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Liberation theology^[1] is a political movement in Christian theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor",^[2] and by detractors as Christianized Marxism.^[3]

Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Roman Catholic church in Latin America in the 1950s–1960s. Liberation theology arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice in that region. The term was coined in 1971 by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation. Other noted exponents are Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Jon Sobrino of El Salvador, and Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay.^[4][5]

The influence of liberation theology diminished after proponents were accused of using "Marxist concepts" leading to admonishment by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 1984 and 1986. The Vatican criticized certain strains of liberation theology for focusing on institutionalized or systemic sin, apparently to the exclusion of individual offenders/offences; and for allegedly misidentifying Catholic Church hierarchy in S. America as members of same privileged class that had long been oppressing indigenous populations since the arrival of Pizarro onward.^[6]

Theology[link]

Liberation theology could be interpreted as a western attempt to return to the gospel of the early church where Christianity is politically and culturally decentralized.^[7]

Liberation theology proposes to fight poverty by addressing its supposed source: sin. In so doing, it explores the relationship between Christian theology — especially Roman Catholic theology — and political activism, especially in terms of social justice, poverty, and human rights. The principal methodological innovation is seeing theology from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed. For example Jon Sobrino, S.J., argues that the poor are a privileged channel of God's grace.

Some liberation theologians base their social action upon the Bible scriptures describing the mission of Jesus Christ, as bringing a sword (social unrest), e.g. Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 10:34, Luke 22:35–38 — and not as bringing peace (social order)^{[better source needed]}. This Biblical interpretation is a call to action against poverty, and the sin engendering it, to effect Jesus Christ's mission of justice in this world.

Gustavo Gutierrez gave the movement its paradigmatic expression with his book A Theology of Liberation (1971). In this book, Gutierrez combined populist ideas with the social teachings of the Catholic Church. He was influenced by an existing socialist current in the Church which included organizations such as the Catholic Worker Movement and the French Christian youth worker organization, "Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne". He was also influenced by Paul Gauthier's "The Poor, Jesus and the Church" (1965). Gutierrez's book is based on an understanding of history in which the human being is seen as assuming conscious responsibility for human destiny, and yet Christ the Savior liberates the human race from sin, which is the root of all disruption of friendship and of all injustice and oppression.^[8]

Gutierrez also popularized the phrase "preferential option for the poor", which became a slogan of liberation theology and later appeared in addresses of the Pope.^[9] Drawing from the biblical motif on the poor, Gutierrez asserts that God is revealed as having a preference for those people who are “insignificant,” “marginalized,” “unimportant,” “needy,” despised” and “defenseless." Moreover, he makes clear that terminology of "the poor" in scripture has social and economic connotations that etymologically go back to the Greek word, ptochas.^[10] To be sure, as to not misinterpret Gutierrez’s definition of the term "preferential option," he stresses, “Preference implies the universality of God’s love, which excludes no one. It is only within the framework of this universality that we can understand the preference, that is, 'what comes first.'"^[11]

Gutierrez emphasized practice (or, more technically, "praxis") over doctrine. Gutierrez clarified his position by advocating a circular relationship between orthodoxy and orthopraxis seeing the two as having a symbiotic relationship.^[12] Gutierrez' reading of prophets condemning oppression and injustice against the poor (i.e. Jeremiah 22:13–17) informs his assertion that to know God (orthodoxy) is to do justice (orthopraxis).^[13] Cardinal Ratzinger, however, criticized liberation theology for elevating orthopraxis to the level of orthodoxy.^[14] Richard McBrien summarizes this concept as follows:

God is disclosed in the historical ‘’praxis’’ of liberation. It is the situation, and our passionate and reflective involvement in it, which mediates the Word of God. Today that Word is mediated through the cries of the poor and the oppressed.^[15]

Another important hallmark for Gutierrez's brand of liberation theology is an interpretation of revelation as "history". For example Gutierrez wrote:

History is the scene of the revelation God makes of the mystery of his person. His word reaches us in the measure of our involvement in the evolution of history.^[16]

Gutierrez also considered the Church to be the "sacrament of history", an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, thus pointing to the doctrine of universal salvation as the true means to eternal life, and assigning the Church itself to a somewhat temporal role, namely, liberation.

The struggle of women for social justice has given rise to its own liberation theology, frequently known as feminist theology in Europe and North America.^[17] Black and other women of colour in the United States speak of womanist theology, while Mujerista theology denotes the liberation theology of Hispanic women.^[17]

History[link]

A major player in the formation of liberation theology was CELAM, the Latin American Episcopal Conference.^[14] Created in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), CELAM pushed the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) toward a more socially oriented stance.^[18] However, CELAM never supported liberation theology as such, since liberation theology was frowned upon by the Vatican, with Pope Paul VI trying to slow the movement after the Second Vatican Council.^[19]

After the Second Vatican Council, CELAM held two conferences which were important in determining the future of liberation theology: the first was held in Medellín, Colombia, in 1968, and the second in Puebla, Mexico, in January 1979.^[18] The Medellín conference debated how to apply the teachings of Vatican II to Latin America, and its conclusions were strongly influenced by liberation theology.^[6]

Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo was a central figure at the Medellín Conference, and was elected in 1972 as general secretary of CELAM. He represented a more orthodox position, becoming a favorite of pope John Paul II and the "principal scourge of liberation theology."^[20] Trujillo's faction became predominant in CELAM after the 1972 Sucre conference, and in the Roman Curia after the CELAM conference in Puebla, Mexico, in January 1979.

Despite the orthodox bishops' predominance in CELAM, a more radical form of liberation theology remained much supported in South America. Thus, the 1979 Puebla Conference was an opportunity for orthodox bishops to reassert control of the radical elements; but they failed. At the Puebla Conference, the orthodox reorientation was met by strong opposition from the liberal part of the clergy, which supported the concept of a "preferential option for the poor". This concept had been approved at the Medellín conference by Bishop Ricard Durand, president of the Commission about Poverty.

Pope John Paul II gave the opening speech at the Puebla Conference. The general tone of his remarks was conciliatory. He criticized radical liberation theology, saying, "this conception of Christ, as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth, does not tally with the Church's catechisms"; however, he did speak of "the ever increasing wealth of the rich at the expense of the ever increasing poverty of the poor", and affirmed that the principle of private property "must lead to a more just and equitable distribution of goods...and, if the common good demands it, there is no need to hesitate at expropriation, itself, done in the right way"; on balance, the Pope offered neither praise nor condemnation.

Some liberation theologians, however, including Gutierrez, had been barred from attending the Puebla Conference. Working from a seminary and with aid from sympathetic, liberal bishops, they partially obstructed other clergy's efforts to ensure that the Puebla Conference documents satisfied conservative concerns. Within four hours of the Pope's speech, Gutiérrez and the other priests wrote a twenty-page refutation, which was circulated at the conference, and has been claimed to have influenced the final outcome of the conference. According to a socio-political study of liberation theology in Latin America, twenty-five per cent of the final Puebla documents were written by theologians who were not invited to the conference.^[21] Cardinal Trujillo said that this affirmation is "an incredible exaggeration" (Ben Zabel 2002:139).

Practice[link]

One of the most radical aspects of liberation theology was the social organization, or re-organization, of church practice through the model of Christian base communities (CBCs). Liberation theology strove to be a bottom-up movement in practice, with Biblical interpretation and liturgical practice designed by lay practitioners themselves, rather than by the orthodox Church hierarchy. In this context, sacred text interpretation is understood as "praxis".

Journalist and writer Penny Lernoux described this aspect of liberation theology in her numerous and committed writings intended to explain the movement's ideas in North America. Base communities were small gatherings, usually outside of churches, in which the Bible could be discussed, and Mass could be said. They were especially active in rural parts of Latin America where parish priests were not always available, as they placed a high value on lay participation. As of May 2007, it was estimated that 80,000 base communities were operating in Brazil alone.^[22] Contemporaneously Fanmi Lavalas in Haiti, the Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil, and Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa are three organizations that make use of liberation theology.^[23]

Criticism[link]

Some aspects of liberation theology were the subject of two critical "Instructions" from the Vatican's office for doctrinal orthodoxy, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).^[24][25] The instructions rejected the Marxist-based idea that class struggle is fundamental to history, and rejected the interpretation of religious phenomena such as the Exodus and the Eucharist in exclusively political terms. "The mistake here is not in bringing attention to a political dimension of the readings of Scripture, but in making of this one dimension the principal or exclusive component." ^[24] However, the movement in general was not condemned: the Instructions explicitly endorsed a "preferential option for the poor", stated that no one could be neutral in the face of injustice, and referred to the "crimes" of colonialism and the "scandal" of the arms race. Nonetheless, media reports tended to assume that the condemnation of "liberation theology" meant a rejection of such attitudes and an endorsement of conservative politics.^{[citation needed]}

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI), who was prefect of the CDF at the time when the Instructions were issued, published his own personal criticism of the movement in 1985.^[14] In this document Ratzinger claims that in certain forms of liberation theology, the meaning of basic theological terms is changed – e.g. terms such as "hope", "love", and "salvation" are assigned a Marxist interpretation in terms of "class struggle".

Ratzinger also argued that liberation theology is not originally a "grass-roots" movement among the poor, but rather, a creation of Western intellectuals: "an attempt to test, in a concrete scenario, ideologies that have been invented in the laboratory by European theologians" and in a certain sense itself a form of "cultural imperialism". Ratzinger saw this as a reaction to the demise or near-demise of the "Marxist myth" in the West.^[14]

In March 1983, Cardinal Ratzinger made ten observations of Gutiérrez's theology, accusing Gutiérrez of politically interpreting the Bible in supporting temporal messianism, and stating that the predominance of orthopraxis over orthodoxy in his thought proves a Marxist influence. Ratzinger also stated that Gutierrez's conceptions necessarily uphold class conflict in the Roman Catholic Church, which, logically, leads to rejecting hierarchy. However, Cardinal Ratzinger did praise liberation theology in some respects, including its ideal of justice, its rejection of violence, and its stress on "the responsibility which Christians necessarily bear for the poor and oppressed."^[14]

Roman Catholic priest and author Andrew Greeley criticized liberation theology in his 2009 fictional book Irish Tweed. In Greeley's book, a Chicago Catholic school is taken over by a principal and priest practicing liberation theology, and its ideas, as Greeley saw them, are applied in the school environment. For instance, basketball team members are chosen based on their family's economic status rather than on their ability.^[26]

Such criticisms have provoked counter-criticisms that orthodox Catholics are in effect casting the Catholic Church as a friend of authoritarian regimes; and that the Vatican is not so much trying to defend pure doctrine as to maintain an established ecclesiastical and political order. This conflict could be compared to some aspects of the Protestant Reformation. Outside Latin America, some of liberation theology's most ardent advocates are Protestant thinkers (e.g., Jürgen Moltmann^[27] and Frederick Herzog).^[28]

Reaction within the Catholic Church[link]

In 1984, it was reported that a meeting occurred between Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the CELAM bishops, during which a rift developed between Ratzinger and some of the bishops.^[20] As mentioned above, Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) issued official condemnations of certain elements of liberation theology in 1984 and 1986.^[24][25]

After this, and throughout the 1990s, Ratzinger, as prefect of the CDF, continued to condemn these elements in liberation theology, and prohibited dissident priests from teaching such doctrines in the Catholic Church's name. Leonardo Boff was suspended and others were censured. Tissa Balasuriya, in Sri Lanka, was excommunicated. Sebastian Kappen, an Indian theologian, was also censured for his book Jesus and Freedom.^[29] Under Cardinal Ratzinger's influence, theological formation schools were forbidden from using the Catholic Church's organization and grounds to teach liberation theology in the sense of theology using unacceptable Marxist ideas, not in the broader sense.

In August, 1984 Cardinal Ratzinger stated that liberation theology has a major flaw in that it attempts to apply Christ's teaching on the sermon on the mount regarding the poor to present social situations.^[14] Ratzinger believes that Christ's teaching on the poor means that we will be judged when we die, and at the final judgment, with particular attention to how we personally have treated the poor.

Another aberration in liberation theology, according to Cardinal Ratzinger, is that the spiritual concept of the Church as "People of God" is transformed into a "Marxist myth." In liberation theology, the "people is the antithesis of the hierarchy, the antithesis of all institutions, which are seen as oppressive powers. Ultimately anyone who participates in the class struggle is a member of the "people"; the "Church of the people" becomes the antagonist of the hierarchical Church."^[14]

Supporters of liberation theology have theorized that Cardinal Ratzinger's opposition had little to do with theological ideas, but rather as a reaction from the Vatican, which had close ties to right-wing governments throughout Latin America.

See also[link]

	Christianity portal
	Catholicism portal

Related movements[link]

• Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa^[30]
• Dalit theology in India
• Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• Lavalas in Haiti^[30]
• FSLN in Nicaragua (see The Catholic Church and the Nicaraguan Revolution)

People[link]

Theologians[link]

Influence on others[link]

• Anthony B. Pinn, U.S.
• Diane Drufenbrock, U.S.
• Paul Farmer, U.S. (b. 1959)
• Brian P. Moore, U.S.
• Óscar Romero, El Salvador
• Paulo Freire, Brazil (1921–1997)
• Vekoslav Grmič, Yugoslavia
• Robert McAfee Brown, U.S. (1920–2001)
• Fernando Lugo
• John Dear, S.J., U.S.
• Jan de Vos van Gerven, Belgium / Mexico (b. 1936)
• Ali Shari'ati, Iran (1933–1977)^[31]

References[link]

See Also[link]

• Hélder Câmara

Further reading[link]

Introductory works (all by Penny Lernoux)

• Lernoux, Penny, Cry of the people: United States involvement in the rise of fascism, torture, and murder and the persecution of the Catholic Church in Latin America. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.
• Lernoux, Penny, In banks we trust. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1984.
• Lernoux, Penny, People of God : the struggle for world Catholicism. New York: Viking, 1989.

Principal texts Rubem Alves, a Brazilian theologian working at Princeton, wrote Towards a Theology of Liberation (1968).

Peruvian Catholic priest, Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P. wrote A Theology of Liberation (1972).

Other readings:

• De La Torre, Miguel A., Handbook on U.S. Theologies of Liberation (Chalice Press, 2004).
• Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal, "Liberation Theology" (preliminary notes to 1984 Instruction)
• Berryman, Phillip, Liberation Theology (1987).
• Sigmund, P.E., Liberation Theology at the Crossroads (1990).
• Hillar, Marian, Liberation Theology: Religious Response to Social Problems. A Survey, published in Humanism and Social Issues. Anthology of Essays. M. Hillar and H.R. Leuchtag, eds., American Humanist Association, Houston, 1993, pp. 35–52.
• Gutiérrez, Gustavo, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation, Orbis Books, 1988.
• Gutiérrez, Gustavo. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People. London: SCM Press, 1983.
• Kirylo, James D. Paulo Freire: The Man from Recife. New York: Peter Lang, 2011.
• Petrella, Ivan, The Future of Liberation Theology: An Argument and Manifesto Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004.
• Piedra, Alberto M. "Some Observations on Liberation Theology." World Affairs Vol. 148 no 3. (Winter 1985–86)pg 151–158
• Smith, Christian, The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and the Social Movement Theory, University of Chicago Press, 1991.
• Lucia Ceci, La teologia della liberazione in America Latina. L'opera di Gustavo Gutierrez, F. Angeli, Milano 1999.
• Lucia Ceci, Chiesa e liberazione in America Latina (1968–1972), in L’America Latina fra Pio XII e Paolo VI. Il cardinale Casaroli e le politiche vaticane in una chiesa che cambia, a cura di A. Melloni e S. Scatena, Il Mulino, Bologna 2006;
• Mahan, Brian and L. Dale Richesin, The Challenge of Liberation Theology: A First World Response, 1981, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York.
• Mueller, Andreas, OFM, Arno Tausch and Paul Michael Zulehner (Eds.) Global capitalism, liberation theology, and the social sciences" Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers
• Marxism and Missions / Missions et Marxisme, special issue of the journal Social Sciences and Missions, Volume 22/2, 2009

External links[link]

General[link]

• Liberation Theology Video from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives.
• Complex and Alive. Recent Developments of the Theology of Liberation
• A short history of Liberation theology
• Excerpts on and Chronology of liberation theology
• "Christian Revolution in Latin America: The Changing Face of Liberation Theology", Ron Rhodes
• BBC Religion and Ethics theological obituary of Pope John Paul II: his views on liberation theology
• Centre for Liberation Theologies, Faculty of Theology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
• Edward A. Lynch, "The Retreat of Liberation Theology", 1994
• Liberation Theology Resources Online – articles, organizations, biographies, book links
• Black Liberation Theology: Information
• Liberation Theology at Centropian
• Article by Brother Fillipo Mondini on Praxis
• The Bible on the Poor: Or Why God is a Liberal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Liberation theology

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2012)

Christopher John Salter Rowland (26 September 1929 – 5 November 1967) was a British politician. He was rated one of the more effective of the Labour Party's 1964 intake to Parliament, but died at the age of 38.

Student life[link]

Rowland went to Chesterfield Grammar School and then the London School of Economics where he obtained a degree in Economic Science. He then went to Corpus Christi College, Oxford where he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy degree.

Student politics[link]

Having joined the Labour Party in 1946, Rowland became an active participant in student politics: in 1952 he was Chairman of the London School of Economics Labour Society. In 1953 he was elected Chairman of the National Association of Labour Student Organisations, a sabbatical post. He also joined the Fabian Society, for whom he became Treasurer of the Africa Bureau.

BBC producer[link]

On leaving student politics in 1954 he was recruited by the BBC as a talks producer in the Overseas Service. In 1957 he was on the Executive of the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship to the USA. When he fought Eastleigh in the 1959 general election, he had to leave the BBC which was committed to political neutrality (his dismissal became a controversy); in 1960 he moved to the Booker Group where he was an Information Officer.

Elected to Parliament[link]

Rowland succeeded in winning the Meriden seat at the 1964 general election, a gain which was one of the last constituencies to be announced and which showed that Labour was likely to win an overall majority. He became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministers of State at the Foreign Office.

Rhodesia[link]

In early 1966, Rowland went with two other Labour MPs (Jeremy Bray and David Ennals) out to Rhodesia (which had just declared independence) to see what conditions there were like and meet some of those involved. Supporters of Ian Smith asked to meet them and so the three agreed a time when they would talk; unexpectedly, more than 400 turned up and a rowdy meeting ensued. At the end, one of the Rhodesians attempted to snatch Rowland's papers and Rowland, while attempting to get them back, was forced to the floor, kicked, punched and had water thrown over him. Rowland was insistent that the Wilson government should not back down on confronting Ian Smith's Rhodesia.

Re-election[link]

He easily kept his seat with a much improved majority in the 1966 general election, profiting from his prominence after the Rhodesia incident. He beat Jonathan Aitken, then the youngest Conservative Party candidate. His BBC experience showed when he pledged to vote against the government if it decided to allow commercial radio.

In October 1967 he was taken ill on a visit to his constituency, and died two weeks later of pneumonia and pleurisy.

References[link]

• M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
• Obituary, "The Times", 6 November 1967.

Jeremiah Wright
White House Prayer Breakfast, 1998
Born	Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr. (1941-09-22) September 22, 1941 (age 70) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr., (born September 22, 1941) is Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), in Chicago with a congregation exceeding 6,000.^[1] In early 2008, Wright retired after 36 years as the Senior Pastor and no longer has daily responsibilities at the church.^[2][3]

Following retirement, Wright's beliefs and preaching were scrutinized when segments of his sermons were publicized in connection with the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, including his contention that the [[attacks of September 11, 2001, were proof that "America's chickens are coming home to roost" and such statements as "...not God Bless America. God damn America."^[4] Obama responded to the Wright controversy in a speech entitled "A More Perfect Union."^[5]

On April 27, 2008, Wright defended his record in a speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), saying he was not "divisive" but "descriptive" and that the black church experience, like black culture, was "different" but not "deficient".^[6]

Early years[link]

Wright was born and raised in a racially mixed section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called Germantown.^[7] His parents are The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sr. (1909–2001), a Baptist minister who pastored Grace Baptist Church in Germantown, Philadelphia, from 1938 to 1980,^[8] and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Henderson Wright, a school teacher who was the first black person to teach an academic subject at Roosevelt Junior High. She went on to be the first black person to teach at Germantown High and Girls High, where she became the school's first black vice principal.

Wright graduated from the Central High School of Philadelphia in 1959, among the best schools in the area at the time.^[7] At the time, the school was around 90 percent white.^[9] The 211th class yearbook described Wright as a respected member of the class. "Always ready with a kind word, Jerry is one of the most congenial members of the 211," the yearbook said. "His record in Central is a model for lower class [younger] members to emulate."^[7]

Education and military service[link]

Jeremiah Wright (second from right, behind I.V. pole), in 1966, as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman. He is tending to President Lyndon Johnson, standing behind him is Bill Moyers.^[10] (A letter of thanks on behalf of the President is superimposed on photo).

From 1959 to 1961, Wright attended Virginia Union University,^[2] in Richmond and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Zeta chapter. In 1961 Wright left college and joined the United States Marine Corps and became part of the 2nd Marine Division attaining the rank of private first class. In 1963, after two years of service, Wright joined the United States Navy and entered the Corpsman School at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.^[11][12] Wright was then trained as a cardiopulmonary technician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Wright was assigned as part of the medical team charged with care of President Lyndon B. Johnson (see photo of Wright caring for Johnson after his 1966 surgery). Before leaving the position in 1967, the White House Physician, Vice Admiral Burkley, personally wrote Wright a letter of thanks on behalf of the United States President.^[13][14][15]

In 1967 Wright enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a master's degree in English in 1969. He also earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School.^[11] Wright holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (1990) from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor, a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.^[16]

His wife is Ramah Reed Wright, and he has four daughters, Janet Marie Moore, Jeri Lynne Wright, Nikol D. Reed and Jamila Nandi Wright, and one son, Nathan D. Reed.^[11]

Career as minister[link]

Jeremiah Wright (center left), in 1998, greeting President Bill Clinton during a prayer breakfast at the White House.

Wright became pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago on March 1, 1972; it had some 250 members on its rolls, but only about 90 or so were actually attending worship by that time.^[17] By March 2008 Trinity United Church of Christ had become the largest church in the mostly white^[18] United Church of Christ denomination. The President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ, John H. Thomas, has stated: "It is critical that all of us express our gratitude and support to this remarkable congregation, to Jeremiah A. Wright for his leadership over 36 years."^[19] Thomas, who is a member of the Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Cleveland, has also preached^[20] and worshipped at Trinity United Church of Christ (most recently on March 2, 2008).^[19]

Trinity and Wright were profiled by correspondent Roger Wilkins in Sherry Jones's documentary "Keeping the Faith" broadcast as the June 16, 1987 episode of the PBS series Frontline with Judy Woodruff.^[21] In 1995, Wright was asked to deliver a prayer during an afternoon session of speeches at the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.^[22]

Wright, who began the "Ministers in Training" ("M.I.T.") program at Trinity United Church of Christ, has been a national leader in promoting theological education and the preparation of seminarians for the African-American church.^[23] The church's mission statement is based upon systematized Black liberation theology that started with the works of James Hal Cone.^[24][25]

Wright has been a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and other educational institutions. Wright has served on the Board of Trustees of Virginia Union University, Chicago Theological Seminary and City Colleges of Chicago. He has also served on the Board Directors of Evangelical Health Systems, the Black Theology Project, the Center for New Horizons and the Malcolm X School of Nursing, and on boards and committees of other religious and civic organizations.^[11]

Wright attended a lecture by Dr Frederick G. Sampson in Richmond, Virginia, in the late 1980s, on the GF Watts painting Hope, which inspired him to give a sermon in 1990 based on the subject of the painting - "with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity to make music and praise God ... To take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope ... that's the real word God will have us hear from this passage and from Watt's painting."^[26] Having attended Wright's sermon, Barack Obama later adapted Wright's phrase "audacity to hope" to "audacity of hope" which became the title for his 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address, and the title of his second book.

Controversies[link]

Wright, who was Barack Obama's former pastor, gained national attention in March 2008 when ABC News, after reviewing dozens of Wright's sermons,^[27] excerpted parts which were subject to intense media scrutiny, including Wright's contention that the Attacks of September 11, 2001 were proof that "America's chickens are coming home to roost" and "...not God Bless America. God damn America."^{[4][28][29][30]} Obama denounced the statements in question, but after critics continued to press the issue of his relationship with Wright he gave a speech titled "A More Perfect Union", in which he denounced Wright's remarks, but did not disown him as a person. The controversy began to fade, but was renewed in late April when Wright made a series of media appearances, including an interview on Bill Moyers Journal, a speech at the NAACP and a speech at the National Press Club.^[31] After the last of these, Obama spoke more forcefully against his former pastor, saying that he was "outraged" and "saddened" by his behavior, and in May he resigned his membership in the church.^[32]

On June 9, 2009, in an interview with the Daily Press of Newport News, Wright indicated that he hadn't had contact with Obama up to that point because "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office." Wright also suggested that Obama did not send a delegation to the Durban Review Conference in Geneva on racism because of Zionist pressure saying: "[T]he Jewish vote, the A-I-P-A-C vote, that's controlling him, that would not let him send representation to the Darfur Review Conference, that's talking this craziness on this trip, cause they’re Zionists, they would not let him talk to someone who calls a spade what it is."^[33] Writing for The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates characterized Wright's remarks as "crude conspiratorial antisemitism."^[34] On June 11, 2009, Wright amended his remarks during an interview with Mark Thompson on his radio program, Make it Plain. "Let me say like Hillary, I misspoke. Let me just say: Zionists... I’m not talking about all Jews, all people of the Jewish faith, I’m talking about Zionists."^[35]

Wright wrote on his Facebook page apologizing for his remarks on June 12, 2009. He wrote, "I mis-spoke and I sincerely meant no harm or ill-will to the American Jewish community or the Obama administration... I have great respect for the Jewish faith and the foundational (and central) part of our Judeo-Christian tradition."^[36] "In other words", another Atlantic writer, Jeffrey Goldberg, alleged, "[H]e regrets speaking plainly instead of deploying a euphemism."^[37] The Anti Defamation League released a statement condemning Wright's remarks as "inflammatory and false. The notions of Jewish control of the White House in Reverend Wright's statement express classic anti-Semitism in its most vile form."^[38]

In June 2011, in a speech at Empowerment Temple in Baltimore City, Wright called the State of Israel "illegal" and "genocidal" and insisted, "To equate Judaism with the state of Israel is to equate Christianity with [rapper] Flavor Flav."^[39]

Retirement[link]

Wright retired as pastor from Trinity United Church of Christ in early 2008. Over the course of his tenure, he brought the Church's membership from 87 in 1972 to over 8,000 parishioners.^[40] Trinity United purchased a lot in Tinley Park, a predominantly white Chicago suburb, and built Wright a 10,340-square-foot (961 m²) home valued at $1.6 million dollars.^[41][42]

Honors[link]

Wright has received a Rockefeller Fellowship and seven honorary doctorate degrees, including from Colgate University, Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Valparaiso University, United Theological Seminary, Chicago Theological Seminary, and Starr King School for the Ministry.^[11] Wright was named one of Ebony magazine's top 15 preachers.^[14] He was also awarded the first Carver Medal by Simpson College in January 2008, to recognize Wright as "an outstanding individual whose life exemplifies the commitment and vision of the service of George Washington Carver".^[43][44] On May 1, 2008, Northwestern University withdrew its invitation for him to receive an honorary doctorate in light of the controversy over his recent remarks.^[45]

Works[link]

• Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., "Music as Cultural Expression in Black Church Theology and Worship", Journal of Black Sacred Music 3, 1 (1) (Spring 1989).
• Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr. and Jini Kilgore Ross, What Makes You So Strong?: Sermons of Joy and Strength from Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Judson Press, November 1993, ISBN 978-0-8170-1198-7
• Jawanza Kunjufu and Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Adam! Where Are You?: Why Most Black Men Don't Go to Church, African American Images, June 1997, ISBN 978-0-913543-43-6 (also African American Images, 1994, ISBN B000T6LXPQ)
• Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr. and Colleen Birchett, Africans Who Shaped Our Faith (Student Guide), Urban Ministries, Inc., May 1995, ISBN 978-0-940955-29-5
• Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr. and Jini Kilgore Ross, Good News!: Sermons of Hope for Today's Families, Judson Press, December 1995, ISBN 978-0-8170-1236-6
• William J. Key, Robert Johnson Smith, Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. and Robert Johnson-Smith, From One Brother to Another: Voices of African American Men, Judson Press, October 1996, ISBN 978-0-8170-1250-2
• Frank Madison Reid, III, Jeremiah Wright Jr. and Colleen Birchett, When Black Men Stand Up for God: Reflections on the Million Man March, African American Images, December 1997, ISBN 978-0-913543-48-1
• Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr., What Can Happen When We Pray: A Daily Devotional, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, June 2002, ISBN 978-0-8066-3406-7
• Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr., From One Brother To Another, Volume 2: Voices of African American Men , Judson Press, January 2003, ISBN 978-0-8170-1362-2
• Wright, Jeremiah A, Jr. (2004), "Doing black theology in the black church", p 13-23, 213-214. In Linda E. Thomas (Ed.), Living Stones in the Household of God: The Legacy and Future of Black Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress. ISBN 0-8006-3627-9
• Wright, Jeremiah. "Here I am, send me". In Awakened to a calling: reflections on the vocation of ministry, Ann M. Svennungsen and Melissa Wiginton (Eds.), Nashville: Abingdon Press, c2005. ISBN 0-687-05390-0
• Wright, Jeremiah. "In the Lord's house, on the Lord's day". In Awakened to a calling: reflections on the vocation of ministry, Ann M. Svennungsen and Melissa Wiginton (Eds.), Nashville: Abingdon Press, c2005. ISBN 0-687-05390-0
• Iva E. Carruthers (Editor), Frederick D. Haynes III (Editor), Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. (Editor), Blow the Trumpet in Zion!: Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, January 2005, ISBN 978-0-8006-3712-5
• Ernest R. Flores and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Tempted to Leave the Cross: Renewing the Call to Discipleship, Judson Press, November 2007, ISBN 978-0-8170-1524-4

Wright has written several books and is featured on Wynton Marsalis's album The Majesty of the Blues, where he recites a spoken word piece written by Stanley Crouch, and on the Odyssey Channel series Great Preachers.^[46][47]

See also[link]

	Chicago portal
	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal
	United States Navy portal
	African American portal

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jeremiah Wright

• Biography at Answers.com
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Jeremiah Wright collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Jeremiah Wright in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Jeremiah Wright at the Internet Movie Database
• Illinois legislature resolution congratulating Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. on his retirement
• Von Hoene Jr., William A. "Rev. Wright in a different light". Chicago Tribune, 26 March 2008.
• Bill Moyers Journal - "Reverend Jeremiah Wright" PBS, April 25, 2008, interview
• Black Liberation Theology and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, interview with Dr. Dwight Hopkins, professor of theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, BeliefNet, May 2008
• Jeremiah Wright's Service to 3 Presidents photographs and newspaper articles
• Wright's blog at RH Reality Check (one post, February 7, 2008, on HIV/AIDS)

Sermons

• Wright sermons at the official channel of Trinity United Church of Christ on YouTube
• Audio of complete sermon by Wright from which the soundbite on 9/11 was excerpted.
• Audio of complete sermon by Wright from which soundbite "God damn America" was excerpted.
• The Audacity to Hope sermon from which the title of Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, is derived.
• Transcript Of A Jeremiah Wright Sermon given on January 27, 2008 Archived.
• Full video of Wright's 28 April 2008 speech on the Black church at the National Press club. Requires RealPlayer or Real Alternative

Ernesto Cardenal at La Chascona (Santiago of Chile).

Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (born January 20, 1925) is a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet and politician. He is a famous liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived for more than ten years (1965–1977). A member of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, a party he has since left, he was Nicaragua's minister of culture from 1979 to 1987.

Life[link]

Born into an upper class family in Granada, Nicaragua, Cardenal is a first cousin of the poet Pablo Antonio Cuadra. Cardenal studied literature first in Managua and from 1942 to 1946 in Mexico. Later, from 1947 to 1949, he continued his studies in New York and traveled through Italy, Spain and Switzerland between 1949 and 1950.

In July 1950, he returned to Nicaragua, where he participated in the 1954 "April Revolution" against Anastasio Somoza García's regime. The coup d'état failed and ended with the deaths of many of his associates. Cardenal subsequently entered the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemani (Kentucky, United States), under the other poet-priest Thomas Merton, but in 1959 he left to study theology in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Cardenal was ordained a Catholic priest in 1965 in Granada.^[1] He went to the Solentiname Islands where he founded a Christian, almost monastic, mainly peasant community, which eventually led to the founding of the artists' colony. It was there that the famous book El Evangelio de Solentiname ("The Gospel of Solentiname") was written. Cardenal collaborated closely with the leftist Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN), in working to overthrow Anastasio Somoza Debayle's régime.

Many members of the community of Solentiname engaged with the process of the Revolution, in the guerrilla warfare that the FSLN had developed to strike at the regime. 1977 was a crucial year to Cardenal's community since Somoza's National Guard, as a result from an attack to the headquarters stationed in the city of San Carlos, a few miles from the community, raided Solentiname and burned it to the ground, with Cardenal fleeing to Costa Rica.

On 19 July 1979, immediately after the Fall of Managua, he was named Minister of Culture by the new Sandinista regime. His brother Fernando Cardenal, also a Catholic priest (in the Jesuit order), was appointed Minister of Education. When Pope John Paul II visited Nicaragua in 1983, he openly scolded Ernesto Cardenal, who knelt before him, on the Managua airport runway, for resisting his order to resign from the government. The Pope admonished Cardenal: Usted tiene que arreglar sus asuntos con la Iglesia ("You must fix your affairs with the Church"). Cardenal remained minister of Culture until 1987, when his ministry was closed due to economic reasons.

Cardenal left the FSLN in 1994, protesting the authoritarian direction of the party under Daniel Ortega but insists that he has retained his leftist opinions. He is a member of the Movimiento de Renovación Sandinista (Sandinist Renovation Movement, MRS) that participated in the 2006 Nicaraguan General Elections. Days before the election, Cardenal stated, in a clear reference to his dispute with Ortega, that "I think it would be more desirable an authentic capitalism, as Montealegre's (Eduardo Montealegre, the presidential candidate for Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense) would be, than a false Revolution".^[2]

Ernesto Cardenal at San Diego State University, 2001

He is also a member of the board of advisers of the pan-Latin American TV station teleSUR.

Cardenal has been for a long time a polemical figure of Nicaragua's literature and cultural history. He has been described as "the most important poet right now in Latin America",^[3] politically and poetically, he's been a very vocal figure of Nicaragua, and a valid key to analyze and understand the contemporaneous literary and cultural life of Nicaragua.

During a short visit to India he came in touch with a group of writers called the Hungry generation, which had a profound influence on them.

Recognition[link]

Cardenal received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1980.

He won the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in November 1990.^[4]

He was nominated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in May 2005.

He participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007.

Bibliography[link]

Poetry[link]

• Gethsemani Ky
• Hora 0 ("Zero Hour")
• Epigramas ("Epigrams")
• Oración Por Marilyn Monroe ("Prayer for Marilyn Monroe")
• El estrecho dudoso ("The Doubtful Strait")
• Los ovnis de oro ("Golden UFOs")
• Homenaje a los indios americanos ("Homage to the American Indian")
• Salmos ("Psalms")
• Oráculo sobre Managua ("Oracle on Managua")
• Con Walker en Nicaragua ("With Walker in Nicaragua and Other Early Poems")
• Cántico Cósmico ("Cosmic Canticle")
• El telescopio en la noche oscura ("Telescope in the Dark Night")
• Vuelos de la Victoria ("Flights of Victory)
• Pluriverse: New and Selected Poems

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• About Ernesto Cardenal - comprehensive bibliography
• Works by or about Ernesto Cardenal in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Ernesto Cardenal en MarcaAcme.com
• Bishop Geoffrey Rowell on Cardenal, The Times.
• Stock Exchange Of Visions: Visions of Ernesto Cardenal (Video Interviews)
• Poem set to music

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since June 2011. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since June 2011. The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed. Tagged since June 2011.

Anthony B. Bradley is professor of theology at the King's College in New York City.

Before coming to King's, he was assistant professor of theology at Covenant Seminary from 2005 to 2009, where he also directed the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute.^{[citation needed]}

Writings[link]

• Bradley, Anthony B. Liberating Black Theology: The Bible and the Black Experience in America. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4335-1147-9
• Bradley, Anthony B. Black and Tired: Essays on Race, Politics, Culture, and International Development. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011. ISBN 978-1-60899-596-7
• Bradley, Anthony B. Keep Your Head Up: America's New Black Christian Leaders, Social Consciousness, and the Cosby Conversation. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4335-0673-4

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bio of Bradley from "The Institute"
• World Magazine Bio
• Acton Institute Profile
• Black News Article on Bradley