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Liberation Theology. To be a witness to the resurrection means choosing life, life in all its forms, since nothing escapes the universality of the Kingdom of God. Gustavo Gutierrez (2008, p. 37). Liberation Theology.
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Liberation Theology To be a witness to the resurrection means choosing life, life in all its forms, since nothing escapes the universality of the Kingdom of God. Gustavo Gutierrez (2008, p. 37)
Liberation Theology This testimony of life (material and spiritual life, personal and social life, life present and future) assumes particular importance in a continent characterized by premature and unjust death, and also by the struggle for freedom from oppression. Gustavo Gutierrez (2008, p. 37)
Liberation Theology The theology of liberation . . . is an attempt to make present in this world of oppression, injustice, and death, the Word of life. Gustavo Gutierrez (2008, p. 37)
Antonio de Motesinos (d. 1545) Sculpture by Mexican sculptor Antonio Castellanos, donated to the Dominican people by the Mexican government and inaugurated in 1982 by the presidents of Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Antonio de Motesinos (d. 1545) Tell me by what right of justice do you hold these Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? On what authority have you waged such detestable wars against these people who dealt quietly and peacefully on their own lands? Wars in which you have destroyed such an infinite number of them by homicides and slaughters never heard of before. Why do you keep them so oppressed and exhausted, without giving them enough to eat or curing them of the sicknesses they incur from the excessive labor you give them, and they die, or rather you kill them, in order to extract and acquire gold every day.“ Sermon in Santo Domingo, 21 December 1511
Important Episcopal Conferences • Vatican II (Rome) • Openness to the modern world • Encourage active participation of laity • Medellin Conference 1968 (Colombia) • Encouraged liberation theology • Inspired Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs, comunidades eclesiales de base) • Puebla Conference 1979 (Mexico) • Confirmed “option for the poor” and movement to communal Church structure • Santo Domingo 1992 (Dominican Republic) • Conservative “toning down” of liberation thought • Still confirmed positive stand on human rights, ecology, economic justice, women’s issues, etc.
Gustavo Gutiérrez, OP (b. 1928, Peru) His book Theology of Liberation (1971) became a key reference for those involved with CEBs in the 70s and 80s.
Kingdom of God At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be renewed. . . . For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of the material world and man: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God . . in hope because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay (Rom 8:19‐23). The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, “so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just,” sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994), pp. 260‐273.
Leonardo Boff (b. 1938, Brazil) A cardinal like J. Ratzinger, who publishes an official paper stating that the only true Church is the Catholic Church, and the others aren't even churches, that the only legitimate religion is Catholicism and the others don't even possess a faith, being just beliefs, perpetrates religious terrorism, besides being a grave theological error (newspaper interview, 2001).
