Essential writings

In this first anthology of Gutierrez's massively influential work, James Nickoloff draws from Gutierrez's many published books and translates some pieces for the first time. Arranged both thematically and chronologically, the Selected Texts highlight not only the revolutionary import of Gutierrez's theology but also his deep and searching spirituality, his bold view of the church, and his personal challenge to the reader to engage the world's injustices directly. Nickoloff's expert Introduction explains the development of Gutierrez's ideas and sheds new light on the Latin American, especially Peruvian, context of his thought.

One: Toward a new method: Theology and liberation -- 1. Toward a theology of liberation -- 2. Theology and liberation -- 3. Theology: a critical reflection -- 4. The limitations of modern theology: on a letter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- 5. Theology and the social science -- 6. Revelation and theological method -- 7. Truth and theology -- 8. Understanding the God of life -- 9. Theological language -- 10. Upstream to the source -- Two: Hermeneutical principles -- 11. History is one -- 12. Encountering God in history -- 13. The historical power of the poor -- 14. In a foreign land -- 15. The evangelizing potential of the poor -- 16. Conflict in history -- 17. The suffering of others -- 18. The God who comes -- 19. Preferential option for the poor -- 20. God's mercy -- Three: Theological axis: the gratuitousness and exigence of love -- 21. Conversion to the neighbor -- 22. Freedom as a gift and task at Puebla -- 23. Free to love -- 24. The church of the beatitudes -- 25. Gratuitousness and the freedom of God's love -- 26. The kingdom is at hand -- 27. Between gift and demand -- 28. The way of works -- Four: Rethinking soteriology: liberation, freedom, and communion -- 29. The process o…