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The Churches and Democracy in Brazil

Towards a Public Theology Focused on Citizenship

Rudolf von Sinner

With a Foreword by

Vtor Westhelle

Brazil is a rapidly emerging country. Brazilian theology, namely the Theology of Liberation, has become well known in the 1970s and 1980s. The
politically active Base Ecclesial Communities and the progressive posture of the Roman Catholic Church contrasted with a steadily growing
number of evangelicals, mostly aligned with the military regime but attractive precisely to the poor. After democratic transition in the mid-1980s,
the context changed considerably. Democracy, growing religious pluralism and mobility, a vibrant civil society, the political ascension of the
Workers Party and growing wealth, albeit within a continuously wide social gap, are some of the elements that show the need of a new
approach to theology. It must be a theology that is both critical and constructive, resisting and cooperative, a theology that is able to give
orientation to the churches, valuing and encouraging their contribution in society while avoiding attempts of imposition. The Churches and
Democracy in Brazil, the fruit of years of interdisciplinary study of the Brazilian context and its main churches and theology, makes its case for an
ecumenically articulated public theology. It seeks inspiration mainly in Luther and Lutheran theology, emphasizing human dignity, freedom, trust,
the disposition to serve, and the ability to endure the ambiguities of reality, as well as a fresh interpretation of the doctrine of the two regiments.
These are the fundamental elements of what makes human beings full members of the body politic: citizenship, their right to have rights and to
be able to effectively live them, together with their corresponding duties, in a move of growing political participation conscious of their religious
motivation in view of the commonweal.
Professor von Sinner has supplied the
field of public theology with one of its
most important works of this new
century. He has written to clarify the
public role of religion in Brazil, clearly
one of the marvels of the emerging
South . . . [T]his serves as background
for his critical, creative, and constructive
proposals for a public theology able to
aid faithful Christians be responsible
citizens in a rapidly developing country
now in transition to a major player in the
international community of nations. I
commend it with enthusiasm!

Rudolf von Sinners book is a

milestone in the development of a
modern public theology. It connects
social analysis, historical informations,
a critical sociology of religious movements, and the normative aspects of
political ethics. Under conditions of a
religious pluralism as of todays Brazil it
is an invitation to a human rights
based, inclusive, and participative type
of constitutional democracy. . .
Altogether a very impressive and useful
work of reference for an international
public theology.

Max L. Stackhouse

Wolfgang Lienemann

Princeton Theological Seminary

University of Bern

von Sinners book is a landmark in the further development of public theology. His
thorough study of Brazil and his dialogue with South African public theology yields
a convincing interpretation of the close relationship between public theology and
liberation theology . . . I highly recommend this book to all who want to better
understand the profile of the developing public theologies worldwide.

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm
University of Bamberg

Rudolf von Sinner is Professor of Systematic Theology, Ecumenism, and Inter-religious Dialogue at the Escola Superior de Teologia
(Lutheran School of Theology) at So Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
978-1-60899-385-7 / $45 / 406 pp. / paper

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