The Density of the Present

Part One includes reflections on Pope John Paul II's encyclical on work as well as an overview of a century of Catholic social teaching in relation to the "option for the poor." In Part Two, Gutierrez examines the journey of the church in Latin America, including the landmark bishops' meeting in Medellin, Colombia (1968), the more recent bishops' meeting in Santo Domingo (1992), the meaning of the fifth centenary of the conquest of the Americas, and the challenge of liberation theology. In Part Three, he takes up the relationship between spirituality and theology, the function of theology within the church, and the critical question of how to talk about God in a world of suffering.