Thank you, I am “re-learning” DM myself:

https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9855623/7353553

Dialectical materialism = a way of analysis that focuses on contradictions as engines driving change in a given direction to produce a deeper science. Dialetics allows us to understand relationships and materialism grounds it in reality. It is teleological, not positivist and is the enemy of idealism.

^That’s the quickest summary of DM I can think of so far and I wonder what I will change from that definition years into the future.

(You highlighted an important need for marxists to deeply understand theory and therefore I am revisiting what I have learned about DM starting with Stalin’s famous essay then dashthered’s essay then Losurdo’s book on Hegel and Freedom of the Moderns. Previously I started with Politzer’s Elementary Principles of Philosophy and then a bunch of Redsails.org articles. The latter two are really good resources but I want to try a fresh approach here)

But to better answer your question the authors/topics that came top of my head was Roland Boer, Samir Amin and liberation theology, so I did mini-research to make a reading list which I will be also adding to my own pile:

• Roland Boer - Red Theology, on the Communist Christian Tradition
• Samir Amin - A life looking forward
• Liberation Theology - Gustavo Gutierrez
• Religious Factor - Jose Carlos

(Addendum - I am an athiest myself but wanted to read around the topic you mentioned. I can’t pinpoint sources for the opinions I have so chances it will become hopefully more refined with time)