Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus the Liberator centers around three questions: the methodology of Latin American Christology; the message and mission of Jesus; and the circumstances and meaning of his suffering and death. Sobrino's starting point is the suffering poor of El Salvador — one of the “crucified peoples” of history. As Sobrino demonstrates, this vantage point reveals a different face of Christ, and consequently demands a different mode of discipleship. Rather than an “abstract” Christ who identifies with the powerful and counsels passive acceptance of unjust suffering, the poor have discovered a new image of Christ as “the Liberator,” one who lived and died in service of God's kingdom in history.