436 Liberation Theology

Atheist Nomads

This week we talk about Liberation Theology in Latin America and how it was crushed by the Vatican.

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Liberation Theology

• Catholic Church as a tool of the Spanish Empire
• Revolution, independence, and the status quo
• Early 20th Century Catholic Action Movement
  • Holguin of Arequipa and Farfán of Cusco
  • Started separating the church from state
  • Started political advocacy for the poor
  • Base Ecumenical Communities
• Gustavo Gutiérrez
  • Partial Qetchua ancestry
  • Became a priest in 1959
  • Studied in Europe
• Latin American Episcopal Counsel
  • Pushed for progressive reforms in Vatican II (1962 – 1965)
  • 1968 Medellin, Colombia meeting
    • Goal was to support BEC
    • First introduction of Liberation Theology
• Gustavo Gutierrez published “A Theology of Liberation” in 1971
• Liberation Theology
  • First level – Poor liberate themselves from economic exploitation
  • Second Level – Liberation from fatalism and recognition of free will
  • Third level – Communion with God.
  • Revolution is an option
• Sandinista Nicaragua – 1978 – 1990
• Opposition
  • John Paul II
  • Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI
  • Church went more spiritual and argued Liberation Theology was too material
  • Reconciliation Theology argued that by reconciling with God and others class struggle and revolution could be avoided.
  • With the fall of communism and changes to the global economy it couldn’t keep up.
  • By the mid 1990s the movement was dead.
• Conclusion

Sources

• Brown University
• Britannica
• Wikipedia – Latin American Liberation Theology

Feedback

• RobSpence67

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