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Liberation Theology

The Response of Latin American Catholics to Socioeconomic Problems

Bibliographic Data

ID4500911
AuthorsManzar Foroohar (corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume13
Issue3
Pages37-57
Publication date1986-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-582X • E-ISSN: 1552-678X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0094582x8601300303
OpenAlexW2043421513
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited1

This article explores the historical and social roots and the basic components of a process of renovation in Catholic theological teachings known as liberation theology. I will focus primarily on liberation theology's social and political rather than religious elements. The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 shocked Latin America. Poverty and misery, the seeds of revolution, could be found in most Latin American countries. The new alternative presented by the Cuban Revolution found a large and receptive audience among Latin Americans, in particular young middle-class intellectuals. The response to the revolution varied among different sectors of the elite. Some, in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia, resorted to military control in the hope of curtailing revolutionary sentiment. Others adopted the relatively flexible reform program of the Alliance for Progress, aiming at redressing the social ills that were the underlying cause of revolution. The Christian Democratic movements manifested this reformist trend, promising an alternative to radical change by revolution, on the one hand, and the maintenance of the status quo by military force, on the other. The Catholic church, shaken by the flight of 70Wo of the Cuban clergy following the revolution, was searching for an alternative of its own to prevent the spread of communism on the continent. The poor and laboring classes, victims of poverty and social injustice, and sectors

Communism · Democracy · Democratic revolution · Economic history · Elite · Injustice · Latin Americans · Liberation theology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Sociology · Status quo · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious and Theological Studies

  • The Least of My Brethren

    William N Holden•Worldviews Global Religions…•2013

  • The Radicalization of the Brazilian Catholic Church in Comparative Perspective

    Kevin Neuhouser•American Sociological Review•1989

  • To Help or Hinder

    Open Access•Wendy De Los Reyes, Bernadette Sánchez et al.•Journal of Adolescent Research•2025

  • Islamic Liberation Theology and Hajj as a Revolutionary Manifesto

    Open Access•Edy Suprayetno, Faisal Eriza•Pharos Journal of Theology•2026

  • Rediscovering Our Dignity'—an Appraisal of the Utopia of Liberation in Latin America

    Open Access•Ilse Scherer-Warren•International Sociology•1990

  • Ecclesial opposition to nonferrous mining in Guatemala

    Open Access•William N Holden, R D Jacobson•Canadian Geographies /…•2009

  • Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil

    Open Access•Nicolò Miotto, Julian Droogan•Critical Sociology•2025

  • History and the Theology of Liberation

    William J Kilgore, Enrique Dussel et al.•Hispanic American Historical Review•1976

Unique citing works7
Citations per year0,19
Citation span1989 - 2026 (38)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 6

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