There is a notion amongst some academics that Latin American Liberation Theology has had its day, a dream killed off by the Nicaraguan and Salvadoran revolutions, the 1989 demise of socialism and the end of history claims of the champions of capitalism. However in this book Petrella proves this to be an ill-conceived notion, and shows that this theology can be reinvented to bring its preferential option for the poor into the real world. The actualisation of historical projects is possible by adopting the methods developed by the Brazilian champion of critical legal studies, Robert Unger....

Not since the 'Theology in the Americas' conferences and the heyday of EATWOT (Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologies) in the late 70's, have the most important theologians the world over met to discuss the future of theology and our globe. The World Forum on Theology and Liberation took place in Brazil in 2005 and was the meeting of the world's foremost thinkers and theologians concerned with contextual or liberation theologies. This book offers the reader a selection of the contributions to the first World Forum on Theology and Liberation, and as such offers readers a unique...

Ivan Petrella provides a bold new interpretation of liberation theology's present state and future possibilities. In so doing, he challenges a number of established pieties: Instead of staying within the accepted norm of examining liberation theologies individually as if they were closed worlds, he dares develop a framework that tackles Latin American, Black, Womanist, and Hispanic/Latino(a) theologies together; instead of succumbing to the fashionable identity politics that rules liberationist discourse, he places poverty at the forefront of concern; instead of seeking to carve out a small...