Theologian · Contemporary
Gustavo Gutiérrez, OP
1928–2024 · Liberation theology
Peruvian priest, later Dominican; never personally censured, though his school was the object of the CDF Instructions of 1984 and 1986, and his work was examined by the CDF for years before a clarified edition was accepted.
The Peruvian priest whose “A Theology of Liberation” (1971) defined the movement: theology as “critical reflection on praxis,” the “preferential option for the poor,” salvation as integral liberation including from unjust structures, and a use of Marxist social analysis to read Latin American reality. His later “We Drink from Our Own Wells” and “On Job” turned toward spirituality and the suffering of the innocent.
Why he matters: The preferential option for the poor he named entered the Magisterium (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 42; CCC 2448), and his work set the terms for the Church's social thought in the global South, for good and ill.
Where to be careful
The CDF's Libertatis Nuntius (1984) condemned the use of Marxist analysis and class struggle in liberation theology and the reduction of salvation to political liberation; Libertatis Conscientia (1986) set out the authentic doctrine. Gutiérrez revised the 1988 edition of his book in response. Read him with both Instructions.
Reading
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A Theology of Liberation (revised edition, 1988)Gustavo Gutiérrez, OP · The founding text, in the edition revised after the CDF Instructions.
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Instruction on Certain Aspects of the 'Theology of Liberation' (Libertatis Nuntius, 1984)Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith · The Church's judgment on the movement's errors.
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We Drink from Our Own WellsGustavo Gutiérrez, OP · The spirituality of liberation; his most accessible book.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each question the test asks.