Leonardo Boff - Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor

ECOLOGY AND JUSTICE

An Orbis Series on Global Ecology

Advisory Board Members

Mary Evelyn Tucker

John A. Grim

Leonardo Boff

Sean McDonagh

The Orbis Series Ecology and Justice publishes books that seek to integrate an understanding of the Earth as an interconnected life system with concerns for just and sustainable systems that benefit the entire Earth. Books in the Series concentrate on ways to:

reexamine the human-Earth relationship in the light of contemporary cosmological thought

develop visions of common life marked by ecological integrity and social justice

expand on the work of those who are developing such fields as ecotheology, ecojustice, environmental ethics, eco-feminism, deep ecology, social ecology, bioregionalism, and animal rights

promote inclusive participative strategies that enhance the struggle of the Earth's voiceless poor for justice

deepen appreciation for and expand dialogue among religious traditions on the issue of ecology

encourage spiritual discipline, social engagement, and the reform of religion and society toward these ends.

Viewing the present moment as a time for responsible creativity, the Series seeks authors who speak to ecojustice concerns and who bring into dialogue perspectives from the Christian community, from the world's other religions, from secular and scientific circles, and from new paradigms of thought and action.

ECOLOGY AND JUSTICE SERIES

LEONARDO BOFF

CRY OF THE EARTH,

CRY OF THE POOR

Translated by Phillip Berryman

Maryknoll, New York 10545

The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll) recruits and trains people for overseas missionary service. Through Orbis Books, Maryknoll aims to foster the international dialogue that is essential to mission. The books published, however, reflect the opinions of their authors and are not meant to represent the official position of the society.

English translation 1997 by Orbis Books

Published originally in Brazil as Ecologia: Grito da Terra, Grito dos Pobres by Editora tica S.A., Rua Baro de Iguape, 110, So PauloSP, Brazil, copyright 1995 by Leonardo Boff.

This edition published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0308.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Queries regarding rights and permissions should be addressed to: Orbis Books, P.O. Box 308, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0308.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Manuscript editing and typesetting by Joan Weber Laflamme

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Boff, Leonardo.

[Ecologia. English]

Cry of the earth, cry of the poor / Leonardo Boff : translated by Phillip Berryman.

p. cm.(Ecology and justice)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57075-136-6(alk. paper)

1. Human ecologyReligious aspects. 2. Human ecologyMoral and ethical aspects. 3. Liberation theology. 4. Environmental ethics.

I. Title.II. Series.

GF80.B6313 1997

179'.1dc21

97-26788

CIP

Peregrinantibus mecum

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this book is to connect the cry of the oppressed with the cry of the Earth. The cry of the oppressed has encountered a powerful current of thought drawn from liberating practices of solidarity. It is out of such practices that liberation theology has arisen. Never in the history of Christianity have the poor become so central, in the sense that they should be agents of their own liberation. Liberation theology has served the oppressed and the outcast well, for it has sought to convince them that their cause is connected to that of the God of history and is inscribed in the heart of the message and practice of Jesus; it is no accident that he was persecuted, made a political prisoner, tortured, and crucified. Finally, liberation theology has convinced them that the pursuit of liberation, life, and poetry affects eternity, for the Reign of God, the great utopia of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, is indeed made up of such things.

The Earth is also crying out. The logic that exploits classes and subjects peoples to the interests of a few rich and powerful countries is the same as the logic that devastates the Earth and plunders its wealth, showing no solidarity with the rest of humankind and future generations.

Such a logic is shattering the fragile balance of the universe, built up with great wisdom by nature throughout fifteen billion years of labor. It has broken humankind's covenant of kinship with the Earth and destroyed its sense of connectedness with all things. During the past four centuries human beings have felt that they are all alone in a universe seen as an enemy to be subjected and tamed.

Today these issues have gained a seriousness that they have never enjoyed before in human history. The human beingcalled to be Earth's guardian angel and watchful tillermay be Earth's Satan. Humans have shown that they can commit not only homicide and ethnocide, but biocide and geocide as well.

It is not only the poor and oppressed that must be liberated; today all humans must be liberated. We are hostages to a paradigm that places usagainst the thrust of the universeover things instead of being with them in the great cosmic community. That is why I am extending the intuitions of liberation theology and demonstrating their validity and applicability for the questions enveloping the Earth, our bountiful mother.

Time is pressing. We nevertheless embrace the hope that, as always happens in the evolutionary process, chaos will give birth to a new and higher order, one that holds promise for all. The aim of this book is to offer hope for the sons and daughters of Earth, heirs of that covenant that God established with Noah and with the whole community of the living after the destruction of the flood. That memory, preserved in the basic passages of the Jewish and Christian spiritual traditions, reads: As the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and recall the everlasting covenant that I have established between God and all living beingsall mortal creatures that are on earth.Never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood (Gn 9: 16, 11).

This covenant is eternal. It takes on new meaning particularly in times of crisis like our own. It grounds the hope that our shared future will not be built on the ruins of the planet and humankind. Just as cosmogenesis (the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the anthroposphere) emerged from the original chaos, so also will the noosphere emergethe communion of minds and heartsas a center of life, solidarity, and shared growth in love. Everything will point toward the ultimate theosphere where all will be in God and God in all. Such is the truth of panentheism.

The new paradigm that is coming to birththat of connectednesswill be the basis of a universal religion that will only be truly universal if it seeks convergences in religious diversity. The convergences to be achieved must have to do with restoring the sacredness of all things, reclaiming the dignity of the Earth, rediscovering the mission of the human beingman and womancalled to celebrate the mystery of the cosmos, and finally, encountering God, mystery of communion and life, in the process of cosmogenesis itself. The aim of our observations is to water and fertilize this seminal reality.