JETS 23:1 (March 1980)

A Critique Of Liberation Theology By A Cross-Culturalized Calvinist

Marten H. Woudstra*

We are standing on the threshold of the 1980s. Only two decades remain before the second millennium of the Christian era will have run its course. For almost two thousand years the gospel of the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus has been preached. Prior to Christ’s coming God spoke in many and various ways to our fathers by the prophets (Heb 1:1), and through these prophets God promised beforehand the gospel that was to be fully realized in Christ (Rom 1:1, 2). Today, and for some time now, the minorities, the oppressed and the poor ask us what difference this preaching of the gospel is making for their external circumstances. Liberation theology has made this concern of the oppressed its concern.

As an Evangelical Theological Society we have existed a scant thirty-one years. During our brief existence we have sought to articulate the gospel that has been preached for thousands of years. We have also sought to discern the spirits to see whether they be of God. Part of that discerning of the spirits has been the examination of the various approaches and methods of interpretation that have been applied to Holy Scripture in an effort to unlock its meaning. Some of these approaches are in vogue for a while, and then they diminish or recede into the background. Half a century ago Ernst von Dobschütz compared the methods of Biblical criticism to fashions. They come and stay a while, and then they disappear.1 The comparison is helpful, but it applies only partially. Methods of Biblical study never disappear completely. They leave a residue. Form criticism did not completely supplant source criticism. Tradition criticism, redaction criticism, rhetorical criticism, canon criticism—they all presuppose one another, even though each claims to do the job better than its predecessor.

What about liberation theology? Will it too fade away? Earlier in this century there was the social gospel approach. The 1960s witnessed the rise of political theology and the theology of revolution. The decade that is now about to close has seen the rise of liberation theology. We do not know what the future of this theology will be. At the present time, however, this movement presents us with a powerful challenge, and I am personally happy that evangelicals have accepted this challenge.

Scarcely four years ago an article in Christianity Today urged evangelicals “to become informed about the theology of liberation and allow this perspective to challenge their own.2 I believe it can be said that this challenge has been heed-

*Marten Woudstra, professor of Old Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, delivered this presidential address at the 31st annual meeting of ETS on December 27, 1979.

JETS 23:1 (March 1980) p. 4

ed. In 1977 a little volume called Evangelicals and Liberation examined liberation theology from various angles.3 Only last year, ...