Landscapes of Liberation
Mission and Development in Peru's Southern Highlands, 1958 - 1988
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Leuven University Press
Published:26th Jul '23
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Catholic mission from the mid-20th century onwards was complicated by geopolitical upheaval, church reform, and the emergent critique of the colonial power matrix to which the Church belonged. Missionary movements to Latin America coincided with visions for a progressive, radically transformative church. Landscapes of Liberation expands scholarship into liberation theology's reception in Andean America and critically examines the interplay of the Catholic Church as a global institution with parishes as local actors. Through source material from both sides of the Atlantic, this book charts how a transnational network of pastoral agents and laypeople in Peru's southern highlands claimed mission and development as intertwined tenets of spiritual and social life throughout three decades of agrarian reform, activism, and social conflict. Ultimately, this book reveals how transformative theories for rural development yield contingent transformations: concrete change, yet contested liberation. Free ebook available at OAPEN Library, JSTOR, Project Muse, and Open Research Library
Oehri works with an impressive range of sources to present a richly layered discussion of a key era in the history of contemporary Catholicism in Peru. 'Landscapes of Liberation' tells a complex story and will serve as an important reference for scholars and students interested in understanding the liberationist Catholic Church of the time in the dynamic institutional contexts of the Peruvian Andes. - Andrew Orta, Journal of Latin American Studies. 2024;56(2):373-375. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X24000415
A rigorous work and a significant scholarly achievement. Oehri's book can also be read as a tribute to the recently departed Peruvian priest and theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P., one of the founders of Liberation Theology. His life and work should continue to inspire further studies on Catholicism, liberacionismo, and the deep interconnections between the spiritual and the political in Peru, the Andes, and Latin America, and they will find in Oehri's work guidance, inspiration, and an indispensable milestone. - Javier Puente, The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 111 no. 1, 2025, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cat.2025.a952987
Noah Oehri’s 'Landscapes of Liberation' is an exceptionally well researched social history of liberation theology in Peru. This work is an important and welcomed contribution that focuses on the fascinating developments of the liberation theology movement in the Andean region of Puno, one of the most heavily indigenous areas of Peru. Oehri’s regional focus is of critical importance. It brings to light an oftenforgotten challenge experienced by liberationist missionaries in the Andes, namely, advancing the agenda of social justice as pastoral agents of the Catholic Church while engaging a people whose culture was decimated by the centuries-longmissionary work of Catholicism(112). 'Landscapes of Liberation' is a careful attempt to illuminate this paradox by examining how liberation theology followers had to rearticulate their ideas visà- vis the challenges of indigeneity and coloniality. - RAÚL E. ZEGARRA, The Journal of Religion, volume 105, number 4, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/737211
ISBN: 9789462703742
Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 17mm
Weight: 485g
230 pages