Resources: Liberation Theology

Liberation Theology: the belief that the Christian Gospel demands “a preferential option for the poor” and that the church should be involved in the struggle for economic and political justice in the contemporary world—particularly in the Third World. (from encyclopedia.com)

A Concise History of Liberation Theology
"The historical roots of liberation theology are to be found in the prophetic tradition of evangelists and missionaries from the earliest colonial days in Latin America -- churchmen who questioned the type of presence adopted by the church and the way indigenous peoples, blacks, mestizos, and the poor rural and urban masses were treated."

A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation by Gustavo Gutierrez
"In 1971, Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian priest incited by the ferment then taking place within the ranks of the clergy, undertook to place within the Western intellectual tradition ideas that had been gestating in the Latin American Church for many years."

Gustavo Gutierrez: Essential Writings by Gustavo Gutierrez and James B. Nickoloff
"Gustavo Gutierrez has often noted the decisive role a reconsideration of theological method played in the birth of the theology of liberation and agrees with many others that a new method-rooted in a preferential option for the poor-constitutes a significant contribution of Latin America to theological reflection in the universal church."

We Drink From Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People by Gustavo Gutierrez and Henri Nouwen

Spirituality of Liberation by Jon Sobrino
"Composed of articles published by the author between 1980 and 1984, this dense scholarly work stresses that 'spirit and practice must join hands' and that liberation theology (which is usually associated with the practice of faith) also has a spiritual side."

The Future of Liberation Theology
"For over twenty years, the central goal of liberation theology has been to make religion and the churches into active agents of change in Latin America."

Theology of Liberation
A bibliography of key readings.