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Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective--A Theology

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Russell's book is an early work in the emerging liberation theology dialogue in the U.S. in the 1970's. Contemporary with Rosemary Radford Ruether's "Liberation Theology," James Cone's "A Black Theology of Liberation," and Gutierrez's "A Theology of Liberation," Russell's book captures the spirit of the times from a feminist perspective, which she develops through all her later work. While Russell was a white feminist, her feminist vision of human liberation explicitly concerns black feminists and women of the so-called "Third World." Letty Russell died in 2007.

A paragraph in the "Prologue," which serves as the epilogue of the book states the book in her own words.

"This book itself is an experiment in liberation theology - and invitation to test out the signs of the times in light of Tradition, so that we can begin to speak the language of hope in a world where there is little hope. It is an experiment, not just because this is where we are in the search of human liberation, but because this is always the nature of liberation theology." (184)

Russell's book focuses on the common themes and perspectives of early Liberation Theology. She ties them together in a humanist interpretation of liberation theology that is feminist because she argues a view of humanity that is mutually free, mutual, and inclusive. This means liberating humanity from a history shaped in racism, sexism, and androcentrism.

Human liberation in feminist perspective is, therefore, based on equality. In her section on partnership (cf. her "Growth in Partnership," 1981) and humanization (cf. her "Becoming Human," 1982), Russell distinguishes female sex (biological) from the feminine (cultural/social constructions). She argues becoming a human subject means transcending the labor of biological necessity ("woman's work," etc) and repetition of dehumanizing work to become creative in the shaping of society. Her feminist anthropology, or view of a humanized humanity, is two-ness or partnership. In Christ, women and men are set free to co-labor in the liberating work of God. Her book closes an "open ecclesiology," which is a reflection of what this means for the Christian church and reflections on women in ministry and models of ministry. (cf. for more, see her later "Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church," 1993)