Liberation Theology

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Liberation Theology

I see [liberation theology] as a 'theology of the people,' rather than of professional theologians; rising out of the cries of the oppressed; refined in the experience of those who may not even be able to read and write; clarified in thousands of base communities; embodied in lives that risk everything to be faithful to the good news that God hears their cry, sides with them in their distress, and works with them for liberation- a liberation in which they play a central role even while recognizing that the ultimate attainment of liberation will be God's gift. (McAfee).

Liberation Theology is a movement within the Catholic religion in Latin America that began around 1973 with the publication of A Theology of Liberation by Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez (Hadjor). It is a unique theology, because it is one of the people. The Catholic Church in Latin America began with Spanish colonization, and has since become an integral part of the culture. There were many monks and nuns in the Church that aided in grassroots social change. However, the greater institution of the Church- a major landowner in many countries- has sided with oppressive conservative regimes that respect its power. Rather than deny the religion as a result of the oppressive institution, the proponents of liberation theology have claimed the Catholic Church as their own. They claim that Jesus was a radical liberator fighting for the interests of the poor, and that the Church should reflect this.

The best way to present the ideas of liberation theology is to hear the voices of those directly involved:

In the Gospels we discover that God is always on the side of the poorest, the most marginalized, those who don't have any value in s...

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...tical awareness of reality and, in spelling out those thematics, take possession of that reality"(Friere 87). He believes that in the current world system people are oppressed, and denied the ability to create their own reality and live as humans. Also, that "as the oppressed, fighting to be human, take away the oppressor's power to dominate and suppress, they restore to the oppressors the humanity they had lost in the exercise of oppression" (Friere 38).

Works Cited

Brown, Robert McAfee. Gustavo Gutierrez: An Introduction to Liberation Theology. Maryknoll: New York, 1990.

Friere, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum: New York, 1996

Hadjor, Kofi Buenor. The Penguin Dictionary of Third World Terms. Penguin Books: New York, 1993.

Puleo, Mev. The Struggle is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation. State University of New York Press: Albany, 1994.

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