RELIGION, THE CHURCH, AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY

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RELIGION, THE CHURCH, AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY

• LATI 50
• Introduction to Latin America

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CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS

• Reading
• Modern Latin America, chs. 6 and 14
• Optional Paper
• 6-10 pages on a topic of your choosing (approved
  by TA)
• Due in class next Thursday, March 3

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CONVENTIONAL WISDOMS

• Role of Catholicism
• Conservative politics
• Authority of priesthood
• Unchanging doctrines
• Cultures of faith

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INCONVENIENT FACTS

• 60 of worlds Catholics, and 90-95 born as
  Catholics, but
• Only 71 describe selves as Catholic, but
  attendance at mass is much less
• Anti-clericalism and secularism significant
• Intense theological ferment
• Competition from Protestantism and other
  religions

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HISTORICAL PATTERNS

• Syncretism blending of European (Catholic) and
  indigenous belief systems
• Role of priest in village society
• Preacher, teacher
• Arbiter, referee
• Path to upward mobility
• Trinity of power elite, military, and clergy
• Church as banker
• Doctrine of obedience

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LIBERATION THEOLOGY

• Origins
• Rerum novarum (1891) and Catholic social doctrine
• Marxist analysis
• Vatican II (1962-65)
• Conference of Latin American Bishops (Medellín,
  1968)
• Principal themes
• Social justice on earth
• Poverty a consequence of sin
• Preferential option for the poor
• Need for liberation from oppression and from
  avarice, selfishness, lack of compassion thus a
  more perfect relationship with God

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MEANS TO LIBERATION

• Christian Base Communities
• Readings of the Bible
• Popular empowerment
• Support for revolutionary movements (in some
  cases), resistance to authoritarian regimes
• Opposition from Vatican (Pope John Paul II and
  Benedict XVI) and from institutional Church

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THE CHURCH AND POLITICS

• Difference between institutional hierarchy and
  regular orders (e.g., Jesuits, Franciscans,
  Dominicans)
• Open support for human rights
• Brazil
• Chile
• Central America (Nicaragua, El Salvador)
• Conservative/reactionary stances
• Argentina
• Colombia

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RISE OF PROTESTANTISM

• Key Doctrines
• Direct personal experience of God through baptism
  in the Holy Spirit (thus, born again)
• Infallibility of Bible, personal healing
• Brazil
• Assemblies of God
• Universal Church of Kingdom of God
• Estimates 30 million
• Central America
• Guatemala
• Factors
• Charismatic preachers missionaries
• Appeal to migrants in urban slums, provision of
  practical support systems
• No need for literacy (as in reading Bible)

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ROOTS, AFRICAN AND INDIGENOUS

• African
• Umbanda (Brazil)
• Candomblé
• Santería (Cuba)
• Indigenous
• Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru

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AND SO

• Revision of conventional wisdom
• Variety and range of experience and roles
• Complexity of Latin American society and
  institutions