It is now clear that the major breakthrough in Christian theology in the last decade has been the explosive emergence of political and liberation theologies. From Latin American, African, and Asian liberation theologies through Euro-American political to North American black theologies and feminist theologies, the theological landscape has been irretrievably changed. As this volume makes clear, this multifaceted challenge to theology-as-usual cannot be ignored. One of the singular virtues of this present collection is that the challenge of liberation and political theologies is discussed both by major representatives of those traditions and by several representatives of other forms of theology. As the reader soon learns, there is no lack of conflict in the conversation which the liberation theologies have posed for all theologians. But what serious conversation (as distinct from vague attempts at 'dialogue') has ever lacked such conflict? In this collection the major contemporary theological issues gripping every theologian are not only joined but clarified and intensified in ways that could bear profound consequences for all theology.