Honors Program

Midway Honors

Date of Award

5-2011

Thesis Professor(s)

Michael Allen

Thesis Professor Department

Philosophy and Humanities

Thesis Reader(s)

Leslie MacAvoy

Abstract

Liberation theology has played an important role for overcoming structural violence. Originating in Latin America, the movement continues to expand throughout the developed and developing world. Marxism and liberation theology share similar philosophies – showing preferential option to the poor. While many Marxists may believe that a solution to structural violence is alienating violence through justified revolution, the chance of success is limited. Liberation is a process, not an event. This essay identifies an alternative to liberation: applying the teachings of John Rawls and applying the Suffering Servant model of Jesus Christ. When we apply the Veil of Ignorance and the Difference Principle to liberation theology, we can realistically implement a system of equity in juxtaposition to the goals of a Marxist.

Document Type

Honors Thesis - Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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