Leonardo Boff

This article presents the cultural ideas as well as philosophical, social and scientific theories that shaped the concept of integral ecology presented by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’. There are many indications that the direct impact on the thought of the Pope was St. Francis’ of Assisi vision of the world and the social teaching of the Church, especially the teachings of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It also seems that at least an indirect impact on the ecology of the Pope’s vision expressed in the ecological encyclical was exerted by Jacques Maritain’s integral humanism. Because of the similarity of ideas, we can also assume that the earlier versions of integral ecology proposed by Ken Wilber, Leonardo Boff and Thomas Berry also to some extent might have provided inspiration for Pope Francis.

A través de siete apartados se analiza la cronología de Star Wars, el contexto histórico-social que la determina y cómo se evidencia en la saga. También por qué se puede considerar Star Wars como un mito moderno y cómo refleja el viaje del héroe. Son estudiados aspectos religiosos que gira alrededor del concepto de la Fuerza, los aprendizajes biopedagógicos, la interculturalidad manifiesta en la saga y los elementos que ésta posee para que se desarrolle un nuevo camino espiritual llamado jedismo.
Abstract Through seven sections the chronology of Star Wars, the historical and social context that determines it and how is evident in the saga are analyzed. Also in which way Star Wars is a modern myth and how the hero's journey is reflected. Eeligious aspects that revolves around the concept of the Force, the biopedagogy learning, interculturalism manifested in the saga and the elements that this series of films has to develop a new spiritual path called jedism are studied.

Abstract
This article focus on the holistic ecology of Leonardo Boff in the context of a proposed environmental ethics, specifically indicates the contribution of the religious realm on this ethics. The first part of the article considers Boff’s thought within the framework of an environmental ethic. The second part outlines Boff’s proposed holistic ecology. The final part presents the contribution that religion can make to environmental ethics.

Resumen
El presente artículo tiene como objetivo principal presentar la ecología holística de Leonardo Boff en el marco de una propuesta ética ambiental, indicando específicamente la contribución que puede hacer el ámbito religioso en dicha propuesta ética. El artículo se introduce con una primera parte donde se justifica la consideración del pensamiento Boff dentro del marco de una ética ambiental. En la segunda parte se indican las líneas generales de la propuesta ecológica holística de Boff para luego, en la tercera y última parte, presentar el aporte que puede hacer la religión a la ética ambiental.

teólogo Rudolf von Sinner é um representante expressivo do novo estado de consciência que a humanidade, as igrejas estão alcançando graças à nova etapa da história humana e da Terra. Se não convivermos, nos digladiaremos e todos vamos ao encontro do pior. Realisticamente só alcançaremos esse propósito contando com a graça divina. Este livro oferece-nos uma amostra convincente dessa afirmação. Lê-lo é já vivenciar a convivência com os diferentes, com o enriquecimento que sempre traz. (Leonardo Boff).

Here is a modest reflection on the Church in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger (1927–). My aim is to examine Ratzinger’s claim that a proper understanding of the Church is obtained from the standpoint of her liturgy. While Ratzinger presents a eucharistic ecclesiology, not only must one pay attention to complement a sociological interpretation of the Church with Revelation as a dogmatic truth, but also to identify and distinguish among the various levels that are at play in speaking of a eucharistic ecclesiology. What is examined here is the relation of the Eucharist to the Church in the light of Christ, the sacraments and the Christian life. The primary level, then, is Christological. This means that in Christ, particularly shedding his life on the cross, the Church has its foundation and life in the world. The second level is a sacramental one, where the believing Christian community gathers around one altar to celebrate the breaking of the bread and to live in communion with each other. The third level is the existential one where belonging to the Church implies bearing witness, leading a Christian life, and being of service to others in the community and in the world. Our aim here is to elucidate the importance and complementarity of each dimension of Ratzinger’s eucharistic ecclesiology after having presented his understanding that ecclesial communion has its centre in the Eucharist.

Este artículo se presenta como una reseña de aquellos textos de Boff en los que el autor hace una  referencia explícita a la temática de la creación desde la perspectiva de una ecoteología. La finalidad es mostrar la amplitud y la novedad de la reflexión realizada por Boff y, a la vez, ofrecer una guía para quienes quisieran hacer una lectura detenida y profunda de alguno de los textos reseñados. En ese sentido, se propone también como una modesta contribución para la formación de agentes pastorales, sobre todo, para quiénes el acceso a los libros no es cosa fácil. Finalmente, esperamos que este trabajo sirva como una introducción a la reflexión teológica sobre la creación en Leonardo Boff, y como estímulo para renovar nuestro compromiso por la transformación del mundo desde una perspectiva ecológica.

Abstract: The following dissertation argues that the relations of power operative in the investigation and silencing of Fr. Leonardo Boff, O.F.M. by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) can be adequately understood through the application of a model derived from the works of Michel Foucault.  Drawing on the affirmation of the Second Vatican Council that the Catholic Church receives both charismatic and hierarchical gifts, the basis of this model is two elementary forms of power: charismatic power and pastoral power.  The category of pastoral power includes, but goes beyond, the traditional ecclesiological concepts of office, law, hierarchy, or institution and includes all forms of ministries and modes of service set over the good of each and all members of the faithful.  In order to accomplish this broader task, Foucault’s distinction between sovereignty, discipline, and governmentality are employed as three strategic logics of the Christian pastorate.  Charismatic power is then understood as the free gifts of the Holy Spirit that uplift and perfect the talents of each member of the faithful in order to participate in the loving service of the church’s mission in dialogical relation to each respective strategy of pastoral power.  In order to defend the claim that each of these strategic relations of power can be observed in the Boff case, this dissertation offers a historical review of the theological concepts entailed therein, genealogical analyses of the discursive and non-discursive practices carried out by both Boff and the CDF, and an explication of Foucault’s thought on power relations.  This dissertation concludes with an interpretation of the Boff case that shows how the fundamental arguments of both parties are theologically sound, although with respect to different strategic logics.  The conclusion also offers a preliminary outline for a generalized theology of power in the Catholic Church based on the lessons learned from this particular case study.

Este artículo pretende trazar un bosquejo general acerca del método y de los contenidos teológicos de la Teología de la Liberación. El tema bíblico del Éxodo ha resaltado la realidad que antaño vivió la Iglesia latinoamericana. Tema del que se apropió la Teología de la Liberación queriendo subrayar la presencia de Dios en medio de las injusticias que vivió su pueblo. El método “ver, juzgar y actuar” del que se nutre la Teología de la Liberación nos resulta muy peculiar en relación al método que la teología utiliza tradicionalmente. Por esa razón, nos detendremos en estudiar las implicaciones del método de la Teología de la Liberación. Por otro lado, las reflexiones que llevó a cabo esta teología en relación al Padre, al Hijo, al Espíritu Santo, a los sacramentos, a la espiritualidad, a la eclesiología, etc., describen una teología que acarrea un compromiso con la praxis latinoamericana. Con todo, estamos ante una nueva sensibilidad teológica que quiere resaltar la reflexión, la práctica y, sobre todo, el compromiso de la vida cristiana con los pobres, herencia que poseemos.

Theologians frequently deploy the doctrine of the Trinity in a theology of economics using one of two flawed methodologies. An exemplary approach treats the Trinity as an ideal pattern for social relations, but fails to account for the extent of disanalogy in such comparisons, risking projection. A genealogical approach surveys the history of trinitarian thought, seeking historical shifts in thinking that may lay behind certain modern political and economic theories, but it often struggles to sufficiently establish the genealogy. Neither approach offers much in terms of practical suggestions for economic practices, institutions, or models. This article surveys each approach in prominent representatives, including Leonardo Boff, M. Douglas Meeks, John Milbank, and Giorgio Agamben, illustrating the flaws with these two methods. It concludes by proposing a turn to correlation between the economic works of the Trinity and human works in the economy as a superior means of deploying the doctrine of the Trinity in a theology of economics.

This work was defended as a doctoral thesis at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 2009 and subsequently published as The Poor in Liberation Theology: Pathway to God or Ideological Construct (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014).
Keeping The Window Open: The Theological Method of Clodovis Boff and the Problem of the Alterity of the Poor
The question underlining this study is as follows:
What in the methodology of liberation theology, especially as developed and spelt out by Clodovis Boff, enables the poor to remain other and hence iconic?
Therefore, I have sought over the course of this work to examine how liberation theology portrays the unique and irreducible giftedness of the other poor. I have undertaken to ascertain to what extent liberation theology allows this other to be iconic, to be revelatory of Christ, and if it can offer any safeguards against the idolizing of the poor. I have, therefore, asked how the method of liberation theology can allow the poor to remain other and to what extent it prevents the poor from being made into an ideal and ultimately into idols.
The structure of the work is as follows. The first chapter begins with a consideration of how the poor have in fact been treated in liberation theology. It is clear that there have been a wide variety of approaches and emphases. Some socio-anthropological research will then be examined, to see how the poor seem to have responded to liberation theology, both on its own terms and in comparison with what is offered by neo-Pentecostal groups. One sample theological criticism of liberation theology’s concept of the poor will then be discussed. This chapter both presents and questions liberation theology’s use of the category of the poor, noting its strengths and actual or at least potential weaknesses.
The second chapter narrows the focus. It deals first with liberation theology’s retrieval of the notion of idolatry as a language to describe the current global capitalist economy. Thus, idolatry is first viewed in relation to the economy and economics. Alternatives are considered in the form of different utopias which liberation theology has developed. At the same time, the risks and dangers of utopic thinking are also examined. This leads me on to a discussion of ideology, which I link with idolatry. I discuss how liberation theology itself has understood ideology, and some other relevant contributions to the debate concerning ideology. I address the fairly frequent accusations that liberation theology is itself ideological. I conclude the chapter with an examination of one of liberation theology’s responses to the problem of idolatry and ideology, its insistence on the presence and transforming power of the God of Life.
My third chapter interrupts the direct treatment of liberation theology. I begin with a historical excursion. The Iconoclast controversy, culminating in the Second Council of Nicaea, marks the one time the church in council has seriously considered what it is that makes something iconic. Thus I present the issues at stake in the controversy, and the conciliar response. My point here is twofold. I applaud the Council for its recognition of the transcendent possibilities inherent in the material, thus opening the way for the claim that the poor can indeed be iconic. On the other hand, I note that the phrasing of the council’s documents is such that in practice it creates a new form of totality, thus effectively denying the transcendence it seeks to defend by its ideological approach. At this point, I introduce Emmanuel Levinas. To talk about the alterity of the poor necessitates a more general discussion of alterity, which Levinas made a central plank of his philosophy. But in order for there to be room for justice, it is necessary also, Levinas argues, to introduce the figure of the third, the other of my other. This, I point out in a brief return to liberation theology, is a facet of Levinas’ thought that has been largely ignored by Enrique Dussel, one of the major points of encounter between liberation theology and Levinas.
The use of the word ‘totality’ above refers not only to Levinas, but also to one possible way of describing idols. Jean-Luc Marion has developed a carefully thought-out body of work examining the nature of conceptual icons and idols, and I turn to him finally in Chapter Three. He gives me, in the first place, a language to discuss the problem which has been hovering over the previous chapters and is implicit in my title, Keeping the Window Open, concerning icons and idols. Second, in his discussion of the phenomenon of givenness and the figure of l’adonné he offers a further contribution to understanding the role of the liberation theologian in encounter with the other poor.
In the fourth chapter, having established the nature of the problem – how the transcendence (the mystery) of the other is made possible – and some potential responses from elsewhere, I turn to the theological method of Clodovis Boff to see whether this method can protect the poor from becoming idols and allow them to remain icons. This chapter presents a careful reading of Boff’s work over the past thirty years. I finish with a Conclusion that brings Levinas, Marion and Boff together, to suggest a way in which liberation theology can proceed that will help it to avoid the idolising of the poor.
Thus, the poor are allowed to be what liberation theology has always claimed they are, a sacrament of Christ, a privileged place of encounter with the God of the poor, who has heard the cry of his people and come down to set them free.

This article presents the essential ideas of the papal concept of integral ecology presented in the encyclical Laudato Si’. The author contends that the thought of Pope Francis is a continuation and expansion of the social doctrine of the Church on the protection of nature expressed by Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Analysing other environmental influences on Pope Francis’ integral ecology, the author points to the humanism of Jacques Maritain and various versions of integral ecology represented by Ken Wilber, Leonardo Boff and Thomas Berry. In addition, this study emphasizes the integrity of the Pope’s concern for the world, manifested in the postulate for the protection of nature, culture and man in all dimensions of his life.

La Chiesa che nasce dal basso In America Latina il tema della Chiesa come popolo di Dio non solo viene positivamente recepito, ma provoca un nuovo modo di essere Chiesa nel cammino di un intero continente, prende vita una produzione teologica che preoccupa sempre di più la gerarchia romana. I testi del teologo brasiliano Leonardo Boff in materia ecclesiologica vengono considerati pericolosi 1 ed eretici al punto da subire un processo da parte della Congregazione per la dottrina della Fede nel 19842. Nei suoi testi Boff elabora un pensiero ecclesiologico a partire dall'esperienza delle Comunità Ecclesiali di Base (CEB), sorte in America Latina negli anni '50 e rafforzatesi nell'immediato dopo-concilio grazie, soprattutto, alla positiva presa di posizione della II conferenza della Chiesa Latinoamericana, radunatasi a Medellin nel 1968 per attualizzare nel Continente le intuizioni del Concilio. Già questa prima osservazione è significativa perché mostra lo scarto esistente tra il modo di fare teologia in Occidente e quello elaborato in America latina. Leonardo Boff elabora una ecclesiologia "dal basso", vale a dire osservando e descrivendo ciò che concretamente sta avvenendo nella Chiesa Latinoamericana e, in modo particolare, in Brasile nell'esperienza delle CEB. Nei testi di Boff il punto di riferimento costante che guida la riflessione è l'attenzione all'esperienza di Chiesa in atto, al popolo di Dio che settimanalmente si trova nelle piccole comunità di base. Tra la Lumen Gentium e il testo conclusivo del Sinodo straordinario di Roma del 1985 in cui viene sostituita l'ecclesiologia del popolo di Dio con l'ecclesiologia di comunione, la produzione ecclesiologica del teologo brasiliano Leonardo Boff è, a nostro avviso, fondamentale, per comprendere il delicato passaggio e l'oscuramento di un'espressione importante dell'ecclesiologia del Vaticano II. 1 Cfr. in modo particolare: L. BOFF, Ecclesiognesi. Le comunità ecclesiali di base reinventano la Chiesa, Borla, Roma 1978; ID.: Chiesa: carisma e potere, Borla, Roma 1983 2 Il processo avverrà il 7 settembre 1984. Il testo in questione è Chiesa, carisma e potere, accusato di essere eccessivamente inficiato di tesi marxiste. I maggiori teologi del mondo sulla rivista internazionale "Concilium" presero posizione con una dichiarazione di solidarietà ai teologi della liberazione accusando i gruppi integristi di voler accentuare la divisione nella chiesa. Boff venne assistito dal cardinale Aloisio Lorscheider anch' egli francescano, figura profetica della chiesa latino-americana, il quale tuttavia dovette restare muto testimone durante il processo. Gli stessi francescani in qualche modo vennero chiamati in causa.

Avant 1492, l'Europe n'avait pas une conscience de supériorité (ma-térielle et ontologique) vis-à-vis des autres peuples (tels que le monde musulman ou ottoman, par exemple). C'est avec l'ouverture vers l'At-lantique et la « découverte » du Nouveau Monde que les Européens commencent à construire une nouvelle ontologie dans laquelle les indigènes seront cantonnés dans la position du non-être. Ainsi, la sub-jectivité moderne occidentale est bâtie sur un rapport de domination/ exploitation relié à une altérité niée : celle de l'indigène.

Esta obra es un esfuerzo colectivo que descubre y problematiza los planos de originalidad teórica desarrollados en América Latina en el último medio siglo con relación a los fenómenos de la democracia, el cambio político y las contradicciones históricas de la lógica del poder. El lector encontrará una serie de reflexiones y proposiciones sobre algunas de las principales figuras que han contribuido a la formación de las cartografías teóricas en el campo de las ciencias sociales que se producen en la región. Por ello, es una obra útil para los investigadores y estudiantes de la historia intelectual y disciplinaria en el ámbito de ciencia política y sociología política, aunque tiene un vínculo con ciertas áreas académicas afines como lo es la filosofía política y la historia.
Si se piensa que un cartógrafo contemporáneo de la indagación política es un autor que ha construido mapas intelectuales significativos con los cuales se han formado varias generaciones de estudiantes y estudiosos, en este caso latinoamericanos, al tiempo de que ha logrado transformarse en referencia obligada para explicar los problemas del presente, podemos sostener que sus esfuerzos fueron y siguen siendo apuestas que proponen problemas y generan explicaciones desde sus espacios inaugurales de indagación.

Una demoledora crítica de la modernidad/colonidad de la teología de la liberación dentro del discurso moderno sobre la fe.

¿Por qué debemos considerar a la teología de la liberación como un antecedente histórico y epistémico del «giro decolonial» en el pensamiento crítico? ¿Cuáles son las afinidades electivas entre la ecología y la teología de la liberación? ¿Cuáles son las principales características de la teología de la liberación como constelación intelectual utópica?

Este es el primer ensayo que explora de manera sistemática las relaciones entre la ecología y la teología de la liberación. El análisis de la evolución intelectual y espiritual del teólogo brasileño Leonardo Boff es la base de Ecología y teología de la liberación que, a su vez, combina la sociología de la religión (de Max Weber hasta Danièle Hervieu-Léger), la sociología de la cultura y de las utopías y las teorías decoloniales para aportar una perspectiva interdisciplinaria y original a la discusión y diálogo en el seno de la teología de la liberación. Así, este libro se añade al apasionante debate entre el vínculo con la ecología y la religión.

(Del prólogo de Leonardo BOFF:)
    El presente libro de José María VIGIL muestra el tipo de colaboración que la reflexión teológica puede dar a la revolución nicaragüense. Cada uno debe estar atento y activo en su trinchera. Y ahí está Vigil, consciente de que hace una teología de urgencia, buscando discernir en la gesta del pueblo, en las comunidades cristianas, en los movimientos populares, en el esfuerzo por consolidar las conquistas de una nueva sociedad, los signos del Reino de Dios. La revolución no se identifica «con» el Reino, pues éste
implica mucho más —la recuperación global de la creación, la Resurrección de la Carne— pero se identifica «en» la revolución. Es decir, gana identidad histórica y concreta en esa mediación que es la revolución.
    Ciertamente es una mediación con el alcance y las limitaciones de todas las mediaciones; mas, para quien tiene fe, por la revolución nos llega una interpretación a la conciencia cristiana, y nos llega un torrente de generosidad en favor de los tradicionalmente marginados y excluidos, lo cual tiene que ver con la Causa de Jesús, con lo que Él llamó el «Reinado de Dios».
    Las páginas de Vigil son densas, y están elaboradas según la metodología de la teología de la liberación: siempre parten de lo real concreto, de la vida y de la lucha del pueblo. A partir de ahí desentrañan, desde la Biblia y las fuentes de la fe, la oportuna iluminación, confirmación, crítica y refuerzo para el compromiso.
    Estaba faltando una literatura de este tipo. Debemos agradecer a Dios que haya suscitado un teólogo joven, humilde pero lleno de coraje, que se dispone a acompañar con su reflexión, en su trinchera y en su fuente de lucha: la fe del pueblo nicaragüense.
    Es un pueblo Siervo-sufriente. Sufre la violencia desalmada de los “contras”. Sufre bajo el bloqueo económico. Pero sufre sobre todo porque se siente abandonado por la Iglesia, por los obispos, tal vez por el Papa mismo. “¿Qué mal hemos cometido?” se pregunta. “¿No hemos ayudado a alfabetizar, a construir estructuras de salud, a defender el hogar y la patria? ¿Qué mal hemos hecho, para tener que sufrir tanta marginación?”.
    El texto de Vigil es una teología que trae Ev-angelio, es decir, trae buena-noticia: consuela, enjuga lágrimas y confirma. Estamos en el camino cierto, porque Dios se ha hecho pobre, campesino, compañero, de rostro sufrido, con rasgos nicaragüenses. [1989].

Para comprender el significado del coronavirus, tenemos que encuadrarlo en su debido contexto, no verlo aisladamente bajo la perspectiva de la ciencia y de la técnica siempre necesarias. El coronavirus viene da la naturaleza, contra la cual los seres humanos, particularmente a través del capitalismo global desde hace siglos, lleva a cabo una guerra sistemática contra esta naturaleza y contra la Tierra.

Version castellana de la tesis de doctorado aprobada en UMESP en 2000. La problemática ambiental y la ecología han pasado a ocupar en los últimos años un lugar relevante . En un desarrollo de ciento treinta años, la ecología ha vivido una serie de cambios como ciencia, dando lugar a la ecología social, la ecología profunda, la ecología de la mente. Gregory Bateson, que desarrolla esta última, la vincula con la reflexión teológica. Juan Luis Segundo, desde la teología asume algunos de los desafíos planteados por el anterior. Leonardo Boff, en el marco de su teología de la liberación, lleva adelante una reflexión teológica importante sobre lo ecológico y sus implicaciones en variados niveles. Su propuesta puede ser criticada estudiando los aportes de diferentes autores y corrientes teológicas. Asimismo, se pueden señalar los caminos que deberá recorrer una ecoteología latinoamericana.

This article examines the ways in which Pope Francis is engaging Latin American Liberation Theology in his ministry and life. The article takes a look at the early theological/liturgical moves of Pope Francis and tries to understand and give an account of the kind of liberation theology he is developing in his papacy. Taking Brazil as a case in point for this discussion, the somewhat recent rough theological discussion between two of the most prominent liberation theologians in Latin America, the brothers Boff (Leonardo and Clodovis), about the structures and methodology of liberation theology, serves to shed light on the ways in which Pope Francis and the recent developments of liberation theology today can be understood.

The alliance between Appalachian churches and the coal industry has brought Appalachia to its knees. For over two centuries, Appalachian ministers and priests have pressured their congregants to sell land, manipulate papal documents, exploit church properties for personal gain, and frame incomplete economic data regarding the coal industry with sound theological arguments. In response to this institutional corruption favoring the coal industry, a new theory of Appalachian liberation theology needs development to break the coal-church alliance. Through examining papal documents, theological work by Michael Iafrate and the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, and jobs and economic data from agencies like the Appalachian Research Commission and Energy Futures Initiative, liberation theologians can begin to chart the first contours of Appalachian liberation theology. Such a theology involves the exaltation of the local church, grassroots change, support for green energy, and the empowering of youth voices through granting them positions that enable institutional change.

El presente artículo se aproxima al tema de los fines depredadores de la instrumentalización, colonial y neocolonial, de la fe con base cristiana, la antropología, la ecología, y la política. Se propone el neologismo Necroecoteología y la subjetividad instrumental como llaves de interpretación transdisciplinarias del desequilibrio humano-ambiental, sobre todo en tiempos de crisis planetaria como la que nos impone la pandemia. Considero que Necroecoteología sería una suerte del "reverso" de la Ecoteología. De igual forma, se muestra el punto de inflexión entre la secularidad europea y la subjetividad religiosa colonial impuesta en tierras invadidas. Desde trabajos de activistas de la teología y filosofía de la liberación, derechos humanos, y disciplinas afines, se vincula teología, política y ecología en una misma plataforma de análisis, discusión y propuestas de alternativas resolutivas. Se concluye con una de estas propuestas, otro neologismo, la ecosacralidad, una visión contrahegemónica más allá del mundo cristiano, que busca re-eequilibrar y re-unir la relación humano-ambiental.

Resumen: Se presenta el concepto del Cristo cósmico en el teólogo Leonardo Boff, como realidad que trasciende a los seres humanos, sus adscripciones religiosas, incluso la soteriología. Se aborda, particularmente, la consecuencia de esta idea en la su-peración del antropocentrismo y en una espiritualidad que considera la importancia de la relación entre Cristo y el universo. El artículo es, además, una lectura crítica desde la tradición reformacional como alternativa a las principales teologías evangélicas de los últimos siglos, que desde el escolasticismo protestante, carecen de una reflexión cosmológica consistente.

Abstract: This article presents Leonardo Boff´s theological concept of cosmic Christ as a reality which transcends human being and their religious and soteriological views. The consequences of this concept in the overcoming of anthropocentrism and a spirituality which considers the importance of relation between Christ and the universe are particularly regarded. Moreover, this article offers a critic view from the reformational tradition as an alternative to the main alternatives among the evangelical theology of the last centuries, especially the scholastic Protestantism which according to the author does not have a consistence cosmic thought.

The article discusses the similarities between the writings of Jan Hus and Leonardo Boff. The author attempts at explaining them by conducting a comparative study, including text analysis and elements of prosopography. Appa- rently, comparable socio-economic conditions and biographies may have influenced the works of the two theologians.

RESUMO O presente texto analisa a imagem de Francisco de Assis construída por Leonardo Boff. Discute-se aqui como o ainda frade franciscano Boff respondeu às sanções disciplinares a ele impostas pela Santa Sé, reação expressa no livro Francisco de Assis: a saudade do Paraíso (1985). Nessa obra, um exercício memorial inspirado em fontes franciscanas primitivas, Boff vai além da mera celebração da legenda de Francisco de Assis, apresentando o santo medieval como ícone da Teologia da Libertação, crente paradigmático para nosso tempo e patrono das causas populares. Assim, interpretando Francisco de Assis por intermédio dos ideais cristãos liberacionistas, Boff contestou seus adversários, ratificando sua teologia mili-tante. Por fim, ele proclamou projeto político de oposição à ordem estabelecida no Brasil e na Igreja Católica. ABSTRACT This text analyzes the image of Saint Francis of Assisi created by Leonardo Boff. It is our aim to discuss how the aforementioned theologian, still living as a Franciscan friar, responded to Vatican disciplinary sanctions — reaction expressed in Boff's 1985 book Francisco de Assis: a Saudade do Paraíso (Francis of Assisi: the nostalgia for Paradise). In this cited oeuvre, a memorial exercise inspired by primitive Franciscan sources, Boff goes far beyond the mere celebration of Francis of Assisi's legend, presenting the medieval saint as an icon of Liberation Theology, a paradigmatic believer made patron of popular and progressive causes. Therefore, interpreting Francis of Assisi with the help of Christian liberationist ideals, Boff managed Artigo recebido em 23 de setembro de 2015 e aprovado para publicação em 20 de novembro de 2016.

Entrevista com Leonardo Boff 04.2020 | Entrevista por Alexandre Zarias e Tânia Aparecida Kuhnen "Esperançar não é uma atitude que espera que um dia vai tudo melhorar por si mesmo. Esperançar é colocar as ações e as práticas que vão antecipando e criando ativamente a esperança. Ela se torna fruto do dinamismo intrínseco da história, mas muito mais do esforço humano de melhorar nosso mundo e o conjunto das relações". Recebemos especialmente o teólogo e filósofo Leonardo Boff para nos falar sobre o cuidado. Segundo ele, o cuidado é intrinsecamente humano. É uma atitude de zelo e proteção que não se dirige apenas a uma pessoa, mas também a todo grupo humano, aos animais, às plantas, aos recursos naturais, enfim, engloba toda nossa existência no Planeta Terra. Nosso planeta, que Boff chama de Casa Comum, deve ser cuidado e requer nossa atenção mais do que nunca, sob pena de não termos mais futuro. A pandemia de Covid-19, na sua visão, é consequência de nosso descaso em relação à natureza. Mas o coronavírus não ameaça somente nossas existências. Ele coloca em xeque o sistema capitalista e o papel do Estado na proteção e preservação de nossas vidas. No caso brasileiro, o desamparo estatal é expresso pelas mais de 300 mil vítimas da pandemia no mês de março de 2021. Realizada por email, esta entrevista, concluída no dia 5 de março, nos deixa uma visão otimista ao seu final. Ao lembrar-nos dos ensinamentos de Paulo Freire, Boff diz que é preciso esperançar, elemento este de nossa potência para melhorar o mundo e o conjunto de nossas relações uns com os outros.

Es bueno aplicar la perspectiva de los nuevos paradigmas también a acontecimientos eclesiales como éste, el de la declaración de 2021 como Año de san José por el Papa Francisco.
    Es importante leer estos documentos al menos un poco por encima, «en diagonal», tratando de captar con mente atentamente crítica, los paradigmas que implican por debajo de la superficie, y tomar una posición personal frente a ellos. Son:
    1, la carta apostólica 'Patris Corde' de Francisco,
    2, la larga entrevista de un teólogo como Boff sobre san José (https://tinyurl.com/y438qx8j), y
    3, uno de los máximos exponentes de la teología sobre san José en lengua española, poco anterior al Concilio Vaticano II, un libro y una teología que, oficialmente, siguen estando plenamente en vigor.
    Ejercicio recomendado para el grupo:
- ¿qué nuevos paradigmas 'infringen' estos documentos?, ¿en qué?, ¿por qué?
- la teología de san José subyacente en estos documentos, ¿ayuda o perjudica al cristianismo en el siglo XXI?, ¿por qué?
- ¿se puede ser hoy devoto de san José lúcidamente? ¿Se puede no querer serlo?
- ¿sobre qué puntos principales haríamos un análisis teológico crítico de esta teología? ¿Cuáles podrían ser nuestros principales cuestionamientos?
- como creyente de hoy, ¿qué porcentaje de las afirmaciones sobre san José de Bonifacio Llamera puede usted «creer» sin contradecir su sentido común?
- ¿cree que hoy es posible una teología de san José? ¿Por qué?
- ¿cree usted que hoy es oportuno declarar 2021 como año de san José, simplemente porque se cumplen 150 años de que un papa lo declaró Patrón Universal de la Iglesia?
- si usted fuera papa, y, en hipótesis, le fuera imposible no declarar 2021 como año de san José, ¿cómo aprovecharía la circunstancia para dar un sentido útil y positivo a una celebración semejante?
    La entrevista de Boff puede verse también en (copie y pegue): http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/159-noticias/entrevistas/605810-jose-e-a-presenca-silenciosa-daquele-que-se-fez-pai-do-deus-humano-entrevista-especial-com-leonardo-boff

Pope Francis in his recent apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exultate: on the Call to Holiness in Today’s World (19 March 2018) takes the Beatitudes as “the light from the Master” on holiness.  Holiness, which is “the most attractive face of the Church” but not a property to be found only within the church,  is, according to him a call “present in various ways from the very first pages of the Bible“, and for Christians most visible in the beatitudes.  His own typology of the signs of holiness in today’s world is based in them.  Their humble way stemming from the inverted perspective Jesus brings, sits well with the emphasis on the importance of those who often remained invisible, never got canonised, often even known by wider audiences, and whom people today owe the decisive turning points of their lives.  There is a variety there, when holiness perceived through the beatitudes is reflected in people, in the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.  Yet we could also say that this variety is joined together by Jesus’ inverted perspective in which the first are last and the last first, in which God acts when it is least expected and when the divine action is claimed it may not be there the way it is claimed. 
In this article I am going to explore the contribution of two modern authors, Leonardo Boff and Mother Maria (Gysi), to such understanding of holiness. Their personalities, contexts and traditions are very different, but, as I will argue, in their overlap they can help us see how the end point of human life can become visible in its centre.

Introdução a duas vozes O desmatamento da floresta amazônica 2 , que nos últimos anos padeceu um incremento exponencial devido aos incêndios provocados em boa medida pela mão do homem, e a pandemia do novo coronavirus (Covid-19), para a qual, enquanto estou escrevendo, a ciência ainda não encontrou uma vacina, são os últimos exemplos que evidenciam a fragilidade sobre a qual o nosso mundo está sentado. A estes, juntam-se a degradação do solo, a poluição do ar, a extinção de espécies animais, a superpopulação e a possibilidade tecnológica de explodir várias vezes o planeta. A humanidade deixou progressivamente de se ver a si mesma como outro ser vivo dentro de um organismo maior e se autoproclamou dono e senhor da Terra e de todas as outras espécies com as quais compartilha o seu lugar no cosmos. O período no qual este processo foi se consolidando recebeu o nome de modernidade e parece que está dando sintomas de esgotamento. Aquele que é considerado o livro mais importante na teoria política de Hannah Arendt, A condição humana (1958) está emoldurado pela preocupação primordial da autora sobre a alienação humana cifrada na indiferença e no desprezo em relação ao mundo e à Terra e a um recolhimento sobre si, que afastam perigosamente a deliberação pública ao redor daquilo que, na diversidade, todos compartilhamos. Por isso, no prólogo, ela já anunciou que o propósito final da sua análise histórica era o de rastrear até sua origem a moderna alienação do mundo, em sua dupla fuga da Terra para o universo e do mundo para o si-mesmo [self], a fim de chegar a uma compreensão da natureza da sociedade, como esta se desenvolvera e se apresentava no instante em que foi suplantada pelo advento de uma era nova e ainda desconhecida (ARENDT, 2014, p. 7).

This book analyzes the philosophical implications of Ambedkar’s approach to Buddhism. This approach created a new social philosophy based on Buddhist ideas and a political commitment to social justice, particularly for the Dalits of India. What was the purpose of this social philosophy? To transform Buddhist philosophy? Or rather, to oppose Brahmanism and empower the lower castes?
After a twenty-year-long study of Indian society and history, and Indian philosophical and religious traditions, Ambedkar came to the conclusion that Buddhism could have the power to transform the situation of the Untouchables. Why did he think that Buddhism would have this radical transformative impact not only for Dalits, but for Indian society as a whole?
In 1956, in what became a historical event, he led a movement of conversion of more than five hundred thousand Untouchables from Hinduism to Buddhism. Ambekdar saw Buddhism as a way and as a tool to empower the lower castes of India. But what type of Buddhism did he envision? In 1956, in that historical event, Ambedkar founded what he called Navayana Buddhism. He used the word Navayana to refer to the birth of a new school. Nava means “new,” Yana means “vehicle”. Was he indeed creating a new yana, or new vehicle? What type of Buddhist school was this? What innovations did he introduce? Is the result still Buddhism, given Ambedkar's vision? This book aims to address all these questions.

Resumo: este texto aborda a importância da teologia da libertação como crítica moderna da modernidade. Ao analisar algumas teses dos teólogos Gustavo Gutiérrez e Leonardo Boff, procuraremos entender as contribuição desta corrente teológica não somente no plano sociopolítico, mas também em seu aspecto geo-epistêmi-co. Por consequência, sustentamos que a Teologia da Libertação é um antece-dente fundamental do que hoje se conhece como " perspectiva decolonial ". Por outro lado, tratamos de mostrar a " afinidade eletiva " entre a crítica de Walter Benjamin da modernidade e aquela realizada pelos teólogos latino-americanos. É necessário dizer que assumimos seriamente a proposta de Walter Benjamin presente em sua tese Sobre o conceito de história que enfatiza que a Teologia deve estar à serviço da luta dos oprimidos pela sua libertação. Nesse sentido, a Teologia da Libertação já faz parte do arsenal teórico e discursivo das vitimas desta modernidade/colonialidade realmente existente. Palavras-chave: Teologia da Libertação. Modernidade. Colonialidade do poder. Teoria Crítica. Perspectiva decolonial.

The critique of capitalist modernity –understood as an idolatrous system— has an important place in the liberation theology. If previously the poor were the preferred figure, nowadays it is the victim. The victim expresses itself in two forms, on the one hand the poor and on the other hand the nature, both destroyed by big industry and intensive agriculture. To a large extent, taking into consideration specifically colonial Latin America, the liberation theology shares the romantic and the Marxist criticism of the modern and capitalist civilization. This critique finds itself articulated through the liberation project which concedes to utopia a crucial role in the defence of humanity and nature. By analysing the works of Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, we are able to observe the critique that is carried out in the theology of liberation, which denounce the destructive dynamic of capitalism. According to Boff, the cry of the poor must be linked to the cry of the Earth, because the capitalist system exploits not only the wretched workers, but also destroys the nature. On the other hand, the link between liberation theology and ecology is not only an interesting topic for the religious sciences, but also a vital aspect of our times: environmental disaster, increased poverty, food and sanitary crisis, hedonistic individualism and alienation. Thus, the study of ecological aspects within Latin American Liberation theology (including social movements as Landless Workers Movement) contributes to a better understanding of the role of religion in social struggles.