Discovering the People: Theology, Culture and Politics in the Argentine Catholicism of the Seventies

Latin American liberation theology has been classified as a large umbrella under which it is possible to see the accumulation and diversification of different-and sometimes contradictory-currents. In the 1970s, one strand merged with the culturalist currents in vogue, with an identitarian slant, giving rise to the so-called theology of the people or Argentine school, identified with the figures of Lucio Gera, Rafael Tello and Juan Carlos Scannone. The emergence of this theology prompted reflection on the place of theologians in the field of ecclesiastical power, the emancipatory climate created by the Second Vatican Council, the debates on the problematic relationship between Catholicism and modern culture and, finally, the search for an original and idiosyncratic way of thinking. The aim of this paper is to highlight the characteristics of this current by analyzing the debates that took place between some of its representatives and other contemporary Catholic intellectuals. We hope to open a debate on the inscription of the Latin American theologies of the 1960s and 1970s in a broader process of crisis of the values of modernity.

Automated summary

Latin American liberation theology is a broad umbrella encompassing different and sometimes contradictory currents. The Argentine school, influenced by culturalist trends, explored the role of theologians in the ecclesiastical power and the relationship between Catholicism and modern culture.