Date Thesis Awarded
5-2009
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
Religious Studies
Advisor
John Morreall
Committee Members
Julie Galambush
Tracy Arwari
Abstract
In this paper, I seek to prove that although liberation theology has significantly declined in the last two decades, it remains an active movement that has left a lasting mark on Latin America and is ultimately only one part of a social justice initiative within Christianity that will inevitably continue in the future. First, I give a basic overview of liberation theology's ideology, history, and relationship to the Vatican during liberation theology's "golden age," which lasted from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. Second, I explain the decline of liberation theology in the 1990s and 2000s, focusing particularly on repression from the Vatican, changes in the political climate of Latin America, and the rise of Evangelical Protestantism. Third, I discuss the present-day state of liberation theology and its impact on Latin America, looking at social, political, and religious developments that in one way or another are related to liberation theology. Fourth and last, I analyze liberation theology's roots within Christianity and its significance as a part of the Christian initiative for social justice.
Recommended Citation
Irby, Virginia, ""For Yours is the Kingdom of God": A historical analysis of liberation theology in the last two decades and its significance within the Christian tradition" (2009). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 288.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/288
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.