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Abschied vom erobernden Gott:
Studien zur Geschichte und Gegenwart des Christentums in Lateinamerika
Bartolomé de Las Casas: Werkauswahl.
Vol. 1: Missionstheologische Schriften
Colonial Period
Abschied vom erobernden Gott: Studien zur Geschichte und Gegenwart des Christentums in Lateinamerika. Supplementa, no. 43. By Mariano Delgado. Immensee, Switzerland: Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 1996. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xlviii, 356 pp. Paper. Bartolomé de Las Casas: Werkauswahl. Vol. 1: Missionstheologische Schriften. Edited by Mariano Delgado. Studies by Horst Pietschmann and Michael Sievernich S. J. Translated by Bruno Pockrandt and Henrik Wels. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1994. Notes. Index. 456 pp. Cloth.
Both books presented to us by Mariano Delgado, the Selection of Works of Bartolomé de Las Casas and Farewell to the Conquering God, focus on similar themes. Farewell to the Conquering God comprises a number of studies presented as part of a thesis submitted [End Page 167] for the certificate of habilitation in fundamental theology in the Department of Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. This work is primarily directed to specialists, especially theologians working on Christian missions. Delgado first summarizes the debate on liberation theology and then develops his own fundamental theological concept of a "farewell to the conquering God."
In 1994 Delgado published a selection of the works of Bartolomé de Las Casas. Because the selections were not made to appeal to an esoteric audience, the book begins with a detailed introduction to the work and life of the Americas' most famous Dominican missionary; the introduction leads the reader to two important works of Fray Bartolomé himself. In another chapter, Delgado analyzes the theological and missionary reflections of Las Casas in the context of the works of Vitoria, Sepúlveda, and Acosta. Michael Sievernich's discussion concerning the theology of Christian missions after Las Casas and Horst Pietschmann's essay on Sepúlveda and the Americas' natives mark the end of the introduction to Las Casas's works. This book also provides readers with a German translation of two treatises by Las Casas, namely, De unico vocationis modo omnium gentium ad veram religionem and Aquí se contiene una disputa o controversia (a.k.a. the Argument of Valladolid, 1550-51). The translations from Latin and Spanish were done by Henrik Wels and Bruno Pockrand, but both translations are accompanied by introductions and annotations done by Delagado. This accurate and attentive edition of Bartolomé de Las Casas's central works will attract the attention of both theologians and historians interested in European and American history. As a theologian, the author is intent on developing his own theological framework and expressing his appreciation for Enrique Dussel's concept of liberation theology.
In Farewell to the Conquering God, Delgado builds on his work in the Las Casas book and the concepts of liberation theology to construct his own theoretical approach to the study of Latin American Christianity. Dussel's point of departure is the search for the core of Latin America's history of Christianity by focusing on the category of the "poor." Dussel concluded that it was important for the church and theologians to work together in the evangelization as well as the political and economic liberation of the "poor." In other words, the "poor" had to be organized as a social class that could be elevated to the messianic subject in a historical process of liberation. Delgado draws on Dussel's concepts to develop his own ideas concerning the messianic God connected with Spanish expansion, questions about transculturation, and changing evaluations of Amerindian religions by Christian theologians.
In the second chapter, the author turns his attention to the "messianic alternative," which he understands to be represented during the sixteenth century by the Franciscans and the Dominican Las Casas. This chapter ends with an analysis of economic-theological links, militantly titled "Beauty and the Beast--or How Theology Lost Its Innocence in the Shade of Colonialism."
The final part of Delgado's study...
Missionstheologische Schriften (review)
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