KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES

LATIN AMERICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY

RE-VISITED THROUGH THE THREE

GLOBAL HISTORY PERSPECTIVES

Course by

Perspectives on Global History

Prof. Patrick Pasture and Johan Verberckmoes Ino Mamic

2015

Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1

A historical event: liberation theology movement in Latin America from the 1960s to 2010s ......................... 1

Latin American liberation theology and its implications in light of three different theoretical perspectives on

interaction on a global level ........................................................................................................................... 3

The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, Democracy, and Race .......... 3

From the Matrix to Campanella: cultural hybrids and globalization ............................................................ 5

Enlightenment in Global History: A Historiographical Critique .................................................................... 7

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 9

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 10

1

Introduction

In this paper I argue that Latin American liberation theology, by sprouting from the ambivalent political

and cultural settings of Latin America, and by producing particular Marxist-Christian epistemology in terms of

Gruzinski cultural hybrids, was a Latin American contribution to what Sebastian Conrad calls the global co-

production of Enlightenment knowledge.

I analyse the history of the liberation theology phenomenon in Latin America using three different

perspectives. The first comes from Michael Gobat’s exploration of the origins of the term Latin America. The

second perspective draws on Serge Gruzinski’s elaboration on cultural hybrids, globalization, and phenomena

of messianism and millenarianism. Finally, the third perspective is Sebastian Conrad’s reflection on the concept

of enlightenment(s) as seen through the lenses of global history.

Regarding the first perspective, on the nature and usage of the term Latin America, I show that the complex

history of the term itself helps to explain why liberation theology rose exactly in Latin America. Approaching

liberation theology from the second perspective identifies elements of messianism and millenarianism in its

conceptual framework, which is similar to those caused by the 16th century Iberian globalization. Finally, I show

why liberation theology can be seen as a form of Latin America’s enlightenment and how it contributed to what

Conrad calls global enlightenment.

A historical event: liberation theology movement in Latin America from the 1960s to 2010s

The history of liberation theology in Latin America goes back to the 1930s, in the era of intensive

urbanization and industrialization of the continent. It was the time of accelerated social stratification and the

rise of new ideologies such as liberalism, secularism, communism, and pluralism. The Catholic Church

struggled to find the way through – the colonial and postcolonial load was too heavy. As an answer to the crisis

of the classical colonial Christianity, the first germs of social Christianity appeared, from which liberation

theology would evolved several decades later.1

In the 1960s the Latin America developmental model, which was based on industrialization and playing

catch up with already developed nations, went in crisis. In the meantime, pope John XXIII gave an initiative for

a Second Vatican Council, dreaming about the “church of the poor.”2 Few years later the Council’s conclusions

were discussed at the CELAM conference3 in Medellin, Colombia, in light of the reality of Latin America. The

Medellin conference can be considered as a first formal expression of liberation theology. It was a time when

1 Cf. Michael F. Jiménez, "Citizens of the Kingdom: Toward a Social History of Radical Christianity in Latin America,”

International Labor and Working-class History 34 (1988): 3-21. 2 Donald Dorr, "John XXIII and Option for the Poor," Irish Theological Quarterly 4 (1980): 247-271. 3 Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano (the Latin American Episcopal Council) is a council of the Roman Catholic

bishops of Latin America.

2

many initiatives, authors, and works appear, such as those of Gustavo Gutiérrez, Enrique Dussel, Juan Luis

Segundo, José Comblin, and Segundo Galilea. Gutiérrez wrote the classic Theology of Liberation in 1971.4

Many priests and lay people were involved in organizations such as Priests for the Third World and Christians

for Socialism.5

In 1970s, the social reality of Latin America deteriorated. There were military coups in Bolivia, Chile, and

Argentina occurred, with disorders in several other countries. Many proponents of liberation theology, both

priests and lay people, were persecuted or killed. The Catholic Church is lacerated. On one side, there are those

demanding clear positions on social issues, such as Leonardo Boff and Jon Sobrino, while on the other, there

are those in favour of status quo, such as Alfons Lopez Trujillo and Roger Vekemans. The conflict culminated

in 1979 at the CELAM conference in Puebla, Mexico. The conservative wing advanced, condemned liberation

theology, and watered it down.6

In the following decade, Latin America passed through deep economic crisis. The GDP fell around nine

percent, and the crisis of foreign debt broke out. Structural Adjustment Programmes were introduced and the

situation of poor masses deteriorated further.7 In Nicaragua, a revolutionary government came to power in 1979

with the help of lower clergy and laity. This added to the United States’ growing suspicion of liberation

theology. In 1980, the archbishop of San Salvador Óscar Romero was killed during the celebration of the mass.

The Vatican maintained restrictive politics towards liberation theology. Several authors, such as Leonardo Boff,

were deprived of further publishing. The ‘Instructions’ are issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the

Faith led by Joseph Ratzinger expressing severe critiques.8

The next phase starts with the fall of the European communism. The ‘end of history’ and the ‘victory of

capitalism’ are loudly announced, and the hope for a better world is awaken.9 But as globalization triumphantly

advanced, social inequalities deepened, and financial crises occurred worldwide. Liberation theology, after

being pushed to the margins within the Catholic Church, found its way through ramification in several branches,

and continued under the umbrella term of contextual theologies, mainly out of hierarchical Church. Feminist

theology, Eco theology, Dalit theology, Black theology, Mingjung theology, Latino theology and many others

continued theorization and practical application of basic premises of classical Latin American liberation

theology.10

4 See Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books,

1973). 5 Cf. Gonzalo Arroyo, “Christians for Socialism: An interview with,” New Blackfriars 55 (1974): 488–499. 6 Cf. Rohan M. Curnow, “Which Preferential Option for the Poor? A History of the Doctrine's Bifurcation,” Modern

Theology 31 (2015): 27–59. 7 Cf. Eufronio R. Carreno, "Latin America's 1980's and Asia's 1990's debt crisis: a comparison," MACLAS Latin American Essays (2001): 91-98. 8 Cf. Daniel K. Finn, “Benedict XVI and Liberation Theology: Reason, Will, and History,” Horizons 38 (2011): 274-283. 9 See Daniel M. Bell, Liberation Theology after the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering (London: Routledge,

2001). 10 Steven Bevans and Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, Contextual Theology for the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge: James

Clarke & Co., 2012), 71.

3

An unexpected shift occurred in 2013 with the election of the archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario

Bergoglio as pope. As the first Latin American pope, he takes the name Francis, and put “option for the poor”

at the top of his agenda. Gustavo Gutiérrez is hosted in the Vatican in May 2015, and warmly welcomed by

pope Francis. Óscar Romero was officialy recognized as a martyr and beatified. The tensions between Vatican

and liberation theologians calmed down. Nowadays liberation theology tries to define its new position within

the Catholic Church and in society.

This short historical overview11 serves as a background for a reflection on the emergence of liberation

theology in Latin America. I approach the phenomenon of liberation theology from three different theoretical

perspective related to global history. The first looks at the ambivalence of the term Latin America. The second

analyses emergence of liberation theology through the concepts of messianism and millenarianism. Finally, the

third situates the liberation theology movement within a global enlightenment framework.

Latin American liberation theology and its implications in light of three different theoretical perspectives

on interaction on a global level

The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, Democracy, and Race12

Michel Gobat focuses on the term ‘Latin America’, its origins, and meanings assumed throughout history.

The idea of the continents emerged with European colonialization in the 19th century, and became a part of

collective imaginary. Lewis and Wigen argue that continents are historical inventions rather than natural

entities.13 The term Latin America has been ambiguous from the very beginning. It was used both by European

colonial powers to subjugate the region, and by Central and South Americans in their emancipatory efforts. In

the case of the former, it was rooted in the French concept of ‘Latin race’, and used to justify the occupation of

Mexico from 1862 to 1867.14 The latter used the term from the mid of the 19th century to claim their identity

against U.S. expansion towards the Southern hemisphere.15 The wide acceptance of the term ‘Latin’ by Spanish

11 The division in phases follows the structure of The History of Liberation Theology as given by Department of

Theology at Marquette University, Milwaukee, http://www.marquette.edu/theology/ [accessed December 27, 2015]. 12 Michel Gobat, “The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, Democracy, and Race,”

The American Historical Review 5 (2013):1345-1375. 13 See Martin W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen, The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography (Berkeley, CA:

University of California Press, 1997). 14 Cf. John Leddy Phelan, “Pan-Latinism, French Intervention in Mexico (1861–1867) and the Genesis of the Idea of

Latin America,” in Juan A. Ortega y Medina, ed., Conciencia y autenticidad históricas: Escritos en homenaje a

Edmundo O’Gorman (Mexico: UNAM, 1968), 279–298. 15 Cf. Aims McGuinness, “Searching for ‘Latin America’: Race and Sovereignty in the Americas in the 1850s,” in Nancy

P. Appelbaum, Anne S. Macpherson, and Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt, eds., Race and Nation in Modern Latin America

(Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press, 2003), 87–107.

4

American elites came out of concern about U.S. victory over Mexico and its repercussions. Here, Latin served

to designate opposition to ‘Anglo-Saxons’, and it was believed that it can include the non-white Catholic and

Spanish/Portuguese masses as well.16 At the same time, the white elites were claiming that “white people were

better fit for republican rule than those of color.”17 Gobat says that “a tendency between inclusion and exclusion

marked the idea of Latin America from the very start.”18 Some scholars, like Walter Mignolo, argue that the

term is a product of colonialism, and is used to designate white elites exclusively, leaving indigenous population

apart.19 Nevertheless, in relation to the avaricious capitalists of the North Atlantic, the term was more unifying,

aiming to designate Latin America as an economic unit in need to defend its industry and resources.20

Therefore, the term Latin America is built up of multiple and often contradictory notions such as

imperialism, race, oppression, common culture, geographical location, political struggle, emancipation, and

capitalism. Miguel Rojas Mix argues that after the “triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 the concept was

closely identified with leftist, anti-imperialist movements struggling for democracy and social justice.”21

I hold that the ambiguous use of the term Latin America, being both a product of North-West colonial

machinery, and at the same time promoted by inhabitants of Central and South America as their distinctive

identity in emancipatory efforts, illustrates the ambiguity of the Latin America position in global settings. Being

at the South (in respect to US) and at the West (in respect to Europe) Latin America cannot be easily classified

in terms of dualistic oppositions. I argue that such geographically, politically, economically, and culturally

ambivalent position made Latin America a fertile ground for the development of liberation theology. The

emergence of liberation theology, in the form it appeared in 1960s and 1970s in the Latin America, was possible

thanks to the nature of Latin American societies, which incorporated Western epistemology and worldviews as

their own.22 However, due to the specific historical development, the application of such epistemology was from

a different (that is, ‘Southern’) perspective, and consequently produced different outcomes. Looking through

the lenses of global interactions, I recognize in Latin American liberation theology a bridge from western-based

social and theological scholarship to the more universal one. This, in the meantime, incorporated and was

transformed by Indian and East Asian epistemological approaches. In another words, Latin America liberation

theology served as a bridge between Eurocentric colonial epistemologies and Indian and East Asian traditional

multipolar epistemologies. Emergence of liberation theology opened a way to putting these two in creative

16 Cf. Gobat, “The Invention of Latin America,” 1345-1375. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Walter Mignolo, The Idea of Latin America (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005), 7. 20 Cf. Gobat, “The Invention of Latin America,” 1345-1375. 21 See Miguel Rojas Mix, “Los cien nombres de América: Eso que descubrió Colón” in Aimer Granado García and

Carlos Marichal, eds., Construcción de las identidades latinoamericanas (Mexico: El Colegio de México, 2004), 370-382. 22 In this regard I do not agree with Samuel Huntington when he says that Latin America was not part of the West. For

sure it was not typical western society, but the question is if category of typical western society ever existed in the pure

form. Huntington himself seems to be trapped in western dualistic epistemologies incapable to deal with multifaceted

realities of the world. Compare with Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996).

5

dialogue, and above all lead to practical applications in different contexts. Various perspectives on global history

are to a large extent produced through these interactions.

The concept of Latin America continues to challenge late-capitalist structures, especially in the U.S. where

Latino culture advances thanks to its vitality. As Gobat points out, the

Geopolitical entities – just like nations – are historical constructs forged in the crucible of political

struggle. Such entities are anything but static. Given the vast movement of Latina/os and Latin

Americans between North and South America, perhaps it is not preposterous to imagine, as the

image created by Pedro Lasch suggests, that one day the entire Western Hemisphere may be

remapped as Latina/o America.23

Such vitality confirms Ignacio Ellacuría’s statement that the Latin America is one of these places “to hope

and to give hope against all the dogmatic verdicts that shut the door on the future.”24

From the Matrix to Campanella: cultural hybrids and globalization25

Gruzinski draws parallels between the 16th century Iberian globalisation and the contemporary globalisation

processes presented through The Matrix trilogy. In this paper I partially follow Gruzinski, but instead of drawing

parallels with Hollywood global imaginary, I move to the phenomenon of liberation theology in Latin America.

I discuss the similarities (and certain differences as well) of messianism and millenarianism present in 16 th

century Iberian globalisation, and in 20th century neo-capitalist globalisation. I focus on the messianism and

millenarianism as they were conceived and pursued by liberation theologians, therefore with their visions of

Christ as a friend of the oppressed and of the new just society. It is important to see that I do not discuss the

elements of messianic and millenarian promises of the capitalism itself, although this aspect could be elaborated

at large as well.

In the central part of the article Gruzinski discusses the parallels of 16th century Iberian globalization with

the narrative and structure of The Matrix. The 16th century was a period when American, African, and Asian

possessions were brought together with those of Europe, creating a globalized world under the rule of Phillip

II. This world had many things in common, such as trade, religion, ideologies, scholarship, and art. It was a time

of mixing of races and societies. Rapid changes and growing insecurity among masses, both in the ‘Old’ and

‘New’ world gave birth to the explosion of messianism and millenarianism.26

23 Gobat, “The Invention of Latin America,” 1345-1375. 24 Ignacio Ellacuría, “Utopia and Prophecy in Latin America,” in Mysterium Liberationis: Fundamental Concepts of

Liberation Theology, ed. Ignacio Ellacuría and Jon Sobrino, 289-328 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993). 25 Serge Gruzinski, "From The Matrix to Campanella: Cultural Hybrids and Globalization," European Review 14 (2006):

111-127. 26 Cf. ibid.

6

Gruzinski says that “in the 16th century many instances of Messianism and Millenarianism were more than

a collective frenzy or confused beliefs.”27 Instead, messianism and millenarianism gave meaning to Iberian

globalisation and disoriented collective imagination.28 Millenarianism and messianism arose as traditional

interpretations were unable to give satisfactory explanation of the irruption of aggressive and all pervading

Iberian globalization. This situation can be compared to the situation Latin America faced in the second half of

the 20th century. Traditional Christian societies based on traditional Catholic teachings were unable to give

satisfactory answers to the aggressive and all pervading penetration of North-West capitalism into the Latin

American social, economical, and cultural tissue. Patterns and protagonists are very similar, despite a long

historical distance: rich and aggressive North penetrating less organized South, promising prosperity in theory

but causing poverty in practice. As Iberian globalisation provoked in those who were oppressed a necessity of

“the adoption and/or adaptation of explanations on a universal scale – Messianism and Millenarianism,”29 so

did the neo-capitalist globalization. In the 20th century context, the explanations for a growing social injustice

were given within the framework of liberation theology. Its proponents, much the same as their 16th century

predecessors, used epistemological tools of hybrid nature. This time it was the Marxist social analysis, Biblical

hermeneutics, and Christology. These hybrid tools produced explanations and offered solutions in a utopian

vision of a more just society, what was in many aspects equivalent to the 16th century Iberian millenarianism.

Likewise, the 16th century Iberian messianic expectations were expressed in 20th century liberation theology

movement as a new, redefined and enfleshed Christology which sees Christ as a friend of the oppressed.30 In

both cases we see the archetypic struggle between good and evil, between the Saviour and Antichrist.31

Moreover, both models attempt not only to understand the situation, but to change, from promising visions of

cataclysmic victories,32 to real insurgencies.33 Finally, both have a “privileged space for the blend of beliefs and

religions,”34 and are prone to mix “orthodox expectations and heterodox derivatives.”35 In the 16th century it

took place through superstitions and miraculous expectations, often coloured with still medieval imaginary,

while in the case of liberation theology the utopian amalgam of Marxist philosophy and Catholic theology was

attempted.36

Up to this point I find a high level of correspondence between 16th century Iberian globalization and the

Latin American liberation theology movement. However, there is a point where I differ from Gruzinski.

Gruzinski holds that “Messianism and Millenarianism have worked as powerful agents of globalization”37 as

27 Gruzinski, "From The Matrix to Campanella," 111-127. 28 Cf. ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 See for example Leonardo Boff, Jesus Christ Liberator (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1975). 31 Cf. Gruzinski, "From The Matrix to Campanella," 111-127. 32 Cf. ibid. 33 Phillip Berryman, Liberation Theology: Essential Facts about the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America and Beyond (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987), 4. 34 Gruzinski, "From The Matrix to Campanella," 111-127. 35 Ibid. 36 Cf. Michael A. Hayes and Liam Gearon, Contemporary Catholic Theology: A Reader (New York: Continuum, 1999),

421. 37 Gruzinski, "From The Matrix to Campanella," 111-127.

7

they “attached local memories to a global narrative...articulate a common language...and catalyse hopes in a

global circulation of emotions and beliefs.”38 Then he shows that The Matrix Trilogy does the same in the 20th

century. However, in the case of liberation theology, messianism and millenarianism tend to do more than in

the film itself. They are not only a kind of catharsis for impoverished masses (although they partly can be

considered as such), but an attempt to produce change. In this attempt liberation theology acts on global levels

and uses global means, but at the same time the globalisation itself is the centre of its critique. Liberation

theology operates in global context and uses global methods of scholarship, communication, and political action.

However, it takes a strong stance against neo-capitalist and neo-colonial globalisation and opts for a different

kind of universality. Its anthropology is nuanced, more human and more transcendent at the same time. Its ideals

are high, but neither superstitious nor superficial, as it was often the case with both the 16th Iberian globalization

ideals and with The Matrix Trilogy imagination. By being more systematic and attempting a change of society,

I argue, liberation theology can be considered as Latin American contribution to the permanent reinvention and

global co-production of Enlightenment knowledge. This will be discussed in the following section.

Enlightenment in Global History: A Historiographical Critique39

Sebastian Conrad holds that the Enlightenment’s history has not been a history of diffusion of the full-

fledged European product elsewhere. Rather, causes and effects of Enlightenment have multiple temporal and

spatial dimensions.40 According to the recent scholarship, “the Enlightenment did not end with romanticism: it

continued throughout the 18th century and beyond.”41 On these two notions I construct my argument of Latin

American liberation theology being a form of 20th century regional Enlightenment that with its methods,

approaches, and insights added to the global Enlightenment.

Let’s take a closer look to Conrad’s understanding of Enlightenment. He starts with three paradigms

prevalent in scholarship on Enlightenment: modernization, postcolonialism, and multiple modernities. All of

these rely on “internalist logics in their attempt to explain what was in fact a global phenomenon.”42 To move

from the isolated internalist logic to the more comprehensive understanding of phenomena, Conrad proposes an

approach that pays due attention to connections, interferences, and borrowings spread through time and space

in last few centuries and which contributed to Enlightenment. Rather than speaking of only one Enlightenment,

he says, we can speak about the “global co-production of Enlightenment knowledge”43 in which “the mixing

and hybridization of intellectual resources was characteristic of any attempt to connect the assumed universalism

38 Gruzinski, "From The Matrix to Campanella," 111-127. 39 Sebastian Conrad, "Enlightenment in Global History: A Historiographical Critique," The American Historical Review

117 (2012): 999-1027. 40 Cf. Conrad, "Enlightenment in Global History," 999-1027. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid.

8

of Enlightenment notions with the specificities of their local manifestation.”44 If we consider enlightenment as

an on-going phenomenon that on the base of shared values of liberty, progress, reason, tolerance, fraternity, and

critical stance towards abuses of the church and state,45 we can see that all these elements are central to Latin

American liberation theology, both in its theory and in social practice.

Ever since, the ideas and approaches born at the time have been adopted by various oppressed groups all

around the world. In this way Latin American liberation theology added to global Enlightenment, that is, to

better understanding of the world on the theoretical plane, and of improving the living conditions of the people

on the practical plane. Emergence of liberation theology in the Latin American context confirms Conrad’s

thesis that Enlightenment, as the complex aggregation of ideas, aspirations, movements, and worldviews is not

something happened once in Europe and then copied, with few modifications, elsewhere in the world. Rather it

is a phenomenon that re-emerges from time to time in different regions of the world and in different context. It

is shaped by local circumstances, yet pursuing similar values and hopes.

Conrad’s concept of Enlightenment resolves Gutiérrez ambivalent position towards the Enlightenment.

Namely, Gutiérrez in his 1970s writings had certain reservations towards enlightenment as he understood it in

a more narrowed way which is typical for the 20th century.46 But if we accept Conrad’s position that “as

Enlightenment ideas were articulated across the globe, they were gradually fused with other strands of thinking,

some of which had originally been formulated against them,”47 then we can recognize in Latin American

liberation theology exactly this process. In a certain sense, Latin American liberation theology resolves the 18th

century conflict between Enlightenment and Christianity. As Nigel Aston shows in his book Christianity and

Revolutionary Europe, 1750-1830, the conflict between ‘Christianity’ and ‘Enlightenment’ is not so much a

conflict of genuine ideas but rather a conflict of power. Aston shows that a significant part of the clergy on all

hierarchical levels in 18th century France were in favour of positive aspects of Enlightenment. It was only by

political radicalization of Enlightenment that a radical split occurred between the Church and progressive forces

in late eighteenth century French society.48 In this sense we can consider Latin American liberation theology

movement as a renewed attempt to put together Enlightenment ideals together with those of Christianity. To

what extent this attempt was successful is debateable, as it seems that power issues on all sides were again so

powerful that they distorted the genuine proposals.

44 Conrad, "Enlightenment in Global History," 999-1027. 45 Milan Zafirovski, The Enlightenment and Its Effects on Modern Society (New York: Springer, 2011), 144. 46 See Bell, Liberation Theology after the End of History, 64-65. 47 Conrad, "Enlightenment in Global History," 999-1027. 48 Cf. Nigel Aston, Christianity and revolutionary Europe, 1750-1830 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002),

93.

9

Conclusion

This paper applied three different theoretical perspectives on global history on the phenomena of liberation

theology that emerged in Latin America in the second half of the 20th century. From each of the perspectives I

have chosen one aspect that I found relevant and applicable to the liberation theology as a historical event. My

aim was to approach the phenomena of liberation theology not as a whole, but rather to analyse some singular

aspects which can add to better understanding of the historical, social, religious, cultural, political, and economic

context from which liberation theology emerged.

I have found that the ambivalence of Latin America, both as a concept and as a social reality, had a positive

impact on liberation theology. The first generation of liberation theologians, such as Gutiérrez, Ellacuría, Boff,

and Sobrino, being raised on the continent signed with ambivalence, were prone to ideate such a complex and

often contradictory project as liberation theology. Liberation theology has something typical of Latin American

ambivalence, and for this reason it is applicable in so many various contexts all over the world, from the U.S.

to Korea, from Peru to India, and elsewhere. Such ambivalence adds to its universal nature, and its universality

allows for it to be seen as part of the on-going global Enlightenment. Liberation theology was enlightened in

two ways. First, it was a catalyst for vast masses of Latin Americans to understand the causes of their

unfavourable social position. It was enlightening according to the highest values of Enlightenment in its classical

understanding. Moreover, liberation theology was eye-opening event within the Catholic Church, uncovering

its biases and colonial presumptions. Combining both, it surpasses, at least to a certain extent, century old, very

questionable and rather artificial opposition created between Christianity and Enlightenment. Although this

opposition has not been erased by the liberation theology movement, at least it opened the door for the healing

of the rupture in future.

Beside these two positive contributions of liberation theology, revealed through Gobat’s and Conrad’s

perspective, the analysis of liberation theology through the third perspective, those of Gruzinski, uncovers

certain aspects of liberation theology that can raise certain concerns. Namely, the third perspective, drawn from

The Matrix Trilogy and 16th century Iberian globalization, uncovers two aspects of liberation theology that are

rarely explicitly articulated. These are messianism and millenarianism. Their presence, even in fragments, can

raise in movements inspired by liberation theology unrealistic expectations and consequently delusions.

The overall result of analysis of liberation theology through the three perspectives on global history shows

that new interdisciplinary approaches have a wide range of applicability and can add to a better articulation of

various academic disciplines.

10

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