Franz Hinkelammert’s Contributions to Latin American Liberation Theology

This presentation will examine the intellectual trajectory of liberation theologian and economist Franz J. Hinkelammert. The paper will offer an analysis of three major contributions his scholarship made to the development of Latin American liberation theology and three theses pertaining to each of these aspects of Hinkelammert’s work. First, the paper will offer an account of the development of Hinkelammert’s theological critique of capitalism and argue that it gained shape through a theological stylization of Marx’s critical project. Second, the presentation will investigate Hinkelammert’s call for a critique of utopian reason which will be described as the setting up of a liberatory social-epistemic analysis about the limits and possibilities of transformative action in the world. Finally, Hinkelammert’s more recent writings (2003-2023) will be summarized to demonstrate his engagement with contemporary political theology and mark how his work might highlight new development within liberation theologies.