Liberation theology constitutes not only a rupture from Church tradition but also a creative development of this tradition. David investigates the ways that Latin American liberation theologians draw support from, and sometimes critique, the Church Fathers. Resources: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html La …

Pedro Trigo, SJ, helps us answer three key questions about creation and the material world. How to believe in a God of life in a situation marked by death? How to live with God when it is demanded of us to bear the mark of the beast? What is the relationship between humanity and nature? Resources: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/m…

Ecumenical theologian and author Stephen D. Morrison joins David to discuss common objections to liberation theology and to present a patristic, anti-capitalist Christianity. Isn’t Christianity about a change of heart and a personal relationship with God? Why turn religion into economics and politics? It’s true that early Christians abolished priva…

Laurel Marshall Potter and David Inczauskis present, critique, and share personal intercultural experiences related to the content of Paulo Suess' Mysterium Liberationis chapter on inculturation. How have the Catholic sacraments been abused in the process of Latin America's colonization? To what extent can we arrive at an understanding of Jesus' cu…

Revolutionary force does not emerge from a blank slate, from a level playing field. It is a response to systemic injustice, to repression, to a state of affairs that kills, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. Drawing from Juan Hernández Pico's ML chapter, David looks at the historical, biblical, and ecclesial sources of a liberationist approach to…

Dr. Michael E. Lee joins the podcast for the first time to discuss Ignacio Ellacuría's essay "The Crucified People" in Mysterium Liberationis. The discussion covers the story of Prof. Lee's engagement with Ellacuría; the relationship among the crucifixion of contemporary people in Latin America, the crucifixion of Jesus, and salvation; the debate s…

María Soledad del Villar Tagle returns to speak about some of the European roots of Gutiérrez' liberation theology in the French nouvelle théologie movement. David shares the varied responses of two German theologians, Moltmann and Metz, to liberation theology, and concludes with a positive assessment of the compatibility of Catholicism and sociali…

The Spanish-to-English translator of St. Oscar Romero's diary, Dr. Irene B. Hodgson of Xavier University, joins David to discuss the archbishop's inspirational life and his understanding of his role as an ordained minister. Then, David presents three theses on ministry in the church based on José María Castillo's chapter in "Mysterium Liberationis.…

David presents and assesses three perspectives on the relation between ideology and Christianity from the French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, the German theologian Karl Rahner, SJ, and the Spanish-born Salvadoran philosopher and theologian Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ. Main texts: "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" (1970) by Louis Althus…

What exactly is ideology? How does liberation theology respond to critics who claim that liberation theology itself is ideological? And how does liberation theology engage with the prominent ideologies of our day? Main text: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Secondary texts: Composer un monde en commun: U…

Jesuit scholar and priest Anthony Lusvardi introduces the sacraments as the ecclesial preservation of the embodied graces of Jesus' earthly presence and as the primary way that most Catholics engage with God and the Church. David interprets Víctor Codina's chapter on the sacraments, situates them within the project of the reign of God, and describe…

Though many consider "evangelization" to be converting others to Christianity, in liberation theology, "evangelization" means more than sharing a creed: it means bringing glad tidings to the poor--as Jesus himself defined it. It means seeing the suffering of the oppressed, feeling compassion, and acting smartly to alleviate their present pain as we…

John Thiede, SJ, joins David to discuss liberation Christology. How have liberation theologians thought about Christ, and what difference does a liberationist understanding of Christ make in Latin America? Texts: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Remembering Oscar Romero and the Martyrs of El Salvador: A …

Leonardo Boff shows how the Trinity serves as a model for a just society and how heresies against the Trinity reflect and reinforce various kinds of social oppression. David shares highlights from an interview with Chema Tojeira, SJ, on Nayib Bukele and El Salvador's crypto-financialization. Texts: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/…

God is not a single person but a community of three equal persons. So, as the Orthodox socialists of Russia would say, "The Trinity should be our social program." We examine the first half of Leonardo Boff's essay on the Trinity alongside commentary by Ismael Moreno, SJ, on the presidential victory of the social democrat Xiomara Castro in Honduras.…

Why did the Salvadoran military assassinate Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, and his companions on Nov. 16, 1989? Ellacuría openly and emphatically emphasized this subversive dimension of the Christian faith. He claimed that Latin America is searching for “revolutionary change rather than reformist change” and that Christianity exhibits a “subversive dynamis…

We return to "Mysterium Liberationis" and interpret Juan Luis Segundo SJ's essay "Revelation, Faith, Signs of the Times." Despite the order of the elements in the title, historically speaking, humans face the signs of the times, bet with faith on a way of addressing them, and come to understand this way as revelation (or not) according to its fruit…

Guest María Soledad del Villar Tagle and David discuss the church from the intersecting angles of feminism, liberation, Chile, personal experience, and clerical sexual abuse. Sole's work: Academia.edu https://bc.academia.edu/Mar%C3%ADaSoledadDelVillarTagle Las asistentes sociales de la Vicaría de la Solidaridad https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Mar%C3%AD…

David and Marcus discuss Sobrino's essay "The Central Position of the Reign of God in Liberation Theology." How do we define the Reign of God? What are its biblical and historical parameters? Text: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins "Azure Sky" by Terry De…

What is the new human being? What will the new economy and new society look like? David uses the war on terror to illustrate the "old human being" and compares Ignacio Ellacuría's vision of the new human being with Che Guevara's. Texts: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html "Socialism and Man in Cuba" by Erne…

Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, contends that, in liberation praxis, prophecy is the method, utopia is the horizon, and the reign of God is the revelation. David interviews Patrick Saint-Jean, SJ, about his new book "The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice." Text: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Saint-Jean's book: …

Juan Luis Segundo, SJ, argues that the word "liberation" captures the essential meaning of the biblical terms for "salvation" and "redemption." Biblical "freedom" is the ability to be artisans of a new humanity. Text: Mysterium liberationis https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Books mentioned: Our Idea of God https://www.amazon.co…

Text: "Mysterium liberationis" https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Magnificast episode on Margaret Randall: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nicaragua-and-cuba-w-margaret-randall/id1214644619?i=1000521683859 Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins "Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake Obtained via subscr…

Text: "Mysterium liberationis" https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins "Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake Obtained via subscription to Audio NetworkOleh David Inczauskis, SJ

Text: "Mysterium liberationis" https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins "Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake Obtained via subscription to Audio NetworkOleh David Inczauskis, SJ

The oppressed of Latin America read the Bible not as “past history alone but as a story that is still happening today.” They see biblical history as the process of the formation of a free and united people. Jesus did not primary come to save individual people from their individual sins but to save the people from their social sin. Two chapters from…

Some of Marcus Mescher's work: The Ethics of Encounter, book: https://www.orbisbooks.com/the-ethics-of-encounter.html "5 lessons Pope Francis has taught us with his actions more than his words", article: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/03/12/5-lessons-pope-francis-has-taught-his-actions-more-his-words Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake a…

Some of Marcus Mescher's work: The Ethics of Encounter, book: https://www.orbisbooks.com/the-ethics-of-encounter.html "5 lessons Pope Francis has taught us with his actions more than his words", article: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/03/12/5-lessons-pope-francis-has-taught-his-actions-more-his-words Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake a…

Dean Dettloff's work: "The Catholic Case for Communism": https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/07/23/catholic-case-communism "Civil Disobedience": https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/civil-disobedience Music: "Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins "Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake Obtained via subscription to Audio Net…

Clodovis Boff discusses the theory, forms, and method of liberation theology, and David relates the three forms--popular, pastoral, and professional--to Ernesto Cardenal's base community at Solentiname, Ismael Moreno's prophetic pastoral work in Honduras, and Juan Luis Segundo's paradigm shift in academic theology.…

Roberto Oliveros distinguishes four phrases in the development of liberation theology: gestation, genesis, growth, and consolidation. David shares three stories from Honduras about theater, water, and mining, each related to the struggle for liberation. Music "Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins "Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drak…

Mysterium liberationis edited by Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, and Jon Sobrino, SJ, is the book that the podcast explores. Its first chapter by Roberto Oliveros, SJ, looks at the history of liberation theology in the light of Vatican II and the Latin American experience of poverty. David shares his first encounter with liberation theology in Guatemala. Mu…