Om befrielseteologins uppkomst i Latinamerika. En sociologisk analys av religiös förändring. : On the Rise of Liberation Theology in Latin America. A Sociological Analysis of Religious Change

Sammanfattning: The overall purpose of the present study is to contribute to our understanding of religious change and to an explanation of the phenomenon. The emergence of the theology of liberation is an important case of religious change in Latin America during the 1960s. Hence, the focus of this study is on how and why the theology of liberation emerged. The theoretical framework is primarily based on the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s key concepts of field, habitus and capital. This framework is used as an alternative to the dominant theories of religious change, that is, the secularization theory and the theory of religious economies. The data come from a variety of sources, including interviews, electronic and conventional letters, archives, books and articles. The most important conclusion is that Liberation Theology emerged within the Catholic Student Movement, as a product of collective work. More specifically, it arose as part of a reproduction strategy, aimed at defending the Church’s position in the national fields of power and at strengthening the Catholic Student Movement in the struggle for symbolic power at the universities. In the early 1960s, the Catholic Student Movement thought that the primary threat to the Church came from Marxism and Marxist groups. This threat was fought by means of involvement in the struggle for social change and development. Later, the commitment to development became a commitment to liberation. This commitment was shared with Marxist groups, but the Student Movement members simultaneously distinguished themselves from these groups as militant Catholics. The theology of liberation emerged when the Catholic Student Movement discovered new aspects of the Gospel as a result of its commitment to liberation, of its efforts to mobilize more Christians in the struggle for liberation, and of its pastoral care for radical Catholic students.