Remember the Poor: The Challenge to Theology in the Twenty-First Century

Even as capitalism claims victory, the reality of poverty, suffering, and pain continues to grow throughout the world, including the "first world." This book explores the challenge to theology of the increasingly emphatic cries of people at the margins.The first part of the book rereads the theological spectrum from a position that includes the poor. Liberal Protestant theologies in North American and Roman Catholic variations of modern theology in Latin America are examined from the perspective of the underside of history framed by Jacques Lacan’s notion of imaginary and symbolic orders.The second part introduces the Lacanian notion of the real, setting the stage for the role the marginalized might play in the future of theology. The progressive integration of the voice of those at the margins is then traced in the theological works of Frederick Herzog (North America) and Gustavo Gutiérrez (Latin America).The final part draws together the most important elements of a new theological paradigm that grow out an encounter with the underside of history and its implications for a new theology and new theologians.Jeorg Rieger teaches systematic theology at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.