Liberation Theologies in the United Statesreveals how the critical use of religion can be utilized to challenge and combat oppression in America.
In the nascent United States, religion often functioned as a justifier of oppression. Yet while religious discourse buttressed such oppressive activities as slavery and the destruction of native populations, oppressed communities have also made use of religion to critique and challenge this abuse. As Liberation Theologies in the United States demonstrates, this critical use of religion has often taken the form of liberation theologies, which use primarily Christian principles to address questions of social justice, including racism, poverty, and other types of oppression.
Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas and Anthony B. Pinn have brought together a stellar group of liberation theology scholars to provide a synthetic introduction to the historical development, context, theory, and goals of a range of U.S.-born liberation theologies:
Black TheologyAnthony B. Pinn
Womanist TheologyStacey M. Floyd-Thomas
Latina TheologyNancy Pineda-Madrid
Hispanic/Latino(a) TheologyBenjamín Valentín
Asian American TheologyAndrew Sung Park
Asian American Feminist TheologyGrace Ji-Sun Kim
Native Feminist TheologyAndrea Smith
Native American TheologyGeorge (Tink) Tinker
Gay and Lesbian TheologyRobert E. Shore-Goss
Feminist TheologyMary McClintock Fulkerson
"An extraordinary resource for understanding the vitality of liberation theologies and their relation to social transformation in the changing U.S. context. Written in an accessible and engaged way, this powerful and informative text will inspire beginners and scholars alike. I highly recommend it."Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology
"A delight to read . . . [and] an exemplary account of the genre of liberation theologies." -Religious Studies Review