On the Side of the Poor: The Theology of Liberation

by Gustavo Gutierrez, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller

Overview

For many years the theology of liberation, which emerged from Latin America in the 1970s, was viewed with suspicion and even hostility in Rome. In this historic exchange, Father Gustavo Gutiérrez, one of the original architects of liberation theology, and Cardinal Gerhard Müller, current Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, o er a new and positive chapter. Cardinal Müller, who as a student of Gutiérrez spent many summers working in Peru, writes with deep feeling and conviction about the contributions of liberation theology to church teaching—particularly in its articulation of the preferential option for the poor. In his own contribution here, Gutiérrez lays out the essential ideas of liberation theology, its ecclesial location, and its fresh enunciation of the gospel for our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608335442
Publisher:	Orbis
Publication date:	03/01/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	873 KB

About the Author

Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Dominican priest and theologian from Peru, is the author of A Theology of Liberation, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, We Drink from Our Own Wells, The God of Life, and many other books. He teaches at the University of Notre Dame.

Gerhard Ludwig Müller was ordained a priest in 1971. After teaching dogmatic theology in Munich, he was appointed bishop of Regensberg. In 2012 he was appointed Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was named a Cardinal in 2014.

Table of Contents

Foreword Josef Sayer vii

1 Theology: An Ecclesial Function Gustavo Gutiérrez 1

Evangelization and Theology 2

A Moment for Latin America 4

To Proclaim the Reign Today 7

2 Liberating Experience: A Stimulus for European Theology Gerhard Ludwig Müller 11

A New Understanding of Theology: Theological Reflection in the Service of God's Liberating Praxis 13

Liberation Theology in the Energy Field between Latin America and Europe 22

A New Sense of "We" in the Church and in the Service of the Salvation of Others 28

3 The Situation and Tasks of Liberation Theology Today Gustavo Gutiérrez 32

Three Great Contemporary Challenges to Faith 33

The Modern (and Postmodern) World 34

Religious Pluralism 37

An Inhuman and Anti-evangelical Poverty 38

Current Tasks 43

The Complexity of the World of the Poor 43

Globalization and Poverty 47

Deepending Spirituality 50

4 Liberation Theology in Context Gerhard Ludwig Müller 54

The Necessity for a Theology of Liberation 54

The Original Theological Approach of Liberation Theology 57

Liberation Theology in Its Realization 65

A Critique of Liberation Theology: Its Merits and Limits 76

5 Where Will the Poor Sleep? Gustavo Gutiérrez 83

Theology and the Proclamation of the Gospel 84

Toward a Planetary Economy 93

Proclaiming the Reign 114

Conclusion 132

6 The Common Future of the Church Gerhard Ludwig Müller 134

Index 139