The principle aim of Litonjua’s book, Liberation Theology, is to provide an analysis of how Latin American liberation theology represents a liberation of theology from older paradigms to a newer, broader one that not only is more effective than extant paradigms but is a fundamental shift in the way we view theology. Following the concepts of Thomas Kuhn’s “scientific revolutions,” Litonjua explains how Latin American liberation theology represents a new paradigm that does away with the traditional pulpit of Western theology in order to replace it with one that is much broader sociologically and much more all-encompassing where justice, freedom and love are concerned. However, Kuhn’s ideology viewed the scientific community as being housed within a vacuum but Litonjua views liberation theology one that has been greatly impacted by forces outside of itself-namely religious, political and social ones. The end result of this new liberation theology has been to create a paradigm of theology that is more aligned with Christian values if not necessarily traditional Christian thought and action. In fact, by including the “non-persons” (the oppressed who most suffer from the abuses and injustices of the social system) of traditional society within the theory which also calls for social and political actions to correct such injustice, Litonjua reminds us we are closer to having a paradigm that encompasses in its worldview methods that are much closer of those to Christ than any modern day theologians, “In the hands of Jesus and the prophets, theology was not only a religious instrument, but also a social and political instrument which disturbed the sociopolitical establishment as they announced the Good News of salvation to the disenfranchised and the outcast” (Litonjua 38).
To return to the beginning of Litonjua’s theory, he views Latin American liberation theology as only an exemplar of theology liberation because i...