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Article: Key principles of liberation theology.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- June 2, 2000
- Author:
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Though it has distant historical roots in 16th century Christian humanism, and more immediately in Vatican II, properly speaking liberation theology stems from the 1968 assembly of the Latin American bishops in Medellin, Colombia. That session endorsed a "preferential option for the poor" on behalf of the Catholic church in Latin America. The movement took its name from Gustavo Gutierrez's 1971 book, A Theology of Liberation.
Today it is common to speak of a variety of "liberation theologies." In his 1995 book Liberation Theologies, Jesuit Fr. Alfred Hennelly distinguishes nine: Latin American, North American feminist, black, Hispanic, African, Asian, First ...