Topic

Liberation and Justice

How the gospel relates to poverty, oppression and social justice, and whether salvation has a political and economic side as well as a personal one.

The modern debate took shape in the late 1960s. Liberation Theology arose in Latin America and stresses God’s preference for the poor. Black Theology arose in the United States from the civil rights and Black Power movements. Supporters see these as recovering the biblical concern for the oppressed. Critics, including the Vatican in the 1980s, worried about reliance on Marxist analysis and the reduction of salvation to politics. The discussion continues in Catholic social teaching and in Protestant debates over social justice.