Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

Liberation Theology: Why Should The Nations Be Glad?, Marianne Burris Richardson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The role a just God ought to have in the struggle for sociopolitical liberation has frustrated theologians for centuries; in the twentieth century, Latin American theologians proposed that while God loves all people, God unequivocally sides with the poor in the fight for social justice, and so should the church. The relative success of this teaching in Latin American churches led to increased participation of the laity in the fight for democracy. This project will analyze liberation theology's efficacy as the motivation for social justice in Latin America, focusing on the writing of Leonardo Boff (a Brazilian theologian) and the …