The Christian Left in Latin American Politics

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Dodson

After decades of neglect, interest in the political significance of Latin American Catholicism increased sharply in the late 1960s when it began to appear that the Church might have unimagined potential for promoting social change, particularly in a continent plagued by social upheaval and political instability (Drekonja, 1971: 59-65). In both word and deed, the postconciliar Church manifested a changing social orientation which entailed open involvement in political issues on behalf of the poor. In fact, by August 1968 and the convening of the Council of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) in Medellín, Colombia, the Church seemed to be changing its social and political attitudes so profoundly that reports of a revolutionary Church began to accompany discussions of the political situation in Latin America. Since Medellín, an important literature has evolved from efforts to understand this change in Latin American Catholicism.

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 327-334
Author(s):  
Inga V. Zheltikova ◽  
Elena I. Khokhlova

The article considers the dependence of the images of future on the socio-cultural context of their formation. Comparison of the images of the future found in A.I. Solzhenitsyn’s works of various years reveals his generally pessimistic attitude to the future in the situation of social stability and moderate optimism in times of society destabilization. At the same time, the author's images of the future both in the seventies and the nineties of the last century demonstrate the mismatch of social expectations and reality that was generally typical for the images of the future. According to the authors of the present article, Solzhenitsyn’s ideas that the revival of spirituality could serve as the basis for the development of economy, that the influence of the Church on the process of socio-economic development would grow, and that the political situation strongly depends on the personal qualities of the leader, are unjustified. Nevertheless, such ideas are still present in many images of the future of Russia, including contemporary ones.


2018 ◽  
pp. 131-143
Author(s):  
Astrid Nonbo Andersen

Enrique Dussel is one of the most prominent Latin American thinkers and a founding father of the Philosophy of Liberation. Dussel is known for his long political engagement in Latin American Politics and for his harsh critique of Western hegemony on the global stage – both the political and the philosophical. In this interview with Dussel these themes are discussed as well as some of Dussel’s own notions, such as pluriversality and transmodernity.


1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Renato Poblete

Ten years ago the Latin American Catholic Bishops held their Second General Conference in Medellín, Colombia. The conference had a great influence not only within the Catholic Church, but also on the formation of socioeconomic and political issues in Latin American countries. At the time of this writing, we are in the midst of preparations for the Third General Conference taking place in Puebla, Mexico, in October 1978. Therefore, this seems a good opportunity to reflect on the general processes of change in the Church leading to Puebla and their implications for the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (314) ◽  
pp. 637
Author(s):  
Elvis Rezende Messias ◽  
Marcial Maçaneiro

O presente artigo desenvolve a relação entre fé e compromisso político, com foco na possibilidade de opção partidária por parte dos fiéis católicos, à luz dos critérios antropológicos e sociais da Doutrina Social da Igreja, da contribuição teológica de Ratzinger/Bento XVI e dos documentos do CELAM. Problematiza-se a questão de ser ou não possível, ao católico, optar por determinados partidos ou legendas, em vista da participação pública na tarefa política. Como se trata de uma postura política e crente do sujeito, esta questão é refletida sob luz teológico-social, a partir do evento pascal de Cristo, que na Encarnação assumiu a historicidade humana, inspirando na Igreja a proposição de um humanismo integral. Daqui promanam os valores que a Doutrina Social estabelece: respeito pela dignidade humana, promoção da justiça e da paz, em vista de uma sociedade inclusiva e solidária. Com tais critérios, examinam-se os modelos ideológicos do capitalismo e do comunismo, alertando para eventuais reducionismos, em atenção a um projeto de humanidade inspirado no Evangelho. Como resultado desta abordagem propõe-se um olhar sobre a opção partidária mais dialogal que polarizado, atento à dimensão antropológica da Política e aos critérios da Doutrina Social da Igreja, em vista da condução da vida pública. Abstract: The present article develops the relationship between faith and political commitment, focusing on the possibility of an option for a given party by the Catholic faithful, in the light of the anthropological and social criteria of the Social Doctrine of the Church, of the Ratzinger/Bento xvi’s theological contribution and of the CELAM’s (Latin American Episcopal Council) documents. We question whether it is possible, for the Catholics, to opt for given parties or legends, in view of the need for public participation in the political tasks. Since we are dealing with the subject’s political posture and beliefs, this issue is looked at in a theological social light, starting with Christ’s Pascal event that in the Incarnation adopted the human historicity, inspiring the Church with the proposition of an integral humanism. From this derive the values established by the Social Doctrine: respect for the human dignity, the promotion of justice and peace, having in view an inclusive and solidary society. With such criteria, we examine the ideological models of capitalism and communism, calling attention to eventual reductionisms having in mind a project of humanity inspired in the Gospel. As a result of this approach we suggest viewing the party option in a more dialogical and polarized way, observing the anthropological dimension of Politics and the criteria of the Social Doctrine of the Church, in view of the way public life is conducted.Keywords: Faith; Politics; Party option; Social Doctrine of the Church.


Author(s):  
Nataliya M. Velikaya ◽  

Specifics of perception of political issues by Russian Youth and value grounds for their political behavior are analyzed in this article. The analysis is based on the sociological research data of 2018 and 2019. It is shown that political culture demonstrates the presence of mutually exclusive positions for a number of reasons. Low level of trust to the power practically do not correlate with evaluation of social-economic and political situation in Russia, do not provoke new forms of civil activity , what allows to make a conclusion about high degree of the political culture continuity, where group of nominal oppositionists demonstrating low level of trust to the power is not significant.


1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-144
Author(s):  
Mathias C. Kiemen

Historians studying the Church in Latin American have recently been receiving excellent assistance from political scientists and sociologists such as Ivan Vallier and François Houtart, and now the present author, Thomas C. Bruneau. There certainly is a place for sociology in the study of the Catholic Church. Bruneau’s theses concerning Church development in Brazil are, therefore, vitally interesting to professional historians of this country.


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-107
Author(s):  
MARIA CHIARA RIOLI

In the aftermath of the Holocaust the elaboration of Catholic perceptions of the Jewish people has been particularly problematic. The weight of a long tradition of Christian antisemitism and its influence on the Nazi extermination programme, as well as the revision of this attitude before and after the Shoah in various Catholic circles as a means of promoting a rapprochement, made it difficult to redefine the image of Jewish people in the Catholic imagination, and gave rise to different and conflicting interpretations. Some members of the Latin Catholic Church of Jerusalem began to argue for an analogy between Nazism and Zionism. This assertion took different forms as the political situation in Palestine evolved and in response to changing attitudes within the Church towards the Jews. This paper will reconstruct the ‘new Nazis’ paradigm in the Jerusalem Church, analysing three key periods: the 1947–9 Arab-Israeli war; the consolidation of the State of Israel in the 1950s; and the Eichmann trial of 1961–2.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Maria Jesús Pinar

The aim of this paper is to analyse 12 political cartoons published by Steve Bell in the left-wing oriented newspaper The Guardian to show how visual metaphors and metonymies and intertextual references are powerful strategies to present potent rhetorical depictions of political candidates and political issues. These devices are used to establish intertextual links across political cartoons and historical events, contemporary culture, paintings, literary works and illustrations. The themes that appear regularly in political cartoons have been identified, as well as a number of categories of source domains in visual metaphors. The analysis of the cartoons reveals that the interpretation of the cartoon and the appreciation of humour depend on the audience’s access to background knowledge, both of the political situation described in the cartoon and the intertextual references presented, on the audience’s ideology and on the decoding of the characteristics mapped onto the target of the metaphor.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erwin Dekker

This article examines the intellectual scenery of interwar Vienna. It argues that its central institution was not academia, but rather the circles ('Kreise'). The prominence of these circles can partly account for the creative outburst in the social sciences in interwar Vienna. The article also helps to explain the peculiar character of the knowledge produced in interwar Vienna which is just as much concerned with social and political issues as it is with more traditional scientific issues. The lack of formal institutions and the marginal position of the University of Vienna also had downsides. It caused uncertainty in terms of career prospects and professional identities, although the informal interaction within the circles full of rituals and alternative institutions could partly make up for this. The uncertain future for scholars ultimately contributed to the enormous wave of migration from Vienna, frequently even before the political situation became an acute threat.


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