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Introduction: The Politics of Liberation Theology
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14634 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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5 / 1988 |
495 Words |
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Richard L. Rubenstein
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Intellectual and theological movements are not likely to attract a large audience unless they express a widely held concern. Liberation theology expresses such a concern. Liberation theologians have pointed to the fact that the modernization process has had at least as many losers as winners in Latin America. They have also argued that non-collectivist strategies of development have yet to overcome the mass poverty and radical social divisions which, they assert, have increasingly afflicted Latin America since the end of World War II.
These articles offer a broad spectrum of opinion concerning the movement, some critical, others skeptical, and still others favorable. They were first presented last October at a conference convened by the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy and will appear this summer in a book. The Politics of Liberation Theology, edited by John K. Roth and myself and published by the Washington Institute Press.
We are persuaded that there is much in Latin America that stands in need of correction. We are, however, not persuaded that a Marxist-radical Christian alliance could yield a genuine improvement for Latin America's poor. We are certain that it would not be in the interests of the United States for such an alliance to gain ascendancy, and are critical toward liberation theology's commitment to socialism and its tendency to blame Latin American underdevelopment on the policies of North American corporations and the United States government.
In spite of the range of viewpoints offered at the conference, there was general agreement concerning the political importance of liberation theology. All of the
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