This article discusses the issue of Christianity in a pluralistic society on the basis of the book "If God Were a Human Rights Activist", by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. In this book the author confronts the challenges that the "movements that demand the presence of religion in the public sphere" place for human rights in the context of ”ecology of conceptions of human dignity." This article begins by presenting the problem of Christianity in a pluralistic society and indicating two fundamental (...) forms of dialogue and interaction between religious traditions and society as a whole. The text goes on to show, from the aforementioned book, how traditions and religious movements are a privileged place of affirmation and defense of human dignity and how theologies that sustain them constitute a 'defense grammar of human dignity. The article concludes by showing how the affirmation and defense of human dignity, understood and lived in the context of social struggles for justice, constitute the core of the Christian experience of God or, in any case, one of its fundamental features or marks. (shrink)

O artigo aborda teologicamente a problemática “fé-política” em sua unidade estrutural (respectividade constitutiva) e em sua autonomia relativa (especificidade, dinamismo, estrutura). Começa apresentando e confrontando alguns modos possíveis de seu tratamento (modo reducionista, modo dualista e modo estrutural) e assumindo o que nos parece o mais adequado e o mais conseqüente (modo estrutural). Em seguida, enfrenta-se com a problemática fé-política, esboçando, quase que a modo de teses, sua estrutura teológica fundamental: a fé tem uma dimensão política constitutiva sem se identificar (...) com ou se reduzir a ela; a política, em sua relativa autonomia, tem um caráter teologal radical ; tanto a dimensão política da fé quanto o caráter teologal da política carecem de mediações históricas – precisam ser mediatizados historicamente. E esse é, certamente, o aspecto mais complexo e mais polêmico da problemática. Aqui não faremos, senão, indicar algumas questões que nos parecem relevantes e decisivas nesse processo de mediação: objetividade da mediação, especificidade da missão da igreja, sujeitos eclesiais, caráter social da Igreja, o estritamente político da fé e a perspectiva dos pobres e oprimidos. Palavras-chave : Fé; Política; Cristianismo; Teologia Igreja.The present article addresses the theological issue "faith-politics" in its structural unit as well as in its relative autonomy (specificity, dynamics and structure). It begins by presenting and examining three possible ways of approaching the above named “faith-politics” issue, there is to say, reductionist, dual and structural ones. For that purpose, this article takes the last approach, the structural one, as the more consistent of all of them. Faith-politics issue is then dealt by addressing its basic theological structure. In this way, faith has a constitutive political dimension, nor identifying with politics neither being reduced to any politics interpretation. In its relative autonomy, politics then has a radical theological character. This article also emphasizes that political dimension of faith as well as its theological character of policy needs to be historically mediated. And that is certainly the most complex and controversial aspect of faith-politics issue. In other words, this article wishes to indicate some clues that seem to be relevant and decisive in this process of mediation: objectivity of the above-mentioned mediation, specificity of the mission of the church, social character of the Church, political character of faith and the perspective of the poor and oppressed people. Key-words : Faith; Politics; Christianity; Theology; Church. (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)