Liberation Theology on the Move

At the beginning of August, at an American Enterprise Institute conference on “Liberation Theology and the Liberal Society,” an unexpected new dialogue opened up. Hugo Assmann, a former priest still in good ecclesiastical standing with Cardinal Arns and other bishops in Brazil, is one of the founding fathers of liberation theology; in his view, the latter has entered a new phase.

Assmann mainly emphasized the urgent need to negotiate the debt crisis. (Tom Bethell, in the August 23 issue of NR, anticipated him.) His many empirical assertions invite rational debate, and this was already an advance. But the biggest advance lay in his embrace of democracy.

About the Author

Michael Novak

Michael Novak was a Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

Featured Tags

At the beginning of August, at an American Enterprise Institute conference on “Liberation Theology and the Liberal Society,” an unexpected new dialogue opened up. Hugo Assmann, a former priest still in good ecclesiastical standing with Cardinal Arns and other bishops in Brazil, is one of the founding fathers of liberation theology; in his view, the latter has entered a new phase.

Assmann mainly emphasized the urgent need to negotiate the debt crisis. (Tom Bethell, in the August 23 issue of NR, anticipated him.) His many empirical assertions invite rational debate, and this was already an advance. But the biggest advance lay in his embrace of democracy.