Paul Farmer on Liberation Theology

Students, Apartheid and the Ecumenical Movement in South Africa, 1960–1975

Students, Apartheid and the Ecumenical Movement in South Africa, 1960–1975 by TigersEye99

Gustavo Gutierrez and Liberation Theology

Enrique Dussel : The Socio-Historical Meaning of Liberation Theology

Enrique Dussel - The Socio-Historical Meaning of Liberation Theology by Che Brandes-Tuka

The Radicalization of Martin Luther King

Denis Hurley Remembered on SAfm

Barney Pityana's Sermon at the Marikana Massacre Memorial Service in Grahamstown

Marikana Memorial Service: Praying for a Just Peace

Presider: Bishop Ebenezer Ntali
Preacher: Prof. Barney Pityana

The Cathedral of St. Michael & St. George, Grahamstown 30 August 2012

Bishop Rubin Philip's Sermon at the Marikana Massacre Memorial Service

Bishop Rubin Philip

Marikana Massacre Memorial Service
Friday, 24th August 2012, Emmanuel Cathedral, Durban

And so, again, the truth of our country is in dead black bodies littering the ground. Once again, the truth of our time is that people asserting their rights and dignity against systemic injustice have been brought down in a hail of bullets. Has nothing changed in our place, when its truth remains that the armed might of the state acts for the elite of powerful and wealthy, and against our people? No self-righteous declarations of 'tragedy'; no insisting on 'complexity'; no obfuscatory 'commissions of enquiry'; are enough to hide that truth. The truth is plain to masses of the people of South Africa, it is an affront to God.

Archbishop Romero's Pastoral Letters

The Archbishop Romero Trust

These letters are written by a bishop to his people and, as their title suggests, their nature is primarily pastoral. They are, however, works of great theological importance and situate Archbishop Romero amongst the great teaching bishops of the Church.

The first four letters below come from his time as Archbishop of San Salvador - these are his best known pastoral letters and they are published in English under the title Voice of the Voiceless by Orbis Books.

The fifth letter has only recently come to light. It is from an earlier period of his ministry when he was Bishop of Santiago de Maria - readers will note the difference in style and content - we include this letter below for the sake of completeness.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Liberation Theology

In the Parish of the Poor: Writings from Haiti by Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Reviewed by David Marx

"Hiding the truth is like trying to bury water. It seeps out everywhere." So wrote former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in what has been described as a 'soliloquy at the precipice,'In the Parish of the Poor: Writings from Haiti.

An astonishingly brave and brutal, tender and undeniably truthful account of (relatively modern day) Haiti, this book is an altogether heartbreaking account of the country’s past events, which place its recent events into even more painful perspective.

James Cone’s Gospel of the Penniless, Jobless, Marginalized and Despised

by Chris Hedges, TruthDig

“The Cross and the Lynching Tree are separated by nearly two thousand years,” James Cone writes in his new book, “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.” “One is the universal symbol of the Christian faith; the other is the quintessential symbol of black oppression in America. Though both are symbols of death, one represents a message of hope and salvation, while the other signifies the negation of that message by white supremacy. Despite the obvious similarities between Jesus’ death on the cross and the death of thousands of black men and women strung up to die on a lamppost or tree, relatively few people, apart from the black poets, novelists, and other reality-seeing artists, have explored the symbolic connections. Yet, I believe this is the challenge we must face. What is at stake is the credibility and the promise of the Christian gospel and the hope that we may heal the wounds of racial violence that continue to divide our churches and our society.”

Re-imagining South Africa: Black Consciousness, radical Christianity and the New Left, 1967 – 1977

by Ian Macqueen, PhD Thesis, 2011

This thesis places Black Consciousness in comparative perspective with progressive politics in South Africa in the late 1960s and the 1970s. It argues that the dominant scholarly focus on Black Consciousness, which is passed over as a ‘stage’ in the Black struggle against white supremacy, insufficiently historicises the deeper roots, and the wider resonances and ideological contestations of the Black Consciousness movement. As they refined their political discourse, Black Consciousness activists negotiated their way through the progressive ideologies that flourished as part of the wider political and social ferment of the 1960s. Although Black Consciousness won over an influential minority of radical Christians, a more contested struggle took place with nascent feminism on university campuses and within the Movement; as well as with a New Left-inspired historical and political critique that gained influence among white activists.

Gustavo Gutierrez and the preferential option for the poor

by John Dear, National Catholic Reporter

"I hope my life tries to give testimony to the message of the Gospel, above all that God loves the world and loves those who are poorest within it."

That's the recent summation of his life by 83-year-old Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, founder of liberation theology and its central tenet, "the preferential option for the poor." These days, Gutierrez works and writes at Notre Dame, where his colleague, my friend Fr. Daniel Groody, has just completed an excellent anthology of his work: Gustavo Gutierrez: Spiritual Writings (Orbis Books, 2011). Gutierrez reminds us of God's preferential love for the poor and our own need to side with the poor and oppressed everywhere in their struggle for justice.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, History is a Weapon

April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

Remembering the Poor: An Interview with Gustavo Gutiérrez

by Daniel Hartnett, America Magazine, 2003

Each year the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences announces the incorporation of new members. This year’s list of honorary fellows includes the world-renowned Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P., who is best known for his book "A Theology of Liberation" (Span. 1971, Eng. 1973).

Father Gutiérrez has written over a dozen books and hundreds of articles concerning the church’s role in creating social structures of solidarity. Perhaps more than anyone else, he has been instrumental in helping the Christian community to read and live the Gospel from the perspective of the poor. 

Eyes of the Heart: Seeking A Path For the Poor in the Age of Globalization

Eyes of the Heart

In this startling and passionate book, Aristide demonstrates why those on the bottom will never lie down. A graphic revelation of what happens when "free" trade overruns local markets, eradicates local economies, and creates dependence on foreign charity. 

"Wherever women are heard and respected, the face of God is illuminated. Wherever the poor are heard and respected, the face of God is illuminated". - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Eyes of the Heart

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. - April 4, 1967: Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence

The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution

Within the English revolution of the mid-seventeenth century which resulted in the triumph of the protestant ethic - the ideology of the propertied class - there threatened another, quite different, revolution. Its success 'might have established communal property, a far wider democracy in political and legal institutions, might have disestablished the state church and rejected the protestant ethic. In "The World Turned Upside Down" Christopher Hill studies the beliefs of such radical groups as the Diggers, the Ranters, the Levellers and others, and the social and emotional impulses that gave rise to them. The relations between rich and poor classes, the part played by wandering 'masterless' men, the outbursts of sexual freedom, the great imaginative creations of Milton and Bunyan - these and many other elements build up into a marvellously detailed and coherent portrait of this strange, sudden effusion of revolutionary beliefs.

James Come & Black Liberation Theology in the US

James Hal Cone – Father of Black Liberation Theology in the U.S.

James Cone

“Black churches are very powerful forces in the African American community and always have been. Because religion has been that one place where you have an imagination that no one can control. And so, as long as you know that you are a human being and nobody can take that away from you, then God is that reality in your life that enables you to know that.”