The 2018 declaration of Archbishop Oscar Romero as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church made official what the Salvadoran people have known since his martyrdom. That event prompted renewed interest in Romero's thought. This volume is a necessary and welcome update of a work originally published in 1985, introducing Romero's thought through four pastoral letters, four speeches and statements addressed to persons and groups in El Salvador and abroad, and the last homily he gave immediately before his assassination. All of these works were issued during his three short years as archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to 1980. An important detail Michael Lee points to is that Romero published all four of his letters on August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration. Undoubtedly, Romero signaled to his fellow Salvadorans that it was they who helped manifest God's presence, particularly though their suffering.

Michael Lee, theologian and expert in the thought of Romero, and Romero's brother in theology and martyrdom, the Salvadoran theologian, Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, introduces the revised volume. Each gives the reader context through a concise survey of the themes, ideas, and development of Romero's thought. Romero's first pastoral letter identifies key sources of his theology: the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Episcopal Conference of Latin America and his experience of the growing violence in El Salvador, which had already claimed victims like his good friend, Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ, and was bringing El Salvador to civil war. Here, Romero identifies the church as a sacrament, embodying Easter. To accomplish its redemptive mission, the church is called to conversion, to a greater fidelity to Jesus Christ, which equips it for its mission to El Salvador and the world so that it may address not just human spiritual needs, but temporal needs too. The second letter, Lee argues, lays out the key features of Romero's theology. God's transcendence enables one to find God in ordinary human existence, particularly among the majority of Salvadorans and Latin Americans who seek a more just and humane life. The church is called to respond by proclaiming the kingdom of God to all, in particular to the poor. Included in this proclamation is the call to conversion from sinful practices and structures that degrade and destroy human existence. The third letter puts into practice the principles articulated in the second, with the church recognizing base ecclesial communities as integral to its structure and mission. This mission transcends political factionalism and addresses concrete social and political concerns, in particular the violence that will trigger the twelve-year Salvadoran civil war. The fourth letter, paired with the remaining writings in the book, gives a comprehensive overview of what the church looks like when its mission is shaped by the preferential option for the poor. The church's task is to give the poor a voice as human beings, with all working for God's kingdom and against the idolatry, the cause of the sin destroying their country and people.

This volume includes two helpful essays by Ignacio Martín-Baró, SJ, and Jon Sobrino, SJ, who served alongside Romero in their capacities as professors of psychology and theology, respectively, at the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in San Salvador. Martín-Baró's essay surveys the overlapping national and ecclesial historical contexts within which Romero worked and developed his theology. Sobrino's essay is a succinct, comprehensive overview of the themes and theological development of Romero's thought and pastoral activity as archbishop.

Undergraduate and graduate students, professors, and laypersons interested in a modern example of a person whose lived faith yielded original theological insights or in theology from Latin America, the Global South, or by Hispanics would benefit from reading this book. Lee's book, Revolutionary Saint: The Theological Legacy of Oscar Romero (Orbis, 2018), can serve as another helpful aid to readers who want to better understand Romero's thought.

Martín-Baró's original purpose for the 1985 edition of this book was to prevent the words and memory of Romero from being erased by his enemies. Romero's canonization, celebrated in part by this book, marks his mission a success.