Popular Voices In Latin American Catholicism (ebook)

Argumento de Popular Voices In Latin American Catholicism (ebook)

Throughout Latin America, observers and activists have found in religion a promise of deep and long-lasting democratization. But for religion to change culture and politics, religion itself must change. Such change is not only a matter of doctrine, ritual, or institutional arrangements but also arises out of the needs, values, and ideas of average believers. Combining rich interviews and community studies in Venezuela and Colombia with analysis of broad ideological and institutional transformations, Daniel Levine examines how religious and cultural change begins and what gives it substance and lasting impact. The author focuses on the creation of self-confident popular groups among hitherto isolated and dispirited individuals. Once silent voices come to light as peasants and urban barrio dwellers reflect on their upbringing and community, on poverty and opportunity, on faith, prayer, and the Bible, and on institutions like state, school, and church. Levine also interviews priests, sisters, and pastoral agents and explains how their efforts shape the links between popular groups and the larger society. The result is a clear understanding of how relations among social and cultural levels are maintained and transformed, how programs are implemented, why they succeed or fail, and how change appears both to elites and to ordinary people.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.0List of Figures List of Tables Foreword Preface and Acknowledgments Note on the Interviews Pt. I Issues and Contexts 1 Popular Voices 3 Defining and Finding Popular Groups 6 Initial Perspectives on Theory and Practice 13 Studies in Latin America 20 Studying Popular Groups, Hearing Popular Voices 23 The Structure of This Book 29 2 Liberation Theology, Base Communities, and the Pattern of Change in Latin America 31 Context and Conjuncture: The Pattern of Change in Latin America 32 Central Ideas in Liberation Theology 39 Liberation Theology and Base Communities: Ideas and Action 44 Conclusion 51 3 Colombia and Venezuela: Nations, Churches, and Programs 54 State, Politics, and Associational Life 55 Socioeconomic and Demographic Contrasts 59 The Churches: Contrasts in Structure, Ideology, and Organizational Strategy 65 Popular Work: Alternative Views 82 Conclusion 91 4 Colombia and Venezuela: Dioceses, Villages, and Barrios 94 Facatativa 94 Barquisimeto 107 Cali 116 Comparative Perspectives 124 Pt. II Actors and Experiences 5 Being Religious, Reading the Bible, Becoming Church 133 Being Religious and Reading the Bible 134 Biblical Texts and Readings 139 Becoming Church: Varieties of Popular Experience 146 Transforming Popular Religion 167 Conclusion 177 6 Popular Needs and Popular Ideals 181 Being Poor 182 Fellowship, Sociability, and Self-Image 193 Images of Church and Clergy 199 Empowering the Poor 207 7 Priests, Sisters, and Pastoral Agents 213 Background and Personal History 215 Working 230 Opting for the Poor, Popular Religion, and the Nature of Groups 242 Two Matched Profiles 252 Conclusion 270 8 Selected Life Histories 272 Huberto Vanegas: A Lay Pastoral Agent 273 Two Colombian Women: Olga Ceballos and Susanna Madrid 280 Two Peasant Men: Fortunato Duque and Patricio Alvarez 294 Conclusion 310 Pt. III Theoretical and Comparative Reflections 9 Linking Everyday Life with Big Structures 317 Consciousness, Ideology, and Culture 322 Mediators, Mediations, and the Question of Democracy 335 A Note on Class 344 Conclusion 350 10 The Future of Popular Voices 353 Reprise 354 Explaining Change 362 Are Popular Voices Unique? 365 Facing the Future 368 Knowing about the Future 371 Envoi 374 Bibliography 375 Index 397