Witnesses to the Kingdom: The Martyrs of El Salvador and the Crucified Peoples

by Jon Sobrino

Overview

For Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit theologian of El Salvador, it is impossible to write about Christian faith without acknowledging the witness of martyrs, their gift and challenge to the church. For twenty-five years, his work has been shaped by the reality of martyrdom -- the death of Archbishop Romero, the four North American churchwomen, and the massacre of his own Jesuit community. But the death of these particular witnesses represents a much wider number of poor and faithful: the "crucified peoples" who carry Christ's cross throughout history. These essays on the role and meaning of martyrdom contain some of Sobrino's most powerful writing, including poignant personal memories of Archbishop Romero and of his Jesuit brothers, and reflections on their legacy for the church.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570754685
Publisher:	Orbis Books
Publication date:	06/28/2003
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

	Introduction: Jesuanic Martyrs and the Crucified Peoples
Part 1	My Memory of the Martyrs
1.	Archbishop Romero: Some Personal Recollections	11
2.	Maura, Ita, Dorothy, and Jean	54
3.	Companions of Jesus	58
	"Something Terrible Has Happened"	59
	Who Were They?	63
	Why Were They Killed?	71
	Who Killed Them?	77
	A New Idea of a Christian University	83
	Their Church	86
	Their Theology	90
	Their Legacy	93
Part 2	Theological Reflection
4.	From a Theology of Liberation Alone to a Theology of Martyrdom	101
	Prior Reflections	101
	Importance for the Theological Task	104
	Importance for Systematic Theology	107
	Importance for Basic Theology	115
	Importance for Spirituality	116
5.	Jesuanic Martyrs in the Third World	119
	The Need to Historicize the Traditional Conception of Martyrdom	120
	The "Jesuanic" Conception of Martyrdom	122
	The Jesuanic Martyrs and Theology	125
	The Crucified People: Reference Point of the Jesuanic Martyrs	131
6.	The Latin American Martyrs: Challenge and Grace for the Church	134
	The Need for a Challenge to Today's Church	134
	Incarnation: "Overcoming Unreality"	138
	Mission: "Salvation of the Reality"	142
	Cross: "Bearing the Burden of Reality"	146
	Resurrection: "Letting Reality Carry Us"	149
7.	The Crucified Peoples: Yahweh's Suffering Servant Today	155
	The Crucified Peoples: A Horrifying Fact	155
	The Crucified People as Yahweh's Suffering Servant	157
	The Salvation the Crucified Peoples Bring	159
Part 3	Their Legacy
8.	Monsenor Romero, a Salvadoran and a Christian	167
	Monsenor Romero Was, Like Jesus, "Real" in His Incarnation within the True Reality of El Salvador	169
	Monsenor Romero, Like Jesus, Fulfilled His Mission, Which Was the Evangelization of an Entire Nation, of All of Reality	172
	Monsenor Romero Bore the Burden of Reality: Like Jesus, He Died on the Cross	175
	Monsenor Romero Accepted the Burden of Reality and Experienced the Grace of Living as if Already Participating in the Resurrection	176
9.	Archbishop Romero: Requirement, Judgment and Good News	179
	Monsenor's Presence in This Anniversary	180
	Monsenor's Identity: Identification with the People and with His God	181
	The Real Tradition of Monsenor: To Carry On His Work and His Cause	185
	Archbishop Romero: Prophecy, Judgment, and Good News	193
10.	The Legacy of the Martyrs of the Central American University	195
	The Incarnation Which Humanizes: Coming to Be in the Real World	196
	The Heart Which Is Moved to Mercy	197
	The Truth Which Defends the Victims	198
	Structural Mercy: The Paths of Justice	200
	Enduring Mercy: The Greatest Love	201
	The Joy of the Beatitudes	202
	The Faith Which Walks Humbly with God through History	203
	Martyrdom: A Cry Which Continues to Resound	205
11.	Archbishop Romero and the Faith of Ignacio Ellacuria	208
	Struggling with God	209
	Facing the Mystery of God with Archbishop Romero	211
	Carried by the Faith of a Crucified People	213
Part 4	Epilogue
	A Letter to Ignacio Ellacuria (1990)	219
	Letter to Ignacio Ellacuria (2001)	222
	Notes	225