One can cite a number of examples of liberation theologians re- vising earlier, arguably hubristic positions. We have already noted a nuancing with regard to dependency theory as a guiding economic paradigm. Its vitiated success as an economic theory, however, does not negate the power of this paradigm on another level: as critique of a system of ‘dependency’ that does indeed demand spiritual sub- servience, in the forms of idolatrous worship and sacrifices. A second example of a new humility concerns the understanding of precisely who are the ‘agents’ of liberation. One of the earliest theologians of liberation, Hugo Assmann, offers an interesting mea culpa in this respect. Writing in 1997, Assmann effectively retracts his earlier ex- hortations to the poor to become the ‘subjects’ of history: for example in an edited collection from 1972 which declared the oppressed peo- ple to be the ‘Lord of History’.5 Assmann now admits that such an assignation can be patronisingly dismissive of the actual situation of poor people, and at worst is a form of idolization. The poor are asked to assume responsibility for their own liberation as well as that of the liberation theologians themselves, and ultimately of their oppres- sors. Anointing the poor as ‘historical subjects’, though intended to dignify and empower them, paradoxically amounted to yet another way in which they were excluded and objectified.6