La teología de la liberación en América Latina: una relectura sociológica

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE PROPOSES A SOCIOLOGICAL RE-INTERPRETATION OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY FROM A FIELD PERSPECTIVE. THE ARTICLE BEGINS WITH A REVIEW OF THE EXISTING LITERATURE ON THE SUBJECT. IT SUGGESTS THAT LIBERATION THEOLOGY WAS THE EXPRESSION OF A BROAD SOCIAL MOVEMENT, CONCEIVED OF A POPULAR AND PROGRESSIVE IDENTITY, PLACED WITHIN A LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE. BREAKING AWAY FROM EXISTING THEORIES, IT RECONSTRUCTS THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF RELIGIOUS DYNAMICS AND THE INTELLECTUAL PRODUCTION OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY. IT SHOWS THAT IT WAS MORE OF A TRANSNATIONAL THEOLOGY, THAT ITS DYNAMICS WERE DEPENDENT ON HEGEMONIC CATHOLICISM AND THAT RATHER THAN POPULAR LEADERS, LIBERATION THEOLOGY PROMOTED A MILITANT, THEOLOGICAL TYPE OF INTELLECTUALISM.