ABSTRACT
The ecumenical grassroots networks were already multiplying, congregations developed special programmes including international partnerships, national churches organised ecumenical assemblies, and continental convocations were even called. The context for the rise of liberation theology was characterised by a complex mixture of international, national, and socio-economic factors. The more direct predecessors of liberation theology emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Probably the most influential theologian for later liberation theologies has been Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In Germany, churches and theology are not living up to these enormous challenges. They mainly preach an individualised, i.e. capitalist, Gospel. The more direct predecessors of liberation theology emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Jesus’ time, the time of the Roman Empire, this accumulation of money ended in treasure building, which Jesus called mammon – creating the decisive theological choice between accumulation of money and the God of justice.
