Cambridge Companion to Liberation Theology / Edition 2

by Christopher Rowland

Overview

Liberation theology is widely referred to in discussions of politics and religion but not always adequately understood. The new edition of this Companion brings the story of the movement's continuing importance and impact up to date. Additional essays, which complement those in the original edition, expand upon the issues by dealing with gender and sexuality and the important matter of epistemology. In the light of a more conservative ethos in Roman Catholicism, and in theology generally, liberation theology is often said to have been an intellectual movement tied to a particular period of ecumenical and political theology. These essays indicate its continuing importance in different contexts and enable readers to locate its distinctive intellectual ethos within the evolving contextual and cultural concerns of theology and religious studies. This book will be of interest to students of theology as well as to sociologists, political theorists and historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900521688931
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/29/2007
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Religion
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Christopher Rowland is Dean Ireland Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford. His publications include Radical Christian Writings: A Reader (2002) with Andrew Bradstock.

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors     ix
Foreword to the second edition   Christopher Rowland     xiii
Preface to the first edition     xv
Glossary     xviii
Abbreviations     xx
Introduction: the theology of liberation   Christopher Rowland     1
Contemporary Liberation Theology     17
The task and content of liberation theology   G. Gutierrez$dtranslated by Judith Condor     19
'Action is the life of all': the praxis-based epistemology of liberation theology   Zoe Bennett     39
Liberation theology in Asia   Bastiaan Wielenga     55
Black theology   Edward Antonio     79
Feminist theology: a critical theology of liberation   Mary Grey     105
Demythologising liberation theology: reflections on power, poverty and sexuality   Marcella Maria Althaus-Reid     123
Aspects of Liberation Theology     137
The origins and character of the base ecclesial community: a Brazilian perspective   Andrew Dawson     139
The Bible and the poor: a new way of doing theology   Gerald West     159
Liberation and reconstruction: the unfinished agenda   Charles Villa-Vicencio     183
Analysis andCriticism     207
Liberation theology and the Roman Catholic Church   Peter Hebblethwaite     209
Marxism, liberation theology and the way of negation   Denys Turner     229
The economics of liberation theology   Valpy Fitzgerald     248
Political theology, tradition and modernity   Oliver O'Donovan     265
Globalising liberation theology: the American context, and coda   Ivan Petrella     278
Epilogue: the future of liberation theology   Christopher Rowland     304
Select bibliography     308
Index     315

Editorial Reviews

This volume offers a survey of examples of liberation theology in different parts of the world. Following an introduction by Rowland (Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, U. of Oxford), 11 contributions discuss contemporary liberation theology (task and content, its application in Asia, and Black and feminist theology); a Brazilian perspective on the origins and character of the base ecclesial community, the Bible and the poor, and liberation and reconstruction; and finally, analysis and criticism of the topic in relation to the Roman Catholic Church, Marxism, economics, and political theology, tradition and modernity. The epilogue discusses the future. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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