Liberation and dependency: a theological reading of social sciences in Latin America

• Main Authors: Teixeira, Helio Aparecido Campos, de Souza, Ezequiel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stellenbosch University 2015-08-01
• Series: Missionalia: Southern African Journal of Missiology
• Subjects: Liberation Theology; Dependency Theory; Sociology; Underdevelopment
• Online Access: http://missionalia.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/94

Introduction: In the early 1970s, social movements directed Latin American theologyto a creative process of deprivatization of the Christian faith, reconfiguring fromthe community practices of liberation and their holistic implications the theoreticalexercise concerning its political and social commitment. Consequently, the notion ofliberation began to be addressed by the opposite equivalent of dependency withinthe methodological framework of the biblical-theological approach. Objective: Tounderstand the meaning of the opposite correlation between liberation and dependencyfrom their specificities in accordance with the vision of liberation intellectuals,and identify the way in which dependency was appropriate to respond to theresponsive and socio-analytical theoretical framework of these intellectuals, linkingthe reading of reality to the Latin American community practice. Methods: Historicaland systematic research, exploratory, under an analytical-descriptive orientation, organized from conceptual schemes. Results: Based on the finding regarding the theoretical refraction of dependency through liberation, the concept emerges as thetheological interpretation of an entire theoretical field taken indistinctly, namely theDependency Theory. Conclusion: The opposite correlation between dependency andliberation as a finding that reveals the similarity between the real that is theorized(dependency) and the hypothetical conceptualization of maxims of action (liberation),comprehended within the general theory of anti-imperialism, resulted in aninterdisciplinary theological reflection.