'Liberation' as a category of theology

Abstract

I first heard of "liberation theology" during a lecture on theology. My interest was aroused and I decided that I wanted to know more about it. The more I read, the more I came to appreciate this aspect of theology which demands that the voice or the poor must be listened to. Father Joao Xerri, a Maltese Domenican who has been evangelising in Brazil for the past twenty years, in a letter which he recently sent me, comments that "many people look at this kind of theology as they would flock to see beautiful exotic birds." Reflecting further, Father Xerri adds that "many others are surprised that a good theology can come out of Latin America." In my case, was I drawn to this way of doing theology because of its novelty? Had I not heard before of misery and repression in every part of the world? However, it was the reflections of such theologians as Gutierrez, Segundo and the Boffs that woke me up to the raw reality : the rawness of life, the rawness of experiencing Christ in one's own suffering the rawness of the sins of the mighty. The term "liberation" has connotations of freedom, which is modern man's battle cry. Everybody wants to be free, liberated. Liberated from what? People feel the physical chains that fetter them and cry out to be liberated from their shackles. Who has fettered the1r liberty? Obviously, he whose heart is heavy with sin, who has blotted out from his heart the image of man's likeness to God. So, when can man be liberated? Man is reconciled to God when he sees God in his brother, a concept which is further developed in chapter two [...].