In my late teens and twenties, I wished I knew Spanish. More to read it than to speak it.

The reason was that coming out of South America were two major academic themes. That is academicaly, South America was leading. They were, the Paedacogic of Scouting and Liberation Theology.

Paedacogic of Scouting is about the method used in Scouting to teach young people, at that time I was a scout leader.

Liberation Theology is the Christian theology that teaches Christ has come to liberate us from economic oppression. This liberation is based on the liberation of the Israelites from the Egyptian and Marxist analysis of the economic position of communities in South America. This theology was developed by some priests of the Roman Catholic Church in South America.

I wished to read the original texts for these topics and not relie on the reporting of others and secondary texts produced by English speaking academics.

I am no longer involved in Scouting. I am still interested in Theology especially Liberation but I am sceptical about the role of Marxist analysis. I beleive the Christian faith is more than a personal faith, it has a political aspect. Yet the working out of this is something I still need to formulate for me.