Abstract
This short section introduces the main contents and structure of the book to the readers. It presents an overall view of the current sociopolitical context of Cuba, with particular reference to churches’ roles in the social transformations that are taking place, and the relevance of Sergio Arce’s theological thought for rearticulating theological reflections that may creatively respond to the challenges of the present time.
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Notes
- 1.
What is commonly known as the “Cuban revolution” has historically been a much more complex process than suggested by this simplifying tag. Since its gestation, multiple interrelated internal and external factors, political forces and social actors, conflicting ideological tendencies and interests have contributed to shape this complex sociohistorical process. Nonetheless, some “features” of the revolutionary process have helped significantly to amplify its symbolism, inspiring progressive and revolutionary forces around the world: for example, its massive support by the population, particularly in the first stages of the process, who saw in the triumph of the rebel forces against a dictatorial regime that was backed by the US economic and political interest groups, an opportunity to reconfigure the society more democratically in terms of social equity and justice. Another inspiring feature is what many interpret as the resilient character embodied by the project, expressed in the Cuban people’s resistance to and defiance of US policies and actions against the revolutionary process, its leaders, and also the Cuban population despite its geographical nearness and disproportional economic and military power relation between both countries.
- 2.
As Eric Selbin argues, the “Cuban revolution” has been in varying degrees at the core of groundbreaking phenomena such as the “Cold War”; the anti-imperial, and liberation struggles in South and Central America, the Caribbean, the Near and Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia; the European and North American student movement protests in 1968; and the more recent worldwide anti-globalization movements upsurge. Eric Selbin, “Conjugating the Cuban Revolution: It Mattered, It Matters, It Will Matter,” in Latin American Perspectives, Issue 164, vol. 36 no. 1 (January 2009): 21–22.
- 3.
After a broad process of consultation to the population, the Cuban Parliament approved two of the guiding documents concerning the updating of the economic and social model (“The Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development”; and “Modifications to the Guidelines for the Social and Economic Policy of the Party and of the Revolution”). See http://www.cubadebate.cu/especiales/2017/07/13/lea-los-textos-definitivos-de-la-conceptualizacion-del-modelo-cubano-y-la-actualizacion-de-los-lineamientos/#.WZm23T7yjIU (accessed August 22, 2017).
- 4.
Michael Reid, “Revolution in Retreat,” in The Economist, Special Report on Cuba, March 24, 2012, 3–12. While relatively slow and limited, these reforms sought to reenergize the unproductive and inefficient economy by promoting the participation of non-state actors (private sector and cooperatives) mainly in the area of services. See Editors, “On the Road to capitalism,” in The Economist, March 24 (2012): 13.
- 5.
See Looking Forward; Latin American Perspectives, Issue 164, Vol. 36 No. 1, January 2009; Pedro Campos, “The Long Road to Socialism in Cuba,” Havana Times, March 16, 2002. http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=64562; “The Chinese Model Seen from Cuba,” Havana Times, May 15, 2012. http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=70259; Haroldo Dilla Alfonso, “Cuba: ¿transición o continuidad?” Revista Herramienta No. 35. http://www.herramienta.com.ar/revista-herramienta-n-35/cuba-transicion-o-continuidad (accessed August 20, 2017); Coloquio Cuba: soberanía y futuro, Cuba Posible No. 1, 2014; Humberto Pérez, “Principales debilidades internas actuales del modelo y perspectivas de nuestro socialismo,” Temas (October 6, 2016), http://www.temas.cult.cu/catalejo/principales-debilidades-internas-actuales-del-modelo-y-perspectivas-de-nuestro-socialismo (accessed August 20, 2017). Ovidio d’Angelo, “¿Vuelta al capitalismo o mas alla del socialismo estatal? Riesgos y desafíos,” Temas (May 18, 2016), http://cubaposible.net/articulos/vuelta-al-capitalismo-o-mas-alla-del-socialismo-estatal-riesgos-y-desafios-2-aa6-5-aa8-3-5 (accessed August 20, 2017). Mayra Espina, “For a Socialist System that Turns Knowledge into Policy,” in Temas (July 30, 2017), http://www.temas.cult.cu/catalejo/mayra-espina-socialist-system-turns-knowledge-policy (accessed August 20, 2017).
- 6.
The announcement was made simultaneously by Barack Obama and Raúl Castro on December 17, 2014.
- 7.
See the series of articles that were published prior to Obama’s visit to Cuba by Temas under the title: ¿Qué significa la visita de Obama a Cuba? http://www.temas.cult.cu/serie/1467/qu-significa-la-visita-de-obama-cuba. See also other articles reflecting on the outcomes of his visit: http://www.temas.cult.cu/dossier/1914/luego-de-la-visita-de-obama (accessed August 20, 2017).
- 8.
See Cuba y los Estados Unidos: los dilemas del cambio, Cuba Posible No. 4, 2015.
- 9.
See Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Trump Reverses Pieces of Obama-Era of Engagement with Cuba,” New York Times, June 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/politics/cuba-trump-engagement-restrictions.html (accessed August 20, 2017).
- 10.
See Martina Kunović, “Five Things You Need to Know about Trump’s Cuba Policy—and Who It Will Hurt,” The Washington Post, June 22, 2017. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/06/22/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-trumps-cuba-policy-and-who-it-will-hurt/?utm_term=.7ef1bd5f253c) (accessed August 20, 2017).
- 11.
See the series of articles under the title What Socialism? in Temas http://www.temas.cult.cu/serie/1466/qu-socialismo (accessed August 20, 2017). This series is composed of several interviews with Cuban scholars and intellectuals who discuss their views of what they conceive as a renewed socialist project of society.
- 12.
Orlando Márquez, “La iglesia como puente de acercamiento,” Paper presented at LASA Conference, San Francisco, California, May 24, 2012. http://www.palabranueva.net/newpage/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=170:la-iglesia-como-puente-de-acercamiento&catid)54:noticias (accessed July 15, 2013). Rafael Rojas, “La complicidad entre castrismo e iglesia,” El País, March 31, 2012. http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/03/29/opinion/1333033269_661496.html. Haroldo Dilla Alfonso, “A Special Concordat: The Price for Cuba,” Havana Times, February 7, 2012. http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=61528; Lenier González Mederos, “La Iglesia y la transición en Cuba,” Cuba Posible No. 27 (2016): 53–59.
- 13.
For a sample of these reflections and debates within churches—in this case, the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba—see Héctor Méndez, “Nostalgia del pasado y visión para el futuro,” Heraldo Cristiano. Órgano Oficial de la Iglesia Presbiteriana-Reformada en Cuba, no. 1 (January–February 2011): 14–18; Reinerio Arce, “Retos a la iglesia de la actual coyuntura,” Heraldo Cristiano. Órgano Oficial de la Iglesia Presbiteriana-Reformada en Cuba, no. 5 (September–October 2012): 6–9; Daniel Izquierdo, “Realidad eclesial: desafíos y acomodos,” Heraldo Cristiano. Órgano Oficial de la Iglesia Presbiteriana-Reformada en Cuba, no. 5 (September–October 2012): 10–14. See also Raúl Suárez Ramos (comp), Fe por Cuba (La Habana, Cuba: Editorial Caminos, 2016).
- 14.
Most of Arce’s publications were done in Spanish. Unless otherwise indicated, direct quotations from this material were translated by me. This same principle applies for other sources published in Spanish.
- 15.
A fuller study of specific debates in which Sergio Arce was involved, the views of other theologians and pastors, and in some cases their criticisms of his thinking require examining each context in greater detail, which is beyond the scope of this work.
- 16.
José Míguez Bonino, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1975), 109–110.
- 17.
In his study on the Trinity, Leonardo Boff refers to the interpretation of the Cuban revolutionary process from a Trinitarian perspective that Arce articulated in 1969 in his Hacia una teología de la liberación as one of the first contextual theological elaborations about this doctrine in Latin America. See Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society , trans. Paul Burns (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988), 243.
- 18.
Dorothee Söelle, “Some Questions for Arce,” in Sergio Arce, The Church and Socialism. Reflections from a Cuban Context (New York: New York CIRCUS Publications, 1985), xv–xix.
- 19.
Reflecting on the significance of Jesus Christ as the Father’s Son and humanity’s Older Brother, Moltmann recognizes the important Christological contribution of the 1977 Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, in whose elaboration Arce played a very significant role. According to Moltmann, “esta iglesia proclama que Jesucristo es el hijo de Dios humanado y nuestro hermano resucitado. Confiesa así en la Cuba socialista que el amor sacrificial y solidario es una ‘necesidad’ divina y humana al mismo tiempo.” See Jürgen Moltmann, Trinidad y Reino de Dios: La doctrina sobre Dios (Salamanca, España: Sígueme, 1986), 136 f.
- 20.
In his account of the process of dialogue between US black liberation theologians and Latin American liberation theologians, James Cone highlights Arce’s participation in the theological meetings that took place at the Comunidad Teológica de México in 1977 and at the Seminario Evangélico de Teología in Matanzas in 1979, and his openness to black liberation theologians’ contributions. Cone views in Arce’s attitude an important factor in the gradual process of dialogue and mutual learning between Latin American liberation theologians and African American liberation theologians. See James H. Cone, “From Geneva to Sao Paulo: A Dialogue between Black Theology and Latin American Liberation Theology,” en Sergio Torres y John Eagleson (eds.), The Challenge of Basic Christian Communities (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1982), 272.
- 21.
It is worth noting that most Latin American liberation theologians and scholars have almost totally ignored the Cuban theological context and production, despite recognizing the impact and inspiration of the Cuban Revolution on the origin and later developments of Latin American liberation theologies. See John Kirk, “Reflections on Cuban Liberation Theology,” 325. With some key exceptions, a glance at the voluminous production of Latin American liberation theologies corroborates this lack of attention to Cuban theological reflections, which must be corrected.
- 22.
See Stanley Aronowitz, “A New Church for a New Society,” in Sergio Arce, The Church and Socialism. Reflections from a Cuban Context (New York, NY: New York CIRCUS Publications, 1985), xxi; Augusto Cotto, “El diálogo necesario entre Cuba y el resto del continente,” in Praxis cristiana y producción teológica (Materiales del Encuentro de teologías celebrado en la Comunidad Teológica de México, 8–10 Octubre, 1977), ed. Jorge Pixley and Jean Pierre Bastián (Salamanca, España: Sígueme, 1979), 239–248. See also Alice L. Hageman and Philip E. Wheaton’s introductory comments to Sergio Arce, “The Mission of the Church in a Socialist Society,” in The Church and Socialism, 216. Samuel Silva Gotay, La teología de la liberación: implicaciones para la iglesia y para el marxismo (Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Ediciones de CEPAE, 1985), 105. I am using the term “liberationist” as a way to include the Cuban “theology in revolution” as a distinctive expression of the so-called Latin American liberation theology.
- 23.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Transgender, Intersexual, Asexual, and any other unmentioned sexual orientation.
- 24.
See, for example, the work of David Puig-Jordán, En memoria de las víctimas: Hacia un estudio crítico de la teología política en Cuba desde el diálogo con la “Teología después de Auschwitz” de Johann B Metz (Berlín, Alemania: WissenschaftlicherVerlab Berlin, 2013), 185–219. Though different in focus and approach than the one developed here, Puig-Jordán devotes a chapter to evaluate Arce’s theological interpretations. His analysis leaves a lot to be desired as he does not address the complex and shifting character of the local, regional, and global contexts from which Arce articulated his theological work during more than four decades, and neglects his cross-fertilizing dialogue with other liberation theologians from Latin America and other parts of the world.
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Fernández-Albán, A. (2018). Introduction. In: Decolonizing Theology in Revolution. New Approaches to Religion and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02342-3_1
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