Amir, to Amir's annoyance. He even pays to have Hassan's cleft lip surgically corrected. On the other hand, Baba jan is often critical of Amir, considering him weak and lacking in courage, even threatening to physically punish him when he complains about Hassan. Amir finds a kinder fatherly figure in Rahim Khan, Baba's closest friend, who understands him and supports his interest in writing, whereas Baba considers that interest to be worthy only of females. In a rare moment when Amir is sitting on Baba jan's lap rather than being shooed away as a bother he asks why his father drinks alcohol which is forbidden by Islam. Baba jan tells him that the Mullahs are hypocrites and the only real sin is theft which takes many forms.
Assef, an older boy with a sadistic taste for violence, mocks Amir for socializing with a Hazara, which according to him, is an inferior race whose members belong only in Hazarajat. Assef is himself only half Pashtun, having a German mother and a typical blond haired blue eyed German appearance. One day, he prepares to attack Amir with brass knuckles, but Hassan defends Amir, threatening to shoot out Assef's eye with his slingshot. Assef backs off but swears to take revenge one day.
One triumphant day, Amir wins the local kite fighting tournament and finally earns Baba's praise. Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, 'For you, a thousand times over.' However, after finding the kite, Hassan encounters Assef in an alleyway. Hassan refuses to give up the kite, and Assef severely beats him and rapes him. Amir witnesses the act but is too scared to intervene. He knows that if he fails to bring home the kite, Baba would be less proud of him. He feels incredibly guilty but knows his cowardice would destroy any hopes for Baba's affections, so he keeps quiet about the incident. Afterwards, Amir keeps distant from Hassan; his feelings of guilt prevent him from interacting with the boy. Hassan's mental and physical well-being begin to deteriorate.
Amir begins to believe that life would be easier if Hassan were not around, so he plants a watch and some money under Hassan's mattress in hopes that Baba will make him leave; Hassan falsely confesses when confronted by Baba. Although Baba believes 'there is no act more wretched than stealing', he forgives him. To Baba's sorrow, Hassan and Ali leave anyway, because Hassan has told Ali what happened to him. Amir is freed of the daily reminder of his cowardice and betrayal, but he still lives in their shadow.
Part II[edit]
In 1979, five years later, the Soviet Union militarily intervened in Afghanistan. Baba and Amir escape to Peshawar, Pakistan, and then to Fremont, California, where they settle in a run-down apartment. Baba begins work at a gas station. After graduating from high school, Amir takes classes at San Jose State University to develop his writing skills. Every Sunday, Baba and Amir make extra money selling used goods at a flea market in San Jose. There, Amir meets fellow refugee Soraya Taheri and her family. Baba is diagnosed with terminal cancer but is still capable of granting Amir one last favor: he asks Soraya's father's permission for Amir to marry her. He agrees and the two marry. Shortly thereafter Baba dies. Amir and Soraya settle down in a happy marriage, but to their sorrow, they learn that they cannot have children.
Amir embarks on a successful career as a novelist. Fifteen years after his wedding, Amir receives a call from his father's best friend (and his childhood father figure) Rahim Khan. Khan, who is dying, asks Amir to visit him in Peshawar. He enigmatically tells Amir, 'There is a way to be good again.'
Part III[edit]
From Rahim Khan, Amir learns that Hassan and Ali are both dead. Ali was killed by a land mine. Hassan and his wife were killed after Hassan refused to allow the Taliban to confiscate Baba and Amir's house in Kabul. Rahim Khan further reveals that Ali was sterile and was not Hassan's biological father. Hassan was actually Baba and Ali's wife, Sanaubar's, son and Amir's half brother. Finally, Khan tells Amir that the reason he has called Amir to Pakistan is to ask him to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Kabul.
Amir, searches for Sohrab, accompanied by Farid, an Afghan taxi driver, and veteran of the war with the Soviets. They learn that a Taliban official comes to the orphanage often, brings cash, and usually takes a girl away with him. Occasionally he chooses a boy, recently Sohrab. The orphanage director tells Amir how to find the official, and Farid secures an appointment at his home by claiming to have 'personal business' with him.
Amir meets the Taliban leader, who reveals himself as Assef. Sohrab is being kept at Assef's house as a dancing boy. Assef agrees to relinquish him if Amir can beat him in a fight. Assef then badly beats Amir, breaking several bones, until Sohrab uses a slingshot to fire a brass ball into Assef's left eye. Sohrab helps Amir out of the house, where he passes out and wakes up in a hospital.
Amir tells Sohrab of his plans to take him back to America and possibly adopt him. However, American authorities demand evidence of Sohrab's orphan status. Amir tells Sohrab that he may have to go back to the orphanage for a little while as they have encountered a problem in the adoption process, and Sohrab, terrified about returning to the orphanage, attempts suicide. Amir eventually manages to take him back to the United States. After his adoption, Sohrab refuses to interact with Amir or Soraya until Amir reminisces about Hassan and kites and shows off some of Hassan's tricks. In the end, Sohrab only gives a lopsided smile, but Amir takes it with all his heart as he runs the kite for Sohrab, saying, 'For you, a thousand times over.'
Characters[edit]
- Amir (named Amir Qadiri in 2007 film adaptation, surname is not given in book) is the narrator of the novel. Khaled Hosseini acknowledged that the character is 'an unlikable coward who failed to come to the aid of his best friend' for much of the duration of the story; consequently, Hosseini chose to create sympathy for Amir through circumstances rather than the personality he was given until the last third of the book.[16] Born into a Pashtun family in 1963, his mother died while giving birth to him. As a child, he enjoys storytelling and is encouraged by Rahim Khan to become a well known writer. At age 18, he and his father flee to America following the Soviet Military invasion of Afghanistan, where he pursues his dream of being a writer.
- Hassan is Amir's closest childhood friend. He is described as having a China doll face, green eyes, and a harelip. Hosseini regards him as a flat character in terms of development; he is 'a lovely guy and you root for him and you love him but he's not complicated'.[17]
- Assef is the son of a Pashtun father and a German mother, and believes that Pashtuns are superior to Hazaras, although he himself is not a full Pashtun. As a teenager, he is a neighborhood bully and is enamored with Hitler and Nazism. He is described as a 'sociopath' by Amir. He rapes Hassan to get revenge on Amir. As an adult, he joins the Taliban and sexually abuses Hassan's son, Sohrab and other children of Sohrab's orphanage.
- Baba is Amir's father and a wealthy businessman who aids the community by creating businesses for others and building a new orphanage. He is the biological father of Hassan, a fact he hides from both of his children, and seems to favor him over Amir. Baba does not endorse the extremist religious views of the clerics at Amir's school. After fleeing to America, he works at a gas station. He dies from cancer in 1987, shortly after Amir and Soraya's wedding.
- Ali is Baba's servant, a Hazara believed to be Hassan's father. He was adopted as a child by Baba's father after his parents were killed by a drunk driver. Before the events of the novel, Ali had been struck with polio, rendering his right leg useless. Because of this, Ali is constantly tormented by children in the town. He is later killed by a land mine in Hazarajat.
- Rahim Khan is Baba's loyal friend and business partner, as well as a mentor to Amir. Rahim persuades Amir to come to Pakistan, where he informs Amir that Hassan was his half brother and asks him to rescue Hassan's orphaned son, Sohrab.
- Soraya is a young Afghan woman whom Amir meets and marries in the United States. Hosseini originally scripted the character as an American woman, but he later agreed to rewrite her as an Afghan immigrant after his editor did not find her background believable for her role in the story.[18] The change resulted in an extensive revision of Part III.[18] In the final draft, Soraya lives with her parents, Afghan general Taheri and his wife, and wants to become an English teacher. Before meeting Amir, she ran away with an Afghan boyfriend in Virginia, which, according to Afghan culture, made her unsuitable for marriage. Because Amir is unwilling to confront his own past actions, he admires Soraya for her courage in admitting to and moving beyond her past mistakes.
- Sohrab is the son of Hassan. After his parents are killed and he is sent to an orphanage, Assef buys and abuses the child. Amir saves and later adopts him. After being brought to the United States, he slowly adapts to his new life. Sohrab greatly resembles a young version of his father Hassan.
- Sanaubar is Ali's wife and the mother of Hassan. Shortly after Hassan's birth, she runs away from home and joins a group of traveling dancers. She later returns to Hassan in his adulthood. To make up for her neglect, she provides a grandmother figure for Sohrab, Hassan's son.
- Farid is a taxi driver who is initially abrasive toward Amir, but later befriends him. Two of Farid's seven children were killed by a land mine, a disaster which mutilated three fingers on his left hand and also took some of his toes. After spending a night with Farid's brother's impoverished family, Amir hides a bundle of money under the mattress to help them.
- General Taheri
- Jagila Taheri
- Khanum Taheri
Themes[edit]
Because its themes of friendship, betrayal, guilt, redemption and the uneasy love between fathers and sons are universal themes, and not specifically Afghan, the book has been able to reach across cultural, racial, religious and gender gaps to resonate with readers of varying backgrounds.
— Khaled Hosseini, 2005[3]
Khaled Hosseini identifies a number of themes that appear in The Kite Runner, but reviewers have focused on guilt and redemption.[9][11][19] As a child, Amir fails to save Hassan in an act of cowardice and afterwards suffers from an all-consuming guilt. Even after leaving the country, moving to America, marrying, and becoming a successful writer, he is unable to forget the incident. Hassan is 'the all-sacrificing Christ-figure, the one who, even in death, calls Amir to redemption'.[19] Following Hassan's death at the hands of the Taliban, Amir begins to redeem himself through the rescue of Hassan's son, Sohrab.[20] Hosseini draws parallels during the search for Sohrab to create an impression of poetic justice; for example, Amir sustains a split lip after being severely beaten, similar to Hassan's harelip.[20] Despite this, some critics questioned whether the protagonist had fully redeemed himself.[21]
Amir's motivation for the childhood betrayal is rooted in his insecurities regarding his relationship with his father.[22] The relationship between parents and their children features prominently in the novel, and in an interview, Hosseini elaborated:
Both [The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns] are multigenerational, and so the relationship between parent and child, with all of its manifest complexities and contradictions, is a prominent theme. I did not intend this, but I am keenly interested, it appears, in the way parents and children love, disappoint, and in the end honor each other. In one way, the two novels are corollaries: The Kite Runner was a father-son story, and A Thousand Splendid Suns can be seen as a mother-daughter story.[2]
When adapting The Kite Runner for the theatre, Director Eric Rose stated that he was drawn into the narrative by the 'themes of betraying your best friend for the love of your father', which he compared to Shakespearean literature.[23] Throughout the story, Amir craves his father's affection;[22] his father, in turn, loves Amir but favors Hassan,[20] going as far as to pay for plastic surgery to repair the latter's cleft lip.[24]
Critical reception[edit]
General[edit]
First Lady Laura Bush with Khaled Hosseini (first and second to the left); Bush praised The Kite Runner as 'really great'.[25]
In the first two years following its publication, over 70,000 hardback copies of The Kite Runner were sold along with 1,250,000 paperback copies.[3] Though the book sold well in hardback, 'Kite Runner's popularity didn't really begin to soar until [2004] when the paperback edition came out, which is when book clubs began picking it up.'[9] It started appearing on best seller lists in September 2004 and became a number one New York Times best seller in March 2005,[3] maintaining its place on the list for two years.[4] By the publication of Khaled Hosseini's third novel in 2013, over seven million copies had been sold in the United States.[5] The book received the South African Boeke Prize in 2004. It was voted the Reading Group Book of the Year for 2006 and 2007 and headed a list of 60 titles submitted by entrants to the Penguin/Orange Reading Group prize (UK).[26][27]
Critically, the book was well-received, albeit controversial. Erika Milvy from Salon praised it as 'beautifully written, startling and heart wrenching'.[28] Tony Sims from Wired Magazine wrote that the book 'reveals the beauty and agony of a tormented nation as it tells the story of an improbable friendship between two boys from opposite ends of society, and of the troubled but enduring relationship between a father and a son'.[29] Amelia Hill of The Guardian opinionated, 'The Kite Runner is the shattering first novel by Khaled Hosseini' that 'is simultaneously devastating and inspiring.'[22] A similarly favorable review was printed in Publishers Weekly.[13] Marketing director Melissa Mytinger remarked, 'It's simply an excellent story. Much of it based in a world we don't know, a world we're barely beginning to know. Well-written, published at the 'right time' by an author who is both charming and thoughtful in his personal appearances for the book.'[3] Indian-American actor Aasif Mandvi agreed that the book was 'amazing storytelling. .. It's about human beings. It's about redemption, and redemption is a powerful theme.'[9] First Lady Laura Bush commended the story as 'really great'.[25]Said Tayeb Jawad, the 19th Afghan ambassador to the United States, publicly endorsed The Kite Runner, saying that the book would help the American public to better understand Afghan society and culture.[9]
Disability Studies Reader Second Edition
Edward Hower from The New York Times analyzed the portrayal of Afghanistan before and after the Taliban:
Hosseini's depiction of pre-revolutionary Afghanistan is rich in warmth and humor but also tense with the friction between the nation's different ethnic groups. Amir's father, or Baba, personifies all that is reckless, courageous and arrogant in his dominant Pashtun tribe .. The novel's canvas turns dark when Hosseini describes the suffering of his country under the tyranny of the Taliban, whom Amir encounters when he finally returns home, hoping to help Hassan and his family. The final third of the book is full of haunting images: a man, desperate to feed his children, trying to sell his artificial leg in the market; an adulterous couple stoned to death in a stadium during the halftime of a football match; a rouged young boy forced into prostitution, dancing the sort of steps once performed by an organ grinder's monkey.[24]
Meghan O'Rouke, Slate Magazine's culture critic and advisory editor, ultimately found The Kite Runner mediocre, writing, 'This is a novel simultaneously striving to deliver a large-scale informative portrait and to stage a small-scale redemptive drama, but its therapeutic allegory of recovery can only undermine its realist ambitions. People experience their lives against the backdrop of their culture, and while Hosseini wisely steers clear of merely exoticizing Afghanistan as a monolithically foreign place, he does so much work to make his novel emotionally accessible to the American reader that there is almost no room, in the end, for us to consider for long what might differentiate Afghans and Americans.'[25] Sarah Smith from The Guardian thought the novel started out well but began to falter towards the end. She felt that Hosseini was too focused on fully redeeming the protagonist in Part III and in doing so created too many unrealistic coincidences that allowed Amir the opportunity to undo his past wrongs.[20]
Controversies[edit]
The Kite Runner has been accused of 'hindering' Western understanding of the Taliban[by whom?] by portraying its members as representatives of various social and doctrinal evils that the Taliban and their supporters do not consider typical and which they feel portray Taliban in an unfavourable light. Examples of this would be: Assef's pedophilia, Nazism, drug abuse, and sadism, and the fact that he is an executioner.[30] The American Library Association reported that The Kite Runner was one of its most-challenged books of 2008, with multiple attempts to remove it from libraries due to its 'offensive language, sexually explicit [content], and unsuit[ability for] age group.'[31] Afghan American readers were particularly hostile towards the depiction of Pashtuns as oppressors and Hazaras as the oppressed.[11] Hosseini responded in an interview, 'They never say I am speaking about things that are untrue. Their beef is, 'Why do you have to talk about these things and embarrass us? Don't you love your country?'[11]
The film generated more controversy through the 30-second rape scene, with threats made against the child actors, who originated from Afghanistan.[28]Zekeria Ebrahimi, the 12-year-old actor who portrayed Amir, had to be removed from school after his Hazara classmates threatened to kill him,[32] and Paramount Pictures was eventually forced to relocate three of the children to the United Arab Emirates.[28] Afghanistan's Ministry of Culture banned the film from distribution in cinemas or DVD stores, citing the possibility that the movie's ethnically charged rape scene could incite racial violence within Afghanistan.[33]
Adaptations[edit]
Film[edit]
Khaled Hosseini with actors of The Kite Runner, Bahram and Elham Ehsas
Four years after its publication, The Kite Runner was adapted as a motion picture starring Khalid Abdalla as Amir, Homayoun Ershadi as Baba, and Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada as Hassan. It was initially scheduled to premiere in November 2007, but the release date was pushed back six weeks to evacuate the Afghan child stars from the country after they received death threats.[34] Directed by Marc Forster and with a screenplay by David Benioff, the movie won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, the BAFTA Film Award, and the Critics Choice Award in 2008.[35] While reviews were generally positive, with Entertainment Weekly deeming the final product 'pretty good',[36] the depiction of ethnic tensions and the controversial rape scene drew outrage in Afghanistan.[34] Hangama Anwari, the child rights commissioner for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, commented, 'They should not play around with the lives and security of people. The Hazara people will take it as an insult.'[34]
Hosseini was surprised by the extent of the controversy caused by the rape scene and vocalized that Afghan actors would not have been cast had studios known that their lives would be threatened.[28] He believed that the scene was necessary to 'maintain the integrity' of the story, as a physical assault by itself would not have affected the audience as much.[28]
Other[edit]
The novel was first adapted to the stage in March 2007 by Bay Area playwright Matthew Spangler where it was performed at San Jose State University.[37] Two years later, David Ira Goldstein, artistic director of Arizona Theater Company, organized for it to be performed at San Jose Repertory Theatre. The play was produced at Arizona Theatre Company in 2009, Actor's Theatre of Louisville and Cleveland Play House in 2010, and The New Repertory Theatre of Watertown, Massachusetts in 2012. The theatre adaption premiered in Canada as a co-production between Theatre Calgary and the Citadel Theatre in January 2013. In April 2013, the play premiered in Europe at the Nottingham Playhouse, with Ben Turner acting in the lead role.[38]
Hosseini was approached by Piemme, his Italian publisher, about converting The Kite Runner to a graphic novel in 2011. Having been 'a fan of comic books since childhood', he was open to the idea, believing that The Kite Runner was a good candidate to be presented in a visual format.[29] Fabio Celoni provided the illustrations for the project and regularly updated Hosseini on his progress before its release in September of that year.[29] The latter was pleased with the final product and said, 'I believe Fabio Celoni's work vividly brings to life not only the mountains, the bazaars, the city of Kabul and its kite-dotted skies, but also the many struggles, conflicts, and emotional highs and lows of Amir's journey.'[29]
Accelerated Reader Second Grade Book List
See also[edit]
- A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini's second novel)
References[edit]
- ^Noor, R.; Hosseini, Khaled (September–December 2004). 'The Kite Runner'. World Literature Today. 78 (3/4): 148. doi:10.2307/40158636.
- ^ abcde'An interview with Khaled Hosseini'. Book Browse. 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^ abcdefGuthmann, Edward (March 14, 2005). 'Before 'The Kite Runner,' Khaled Hosseini had never written a novel. But with word of mouth, book sales have taken off'. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^ abItalie, Hillel (October 29, 2012). ''Kite Runner' author to debut new novel next year'. NBC News. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^ ab'Siblings' Separation Haunts In 'Kite Runner' Author's Latest'. NPR. May 19, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
- ^Jain, Saudamini (May 24, 2013). 'COVER STORY: the Afghan story teller Khaled Hosseini'. Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^ abcMiller, David (June 7, 2013). 'Khaled Hosseni author of Kite Runner talks about his mistress: Writing'. Loveland Magazine. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^ abcde''Kite Runner' Author On His Childhood, His Writing, And The Plight Of Afghan Refugees'. Radio Free Europe. June 21, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^ abcdefghijklmnWilson, Craig (April 18, 2005). ''Kite Runner' catches the wind'. USA Today. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^Grossman, Lev (May 17, 2007). 'The Kite Runner Author Returns Home'. Time Magazine. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^ abcdYoung, Lucie (May 19, 2007). 'Despair in Kabul'. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^Mehta, Monica (June 6, 2003). 'The Kite Runner'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ ab'The Kite Runner'. Publishers Weekly. May 12, 2003. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^Tonkin, Boyd (February 28, 2008). 'Is the Arab world ready for a literary revolution?'. The Independent. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^Deutsch, Lindsay (February 28, 2013). 'Book Buzz: 'Kite Runner' celebrates 10th anniversary'. USA Today. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^Kakutani, Michiko (May 29, 2007). 'A Woman's Lot in Kabul, Lower Than a House Cat's'. The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
- ^Hoby, Hermione (May 31, 2013). 'Khaled Hosseini: 'If I could go back now, I'd take The Kite Runner apart''. The Guardian. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^ abWyatt, Edward (December 15, 2004). 'Wrenching Tale by an Afghan Immigrant Strikes a Chord'. The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
- ^ abRankin-Brown, Maria (January 7, 2008). 'The Kite Runner: Is Redemption Truly Free?'. Spectrum Magazine. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^ abcdSmith, Sarah (October 3, 2003). 'From harelip to split lip'. The Guardian. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^Thompson, Harvey (March 25, 2008). 'The Kite Runner: the Afghan tragedy goes unexplained'. WSWS. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^ abcHill, Amelia (September 6, 2003). 'An Afghan hounded by his past'. The Guardian. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^Roe, John (February 4, 2013). 'The Kite Runner'. Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^ abHower, Edward (August 3, 2003). 'The Servant'. The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^ abcO'Rourke, Meghan (July 25, 2005). 'Do I really have to read 'The Kite Runner'?'. Slate Magazine. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^Lea, Richard (7 August 2006). 'Word-of-mouth success gets reading group vote'. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^Pauli, Michelle (August 15, 2007). 'Kite Runner is reading group favourite for second year running'. guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
- ^ abcdeMilvy, Erika (December 9, 2007). 'The 'Kite Runner' controversy'. Salon. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^ abcdSims, Tony (September 30, 2011). 'GeekDad Interview: Khaled Hosseini, Author of The Kite Runner'. Wired. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
- ^Sengupta, Kim (October 24, 2008). 'Butcher and Bolt, By David Loyn'. The Independent Books. London. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ^'Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2008, by ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom'. ALA Issues and Advocacy. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson (July 2, 2008). ''Kite Runner' Star's Family Feels Exploited By Studio'. All Things Considered. National Public Radio.
- ^''The Kite Runner' Film Outlawed in Afghanistan'. The New York Times. January 16, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- ^ abcHalbfinger, David (October 4, 2007). ''The Kite Runner' Is Delayed to Protect Child Stars'. The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^'Hollywood Foreign Press Association 2008 Golden Globe Awards'. goldenglobes.org. December 13, 2007. Archived from the original on December 15, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
- ^Schwarzbaum, Lisa (January 9, 2008). 'The Kite Runner'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
- ^''Kite Runner' floats across SJSU stage on Friday night'. Spartan Daily. February 22, 2007. Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
- ^'Review: The Kite Runner/Liverpool Playhouse'. Liverpool Confidential. June 25, 2013. Archived from the original on September 15, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
External links[edit]
The Marx Engels Reader Second Edition
Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Kite Runner |
Gaston X Reader Second Chances
- Khaled Hosseini discusses The Kite Runner on the BBC World Book Club
- Excerpts: Excerpt at ereader.comExcerpt at litstudies.orgExcerpt at today.com
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