Book Review The Church anhd Revolution
THE CHURCH AND REVOLUTION: FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO ... LATIN AMERICA. By Francois Houtart and Andre lbusseau. Translated by Violet Nevile. 371 pages. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York....
...Interesting facts do come out, but the focus of the book is often obscured because of this inadequacy...
...The bulk of the analysis is presented in the first and last chapters that sandwich these other seven chapters...
...However, the book has less relevance for anyone knowledgeable on either subject: the CHURCH or REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS...
...Here Houtart and Rousseau attempt a "sociology of revolution...
...However, the only attempt to understand the real exploitative nature of the katican's arrangement with IDB is to state that it is "controlled by Latin American Governments...
...Obviously the authors should be spared some judgement, for the book went to press months too early to be able to deal with the election of Allende...
...This total revolution takes on different forms in different countries...
...They have failed to have a sufficient sociopolitical32 analysis--a criticism they make of other church people.3 When dealing with the role of U.S...
...3. Houtart is a Catholic Priest...
...The seeker of a Marxist-Christianbourgeois-social-science interpretation of the church in the various world-wide revolutionary movements should feel comforted...
...has effective veto power...
...The first chapter is perhaps the most unique one...
...Private Investment to Underdevelopment in Latin America, a NACLA pamphlet...
...Harlan Stelmach 1. They generally confine themselves to Catholic groups...
...the management of the Populorum Progressio Fund, with proceeds from the sale of Vatican property in Paris amounting to $1 million, had been entrusted to the Inter-American Development Bank, as a fifty-year loan without interest...
...capital they fail to develop this insight...
...Given this framework, Houtart and Rousseau superimpose the issue which really concerns them: how can religion, specifically Christianity, function as a resource for social change -- revolution...
...Their conclusions just begin to scratch the surface: 1) The bourgeois-elite class nature of the church hierarchy...
...The agents ("protagonists") of the revolution are different and the basic contradictions will take different forms...
...Judged on this basis, the book is only a beginning in applying "power structure" research to this question...
...In the IDB, the United States contributes 75 percent of the resources and controls 42 percent of the votes...
...With this said, they still understand that "a radical transformation of the ownership of the means of production is still an urgent task: It is the key to the transformation of society...
...This statement has potential, beyond its sheer interest, to significantly document U.S...
...But, in general, this is a useful book...
...3) The inability to combine a sociopolitical analysis with a vague Christian ethic on human liberation...
...First, there is never any mention about Chile...
...However, the purist of any of these traditions will find this book inadequate...
...Useful as an introduction to some very broad issues of church and revolution...
...A more serious analytical mistake, however, is made...
...military and police influence in anti-guerrilla warfare in Latin America they are at their best...
...They state...
...The analysis of the other Latin American revolutionary movements is more thorough...
...The following people contributed to this issue: Susan Draper, Marta Sanchez, Jane Schroeder and Julio Velazquez...
...imperialism...
...The U.S...
...2) The rear guard battle of a church that was once the primary power in a sacral world now moving into a desacralized world...
...The final chapter deals with this issue...
...3.95...
...economic imperialism...
...Still other criticisms can be made in terms of the relatively dated nature of the book: the authors did not have the benefit of the Chilean developments nor the Nixon visit to China...
...This chapter is the basis of a framework to understand the general political analysis that underlies the whole book...
...More could be added...
...churches' response to the Vietnam War is the only exception...
...since all soft (long-term, low interest) loans require two-thirds majority, the U.S...
...4. Cf, Yanqui Dollar: The Contribution of U.S...
...Although the essential task of transforming the means of production is incomplete they trace it from the essentially bourgeois revolution in France, through the anti-colonial revolutions in Cuba, Vietnam and Latin America to the "new working class" or student revolutions in France of 1968...
...Other countries -- and particularly Colombia and the Golconda Priests -- are treated in some depth...
...This section suffers from two failings...
...In the revolutionary settings they have chosen, they illustrate this point of view...
...4) And the overriding interest to "survive" as an institution...
...There are, however, numerous insights that come to light in the authors' treatment of seven revolutionary settings: The French Revolution, The French Worker Movement in the Nineteenth Century, The Cuban Revolution, the War in Vietnam, The Revolutionary Movement in Latin America, The Revolutionary Movements in Southern Africa and the Events of May, 1968 in France...
...Houtart and Rousseau have billed this book as an attempt to explain why the church has so often identified with the forces of oppression...
...The analysis takes place in a framework of U.S...
...This is seen over against the churches' goal of total human liberation...
...Unfortunately, the treatment of the Cuban revolution is little more than a general history...
...Their frame of reference is largely guided by Marxist categories...
...One illustration will suffice...
...Paperback...
...p. 54...
...the bank is controlled by the Latin American governments, with the exception of the Cuban government...
...His book has arrived...
...4 Other criticisms can be made in terms of clarity--most of which are the result of their attempt to be Marxist, Christian and bourgeois social scientists...
...The section on Cuba and other Latin American countries comprises the largest portion of the book...
...2, They use particularly the implications of Marx' Fundamental Traits of the Critique of Political Economy which is still to be translated into English...
...But in terms of economic exploitation they resort to vague statements--often slogan like and often showing lack of information...
...They feel that only by first understanding how religion has functioned to support the power structure, and status quo, can this question be answered...
...1971...
...Even though the authors rightly state that underdevelopment in Latin America is the result of economic forces, and particularly the exploitation of U.S...
...Relying on the "humanist" 2 tradition in Marxian analysis, the authors put forth a general notion of revolution that allows for a -"total" or "social" revolution, not just a "political" revolution...
...In the treatment of these revolutions the authors' analysis too often falls prey to a general historical overview or a litany on what every church 1 group has said in regards to these events...
Vol. 6 • March 1972 • No. 3
