This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Arturo Andrés Roig (b. 1922) Ignacio Ellacuría (1930‐89) Ofelia Schutte (b. 1945) Conclusion References Further Reading.

The present article shows the contributions of two intellectual Jesuits, Ignacio Ellacuría and Francisco Taborda, who propose the feast or fraternal celebration as an example for a religious interculturality. The text goes from a philosophical proposal, which shows social coexistence as a fundamental, inevitable moment of the living being, to the praxis that makes a mere relationship an experience of recognition and liberation. The study shows the nexus between philosophy and theology, which in many occasions are (...) one single thing in the conceptualization of Latin American traditions. But also, one and indistinguishable discipline, in the case of many Jesuits committed to Our American causes. In particular, we highlight his ideas about the party, a main category in the construction of identity, justice and hope; that, at the same time, are vital moments of reflection and intercultural practice. (shrink)

Ignacio Ellacuría reconstructs three aspects of Karl Rahner’s metaphysics and fundamental theology for a Latin American context. First, Ellacuría reframes Rahner’s focus on the metaphysics of being, arguing instead that historical reality is the proper object of a truly Latin American theology and philosophy. Second, Ellacuria builds upon and diverges from aspects of Rahner’s use of the hylomorphic theory and the role of the agent intellect in his theory of knowing, using (...) Xavier Zubiri’s analysis of the role of sentient intelligence in order to reconstruct Rahner’s theological epistemology. And third, Ellacuría appropriates and reframes Rahner’s supernatural existential, situating it within the larger horizon of historical reality, which he says the tradition asserts has been transformed by grace. (shrink)

Latin America plays an increasingly important role in the development of modern Christianity yet it has been underrepresented in current scholarship on religion and science. In this first edited volume on the subject, contributors explore the different ways that religion and science relate to each other, how developments in natural science shaped religious views from the pre-Hispanic period until the nineteenth century and the current debates over evolution and creationism. It will appeal to those researching theology, divinity, (...) philosophy, history of science and Latin American studies. (shrink)

The theory and practice of liberalism has historically justified the dispossession of non-European peoples through the ideological deployment of individual rights—private property being the most prominent. Rather than discarding rights language altogether owing to its colonialist background, the theological option for the poor in the postconciliar Church of Latin America establishes a criterion of authenticity that contributes to its prophetic renewal. The methodological turn toward the poor evident in the liberation theology of Ignacio Ellacuría can (...) wrest rights from its crippling association with political, economic, and cultural forms of liberal domination as seen in the Americas. Latin American theologians provide historical and constructive resources for demythologizing the sacred right to private property in liberalism’s neocolonial present and historical past, as typified by John Locke. Specifically, the theme of integral liberation outlines the material, social, and transcendent dimensions of justice for the dispossessed as an ecclesial alternative to liberal individualism. (shrink)

The state of the debate surrounding issues on science and religion in Latin America is mostly unknown, both to regional and extra-regional scholars. This article presents and reviews in some detail the developments since 2000, when the first symposium on science and religion was held in Mexico, up to the present. I briefly introduce some features of Latin American academia and higher education institutions, as well as some trends in the public reception of these debates and atheist (...) engagement with it in Mexico and Argentina. The primary conclusion of this article is that, even though the discussion is new to Latin American academic circles, it is gaining traction and will certainly grow in the coming years. (shrink)

Liberation theology's account of how Latin America's rich (the small upper class) exploited the poor (its majority lower class) described things perfectly in El Salvador. On behalf of the crucified majority, Ellacurfa prophetically denounced, for over twenty years, the oppression of the crucifying oligarchy of El Salvador. This paper concerns a part of that denunciation, the part of it for which I, as a North American, as a citizen of the United States, have some responsibility.

Responsive to the signs of the Latin American situation, liberation theology suggests new interpretations of the symbols of faith and calls for a radical transformation of man and society.

Father Ignacio Ellacuría was a Spanish Jesuit philosopher and the most important disciple of another great Spanish philosopher, Xavier Zubiri. Ellacuría was sent to El Salvador in 1949 at eighteen, and after degrees in humanities, philosophy, and theology in Ecuador and Austria, he travelled to Spain in 1962 for doctoral studies with Zubiri. There he became perhaps the leading specialist on Zubiri’s philosophy, which first analyzes reality as a dynamically structured epigenetic system tracing its emergence from (...) material through organic to historical reality, and second, which postulates the concept of sentient intelligence through which we are able to apprehend reality as reality. Upon returning to El Salvador in 1967, Ellacuría used Zubiri’s philosophical system to develop a powerful analysis of Latin America’s complicated historical reality during the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Ellacuría’s extraordinary output touched many different fields: philosophy, theology, political analysis, and his role as President of the UCA in defense of the poor, and as peacemaker during the Civil War in El Salvador. He was assassinated with five other Jesuits and two women housekeepers by Salvadoran soldiers on November 16th 1989. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:330 BOOK REVIEWS is the power through which the Holy Spirit creates and nurtures the church, which is the source of all authority in the church, and which is the norm for all that the church teaches and practices. Only then will the use and abuse of power within the contemporary church be addressed in theologically sound and healthy ways. Only then will ecclesiastical divisions be healed and the (...) common mission of the church pursued with faithful commitment. Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Chicago, Illinois KURT K. HENDEL The Church in Latin America 1492-1992. Edited by ENRIQUE DussEL. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1992. Pp. x + 501. $49.95 (cloth). This volume is the result of an exemplary effort to stimulate the study of the history of Latin American churches, to communicate the results of historical scholarship across national lines, and to bring many persons of diverse tendencies and religious backgrounds together in a unified enterprise. Cooperation at the Latin American level has been made difficult at times due to repression, internal wars, and opposition by conservative church leaders. Heroic efforts by Enrique Dussel and the Commission for the Study of Church History in Latin America brought forth an eleven-volume General History of the Church in Latin America. The present volume benefits from this magnanimous enterprise and includes many contributors to the larger series. The result is a singlevolume history of the churches, Catholic and Protestant, with many strengths and weaknesses. The editor structured the work to provide a chronological survey of the region in its first section, one which is succinct and useful for understanding the distant roots of the Catholic church. The middle section takes up regional histories and generally succeeds in conveying well the history up to the contemporary period. Including the treatment of the church in Chile, however, with that in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay does not work well. Their civic cultures and ecclesiastical histories differ greatly, especially in this century. The final part devotes itself to special topics and becomes less historical than descriptive and evaluative. Here themes such as theology of liberation, Afro-American slavery, and religious orders receive special attention. This section offers much less reliable guidance to Latin American history, in my view. BOOK REVIEWS 331 One of the distinctive marks of the collaboration has been a determined effort (although not uniformally carried out) to recount history from the underside, from the point of view of the poor and oppressed, as well as from the perspective of religious and secular elite members who are thought to make history. This is an admirable and egalitarian ideal, but much basic research from this point of view has not been done. Within this section, Moises Sandoval provides a view of Hispanic Catholicism in the United States. He manages to sustain a view from the grassroots. The chapter, one of the best in the volume, could be required reading for any student of Nor,th American history. A few chapters may be marred by revisionist frameworks. The chapter on Protestantism is one. In my view, Jean Pierre Bastian's ideo· logical simplification does not allow him to give adequate consideration to the contemporary theological iand ecclesiological convictions behind notably diverse Protestant positions. Pentecostals account for 75-90 percent of Protestants in most Latin American countries; yet much of the history of Protestant churches in Latin America, as Bastian has re· counted it, has been irrelevant for explaining Pentecostal growth. This is not a minor consideration, since,the volume lacks a sense that Pentecostal churches are major religious organizations within Latin America. Similar tendencies mar the work of some Catholic writers who are wedded to the discourse of the " historical process of liberation." Such discourse leads to extravagant characterizations, as by Jose Comblin. He writes in the chapter on the church and human rights: "New democracies are totally unstable. Development has stagnated. There is no future in sight " (pp. 452-453). Comblin, a highly regiarded theologian, not a social scientist or historian, does not account for the great expansion (more than 2,000) of human rights organizations in Latin America. Many of these groups are tied to the church and came into existence largely... (shrink)

The survival and significance of the Latin American liberation theology movement relies, to some extent, on the power of the narratives of martyrdom. Precisely by relying on these narratives, through the dynamics of the theological category of memory that leads to solidarity, liberation theology situates itself in the tension between modernity and postmodernity. The categories of narrative, memory and solidarity, which are at play in the whole dynamic of martyrdom, constitute a postmodern way of (...) doing a modern liberation theology. Liberation theology will only be able to retain its “liberative” and “theological” element insofar as it continues to be “modern” and “postmodern” at the same time. Against the postmodern disbelief in the possibility of human emancipation, liberation theology continues to labor precisely under principium liberationis grounded in the promise of liberation contained in God’s revelation in the Scriptures. However, against the “modern” conception of emancipation based on reason and governed by the idea of progress, liberation theology envisions liberation as an integral process which takes place in a concrete, particular historical reality and under the eschatological promise of God. Keywords: liberation theology, martyrdom, modern, postmodern, narrative, memory, solidarity. Abstrak: Relevansi dan pertumbuhan teologi pembebasan, sampai tingkat tertentu, juga bergantung pada kekuatan kisah kemartiran. Dengan mendasarkan diri pada kisah (narrative) yang diolah lewat kategori pengingatan (memory) yang mengarah pada solidaritas, teologi pembebasan menempatkan diri dalam tegangan antara modernitas dan posmodernitas. Kategori kisah, pengingatan, dan solidaritas, yang berada dalam jantung narasi kemartiran, mengetengahkan sebuah cara posmodern untuk melakukan teologi pembebasan yang modern. Teologi pembebasan hanya akan berhasil mempertahankan unsur “teologi” dan “pembebasan” sejauh bersifat modern dan posmodern pada saat yang sama. Melawan ketidakpercayaan posmodernitas terhadap kemungkinan proyek pembebasan, teologi pembebasan mempertahankan prinsip pembebasan atas dasar isi pewahyuan Allah dalam Kitab Suci. Akan tetapi, melawan pemahaman modern tentang pembebasan berdasarkan akalbudi dan kemajuan, teologi pembebasan memahami pembebasan sebagai sebuah proses integral yang terjadi dalam waktu dan tempat yang nyata, dalam realitas sejarah yang partikular dan dalam kerangka janji eskatologis Allah. Kata-kata kunci: teologi pembebasan, kemartiran, modern, posmodern, narasi, pengingatan, solidaritas. (shrink)

Since 1990 I have been deeply involved in the development of Latin American ecofeminist thought and its theological, ethical and spiritual perspectives as a founding member of the Con-spirando Collective, a team of women working in the areas of ecofeminist theology, ethics and spirituality in Santiago, Chile. This article describes the results of a research project I conducted based on interviews with twelve faith-based activist women who had historically aligned themselves with liberation theology and its (...) practice and who now describe themselves as ecofeminists. The aim was to document the shift that took place in their identities and their growing ecofeminist awareness. This is made visible through the ways that these women perceive themselves in relation to the rest of the Earth community and to the Universe as a whole; in the way they re-image/re-name Ultimate Mystery; in their beliefs about death and rebirth; and in their spiritual and ethical practice. (shrink)

O artigo se confronta com a problemática da relação entre teologia e ciências sociais. Sua pretensão é formular adequadamente os termos dessa relação, explicitando a importância, a função e o lugar das ciências sociais na elaboração do discurso teológico e no produto teológico. Começa apresentando o debate sobre a relação entre teologia e ciências sociais na América Latina nas últimas décadas através de seus principais interlocutores: Gustavo Gutiérrez e Clodovis Boff; Juan Luis Segundo e Ignácio Ellacuría. E conclui, esboçando, (...) de modo sistemático, ainda que em forma de tese, a estrutura teórica fundamental dessa relação. Ela tem a ver com o conhecimento da realidade na qual se vive a fé e que deve ser pensada teologicamente; com a dimensão social do reinado de Deus, assunto da teologia cristã; com o caráter social da teologia, enquanto teoria; e com a suspeita ideológica e o processe de des-ideologização e libertação da teologia. Palavras-chave: Social. Teologia. Ciências sociais. Mediação.This article presents the issue of the relationship between theology and the social sciences. For this purpose, the author seeks to formulate the terms of the relationship of these two areas of Knowledge, highlighting the importance, the role and the place of the social sciences in the development of the theological discourse and of the theological product. At the beginning of the text the author presents a discussion on the relationship between theology and the social sciences in Latin America in recent decades through its main representatives: Gustavo Gutierrez and Clodovis Boff, Juan Luis Segundo and Ignacio Ellacuria. The paper also presents a systematic outline of the fundamental theoretical framework of the relationship between theology and the social sciences, showing that this relationship binds to the knowledge of the reality in which faith is placed. In conclusion, the texts highlights that faith must be considered theologically on three levels: with the social dimension of the Kingdom of God, which is an issue of Christian Theology; with the social character of theology as a theory; with the ideological suspicion and with the process of liberation of theology. Key-words : Social. Theology. Social Sciences. Mediation. (shrink)

This anthology offers the first serious, broad-ranging collection of English translations of significant Latin American contributions to social and political thought spanning the last forty years. Iván Márquez has judiciously selected narratives of resistance and liberation; ground-breaking texts in Latin American fields of inquiry such as liberation theology, philosophy, pedagogy, and dependency theory; and important readings in guerrilla revolution, socialist utopia, and post–Cold War thought, especially in the realms of democracy and civil society, (...) alternatives to neoliberalism, and nationalism in the context of globalization. Highlighting the vitality, diversity, and originality of Latin American thought, this anthology will be invaluable for students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities. (shrink)

A luta pela justiça e libertação encontra-se no centro dos movimentos e das reflexões teológicas latino-americanas há décadas. De que modo os movimentos sociais, os líderes políticos, os teólogos e os cristãos tratam atualmente os desafios da mudança climática? Como eles os relacionam no contexto global? O presente artigo, baseado numa apresentação feita pelo autor para uma audiência nórdica européia apresenta a gênesis e a matriz das teologias latino-americanas e alguns de seus principais expoentes como Leonardo Boff, Juan Luis Segundo, (...) Gustavo Gutierrez. Destaca também os novos empreendimentos que permitem uma abordagem dos assuntos relacionados às mudanças clímaticas, nomeados de teologias indígenas, eco-teologias, teologia e economia e teologia eco-feminista, construídos a partir das publicações de teólogos como Boff e Ivone Gebara. Em seguida, o autor destaca algumas das principais componentes desta relação, enfocando o imperativo ético de justiça climática, a renovada teologia da criação e da dimensão espiritual da abordagem. Palavras-chave : Teologia latino-americana, ecologia, alterações climáticas, ética, justiçaThe struggle for justice and liberation has been at the core of mouvements and theological reflection in Latin America for decades. How do social mouvements, political leaders, theologians and Christians address nowadays the challenges of climate change? What ethical and spiritual avenues are proposed? How to relate them to the global context? The present article, based on a presentation made by the author to a Nordic European audience, presents the genesis and matrix of Latin American theologies, some of their key authors like Leonardo Boff, Juan Luis Segundo, Gustavo Gutierrez and highlights new developments that have allowed an approach to climate change issues, namely, indigenous theology, eco-theology, theology and economy and eco-feminist theology, building on work done by theologians like Boff and Ivone Gebara. Then the author stresses some of the core components of this relation, focusing on the ethical imperative of climate justice, the renewed theology of creation and the spiritual dimension of the approach. Key words : Latin American theology, ecology, climate change, ethics, justice. (shrink)

O autor propõe algumas considerações sobre a TdL na celebração de seus 40 anos de existência. Num primeiro momento, ele destaca três características que justificam a pretensão avançada pela TdL latino-americana de se apresentar como “uma nova maneira de fazer teologia”: 1) nova relação para com a práxis; 2) nova perspectiva a partir da qual discernir os desafios postos pela práxis; 3) nova metodologia capaz de unir espiritualidade e método teológico. Num segundo momento, a TdL é reconhecida e apresentada como (...) uma autêntica theologia crucis . Isto significa que a cruz de Jesus é acolhida pela TdL em um tríplice modo: eixo gnosiológico, princípio epistemológico e critério formal. Por fim, o autor salienta o círculo virtuoso testemunhado pela TdL entre o local e o global. Epistemologicamente, a TdL é materialmente global e formalmente particular. Historicamente, ao longo de seus quarenta anos, a TdL tem se revelado como uma verdadeira teologia glocal , testemunhando um relação circular entre particular e universal. Palavras-chave: Teologia da Libertação. Práxis. Theologia crucis. Epistemologia teológica. Teologica glocal.The author proposes some considerations about Liberation Theology in celebration of its 40 years of existence. At first, he highlights three features that justify the claim put forth by Latin-American Liberation Theology of presenting itself as "a new way of doing theology": 1) new relationship vis-à-vis the Praxis; 2) new perspective from which we can discern the challenges posed by the Praxis; 3) new methodology able to unite spirituality and theological method. In a second moment, Liberation Theology is recognized and presented as an authentic theologia crucis . This means that the cross of Jesus is accepted by Liberation Theology in a threefold manner: agnostical axis, epistemological principle and formal criteria. Finally, the author stresses the virtuous circle witnessed by Liberation Theology between the local and the global. Epistemologically, Liberation Theology is materially global and formally private. Historically, throughout its forty years, Liberation Theology has been revealed as a true “ glocal” theology , witnessing a circular relationship between the particular and the universal. Keywords: Theology of Liberation. Praxis. Theologia crucis. Theological epistemology. “Glocal” (global + local) theology. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Ethics without Principles: Another Possible Ethics—Perspectives from Latin America by Roy H. May JrRamon LuzarragaEthics without Principles: Another Possible Ethics—Perspectives from Latin America Roy H. May Jr. EUGENE, OR: PICKWICK PUBLICATIONS, 2015. 80 PP. $16.00Roy May presents a collection of five essays that critique deontological ethics. He argues that deontology stands outside sociocultural and historical contexts, ignoring concrete human differences and the local histories of diverse (...) human cultures. Therefore, it is a false universal, an otherworldly, legalistic, and ideologically hegemonic construct. Consequently, it provides no space for diverse Latin American experiences and contexts. Such ethics do not liberate marginalized groups precisely because they do not take their concrete lived experiences and contexts into account. May proposes instead a nominalist, contextual, postmodern ethics. He traces the history of this ethic from Ockham, through its development in classical and modern Protestant thought, and finally Latin American liberation theology, Protestant and Catholic. It is a program to generate a dialogue over moral conduct and its significance for human [End Page 215] relationships and the concrete situations and conditions of daily life lived in diverse ways while modeled after the example of Jesus Christ.In the first essay, May proposes a contextual ethic where the lived context of human moral agents includes a reliance on moral experience and wisdom for clues to the best course of moral action. Engaging Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Lehman, and Latin American contextual ethicists, he rejects the idea that formal principles undergird Christian behavior. Contextual ethics is instead based on an obedient response to God's activity in the world, resulting in love of neighbor, building human life, seeking God's will in history, following Jesus's concrete moral example practiced in history, and participating in a Christian community that seeks the Kingdom of God. In the second essay, May sketches a method for an ethics of liberation, arguing how the analysis of concrete situations by moral agents could produce concrete norms of conduct. An ethics of alterity results, where marginalized people are freed from oppression and opened to horizons of new life. The third essay argues that a contextualist ethic must be Christomorphic instead of Christocentric. People practice "creative loyalty" to Jesus's example by engaging the other and his or her needs within one's particular context (34). This activity imitates but does not replicate how Jesus treated people in his context. In the fourth essay, May argues how a contextual ethic enables its practitioners to engage in "moral interrogations" of concrete life experiences and actions from which wisdom is gained (51). He calls for an intercultural ethics whereby diverse peoples in their respective contexts engage in mutual learning and respectful dialogue. The last essay speaks to the result of this dialogue: a polyphonic global discussion among people faithful to God and open to new life.May's exposition of contextual ethics is an excellent summary for people seeking to understand its origins, history, and ideas. Unfortunately, his criticism of deontological ethics causes him to miss a rich vein of thought. Those medieval scholastics who believed in universals knew well that such universals instantiated themselves in a myriad of ways. Lived, concrete, historical experiences serve as portals to the universal norm, which is not so much a bland uniform abstraction as a mosaic where diverse human experiences combine to help us realize that such norms exist. The mistake is made when one thinks her piece of the mosaic is the entire mosaic, which makes deontological ethics vulnerable to the problems May wants to avoid. Moreover, contextual ethics could defeat the intercultural dialogue he seeks precisely because the lack of an agreed objective measure leads to human power struggles over defining the terms of any ethical discussion. [End Page 216]Ramon LuzarragaBenedictine University at MesaCopyright © 2017 Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

Análise dos principais desafios do pluralismo religioso para o contexto teológico latino-americano. Como resultado de nossa pesquisa, formulamos três eixos norteadores da temática: I. A importância pública das religiões para os processos de promoção da paz e da justiça, associada ao valor da mística e da alteridade na formação de espiritualidades ecumênicas e como elas incidirão nos processos religiosos e sociais, favorecendo perspectivas utópicas, democráticas e doadoras de sentido. II. A necessidade de mudança de lugar teológico a partir da realidade (...) das culturas religiosas afro-indígenas. III. A contribuição da teologia feminista da libertação para o debate do pluralismo religioso. Metodologicamente, reunimos a produção teológica latino-americana em torno das questões do pluralismo religioso, identificamos os aspectos principais, especialmente os que interpelam mais diretamente o método teológico e sistematizamos os pontos que consideramos mais desafiadores em torno dos três eixos já referidos. A pesquisa mostra que, diante do pluralismo religioso, faz-se necessária para a teologia das religiões uma atenção especial à articulação entre a capacidade de diálogo dos grupos religiosos e os desafios em torno da defesa dos direitos humanos e das lógicas inclusivas. Palavras-chave: Método teológico. Teologia das religiões. Pluralismo. Teologia da libertação.This paper analyses the main challenges of religious pluralism for the theological Latin American context. The research was formulated around three topics: (i) the public importance of religions for the peace processes and promotion of justice. It takes into account the way in which the ecumenical formation of spiritualities, in the middle of mysticism and alterity, affects religious and social processes, allowing the emergence of new utopian, democratic and meaningful perspectives; (ii) the necessity of rethinking theological locus, shifting to a starting point of afro-indigenous cultures; and (iii) the contribution of feminist liberation theology to the debate of religious pluralism. Our method was to bring together the principal questions around religious pluralism in Latin American theology, identifying its principal aspects, focusing mostly those aspects that directly interpellate the theological methodology. Those aspects were systematized around the three topics mentioned above. The paper shows that, concerning religious pluralism, it is necessary for the theology of religions special attention to the relationship between the capacity for dialogue of religious groups around the defense of human rights and inclusiveness. Keywords: Theological methodology. Theology of religions. Pluralism. Liberation Theology. (shrink)

What does it mean to theorize Christianity in light of the decolonial turn? This volume invites distinguished Latinx and Latin American scholars to a conversation that engages the rich theoretical contributions of the decolonial turn, while relocating Indigenous, Afro-Latin American, Latinx, and other often marginalized practices and hermeneutical perspectives to the center-stage of religious discourse in the Americas. Keeping in mind that all religions—Christianity included—are cultured, and avoiding the abstract references to Christianity common to the modern (...) Eurocentric hegemonic project, the contributors favor embodied religious practices that emerge in concrete contexts and communities. Featuring essays from scholars such as Sylvia Marcos, Enrique Dussel, and Luis Rivera-Pagán, this volume represents a major step to bring Christian theology into the conversation with decolonial theory. (shrink)

*Winner of the American Philosophical Association's 2020 Essay Prize in Latin American Thought* This essay offers a novel account of the secularity of Latin American liberation philosophy. It challenges the accepted notion that liberation philosophy applies the methods and approaches of Latin American liberation theology to the philosophical arena, thus putting liberation theology on secular grounds. While this formulation is true insofar as liberation philosophy is not (...) bound by the hermeneutics of any particular religious tradition, this formulation could be misconstrued given that liberation philosophy does not premise such secularization in an undialectical understanding of secularity as secularism that disavows religion. Rather, liberation philosophy’s secularity is dialectical in that it requires constant engagement with re-ligion, not in the hermeneutics of any specific tradition but with “the traditional question of the Absolute.” Due to this often-misunderstood element of liberation philosophy, it has frequently been “ghettoized and relegated to the ‘safe’ area of theological studies,” as Eduardo Mendieta argues. However, I contend that liberation philosophy’s secular grounds offer an original contribution to philosophy as a decolonial and postsecularist liberation philosophy, one that conceives of secularism as an aspect of coloniality to be overcome, an obstacle rather than a benefit for Latin American philosophers seeking to gain a better understanding of our historical conditions. (shrink)

The article discusses the challenge of Indecent Theology to Latin American liberation theology and feminist theology in unmasking their implicit support for the binary, heterosexual norms of society. Althaus-Reid argues that theology is a sexual act, and provides rich metaphors and language for a vibrant sexual political theology. Her work undresses conventional Christian symbols by queering the intersection of theology, sexuality, and politics.

Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli tutti elevates some key themes of his papacy. Using the parable of the Good Samaritan as a framing narrative, Francis outlines an active, nonviolent style of politics and social engagement based on practices of attention and hospitality toward one’s neighbors. Francis refers to this mode of engagement as “social friendship.” Francis’s pastoral letters and homilies draw from the content and methodologies common to Latin American liberation theology, but many of his insights are (...) mirrored in an Anglo-American context through the witness of the Catholic Worker movement. This paper looks to the Catholic Worker for a mode by which the Gospel of social friendship can be lived out through asceses of attention and hospitality to the unhoused. Social friendship leads one to responsible action, and universal membership in the Body of Christ calls into question the structures that oppress the vulnerable. (shrink)

KOINONIA/ASETT MINGA/MUTIRÃO DE REVISTAS DE TEOLOGIA LATINO-AMERICANAS Teología feminista latinoamericana de la liberación: balance y futuro (Latin American feminist theology of liberation: balance and future).

Deftly quilting themes of Latin American and feminist liberation theologies with those of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and John Rawls, Alastair V. Campbell displays our rich interconnectedness and our moral responsibilities to one another. Suggesting that many American citizens are oppressed by our current health-care system, he contends that prior to questions of health-care allocation are questions of what we mean as a society by the term health--and how that term is inextricably linked to personal (...) and social freedom and liberation. In the forceful final chapter of the book, Campbell articulates ethical standards for just health-care delivery in the United States--standards that, above all, take account of deep religious faith and concern for one's neighbor. Health as Liberation is a critical analysis of justice and modern health care, and of a society's moral obligations to its citizens. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Liberation Theology Philosophy of Liberation Pedagogy of the Oppressed Conclusion References Further Reading.

Most research studying the corporate social performance –corporate financial performance link has utilized developed country samples. Also, this literature has generally focused on a wide variety of industries, ignoring the fact that certain sectors – such as controversial industries – have graver social and environmental issues. Hence, a gap exists in this tradition when it comes to emerging markets and controversial industries. This paper attempts to fill this void by providing preliminary evidence and insight on the matter. Based on an (...) exploration in six Latin American countries and five controversial industries, we find a negative bidirectional association between CSP and CFP. These results tend to contradict the mainstream conclusion of a positive bidirectional link, suggesting that institutional and market-level forces play a major role in shaping this relationship. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Christian-Buddhist Dialogue on Loving the EnemyWioleta PolinskaWe are taught to think that we need a foreign enemy. Governments work hard to get us to be afraid and to hate so we will rally behind them. If we do not have an enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us. Yet they are also victims.1—Thich Nhat HanhWe are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for (...) the victims of our nation, and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.2—Martin Luther King Jr.Literally speaking, Ahimsa means "non-killing."... To one who follows this doctrine there is no room for an enemy.3—M. K. GandhiIn his autobiography, Martin Luther King Jr. comments that he initially considered Jesus's commands such as "turn the other cheek" or "love your enemies" as limited to individual relationships. Only after reading Gandhi in the late 1940s did he conclude that the love ethic had a much broader scope. Love became to him an effective principle applied to racial groups and nations in conflict and was "a potent instrument for social and collective transformation."4 Some years later, King was influenced by another Asian religious thinker, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Under Nhat Hanh's influence, King repudiated the war in Vietnam by addressing the similarity between the Vietnamese Buddhist peace movement and the American civil rights movement.5Nhat Hanh and King were both inspired by Gandhi's peaceful approach to social conflicts. All three are exemplary models of love and nonviolence in their respective Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu traditions. Whether ahimsa (or harmlessness) in Hinduism, compassion for all beings in Buddhism, or "love of enemy" [End Page 89] in Christianity, unconditional love signifies the principal concern of these spiritual thinkers. All three men display an uncompromising commitment to the cause of the oppressed and downtrodden, but, at the same time, they refuse to vilify the opponents. In fact, all three speak of the "love of enemy" as the only sure way to ensure peaceful solution to any social crisis. Recent military conflicts prompted by the tragedy of September 11 offer a challenge for rethinking the most effective ways of dealing with international terrorism and other forms of social struggles. In what follows, I will suggest that, like Martin Luther King Jr., Christians can benefit from engaging in a dialogue with Eastern thought. Specifically, by focusing on the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh, I will engage Christian liberation theologies to offer a possible corrective to a theological reflection on social conflict. In conversation with sociological reflection on war, political theorists, and artists, this article will present a fresh reexamination of a nondualistic, nonviolent approach to military and social conflicts.Social exploitation, injustice, and oppression are focal points of many contemporary Christian theologies that are indebted to Latin American liberation theology. Recognizing the suffering of the poor and the failure of the historical Christian church to address the systemic injustice against them, liberation theologians affirm solidarity with the poor. Because of oppression and poverty, the poor have privileged access to the meaning of the Gospel (hermeneutic privilege) and the church needs to commit to a "preferential option for the poor." That is, those "who are privileged must identify with the poor and the oppressed not only because they need us but also because, from their experience of poverty and oppression, they are in a better position to understand the Gospel."6 Learning from the poor implies interpreting Christian faith out of the suffering of the poor; it implies seeing God as the God of the poor and the oppressed. The poor are seen as "the favorites of God"7 because they receive continuous divine attention to their struggle. The liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, Jesus's solidarity with the poor by becoming one of them, as well as his preaching the good news to them, are all examples of God's love for the poor. God's solidarity with the victims of social oppression reaches its zenith in the resurrection of Jesus when God is "doing Justice... (shrink)

This review-essay offers an extended engagement with Fernando Ignacio Leiva’s Latin American Neostructuralism, one of the most important contributions to contemporary Latin-American political economy. It situates Leiva’s critique of neostructuralism against the wider backdrop of Latin America’s contradictory turn to the Left since the late 1990s, and compares the treatments of change in Latin-American capitalism over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries developed by the schools of classical structuralism, neostructuralism, (...) and neoliberalism. The essay finds that Leiva’s critique of neostructuralism and his explanation for its influence on large segments of the region’s Left is the best work on the topic currently available in English. Leiva systematically demolishes neostructuralism’s claim to be a progressive alternative to neoliberalism. At the same time, it is argued that Leiva’s theoretical framework is compromised by its uncritical adoption of categories from French regulation-theory, and its nostalgia for elements of classical structuralism and its associated development-model of import-substitution industrialisation. Further, it is found that Leiva’s implicit attachment to certain myths propagated by the Marxism of the Second and, especially, Third Internationals regarding the national bourgeoisie’s role in Third-World capitalist development leaves him unduly dogmatic about the necessity, and unduly optimistic about the possibility, of building a progressive stage of capitalism in Latin America today. The same mythologies prevent Leiva from drawing the appropriate conclusions as regards the urgent necessity of rebuilding the socialist project in Latin America and internationally. (shrink)

Omar Rivera’s Delimitations of Latin American Philosophy: Beyond Redemption is an important contribution to the interpretation of central figures and questions of the Latin American philosophical tradition, particularly Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui and questions of identity and liberation. Rivera establishes productive dialogues between foundational figures such as Simón Bolívar, José Martí, and Mariátegui and decolonial thinkers like María Lugones, Aníbal Quijano, and Gloria Anzaldúa to posit delimitations of Latin American philosophy that might (...) allow it to move beyond redemptive logics that essentialize identities and reinscribe oppressions in narratives of liberation. This review explores the central arguments of the book and proposes a philosophical and a political issue that emerges from them. (shrink)

Latin American religious political thought includes colonial Spanish and Portuguese ideologies that preceded independence but have survived into the post-independence era, authoritarian ideologies supportive of military governments in the twentieth century, and progressive liberation theologies. In this article, I present a distinct tradition: a version of classical liberal thought. This tradition is skeptical of big government, opposed to caste systems, supportive of a high degree of federalism, uneasy with militarism, and supportive of democratic institutions while affirming religious (...) social norms. This ideology was developed in northeastern Brazil in the early nineteenth century by a Carmelite activist named Frei Caneca (Brother Mug), who published a newspaper titled the Typhis Pernambucano (Tiphys of the State of Pernambuco). (shrink)

Despite the frequent refrain concerning the paucity of attention paid to pneumatology in the theological discipline, a review of literature over the past fifty years reveals that pneumatology is an idea whose time has come. However, while writings on the Holy Spirit are manifold, systematically developed pneumatologies are not. In response to this reality, this essay explores four contextually constructed pneumatologies based in communities experiencing marginalisation, oppression, and exclusion: Latin American, womanist, Latinx, and black. These pneumatologies not only (...) represent particular ethnic, social, and racial contexts, but also express a particular hermeneutical perspective on the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, i.e., that of liberation. This perspective reflects the conviction that each genuine act of the Holy Spirit is essentially liberating—individually, socially, politically, ecclesially, and theologically. While other effects accompany this experience, liberation emerges at the heart of the encounter with Spirit. Exemplifying this in multiple ways are pneumatology as the irruption of the Spirit by liberation theologian José Comblin, pneumatology as the memory of the future by womanist Linda E. Thomas, the Holy Spirit as the improvisation of God by black theologian David Emmanuel Goatley, and the Spirit dwelling in convivencia by Latinx theologian Néstor Medina. (shrink)

J. Matthew Ashley’s Renewing Theology compellingly argues that academic theology needs renewal by way of a “living circulation” with spirituality. The latter may be an animating force for the former, assuring that theology, even in its academic form, arises from concrete experiential encounter with God. Ashley rec­ommends Ignatian spirituality as a tradition distinctively suited to renewing theology in late modernity, and offers detailed accounts of Karl Rahner’s, Ignacio Ellacuría’s, and Pope Francis’s diverse theological appropriations (...) of Ignatian spirituality to substantiate his case. Among the book’s numerous successes is Ashley’s creative presentation of Rahner as retrieving Ignatian spirituality so as to present a message and mission of consolation to the modern world; thus Rahner can be a productive model for academic theology today. (shrink)

In this exciting new study, Eugene Gogol interweaves three strands that form the intellectual bedrock for the concept of the Other in the Latin American context: Hegel's dialectic of negativity, Marx's humanism, and autochthonal emancipatory thought. From this foundation, the book explores the relation of liberatory philosophic thought to today's social and class movements. Gogol considers the logic of capitalism on Latin American soil, the ecological crisis in Latin America, and the concept and practice of (...) self-liberation. Still one of the most contested terrains of Latin American thought, the Other has been of central concern for many luminary thinkers including Leopoldo Zea, Octavio Paz, and José Carlos Mariátegui. While these writers may not garner much publicity in the world press, the highly public and ongoing struggles of the Zapatistas and Brazil's Landless Workers Movement demonstrate the continuing need to theorize the volatile nature of Latin American social reality. (shrink)

The term “innovation” or “innovative care” has recently gained attention in the context of the use of novel and not yet fully validated medical interventions and technologies. Most notably, there have been various incidences of medical activities insufficiently validated for its regular use in healthcare that fall into this category, such as stem cell treatments, genome sequencing for diagnostic purposes, or novel reproductive technologies. Latin American countries are among the places where new and non-validated medical activities take place, (...) notably due to a lack of clear regulations and the poor support of authorities of existent legal and ethical guidelines, which is driven by “hidden battles” on the moral status of certain interventions. The increasing importance of innovative care underlines the importance of developing a general framework for these practices. Therefore, the present chapter scrutinizes this nascent field of inquiry in Latin America and offers a conceptual framework for innovation as well as its ethical justification. As we will argue, an important use of the term “innovation” or “innovative care” is best interpreted as “new non-validated practice” and not as a research activity. Then, we will defend that responsible innovation understood as responsible new non-validated practice is ethically permissible and poses an acceptable medical option if done in exceptional circumstances—where no reasonable alternatives can be provided to an individual patient—and following special ethical principles. Finally, we focus on the peculiarities and specific difficulties the concept of new non-validated practice poses to the Latin American context. We will conclude the chapter by some remarks and recommendations we draw from our analysis for individual patients, doctors, and societies in Latin America. (shrink)

This essay examines the development of a liberation bioethics in Latin America with its focus on public health equity from the experience and knowledge of those who are at the margins, the poor and historically oppressed groups. An encounter between bioethics and liberation theology contributed to form a Latin American bioethics marked by a double aspect: bioethical scholarly focus on public health equity and social activism for universal healthcare coverage. Liberation theology has (...) a role in this bioethics oriented to public health, and Pope Francis offers a new contribution for this perspective at the same time that he brings it to a global discussion. Considering the exchange between liberation theology and bioethics and Francis’s insights, this essay offers a new perspective grounded in the Brazilian experiment and the Catholic social tradition to dialogue with US bioethical accounts by challenging the Western epistemological framework of bioethical studies in the Global North. (shrink)

MARINA PAOLA BANCHETTI-ROBINO is Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Florida Atlantic University. Her areas of research include phenomenology, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and zoosemiotics. Her publications have appeared in such journals as Synthese, Husserl Studies, Idealistic Studies, Philosophy East and West, and The Review of Metaphysics. She has also contributed essays to The Role of Pragmatics in Contemporary Philosophy (1997), Feminist Phenomenology (2000), and Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial (...) Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm (2006). She co-edited Philosophies of the Environment and Technology (1999) and is currently working on a book-length project entitled The Birth of Science Out of the Spirit of Myth: A Historico-Phenomenological Re-Examination of the Crisis of the European Sciences. BERNARD BOXILL was born in Saint Lucia, West Indies where he received his primary and secondary education. He studied philosophy at the University of New Brunswick, Canada and at the University of California, Los Angeles where he was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in 1971. He has published numerous articles, a book, Blacks and Social Justice (1992), and is professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ED BRANDON was born and educated in England, studying philosophy and linguistics at The University of York, England, and later philosophy at The University of Oxford with the late John Mackie. After teaching in Sierra Leone and briefly in England, he went to teach philosophy of education at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica in 1978. From 1992 he has been attached to a policy unit of the Vice-Chancellery, based at the Cave Hill campus in Barbados, where he has been assisting since 2000 with a new major in philosophy. His academic work can be accessed from http://cavehill.uwi.edu/bnccde/epb/personalpage.html CAROLYN CUSICK is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. She is a founding member of the Phenomenology Roundtable. Her research focuses on feminist epistemology, Africana philosophy, and phenomenology. LEWIS GORDON is President of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. He is Laura H. Carnell Professor, the most distinguished chair, at Temple University, where he holds appointments in philosophy, religion, and Judaic studies and directs the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought and the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies. He is also Ongoing Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Government at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning Her Majesty's Other Children: Sketches of Racism from a Neocolonial Age (Rowman and Littlefield, 1997), Disciplinary Decadence: Living Thought in Trying Times (Paradigm, 2006), An Introduction to Africana Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming), and co-editor of A Companion to African-American Studies (Blackwell, 2006) and Not Only the Master's Tools: African-American Studies in Theory and Practice (Paradigm, 2005). CLEVIS HEADLEY is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Florida Atlantic University, director of the Ethnic Studies Certificate Program, as well as director of the Master's in Liberal Studies. Professionally, he serves as the Vice-President and Treasurer of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. Professor Headley has published widely in the areas of Critical Race Theory and Africana philosophy. He has also published in Analytic philosophy, focusing specifically on Gottlob Frege. PAGET HENRY is Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Caliban's Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, Peripheral Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Antigua, and the co-editor of C. L. R. James' Caribbean. Professor Henry also serves as the editor of the C. L. R. James Journal, and has published numerous articles on the political economy of the Caribbean as well as on African, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean philosophy. ESIABA IROBI is Associate Professor of International Theatre/Performance Studies at Ohio University, Athens. His groundbreaking book: A Theatre for Cannibals: Resisting Globalization on the Continent and Diaspora since 1441 will be published by Palgrave Macmillan, London, in 2007. He has been invited to be an External Resident Fellow at the prestigious Dartmouth College Humanities Institute for the 2007-2008 academic year. CHIKE JEFFERS is a graduate student in the Ph.D. program of the Philosophy Department at Northwestern University. His interests are in Africana philosophy, social and political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion and aesthetics. He is originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. CATHERINE JOHN is Associate Professor of African Diaspora Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Her book Clear Word and Third Sight: Folk Groundings and Diasporic Consciousness in African Caribbean Writing was co-published by Duke University Press and UWI Press in 2003. She has published several articles on Caribbean literature and culture and her current book project is entitled The Just Society and the Diasporic Imagination. She spends her summer working in Woodside, St. Mary, Jamaica helping with a summer school for children and participating in the community's emancipation celebration. KENNETH KNIES is a doctoral student in philosophy at Stony Brook University. His areas of focus are phenomenology and ancient philosophy. He is also a contributing editor for Political Affairs magazine. EDIZON LEN is a photographer and coordinator of the Fondo Documental Afro-Andino at the Universidad Andina Simòn Bolivar in Quito, Ecuador. In 2006, he was curator of the photo exhibit "The Color of the Diaspora" presented at the Cultural Center of the Catholic University of Ecuador and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He is currently completing his doctorate at the Universidad Andina Simòn Bolivar with a focus on Maroon thought. REKHA MENON is Associate Professor of Art History at State University of New York, Buffalo State. She is the author of Seductive Aesthetics of Post Colonialism (forthcoming). Her area of research focuses on current philosophical investigations in colonial and neocolonial aspects of Indian art, artistic/cultural practices and philosophies and their relationship to Western arts and philosophies. Her manuscripts under review are: Ashamed of Our Nakedness, Is There Ever a Naked Body? Ambivalence in Contemporary Indian Expressive Aesthetics and Insatiable Desire. MICHAEL R. MICHAU is a Ph.D. candidate in the Philosophy and Literature Program at Purdue University, and during the 2006-2007 school year, a lecturer in the Department of Comparative Studies and Department of Philosophy at Ohio State University. He is the co-founder and co-secretary of the North American Levinas Society. CHARLES W. MILLS is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He works in the general area of oppositional political theory, and is the author of numerous articles and three books: The Racial Contract (Cornell University Press, 1997), Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race (Cornell University Press, 1998), and From Class to Race: Essays in White Marxism and Black Radicalism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003). MABOGO P. MORE is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has published articles on African philosophy and social and political philosophy in a number of academic journals, such as South African Journal of Philosophy, Dialogue and Universalism, Alternation, Theoria, and African Journal of Political Science. MARILYN NISSIM-SABAT, Ph.D., M.S.W. is Professor Emerita and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Lewis University. Dr. Nissim-Sabat is also a psychotherapist in private practice. She is the author of numerous book chapters and papers in the fields of philosophy (Husserlian phenomenology), psychoanalysis, feminism, and critical race theory. Citations of her works can be found on her website: marilynnissim-sabat.com. FREDERICK OCHIENG'-ODHIAMBO is a Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and Coordinator of the discipline at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados. His major research areas are African philosophy and social philosophy. He has published several articles on philosophic sagacity. IVAN PETRELLA is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami. He is author of The Future of Liberation Theology: An Argument and Manifesto (SCM Press, 2006) and editor of Latin American Liberation Theology: The Next Generation (Orbis Books, 2005) as well as co-editor of the series Reclaiming Liberation Theology (SCM Press) RICHARD PITHOUSE is a research fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He is editor of Asinamali: University Struggles in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Africa World Press, 2006). SATHYA RAO is Assistant Professor in French translation at the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta, Canada. His research fields include: theory of translation, continental philosophy, postcolonial studies, discourses on Africa, and Francophone cinema and literature. He has published articles in various peer-reviewed journals and written chapters in several collective books such as: De l'Ecrit Africain a l'Oral le Phenomene Graphique Africain, Simon Battestini (Ed.) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2006) and Thèorie-rèbellion. Un Ultimatum, Gilles Grelet (Ed.) (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005). He has a co-edited a book on Francophone African cinema L'Afrique fait son cinema (Montreal: Memoires d'encrier, forthcoming). Sathya Rao is vice-president of the International Non-Philosophical Organisation (INPhO), member of the Canadian Association of Translatology (CATS), coordinator of the research team Poexil, and Secretary of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. He is co-founder of an online journal Alternative Francophone. CATHERINE WALSH is Professor and Director of the doctoral program in Latin American Cultural Studies at the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar in Quito, Ecuador. Her research interests include the geopolitics of knowledge, interculturality and concerns related to the Afro-Andean Diaspora and the production of decolonial thought. Among her recent publications are Pensamiento crìtico y matriz colonial (Quito: Abya Yala, 2005), "Interculturality and the Coloniality of Power. An 'Other' Thinking and Positioning from the Colonial Difference," in Coloniality of Power, Transmodernity, and Border Thinking, R. Grosfoguel, J.D. Saldivar, and N. Maldonado-Torres (Eds.) (Durham: Duke University Press, forthcoming) and "Shifting the Geopolitics of Critical Knowledge: Decolonial Thought and Cultural Studies 'Others' in the Andes," Cultural Studies (forthcoming). KRISTIN WATERS has published widely in the areas of race and gender. Her anthology Enlightened Conversations: Women and Men Political Theorists (Blackwell, 2000) challenges political theorists to be more inclusive of race and gender in their research and teaching. Her book Black Women's Intellectual Traditions: Speaking Their Minds, co-edited with Carol Conaway (University of Vermont Press, forthcoming), addresses the varied intellectual traditions of black women's thought that spans more than two hundred years in North America. She is currently Professor of Philosophy at Worcester State College and Visiting Research Associate at Brandeis University. (shrink)

Though the social teachings of the U.S. Catholic bishops differ in several respects from both the Protestant social gospel and Latin American liberation theology, there is a common theological logic grounding these kindred conceptions of the role of the church in social reconstruction. Christian social concern begins with a "contrast experience" of the failure of present actuality to satisfy the felt requirements of conscience. This experience compels attention to the resources of Scripture which are brought to (...) bear by means of hermeneutical strategies that assume a social anthropology and are necessarily welded to penetrating social analysis. Universal moral principles are subsequently employed to permit expression of the values of faith in common public language. (shrink)

Resumen El artículo se sitúa ante los nuevos contextos que los jóvenes viven en América Latina, especialmente, considerando las estructuras de corrupción ante lo cual los jóvenes son más vulnerables por su condición de búsqueda de espacios de desarrollo y crecimiento social. Esta situación, plantea nuevos retos para la Pastoral Juvenil latinoamericana teniendo en cuenta que la misma institución eclesial no ha estado ajena a situaciones de corrupción. A través de un análisis documental, desde las Escrituras, pasando por cuatro de (...) las Conferencias Episcopales Latinoamericanas, el artículo pretende desarrollar la tensión entre jóvenes, sociedad y pastoral juvenil, para finalmente presentar una propuesta que se fundamenta en un proceso juvenil de cinco décadas que transita desde una pastoral liberadora a una pastoral regeneradora, donde los sujetos jóvenes rotos buscan renacer en nuestra América Latina.s The article is set against the new contexts that young people live in Latin America, especially considering the structures of corruption lo which young people are more vulnerable because oj their search for spaces of development and social growth. This situation poses new challenges for Latin American Youth Ministry bearing in mind that the Church institution itself has not been unaware of situations of corruption. Through a documentary analysis, from the Scriptures, through four of the Latin American Episcopal Conferences, the article aims to develop the tension between young people, socieíy and youth pastoral, lo finally present a proposal thal is based on a youth process of five decades that It goes from a liberating pastoral to a regenerative pasloral, where the broken young subjects seek to be reborn in our Latin America. (shrink)

The fundamental task of Filosofía de la realidad histórica (Philosophy of Historical Reality) is to put forth historical reality as the ultimate manifestation of reality, as the proper object of philosophy. Ellacuría develops the concept of historical reality as the synthesis of the Hegelian-Marxian dialectic and Xavier Zubiri’s radicalization of Scholastic realism. Historical reality is physical, not conceptual; material, not ideal; concrete, not abstract. Historical reality encompassesthe material, biological, individual, and social moments of reality. And when it is considered (...) in its totality, as a dynamic and differentiated structure of its moments, functions, and relations, historical reality forms a transcendental system—intramundane metaphysics. (shrink)

The fundamental task of Filosofía de la realidad histórica (Philosophy of Historical Reality) is to put forth historical reality as the ultimate manifestation of reality, as the proper object of philosophy. Ellacuría develops the concept of historical reality as the synthesis of the Hegelian-Marxian dialectic and Xavier Zubiri’s radicalization of Scholastic realism. Historical reality is physical, not conceptual; material, not ideal; concrete, not abstract. Historical reality encompassesthe material, biological, individual, and social moments of reality. And when it is considered (...) in its totality, as a dynamic and differentiated structure of its moments, functions, and relations, historical reality forms a transcendental system—intramundane metaphysics. (shrink)

The fundamental task of Filosofía de la realidad histórica (Philosophy of Historical Reality) is to put forth historical reality as the ultimate manifestation of reality, as the proper object of philosophy. Ellacuría develops the concept of historical reality as the synthesis of the Hegelian-Marxian dialectic and Xavier Zubiri’s radicalization of Scholastic realism. Historical reality is physical, not conceptual; material, not ideal; concrete, not abstract. Historical reality encompassesthe material, biological, individual, and social moments of reality. And when it is considered (...) in its totality, as a dynamic and differentiated structure of its moments, functions, and relations, historical reality forms a transcendental system—intramundane metaphysics. (shrink)

Enrique Dussel's writings span the theology of liberation, critiques of discourse ethics, evaluations of Marx, Levinas, Habermas, and others, but most importantly, the development of a philosophy written from the underside of Eurocentric modernist teleologies, an ethics of the impoverished, and the articulation of a unique Latin American theoretical perspective. This anthology of original articles by U.S. philosophers elucidating Dussel's thought, offers critical analyses from a variety of perspectives, including feminist ones. Also included is an essay (...) by Dussel that responds to these essays. (shrink)

Postmodernism may seem a particularly inappropriate term when used in conjunction with a region that is usually thought of as having only recently, and then unevenly, acceded to modernity. Yet in the last several years the concept has risen to the top of the agenda of cultural and political debate in Latin America. This collection explores the Latin American engagement with postmodernism, less to present a regional variant of the concept than to situate it in a transnational (...) framework. Recognizing that postmodernism in Latin America can only inaccurately be thought of as having traveled from an advanced capitalist "center" to arrive at a still dependent neocolonial "periphery," the contributors share the assumption that postmodernism is itself about the dynamics of interaction between local and metropolitan cultures in a global system in which the center-periphery model has begun to break down. These essays examine the ways in which postmodernism not only designates the effects of this transnationalism in Latin America, but also registers the cultural and political impact on an increasingly simultaneous global culture of a Latin America struggling with its own set of postcolonial contingencies, particularly the crisis of its political left, the dominance of neoliberal economic models, and the new challenges and possibilities opened by democratization. With new essays on the dynamics of Brazilian culture, the relationship between postmodernism and Latin American feminism, postmodernism and imperialism, and the implications of postmodernist theory for social policy, as well as the text of the Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle of the Zapatatista National Liberation Army, this expanded edition of boundary 2 will interest not only Latin Americanists, but scholars in all disciplines concerned with theories of the postmodern. Contributors. Xavier Albó, José Joaquín Brunner, Fernando Calderón, Enrique Dussel, Néstor García Canclini, Martín Hopenhayn, Neil Larsen, the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group, Norbert Lechner, María Milagros López, Raquel Olea, Aníbal Quijano, Nelly Richard, Carlos Rincón, Silviano Santiago, Beatriz Sarlo, Roberto Schwarz, and Hernán Vidal. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:THEOLOGY, PRAXIS, AND ETHICS IN THE THOUGHT OF JUAN LUIS SEGUNDO, S.J. JOEL ZIMBELMAN California State University, Chico Chico, California I. Introduction JESUS OF NAZARETH Yesterday and Today is Juan Luis Segundo's most recent contribution in an on-going effort to forge a distinctive post-conciliar catholic theology.1· This five-volume work establishes Segundo as one of the most prolific, methodologically sophisticated, and constructive Catholic theologians of this century. In (...) these volumes he moves beyond the task of reframing fundamental theology in political and social terms that he began in earlier works and undertakes a full elaboration of the theological method that he introduced in The Liberation of Theology.2 Better than any previous work, the recent effort witnesses to the author's range of interests and strengths, 1 Originally published in the Spanish as El hombre de hoy ante Jesus de Nazaret (Madrid: Ediciones Christiandad, 1982): Vol. I. Fe e ideologia; Vol. II/1 and 2 Historia y actualidad: Sinopticos y Pablo; Vol. II/3 El Cristo de los ejercicios espirituales; Vol. II/4 Lineas actuates de interpretacion de Jesus de Nazaret. English translation Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday and Today, tr. John Drury (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books) : vol. 1 Faith and Ideologies (1984); vol. 2 The Historical Jesus of the Synoptics (1985); vol. 3 The Humanist Christology of Paul (1986) ; vol. 4 The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises (1987); vol. 5 An Evolutionary Approach to Jesus of Nazareth (1988). 2 The Liberation of Theology, tr. John Drury (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1976). For earlier efforts at political and social theology, see A Theology for Artisans of A New Humanity, tr. John Drury (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books): vol. 1 The Community Called Church (1973); vol. 2 Grace and the Human Condition (1973) ; vol. 3 Our Idea of God (1973) ; vol. 4 The Sacraments Today (1974); vol. 5 Evolution and Guilt (1974). 233 234 JOEL ZIMBELMAN including theology and philosophy, hermeneutics and critical social theory, linguistic theory, and biblical studies. Continuing analysis and assessment of liberation theory, and Segundo's recent effort in particular, is warranted for at least three reasons. First, Jesus of Nazareth and particularly its first volume, Faith and Ideologies, clarifies Segundo's constructive project. The volume reasserts much that is already familiar to Segundo's past readers : a deconstructive hermeneutic; the elaboration of the concepts of faith and ideology; and an interpretation of the relationship of faith to praxis, efficacy, and liberation. But it also breaks new and creative ground as it begins to construct the foundations of a moral epistemology and teleology, a more fully developed theory of value appropriation, and an anthropology grounded in transcendental-existentialist and process categories. One can only appreciate the scope and implications of Segundo's thought in a critical analysis of this recent work. Second, Segundo's ·effort calls for further discussion because of its inevitable influence on the development of other constructive and critical Christian theologies. The visions of " geotheology,'' "world Catholicism," and a "liberating theology" advanced by Latin and North American Catholics are no longer the preoccupations of a peripheral minority but reflect the aspirations of conservative, moderate, and progressive voices in the Christian church. As part of this constructive task, a growing number of contemporary thinkers are addressing concerns or appropriating categories and constructs developed or elaborated by Segundo.8 His theological breadth and sophistication means 8 For discussions of this shift, see Alfred Hennelly, "Today's New Task: Geotheology,'' America 18 (January 1975): 27-29; and Penny Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism (New York: Viking/ Penguin, 1989). Those either indebted to or engaged in substantial conversation with Segundo include Matthew Lamb, Solidarity With Victims: Toward a Theology of Social Transformation (New York: Crossroads, 1982) ; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, " Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation," Origins: N. C. Documentary Service 15 (17 April 1986): 713-27; Rebecca Chopp, The Praxis of Suffering: An Interpretation of Liberation and Political Theologies (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1986) ; Alfred Hennelly, Theology for a Liberating Church: The New Praxis of Freedom (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1989). TltOUGB:T OF JUAN LUlS SEGUNbO, S.J. 235 that... (shrink)

Resumen En su recepción del Concilio Vaticano II la Iglesia latinoamericana -focalizada en el problema de la pobreza-, tomó distancia de la teología del desarrollo planteada en Gaudium et spes y de la antropología subyacente, sea soslayando este concepto como expresión de la ideología “desarrollista”, sea neutralizando su relevancia a través de la expansión indefinida de su significado, y en todos los casos subordinándolo a la idea y el objetivo de la liberación. Pero su visión unilateral de la pobreza, que (...) interpreta como consecuencia virtualmente exclusiva de las “estructuras de pecado”, lleva inevitablemente a una visión maniquea de la vida social entendida en términos de antagonismo de clases, y empuja por su propia lógica a la acción revolucionaria. Al mismo tiempo, pasa por alto el desafío decisivo para derrotar la pobreza, que no es únicamente la mejor distribución de la riqueza sino también y ante todo su creación. En esto consiste el desarrollo económico, fenómeno moderno pero posibilitado por la capacidad de iniciativa e invención característica del ser humano como imagen de Dios. Mientras los caminos de liberación preconizados por la teología de la liberación y la teología del pueblo han fracasado de modo inapelable, el sistema económico, político y cultural que Michael Novak denominara “capitalismo democrático” es el único que ha demostrado y sigue demostrando capacidad efectiva para liberar las energías creadoras de la sociedad, permitiendo a los pobres prosperar y convertirse en artífices de su propio destino.After the Second Vanean Council, the theology of “development” presented by Gaudium et spes was overlooked in the Latín American Church in favor of the concept of "Uberalion”. Under-lying this option lay a unilateral vision of povery, conceived exclusively as the outcome of the “structures o/sin”. This diagnosis fostered class struggle and revolutionary action, while providing no clue as to how to overcome poverty through the creation of wealth. A more adequate approach should seek for institutional arrangements that provide conditions for both Beration and development. The social system of “democratic capitalism” is the only one capable of generating true economic development, making it possible for its citizens to display their creative energy and become protagonists of their own destiny. (shrink)

A distinctive focus of 19th- and 20th-century Latin American philosophy is the convergence of identity formation and political liberation in ethnically and racially diverse postcolonial contexts. From this perspective, Omar Rivera interprets how a "we" is articulated and deployed in central political texts of this robust philosophical tradition. In particular, by turning to the work of Peruvian political theorist José Carlos Mariátegui among others, Rivera critiques philosophies of liberation that are invested in the redemption of oppressed (...) identities as conditions for bringing about radical social and political change, foregrounding Latin America's complex histories and socialities to illustrate the power and shortcomings of these projects. Building on this critical approach, Rivera studies interrelated epistemological, transcultural, and aesthetic delimitations of Latin American philosophy in order to explore the possibility of social and political liberation "beyond redemption.". (shrink)