In Celebration of the Life of J. Severino Croatto

March 19, 1930 – April 26, 2004

by Hugo Córdova Quero

Professor José Severino Croatto, professor emeritus of Hebrew Scriptures, Hebrew and Phenomenology of Religion at the Instituto Universitario ISEDET in Buenos Aires, Argentina, died on April 26, 2004.

Prof. Croatto was born in Sampacho, Cordoba, in Argentina. He was the eighth of ten siblings to a farmer family. When he was 11 years old, he entered as a novice to religious orders. He studied philosophy and theology at the Vincentian Seminary (Escobar, Buenos Aires, 1948-1953). He obtained a degree as a Licenciate in Theology at the Universidad Catolica Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1954). Later, he received a postgraduate degree as Licenciate in Biblical Sciences at the Pontificium Institutum Biblicum (Rome, 1957), and pursued further postgraduate studies at the Hebraic University in Jerusalem (1958). During that two-year period Croatto engaged in archeological research in numerous historical regions, including Egypt, Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. He continued that work by participating in excavations in succeeding years in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel/Palestine.

In 1953, Croatto received holy orders as a Roman Catholic priest in Argentina. During his priesthood he was primarily devoted to teaching. In 1972, he married, and due to this he was forced to leave the ordained ministry but not his teaching. Firmly committed to peace and justice, he was a member of Sacerdotes para el Tercer Mundo (Priests for the Third World), an association of Catholic priests involved in Liberation Theology in the course of the most difficult years of military dictatorships in Latin America. He raised a prophetic voice, which endangered his life during Argentina's worst years under a military regime (1976-1983).

Dedicated to education, from 1962 to 1964 he taught Hebrew Scriptures at the Jesuit School of Theology of the Colegio Máximo, San Miguel, Buenos Aires; then from 1964 to 1973 he lectured on philosophy and the history of religions at the University of Buenos Aires. While at ISEDET, he also taught comparative religions at the School of Eastern Studies, Maimonides University (1994-1996) and at the Academia del Sur (1996-2003). He expressed honor at being the only Christian professor at the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, where he taught “Exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures” and “Christian Worldview” (Buenos Aires 1997-2003).

But Prof. Croatto's academic commitment was not limited to teaching at universities. He also participated actively in “popular education” movements of Bible reading (known in Spanish as Movimiento de Lectura Popular de la Biblia ) and he taught at the Cursos Intensivos de Biblia (CIB). The CIB is a six-month course for leaders in Latin America working in the field of Bible Studies at popular level. They gather from all over Latin America to have week-long courses with the most prestigious Bible scholars in the region. Prof. Croatto is also well-known through his articles in the publication RIBLA ( Revista de Interpretación Bíblica Latinoamericana ). These are only a couple of examples on how Croatto influenced Liberation Theology in Latin America from its very beginning. In 2002, Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia invited Prof. Croatto to be one of the eight scholars in its prestigious Campbell Scholars Seminar.

His primary fields of academic interest were the history and culture of the Ancient Near East; Classical (Latin and Greek) and Semitic (Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ugaritic and Arab) Languages; the phenomenology of religion and comparative religions; and biblical exegesis and Latin American biblical hermeneutics. He wrote more than 20 books and more than 200 articles which have been published in numerous languages. Some of his best-known books are: Historia de la salvación (Paulinas, 7 editions between 1963-1986); Exodus: A Hermeneutics of Freedom (New York: Orbis Books, 1981); Die Bibel gehört der Armen. Perspektiven einer befreiungstheologischen Hermeneutik (Munich: Chr.Kaiser Verlag, 1989); Biblical Hermeneutics. Toward A Theory of Reading as the Production of Meaning (New York: Orbis Books, 1995, 3rd edition); Hermenéutica Práctica. Los principios de la hermenéutica en ejemplos (Quito: RECU-Verbo Divino, 2002); and Experiencia de lo sagrado y tradiciones religiosas: Estudio de fenomenología de la religión (Estella, Spain: Verbo Divino, 2002). At the time of his death, he had just finished a new commentary on Genesis 1.

In 2000, his colleagues, students and friends – celebrating his 70 years of age, his 40 years of academic teaching, and his 25 years as faculty at ISEDET – honored Prof. Croatto with the publication of a Festschrift: Guillermo Hansen (ed.) Los caminos inexhauribles de la Palabra. Las relecturas creativas en la Biblia y de la Biblia (Buenos Aires, LUMEN-ISEDET, 2000).

His wife, Cristina Conti, his son Juan, and his daughter Maria, outlive Prof. Croatto. Many friends and hundreds of students will also remember this man of exceptional connection not only with human life but also with the whole creation. His friends know how he loved to take care of his trees and his garden; and even enjoyed making his own jam. That sensibility for life was constantly present in his academic work.

Prof. Croatto was a very humble and yet very wise man of God. He always acknowledged the richness in every human being. As his former student and personal friend, I saw many examples of his humbleness. We never called him “Professor.” It was not necessary, because we always respected his position. Instead, he made friends with his students while sharing his knowledge. We used to call him just “Seve.”

He was a man of astonishing wisdom. I can tell so many stories about him, but one I always keep in my mind, as a source of inspiration, is what happened the day I gave him a copy of my first book. He was very happy, and he even asked me to sign the copy for him. Then he walked towards his office, one floor upstairs from mine at the School of Theology. Three hours later, he came back. He had not only read my book in those three hours, but he said: “Hugo, now I can truly call you colleague. Welcome.” As an inexperienced beginner in my first semester teaching at a Roman Catholic seminary, I was so honored by this incredible wise and humble man who was now calling me “colleague.” I am sure that all of his students have been touched and inspired by Prof. Croatto as I have been.

May he now rest in peace. May his life be a blessing in our memories.

Hugo Córdova Quero, originally from Argentina, now serves in ministry in Hawaii. He studied at the ISEDET School of Theology in Beunos Aires before pursuing additional graduate studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. Hugo may be reached by email at abraxass31@yahoo.com .