A critical assessment of the theology of Camilo Torres in the light of Latin American theology : a theological paradigm for peace with justice for Colombia (original) (raw)
Related papers
2000
OF DISSERTATION A new pastoral vision and process emerged in the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas a few years after the coming of Bishop Samuel Ruiz to the diocese in 1960. The focus of this new pastoral process has been to develop a praxis of peace in a situation of poverty and cultural, economic and political systemic violence in which the Indigenous people of Chiapas have lived for so long. The pastoral workers of the diocese and the diocesan organizations made an option to accompany the poor campesino and Indigenous comunities and their social movements in their struggle for a better life. This accompaniment advanced the process of social mobilization which has taken place in south-east Chiapas since the 1970s. This study, building on widely held views by diocesan sources and some scholars about the roat causes of violence in Chiapas, provides a brief background to the long and complex history of this social conflict which culminated in an Indigenous anned uprising that erupted on January 1, 1994. This work examines the stages of the pastoral process of the Diocese of San Cristdbal, its origins and theological foundations, and highlights its significant turning points. This thesis claims that there has been a clear focus on and c o d t m e n t to a concrete line of pastoral praxis since the early 1970s. The focal point of this praxis has been the building of iglesias autbctonas, autochthonous churches, where the Indigenous communities of Chiapas and their concerns became central to the diocesan pastoral work. Bishop Ruiz's charisma and experience were key to the creation, development and articulation of the new diocesan pastoral praxis. Based on key theological essays, pastoral letters and homilies of Bishop Ruiz over more than twenty-five years, this study also explores the origins of Ruiz's theological insights. In the final part, this thesis offers a critical reflection on the analysis of violence and the praxis of peace of the Diocese of San Cristobal in the broader context of Catholic social teaching and Latin American liberation theology. It highlights the theological and pastoral contribution of the peacemaking praxis of this local c h u m h and the ways in which this praxis expands the universal Church's horizon and understanding of its mission and ministry of peacemaking.
Evangelical Theology in Latin America: The Development of a Missiological Christology
Missiology: An International Review, 1991
There has been a significant change in the way Latin American Christians perceive the person of Jesus Christ. The classic images of the Jesus child and the suffering Christ of the passion scenes, ably described and analyzed by John A. Mackay, have been substituted for an image of Jesus that does more justice to the New Testament material. The particular contribution of evangelical theology to this change has been in recent years the search for a new model for mission patterned after the model of Jesus in the Gospels, and a christological paradigm for social ethics in a time of change. This theological exploration has kept close to the concerns and convictions of the growing evangelical communities that have continued to grow in Latin America.
Presentation: Christianity of Liberation and Liberation Theology in Latin America
Sociedade E Cultura, 2020
Society and Culture publishes in this edition the special issue Christianity of Liberation and Liberation Theology in Latin America. It is an effort to gather the most recent analysis of the main specialists regarding this phenomenon, which has become less mediatic since the 2000s, but which remains alive in the Latin American context. Liberation Theology (LT) has its origin mainly in Latin America, based on the convergence of internal and external changes that result from modernity lived by the Catholic Church and some protestant churches in the second half of the 20th century. It is a theological thought that is born from the perspective of interpreting Latin American reality in light of the Gospel, using Marxist terms and concepts, while also affirming a “preferential option for the poor”, in other words, a political choice guided by the notion of social class.
2010
This book on the missiology of M. Richard Shaull makes a definite contribution to both the history of Christianity and missiology in Latin America and the Caribbean. The story of Millard Richard Shaull, a missionary from the United States who was transformed by historical praxis and pastoral ministry in Latin America, is worth telling. M. Richard Shaull was a pioneering voice in the movement called liberation theology in Latin America and the Caribbean. His solid theological background in the Reformed tradition, his attentive and open mind, and his prophetic vocation and vision discerned in the midst of suffering and hope provide for the development of a relevant theology of mission. John A. Mackay, a towering figure in the ecumenical movement, and Shaull's mentor at Princeton Theological Seminary, became his main source of inspiration and theological advice. It was in the 1950s that M. Richard Shaull started to reflect and write on the church and its mission in the sociopolitical turmoil taking place in countries like Colombia and Brazil. His active involvement over the years in the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) and his influence in the founding of Church and Society in Latin America, an avant-garde ecumenical organization in the early 1960s, place him both in the larger map of the ecumenical movement, particularly the World Council of Churches, and in the ecumenical movement in Latin America and the Caribbean. Shaull influenced the lives of theologians like Rubem Alves, his student in Brazil and at Princeton Theological Seminary, whose own work as a liberation theologian made a profound impact in the initial development of liberation theology in Latin America with his book, A Theology of Human Hope (Corpus Books, 1969). Dr. Á ngel Santiago-Vendrell, Assistant Professor of Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary (Florida Dunnam Campus), has gathered an impressive amount of information, which he diligently organized. He has selected important primary sources, analyzed the correspondence, and placed documents in their historical dimension (some of them unpublished and known to the general public for the first time). He has also traced books and essays forgotten or lost in missionary archives and personal collections of missionary executives.
TOWARDS AN ECUMENICAL THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS THROUGH A LATIN AMERICAN LENS.
This paper shows how theology of religions needs to focus on two aspects when speaking of religious pluralism: the ability and capacity of religious groups to dialogue, and the challenges of human rights and inclusiveness. From the Latin American theological context, the research was formulated around three topics: (i) the public importance of religion in both peace building as well as the promotion of justice, taking into account the importance of mysticism and otherness in the ecumenical formation of spiritualties and how they affect religious and social processes, allowing the emergence of new utopian, democratic and meaningful perspectives; (ii) the necessity of reshaping the theological lens with an intentional starting point in the realities of afro-indigenous cultures; and (iii) the contribution of feminist liberation theology to the debate of religious pluralism.
Camilo Torres, Liberation Theology, and Marxism
Sacra, 2021
The essay offers a critical re-reading of the life and works of the Colombian Catholic priest Camilo Torres Restrepo (1929–1966) through the prism of resistance to order and authority in the Catholic religion. Torres was a priest, a guerrilla, and a sociologist, combining all these three characteristics into an organic whole. During his life, he developed hostility towards Catholic authority (also due to his dialogue with Marxism) and concluded that violence was indispensable to change the situation of the Colombian poor. Even though he is often associated with the liberation theology approach, he cannot be properly considered a theologian of liberation since this Christian theological approach fully developed at the end of the 1960s, shortly after his death. The essay assesses the issue of whether he can be considered an integral part of liberation theology or a merely symbolic, iconic figure.
Biblical Reflection on Latin American Theology
Latin American theological movements are formed not only in the context of political struggle between the poor and the rich but also in the perspective of how God views the poor. Liberation theology and misión integral or integral mission reflect the historical struggles against structures of domination, economic dependence, and post-war challenges to the Christian faith.1 This paper reflects on the theological movements in Latin America through the lens of Jeremiah 22:16, which says, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord.”