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Christology and Global Ethics: Encountering the Poor in a Pluralist Reality
By Alexandre Andrade Martins
2023 Paulist Press, 2023, £29.00 ISBN 978-0-8091-5624-5
In Christology and Global Ethics, Martins engages in the ambitious task of exegeting Luke 4: 16-30 in light of liberation, and particularly South American, theologies. The publisher of the volume indicates that both the writer and his context are Roman Catholic. Reading the book, therefore, proved to be challenging from the perspectives of both content and context. None of that is negative, and in fact I found the time I put into reading this book was rewarding.
After a chapter on methodology, the exegetical work begins in Chapter Two. The exegesis is, in Martins’ words, ‘contextual theology grounded on a liberating method.’ Pope Francis’ perspective, which is taken more or less throughout the book, is explained briefly – the universal is real in particular realities. A brief literary analysis of the text follows before we get into exegesis from a liberation standpoint. Luke’s liberation means, argues Martins, liberation from the shackles of social exploitation. God has a preference for the poor.
Chapter Three offers a systematic theological reflection based on the exegetical work of the previous chapter. Martins works toward a Christology rooted in poverty and plurality in a South American context. Early in the chapter we see that although Martins’ main focus is Christology he also engages Pneumatology and Ecclesiology. ‘The maximum and definitive point of God’s revelation in history happened with the incarnation of his word, Jesus Christ,’ he says. But ‘revelation is an ongoing process led by the dynamism of the Holy Spirit, who guides the Church.’ In Chapter Four, Martins shows how the Church continues the work of Jesus, and when the Church goes off track, the Spirit inspires individual prophets to call it back to its central mission to the poor. His definition of the Church is as a collection of ‘disciples and missionaries,’ who, having met Jesus personally, continue his task. Conversion is an ongoing process for the Church which is how the Church changes when necessary to address the needs of the time.
Having carefully laid the groundwork of a Christology rooted in Latin America, a Jesus who is on the side of the poor, and a God who works through the Church, Martins moves in Chapter Five to his main area of interest – bioethics, the ethics of health care and healing. God’s preference for the poor challenges contemporary health care by resisting top-down approaches and resisting the dominance of financial competition. Chapters Six and Seven present robust arguments about what the global poor might say to the areas of health and end of life care. First, Martins argues that the four dynamics of the gospel – sensitivity, struggle, engagement and protagonism – need to be brought to bear in critiquing global health care governance and highlighting the impacts of poverty on life and death.
Martins chooses two main sources throughout his work, the Gospel of Luke and the theology of Pope Francis. He builds a careful and consistent Christology, along with clear pneumatology and ecclesiology. It is an ambitious project.
Martins does offer a particular challenge to preachers, and hence to readers of this magazine. He offers four models of Church: Church for the institution, the charismatic Church, the Church of preaching, and the Church of liberating praxis. The Church of preaching focuses on the proclamation of God’s word, says Martins, and it is this Church that has a great chance of meeting the needs of a world searching for knowledge. Perhaps it is struggling with texts like Christology and Global Ethics that will help equip preachers for the task.
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Issue 195: Speaking of Last Things
