(Photo of Gustavo Gutierrez courtesy of Fox News)
Bishop Todd Hunter’s Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO) is already notorious within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as a playground for wokeness. We’ve already documented that Hunter has endorsed Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory. Now C4SO is apparently welcoming to Liberation Theology as well.
For Hispanic Heritage Month, a reading list on the diocese’s site includes, among other objectionable books, A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez, widely recognized as a founder, if not the founder, of Liberation Theology. (The following is part of the list from C4SO’s site.)
The list comes with no disclaimer other than this introduction: “A great way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month is through reading, which can strengthen our ability to understand the feelings, beliefs and experiences embedded in Hispanic culture.” Well, I guess understanding error has its place.
In all seriousness, students of church history and theology should not be ignorant of various heresies and errors that have bubbled up through the centuries. And God knows we here at Stand Firm have read some awful books lately so you don’t have to. So studying Liberation Theology does have its place. But this list is not an academic syllabus but a warmly recommended reading list from a church diocese for the general public.
In case one thinks this is surely an honest error by someone on the diocese’s staff, Shawn McCain, Rector of Resurrection Austin South, helped compile the list.
And in case one thinks this happened under Bishop Hunter’s radar and is out of line with his leadership, Hunter has also compiled a recommended reading list at his new organization, The Center for Formation, Justice, and Peace. CFJP is pretty much his child and not otherwise connected with ACNA to my knowledge. Under “Justice Resources” and without disclaimer, his CFJP recommends Jemar Tisby, James Cone, Soong Chan Rah, Ibram X. Kendi, and, yes, A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez. These are put forth for the supposed purpose of “justice” and “formation.” Never mind that wokeness and Liberation Theology have aided oppression and have deformed wide swaths of the church.
So pushing wokeness and Liberation Theology are not just bugs of C4SO that Bishop Hunter tolerates in his benevolence; they are features.
Which begs the following questions:
Why is C4SO pushing such grievous errors within ACNA? Liberation Theology is at the least a distortion of the Gospel. Both it and wokeness have even been called “another gospel” with some justification. Why does C4SO seem not to care about the division they create in ACNA when they push such error? Why do they insist on pushing these divisive falsehoods within an orthodox province?
