God Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent by Gustavo Gutierrez - Literature review Example

1.0 Focus of the Book One of the major contentions of those who deny the relevance and importance of religion in the world is that this social structure forwards the notion that there is a God who loves each and every one of us. If this is true, then why are there so many people suffering in the world today? If God does exist, then why is he letting many people suffer from poverty, hunger, disease and untimely death? Since these events do occur and is increasingly being aggravated, then there is no God and thus there is no basis in religion as well. Gustavo Gutierrez argues that this is not the case. On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, Gutierrez makes use of the story of Job as the basis of his proof that the suffering of people is not an evidence of the absence of God. Rather, it is an avenue through which the people could encounter God. The ills of our society today should not be seen as the work of a complacent and ambivalent omnipotent being but the result of the unbelieving masses that are complacent and ambivalent themselves. The author can thus be seen as relating theology and the real life and inspires others to join the cause. One could argue that so many theologians and religious individuals write about matters which they think they have the authority to speak of but are actually hermits or persons that only move within the boundaries of the religion’s large estate. Gutierrez draws credibility to his work by being able to experience the suffering of people in Latin America. The author finds and establishes that there is much lesson to be learned in "the starvation of millions, the humiliation of races regarded as inferior, discrimination against women, … the sufferings of people who are struggling for their right to live, … terrorism of every kind, and the corpse-filled graves of Ayacucho" (p. 102) and that is to realize for ourselves that we are the one responsible and able to address the situation. The justice in God’s seeming ambivalence is the opportunity it presents for people to appreciate His work and to be able to take part in the salvation of mankind. Gutierrez’s work can be seen as an “essay in theological reflection" (p. xvi) as he himself claims but one would find it also as a synthesis between theory and real life situations. Target Audience On Job is an attempt to make people realize the reasons why suffering exists in all nations encompassing all walks of life. It is also an attempt to refute the claim of others that God is not a God of Love much less a God at all. Since the issue of religion is an integral part of almost all societies, the composition is trying to target the consciousness of everyone including those who hold doubts. This can be deduced when we take note that Gutierrez cites the following passages from Matt. 28:19 in p. xi. of his work: “The revelation of the mystery of God leads to its proclamation to every human being: this is the special characteristic of the biblical message regarding mystery. Reflection on the mystery of God must therefore begin with God's resolve of self- communication to ‘all nations’ ”. For Gutierrez, the work which he has embarked upon involves finding the right approach to the topic of God and suffering in relation to the story of Job. It is a theological investigation which will try to unravel the mystery of our faith and enjoins us to accompany him no matter who we are. After the journey, he expects every reader not to necessarily believe him; it is enough that he has made us contemplate the true meaning of God’s work. 3.0 Summary of Key Points On the Job is divided into three major parts. The first part relates the story of Job and its accompanying moral dilemmas. The second and the third details the two different ways we should converse with god – thru the language of prophecy and the language of contemplation. In the following section, we discuss these parts in detail. 3.1 The Wager As the title of the section would imply, these section of the book relates the wager between God and Satan regarding a test of disinterested religion which is taken to mean as the unconditional love of God. The subject of the study was Job who possessed material wealth and was a sound and honest man integrity who feared God and shunned evil. Job was to suffer from loss of material wealth, death of family members and disease. However, despite the onslaught of sufferings which intensified further, Job remained faithful. Gutierrez points out that the passages regarding Job and his friends were revelations in the sense that it enables us "to discover the meaning of God’s behaviour in relation to what happens to the central figure of the book and in human life generally" (p. 7). It was a revelation regarding “how to speak of God” (p. 7). It can be observed in human nature that there is a tendency for people tend to blame their misfortunes to certain people, events and most especially to God. Instead of cursing God, Job continues to cling to the Lord and was even able to find the proper God-talk. The moral lesson that everybody should understand is that one should be able to speak correctly of God amidst suffering. This should also apply in the case of Latin America where suffering reaches massive proportions. Gutierrez explains this proper God talk further in the second and third part of his book. He seeks to help his readers find their own appropriate words by following Job’s example. 3.2 The Language of Prophecy Prophets are said to tell us the relevance of an event and the lessons that we must learn. Gutierrez relates that the story of Job is prophetic in the sense that it relates God’s justice and His demands upon His people to live ethically. People often have the wrong notions regarding their misfortunes as they attribute it to God avenging some insults committed against Him. People suffer not because of God’s punishment but because He wants us to realize that we need to care for the poor and suffering (p. 40). Eliphaz, one of Job’s concerned friends, believes that Job must have done something wrong to suffer such faith but Job offers another view to his current situation. This, according to Job, was God’s means of showing his love for the sufferer because when we suffer, we realize that we need to help those who suffer the same faith. To speak in such a way is "a step on the way to correct talk of God: A God who, as Job knows in the depths of his heart, wants justice" (p. 48). Gutierrez rightly points out that the story of Job tells us that God does not prefer to love the poor more than those who were wealthy "not because they are necessarily better than others, morally or religiously, but simply because they are poor and living in an inhuman situation that is contrary to God’s will" (p. 94). This is why there are poor and suffering people – so that we who are not suffering would extend our hand and help. In this way, we learn the values of giving and sharing. 3.3 The Language of Contemplation Contemplation is thinking and analyzing the true meaning of certain events. In the course of the story, we note how Job contemplates the events that occurred in his life. The whole point of contemplation was how to justify his suffering in light of his innocence of any wrongdoing or any aggression towards God. Job’s contemplative voice refuses to talk apart from God but seeks "an encounter with the God in whom he believes and hopes" (p. 49). Thru his contemplation, we note how God works such that we can encounter His presence. He works thru the arbiter, a witness and a liberator (p. 56). These three are actually symbolic. The suffering itself is the arbiter which enables us to realize how suffering people needs help, being sufferers makes us witness to the love of God to the poor because he inspires us to help them thereby making us liberators. Poverty and suffering should not be understood as God’s retribution but God’s way of helping the poor and society in general. Instead of scorning this way of God, we must learn to be gratified because of the opportunities He gives us to better ourselves. 4.0 Conclusion Gutierrez concludes that when God created us, he purposely made some arrangements wherein we could appreciate his gratuitous love. This arrangements may sometimes be hard to understand and trivial to the human mind but it would certainly lead to the betterment of humankind (pp. 77-79). The moral lesson is that God works in mysterious ways and Gutierrez wanted us to acknowledge this and properly interpret the suffering of the people especially those in Latin America (p. 89). In a way, Gutierrez calls for us to follow Job’s way of responding to innocent suffering by endorsing "his vigorous protest, his discovery of concrete commitment to the poor and all who suffer unjustly, his facing up to God, and his acknowledgment of the gratuitousness that characterizes God’s plan for human history" (p. 102). 5.0 Critique Reading Gutierrez brings a certain glint of enlightenment especially those who find meaning in the suffering of other people. This is especially important in light of the aggravating situation of our society today. The purpose of the author was to convince the reader that poverty, disease and pestilence exist not because God wanted to punish them or society in general. These conditions exist because God wanted us to learn how to help others and not become dependent and mere spectators. He wanted us to experience the creation ourselves. Gutierrez work is convincing in the fact that it brings a fresh perspective or a new state of mind regarding the issue. His brilliant use of the story of Job enabled me to appreciate the relevance of biblical texts in today`s modern world. The text may sometimes be too complex and repetitive but one can still discern the whole message. However, there are certain questions which I think should have been answered so as to provide a more clear view of the issue. Job was a man who was upright and was dedicated, should we assume then that all people who are suffering belong to the same kind? Gutierrez makes it look as if suffering could not be deserved but is only a means of reforming people. Then again, we see many passages in the Bible where God resort to retribution such as when he punished those who were idolizing a golden calf. Gutierrez was also limited in his discussion with the relation between his analysis of the story of Job and the poor in Latin America. Is the suffering in Latin America the result of a wager alone or is it attributed to many socioeconomic factors the analysis of which could offer more solutions than trying to justify why suffering exists? On Job seems to justify the existence of suffering. It would seem that this social phenomenon could not be avoided and should be attributed to the workings of God not by people of the world. All in all, the book was able to argue effectively that there is a religious side towards suffering but we should not confine ourselves to such if we desire tangible solutions. References: Gustavo Gutierrez (1987).On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent . Orbis Books Read More