EATWOT was born in Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1976. Twenty-two representatives from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and one Black theologian from the U.S.A. met in Dar-es Salaam for an "Ecumenical Dialogue of Third World Theologians" to share with one another theological efforts in their denominations - Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox.

The decades before its birth were a time of awakening for the Third World, the so-called "underdeveloped" or, more euphemistically, "developing" countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. People on the Third World had become conscious of the fact that their countries were not "underdeveloped" by virtue of limited natural or human resources but were forced into such a condition as a result of long years of exploitation and domination - economic, political, and cultural. At this time, too, Third World Christians had become aware that the "universal" theology they had inherited from the West was not pertinent to their context of poverty and marginalization; traditional theology had to be reformulated become meaningful to peoples struggling for a more just and egalitarian world. This was the backdrop of EATWOT's foundation.

EATWOT RECORDS
Many of our members probably do not know that EATWOT records are being filed in the Burke Library Archives (Union Theological Seminary) to ensure that EATWOT history be more publicized and accessible worldwide.
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