Ignacio Ellacuría
Encyclopedia
Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J. (Portugalete
, Biscay
, Spain
, November 9, 1930 – San Salvador
, November 16, 1989) was a Jesuit priest
, philosopher, and theologian
who did important work as a professor
and rector
at the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA), a Jesuit university in El Salvador
founded in 1965. Ignacio Ellacuría was a close friend and colleague of the scholars Ignacio Martín-Baró
and Segundo Montes
, all of whom were assassinated with Ellacuría by the Salvadoran army
, along with three colleagues and two employees (see The murdered scholars of UCA). His work was defining for the shape UCA took in its first years of existence and the years to come. Ellacuría was also responsible for the development of formation programs for priests in the Jesuit Central American province.
Ellacuría's academic work was an important contribution to "Liberation Philosophy". This school of philosophy
stems from the work of Augusto Salazar Bondy (1925–1974) and Leopoldo Zea (1912–2004). It focuses on liberating the oppressed in order "to reach the fullness of humanity". Ellacuría was also a strong supporter and contributor to Liberation Theology
.
The political implications of Ellacuría's commitment to his ideas met strong opposition from the conservative
religious and political forces in El Salvador. This opposition led to Ellacuría’s murder by the Salvadoran army
in 1989 at his residence in UCA along with five other fellow Jesuit priests and two employees. Their murder marked a turning point in the Salvadoran civil war
(see History of El Salvador
). On the one hand it increased international pressures on the Salvadoran government to sign peace agreements with the guerrilla
organisation FMLN. On the other, it helped make Ellacuría's ideas (until then known only in Latin America
and Spain
) become known worldwide.
There are at least five different schools within Latin American liberation philosophy. Ellacuría's thought represents the fifth school. (For an account of the first four schools see Horacio Cerutti’s La Filosofía de la Liberación Latinoamericana, Mexico City: FCE, 1992).
Ellacuría joined the Jesuits in 1947 and was commissioned to the Central America
n republic
of El Salvador
in 1948. He lived and worked there until his death in 1989, except for occasional periods, which he spent studying in Ecuador
, Austria
and Spain
.
's (1898–1983) critique of Western philosophy. For Zubiri, ever since Parmenides
, Western thought separated sensing from intelligence. This error led to two results. The first one was what Zubiri called “the logification of intelligence” and the second one was what he called “the entification of reality”.
The “logification of intelligence” implied that intellect was reduced to logos
. This view led philosophers to believe that what they called "Being
" was the cause of reality
, and this in turn, explained the confusion of metaphysics
with ontology
.
Logification of intelligence excludes sensual, not so logical, functions of intelligence. Although Zubiri recognized descriptive logos and reason
as important components of intelligence
, he pointed out that intelligence did not reduce itself to them. For Zubiri intelligence was a unity with the modalities of sensual
apprehension, logos and reason.
The logification of intelligence led to the perception of reality as "Being" in a zone in space and time (as in Heidegger's Dasein
) of identifiable entities with an essence
, outside the human brain
. This is what Zubiri called the “entification of reality”. This perception sees reality as a particular form of "Being". Thereby, for Zubiri, "Being" had been "substantivised" by Western philosophy
.
For Zubiri, reality is paramount to Being, which is not a noun
, but a verb
. Being is a particular aspect of reality and not the other way around. Metaphysics studies reality and ontology studies being. Human beings' way of accessing reality is intelligence, not a logified one, but a "sentient intelligence" that is itself a part of reality.
The senses, logic
, reason
, intuition
and imagination
are one and the same faculty
, because each of these things determine one another. This faculty differences human beings from other species
and has been achieved through evolution
. Having a sentient intelligence implies having a conscience and the possibility to imagine new realities. These formulations are in themselves real by postulation. Realities by postulation can also be realized in other forms, because sentient intelligence has the ability to recognise the processual and structural character of reality. Therefore human beings are able to influence it, and create and transcend
the historical boundaries that have been reached.
For Zubiri there is no need for a realist
/anti-realist discussion on if there is or not a reality that is external and independent to human beings, or if reality is a bulk of internal illusions to human beings. It is both, but not in the sense critical realism
pretends (where human beings are seen as a reality that can be separated from an objective outer reality). For Zubiri, human beings are imbedded in reality and cannot exist without it. They need air, food
, water
and other beings. The "outer" and objective
world must also come inside human beings for them to continue existing. Sentient intelligence should be able to make sense of this existence in a way that allows human beings to realise their capabilities in the world.
In this line of thinking, Ellacuría said human reality is unavoidably personal, social
and historical. Biology and society are elements of history, which means that they are always in movement. But this should not be confused with historical materialism
that says human beings are passive instruments of the forces of history. Human beings certainly inherit constraints constructed in the past but they always have the possibility to transcend them because of their sentient intelligence. Praxis is the name Ellacuría gives to reflected human action aimed at changing reality. Unlike other animals that can only respond mechanically to stimuli from outside, through sentient intelligence and praxis, human beings have to "realise" their existence. Individuals in dialectic
interaction with society, have to make out what sort of Ego to have by using their sentient intelligence and this implies transcending inherited constraints.
This means that progress
in reality happens through a combination of physical, biological and "praxical" factors. Through praxis, human beings are able to realise a wider range of possibilities for action. In other words, one praxis can lead to a fuller praxis. When this is so, praxis can be said to gradually increase liberty, if liberty is defined as greater possibilities for action.
According to Ellacuría, the existence of people that are marginalized from society
implies that history
and practice have not delivered a wider range of possibilities for realisation for every human being in the world. This situation has prevented these excluded people to realise their existence as human beings. Therefore, it is a situation that stands away from the fullness of humanity and the fullness of reality. But this situation can be changed.
According to Ellacuría, before the advent of humanity, the unfolding of reality took place only by physical and biological forces. But in our era, forces exclusive to human beings (praxis) can also help unfold reality. Since human beings have the possibility to reflect, it is philosophy’s duty to exercise this ability to reflect in order to change reality and allow greater possibilities for individual realisation.
This way of thinking finds its parallels in the 1990s in Martha Nussbaum
's definition of human development as the increase in human capabilities for action (see Martha C. Nussbaum, Women and Human Development, Cambridge University Press, 2000) and Amartya Sen
's notion of development as freedom (see Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press, 1999).
, Ellacuría intended to construct a new theology
, which he called a Historical Theology
. His view of history
followed the Hegelian dialectic
tradition that culminated in Marx's historical materialism
. However, Ellacuría rejected Marx's view of human beings as objects of their material conditions. He stressed the importance of conscience
, human praxis and its possibilities for influencing the course of history and thereby material conditions themselves. He has been unfairly accused of trying to contaminate theology
with Marxism
, but the methodological similarities of his thought with Marxism stem from a common Hegelian view of history as progress brought about by overcoming contradictions.
By Historical Theology
Ellacuría meant a way of making theology: to reflect about faith
from the historical present
and to reflect about the historical present from faith. According to him, all theology is conditioned by its historical present. Historical theology intends to acquire conscience
about its historical context and to incorporate it fully. The concept of locus theologicus (theologogical place) is very important in this theology.
Rudolf Bultmann
developed existencial biblical hermeneutics, or the idea that each individual can only read and understand the bible from his or her personal existential condition and the biblical text acquires life only if it can awaken an experience of faith in the reader. This generates a hermeneutical circle
since the reader understands the Bible
from his historical present and the historical present from the Bible. Ellacuría placed himself in this hermeneutic tradition and he gave a step further. For Ellacuría, the reader is not just an individual but a community
, just like the people of Israel
in the Old Testament
. This means that community faith comes first and then individual faith.
According to Ellacuría, the value of the Old Testament is not reduced with the New Testament
. The New Testament makes the community character of faith from the Old Testament something radical and universal. It makes it radical because it establishes that the alliance of God with people is much more than a simple code of laws and lithurgical rituals: it is an invitation to justice and charity, not as exceptional practices but as a stable structure. That is why this alliance is established in a law. It makes the faith universal because the New Testament is communicated to every human being, independently of race, culture, sex, religion or social condition.
Liberation Theology
is then a new way of doing Historical Theology
in a particular locus theologicus: the historical present of Latin America, where a large portion of the population is oppressed by structures that deny them the possibilities to satisfy their needs and to develop. It arises from the spirit of Gaudium et Spes
of the Second Vatican Council
and the social
encyclical
s of Pope John XXIII
, and more specifically, the Episcopal Conference
s of Medellín
in 1968 and Puebla
in 1978. Such a reflection on the Bible is supported on the historical present of a collectivity that desires liberation from oppression. There is a long biblical tradition about liberation that starts with the Book of Exodus.
According to Ellacuría, salvation
is accomplished historically, not just individually but collectively. It is not just about liberation from evil
, guilt
, personal or social offenses, pain
, disease
and fetichism. Those forms of liberation only start by liberation from unjust structures like slavery
, political domination
, psychological and social
oppression
. Besides the book of Exodus, the Bible also presents other such cases of liberation from oppression as the return from exile
in Babylon
in the books of Esdras
and Nehemiah
; the fight against Macedon
ian occupation in the book of Maccabees
; the Beatitudes of Jesus
; and the book of Apocalypse
in the face of the persecution of Christians in Rome
.
Other forms of doing historical theology
would be for example Feminist Theology
; African-American Theology as developed by Martin Luther King in the fight for civil rights
in the United States
; African Liberation Theology, that has mostly been applied to South Africa
in the fight against apartheid; and Indigenous Theology that stems from Bartolomé de las Casas
and other missionaries in the first Spanish
colonies in the Americas
in the 16th century.
with science
. However he managed to articulate a relationship between the two in his vision of a university
that served the purpose of liberating
the oppressed
.
According to Ellacuría, there are two aspects to every university. The most evident one is that it deals with culture; or in other words knowledge and the use of sentient intellect. The second, and not so evident, is that it must be concerned with the social reality
, precisely because a university is inescapably a social force: it must transform and enlighten the society in which it lives.
Ellacuría believed that a university cannot always and in every place be the same. It must constantly look at its own peculiar historical reality. The Third World
is characterized more by oppression than by liberty
, more by poverty
than by abundance. According to Ellacuría, in such a context a university must do everything possible so that liberty overcomes oppression. He added that the university must carry out this general commitment with the means uniquely at its disposal. As an intellectual community the university must analyse causes; use imagination and creativity together to discover the remedies to problems; communicate a consciousness that inspires the freedom of self-determination; educate professionals with a conscience, who will be the immediate instruments of such a transformation; and constantly hone an educational institution that is both academically excellent and ethically oriented.
Ellacuría thought that it is possible for reason and faith to merge in confronting the reality of the poor. Reason must open its eyes to their suffering; while faith sees in the weak of this world what salvation must mean and the conversion to which we are called.
Such a university must take into account the preferential option for the poor. This does not mean that only the poor will study at the university; it does not mean that the university should abdicate its mission of academic excellence—excellence which is needed in order to solve complex social issues of our time. What it does mean is that the university should be present intellectually where it is needed: to provide science for those without science; to provide skills for those without skills; to be a voice for those without voices; to give intellectual support for those who do not possess the academic qualifications to make their rights legitimate.
About Ellacuría:
Portugalete
Portugalete is a town lying to the west of Bilbao in the province of Biscay in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain.The town has 51,066 inhabitants and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located at the mouth of the Estuary of Bilbao, on the left bank...
, Biscay
Biscay
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, November 9, 1930 – San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
, November 16, 1989) was a Jesuit priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, philosopher, and theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
who did important work as a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
at the Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA), a Jesuit university in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
founded in 1965. Ignacio Ellacuría was a close friend and colleague of the scholars Ignacio Martín-Baró
Ignacio Martín-Baró
Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J. was a scholar, social psychologist, philosopher and Jesuit priest...
and Segundo Montes
Segundo Montes
Segundo Montes, S.J. was a scholar, philosopher, educator, sociologist and Jesuit priest...
, all of whom were assassinated with Ellacuría by the Salvadoran army
Military of El Salvador
The Armed Forces of El Salvador, in Spanish Fuerza Armada de El Salvador is the official name of the combined armed forces of El Salvador...
, along with three colleagues and two employees (see The murdered scholars of UCA). His work was defining for the shape UCA took in its first years of existence and the years to come. Ellacuría was also responsible for the development of formation programs for priests in the Jesuit Central American province.
Ellacuría's academic work was an important contribution to "Liberation Philosophy". This school of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
stems from the work of Augusto Salazar Bondy (1925–1974) and Leopoldo Zea (1912–2004). It focuses on liberating the oppressed in order "to reach the fullness of humanity". Ellacuría was also a strong supporter and contributor to Liberation Theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
.
The political implications of Ellacuría's commitment to his ideas met strong opposition from the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
religious and political forces in El Salvador. This opposition led to Ellacuría’s murder by the Salvadoran army
Military of El Salvador
The Armed Forces of El Salvador, in Spanish Fuerza Armada de El Salvador is the official name of the combined armed forces of El Salvador...
in 1989 at his residence in UCA along with five other fellow Jesuit priests and two employees. Their murder marked a turning point in the Salvadoran civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
(see History of El Salvador
History of El Salvador
The history of El Salvador has been a history of struggle against conquistadors, empires, dictatorships and world powers to be free. El Salvador was one of the regions that resisted the Spanish invasion led by Pedro de Alvarado who had to fight Atlantica and retreat several times back to Guatemala...
). On the one hand it increased international pressures on the Salvadoran government to sign peace agreements with the guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
organisation FMLN. On the other, it helped make Ellacuría's ideas (until then known only in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) become known worldwide.
There are at least five different schools within Latin American liberation philosophy. Ellacuría's thought represents the fifth school. (For an account of the first four schools see Horacio Cerutti’s La Filosofía de la Liberación Latinoamericana, Mexico City: FCE, 1992).
Ellacuría joined the Jesuits in 1947 and was commissioned to the Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
n republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
of El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
in 1948. He lived and worked there until his death in 1989, except for occasional periods, which he spent studying in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Philosophy
Ellacuría's philosophy takes as a starting point Xavier ZubiriXavier Zubiri
Xavier Zubiri was a Spanish philosopher noted for his intellectual rigor. A major accomplishment of Zubiri's philosophy is its systematic development of a new conception of reality such that within it man, as a "sentient intelligence," appears in a different light...
's (1898–1983) critique of Western philosophy. For Zubiri, ever since Parmenides
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
, Western thought separated sensing from intelligence. This error led to two results. The first one was what Zubiri called “the logification of intelligence” and the second one was what he called “the entification of reality”.
The “logification of intelligence” implied that intellect was reduced to logos
Logos
' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...
. This view led philosophers to believe that what they called "Being
Being
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
" was the cause of reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
, and this in turn, explained the confusion of metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
with ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
.
Logification of intelligence excludes sensual, not so logical, functions of intelligence. Although Zubiri recognized descriptive logos and reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
as important components of intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
, he pointed out that intelligence did not reduce itself to them. For Zubiri intelligence was a unity with the modalities of sensual
Sense
Senses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
apprehension, logos and reason.
The logification of intelligence led to the perception of reality as "Being" in a zone in space and time (as in Heidegger's Dasein
Dasein
Dasein is a German word famously used by Martin Heidegger in his magnum opus Being and Time, which generally translates to being in its ontological and philosophical sense Dasein is a German word famously used by Martin Heidegger in his magnum opus Being and Time, which generally translates to...
) of identifiable entities with an essence
Essence
In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
, outside the human brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
. This is what Zubiri called the “entification of reality”. This perception sees reality as a particular form of "Being". Thereby, for Zubiri, "Being" had been "substantivised" by Western philosophy
Western philosophy
Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
.
For Zubiri, reality is paramount to Being, which is not a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
, but a verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
. Being is a particular aspect of reality and not the other way around. Metaphysics studies reality and ontology studies being. Human beings' way of accessing reality is intelligence, not a logified one, but a "sentient intelligence" that is itself a part of reality.
The senses, logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
, intuition
Intuition (knowledge)
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. "The word 'intuition' comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'’ or 'to contemplate'." Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify...
and imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
are one and the same faculty
Skill
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
, because each of these things determine one another. This faculty differences human beings from other species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and has been achieved through evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. Having a sentient intelligence implies having a conscience and the possibility to imagine new realities. These formulations are in themselves real by postulation. Realities by postulation can also be realized in other forms, because sentient intelligence has the ability to recognise the processual and structural character of reality. Therefore human beings are able to influence it, and create and transcend
Transcend
Transcend Information, Inc. is a Taiwanese company that manufactures and distributes of memory products headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Transcend's product portfolio consists of over 2,000 devices including memory modules, flash memory cards, USB flash drives, digital audio players, Portable...
the historical boundaries that have been reached.
For Zubiri there is no need for a realist
Philosophical realism
Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc....
/anti-realist discussion on if there is or not a reality that is external and independent to human beings, or if reality is a bulk of internal illusions to human beings. It is both, but not in the sense critical realism
Critical realism
In the philosophy of perception, critical realism is the theory that some of our sense-data can and do accurately represent external objects, properties, and events, while other of our sense-data do not accurately represent any external objects, properties, and events...
pretends (where human beings are seen as a reality that can be separated from an objective outer reality). For Zubiri, human beings are imbedded in reality and cannot exist without it. They need air, food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
, water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
and other beings. The "outer" and objective
Objectivity (philosophy)
Objectivity is a central philosophical concept which has been variously defined by sources. A proposition is generally considered to be objectively true when its truth conditions are met and are "mind-independent"—that is, not met by the judgment of a conscious entity or subject.- Objectivism...
world must also come inside human beings for them to continue existing. Sentient intelligence should be able to make sense of this existence in a way that allows human beings to realise their capabilities in the world.
In this line of thinking, Ellacuría said human reality is unavoidably personal, social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
and historical. Biology and society are elements of history, which means that they are always in movement. But this should not be confused with historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
that says human beings are passive instruments of the forces of history. Human beings certainly inherit constraints constructed in the past but they always have the possibility to transcend them because of their sentient intelligence. Praxis is the name Ellacuría gives to reflected human action aimed at changing reality. Unlike other animals that can only respond mechanically to stimuli from outside, through sentient intelligence and praxis, human beings have to "realise" their existence. Individuals in dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
interaction with society, have to make out what sort of Ego to have by using their sentient intelligence and this implies transcending inherited constraints.
This means that progress
Social progress
Social progress is the idea that societies can or do improve in terms of their social, political, and economic structures. This may happen as a result of direct human action, as in social enterprise or through social activism, or as a natural part of sociocultural evolution...
in reality happens through a combination of physical, biological and "praxical" factors. Through praxis, human beings are able to realise a wider range of possibilities for action. In other words, one praxis can lead to a fuller praxis. When this is so, praxis can be said to gradually increase liberty, if liberty is defined as greater possibilities for action.
According to Ellacuría, the existence of people that are marginalized from society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
implies that history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and practice have not delivered a wider range of possibilities for realisation for every human being in the world. This situation has prevented these excluded people to realise their existence as human beings. Therefore, it is a situation that stands away from the fullness of humanity and the fullness of reality. But this situation can be changed.
According to Ellacuría, before the advent of humanity, the unfolding of reality took place only by physical and biological forces. But in our era, forces exclusive to human beings (praxis) can also help unfold reality. Since human beings have the possibility to reflect, it is philosophy’s duty to exercise this ability to reflect in order to change reality and allow greater possibilities for individual realisation.
This way of thinking finds its parallels in the 1990s in Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum , is an American philosopher with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy and ethics....
's definition of human development as the increase in human capabilities for action (see Martha C. Nussbaum, Women and Human Development, Cambridge University Press, 2000) and Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen, CH is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members...
's notion of development as freedom (see Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press, 1999).
Theology
As many other theologians of his generationGeneration
Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....
, Ellacuría intended to construct a new theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, which he called a Historical Theology
Historical theology
Historical theology is a branch of theological studies that investigates the socio-historical and cultural mechanisms that give rise to theological ideas, systems, and statements. Research and method in this field focus on the relationship between theology and context as well as the major...
. His view of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
followed the Hegelian dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
tradition that culminated in Marx's historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
. However, Ellacuría rejected Marx's view of human beings as objects of their material conditions. He stressed the importance of conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
, human praxis and its possibilities for influencing the course of history and thereby material conditions themselves. He has been unfairly accused of trying to contaminate theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
with Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, but the methodological similarities of his thought with Marxism stem from a common Hegelian view of history as progress brought about by overcoming contradictions.
By Historical Theology
Historical theology
Historical theology is a branch of theological studies that investigates the socio-historical and cultural mechanisms that give rise to theological ideas, systems, and statements. Research and method in this field focus on the relationship between theology and context as well as the major...
Ellacuría meant a way of making theology: to reflect about faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
from the historical present
Historical present
In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present refers to the employment of the present tense when narrating past events...
and to reflect about the historical present from faith. According to him, all theology is conditioned by its historical present. Historical theology intends to acquire conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
about its historical context and to incorporate it fully. The concept of locus theologicus (theologogical place) is very important in this theology.
Rudolf Bultmann
Rudolf Bultmann
Rudolf Karl Bultmann was a German theologian of Lutheran background, who was for three decades professor of New Testament studies at the University of Marburg...
developed existencial biblical hermeneutics, or the idea that each individual can only read and understand the bible from his or her personal existential condition and the biblical text acquires life only if it can awaken an experience of faith in the reader. This generates a hermeneutical circle
Circle
A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....
since the reader understands the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
from his historical present and the historical present from the Bible. Ellacuría placed himself in this hermeneutic tradition and he gave a step further. For Ellacuría, the reader is not just an individual but a community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, just like the people of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
. This means that community faith comes first and then individual faith.
According to Ellacuría, the value of the Old Testament is not reduced with the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. The New Testament makes the community character of faith from the Old Testament something radical and universal. It makes it radical because it establishes that the alliance of God with people is much more than a simple code of laws and lithurgical rituals: it is an invitation to justice and charity, not as exceptional practices but as a stable structure. That is why this alliance is established in a law. It makes the faith universal because the New Testament is communicated to every human being, independently of race, culture, sex, religion or social condition.
Liberation Theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
is then a new way of doing Historical Theology
Historical theology
Historical theology is a branch of theological studies that investigates the socio-historical and cultural mechanisms that give rise to theological ideas, systems, and statements. Research and method in this field focus on the relationship between theology and context as well as the major...
in a particular locus theologicus: the historical present of Latin America, where a large portion of the population is oppressed by structures that deny them the possibilities to satisfy their needs and to develop. It arises from the spirit of Gaudium et Spes
Gaudium et Spes
Gaudium et Spes , the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, was one of the four Apostolic Constitutions resulting from the Second Vatican Council...
of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
and the social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
s of Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
, and more specifically, the Episcopal Conference
Episcopal Conference
In the Roman Catholic Church, an Episcopal Conference, Conference of Bishops, or National Conference of Bishops is an official assembly of all the bishops of a given territory...
s of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
in 1968 and Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
in 1978. Such a reflection on the Bible is supported on the historical present of a collectivity that desires liberation from oppression. There is a long biblical tradition about liberation that starts with the Book of Exodus.
According to Ellacuría, salvation
Collective salvation
Collective salvation is the religious belief that members of a group collectively influence the salvation of the group to which they belong. Collective salvation can teach that the group is collectively one person by its nature...
is accomplished historically, not just individually but collectively. It is not just about liberation from evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
, guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
, personal or social offenses, pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...
, disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
and fetichism. Those forms of liberation only start by liberation from unjust structures like slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, political domination
Domination
-Books:* The Domination, an alternate history / science-fiction / alternate reality fictional, by S. M. Stirling.-Music:* Dominant , a diatonic scale step and diatonic function in tonal music theory...
, psychological and social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
. Besides the book of Exodus, the Bible also presents other such cases of liberation from oppression as the return from exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
in Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
in the books of Esdras
Esdras
Esdras is a Greco-Latin variation of the name of the scribe Ezra. It is found in the titles of several books, associated with the scribe, that are in or related to the Bible.-Differences in names:...
and Nehemiah
Nehemiah
Nehemiah ]]," Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh) is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work rebuilding Jerusalem and purifying the Jewish community. He was the son of Hachaliah, Nehemiah ]]," Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh) is the...
; the fight against Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
ian occupation in the book of Maccabees
Maccabees
The Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who took control of Judea, which had been a client state of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion, expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel and reducing the influence...
; the Beatitudes of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
; and the book of Apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
in the face of the persecution of Christians in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Other forms of doing historical theology
Historical theology
Historical theology is a branch of theological studies that investigates the socio-historical and cultural mechanisms that give rise to theological ideas, systems, and statements. Research and method in this field focus on the relationship between theology and context as well as the major...
would be for example Feminist Theology
Feminist theology
Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religions from a feminist perspective...
; African-American Theology as developed by Martin Luther King in the fight for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; African Liberation Theology, that has mostly been applied to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in the fight against apartheid; and Indigenous Theology that stems from Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
and other missionaries in the first Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colonies in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
in the 16th century.
Union of science and theology
Ellacuría was aware of the challenges implied in relating theologyTheology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
with science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
. However he managed to articulate a relationship between the two in his vision of a university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
that served the purpose of liberating
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
the oppressed
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
.
According to Ellacuría, there are two aspects to every university. The most evident one is that it deals with culture; or in other words knowledge and the use of sentient intellect. The second, and not so evident, is that it must be concerned with the social reality
Social reality
Social reality is distinct from biological reality or individual cognitive reality, and has been defined as 'a level of phenomena that emerges through social interactions and that cannot be reduced to the intentions of individuals'....
, precisely because a university is inescapably a social force: it must transform and enlighten the society in which it lives.
Ellacuría believed that a university cannot always and in every place be the same. It must constantly look at its own peculiar historical reality. The Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
is characterized more by oppression than by liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
, more by poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
than by abundance. According to Ellacuría, in such a context a university must do everything possible so that liberty overcomes oppression. He added that the university must carry out this general commitment with the means uniquely at its disposal. As an intellectual community the university must analyse causes; use imagination and creativity together to discover the remedies to problems; communicate a consciousness that inspires the freedom of self-determination; educate professionals with a conscience, who will be the immediate instruments of such a transformation; and constantly hone an educational institution that is both academically excellent and ethically oriented.
Ellacuría thought that it is possible for reason and faith to merge in confronting the reality of the poor. Reason must open its eyes to their suffering; while faith sees in the weak of this world what salvation must mean and the conversion to which we are called.
Such a university must take into account the preferential option for the poor. This does not mean that only the poor will study at the university; it does not mean that the university should abdicate its mission of academic excellence—excellence which is needed in order to solve complex social issues of our time. What it does mean is that the university should be present intellectually where it is needed: to provide science for those without science; to provide skills for those without skills; to be a voice for those without voices; to give intellectual support for those who do not possess the academic qualifications to make their rights legitimate.
Chomsky on Ellacuría
Selection of References
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, Veinte Años de Historia en El Salvador: Escritos Políticos [VA], three volumes, second edition, San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1993
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, Escritos Universitarios [EU], San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1999.
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, Filosofía de la Realidad Histórica, San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1990.
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, Escritos Filosóficos [EF], three volumes San Salvador: UCA Editores, 1996-2001.
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, Escritos Teológicos [ET], four volumes, San Salvador: UCA Editores, 2000–2002
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Filosofía y Política” [1972], VA-1, pp. 47–62
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Liberación: Misión y Carisma de la Iglesia” [1973], ET-2, pp. 553–584
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Diez Años Después: ¿Es Posible una Universidad Distinta?” [1975], EU, pp. 49–92
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Hacia una Fundamentación del Método Teológico Latinoamericana” [1975], ET-1, pp. 187–218
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Filosofía, ¿Para Qué?” [1976], EF-3, pp. 115–132
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Fundamentación Biológica de la Ética” [1979], EF-3, pp, 251-269
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Universidad y Política” [1980], VA-1, pp. 17–46
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “El Objeto de la Filosofía” [1981], VA-1, pp. 63–92
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Función Liberadora de la Filosofía” [1985], VA-1, pp. 93–122
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “La Superación del Reduccionismo Idealista en Zubiri” [1988], EF-3, pp. 403–430
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “El Desafío de las Mayorías Populares” (1989), EU, pp. 297–306 (an English translation is available in TSSP, pp. 171–176)
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “En Torno al Concepto y a la Idea de Liberación” [1989], ET-1, pp. 629–657
- Ellacuría, Ignacio, “Utopía y Profetismo en América Latina” [1989], ET-2, pp. 233–294 (an English translation is available in TSSP, pp. 44–88).
About Ellacuría:
- Burke, Kevin, "The Ground Beneath the Cross: The Theology of Ignacio Ellacuría", Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000.
- Burke, Kevin; Lassalle-Klein, Robert, "Love that Produces Hope. The Thought of Ignacio Ellacuría", Colleville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2005.
- Cerutti, Horacio, "Filosofia de la Liberación Latinoamericana", Mexico City: FCE, 1992.
- Hassett, John; Lacey, Hugh (eds.), "Towards a Society that Serves its People: The Intellectual Contribution of El Salvador’s Murdered Jesuits" [TSSP],Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991.
- Lee, Michael, "Bearing the Weight of Salvation. The Soteriology of Ignacio Ellacuría", New York: Herder Book, The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2008.
- Samour, Héctor, "Voluntad de Liberación: El Pensamiento Filosófico de Ignacio Ellacuría", San Salvador: UCA Editores, 2002
- Sols Lucia, José: "The Legacy of Ignacio Ellacuría", Barcelona: Cristianisme i Justícia, 1998.
- Sols Lucia, José: "La teología histórica de Ignacio Ellacuría", Madrid: Trotta, 1999.
- Whitfield, Teresa, "Paying the Price: Ignacio Ellacuría and the Murdered Jesuits of El Salvador", Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
External links
- http://www.uca.edu.sv/martires/new/
- http://www.fespinal.com/espinal/llib/en86.rtf
- http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/ellacuri.htm
- http://www.bc.edu/offices/ahana/about/history/ellacuria/
- http://ensayo.rom.uga.edu/filosofos/spain/ellacuria/
- http://www.rtfcam.org/martyrs/UCA/ellacuria.htm
- http://www.scu.edu/Jesuits/ellacuria.html