The Liberation Theology Podcast

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 foi en Jésus-Christ by Jon Sobrino
https://www.editionsducerf.fr/librairie/livre/3297/la-foi-en-jesus-christ

Music:

"Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins
"Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake
Obtained via subscription to Audio Network

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/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 Network

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 private property and shared their possessions, but this model did not last long because it was unrealistic. Human beings are fallen and selfish. Capitalism is the best economic model given the reality of original sin. Why repeat a failed, impossible experiment by advocating for common property today? Didn’t key figures in the early Church have a wide array of views on economics? Is there enough consensus among them to claim that their witness gives relatively clear guidelines on religion and economics? Marx was an atheist and a materialist. These starting points are not compatible with a Christian approach. Further, Marxism is responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the 20th Century. Why take Marx seriously given that his first principles are flawed and his views yielded mass murder? What is your “elevator pitch” for Christian socialism? How has liberation theology shaped your life and thought as a Christian socialist?

Resource:

All Riches Come From Injustice
https://www.sdmorrison.org/books/

Music:

"Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins
"Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake
Obtained via subscription to Audio Network

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' culture and relate it to today's cultural milieu? How have Latin American countries constructed national cultural identity, and who is marginalized in this construction? What's the connection between local culture and international struggle?

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 violence. To conclude, David presents a few key points from "Teaching Methods for Liberation: Practical Insights from Liberation Theology."

Resources:

Mysterium liberationis
https://www.orbisbooks.com/mysterium-liberationis.html

Ignite: A Decolonial Approach to Higher Education Through Space, Place, and Culture
https://vernonpress.com/book/1024

Music:

"Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins
"Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake
Obtained via subscription to Audio Network

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 surrounding this landmark text; and Ellacuría's use of Karl Marx.

Resources:

Ignacio Ellacuría: Essays on History, Liberation, and Salvation edited by Michael E. Lee
https://orbisbooks.com/products/ignacio-ellacuria

Bearing the Weight of Salvation: The Soteriology of Ignacio Ellacuría by Michael E. Lee

https://www.amazon.fr/Bearing-Weight-Salvation-Soteriology-Ellacur%C3%ADa/dp/0824524217

Revolutionary Saint: The Theological Legacy of Oscar Romero by Michael E. Lee  
https://orbisbooks.com/products/n-a-3

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 Network

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 socialism as well as a refutation of the alleged natural right to private property.
 
Resources:

"The European Roots of A Theology of Liberation: Gustavo Gutiérrez and the Nouvelle Théologie" by María Soledad del Villar Tagle
https://www.academia.edu/81240675/The_European_Roots_of_A_Theology_of_Liberation_Gustavo_Guti%C3%A9rrez_and_the_Nouvelle_Th%C3%A9ologie

Photo of The Crucified God book stained by the blood of the UCA martyr Juan Ramón Moreno, S.J.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M%C3%A1rtires_de_la_UCA_-_Libro_Dios_crucificado_con_sangre_de_Juan_Ram%C3%B3n_Moreno.jpg

"Europe and Its Discontents" by Benedict XVI
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/01/europe-and-its-discontents

The Ideological Weapons of Death: A Theological Critique of Capitalism by Franz J. Hinkelammert
https://coleccion.uca.edu.sv/files/original/7df4fb5477c141b8c3958d22a493414ae9344dd3.pdf

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 Network

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."

Main texts:

A Shepherd's Diary by Oscar Romero, translated by Irene B. Hodgson
https://www.amazon.com/Archbishop-Oscar-Romero-Shepherds-Diary/dp/0867161701/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3FQO1J1SCG1SZ&keywords=irene+hodgson+romero&qid=1673712536&sprefix=%2Caps%2C479&sr=8-2

Through the Year with Oscar Romero, translated by Irene B. Hodgson
https://www.amazon.com/Through-Year-Oscar-Romero-Meditations/dp/1632530651/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FQO1J1SCG1SZ&keywords=irene+hodgson+romero&qid=1673712605&sprefix=%2Caps%2C479&sr=8-1

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 Network

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 Althusser
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm

"Is Christianity an ideology?" (1965) by Karl Rahner
https://concilium-vatican2.org/en/issues/

Ignacio Ellacuria: Essays on History, Liberation, and Salvation (2013) by Michael E. Lee
https://orbisbooks.com/products/ignacio-ellacuria

Music:

"Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins
"Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake
Obtained via subscription to Audio Network

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: Une théologie politique de l'anthropocène by Gaël Giraud
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/composer-un-monde-en-commun-9782021474404.html

"Socialism and the Churches" by Rosa Luxemburg
https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1905/misc/socialism-churches.htm

A People's Green New Deal by Max Ajl
https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341750/a-peoples-green-new-deal/

Music:

"Los molinos" by Adam Drake and Tom Jenkins
"Azure Sky" by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake
Obtained via subscription to Audio Network