Landscapes of Liberation

Oehri works with an impressive range of sources to present a richly layered discussion of a key era in the history of contemporary Catholicism in Peru. 'Landscapes of Liberation' tells a complex story and will serve as an important reference for scholars and students interested in understanding the liberationist Catholic Church of the time in the dynamic institutional contexts of the Peruvian Andes. - Andrew Orta, Journal of Latin American Studies. 2024;56(2):373-375. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X24000415

A rigorous work and a significant scholarly achievement. Oehri's book can also be read as a tribute to the recently departed Peruvian priest and theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P., one of the founders of Liberation Theology. His life and work should continue to inspire further studies on Catholicism, liberacionismo, and the deep interconnections between the spiritual and the political in Peru, the Andes, and Latin America, and they will find in Oehri's work guidance, inspiration, and an indispensable milestone. - Javier Puente, The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 111 no. 1, 2025, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cat.2025.a952987

Noah Oehri’s 'Landscapes of Liberation' is an exceptionally well researched social history of liberation theology in Peru. This work is an important and welcomed contribution that focuses on the fascinating developments of the liberation theology movement in the Andean region of Puno, one of the most heavily indigenous areas of Peru. Oehri’s regional focus is of critical importance. It brings to light an oftenforgotten challenge experienced by liberationist missionaries in the Andes, namely, advancing the agenda of social justice as pastoral agents of the Catholic Church while engaging a people whose culture was decimated by the centuries-longmissionary work of Catholicism(112). 'Landscapes of Liberation' is a careful attempt to illuminate this paradox by examining how liberation theology followers had to rearticulate their ideas visà- vis the challenges of indigeneity and coloniality. - RAÚL E. ZEGARRA, The Journal of Religion, volume 105, number 4, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/737211

Oehri deserves special recognition for the incredible corpus of historical sources he has compiled to write this book. By consulting institutional documentation found in ecclesiastical archives, conducting interviews with missionaries, and drawing on pastoral journals and secular media, this book offers a comprehensive, nuanced, and integrated interpretation of the history of Liberation theology as experienced in Peru’s southern Andes. The use of such a diverse range of sources is unusual in most existing scholarship on Peruvian Catholicism, as most ecclesiastical archives have remained closed to scholars or have disappeared after the disintegration or weakening of the institutions founded by Catholic activists. For this reason, 'Landscapes of Liberation' may be one of the most exhaustive accounts of Liberationist Catholicism and how Church reforms translated into concrete pastoral experiments in Peru’s southern Andes. - Juan Miguel Espinoza Portocarrero, The American Historical Review, Volume 130, Issue 4, December 2025, Pages 1696–1697, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhaf414