This is the first book-length study to investigate Freire’s educational philosophy through the lens of his lifelong Catholicism. A Pedagogy of Faith explores an indispensable but often-overlooked dimension of arguably the most influential educational thinker since John Dewey, a dimension of his life’s work which has received little attention outside of his native Latin America. Most of his Western supporters have viewed him as a revolutionary Marxist or a secular humanist. Leopando illustrates how Catholic theology shaped central areas of his pedagogy such as the teacher-student relationship, the purpose of education, and the ontological vocation of all persons for humanization and historical agency.

With the recent election of a Latin American Pope who vigorously proclaims a gospel of social justice, Freire’s radically democratic view of education as a force for political transformation and human dignity remains profoundly relevant.