ABSTRACT
Liberation theologies are theologies which have developed in response to experiences of social, political and economic injustice. The types of injustice that have given rise to liberation theologies are wide ranging and the geographical and cultural contexts from which they have emerged are diverse. Liberation theologies are explicitly contextual theologies in that they consciously articulate the personal, social and political contexts of the theologian or theological community as key if not primary motivating and shaping factors. The contexts that inform the theological task in liberation theologies are specifically contexts of oppression. The contexts of oppression and struggle from which liberation theologies have developed include poverty, colonialism, sexism, homophobia and militarism. The social justice concerns of liberation theologies are infused with theological significance and as practical contextual theologies they are radically committed to praxis on some level. This praxis is focused in some way or other on overcoming injustice. Whilst there is clearly great diversity among liberation theologies, for exam-
ple, in terms of specific justice concerns and methodologies, there is nevertheless a shared conviction that Christianity is a religion which is inherently concerned with justice. For liberation theologians the justice-seeking theologies that they develop then are not distortions or radical departures from the core principles of Christianity but rather reflect the fundamental concerns of Christianity. Stephen Bevans argues that for praxis-orientated contextual theologies, such as liberation theologies, a commitment to social justice is the appropriate Christian response to God:
True Christianity, it becomes clear, must work against oppressive structures not just by seeking to change certain features, but by seeking to supplant them completely. Liberation and transformation, not just gradual development or friendly persuasion, is the only way that men and women can fulfil their call to be genuine children of God. As practitioners of the praxis model began to reread the Bible and Christian tradition, they began to discover many forgotten things about Christianity and its roots in Hebrew religion: that the Bible itself is a product of struggles for human freedom; that Jesus’message is a message not primarily of doctrines but of structure-shaking
attitudes and behaviour; that sin must be opposed not by compromise but by radical reordering of one’s life. Social change – and the social location of the poor and the oppressed – began to be seen as a privileged source of theology. Commitment to social change in terms of Christian principles and from the perspective of the poor and marginalized led not only to social transformation but to a deeper and more challenging knowledge of God as such.
