The critical spirituality of Paulo Freire

Abstract

Starting from the premise that Paulo Freire’s capacity for hope in the face of personal struggle and exile issued from his spirituality, this paper examines Freire’s spirituality through the lens of Michael Dantley’s concept of critical spirituality. The concept of spirituality as discussed in the literature is explored, followed by an explication of Dantley’s concept of critical spirituality, which is an integration of critical theory and African-American spirituality as articulated by Cornel West and others. After briefly reviewing Freire’s religious and cultural background, the paper compares Dantley and Freire in terms of their perspectives on hope, conversion to or solidarity with the oppressed and prophetic vision. The paper concludes by offering four implications of Freire’s critical spirituality for educators seeking to work for social change.