The Revolution in the Origins of the Brazilian Catholic Left and Liberation Theology

Abstract

The theme of revolution gained important space in Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The successful Cuban revolution (January 1959) feeds the imaginary of youth, including the Christians. Young Catholics organized in the Specialized Catholic Action, especially in the JUC, JOC and JEC, working in education, student and trade union movements, in the countryside and in the cities, are also concerned with the issue of impoverishment, inequality and oppression. And so the idea of a Catholic Left and the need for alliance with other sectors of civil society that wanted social transformation and revolution began to advance.  And how could the Christians participate in this reality?  How to be a Christian in a miserable world?  How to read and interpret the social and political dynamics that generated exclusion? These are questions that occupy intellectuals of various tendencies, especially Christians. A process of elaborating a new formulation of the intelligence of faith, of theology, the Theology of Liberation then began.  This article, based on qualitative bibliographic research, aims at reflecting on the ideas of revolution, the understanding of the Christian revolution, and how it was being built, especially from the Christian youth, the Theology of Liberation.