Liberation Theologies
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David Tombs, ‘Gustavo Gutiérrez’ in Philip Ziegler and R. David Nelson (eds), T&T Clark Handbook of Modern Theology (2026), Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Joyful and Troubling Laudato si’ (August 2025) Otago archive
David Tombs, Sithembiso Zwane and Charlene van der Walt, ‘Male Violence Against Men: A Contextual Bible Study on the Crucifixion of Jesus’, in Jione Havea (ed) Haunting Questions of Liberation Theology (2025), Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Gustavo Gutiérrez and A Theology of Liberation’ (29 Oct. 2024). SCM Blog.
Rebecca Chopp, Ethna Regan and David Tombs, ‘Latin American Liberation Theology’ (Wiley 2024). More info.
David Tombs, ‘Jon Sobrino and “The Crucified People’, Religions (2023). Open access.
David Tombs, 'Latin American Liberation Theology' (Peter Lang, 2009). Otago archive.
David Tombs, Latin American Liberation Theology (Brill 2002). Open access.
Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs, Truth and Memory: The Church and Human Rights in El Salvador and Guatemala (Gracewing, 2001). More info.
David Tombs, ‘Latin American Liberation Theology Faces the Future’ (2001). Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Oscar Romero and Resurrection Hope’ (1999). Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Machismo and Marianismo: Sexuality and Liberation Theology’ (1998). Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Liberating Christology: Images of Christ in the Work of Aloysius Pieris’ (1997). Otago archive.
David Tombs, 'The Hermeneutics of Liberation' (1995). Otago archive
I have a longstanding interest in liberation theologies in different contexts and especially in Latin America. My first book, Latin American Liberation Theology discusses the chronological development of liberation theology from the 1960s to the 1990s.
I was drawn into learning more about liberation theology when I first read Gustavo Gutiérrez as an undergraduate after visiting Peru. During my Master’s, I was taught by James Cone, at Union Theological Seminary, New York. My writing on the cross has been inspired especially by Jon Sobrino SJ, James Cone, and feminist scholarship.
I am interested in different forms of liberation theologies in different contexts and especially in the methodological insights from different liberation theologies on how to address public issues in transformative and relevant ways.
See further
The SCM Press blog, ‘Gustavo Gutierrez and A ‘Theology of Liberation” (2024).
The article, ‘Jon Sobrino and “the crucified people”’ (2023).
The interview with journalist Rosie Dawson, Shiloh Project podcast (2021).
My Inaugural Professorial Lecture, ‘Latin American Liberation Theology and its Ongoing Legacy’ (2015).
The book, Latin American Liberation Theology (2002).
Links to other publications in the list at the top of this page.