A Tribute to the Liberation Theologians- Prophetic Witnesses for Justice

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I am a believer in Liberation Theology. Really, there should not be a need for liberation theology if we believe the Bible. But since people ignore the message of liberation and justice, God must raise prophetic voices, including the proponents of liberation theology. It is only from a context of wealth, power, and privilege that one can ignore the liberation announced in the Bible by Jesus and the Hebrew Prophets. - Lance
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Oscar Romero (+), Archbishop of El Salvador, Martyr "Voice of the Voiceless."

"A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the things of the earth - beware! - is not the true church of Jesus Christ. A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call." (1/22/78) -- Salt of the Earth's remembrance of Archbishop Oscar Romero

Tissa Balasuriya, O.M.I. (+)

"Christians need a profound cultural revolution to transform them into a force that will subvert injustice and tyranny. The weekly meetings of Christians provide an excellent opportunity for both inner personal growth and social commitment - if these meetings are courageously and wisely utilised." - Tissa Balasuriya, O.M.I. (+)

Elsa Tamez, Methodist, author of the Scandalous Message of James. 

“God remains silent so that men and women may speak, protest, and struggle. God remains silent so that people may really become people. When God is silent and men and women cry, God cries in solidarity with them but doesn't intervene. God waits for the shouts of protest.” ― Elsa Tamez

Geervarghese Mar Osthathios (+) Metropolitan Archbishop of Indian Orthodox Church, author of The Sin of Being Rich in a Poor World, and, Theology of a Classless Society

“ [Socialism] is nearer biblical teaching than capitalism or a mixed economy” - Geervarghese Mar Osthathios from Theology of a Classless Theology

James Cone

“To sing about freedom and to pray for its coming is not enough. Freedom must be actualized in history by oppressed peoples who accept the intellectual challenge to analyze the world for the purpose of changing it.” - James Cone, credited as being the founder of Black Liberation Theology, author of A Black Theology of Liberation, and, God of the Oppressed.

Father Rutillio Grande, Martyr (+)

"I am fully aware that very soon the Bible and the Gospels will not be allowed to cross the border. All that will reach us will be the covers, since all the pages are subversive—against sin, it is said. So that if Jesus crosses the border at Chalatenango, they will not allow him to enter. They would accuse him, the man-God ... of being an agitator, of being a Jewish foreigner, who confuses the people with exotic and foreign ideas, anti-democratic ideas, and i.e., against the minorities. Ideas against God, because this is a clan of Cain’s. Brothers, they would undoubtedly crucify him again. And they have said so." - Father Rutilio Grande, Martyr (+)

Dr. Cornel West, author of Race Matters. 

“In a time in which Communist regimes have been rightfully discredited and yet alternatives to neoliberal capitalist societies are unwisely dismissed, I defend the fundamental claim of Marxist theory: there must be countervailing forces that defend people's needs against the brutality of profit driven capitalism.” ― Dr. Cornel West, The Cornel West Reader

Gustavo Gutierrez, author of A Theology of Liberation

“Jesus attacks the roots of an unjust order; for Jesus, the liberation of the Jewish people was only one aspect of a universal, permanent revolution” -  Gustavo Gutierrez, author of A Theology of Liberation
“What is it to be a companion of -Jesus today? It is to engage, under the standard of the cross, in the crucial struggle of our time: the struggle for faith and that struggle for justice which it includes.” - Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. (+)

Leonardo Boff, former Franciscan, author of Jesus Christ, Liberator

"The core of liberation theology is profoundly theologal – that is, rooted in the very nature of God. You see, there’s an immediate relationship between God, oppression, liberation: God is in the poor who cry out. And God is the one who listens to the cry and liberates, so that the poor no longer need to cry out." - Leonardo Boff, p. 166 – Mev Puleo (The Struggle Is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation)

Jon Sobrino, S.J., author of No Salvation Outside the Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays (Orbis Books)

"What sort of power is it that really and truly renders the deity present? Human beings automatically think of God as someone who possesses and wields power. Jesus forces people to consider whether that deeply rooted conviction is true or not. In historical terms it is readily apparent that power, left to its own inertial tendencies, tends to be oppressive in fact. So it cannot be the ultimate meditation of God, though human beings might tend to think so" - Jon Sobrino in Christology at the Crossroads, pages 213-14.

The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador (+ 1989)