by John Powell, D.Min
Proto-Revolutionary?
Meister Eckhart von Hochheim (1260-1329), is a mystical theologian with enormous relevance for our time. The German Dominican's core vision and prophetic message, especially now, a period of the birth-pangs of change, offers a way through many spiritual, religious, and political crises. This paper is intended to show some that much of Eckhartian theology resonates with liberation theology, a contemporary movement usually identified with "Third World" perspectives and the aspirations of oppressed, dispossessed people.
Eckhart has been called a forerunner to many diverse movements and ideals, and if not a direct influence, a foreshadowing. Many recurring themes in Eckhart speak of the boundless energy and interplay with the human that characterizes the divine. All creation shares in essential divinity, as the following passage maintains:
Consider the divine spirit in the human soul.
This spirit is not easily satisfied.
It storms the firmament
and scales the heavens
trying to reach the spirit that drives the heavens.
Because of this energy,
everything in the world grows green,
flourishes,
and bursts into leaf.
But the spirit is never satisfied.
It presses on
deeper and deeper into the vortex
further and further into the whirlpool,
the primary source in which the spirit has its origin.
This spirit seeks to be broken through by God.
God leads this spirit
into a desert
into the wilderness and solitude of the divinity
where God is pure unity
and where God gushes up within himself. (Fox, 1983, p.70)
A Twentieth Century Movement, an Early Foreshadowing
Liberation theology emerged in the late 20th century as a distinct movement, with a few leading figures giving theological formulation and practical guidance to the struggles of the poor against the established economic hegemony. Among the better known liberation theologians are Leonardo Boff, Gustavo Gutierrez, Pablo Richard, and Jon Sobrino. Some liberation activists, e.g., the Louvain-educated Father Camilo Torres, actually met death in pursuit of the cause of the poor.
Leonardo and Clodovis Boff (1987) elegantly summarize the development of liberation theology in their short volume. Several lines of influence converged to influence liberation theology and its praxis in pastoral and social settings. The European Catholic Action movement, with its threefold "see-judge-act" operating paradigm, was one of these. The method involved describing a situation realistically ("seeing"), valuing according to a framework of justice ("judging"), and deciding to do the right thing ("acting"). Both Eckhartian and liberation theology take a Biblical view as a starting point. Both relate this starting point to common, ordinary human experience. For liberation theology, the experience of the poor, and the Biblical themes of the raising up of the oppressed, the freedom of prisoners and slaves, the mandates of the Gospel, are central issues. Their wider implications call for recognition of the connection with all people, not a relationship of "charity" (a subject-object duality), but that of essential solidarity. The Boffs are careful to point out that "the poor" must not be seen as too narrow a category, for it is more than the Marxian proletariat at issue (Boff & Boff, 1987, pp. 3-4). The poor are also seen to include the unemployed, the technologically marginalized, the economically oppressed, indigenous peoples displaced by deforestation, and all who suffer under the system. The root cause of the oppression is the system of capitalism, the profit motive, or what Eckhart called "merchant mentality". God, who is unconditional freedom and limitless love, pours himself out for us and all creation. Indeed, creation is itself that outpouring of divinity. No one is allowed to limit or "commodify" the goodness of creation. Similarly, we are not to bargain with God or indulge in trade-offs. Eckhart contrasts the all-abundant consciousness of God with the hoarding, clinging mode of narrow ego consciousness. The subject-object dualities of ego consciousness, which lead to the merchant mentality, are foreign to God, who bathes all in an "ocean of divine compassion" (Fox, 1980, p. 461). It is worthy of note that Eckhart's critique of the merchant mentality contributed, in part, to his eventual condemnation.
For Eckhart, the divine impulse of creation, seeking self-expression, leads of its own inner dynamism to the manifestations of justice and compassion. The Trinity itself contains the core paradigm of creation spirituality: an infinite outpouring and breakthrough (durchbruch) of energy that overflows into creation, and back into God. Through the Godhead into Spirit and Son, and back again; here Eckhart reminds us that "Son" signifies all of us, participating panentheistically in the life of God. Only when we detach from outer forms can we see the timeless depth of being, of what Aboriginals call "dream time".
Liberation theology reaches similar conclusions about compassion and justice via a different path, a more anthropocentric path. In this perspective, the poor have the right, indeed the duty, to struggle against the forces of oppression and hegemony. Sharing is the pattern of God, who in the history of ancient Israel and in the ministry of Christ has always favored the poor. The feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:31-44) focuses on the capacity of God to turn lack into abundance, and we are called to be like God in this way.
For liberation theology, it is the role of the church, following the call of her Master, to identify with and work within the ranks of the poor to achieve justice. Justice is a key theme of Eckhartian theology as well, being a divine attribute that is part of God's delight in creation. Eckhart contrasts "living works" , those done in and for creativity and justice, with "dead works", those done in service of the outer world. These works are said to be dead because they do not arise from our inner being, which is divine being. "Our true work is from the creative Word itself" (Fox, 1980, p. 471). We have to become truly grounded to realize this. Otherwise, we are "being worked" rather than working. A subject-object split remains, and we are divorced from that inner divine creativity.
If creativity and justice arise from those paths of action that represent the divine within each individual, how much more powerfully may they be realized on the communal, corporate dimension. The task of all concerned persons is to see their underlying oneness with humanity, free of the artificial dualisms and deprivations that capitalism promotes.
A Possible Divergence?
May liberation theology be characterized as creation-centered? Yes, if the view is more or less anthropocentric. Leonardo Boff, if he were in a time-warp dialogue with Meister Eckhart, might argue that concern for the natural world as a part of the cosmos is a misplaced concern, a liberal-elitist bit of dilettantism that does nothing to advance the cause of the poor. The conversation could go something like this:
Leonardo: Here we are brother, my God you've come a long, long way! Can you tell me what it is like in the Kingdom, and what you can help me say to the poor here on Earth?
Eckhart: It is a noble work you are doing, and you are trying to take the Church with you. Out of the divine being pours compassion, pure love for its own sake. See the work through, my brother. Do not be discouraged. The Kingdom is about the Great Work, and that is a great secret to many.
L: But my brother-friar, I have this one problem with your views. Why should I be concerned about my Amazon rain forests and their destructions except as a symptom of capitalism? My compassion is for the natives and the dispossessed much more than loss of a bunch of jungle.
E: No, no, you must realize that destruction and assault against nature is equivalent to the violence done to the poor. Both are a denial of divinity and the infusion of God throughout the cosmos. The body of Christ, the bread of heaven, our earthly bodies in need of liberation, and the body that is the natural world are all of a fundamental unity.
L: I begin to see your point. Let us drink and break bread in honor of our continued mission....
Brief Bibliography
Boff, Leonardo & Boff, Clodovis. (1987). Introducing liberation theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Fox, Matthew. (1980). Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart's creation spirituality in new translation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company.
Fox, Matthew. (1983). Meditations with Meister Eckhart. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Company.
