Liberation theology

• Religious backing for liberation theology

  • The magnificat
  • Exodus - Israelites being slaves who were freed - "let my people go"
  • Jesus' manifesto - "to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives" "to let the oppressed go free"
  • The beatitudes- "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5), "blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of god" "woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry" (Luke 6)
  • Luke 19 – the rich man and Lazarus - "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of god" - (Matthew 19)
  • Jesus as oppressed - Matthew 25 – the sheep and the goats – in what you do for others, you do for me - "in Christ there is neither jew nor gentile, male nor female, slave nor free" (Galatians 3)
  • The early church – acts 4 – the couple who kept separate wealth are struck down - "no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common"
• Biblical basis for liberation theology

  • Exodus and the story of liberation of the Israelites. God sides with the slaves against the pharaohs.
  • The prophets: writers such as Amos and Issiah who condemned injustice
  • The gospels
  • Acts of apostles - "they portray the ideal of a free and liberating Christian community"
  • Revelations - " it describes the immense struggles of the people of god against all the monsters of history"
• Political backing for liberation theology

  • South American dictatorships – e.g. Chile – Pinochet
  • Marxism / Marxian regimes – religion is the opium of the people – equality – common ownership (acts 4). Overthrowing government – reform vs revolution.
  • Conscientization of the poor – making the poor aware of their situation and the fact that it can change (through god, through revolution etc).
  • Political and social liberation – eliminating the causes of poverty, including the system of class – Gutierrez
  • Liberating the poor and the marginalised so that all can live and flourish with dignity – Gutierrez
  • "Hence the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order" – Gutierrez
  • "they are the oppressed, exploited proletariat, robbed of the fruit of their labour" – Gutierrez
• Ethical backing for liberation theology

  • There's poverty and oppression – orientation to the poor – living amongst them like in the early church (base communities) – solidarity with the poor.
  • Liberating people spiritually – from sin and self-interest so they can live in a more healthy relationship with god and each other. – Gutierrez
  • "The existence of the poor is not ethically neutral" – Gutierrez
• Gustavo Gutierrez


  Shared much in common with the Boff brothers, but was based in Peru. His main book is a theology of liberation: history, politics, salvation 1971
• The Boff Brothers


  Introducing liberation theology 1987
• Stages of liberation theology

  1. Preliminary stage: living commitment - You cannot help people if you do not know who they are

  2. Stage 1: socio-analytical mediation - Analysing the society to find out why the oppressed are oppressed

  3. Stage 2: Hermeneutical mediation - Trying to find gods plan for the poor

  4. Stage 3: practical mediation - Trying to find what action is needed to overcome oppression in line with God's plan
• Approaches to poverty

  • Poverty is caused by a sin or vice - The poor are to be pitied and the right way to respond is with aid. The Boffs call this the empirical approach. This doesn't deal with the systems and structures which lie behind the poverty
  • Poverty is caused because of a backward political system - Which needs to be changed and reformed. The right way to respond is with progress and technology, funded by foreign loans. This is the functional approach
  • Poverty is caused by oppression - The whole structure of society which exploits the workers and leaves some excluded from work. The right way to respond is through revolution. This is the historico-structural approach and is the closest to Marxist thought.
• The catholic church's powerbase was western Europe
• It is a Latin speaking church
• 46% of all roman Catholics are Latin American (26% are European)
• Ratzinger letter describes LT as a perversion of Catholicism
• Ratzinger was German
• The pope at the time was also anti-communism as it threatens to wipe out the church
• Marx's opium of the people
• The LT's did not have any of that, instead they just had the poor around them and the need to want to look out for them.
• Ratzinger views LT as a misinterpretation of sin
• Religious criticisms of liberation theology


  • The church is there to bring people to god not to overthrow regimes
  • Its a rationalist biblical interpretation rather than one that is guided by faith
  • Marxism has no place in Christianity
  • Marxism is "incompatible with the Christian vision of humanity"
  • LT has made the gospel into an earthly gospel
  • They've lost sight of the kingdom of god and have made it all about human liberation
  • Its taken so much from secular ideologies that it is reductionist movement
  • Warning people to be on guard from this, as it misunderstands the entire meaning of god
  • It sacrifices god and favours the people as the product of the revolution