[2] Between 1959 and 1961 he lived in Israel learning Arabic and Hebrew and working manual jobs at a cooperative led by French Jesuit Paul Gauthier, who would go on to influence Dussel and his view of liberation theology.

In the events leading up to the military dictatorship in Argentina of 1976–1983, he was increasingly the target of violence, including death threats, the bombing of his house, and sacking from the university.

He had produced an expansive body of work numbering some forty books on a range of subjects including the philosophy of liberation, ethics, political economy, theology, history and modernity/postmodernity.

[6] Enrique Dussel is one of the primary figures along with others such as Rodolfo Kusch, Arturo Roig, and Leopoldo Zea, in the philosophical movement referred to as the Philosophy of Liberation.

[9] The second half of the book covers the 20th century, addressing the political upheavals of the 1960s, the violence and oppression endured under military regimes, the response of the church, and the question of violent and non-violent resistance in Christian thinking.

[10] Dussel explores through exegesis the Christian obligation to overcome the sin of oppression through commitment to selfless action towards the goal of historical liberation.