The Option for the Poor as a Decolonial Option: Latin American Liberation Theology in Conversation with Teología India and Womanist Theology

SMC Author

Joseph Drexler-Dreis

SMC Affiliated Work

1

Status

Faculty

School

School of Liberal Arts

Department

Theology and Religious Studies

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Publication / Conference / Sponsorship

Political Theology

Description/Abstract

Decolonial theorists pose a new challenge to liberation theology: Does its formulation of the option for the poor address the coloniality that distinguishes the modern context? This article argues that an option for the poor within theology, as a decolonial option, has to retrieve and deepen two central concerns of liberation theologians’ early articulation of the option for the poor: (1) the commitment to the poor and the way the divine is manifested historically, and (2) the affirmation of the need for social analysis and the need for this analysis to impact the commitment to God. The article draws on Teología India and womanist theology to indicate how these two interrelated commitments within the option for the poor can strengthen the option for the poor as a decolonial option.

Keywords

Option for the poor, Decolonial, Teología India, Womanist theology, Liberation theology

Scholarly

yes

DOI

10.1179/1743171915Y.0000000010

Volume

18

Issue

3

First Page

269

Last Page

286

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Religion

Original Citation

Drexler-Dreis, Joseph. “The Option for the Poor as a Decolonial Option: Latin American Liberation Theology in Conversation with Teología India and Womanist Theology.” Political Theology 18, no. 3 (2017), 269-86. 2017.

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