Liberation theology's approach to living out Christian faith has been both globally influential and bitterly controversial. It has been investigated by the CIA on suspicion of promoting social unrest and inquisitioned by a former pope who accused it of getting too close to Marxist thought. It's even inspired conspiracy theories. Critics have dismissed it as naive ' but also called it a threat to free market capitalism. Fifty years have passed since the landmark publication of the book most associated with liberation theology: 'A Theology of Liberation,' by a Peruvian priest named Gustavo Gutierrez. Gutierrez. whose most recent manuscript I'm helping to edit, published the book in Spanish in 1971, and then in English in 1973. With its emphasis on the liberation of oppressed people, especially the poor, this book helped reconfigure many Catholics' ways of thinking about the relationship between faith and justice. As a theologian who grew up during the civil war in El Salvador, I...
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