Christian Smith, The Emergence of Libertation - Essay Example

The movement was formed when in 1962; Pope John XXIII called the Vatican to try adapting Christian message to the world, which was coming modernized at high rate. The council was also called upon to rethink on the nature that the church had and the relationship that was between the two. In the conference, there was redesigning of the roles that were to be played by the church. The church was then seen as people of God who had different capabilities but those who shared humanity and similar destiny in the eye of God.

Through the conference, Vatican II called for the church to get involved in the fight against poverty. They thought that when there was development of a humble role, the poor would be easily reached. There was rejection of the idea that the church was to be aligned with powerful elite and stressed on the need of a more just world. The bishops that were from Latin America were not much satisfied with the Vatican II; it became a lesson to them. When the bishops went back to Latin America, they took a close look at the social order in the numerous countries (Smith, 58).

The concepts of Vatican II were applied in Latin America in 1968. The outcome that was got was a document that was to be the basis for liberation theology. The document also gave the church power to get involved in social change. There was argue that the church was to be involved much on liberation rather than focusing on developments in dealing with the problems that faced by Latin America (Smith, 83). There are theologians that played a major role in making sure that liberation theology was developed.

The people include Segundo Galilea, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Juan Luis Segundo, and Lucio Gera. In 1964, Gustavo Gutiérrez described the theology as a critical reflection on praxis. The line of though was then developed further by meetings that were carried out in Havana in 1965. After