Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1996

Publisher

Fordham University Press

Abstract

The theology of liberation has by now entered the common lexicon not only of theologians, but of many people who have until recently expressed little interest in theology.1 It is a theological genre or, better, a "movement" issuing out of and responsive to the experience of the poor and suffering of history, based upon a conviction that the Gospel has direct pertinence to the concrete human condition. It calls for a liberating practice as the way salvation is to be realized in history. A theology of liberation understands the Gospel as a divine challenge to any exercise of political and economic power that would threaten the very survival of human beings. The Gospel itself calls for a transfiguration of the earthly city and human history into an image of the kingdom of God. Thus, a theology of liberation moves in two directions: toward the fulfillment of human history in the absolute freedom of eternal life, and the working out of salvation within history itself.

Chapter of

Through a Glass Darkly: Essays in the Religious Imagination

Editor

John Hawley

Comments

Copyright © 1996 Fordham University Press. Reprinted with permission.

Included in

Religion Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.