Left-Wing Christians at Berkeley: Between the Theology of Liberation and Marxist Theories

Daniela Saresella

doi:10.3390/rel12100880

Abstract

The 1960s were marked by profound political and cultural transformation and Berkeley was one of most deeply involved institutions. Though much has been written about the students’ movement, no research has stopped to consider the experience of the Berkeley Free Church, the subsequent publication of the journal Radical Religion and the constitution of the American Christians toward Socialism movement. The young people who were the key figures in this experience are an emblem of the Christians of the times, open as they were to ecumenical exchange and attentive to the problems of the poor and the socially excluded. The international and national context led them to progressively assume more radical positions, to use Marxism as a method for interpreting society’s “contradictions” and to seek a political dialogue with the world of the Left. This path of theoretical and political quest concluded in the 1980s, when a new wave of conservatism put an end to any hope of radically transforming Western societies.

Highlights

The 1960s were a turbulent decade and the transformations the World System experienced during that period were profound (Wallerstein 1989, pp. 431–49)
In the United States the turning point came with the election of Kennedy, the spread of militancy amongst the African American population and thanks to exemplary practices coming from the Latin American countries
The first 10 min of Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point were shot—in January 1969—on the premises of the Berkeley Free Church and many of those present were activists in this group (Dellenbach 1969, pp. 2, 7; Eskridge 2013, pp. 94–98, 262–63; Draper 1965; Rorabaugh 1989), proving just how important Berkeley was in the protests that were going on at the time and more so what an important role the BFC played in the counterculture of the United States

Summary

Introduction

The 1960s were a turbulent decade and the transformations the World System experienced during that period were profound (Wallerstein 1989, pp. 431–49). Hugh McLeod argues that in the wake of Vatican II, Catholics and Protestants moved together, but “as the divisions between the Christian churches were narrowing, the divisions within each of the churches were deepening” It was a time of intense conflict between conservatives, moderates and radicals in both the Roman Catholic Church as well as many of the Protestant groups 31–52; Danielson et al 2018); it occurred in the various national contexts, as well as amongst believers in the Bay Area It was at the beginning of the upsurge of radical Christian activism that the Graduate Theological Union (GTU)—joining Protestant and Catholic seminaries—was founded in Berkeley in 1962.1 Its aim was to promote ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and to support graduate theological education. The GTU stood as an attempt to overcome boundaries and divisions between believers and it was no coincidence that significant religious and political experiences arose amongst the young people who frequented it

The Berkeley Free Church

The Journal Radical Religion

American Christians for Socialism

Toward Which Socialism?

Conclusions