Gutiérrez's liberation theology still inspires young Latin American theologians

The death of Gustavo Gutiérrez, called the “father of liberation theology,” at age 96 on October 22 has set off a reconsideration of the theological and pastoral movement spawned by the publication of the Peruvian priest’s 1971 book, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation.

Once a powerful influence on both faith and politics in Latin America, liberation theology grew out of Gutiérrez’s concern for people experiencing economic poverty amid the collapse of political projects in the 1960s that tried to modernize the region, exacerbated by the political repression by military juntas in several South and Central American countries.

The result was widespread violence and poverty—something that, for Gutiérrez and his colleagues, was not natural, but produced by severe social and economic inequality.