It was founded by Nicaraguan Maryknoll priest Miguel D'Escoto with Philip J. Scharper in 1970.
It was the first to publish Gustavo Gutiérrez's A Theology of Liberation in the United States.
It also published Ernesto Cardenal's The Gospel in Solentiname, and Richard Millett's Guardians of the Dynasty, a study of Nicaragua's National Guard.
Later authors include Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide, South African missiologist David Bosch and 2007 Catholic Press Association prize winner Jens Söring.
[2] Orbis also published Walter Wink's Peace is the Way, an anthology of writings on nonviolence by the U.S. branch of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.