The Principle of Mercy

by Jon Sobrino

The essays in Sobrino's latest collection bear on one of the most pressing signs of the the existence of a "crucified people, " the poor and oppressed of our world, whose suffering presents Christian faith with an urgent demand - that we "take them down from the cross." Writing from the Salvadoran context, he presents a "theology of mercy, " reflecting on the principles of mercy and solidarity as the mode of Christian witness and discipleship in a world of conflict and suffering. In a personal introduction that sets the tone, Sobrino describes the evolution of his own thinking under the impact of the Salvadoran reality. Part One focuses on the essential character of mercy, and on the importance of shaping the mission of the church and the task of theology. Part Two analyzes the crucified reality of the Third World with specific reflections on salvation, forgiveness, and the grace of being forgiven. Part Three presents two manifestations of the reality of priesthood and solidarity. Finally, in a moving Afterword, Sobrino focuses on his martyred fellow Jesuits of the Central American University, a group who paid the ultimate price of mercy.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Jon Sobrino, S.J. is a Jesuit Catholic priest and theologian, known mostly for his contributions to liberation theology.

He received worldwide attention in 2007 when the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Notification for what they see as doctrines which are "erroneous or dangerous and may cause harm to the faithful."

Life

Born into a Basque family in Barcelona, Sobrino entered the Jesuit Order when he was 18. The following year, in 1958, he was sent to El Salvador. He later studied engineering at St. Louis University, a Jesuit University, in the United States and then theology in Frankfurt in West Germany. Returning to El Salvador, he taught at the Jesuit-run University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador, which he helped to found.

On November 16, 1989 he narrowly escaped being assassinated by the Atlacatl Battalion, an elite unit of the Salvadoran Army. By a coincidence, he was away from El Salvador when members of the military broke into the rectory at the UCA and brutally murdered his six fellow Jesuits, Ignacio Ellacuría, Segundo Montes, Juan Ramón Moreno, Ignacio Martin Baro, Amando López, and Joaquín López y López, and their housekeeper Elba Ramos and her 15-year old daughter Celina Ramos. The Jesuits were targeted for their outspoken work to bring about resolution to the brutal El Salvador Civil War that left about 75,000 men, women, and children dead, in the great majority civilians.

Investigated by the Vatican throughout his career as a professor of theology, he has remained an outspoken proponent of peace, joining protests in 2008 of the continued training of Latin American military officers in torture techniques at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA.

Works

Sobrino's main works are Jesus the Liberator (1991) and its sequel, Christ the Liberator (1999), along with Christology at the Crossroads (1978), The True Church and the Poor (1984), Spirituality of Liberation (1990), The Principle of Mercy: Taking the Crucified People from the Cross (Orbis, 1994), No Salvation Outside the Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays (Orbis, 2008). See also Stephen J. Pope (ed), Hope and Solidarity: Jon Sobrino's Challenge to Christian Theology (Orbis, 2008).

Reviews

[Al Owski · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book will have its greatest resonance and challenge for Christians, it should be equally illuminating to all human beings simply because they are human. Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit priest, who lived (and was nearly martyred) in El Salvador, expounds the words of his mentor (and martyr), Fr Ignacio Ellacuría in the subtitle of his book, “Taking the Crucified Peoples from the Cross.” This book is literally a call to Christians and humanity to “awake from the sleep of inhumanity”.

Sobrino recalls his arrival in El Salvador and his immersion in the grinding poverty and oppression of the people there. It forced him to reframe the questions of his life: “Are we really human and, if we are believers, is our faith human?”. He discovers the answer to that question is “to change our vision in order to see what had been there, unnoticed, all along, and to change hearts of stone into hearts of flesh-in order to let ourselves be moved to compassion and mercy.”

Sobrino is a theologian and does go deep into theology to make his point. But Sobrino's writings are clear and accessible to the layperson and non-religious. I count myself a follower of Jesus, and the theological and practical implications of “The Principle of Mercy” have rocked me to my core. I am quite sure Sobrino’s work will do the same to any honest seeker of the truth, who wants to know why things are the way they are in the world, and what the answer is.

[Deborah Brunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sobrino conveys profound insights into mercy, compassion and forgiveness from a liberation theology perspective. Each essay is of interest in its own right, but the chapters on Priesthood and carrying burdens were extremely powerful.

Sobrino impressed upon me the essential connection between mercy and action in a suffering world. This could not be more evident than in the life of Jesus and the lives of Sobrino's fellow priests who dedicated their lives to solidarity with the poor, and were eventually martyred for it.

Ultimately he outlines the commitment of faith as a life of kenosis, of love in action - manifest in a variety of forms, through a life of sacrifice.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense, powerful, not a beach read. My first work of liberation theology. I'm intrigued, still traditionally cautious about the whole idea, but flung down and caught by the martyrs.

[Willa McAllister · Rating 4 out of 5]

DENSE AS FRAK. But good and though provoking. Also required reading so dragggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeddddddddd on. Right. Good review. Cheers.