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Latin American Theology of Liberation in the 21st Century—2nd Edition
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Latin American Theology of Liberation in the 21st Century—2nd Edition

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2026) | Viewed by 3586

Editors

Prof. Dr. Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer

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Guest Editor
Departamento de Letras, Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 22451-900, RJ, Brazil
Interests: systematic theology; theology and literature; mysticism; spirituality; spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola; theology of liberation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Alex Villas Boas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CITER—Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 1649-023 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: theology and literature; public theology; systematic theology; theology and culture; political spirituality; spirituality and health; spiritual exercises
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Peter Casarella

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Duke Divinity School, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
Interests: systematic theology; Christian spirituality; theology and literature; Latin American theology; ecumenism; Trinity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Building on the contributions of the first edition, this second edition of the Special Issue Latin American Theology of Liberation in the 21st Century seeks to deepen and expand the discussion on the current trajectories, challenges, and innovations of Liberation Theology in Latin America and beyond.

Over the last decades, Liberation Theology has moved through different historical, social, and cultural contexts, remaining faithful to the preferential option for the poor while engaging with new global realities. In the 21st century, this theological current has continued to reinterpret the Gospel from the lived experience of oppressed peoples, integrating diverse hermeneutical approaches that address urgent issues such as ecological justice, gender equity, racial and ethnic discrimination, intercultural dialogue, and the defence of human rights.

This edition invites contributions that examine how Liberation Theology interacts with contemporary social movements, engages in dialogue with indigenous and Afro-descendant spiritualities, and responds to the challenges of democratic fragility, forced migration, and global economic inequalities. Particular attention will be given to the impact of Pope Francis’ pontificate, whose pastoral and theological vision has revitalised many of the concerns historically present in the Latin American Church, placing them within a universal horizon of fraternity, integral ecology, and a Church “going forth”.

We welcome articles that explore these developments from theological, historical, sociological, or interdisciplinary perspectives. Comparative studies that relate Latin American Liberation Theology to similar movements in other regions of the world are also encouraged.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors send a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words to the guest editors (alexvboas@ucp.pt; maria.agape@gmail.com; and peter.casarella@duke.edu) or to the Assistant Editor of Religions (zena.zeng@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors to ensure proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Prof. Dr. Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer
Prof. Dr. Alex Villas Boas
Prof. Dr. Peter Casarella
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Latin American theology
  • theology of liberation
  • theology of the people
  • contextual theology
  • Pope Francis and Latin America
  • ecological theology
  • gender and theology
  • intercultural theology
  • social movements and religion

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 388 KB  
Article
All Justice, No Peace: October 7, the War in Gaza, and the Structural Limits of Retroactive Justice in Contemporary Liberation Theology
by Maayan Karen Raveh
Religions 2026, 17(6), 735; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17060735 (registering DOI) - 19 Jun 2026
Viewed by 523
Abstract
This article argues that contemporary theological and transnational justice discourse has undergone a structural shift from future-oriented emancipation to retroactive moral accounting. While liberation theology originally understood justice eschatologically, as an opening toward transformed relations and shared future life, contemporary discourse increasingly organizes [...] Read more.
This article argues that contemporary theological and transnational justice discourse has undergone a structural shift from future-oriented emancipation to retroactive moral accounting. While liberation theology originally understood justice eschatologically, as an opening toward transformed relations and shared future life, contemporary discourse increasingly organizes justice around categorical identity, historical suffering, and immediate verdict. I call this condition “all justice, no peace”: multiple claims to justice remain internally coherent yet become mutually incommensurable, making coexistence harder rather than easier. The article traces three dynamics behind this shift: the global circulation of solidarity frameworks that stabilize rather than pluralize moral categories; the closure of the hermeneutical circle around fixed identities; and digital mediation, which privileges verdict over witness. These dynamics are examined through the Israeli–Palestinian conflict after 7 October 2023, where post-Holocaust Christian theology and Palestinian liberation theology each generate powerful but structurally non-relational claims to suffering and justice. The article concludes by proposing a move from retroactive to prospective justice as the only framework capable of sustaining future-oriented political and theological life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Latin American Theology of Liberation in the 21st Century—2nd Edition)
15 pages, 242 KB  
Article
The Epistemic Priority of Suffering in Christian Political Discernment: Ellacuría’s Hermeneutics of Violence in the Reality of El Salvador
by Sónia da Silva Monteiro
Religions 2026, 17(2), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17020141 - 27 Jan 2026
Viewed by 522
Abstract
In a context marked by polarization and diminished trust in nonviolent solutions, this article examines whether Christian political discernment can offer a viable response to the apparent inevitability of war. In light of Pope Francis’s critique of the applicability of just war reasoning [...] Read more.
In a context marked by polarization and diminished trust in nonviolent solutions, this article examines whether Christian political discernment can offer a viable response to the apparent inevitability of war. In light of Pope Francis’s critique of the applicability of just war reasoning amid today’s global arm’s race and advanced technology, this study investigates how Ignacio Ellacuría confronted the question of violence in El Salvador and reflects on its transnational relevance for Christian ethics in the face of contemporary conflicts. Through a close reading of Ellacuría’s philosophical and theological writings, informed by Xavier Zubiri’s philosophy, this article reconstructs the ambiguities and multiple meanings of violence that arise in situations of structural injustice and limit situations. Ellacuría’s commitment to the historical reality reveals his critique of the deficiencies of abstract or universal theories, including the appeal to legitimate defense, in favor of a praxis of discernment grounded in the lived experience of the poor. This study finds that Ellacuría locates the epistemic center of political judgment in the suffering of victims. This article concludes that Ellacuría’s provides an important contribution for renewing Christian political ethics in the 21st century by prioritizing the voices of those who suffer as the fundamental criterion for responding ethically to democratic crises and structural oppression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Latin American Theology of Liberation in the 21st Century—2nd Edition)
17 pages, 290 KB  
Article
“The Power of the Poor in History”: The Role of Testimony in Liberation Theology and Russian Realism
by Jimmy Sudário Cabral
Religions 2025, 16(9), 1210; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16091210 - 21 Sep 2025
Viewed by 1485
Abstract
The article analyses the correlations between Latin American liberation theology and 19th-century Russian novel. Drawing on Bakhtin’s concept of the ‘threshold chronotype’, it contextualises the aesthetic and theological language of Russian novels and liberation theology as expressions of the same ‘chronotope’ situated on [...] Read more.
The article analyses the correlations between Latin American liberation theology and 19th-century Russian novel. Drawing on Bakhtin’s concept of the ‘threshold chronotype’, it contextualises the aesthetic and theological language of Russian novels and liberation theology as expressions of the same ‘chronotope’ situated on the periphery of capitalism. The article argues that the violence and degradation of the Russian chronotope, from which the historical force of the poor emerges, are comparable to the violence that will later define the boundaries of representation in Latin American liberation theology. This serves as the basis for exploring how the concept of testimony, as a process of restitution of the victims’ memory, informs the theological and aesthetic grammar of liberation theology and Russian novel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Latin American Theology of Liberation in the 21st Century—2nd Edition)
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