SEMINAR ON THEOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

INTRODUCTION BY T. HOWLAND SANKS

As a theologian I have been concerned for some time now with
a study of sociology, especially the sociology of knowledge, and
with employing its insights in theological reflection. It seems to me
that there is no question of whether or not there should be a
relationship between theology and the social sciences, but rather
the question is the methodological one of how these two partners in
the dialogue should be related. At times in the past, theologians
have seemed to be either entirely innocent of the social sciences,
or promiscuous in their casual relationships. We are concerned to
establish a more stable and solidly-grounded marriage.
The methodological question has become more urgent re-
cently because of some of the criticism levelled at political theol-
ogy and liberation theology. Some theologians have charged that
such theologies have made political, economic and sociological
analyses normative for the interpretation of the gospel, with the
result that theology has itself become an ideology. In his book, The
Liberation of Theology, Juan Luis Segundo explicitly takes up
some of these criticisms and discusses the methodology of libera-
tion theology itself. Hence, we felt that this was a good text to
ground our discussion.
We do not expect to solve all the methodological questions in
this discussion, but we would hope that we could clarify and
specify further some of the issues involved. To help us in this task,
we have asked Gregory Baum, whose recent book on sociology
and theology, Religion and Alienation, is well known, to make
some introductory comments on Segundo's book.
PRESENTATION BY GREGORY BAUM:
THE THEOLOGICAL METHOD OF SEGUNDO'S
THE LIBERATION OF THEOLOGY
Let me (1) offer a brief defense of Segundo's hermeneutical
circle, and then, (2) formulate an important critical modification.
1. For Segundo, the hermeneutical circle begins with a new
experience that shatters the theologian's inherited world view,
connects the ills of society with a hidden cause, and makes him/her
see society and culture from a new angle. Howard Griffin, travel-
ling through the United States with his skin artificially darkened,
did not recognize the cities he had travelled as a white man: from
the new angle he saw his own country anew. Segundo suggests (but
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does not adequately discuss) that such experiences, linked as they
are with a commitment to values at odds with society, become
available to people only through some form of action. Active
involvement is able to sever us from our inherited social location
and initiate us to a new perspective.
What is implied here (which Segundo does not develop in his
present book) is that the inherited self-understanding of society is
always to some extent falsified. The dominant perception of the
world is partially distorted by self-deceit and ideology. The truth
about life is, therefore, available to people only through some kind
of conversion. The surface deceives; truth is hidden at the depth.
In theological terms: we are born into a sinful world and the entry
into truth demands conversion.
The hermeneutical circle thus defined is a challenge to
academic theology and much of social science. It is true, of course,
that theology presupposes faith and is thus based on a commitment
beyond the wisdom of the world, while social science often prides
itself of being based on an objectivity that overcomes bias from any
direction and detaches scholars from the actual historical conflicts
of their day. Yet traditional academic theology and social science
agree that truth can be discovered by researchers if they only apply
right reason in their investigation—quite independently of their
social location. If theologians and social scientists purify them-
selves as much as possible from personal and group bias, then,
whatever their historical situation, be they white or black, rich or
poor, men or women, North American or Third World, they will
produce the same science. Segundo denies this. From the perspec-
tive of Pharaoh, the Exodus was a revolt deserving of punishment;
from the perspective of Israel, it was a liberation from injustice.
Can a social thinker understand this event by weighing the relative
interests of the Egyptian ruler and the oppressed people? The
theologian holds that at least this event can only be understood
through identification with the people of Israel. Segundo thinks the
New Testament also teaches that the true perspective for looking
at the world is through the same identification with "the poor."
The second phase of the hermeneutical circle is the suspicion
that the inherited distortion and ideology have affected even the
traditional reading of Scripture. This is the negative phase in which
theologians unmask traditional religion as a sanction for the exist-
ing power relations.
The third phase of the hermeneutical circle is more positive.
Here the theologian discovers that Scripture and tradition contain
elements that confirm the shattering experience. Aspects of Chris-
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tian teaching, previously neglected or regarded as marginal, actu-
ally corroborate the new perspective. The previous reference to
Israel and New Testament are cases in point. In this phase, the
theologian regains trust in Scripture and tradition as the locus of
God's Word.
The fourth phase of the hermeneutical circle consists of a
careful and systematic reinterpretation of the Church's teaching in
the light of the new biblical discovery. Christian doctrine can be
preached in support of the new experience and the new perspec-
tive. By intensifying the original commitment, this phase makes
theologians see more clearly the society to which they belong and
start out again, this time more deeply, on the first phase of the
hermeneutical circle.
Segundo's hermeneutical circle, we note, is critical of much of
theology and social science, but not wholly untraditional in West-
ern social thought. There are Marxist and non-Marxist scholars
who insist that commitment precedes science and demand a radi-
cal redefinition of scientific "objectivity." Ernst Troeltsch, the
Christian (non-Marxist) social thinker held that the vision of what
the human world ought to be affects the manner in which scholars
perceive the historical reality. He therefore demanded that social
thinkers abandon their stance of objectivity as illusory and commit
themselves consciously to a more humane society. Where
Troeltsch and other historicist thinkers differ from Marx is that for
them the personal commitment is to a more humane cultural ideal,
not to a new economic order.
Segundo's circle is also at home in theology. It articulates the
method employed in the overlapping theological enterprises re-
ferred to as political theology, liberation theology and critical
theology.
Whenever social thinkers and theologians are not committed
to a more just society and the emancipation of the human race,
their science makes a further contribution to man's enslavement.
But what is only hinted at by Segundo and remains an issue
demanding clarification is the problem of verification.
2. Segundo's hermeneutical circle is nonetheless defective.
What he neglects is the critical impact of Scripture and tradition on
the initial experience. According to Segundo's The Liberation of
Theology, the initial shattering experience seems to demand no
critical examination at all. It seems to bear within itself over-
whelming self-evidence. Since Segundo has in mind his own ex-
perience which consisted of identifying with the most devastated
class in Latin America, he takes for granted that this stands up
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under any critique and is justified by the Scriptures. But what
about other shattering experiences? We actually know of instances
where shattering experiences that made people see society in a
new light, connect the present evil to a hidden cause, and reach out
for a new vision, were actually racist! A famous controversy in
Germany of the early thirties between Tillich and Hirsch made this
point very well. Both theologians were willing to see God's action
in history and discern in certain historical movements a divine
message addressed to the Church. How can these historical
movements be detected? Tillich, the German socialist, took as
norm the prophetic demand of justice, while Hirsch preferred the
self-affirmation of a people, or race, against the forces of cos-
mopolitanism and decomposition. Tillich was banned from Ger-
many; Hirsch supported the Nazi regime.
It will be necessary, therefore, to add a new, critical dimen-
sion to Segundo's hermeneutical circle. I insist that even if the
originating experience should stand up under the verdict of Scrip-
ture re-read from the new perspective, the theologian must be
careful lest he/she regard this experience as the only contemporary
perspective through which God shatters the false consciousness of
the people. Dialogue with other critical thinkers remains a
methodological necessity. The perspective revealed by Segundo's
experience must be complemented by others. This happened in
fact at the "Theology of the Americas" Detroit Conference (1975),
at which Latin American theologians were ready to hear from
black theologians and women theologians that they had not paid
enough attention to the oppression of races and women in their
own countries. Phase two and three of Segundo's circle must be
made much more complex.
Segundo's lack of critical attention leads to unfortunate re-
sults. Here is one example. While his own shattering experience
makes him discover the social dimension of truth and the power of
ideology, he falls into an error often, though not always, com-
mitted by Marxist thinkers: he neglects the subject. If he had
submitted his original experience to a biblical critique—and to
other Enlightenment critiques—he would have paid more atten-
tion to the person and found a language for expressing the dialecti-
cal relation between person and society. Neglect of the personal
prevents a theologian from having anything to say about central
features of human life such as birth and death, friendship and love.
The neglect of the subject makes Segundo willing to speak of the
people as "the masses." He shares this, as he well explains, with
Ortega, the conservative social thinker, and Lenin, the Com-
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munist, who, against Marx, regarded the people as masses that
must be led to the revolution by a disciplined party that infiltrates
their organizations and makes the correct decisions for them. It
seems to me that people are never masses! There are even among
the most deprived, elements of personal drama and personal depth
that make them receptive of divine redemption and consequently
addressable by the Christian message. Even for Marx, emancipa-
tion is always self-emancipation. Even for him, masses cannot be
liberated, only people. Consciousness is only transformed if peo-
ple become conscious of their plight and involve themselves in a
struggle to rebuild society.
This criticism of Segundo's approach to theology does not
invalidate his hermeneutical circle. There are in fact several such
circles operative in theology, based on several shattering experi-
ences in which God addresses the Church. While these circles are
interconnected, I do not think that it is possible to define their
relationship in a definitive way. The dialectics of their interrelation
remains forever open. Why? Because theologians and social scien-
tists belong to concrete historical locations which call for
priorities, demand that one circle be given greater significance
than another, and reveal that the only way to be authentic in
history is to be in fact (even though not in principle) one-sided.
There is no place in history from which theologians (or social
scientists) could work out the harmony of the spheres. Only a
transformed world will ground a wholly unified science.
What Segundo's theological method means for political en-
gagement, whether he is right that there is no "third option," and
what constitutes commitment in favor of emancipation—these
things demand a detailed critical examination from the viewpoint
of North Americans dedicated to world justice.
GREGORY BAUM
St. Michael's College
Toronto