The Martyr Of El Salvador

With the Beatification of Monseñor Oscar Romero, our current Pope Francis has asked theologians to consider how we might allow for an expanded definition for martyrdom in the 21st century. Remembering Oscar Romero and the Martyrs of El Salvador responds to that challenge. How do we name Oscar Romero, Rutilio Grande, the U.S. churchwomen, and the Jesuits and two laywomen killed at the UCA as martyrs? Is it a new category with a new definition? Or is it simply an amplification of what we have long considered Christian witness? While there is a long history of martyrdom in Latin America, this book elaborates on four case studies for martyrdom focusing on the reality in El Salvador: Rutilio Grande, S.J. killed in 1977, Archbishop Oscar Romero killed in 1980, the U.S. churchwomen killed in 1980, and the six members of the UCA Jesuit community and their two female collaborators killed in 1989. Insights from the work of Jon Sobrino illuminate these case studies. First, his Christological insights from Jesus the Liberator and Christ the Liberator are used to analyze the reality of martyrdom, particularly in reference to the terms martyr, crucified people, and martyred people. Second, his more recent articles challenge a strict interpretation of the traditional definition of martyrdom, especially focusing on his terms Jesuanic martyr, a martyr for justice, and even a more polemic suggestion of an anonymous Christian martyr. Finally, the book concludes by combining Sobrino's insights and the reality of martyrdom today, updated with the recent scholarship in Romero's beatification process which attempts to show Romero as a martyr. In the end, the book hopes to offer some suggestions for an expanded definition of martyrdom in the 21st century. By responding to the call of Pope Francis for an expanded definition, the reality of martyrdom in Latin America might be better understood and applied to the universal church.

A haunting, prophetic collection of writings by the six Jesuit priests of the Central American University massacred by Salvadoran soldiers in November, 1989. In a moving memoir Jon Sobrino recalls years of work with each of the priests and celebrates the ideals they embodied.

Annotation Invokes the memory and the challenge of the martyrs of El Salvador, including Sobrino's friends and colleagues of the Central American University and the poor and nameless who continue to suffer today.

This book responds to Pope Francis's challenge to construct an expanded definition for martyrdom today. Using the work of Jon Sobrino, Thiede examines four case studies--Rutilio Grande, Oscar Romero, the U.S. churchwomen, and the UCA Jesuits and their collaborators--to offer an expanded definition of martyrdom.

Who would murder one of the most respected priests of South America? Óscar Romero, a respected Catholic priest, called on soldiers, as Christians, to put down their arms and stop carrying out the governments order to strip citizens of the most basic human rights...for this he was assassinated. For over 30 years, his murder has gone unsolved. Who would murder a priest who only wanted to stop the injustice? And more importantly, why is it that, with substantial evidence naming the murderers involved, was nothing done to convict those guilty of murdering the country's beloved archbishop?

Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion explores the ways that Salvadoran Catholics sought to make sense of political violence in their country in the 1970s and 1980s by constructing a theological ethics that could both explain repression in religious terms and propose specific responses to violence. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the book highlights the ways that progressive Catholicism offered a justification and tools for political resistance in the face of extraordinary destruction. Using the case of Catholicism in El Salvador, the book explores the nature of religious responses to social crisis and the ways that ordinary believers construct and strive to live by ethical systems. By highlighting the importance of theological belief, of narrative, and of religious rationality in political mobilization, it touches questions of general interest to readers concerned with the social role of religion and ethics.