Liberation Theology Reference library
Alissa Jones Nelson
The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine
... encompassed a much broader sweep of theological movements, from Black theology in the United States and South Africa to Minjung theology in Korea, from Dalit theology in India to Palestinian theology in Israel/Palestine and Native American theology in North America. Thus what is commonly referred to as ‘Liberation theology’ is better indicated by the plural term ‘Liberation theologies’. Liberation theologies are characterized by two primary foci. The first of these is God's...
Liberation Theology Reference library
Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present
...the black church, and contemporary Christian theology. Teachings. Liberation theology teaches that the mission of God in Jesus Christ and the purpose of the Christian church is the social and spiritual liberation of the world. Liberation theology therefore moves away from traditional Christian theology, whose major source is Western philosophy and whose purpose is to explain the nature of God. Liberation theology's major source material is the narratives of oppressed persons, groups, and communities. It is a theology of praxis, or reflection on action, in which...
liberation theology Quick reference
Geraldine Lievesley
A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations (4 ed.)
...poor nations. In 1968 , the Latin American Episcopal Conference ( CELAM ) meeting in Medellín, Colombia, espoused liberation theology (the fullest expression of which is Gustavo Gutierrez’s Theology of Liberation , 1971 ). Since the 1970s, the Vatican has attempted to reassert its authority, attempting to neutralize the influence of the grass‐roots organizations. National churches have experienced schisms. Nevertheless, liberation theology has had a profound impact, demonstrated, for example, by the Chilean Church’s deep involvement in human rights...
liberation theology Reference library
Dictionary of the Social Sciences
... theology A movement within the Catholic church that fuses theology with secular concerns about social justice. Beginning in the 1960s in Latin America, liberation theology challenged the traditional place of the church as the defender of an extremely inegalitarian social order. It brought tools from Western Marxism to bear on the analysis of that order and reexamined the role of the clergy at the local level. The defining moment of the movement came in 1968 with the writing of the Medellin declaration by the Conference of Latin American Bishops....
Liberation Theology Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States
...(James Cone); feminist theology has measured the “patriarchalization” of biblical hermeneutics ( Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza ); and queer theology has asserted that God is HIV-positive ( Robert Goss ). On the one hand, critics have charged that theologies of liberation misread biblical texts and substitute sociopolitical analyses for theology. On the other hand, proponents have developed critical histories of modernity and globalization to affirm the reinterpretation of Christianity and the global significance of liberation theologies. Latin American, African...
Liberation Theology Reference library
K.C. Abraham
The Oxford Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity
... Theology Liberative praxis is a method of carrying out theology. Praxis does not mean that theory is rejected. On the contrary, liberationists assert that rigorous theoretical reflection should emerge from practice that is oriented to transformation. In South Asia, the liberation paradigm is consciously adopted by theologians from marginal groups like Dalits * , tribals * (indigenous people), fish workers * , and women. For them, theology is not a systematic explication of timeless truths, nor is it a matter of imposing a prefabricated system of...
Liberation Theology Reference library
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
... Theology (perhaps more accurately in the plural, Liberation theologies ), an understanding of the role of theology in moving from abstraction to praxis, in which the actual condition of the poor is the starting-point. It was defined by H. Assmann as ‘teologia desde la praxis de la liberación’ (‘theology starting from the praxis of liberation’), and by G. Gutiérrez (b. 1928 ) as ‘a critical reflection both from within, and upon, historical praxis, in confrontation with the word of the Lord as lived and experienced in faith’. Liberation theology...
liberation theology Reference library
Chris Rowland
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (4 ed.)
...of liberation theology. Pope Francis has been much more supportive of liberation theology, including the veteran theologian G. Gutiérrez in Vatican initiatives and echoing many themes found in liberation theology. Chris Rowland Expositions of liberation theology include: E. [D.] Dussel , Caminos de liberación latinoamericana (Buenos Aires, 1972; Eng. tr., History and the Theology of Liberation , Maryknoll, NY, 1976). H. Assmann , Teología desde la praxis de la liberación (Salamanca, 1973; Eng. tr., Practical Theology of Liberation , 1975). ...
Liberation Theology Reference library
Paul E. Sigmund
The Oxford Companion to International Relations
... Theology Liberation theology was first developed in Latin America in the 1960s. Its most important theorist, Gustavo Gutierrez, wrote articles and later a book, A Theology of Liberation, that argued that a central element of the message of the Bible is the special duty of Christians to work with the poor and oppressed for their liberation in history. He also criticized earlier theological writing as excessively abstract and too supportive of existing power struc-tures, calling for a new hermeneutic way of doing theology that applies biblical...
Liberation Theology Reference library
Phillip Berryman
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World
...of Liberation Theology . Translated by Phillip Berryman . Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1998. Examination of the post-1990 context. Ellacuría, Ignacio , and Jon Sobrino , eds. Mysterium Liberationis: Fundamental Concepts of Liberation Theology . Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1993. Essays by theologians covering all major theological themes. Gutiérrez, Gustavo . A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation . Translated and edited by Sister Caridad Inda and John Eagleson . Rev. ed. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1988. Key formulation of liberation theology....
liberation theology Quick reference
A Dictionary of the Bible (2 ed.)
...of those discriminated against. Liberation theology has not been favourably received by those theologians who detect in it a Marxist analysis of society. They fear that Jesus is interpreted in predetermined categories and made to fit into them, and also that much liberation theology is indifferent to biblical scholarship and to moral theologians' work to reconcile the legitimate aspirations of the poor with society's need for order. Nevertheless, the influence of liberation theology (and movements such as * feminist theology which are akin to it) is...
liberation theology Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 ed.)
... theology . A theological movement that came to prominence in the Conference of Latin American bishops held at Medellín in Colombia in 1968 . While there are differences of emphasis among liberation theologians, the salient features of their thought are: 1 a preferential option for the poor, that is the idea that the Church's primary duty in a situation of oppression is to support the poor; 2 liberation is seen as an essential element in salvation, since salvation is concerned with the whole person, not just his or her spiritual needs; 3 the ...
Liberation Theology Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (2 ed.)
...to learn, as liberation theology has done, from the experience of the poor and oppressed will have a continuing vitality and appeal. (See also Development and Underdevelopment ; Religion and Politics ; Revolution ; Roman Catholic Church ; Vatican II .) Michael Novak , Will It Liberate? Questions about Liberation Theology (New York, 1986). Phillip Berryman , Liberation Theology (New York, 1987). Arthur F. McGovern , Liberation Theology and its Critics: Toward an Assessment (Maryknoll, N.Y., 1989). Paul E. Sigmund , Liberation Theology at the...
liberation theology Quick reference
A Dictionary of Contemporary World History (6 ed.)
...met with fierce opposition from the elites. Hence, one of the movement's leading proponents, Archbishop Oscar Romero , was murdered in El Salvador in 1980 . Liberation theology, was opposed by the Vatican under John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger ( Benedict XVI ) through fear of the politicization of the Church. In 1985 , the Vatican withdrew its teaching licence from the leading liberation theologian, the Brazilian Leonardo Boff, because of his support for armed struggle as a last resort. The arrival of the Latin American Pope Francis at the...
Liberation Theology: Europe Reference library
Luise Schottroff and John Rogerson
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible
... Liberation Theology: Europe Luise Schottroff , John Rogerson By ‘liberation theology’ I understand theology that arises from the processes of liberation in social communities. The interpretation of the Bible from the perspective of liberation theology can be found in many countries of Europe. However, this article can only deal with the subject from a particular perspective: that of a West German feminist liberation theologian. A survey of European liberation theology has not yet been undertaken; neither is there any systematic account of...
Liberation Theology: Latin America Reference library
M. Daniel Carroll R.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible
... Liberation Theology: Latin America M. Daniel Carroll R. Fundamental Commitments Latin American liberation theology conceives of its primary responsibility as doing theology from a lived experience with the poor in solidarity with their struggle for a life free from oppression. This starting point reorients the whole nature of the theological enterprise, which then is defined as the effort to reflect critically on harsh contextual realities in the light of Christian faith. Theology is a ‘second act’ that reshapes that faith,...
Liberation Theology: Africa and the Bible Reference library
Gerald West
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible
...in biblical scholarship—such as postmodernism, reader- response criticism, and liberation hermeneutics—push biblical scholarship in Africa in the direction of the ordinary ‘reader’. Thirdly, most African biblical scholars recognize that there are elements of ordinary readings in their own ‘scholarly’ reading processes. Fourthly, remaining connected to the various forms of contextual theology in Africa (including the theology of African women, Black Theology, African theology, etc.) requires that socially engaged African biblical scholars recognize the...
Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology Reference library
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature
...– Liberation Theology Liberation theology emerged in Latin America during the late 1960s as a theological and religious movement among Roman Catholic clergy and laypeople. The following decades saw the swift spread of its method among both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant Churches, especially in less affluent, southern hemisphere countries. These diverse practitioners were attracted by the specific approach and method of liberation theology, which can be defined as nondualistic, biblical-based praxis rooted in the experience of the poor. This theology was...
Liberation theology Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable (2 ed.)
... theology . The theory originating among Roman Catholic theologians in South America that liberation from social, political, and economic oppression is a vital constituent of the Christian message. The term translates Spanish teología de la liberación , coined by the Peruvian Gustavo Guttierez in 1968 and used for the title of his book published in 1971 . ‘Liberation’ expresses a dislike of ‘development’, meaning an imposed solution to South America's problems, determined by the industrialized nations and involving little initiative on the part of...
