What is the theology of liberation?

Liberation Theology emerged in the 1960s. as an ethical option for people living in poverty in Latin America. In broad strokes, it interprets the biblical teachings with the intention of supporting the vindication of the most vulnerable sectors by the political and economic institutions.

Its development was one of the antecedents for the emergence of various social movements and even theoretical models that they reformulated not only the Church, but some of the most important practices mainly of communities Latin American.

From European Theology to Liberation Theology

Theology, which comes from the Latin theos (God and logos (reasoning), it is reflection and philosophical study on the knowledge, attributes and facts related to God.

It is a very complex field of study and with many centuries of history, whose development has had different nuances depending on the place from which it started. For this reason, offering a definition of Liberation Theory implies approaching its history and its context.

Theology in Latin America

The most remote origins of theology in the Latin American region can be found in the Spanish conquest, at which time it had established a model of social order based on a Christianity quite oblivious to the injustices caused by colonization and by the slavery.

In this context, there were priests who were attentive and sensitive to the complicity of the clergy in the reproduction of social inequalities, as well as the little access that the poorest people had to the Church itself. They laid the first foundations to question the practices of the church and of a colonial Catholicism, which later and in the European context continued to develop.

With the Latin American independence movements, the Church entered into a deep crisis. The community was divided between those who supported, or even fought for, independence, and those who did not; process that finally was not fully consummated after the Latin American struggles, with which, it has continued to develop in different facets over time.

Theology and social struggles

Entering the 20th century, a good part of Latin American Catholicism began to recognize several of the social problems for which crossed the region, with which a sector of the Church began to create alliances with movements and social struggles in favor of the most unprotected.

In the 1960s, and in the face of the political and economic crises that worsened in Latin America, as well as before the transformations of the Catholic Church in these areas, society and an important sector of Catholicism intertwined

Thus, in the following decade, this sector positions itself as one of the main promoters for the transformation of different social order problems that were generating a lot of poverty. They began to question the premise that God and the Church can reach everywhere, regardless of social situation and economic condition.

Among other things, they questioned the concentration of Catholicism in large cities, as well as various church practices. that resemble their representatives, with the political and economic representatives that divided societies between poor and rich. Once again there were those who realized that the Church was participating as an ally of social inequalities.

The rise of Liberation Theology

Especially in Brazil, a good part of the Church began to question in an important way the social conditions, even the political class itself began to call social injustice "the great sin".

From this, local strategies for the development of the field began to be generated, which were useful at least in beginning, and that above all influenced the radicalization of the middle class, which began to support the social class in an important way. worker. In this context appears, for example, the adult literacy movement of Paulo Freire and his pedagogy of the oppressed.

Time later, and different nuances, Liberation Theology spreads to Cuba, then Venezuela, Guatemala, Peru and other countries in the region, with which even the US government in turn launched an "Alliance for Progress", which promised aid for social development (although it also deployed police forces to contain the guerrillas). With this, a part of the Church was united with Democratic parties in the implementation of social assistance.

In short, the social revolutions began to have to do with theological reflections, which further exacerbated the crisis of the traditional Church. An important sector of the Church was not found so much in politics, as in direct social action, in community projects for development. This was Liberation Theology.

From social action to political action and other limits

Liberation Theology also encountered some limits, precisely by recognizing that poverty is a structural problem that requires political actions from the most basic.

From then on, Liberation Theology had to be directly linked to political, and later economic, commitments. For example, different social-theological movements arose. Thus, when the Second Vatican Council document was proclaimed, an initiative to reform the Church that marked the 20th century, where, among other things, it was given a role more active towards the faithful and more modest towards the Church, Latin American theologians strengthened their critical gaze and focused it on the problems of the region.

That is to say, the subject of theology was no longer just the individual, but the critical articulation of the theologian with the believing community, especially communities in poverty.

This is also why it is known as Latin American Liberation Theology, because having focused in Latin America's own problems, an important break had been established with the matrix european. There were even those who called themselves “Bishops of the Third World” or “Movements of Priests for the Third World”. They themselves were the ones who used the word “liberation”.

The priests had to have a commitment to the transformation of society, against global structural and institutional violence. Poverty begins to be understood as a matter that has to do with God, and its solution as well.

Its subsequent development extended into different branches and towards reflections in contexts outside of Latin America. More recently it has been developed in conjunction with the feminism, Marxist theory and also around the question about the constant victimization of people in vulnerable situations, that is, on the need to recognize people living in poverty as agents, and not just victims, in social structures.

Bibliographic references:

• Dussel, E. (1997). Liberation theology. Transformations of the epistemological assumptions. Theologica Xaveriana, 47: 203-214.
• nephew, j. (1988). Theology in a suffering world. Liberation theology as “Intelllectus Amoris”. Latin American magazine of theology. Retrieved April 26, 2018. Available in http://redicces.org.sv/jspui/bitstream/10972/1270/1/RLT-1988-015-C.pdf
• Berryman, P. (1989). Liberation Theology. The essential facts about the revolutionary movement in Latin America and elsewhere. Retrieved April 25, 2018. Available in http://www.mercaba.org/SANLUIS/Teologia/Berryman.Teolog%C3%ADa%20de%20la%20Liberación.pdf
• Lois, J. (1986). Liberation theology. Option for the poor. Iepala: Madrid