In order to understand what liberation theology is and grasp its purpose, it is necessary to first examine the immediate environment(s) in which the movement grew and evolved. A perfect example of this setting is outlined in the introduction found in Phillip Berryman’s Liberation Theology. In this passage, he recalls an experience he had while in San Salvador between Sunday, March 23rd and Monday, March 26th 1980:
“Romero’s voice was being transmitted through the countryside for the first time in weeks, after bomb damage to the archdiocesan radio station had been repaired. During the last part of the sermon, Romero commented briefly on many events of the previous week that the media would not report or would only cover in distorted versions. The National Guard accusing Father Ricardo Ayala of being involved with the guerillas; the police had made a search of a parish house of some Belgian priests; the archdiocese was opening facilities to take in refugees fleeing violence in the countryside; troops had surrounded the national university for a whole day; other troops had stormed a Catholic university and killed a student; throughout the week many people had been arrested unjustly. Amnesty International had found some 83 people had been killed between March 10 and 14. (Although guerilla war was not to break out for many months, the Church later documented 588 killings during this month, almost all the work of government right-wing forces.)
Romero ended with a plea to members of the army and the security forces to not kill peasants. He continued pleading with them-even ordering them-to stop the repression…
…The next day in the street we found a mimeographed hate sheet comparing Romero to Khomeini. On Monday evening, as we were interviewing the Salvadoran Human Rights Commission, word arrived that Romero had been shot while saying mass. We spent the next two days in the company of his stunned and grief-stricken coworkers; the funeral itself was disrupted by a bomb and automatic weapon attack.”
Liberation Theology was emerged out of compassion for the poor and oppressed masses, like those mentioned above, in third world countries throughout Latin America. It continues to thrive in similar areas around the world today.
Liberation theology is a complex movement that is hard to define as a whole. A perfect and unified definition cannot be found. Berryman uses three separate definitions to illustrate the complexities. He defines liberation theology first as “an interpretation of Christian faith out of the suffering, struggle, and hope of the poor.” In this sense, liberation theology came out of a compassion for the poor and their plight. This is a definition on a personal level. Secondly, Berryman defines it as “a critique of society and the ideologies sustaining it.” This definition is a more political definition. It reflects the view of the theology that societal changes are needed in order for “Liberation” of the poor and oppressed. The third definition given is that “liberation theology is a critique of the activity of the Church and of the Christians from the angle of the poor.” This meaning is perhaps the most important. Liberation theology revolves around the idea that all Christians are called to help the poor and oppressed so therefore the Church must also help them. This portion of the theology calls the Church to be more involved in the political life of Latin America ought of “love” for the poor and oppressed.
The history of the movement is quite colorful and can be traced back all the way to 1512 when a Dominican priest named Bartolomé de las Casas cried out for the rights of the native Indians. He argued that rather than dying as Christian slaves, it would be better if the Indians lived as pagans (Berryman). Many other bishops defended the oppressed Indians during this time period. Although the group involved would change, the message would be the same later on.
Between this time and the time when liberation theology really started up, colonialism came to an end and left the Latin American countries in a state of severe poverty and strife. Governments were unstable at best and were only able to stay in power through the use of force. The rich minority of the countries exploited the majority. The masses were in extreme poverty and the situation was only getting worse.
The topic really wasn’t approached again until 1891 when Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum (“of new things”). This encyclical condemned the inhumanity of the employers of the world who took advantage of their workers while owning every means of power and production. Leo XIII expressed concern over the shifting balance of economies and the trend towards the few holding most of the wealth. On the 40th anniversary of this great work in 1931, Pope Pius XI reaffirmed these principles.
