The Effect of European Theology on the Development of Latin America's Liberation Theology

Because liberation theology developed in response to European thought this kind of theory in Latin America has roots in secular and religious events and movements in the mid-twentieth century in Europe. Jurgen Multman, Jean Maritain and Dietrich Bunhafr are among the European thinkers whose views are inflected in liberation theology. According to Multman’s view, what God has promised in the Bible is the resurrection of Jesus and the whole creation in the light of God's power, which is strongly linked to Christians’ social and political actions for the revitalization of human society. Therefore, it is regarded worldly, not other-worldly. This means that the church has a kinship with the world. Maritain believes that man has to endeavor to foster the material, social and spiritual development of every individual in the society, and this requires collaborative and collective efforts. Moreover, Bunhafr argues that Christians’ duty in today’s secular and atheist world is to share the sufferings of the Lord for reviving Christian’s faith in this world to prepare the grounds for establishing divine angelic world and justice. Therefore, it can be said that the great liberation theologians of Latin America are affected by European theologians and made use advantage of European views for expressing their own views. Thus, one of the main sources of liberation theology is European theology and Western theologians have contributed to the development of the theology in Latin America.