"What is liberation theology?"  In 1992 a remarkable artistic answer to this question was given to the world by the Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. True to the liberation spirit of "contextual theology," he contextualised the traditional "Stations of the Cross" into the contemporary world and especially that of his native Latin America. Thus, for example, the "Roman" soldiers are armed with guns in a modern city environment. 

Esquivel produced his iconic paintings to mark the 500th anniversary of the brutal colonisation of the Americas by Europe. His images were widely circulated by Catholic Church relief agencies, but since 1992, they seem to have fallen into obscurity. They were produced as both posters and on 35 mm photographic slides for projection. From what I can see, nobody seems to have thought of scanning these and putting them on the web. 

With the kind help of friends at Queens University Belfast, I have now been able to do this. The images, together with a commentary that I have developed from earlier versions of what was produced in 1992, can be found at the above links either as Powerpoint (.ppt) or Acrobat (.pdf) files. Choose the Acrobat option if your computer does not have Powerpoint. As of 2008 a low-resolution Powerpoint option has been added - only half a MB filesize. In addition, the Powerpoint version contains the original full liturgies to each slide by Maria Graf-Huber. These will be found in the Notes section, which can be viewed by looking at the slides in either Normal or Outline view. 

If you want to pass the link for this file on to friends, or create website links to it for the benefit of others, it is probably best that you do so to this page. Its URL is www.alastairmcintosh.com/general/1992-stations-cross-esquivel.htm (all in lower case, and watch the spelling!)

Best wishes / Amities, 

Alastair McIntosh, Scotland / Ecosse

Qu'est-ce que la "théologie de la libération?" En 1992, une réponse remarquablement artistique était donnée par Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, prix nobel de la paix argentinien. Les liens ci-dessus peuvent être ouverts dans Powerpoint (.ptt) et Acrobat (.pdf). Les textes sont en anglais mais les images peuvent être copiées et utilisées dans un contexte 

En Español

Que es la teologia de la liberacion? En 1992, el premio Nobel de la paz, Dr Adolfo Perez Esquivel, recibio una calurosa acogida por su obra artisitica. Su coleccion de 15 pinturas, 'Estaciones de la Cruz' fuerondistribuidas apmpliamente por las agencias Catolicas en Europa, pero desde esa epoca han sido practicamente olvidadas. Reconociendo su trememda importancia, he decidido poner estas imagenes en la web. Hay dos enlaces para esta pagina. Uno de ellos permite ver las pinturas en Acrobat pdf, y en el otro, pueden ser descargadas como para presentaciones de Powerpoint ppt. Los comentarios estan basados en los originales usados por las agencias Catolicas, pero bastante modificados y actualizados por mi. Aunque este material esta presentado aqui en ingles, las imagenes trascienden el lenguaje, y pueden ser adaptadas para escribir otros comentarios y liturgias.

No Português

Imagens da Via Sacra de Esquivel: O que é teologia da libertação? Em 1992 uma resposta artística notável foi dada por Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, o argentino vencedor do Prêmio Nobel da Paz. Na ocasião, sua coleção de 15 pinturas, chamada “Via Sacra”, foi amplamente distribuída pelas agências de ajuda da igreja católica, mas desde então elas têm caído no esquecimento. Em reconhecimento à sua imensa importância, eu agora as tenho escaneadas e disponíveis na web. Há dois links nesta página. Um permite que as pinturas sejam vistas no formato Acrobat.pdf, e o outro, num arquivo muito maior, permite o download de uma apresentação de Powerpoint.ppt. Os comentários que acompanham as figuras são baseados nos originais usados pelas agências católicas, mas fortemente modificados e atualizados por mim.  Na seção de notas da versão de Powerpoint a liturgia original também é dada. Apesar de o material estar em inglês, as imagens transcendem a linguagem, então você pode adaptá-las escrevendo seus próprios comentários e liturgias.  

Every year I get emails asking for permission to use these images. My understanding is that Esquivel intends them to be freely used in the spirit of love in which they were intended. I have written to him to establish this, and also communicated via third parties. He has not replied directly (perhaps languange issues), but he has certainly never declined. I came by the images in 1992 when I served (as the only non-Catholic, being a Quaker) on the Management Committee of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF). The images were distributed that year to Catholic relief agencies across Europe, both as 35mm projector slides and large (I think A2 size) posters as well as an accompanying booklet. There was no sense of them being under copyright control if used in the spirit that is clearly intended. On the contrary, SCIAF's education department did all it could to get them out and being used far and wide. However, for the reassurance of any organisations that might be nervous in this copyright sensitive age, if your church or other organisation feels it needs to acknowledge somebody, then given that I had the images digitised then say something like: "Used courtesy of Alastair McIntosh". Here is a link to an article in the National Catholic Reporter about Esquivel and these slides, including a link to this page. Remember: there was a reason why Jesus never copyrighted the beatitudes. There is no copyright in the community of heaven.