Liberation Theologies, Postmodernity and the Americas (Creating the North American Landscape

by David Batstone (editor), Eduardo Mendieta (Editor), Lois Ann Lorentzen (Editor)

Simultaneously arising out of such diverse contexts as the black community in the United States, grassroots religious communities in Latin America, and feminist circles in North Atlantic countries, theologies of liberation have emerged as a resource and inspiration for people seeking social and political freedom. Over the last three decades, liberation theology has irrevocably altered religious thinking and practice throughout the Americas. Liberation Theologies, Postmodernity and the Americas provides a meaningful and spirited debate on vital interpretive issues in religion, philosophy, and ethics. The renowned group of scholars explore liberation theologies' uses of discourses of emancipation, revolution and utopia in contrast with postmodernism's suspicion of grand narratives, while assessing what the postmodernism/liberation debate means for strategies of social and political transformation. Guided by the experiences of those at the margins of social power, liberation theologies demystify the eurocentric myths of secularization and modernity, and calls for a re-appraisal of religion in contemporary societies. Edmund Arens, David Batstone, Maria Clara Bingemer, Enrique Dussel, Gustavo Gutierrez, Jurgen Habermas, Franz Hinkelammert, Dwight Hopkins, Lois Ann Lorentzen, Eduardo Mendieta, Amos Nascimento, Elsa Tamez, Mark McLain Taylor, and Sharon Welch, Robert Allen Warrior

322 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 1997

About the author

David Batstone, Ph.D., is Professor of Ethics at the University of San Francisco. His book Saving the Corporate Soul & (Who Knows?) Maybe Your Own won the prestigious Nautilus Award for Best Business Book. Batstone also serves as Senior Editor of the business magazine Worthwhile, and was a cofounder of Business 2.0. Batstone appears regularly in USA Today's Weekend Edition as "America's ethics guru."