En La gl t ish i n &S A pa m nis e h- r Po ic rt a ug n ue se i t i o d E

Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians

Asociacin Ecumnica de Telogos/as del Tercer Mundo

Toward a Post-religional Paradigm?

EATWOT's Latin American Consultation on Religion Consulta Teolgica Latinoamericana sobre Religin

Hacia un Paradigma Posreligional?

Para um paradigma ps-religional?

Consulta Teolgica Latino-americana sobre religio

Issue Edited by EATWOT's Latin American Theological Commission Volume XXXV N 2012/1 New Series January-March 2012

For some readers, it could be useful to jump directly to the theological proposal about the Postreligional Paradigm (pp. 239ss), to motivate and to put in frame the reading of the whole issue. Para algunos lectores puede ser recomendable pasar a leer en primer lugar la propuesta teolgica del Paradigma pos-religional (pp. 253ss), para enmarcar y motivar la lectura del nmero entero.

En La E glis tin h d &S A p i anis me t h - P ri i ort ca o ugu n e n se

Toward a Post-religional Paradigm EATWOT's Latin American Consultation on Religion Hacia un Paradigma Pos-religional Consulta Teolgica Latinoamericana sobre Religin Para um Paradigma Ps-religional Consulta Teolgica Latino-Americana sobre Religio

VOICES
Release 1.2

http://InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES

Advertisements' pages - Getting the Poor Down from the Cross, 26 - Along the Many Paths of God (Book), 28 - Congresos Teolgicos de Amerindia, 46 (Spanish) - Spong, A New Christianity for a New World, 66 (English - Spanish) - Roger Lenaers' book translated into Indenesian Language, 102 - Toward a Planetary Theology, 122 - Another God is Possible! 144 - Latin American Agenda'2012, p. 304 - Along the Many Paths of God (Series), 152 (Spanish), 153 (English) - XIII Simpsio Internacional IHU, 192 - Biblical Liturgical Calendar, 214 - Latin American Agenda 2012, 282 - Per i molti cammini di Dio IV, 286 (Italian)

En La E glis tin h d & Sp A i anis me t h & ri i Port ca o ugu n n ese

Toward a Post-religional Paradigm

EATWOT's Latin American Consultation on REligion

Hacia un Paradigma Pos-religional

Consulta Teolgica Latinoamericana sobre Religin

Para um Paradigma ps-religional

Consulta Teolgica Latino-Americana sobre Religio

http://InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES

Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians Asociacion Ecumnica de Telogos/as del Tercer Mundo Association Oecumenique des Theologiens du Tiers Monde

VOICES

Theological Journal of EATWOT, Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians New Series, Volume XXXV, Number 2012/1, January-March 2012 Toward a Post-religional Paradigm. Issue edited by EATWOT's Latin American Theological Commission and International Theological Commission, Free Digital Printable Bilingual Edition Release 1.0 of March 20, 2012 Current version 1.2 ISSN: 2222-0763 - EATWOT's Theological Consultation, physically held at PUC-Minas, Pontifical Catholic University of Minas, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, September 2011. - Cover and lay out: Lorenzo Barra. - Special thanks to all the collaborators, principally to Alice Mndez and Justiniano Liebl for translations. If you want to print this whole Journal on paper for a local edition, please, contact the Latin American Theological Commission at its web, Comision.Teologica.Latinoamericana.org asking for full resolution printable originals. All the articles of this issue can be reproduced freely, since given the credit to the source. You can download VOICES freely, at:: http://InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES

E A T W O T
Ecumenical Association Of Third World Theologians

A S E T T
EATWOT's web addresses: www.eatwot.org www.InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES www.Comision.Teologica.Latinoamericana.org www.Comissao.Teologica.Latinoamericana.org www.tiempoaxial.org/AlongTheManyPaths www.tiempoaxial.org/PorLosMuchosCaminos www.tiempoaxial.org/PelosMuitosCaminhos www.tiempoaxial.org/PerIMoltiCammini

Asociacin ecumnica de Telogos/as del Tercer Mundo

CONTENTS - CONTENIDO - CONTEDO

Presentation/ Presentacin..........................................................................11 1. The Consultation at Belo Horizonte/ La Consulta en Belo Horizonte........15 1.1. The approach to the Consult / Planteamiento de la Consulta.................17 1.2. The papers of the experts / Las ponencias...............................................27 Post-religious Condition in Latin America. A northeaster's vision............29 Condio ps-religiosa na Amrica Latina. Viso de um nordestino.......39 Gilbraz ARAGO, Olinda, PE, Brasil Consultation on Religion: Religious Pluralism............................................47 Consulta sobre religin: Pluralismo religioso............................................54 Consulta sobre religio: Pluralismo religioso............................................60 Vctor CODINA, Cochabamba, Bolivia The crisis of religion on Jose COMBLIN's last thinking.............................67 La crisis de la religin en el pensamiento ltimo de Jos Comblin...........76 Jos COMBLIN Religion Does Not Redeem...........................................................................85 La religin no redime..................................................................................94 Josef ESTERMANN, La Paz, Bolivia

Suspicions and Philosophical Reflections on Religion's crisis......................103 Suspeitas e reflexes filosficas em torno da crise da religio.................113 Ivone GEBARA, Camaragibe, PE, Brazil The End of Religion or Birth of Spirituality?............................................123 Fin de la religin o nacimiento de la espiritualidad?...............................129 Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES, Brazil - India - Portugal. Change - Significance an Challenges......................................................135 Cambio: significacin y desafos. Una nueva visin de la religin..........140 Deivit MONTEALEGRE, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Geneva, Swiss Post-religional Paradigm? Towards a complex understanding..............145 Paradigma posreligional? Hacia una comprensin compleja del fenmeno religioso contemporneo..........................................................................154 Alejandro ORTIZ, Puebla, Mxico From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religious Culture..................161 Del tesmo al postesmo: un cambio en la cultura religiosa...................173 Juan Diego ORTIZ, Guadalajara, Mxico

A Copernican Shift of Religion and Theology.........................................185 Cambia copernicanamente la religin. Debe cambiar la teologa.........193 Jos Amando ROBLES, Heredia, Costa Rica Catholic Religion and Cultural Changes in Latin America & Caribe........201 Religin catlica y cambio cultural en Amrica Latina y Caribe...............208 Luigi SCHIAVO, San Jos, Costa Rica

Religion in a Techno-centric and Market-Based World.......... ..............215 Religion in a Thecno-centric and Market-Based World..........................226 Sinivaldo TAVARES, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
2. Deepening and Relaunching of the Consultation Profundizacin y relanzamiento de la Consulta.....................................237 2.1. For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia...........................239 Tissa BALASURIYA, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

2.2. Constituent Elements in the Post-Religional Paradigm......................251 2.2. Elementos constitutivos del paradigma pos-religional......................255 Mari CORB, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 2.3. Towards a Post-Religional Paradigm, Theological Proposal.............261 2.3. Propuesta teolgica: Hacia un paradigma pos-religional?.............275 2.3. Para um Paradigma Ps-religional. Proposta teolgica...................289 2.3. Verso un paradigma post-religionale? Proposta teolgica...............303 2.3. Vers un paradigme post-religional. Proposition Thologique.........315 EATWOT's International Theological Commission.
2.4. Practical Proposal to Work. Possible research projects....................329 2.4. Propuesta Prctica de Trabajo. Posibles proyectos de investigacin..337

Bibliography - Bibliografa.....................................................................345

10

 11

Presentation of this issue of VOICES

This is the first issue of VOICES magazine 2012. As mentioned in the previous issue, it is dedicated to making public the results of the Latin American Consultation about Religion, carried out by EATWOT of Latin America, in September 2011, during the International Congress of the PUC-Minas de Belo Horizonte, Brazil. While showing the results of this first step made at the Congress, the Latin American Theological Commission takes this occasion to relaunch the topic towards a new stage in the process of this consultation, offering a study proposal, a debate and a research proposal, mainly to the continent, but open to the rest of the continents. Therefore, this issue has two parts: The Consultation itself: its objective, approach and the papers of participating experts. A deepening of the topic through some studies along the lines of the concerns raised, and a theological proposal of interpretation of what we call the post-religion paradigm, as a starting point to continue the debate and the research. And a final part, with a proposal for an agenda of pending topics, as well as collective research work that can be discussed in the near future. Although the Consultation was launched only within Latin America, the publication in the magazine, which is the theological magazine of EATWOT, opens it to the world, inviting everybody to take part in this Consultation as from this second stage.

12 Presentation

EATWOT thanks deeply all those intellectuals that have embraced the call seriously and have made contributions so worthy of study, as well as the PUC-Minas de Belo Horizonte, for embracing the Consultation in the unique setting of its International Congress in September 2011. It also thanks all friends that with their voluntary work and in the enthusiastic monitoring of this continental dialogue, have made this issue of VOICES, its Consultation about Religion and its promising future possible. The next issues of VOICES, whose preparation has been under way for some time, will deal, monographically, with the following topics: - The great five last decades, issue dedicated to a reflection on the fifty years since Vatican II and similar events in the Protestant Churches, a research carried out this time by EATWOT at an intercontinental level. - The forty years relationship between theology and liberation. - A work agenda for the theology of the coming years, on a planetary level, that will serve as the central theme for the next General Assembly, and EATWOT wants to offer its preparatory reflections, as well as call upon others to take up this research, which is increasingly shared along the lines of a planetary theology. - The forty years' intensive relationship between Theology and Liberation, in Latin America and other Continents. - An issue of Imaginative Theology about the future of Christianity and Religions... Regions and subsections of EATWOT must remember they can contribute with a project for any issue of VOICES. EATWOT expects VOICES to be issued on a regular basis between 4 and 6 times a year, taking advantage of the global character and flexibility offered by current digital technology. On EATWOTs web page as well as that of the International Theological Commission, we are offering all the digital issues available of VOICES, freely. Do not miss the opportunity to visit it. EATWOT's International Theological Commission InternationalTheologicalCommission.org InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES

 13

Presentacin de este nmero de VOICES

ste es el primer nmero de la revista VOICES del ao 2012. Como se anunciaba en el anterior, est dedicado a pasar al pblico los resultados de la Consulta Latinoamericana sobre Religin realizada por EATWOT de Amrica Latina, en septiembre de 2011, en el marco del Congreso Internacional de la PUC-Minas de Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Al ofrecer los resultados de este primer paso realizado en dicho Congreso, la Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana aprovecha la ocasin para relanzar el tema hacia una nueva etapa del proceso de esta Consulta, ofreciendo una propuesta de estudio, de debate y de investigacin, principalmente al Continente, pero abierta a los dems Continentes. As pues, este nmero contiene tres partes: La Consulta misma: su objetivo, su planteamiento, y las ponencias de los expertos que participaron. Una profundizacin en el tema, por medio de algunos estudios en la lnea de la inquietud suscitada, as como de una propuesta teolgica de interpretacin del que llamamos paradigma pos-religional, como provisional punto de partida para la continuacin e la investigacin y del debate. Y una parte final, con la elaboracin de una propuesta de agenda de temas pendientes, as como de trabajos de investigacin colectivos susceptibles de ser acometidos en un prximo futuro. Aunque el lanzamiento de la Consulta fue de nivel estrictamente latinoamericano, la publicacin en esta revista, que es la revista teolgica de EATWOT, la abre a un mbito mundial, haciendo una invitacin generalizada a incorporarse y participar en esta Consulta a partir de esta segunda etapa.

14 Presentacin

EATWOT agradece profundamente a los estudiosos que han acogido tan seriamente la convocatoria y han hecho contribuciones tan dignas de estudio, as como a la PUC-Minas de Belo Horizonte, por la acogida de la Consulta en el incomparable marco de su Congreso Internacional de septiembre de 2011. Y tambin agradece a todos los amigos y amigas que con su trabajo voluntario, y con el seguimiento entusiasta de este dilogo continental han hecho posible este nmero de VOICES, la Consulta sobre Religin que vehicula, y su prometedor futuro. Los prximos nmeros de VOICES, cuya preparacin hace tiempo que est en marcha, van a tratar, monogrficamente, entre otros, los siguientes temas: - las cinco prodigiosas dcadas ltimas, nmero dedicado a reflexionar sobre los 50 ltimos aos del cristianismo, a partir del Concilio Vaticano II y de otros tantos eventos semejantes en las Iglesias protestantes, una investigacin realizada esta vez a nivel de EATWOT intercontinental; - una agenda de trabajo para la teologa en los prximos aos, a nivel planetario. Es el tema que se propuso y que trabaj el WFTL en Dakar, Senegal, en 2011. Este nmero de VOICES, que va a ser un nmero conjunto de la EATWOT y del WFTL, va a recoger lo que en Dakar se vivi, tratando de dar un nuevo paso en la misma bsqueda, invitando para ello a las firmas ms autorizadas sobre la agenda de trabajo que la teologa pudiera proponerse a s misma a nivel planetario, pensando en una teologa planetaria... - los 40 aos de la relacin intensiva entre Teologa y Liberacin, vividos tanto en Latinoamrica como en los dems continentes. - un nmero de teologa imaginativa sobre el futuro del cristianismo y de las religiones... Recuerden las regiones y subsecciones de EATWOT que pueden ofrecer algn proyecto de nmero de VOICES. Estamos apuntando a que VOICES pase a ofrecer, ya de una manera estable, entre 4 y 6 nmeros por ao, aprovechando la flexibilidad y globalidad que permite la informtica actual. En la pgina de EATWOT y de la Comisin Teolgica Internacional estamos ofreciendo libremente al pblico los nmeros de VOICES, en formato digital. No deje de visitarla. Comisin Teolgica Internacional de la EATWOT InternationalTheologicalCommission.org InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES

 15

1.1. The approach to the Consult 1.1. Planteamiento de la Consulta

16

 17

The Consultation

The Latin American Theological Consultation that EATWOT has started in the Continent, and this issue of VOICES wishes to pass on to the people, is an initiative in a way against the current. The main current of the river of religion in Latin America, does not talk of crisis but of vitality and in certain aspects even of ardour and enthusiasm. In Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, the Pentecostal and Neo-pentecostal movement continues to boom, as from the last decades, accounting already about eighty million followers, 40% of the countrys population. The charismatic Pentecostal movement, in just a few decades has been growing and consolidating in all the world reaching various hundreds of millions of believers and becoming one of the major transformations in the map of Christianity, which has occurred within the shortest period of time in history. An additional data: the charismatic-pentecostal movement in Europe has not had much impact. ? Against this data of religious ferment, there are others, opposing, of situations of religious crisis and abandonment by believers. Generalising, we could say that half the world is in religious ferment and half is in crisis. And we cannot separate one half form the other by a geographical line: both halves are together and frequently mingled, and are not always distinguishable. Data is very contradictory. Sometimes, as in great Latin American urban places, in the same society we have opposing data of religious ferment and growth on one hand, and crisis, abandonment and even apostasy on the other. Being so contradictory the observable data of the present situation, diagnosis may be far apart, and well backed by numbers. What is really happening in the field of religion? We think there is no one answer. There are many things happening, many processes, complex and sometimes apparently opposite.

18 Consultation

Maybe, in this time of freedom and pluralism we have entered, of spontaneity and lack of social control, the religious world in a way is becoming polarised in its evolution, contemplating in itself the development of contrary phenomena: on the one hand revivals, enthusiasms, pentecostalisms and returns to ways and forms of the past, and on the other hand an evolution towards securalism that has never been so profound and seems to take us inside a really new era, a novum historicum, which some are qualifying as a new post-religious paradigm. Be it clear that we acknowledge other realities, that we do not ignore them or negate them, but simply, we want to concentrate on this new process, really new one, unlike revivals and neo movements, which we already know and that signify both the survival of the past and a return to it. Institutions and countries that, as the reader will see, have participated in this Consultation in a direct way are Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and Panama. We have also enjoyed the collaboration of CETRE, Centre of Studies of Religious Traditions, from Barcelona. The Latin American Theological Commission had participated in previous years in some activities similar to this Consultation they were really first-time attempts to implement it- in countries like Costa Rica and Mexico. Also some magazines in the Continent have started to say something, such as Alternativas, from Managua, Nicaragua, which has already produced a monographic issue about this topic, and many other have published articles about it. We are not then at ground zero, a starting point without antecedents. Intuition has been opening its path long time ago, and now seems called upon to become strong and be presented formally to the Latin American continent, by the Latin American Theological Commission, and to the world through VOICES, the theological magazine of EATWOT. And we are very happy that this is so. EATWOTs Latin American Theological Commission Comision.Teologica.Latinoamericana.org/indexEnglish.html

 19

La Consulta

La Consulta Teolgica Latinonamericana que EATWOT-ha iniciado en el Continente, y este nmero de VOICES que pretende pasarla al gran pblico, es una iniciativa en cierto modo a contracorriente. La corriente principal del ro de la religin en Amrica Latina, en efecto, no habla de crisis, sino de vitalidad y, en algunos aspectos, hasta de fervor y entusiasmo. Por referirnos al mayor pas latinoamericano, Brasil, el movimiento pentecostal y neopentecostal contina all en auge, desde las ltimas dcadas, contabilizando ya unos ochenta millones de fieles, el 40% de la poblacin del pas. El movimiento pentecostal carismtico, desde hace apenas unas dcadas, ha ido creciendo y consolidndose en todo el mundo hasta alcanzar varios centenares de millones de fieles y convertirse en una de las transformaciones cuantitativamente mayores del mapa del cristianismo,que se han producido en el menor lapso de tiempo de toda la historia. Un dato complementario y matizdor: en Europa el movimiento pentecostal-carismtico no ha tenido mayor incidencia. ? Frente a estos datos de efervescencia religiosa, pueden fcilmente aducirse otros, contrarios, de situaciones de crisis religiosa y de abandono por parte de los fieles. Se puede generalizar diciendo que en medio mundo la religin est en efervescencia, y en el otro medio est en crisis. Y no se puede separar esas dos mitades del mundo por una simple raya geogrfica: los dos medios mundos estn juntos, y con frecuencia bien mezclados, y no siempre se dejen distinguir. Los datos son bien contradictorios. A veces, como ocurre en las grandes urbes latinoamericanas, en la misma sociedad tenemos datos contrarios de efervescencia religiosa y crecimiento por una parte, y de crisis,

20 La Consulta

abandono y hasta apostasa por otra. Y al ser tan contradictorios los datos observables, de la situacin actual se pueden hacer los diagnsticos ms dispares, y para todos ellos hay datos con los que respaldarlos. Qu est aconteciendo pues en el campo religioso? Creemos que no hay una respuesta nica. Estn pasando muchas cosas, se estn dando muchos procesos, complejos, y a veces aparentemente opuestos. Tal vez, en este peculiar tiempo en que hemos entrado, de libertad y de pluralismo, de espontaneidad y falta de control social, el mundo religioso, de alguna manera, se est polarizando en su evolucin, contemplando en su seno el desarrollo de fenmenos contrarios: por una parte los revivals, los entusiasmos, los pentecostalismos y las vueltas a modos y formas del pasado, y por otra una evolucin secularizante que nunca ha revestido tal profundidad, y que parece llevarnos y adentrarnos en una era realmente nueva, un novum histricum, que algunos estn comenzando a calificar como un nuevo paradigma pos-religional. Quede claro pues que no desconocemos las otras realidades, que no las ignoaramos ni las negamos, sino que, simplemente, nos queremos concentrar en este proceso nuevo, realmente nuevo, a diferencia de los revivals y los movimientos neo, que ya nos son conocidos y nos significan tanto la pervivencia del pasado como la vuelta hacia el mismo. Instituciones y pases que, como ver el lector, han participado en esta Consulta de un modo directo son Brasil, Bolivia, Argentina, Mxico, Costa Rica, Colombia y Panam. Tambin hemos disfrutado de la colaboracin del CETRE, Centro de Estudio de las Tradiciones Religiosas, de Barcelona. La Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana ya haba participado en aos anteriores en algunas actividades semejantes a esta Consulta -eran en realidad intentos primerizos por ponerla en marcha- en pases como Costa Rica y Mxico. Tambin, algunas revistas del Continente, como Alternativas, de Managua, Nicaragua, ya ha elaborado ms de un nmero monogrfico sobre este tema; muchas otras ya han dado cabida a artculos sobre el tema. No estamos pues en un punto cero, un punto de partida sin antecedentes. La intuicin se viene abriendo paso desde hace tiempo, y ahora parece llamada a cobrar fuerza y ser presentada formalmente al Continente latinoamericano, por parte de la Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana, y al mundo, por medio de VOICES, la revista teolgica de EATWOT. Estamos muy felices de que as sea. Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana de la EATWOT Comision.Teologica.Latinoamericana.org

 21

Latin American Consultation on Religion Call for papers

It is not yet 50 years ago that for believers religion was only one, the one they believed in. This was considered the only one to bring salvation to the world. Everywhere religion was considered to have a preexistence, coming directly from God, as a divine wisdom unquestionably necessary for access to God. Today, here and there, in a way everywhere, the vision of religion is changing. For a while now, we are getting used to a certain change of address. It is now common to hear that religion is a human construction, cultural, finite, contingent and ambiguous, able to help as well as hinder the relationship with the transcendence. Today there is a clear distinction between religion and spirituality, realities that in the past tended to mingle. The instrumental character of religion is generally recognised in favour of a deep re-binding, and an intrinsic underestimation of religion is accepted In many places, in different sectors of societies, the culture of pluralism has expelled religion of its throne pretending to be the one true religion, making them turn humbly into one religion more among others, and from being a divine act, a grace coming directly from God, it is now seen as a human construction, sometimes too human. All this makes us now subliminally perceive religion in a totally different way as to how our ancestors did, or even we did until only some decades ago. A new (auto)understanding of religion is breaking its way and is spreading slowly but widely, occupying a great part of the stage even in the midst of massive noisy conservative religious manifestations. Well, in spite of all this, there is no systematic reflection in the field of theology about this transformation, its significance and challenges. And it is not only that this theological reflection has not been produced yet, but in the field of theology there has not even been what we might call a first reception of the change in perception to which we refer. Theology, up to now, in general, has not acknowledged this radical change in the understanding of religion which is spreading progressively. The religious and theological observatories in our region have not yet sent an alarm about this. We think it is due time to delve in this topic, which we could call for the time being a new vision of religion or a new religious paradigm,

22 Consultation - Call for Papers

whose coming will inevitably result in a crisis of religion. In the most classic nomenclature, we would say we are heading towards a new theology of religion. The questions are already mature in society and in some reduced sectors of the Churches. The Sciences of Religion do have a lot of research and production in this field. Theology needs to host explicitly this topic, and say a word, a first word this time more from the sciences of religion and science in general than from philosophy. In the Latin American Theological Commission of ASETT/EATWOT we have been following this topic for some time worried because we think it needs a systematic approach. We have taken part in activities and investigations at university level, about this topic in countries such as Costa Rica (2005) and Mexico (2009 and 2011) This is why we believe it convenient to have a Theological Consultation among qualified field observers who can give a clear vision of the shift of perspectives taking place, some guidelines about the unpredictable future that awaits religion, and the new issues theology should face, to start on the way towards a new Theology of Religion, if necessary. We would like to ask:
- What is happening to religion? What are the changes taking place in its perception and conceptualisation? - What traditional theological elements are being challenged? - How can we design a map of the transformations in the understanding of religion that have taken place in theological thought? - Should we consider starting on the road to a new theology of religion? How?

We make this Consultation with the aim of starting a long-range process of reflection, with no hurry, to produce a collective investigation that will definitely place the question about religion in the Latin American theological concern. We hope it will invite pastors as well as thinkers and society in general, to bring forward this new topic and will start a series of reflections and reactions over it. Academic Structure This Consultation of EATWOT/ASETT will take place within the IV International Symposium of Theology and Sciences of Religion, organised by the Pontificia Universidad de Minas, Belo Hoizonte, Brazil (www.pucminas.br/ppgcr/tcr/index_padrao.php). One of its activities will be dedicated to this topic and participation can be made directly by attending (prior enrolment) or sending a written participation or communication through the Latin American Theological Commission of EATWOT. Due date of reception for papers will be August 2011.

 23

Consulta latinoamericana sobre religin Convocatoria

Planteamiento No hace todava 50 aos, para los ceyentes, la religin era slo una, la propia, que era considerada la nica que poda traer la salvacin al mundo. Por todas partes la religin era considerada como dotada de un tipo de preexistencia, proveniente directamente de Dios, como un cuerpo de sabidura divina indiscutiblemente necesario para el acceso hacia Dios. Hoy da, por aqu y por all, un poco por todas partes, se est pasando a una visin distinta de la religin. De un tiempo a esta parte, estamos comenzando a acostumbrarnos a un cierto cambio de discurso. Ahora es muy frecuente or hablar de la religin como una construccin humana, cultural, finita, contingente... y ambigua, capaz tanto de ayudar como de dificultar la relacin con la transcendencia. Hoy ya es un lugar comn la distincin neta entre religin y espiritualidad, realidades que antiguamente parecan confundirse. Se reconoce generalmente el carcter instrumental de la religin en favor de la religacin profunda, y se da como por supuesta una minusvaloracin intrnseca de la religin... En muchos lugares, en diferentes sectores de las sociedades, la cultura del pluralismo ha expulsado a las religiones del trono pretencioso de ser la nica religin verdadera, hacindolas pasar a ser, ms humildemente, una una religin ms entre otras, y de ser una obra divina, un don proveniente de Dios mismo, est pasando a ser vista como una construccin humana, a veces demasiado humana. Todo esto hace que subliminalmente vayamos percibiendo a la religin ahora de manera muy distinta a como la vivieron nuestros antepasados, o a como la hemos vivido nosotros mismos hasta hace apenas unas dcadas. Una nueva (auto)comprensin de la religin se est abriendo paso y se est difundiendo lenta pero ampliamente, llegando a estar presente en una buena parte del escenario aun en medio de manifestaciones religiosas masivas conservadoras efervescentes incluso, no obsta-. Pues bien, a pesar de ello, no existe en el campo teolgico una reflexin sistemtica que d cuenta de esta transformacin, de su signifi-

24 Consulta latinoamericana sobre Religin

cacin y sus desafos. Y no es slo que no ha sido todava elaborada una reflexin teolgica sobre el tema, sino que no se ha dado en el mbito teolgico lo que podramos llamar una primera recepcin del cambio de percepcin al que nos referimos. La teologa, por ahora, como conjunto, no se ha dado por enterada todava de este cambio radical que va avanzando progresivamente en la comprensin de la religin. Los observatorios teolgicos y religiosos de nuestra Regin todava no han enviado ninguna alarma al respecto. Creemos que es hora de abordar este tema, que podramos llamar provisionalmente una nueva visin de la religin, o un nuevo paradigma religioso, cuyo advenimiento conllevar, inevitablemente, una crisis de la religin. En la nomenclatura ms clsica, diramos que vamos hacia una nueva teologa de la religin. Estn maduras las preguntas en la sociedad y en algn sector muy reducido de las Iglesias. Las Ciencias de la Religin, s tienen mucho investigado y producido en ese campo. Falta que la Teologa acoja explcitamente el tema, y diga tambin una palabra, aunque sea inicial, palabra que esta vez ser ms a partir de las ciencias de la religin y de la ciencia en general que de la filosofa. Desde la Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana de la ASETT/ EATWOT hace tiempo que vamos dando seguimiento con preocupacin a este tema que nos parece que necesita un abordaje sistemtico. Hemos intervenido en actividades e investigaciones de rango universitario, con este tema como objetivo de investigacin, en pases como Costa Rica (2005) y Mxico (2009 y 2011)... Por eso creemos conveniente hacer una Consulta teolgica a observadores de campo cualificados que puedan dar una visin clara del corrimiento de perspectivas que se est dando, de los grandes rasgos del futuro impredecible que nos espera, y de las nuevas cuestiones que la teologa debera afrontar, para ponerse en camino hacia una nueva Teologa de la religin, si fuera necesario. Queremos preguntarnos:
-qu est pasando con la religin? -cules son los cambios que se estn dando en su peercepcin y conceptuacin? -qu elementos teolgicos tradicionales se ven desafiados? -Cmo trazar un mapa ordenado de las transformaciones que la autocomprensin de la religin est experimentando en el propio pensamiento teolgico? -Habra que pensar en ponerse en marcha hacia una nueva teologa de la religin? Cmo?

 25 Convocatoria

Hacemos la Consulta con la intencin de desatar un proceso de reflexin de largo alcance, sin prisas, y para producir un libro colectivo que coloque definitivamente la pregunta por la religin en la pauta futura de la preocupacin teolgica latinoamericana. Que invite, tanto a pastores como a pensadores y a la sociedad en general, a tomar conciencia de este tema nuevo, y que desencadene un una serie de reflexiones y reacciones sobre el mismo. Estructura acadmica Esta Consulta de EATWOT/ASETT va a ser realizada en el seno del IV Simpsio Internacional de Teologia e Cincias da Religio, organizado por la Pontifcia Universidade de Minas, de Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Una de sus sesiones ser dedicada a este tema, y en ella se puede participar tanto hacindose presente (previa inscripcin), cuanto enviando una participacin o comunicacin escrita a travs de la ASETT. Portal del Simposio: www.pucminas.br/ppgcr/tcr/index_padrao.php Fecha tope de recepcin de trabajos: fin de agosto de 2011. La Consulta misma se realiz en los das 12 a 14 de septiembre. A continuacin se tendra unas jornadas de trabajo con un equipo de expertos, para estudiar las ponencias presentadas en la Consulta, elaborar alguna reflexin pertinente, y trazar las posibilidades de futuro para la profundizacin en el proceso de investigacin de esta Consulta, los temas de estudio a proponer, las posibles publicaciones a realizar...

26

Getting the Poor Down From the Cross Cristology of Liberation

A classical work of EATWOT's International Theological Commission

In 30 days after the Notification against Jon Sobrino, the EATWOT's International Theological Commission requested and collected the contributions of more than 40 theologians, from all over the world, to reflect and testify about their theological work, as getting the poor down from the cross. As a result, there is this digital book, which in its first week -40 days after the Notification- registered more than three thousand downloads. It continues to be on line for downloading in several languages (English, Spanish, Italian) and in paper (English, Spanish, Portuguese). Printable originals with full resolution can still be requested for local editions without profit purposes.
Getting the Poor Down from the Cross: still on line digital edition, which was printed on paper in many places, 314 pp Bajar de la cruz a los pobres: edicin digital en lnea, y tambin una edicin en papel, por Dabar, Mxico 293 pp. Descer da Cruz os Pobres: edio s em papel, pela Paulinas, So Paulo, 357 pp Deporre i poveri dalla croce: edizione soltanto digitale, nella rete. More information at the webpage: InternationalTheologicalCommission.org See also, alternatively: servicioskoinonia.org/LibrosDigitales

 27

1.2. The papers of the experts

1.2. Las ponencias

28

Along the Many Paths

J.M.VIGIL, Luiza TOMITA, Marcelo BARROS (eds.) Foreword: Pedro CASALDLIGA Series : Interreligious Studies, edited by Frans Wijsen and Jorge Castillo Published by the Chair of World Christianity at Radboud University Nijmegen

Latin American theology is associated with liberation, basic Christian communities, primacy of the praxis and option for the poor. The present volume shows that Latin American theologians added new themes to the previous ones: religious pluralism, inter-religious dialogue and macro-ecumenism. It is the fruit of a programme of the Theological Commission of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) in Latin American, to work out a liberation theology of religions. This volume summarizes the three first ones of the series of five volumes.

Distributed in North Amrica by Transactions Publishers: orders@transactionspub.com Distributed in UK by Global Book Marketing, London, www.centralbooks.co.uk Distributed from Germay: Lit Verlag, Berlin and Mnster: www.lit-verlag.de

 29

Post-religious Condition in Latin Amrica A northeaster's vision

Resumo:

Gilbraz ARAGO * Olinda, PE, Brasil

Como a gente pode ver reflexivamente a prpria f, entre outras tradies humanas? Como a gente pode perceber que os deuses so humanos e, o humano, divino? A reflexo deste testemunho se desenvolve em duas partes. Primeiro, apresenta um relato autobiogrfico de como o autor descobriu, atravs de uma goteira na sua igreja da infncia, a dimenso de coisa feita e construda na experincia religiosa: No que se transformaram as minhas primeiras e mais marcantes experincias de gente? E onde foi parar (o) meu Deus?!. A partir da, tematiza uma condio ps-religional que est presente entre pessoas que se encontram na passagem para uma cosmoviso ps-moderna e/ou ps-metafsica, solicitando a disponibilizao hermenutica das mensagens de todas as tradies espirituais, para quem delas necessite em seu processo de formao (e transcendncia) humana e humanizante. Palavras-chave: Fenomenologia religiosa, Secularizao, Dilogo inter-religioso. Abstract: How could we see reflectively our own faith, among other human traditions? How could we realize that gods are human and the human one is divine? This testimony reflection is developed in two parts. First of all, it - the testimony - presents an autobiographic relate concerning the way how this author. Has discovered, through a goteira2 in his childhood church building, the dimension of a coisa feita3 and built in a religious experience which have turned into first and most remarkable personal experiences? And where has my god been meant to stop?. Thenceforth, it - this testimony - turns into a real thematic a post-religionist condition
*

Department of religious studies, Universidade Catlica de Pernambuco (Brazil). E-mail: gilbraz@unicap.br Goteiras drip a falling, or letting fall, in drops. Coisa Feita sorcery pretended employment of supernatural agencies.

2 3

30 Gilbraz ARAGO

that used to be present among peoples that find themselves in their transit toward a postmodern and/or a post-metaphysical worldview, demanding all spiritual traditions messages hermeneutics availability, for those ones that would need them - the above mentioned messages - in their human and humanizing formation process. Key words: Religious phenomenology Secularization Interreligious dialogue.

Oh! My God, mayest thou 4 give me courage Of living three hundred and sixty five days and nights, All of them empty of thy presence. Mayest thou give me the courage of considering this emptiness As a plenitude. Mayest thou make from me thy humble mistress, Interwoven with thee in ecstasy. Mayest thou make me able to speak to thee With this tremendous emptiness And to receive as an answer Thy motherly love that nourishes and lulls to sleep. Mayest thou make me to have the courage of loving thee Without hating thy offences against my soul and my body. Mayest thou not allow that solitude destroys me. Mayest thou make my solitude serving me as a true company. Mayest thou make me having the courage of confronting myself. Mayest thou make me learn to remain with nothingness. And even so to feel myself As if I should be full of everything. Mayest thou shelter in thy arms My sin of thinking On the pretext of this testimony, in a lighter way, I have reminded this prayer made by a jewess-agnostic, Clarice Lispector, who grew up in Recife and there she looked for courage in order to move away from her God aiming at experiencing a new knowledge in solitude company we ourselves - that in this symposium about religion and culture, have glimpsed a postreligionist tendency in the information cultures that are
4

Thou Thee Thy Thine archaic terms, except in biblical homiletic, elevated, or poetic language, in prayers to a deity.

Post-religious Condition in Latin Amrica. A northeaster's vision 31

spread throughout the globalized world, we could as well as her make a similar prayer (event if it would be the last one) because it is in the silent solitude in front of reality, recognized as a mystery that we need, as it can bee known, putting aside convictions brought out from childhood, even regarding to our God, as well as concerning the world and humanity itself. It is not easy for us becoming empty from our convictions in order to be able thinking, interrogating ourselves, constructing science, acquiring a more universal knowledge concerning everything, becoming ourselves more conscious as well as more consequent. Would there be something postreligious in Latin America that would deserve a postreligionist, departing from the theologians and from the religious studies? We are not dealing only with the Religion Less increasing phenomenon: 6,7% in Brazil, according to recent Mapa das Religies da Fundao Getlio Vargas (Getlio Vargas Foundation Religious Map), reminding that this index arises to 17,4% among masters and doctors degree bearers persons. I have in mind that this postreligious thematic touches much more broadly a cultural new sensitivity that since a long time is also found up in afro-latin-indian lands. Year by year, on the occasion of my birthplace town patron saint feast day, for instance a group of half a hundred of my fellow countrymen use to go on a walk from our States Capital until there: the pilgrims must carry with themselves, no more than a rucksack with clothes, water a shepherds staff, a little white flag and a great faith in order to face a hundred and seventy (170) kilometers, in a walk for six days. All of us were in search for spirituality, self-surmount and transcendence in this Caminho de Santo Amaro (so to say Saint Amarus Path), but the major part these did not use to go on account of any believing in the above-mentioned Saint. I can share with you, as a matter of fact, a reported personal experience. I was born in a small town inhabited by coffee growers, in the Pernambucos stony, mountain range of North-Eastern named Taquaritinga - do Norte, called this way, i. e. of North, in order to avoid any confusion concerned with its homonymous one placed in So Paulo which also itself searched out in the Tupi 5 its mean geographical accident denomination: Ita-coara-ettinga a huge and white stone hole or more simply a cavern. Well then, I am fully pleased being able going back-retrieving to this childhood and youth cavern (a dream like one) of mine, whenever I evaluating the paths, the routes, the courses my existence caught out. This is a natural movement: I start going up to this mountain range and my reality hot weight comes in to confront with the light wishes that come out from my life dawn view. What have done concerning the way people have behaved toward me? What have my first and most remarkable personal experi5

Tupi plural tupis or tupi member of any of a group of south american indian tribes.

32 Gilbraz ARAGO

ences transformed in? What have I allowed people making regarding to my dreams? And where have I noticed having stopped my God? A strong reminiscence leads me to realize that, at least on a special aspect, my struggle for life in my existence has been developed in full coherence with the discoveries I started making in Taquaritinga - and that, nowadays, in the academic surrounding where I am living now at, I am just trying recovering from my past clouds: in order to be able, God does 6 know it, to help whomsoever that perhaps would be afraid reflecting about things he/she could consider as sacred ones. I do understand whom that fears looking for his/her reasons for his/her faith and their own convictions, but I think that, especially in these times which the Gods name in are invoked for justifying even wars, it is a worthwhile this effort for illustration. It is just on account of this circumstance that I partake with everybody these reminiscences of mine. I used to be a scout myself and to like as much encamping as much praying. In this perspective, I used to go to my church nearly all the evenings during my childhood. But in one of those evenings, during the winter, the thunder rumble defied my childish ascetic spirit and even so I went to mass in order to act as an assistant to Father Arago - of dearly missed memory. The church building outstood over everything in town on account of its higher level than the square one and by its - churchs buildings - construction grandeur. I knew that my grandfather had participated in the mutires 7 in order to build that sacred place, but the latin language used in the novenas 8 and their incense uses, the liturgies solemnity that there marked everybodys life from birth to death, the meeting cultural point that the church building represented every Sunday and feast days, made me forgetting, induced me to forget that all those circumstances were a mere human construction. Diving ourselves into a church building welcoming silence is truly, unconsciously the same event as there being able to return to our existence social uterus 9. Religion, as it was said by Kierkegaard, is infinite passion 10, a symbolical experience (either in extraordinary terms, either
6

It is suitable emphasizing that the verb to do can be used in its affirmative form as a reinforcing auxiliary verb. T.E. Mutiro task force joint efforts toward a social enterprise gratis joint work, accomplished in order to help one person or a whole community. Novenas in the Roman Catholic Church, a devotion consisting of a prayer said on nine successive days, asking for some special blessing. Uterus symbolical use: the place where everything is engendered or brought into life. Passion an eager outreaching of mind toward some special object, as art, travel etc, as fervid devotion.

10

Post-religious Condition in Latin Amrica. A northeaster's vision 33

in pedagogical ones) peculiar to the human heart, a kind of commotion endowed with a plus power which we may bet in front of the so many deaths that limit our humanity. It - religion - is a ghost fineness that dilates our deepest ego and ravishes our mind and allows us seeing beyond the sensitive things and being able constructing - in spite of everything - goodness and beauty, feeling ourselves confidently bound to everything and everybody. Just until that evening! For it occurred then, in that evening, as I was alone, before the mass, while I was arranging the ornaments near to the high altar, the water downpour burst into the church building trough a big goteira 11 provoking in me a great fear for I thought that the whole ceiling was falling down. In minutes lapse, my whole childish assurance relinquished me in this sacred sanctuary and so I have led, better told dragged, into a ripening process concerning the religion experiencing way. Well then, as a kind of flash of lightening upon me, I have discovered that the sacrarium that was just there since a long time (our parish dates from 1801) could - the above mentioned sacrarium - then get rusty and the Hosts 12 would become deteriorated, I discovered also that those salvation and mystic communion symbols of mine were needing that I would save them through some so prosaic providences And then I escaped from there, running in search of help. It is painful for you becoming conscious of your faith and trying being consequent with such a discovery. Especially because it - this discovery - implies recognizing, for ever - again and again - the faith contraposition: which is not well said atheism - in view of that nobody is completely atheist but in other word we should be in front of idolatry. But we should get humanized as we will remove blindfold from us regarding to our idols (the most religious they - our idols - would be) and come to call them by their names - catching, thus, a glimpse, later on, of the nameless. Of course, this so large exercise costs a lot. In my case, the sudden starting traumatism has been in such an intensity that I have become specialist in such a matter, as a kind of necessity. And so only I have discovered that if religion, as a passion, is, as a last resort, an inebriated emotional surrender, a penultimate word, however, at least, must be said by reason: in order that the whole body would not come into suffering, our loves and/ or our gods and the things associated with them would not, also, come, as in my case, literally into darem ngua 13.
11 12

See note number 1. Host usually in capital letters: in the Roman Catholic, Greek, Lutheran and some other Churches, the Eucharistic bread or wafer before or after consecration. Darem ngua also darem com os burros ngua coming into the nothingness - resulting into failure, colapse. Lit. in leading the jackasses to plunge into the water.

13

34 Gilbraz ARAGO

And I, myself, have come to get marked by that goteira in such a measure that my life principal work has been until nowadays, a result from that occurrence or, at least, it - my life - has full inspiration in that event: searching understanding our values and meanings significations - nucleus, liberating our northeaster - tupiniquim 14 culture ethicalmythical ensemble, in order that we should be able to know the way it - this ensemble - has been made and so, in case of being this way, to be able acting the same way again. To be a theologian - I do my utmost to be one - is taking care of this mission: to reinterpreter the christianism experience, traditionally presented in mythical, liturgical and moral key, through images that are the most possible near to the divine one, bearers of the Homo da Galilia 15 more human sanctity. In front of same saints, with reference more to the Conselheiro 16 than Frei Damio, it is desirable that we should put no dependence upon supernatural miracles in our in human promises, but we could help ourselves transforming our life in a more-than-natural miracle of love - that is (more than) human, well then, it was this fact, in germ, still embryonically, happened to me in that fateful evening and this is what that I try regaining recovering - and developing since I have become a theologian apprentice. I remember that I spent hours and hours in thinking where did the bible come from that, there, in the church building, in despite of its sacredness aura, was then under the risk, fragilely, of suffering all kind of fragility. We were in front of a book, composed by men (even if inspired, evidently), who could have made another, a different one - how it is used to be made elsewhere (with other revelations). And who should invent that sacred architecture that from now on would look like to me so cleaned out in front of me and washedly 17 human? And about the beatas 18 moralistic sermons? Why do I need them - i. e. their sermons? And why are we used to go to mass so happily, so skipping, even if this religious uses to be called sacrifice?
14

Tupiniquim related to a Brazilian indian group the tupi (tupis) mostly employed in disparaging sense. Homo da Galilia - Galilea big, great man. Homo is a popular euphemistic term relatively, in this Testimony, similar to the Man upstairs. Conselheiro, Antnio: the Counselor A Brazilian layman that acts in his own account, non-formally, as a priest, a minister, with de facto religious great authority and popular ascendency - this kind of leader is called by Beatos, i.e. sanctimonious N.B this Testimony makes a comparison between the Counselor and Friar Damien, a Franciscan popular preacher, had, also as, a saint, in traditional types but without direct social preoccupation. Lavadamente- whashedly whasably purifyingly. Beatas - churchy cockroaches, commonly had as dissimulated women, fussy church attenders.

15

16

17 18

Post-religious Condition in Latin Amrica. A northeaster's vision 35

And why the world, which I viewer as bearing good news through television that reached my home, was prayed here - at church - as a tears valley to be overpassed under suspicion? And why was I obliged to kneel myself when it was registered that one presence, that one who wanted so much being heard, attended in his claim - Let them, the childish people, come to me - to get me hugged by him, beside the other children and being given by him a lot of delighted smacks? I have to confess that from that evening on I can as far kneel myself in the hour dedicated to pardon, but on account of pure rapture I have never more kneeled myself in church building. I was a nearly an adolescent and I have just read in my cousins books that there is more morality in the mountain lake than in the worlds cathedrals (Rousseau) - even though, in that age, I should be, by myself secretly convict of this truth: There is more power in a girls beautiful face than in the universes all icons. But it is occurred in the evening that the damned goteira dragged in a true water torrent my faith naivety: my universal truths and secure certainties canopy vanished out and this fact has obliged me studying religion and put it - my faith - within a context its - my faith one - commandments, but also it - that event - has emancipated me for broader religious experiences search than those ones of my parents and for more refined (and sweetly more simple) religious spaces than those ones of Taquaritingas church. This initiatical way toward the parts where all gods of ours are forged (and/or with the aim of discovering by ourselves the way how we have been created for divinity itself) is dangerous and tortuous as it occurs with any youngster initiation. But this is the doorway for maturity in order that we should be able to find again our faith experience, as a confident handing over to reality in a more human and loving - even though precarious, as it uses to be all human love. In order to allow ourselves carrying out by the Sopro da Vida (life blowing): he permits us perceiving through ourselves that, within all loving rapport, a determined word speaks to us processually - revelation - interpretating itself that makes a difference in life (in such a way that gods word is not only present in the sacred books, not either only in the Christian literature in order to rebuild, at last, finally, Jesus movement, departing from our childwood mountains: now with our flesh walls, for it is in this matter that Christs Spirit likes staying even tough with the possibility, still, of more goteiras. I imagine that a lot of you, here, partake of these questions and imaginations. For, I think that this idea of transforming into a theme, as religious scientists or lead theologians, a postreligionist (not exactly post-religious, but post exclamation, this common attitude if God does

36 Gilbraz ARAGO

want), which it is already innerly present among human persons and groups that, also among us in Latin America (this global village recess) find ourselves in a passage position toward a postmodern cosmovision and/or maybe a postmetaphysics, this is exactly the propitious time-space for us partaking, systematizing and maturating, in an adequate way to this time spirit, these angoisses, glamours, these inquiries that always we must work hard in order to achieve a maturity in life. As I get myself confronted with this invitation for thinking divinity in our lives, at a new axial time; with another epistemological frame of references, less dualistic and more relational, within a ternary truth perspective, focusing the between and beyond scenarios, I feel myself in front of an initiation true ritual: we need a solitary courage - but within a true solidarity - in order to get us free even from (which one we imagine being) divinity in order to reflect regarding to our convictions goteiras and only then we can feel ourselves in a full assurance in making science - for surely, in a certain loftiness of the whole knowledge, we shall be able founding out again more truly the sacred ones transparency among us. Will it be possible that human globalization and the cultural pluralism that we start carrying on our existence nowadays, resulted from the locomotion modern means, the communications evolution and energy and new forms are they truly leading us to a new axial time? It is emerging among the religions studies experts the hypotheses which according to we are coming in the religions traditional historical figure transformation process. We have become aware of the fact that all the people and the earth, i.e., we are tied up among us so that only together we must face our common mission of saving our lives. In this perspective, it is not possible understanding that a people or religion or church, sex or race or class alone should be lux mundi 19, so to say worlds light the theology classical concepts and even a lot of science those ones, i.e., their concepts that study religions are somehow senile, out of focus, surpassed. We have come in a new religious cycle in which the religions migrate themselves or wander, circulate themselves rapidly, are created again and again in personalized canopies myriads and it occurred that they the religions. Are becoming adapted to the geocultural cathedrals vitraux where they have been arrived. As institutional religious boundaries fall down, a theocultural revolution gets strenghened. Informational mondialization decrees the subjectivistic magic-rural cycle death and relativizes - turns out relativistic - the modern tecnoscience objectivistic order. This cultural process makes obsolete the dualistic system of thought, that is antagonistic and monologic, born with the prehistory and
19

Lux mundi the worlds light.

Post-religious Condition in Latin Amrica. A northeaster's vision 37

permits a time arousing of possible dialogical, diversity reconciliation. But this theocultural revolution groups in the most different expectations, sometimes contradictory among themselves, and such pluralism as well as such diversity can transform the world in a Paradise or in a hell. The religiosity that emerges is more from down to up or, better still, toward the mystery that hides and reveals itself between and beyond. Each person is, nowadays, abler, more capable of understanding and offering feedback. Religion till then cared viewing only upon creeds and doctrines, while religiosity now is a kind of wiki-theology, pluralist. Mondialization turned possible through, on account of internet and informatics, provokes changes in the existential and cultural order concerning all of us: we are on the eve of great pacifism and cooperation Era, departing from the possibility of a transreligious spirituality acknowledgment united, side by side, with transdisciplinary scientific debate as well as then in front of a confrontation without proportions. The equitable coexistence in a same geographical and temporal, secular space of cultures traditions and religious diversity is a true revolution that is at the same time, enriching, humanizing and unique in human History. But maybe not so much there are spirituality transreligious searching deep movements signs, but sometimes the sacred one that comes out in order to care for the momentary emotional interests or for prosperity search. Due to this axial reversal ambiguity in cultures History, we need daring to make religion sciences and even theologies, in more adequate bases. Because only through new Logics and epistemologies, the intercultural and interreligious dialogue will be able to advance. In truth, it is not only concerning religion that we must deal with in the interreligious dialogue neither even directly about God but as well with regard to the divine project in view of making from this world a loving paradise. Only through the reality level change, coming out from the theoretical-doctrine one toward the ethical praxis and/or spiritual silence ambit, dialogue among religious becomes possible. Only by overcoming our own experience concerning God and looking for Ethics that is behind the human one and it i.e. Ethics unites all of us in a sacred way only so a religion can dialogue with other cultures meeting. The relativity that arises from the (dis)agreement concerning this route cannot be accused immediately or relativistic one otherwise, there does not seem being any more possible that we should accept religion in its traditional form, which is that one concerning the heteronomy, based upon ex cathedra 20 magisteries, inadmissible since Modernity had
Ex Cathedra literally, from the seat: applied to a pronouncement on faith or morals by the Pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church. With authority: also used attributively meaning officially spoken.

38 Gilbraz ARAGO

founded reasons liberty. But we must meditated on it religion again in its content, as a love message. The sooner we shall resort to a little more phenomenological observation and Hermeneutics interpretation, the best we shall realize that a worldly extent new community does go in a formation process, which stirs up the intercultural and interreligious dialogue cultivation in the midst of the search for a tenable life for all; and an worldly Ethics and who can know? an universal spirituality cultivated particularly according to each faith or philosophy tradition. Even more: the mission religious concept change, instead of converting the world and implanting my church, it is more plausible to help in all spiritual traditions messages availability for those ones who need them in their human and humanizing formation (transcendence) process. There are inclusively those ones who would already be proposing, literally, as a basis for Theology (or transcendence universal experience apologetics), the humanity whole History including their sacred texts! What a labor! I feel myself called up for the postreligionist reflection mutiro (task force): I am waiting for all of you, too!

References:
AEBISCHER-CRETTOL, Monique. Vers un oecumnisme interreligieux. Paris: Cerf, 2001. ARAGO, Gilbraz. Transdisciplinaridade e dilogo. Revista Religio e Cultura, So Paulo, v. V, n. 10 (jul./dez. 2006), p. 75-110. ARMSTRONG, Karen. A grande transformao. So Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008. BANON, Patrick. La rvolution thoculturelle. Paris: Presses de la Renaissance, 2008. CASTELLS, Manuel. A sociedade em rede. So Paulo: Paz e Terra, 1999. CORBI, Mari. Para uma espiritualidade leiga. So Paulo: Paulus, 2010. DUFOUR, Dany-Robert. Os mistrios da Trindade. So Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2000. HERVIEU-LGER, Danile. Catholicisme, la fin d'un monde. Paris: Bayard, 2003. HICK, John, Teologia crist e pluralismo religioso. So Paulo: Attar, 2005. JASPERS, Karl. Origen y meta de la historia. Madri: Alianza, 1980. NICOLESCU, Basarab. Nous, la particule et le monde. Monaco: Rocher, 2002. PADEN, William. Interpretando o sagrado: modos de conceber a religio. So Paulo: Paulinas, 2001. QUEIRUGA, Andrs T. Autocompreenso crist: dilogo das religies. So Paulo: Paulinas, 2007. SMITH, Wilfred C. O sentido e o fim da religio. So Leopoldo: Sinodal, 2006. VIGIL, Jos Maria. Teologia pluralista libertadora intercontinental. So Paulo: Paulinas, 2008. WILBER, Ken. Espiritualidade integral. So Paulo: Aleph, 2006.

 39

Condio ps-religiosa na Amrica Latina: Viso de um nordestino

Gilbraz ARAGO Olinda, PE, Brasil
Meu Deus, me d a coragem de viver trezentos e sessenta e cinco dias e noites, todos vazios de Tua presena. Me d a coragem de considerar esse vazio como uma plenitude. Faa com que eu seja a Tua amante humilde, entrelaada a Ti em xtase. Faa com que eu possa falar com este vazio tremendo e receber como resposta o amor materno que nutre e embala. Faa com que eu tenha a coragem de Te amar, sem odiar as Tuas ofensas minha alma e ao meu corpo. Faa com que a solido no me destrua. Faa com que minha solido me sirva de companhia. Faa com que eu tenha a coragem de me enfrentar. Faa com que eu saiba ficar com o nada e mesmo assim me sentir como se estivesse plena de tudo. Receba em teus braos o meu pecado de pensar.

Para comear, lembrei-me dessa prece de uma judia-agnstica, Clarice Lispector, que cresceu l no Recife e a busca coragem para se distanciar at do seu Deus, para poder experimentar um novo conhecimento em companhia da solido. Ns, que nesse simpsio sobre religio e cultura, vislumbramos uma tendncia ps-religional nas culturas informacionais que se espraiam pelo mundo globalizado afora, bem que podamos fazer uma prece semelhante (mesmo que fosse a ltima!), porque

40 Gilbraz ARAGO

na solido silenciosa diante da realidade, reconhecida como mistrio, que precisamos, quem sabe, abandonar as certezas trazidas desde a infncia, at sobre o Deus da gente, mas tambm sobre o mundo e a humanidade. E no fcil a gente se esvaziar de convices, para poder pensar, se perguntar, fazer cincia, adquirir um conhecimento mais universal sobre tudo, tornar-se mais consciente e consequente. H algo de ps-religioso na Amrica Latina, que merecesse uma reflexo ps-religional da parte dos telogos e dos estudos religiosos? No se trata somente do fenmeno crescente dos sem-religio: 6,7% no Brasil, segundo o recente Mapa das Religies da Fundao Getlio Vargas, sendo que esse ndice sobe para 17,4% entre as pessoas com mestrado e doutorado. Acredito que a temtica ps-religional toca muito mais amplamente numa nova sensibilidade cultural, que faz tempo est presente tambm em terras afrolatndias. Todo ano, por ocasio da festa do padroeiro da minha cidade natal, por exemplo, um grupo de meia centena de conterrneos caminha da capital do Estado at l: o caminhante deve levar apenas uma mochila com roupas, gua, um cajado, uma bandeirola branca e muita f para enfrentar 170 quilmetros, em seis dias de caminhada... Todos buscamos espiritualidade, superao de si e transcendncia nesse Caminho de Santo Amaro, mas a maioria do pessoal no vai por conta da crena no santo! Compartilho com vocs, alis, uma experincia pessoal relacionada. Nasci nessa pequena cidade de cafeicultores nas serras do Agreste pernambucano, chamada Taquaritinga do Norte, para no ser confundida com a homnima de So Paulo, que tambm buscou no tupi a nomeao do seu acidente geogrfico principal: ita-coara-et-tinga, buraco de pedra grande e branco, ou caverna simplesmente. Pois bem, folgo em poder voltar a essa caverna (onrica) da infncia e juventude, quando quero avaliar os rumos que minha existncia tomou. um movimento natural: vou subindo a serra e o peso quente da minha realidade vai-se confrontando com os ventos frios da montanha, com os desejos leves que me vm da paisagem da aurora de minha vida. O que eu fiz com aquilo que fizeram de mim? No que se transformaram as minhas primeiras e mais marcantes experincias de gente? O que eu deixei fazerem dos meus sonhos? E onde foi parar (o) meu Deus?! Uma lembrana leva-me a considerar que, ao menos em um aspecto, minha lida na vida desenvolveu-se em coerncia com as descobertas que comecei a fazer em Taquaritinga e que agora, neste ambiente acadmico em que me encontro, vou recuperando das nvoas do passado: para que possa talvez ajudar a quem porventura tenha medo de refletir sobre as coisas que considere sagradas. Compreendo quem teme buscar as razes da sua f e das suas convices, mas acho que, mormente neste tempo em que os nomes dos deuses so invocados para se justificarem at

Condio ps-religiosa na Amrica Latina. VIso de um nordestino 41

guerras, vale o esforo de ilustrao. E por isso partilho estas reminiscncias. Eu era escoteiro e gostava tanto de acampar quanto de rezar. Tanto que ia igreja quase todas as noites, na minha meninice. Mas numa delas, era inverno, o retumbar dos troves desafiava a ascese de menino e mesmo assim eu fui missa, ajudar o padre Arago de saudosa memria. A igreja destacava-se de tudo na cidade, pelo plano mais alto que o da praa e pela imponncia da construo. Eu sabia que o meu av havia participado dos mutires para construir aquilo, mas o latim das novenas e o seu incenso, a solenidade das liturgias que ali marcavam do nascimento morte de todo mundo, o ponto cultural de encontro que a igreja representava nos domingos e festas, faziam-me esquecer que aquela era uma construo humana. Entrar no silncio acolhedor de uma igreja deveras, inconscientemente, poder voltar ao tero social da nossa existncia. Religio, dizia Kierkegaard, paixo infinita, uma experincia simblica (seja extraordinria, seja pedagogicamente) prpria do corao humano, uma comoo com um poder-a-mais no qual se aposta para fazer frente s mortes tantas que limitam a nossa humanidade. uma fineza de esprito que nos dilata o imo e arrebata a mente e permite ver alm das coisas sensveis e ser capaz de construir apesar de o bom e o belo; sentir-se confiantemente ligado a tudo e a todos. At aquela noite! Pois foi nela que, sozinho antes da missa, enquanto arrumava as alfaias junto do altar-mor, o aguaceiro prorrompeu igreja adentro por uma goteira grande e at tive medo de o teto inteiro vir abaixo. Num lapso de minutos, abandonou-me toda a segurana infantil nesse recinto sagrado e eu tive que comear a amadurecer na maneira de experimentar religio. Pois, como num relmpago, descobri que o sacrrio que estava ali h tempos (a parquia de 1801) podia agora enferrujar e as hstias se estragariam, que aqueles smbolos da minha salvao eterna e comunho mstica precisavam ento que eu os salvasse com providncias to comezinhas... E sa correndo em busca de ajuda. Di um pouco voc se tornar consciente da sua f e tentar ser consequente para com tal descoberta. Principalmente porque isso implica assumir, para superar sempre de novo, o contraponto da f: que no bem o atesmo de vez que ningum nunca ateu de tudo mas sim a idolatria. Todo mundo se humaniza quando desvenda os dolos (por mais religiosos que sejam) e os chama pelo nome vislumbrando assim, mais adiante, o inominvel. Mas custa, um tamanho exorcismo. No meu caso, o trauma do comeo abrupto foi tal, que eu acabei especialista no assunto, por necessidade. E logo descobri que, se a religio, como a paixo, em ltima instncia uma entrega emocional inebriada; uma penltima palavra, contudo, ao

42 Gilbraz ARAGO

menos, precisa ser dada pela razo: para que o corpo todo no venha a padecer, os nossos amores e/ou deuses(as) e coisas associadas no venham a, como no meu caso, literalmente, darem ngua. E fiquei mesmo marcado por aquela goteira, a ponto de que o principal trabalho da minha vida tem sido at hoje decorrncia dela ou ao menos tem inspirao naquele evento: buscar entender o ncleo dos nossos valores e sentidos, libertar o conjunto tico-mtico da nossa cultura nordestino-tupiniquim, para que a gente possa saber como se fez e assim, se for o caso, poder fazer de novo. Ser telogo o que eu tento cuidar disto: reinterpretar a experincia do cristianismo, tradicionalmente apresentada em chave mtica, litrgica e moral, com imagens mais prximas do divino, com uma santidade mais humana do Homo da Galilia. Com santos, mais para Conselheiro do que para Frei Damio, que no coloquem a dependncia de milagres sobrenaturais em nossas promessas desumanas, mas nos ajudem a transformar a vida em um milagre mais-que-natural, pelo amor que (mais do que) humano. Pois foi isso, em germe, que aconteceu naquela noite fatdica. E isso que eu tento recuperar e desenvolver desde que virei aprendiz de telogo. Lembro que passei horas a pensar de onde veio a bblia que ali na igreja, a despeito da sua aura de consagrao, corria fragilmente agora perigo de uma outra calamidade qualquer. Era um livro, foi composto por gente (inspirada, evidentemente), que poderia ter feito outro, diferente como si fazer alhures (com outras revelaes). E quem teria inventado aquela arquitetura sacra que doravante me parecia to despojada e lavadamente humana? E os sermes moralistas das beatas, por que eu os necessitava? E por que amos to alegres, serelepes, para a missa e ela era incongruentemente chamada de sacrifcio? E por que o mundo, que eu vislumbrava alvissareiro na televiso que chegou l em casa, era rezado a como um vale de lgrimas a ser transposto com suspeio? E por que tinha de me ajoelhar quando se registrava a presena dAquele que tanto queria deixai vir a mim abraar-me junto com as outras crianas e nos dar cheiros bem gostosos?! Confesso que, daquela noite em diante, at me ajoelho na hora do perdo, mas pela elevao nunca mais me ajoelhei numa igreja... Eu era um quase adolescente e havia acabado de ler nos livros dos meus primos que h mais moral em um lago da montanha do que em todas as catedrais do mundo(Rousseau?!) muito embora, com aquela idade, j estivesse, por mim mesmo, secretamente convicto de que h mais poder no rosto belo de uma menina do que em todos os cones do universo. Mas foi naquela noite que a danada da goteira levou de enxurrada a ingenuidade da minha f: o meu dossel de verdades universais e certezas seguras se esvaiu e isso me obrigou a estudar a religio e a

Condio ps-religiosa na Amrica Latina. VIso de um nordestino 43

contextualizar os seus mandamentos mas tambm me emancipou para a busca de vivncias religiosas mais amplas que as dos meus pais, para o encontro de espaos religiosos mais requintados (e docemente mais simples) do que os da igreja de Taquaritinga. Esse caminho inicitico l para onde os nossos deuses todos so forjados (e/ou para descobrirmos como somos criados pelo divino) perigoso e tortuoso, como a iniciao de todo moleque. Mas o portal da maturidade, para reencontrarmos a experincia de f, como entrega confiante realidade, de modo mais humano e amoroso ainda que precrio, como todo amor humano. Para nos deixarmos levar pelo Sopro da Vida: ele permite perceber que, dentro de toda relao amorosa, falanos processualmente uma palavra Revelao! interpeladora, que faz diferena na vida (de forma que a Palavra de Deus no est presente s nos livros sagrados, nem somente na literatura crist). Para reconstruirmos, enfim, o movimento de Jesus desde as montanhas da nossa infncia: agora com paredes de carne, pois nessa matria que o Esprito de Cristo gosta de ficar mesmo com a possibilidade de mais goteiras ainda. Imagino que dessas questes e imaginaes muitos aqui compartilham. Pois, penso que a proposta de tematizarmos, enquanto cientistas da religio ou telogos de ponta, uma condio ps-religional (no exatamente ps-religiosa, mas ps-se Deus quiser), que j est presente entre pessoas e grupos humanos que, tambm entre ns na Amrica Latina (esse rinco de uma Aldeia Global), encontram-se na passagem para uma cosmoviso ps-moderna e ou ps-metafsica, justamente o tempo-espao propcio para se partilhar, sistematizar e amadurecer, de maneira adequada ao esprito do tempo, essas angstias e deslumbramentos, essas perguntas que sempre se precisa trabalhar para alcanar a maturidade na vida. Ao me defrontar com esse convite para pensar o divino em nossas vidas, s portas de um novo tempo axial, com outro quadro epistemolgico, menos dualista e mais relacional, com uma perspectiva de verdade ternria, entre e alm, eu me sinto diante de um verdadeiro ritual de iniciao: precisamos da coragem solitria mas solidria para nos livrar at de (o que imaginamos ser) divino, para refletir sobre as goteiras das nossas certezas e fazer ento cincia pois com certeza, numa certa altura de todo conhecimento, haveremos de reencontrar mais verdadeiramente a transparncia do sagrado entre ns. Ser que a globalizao humana e o pluralismo cultural que comeamos a vivenciar hoje, resultantes dos modernos meios de locomoo, da evoluo das comunicaes e das novas formas de energia e produo, esto mesmo nos levando a um novo tempo axial? Emerge entre estudiosos da religio a hiptese de estarmos entrando em um processo de transformao da figura histrica tradicional das religies. Ganhamos

44 Gilbraz ARAGO

conscincia de que todos os povos e a terra inteira estamos ligados, de sorte que juntos que devemos encarar nossa comum misso de salvar a vida. Sendo assim, no daria para entender que um s povo ou religio ou igreja, um s sexo ou raa ou classe sejam a luz do mundo. Os conceitos clssicos das teologias e mesmo de muitas das cincias que estudam a religio esto meio caducos. Entramos em um novo ciclo religioso, em que as religies migram ou circulam rapidamente, so recriadas em mirades de dossis personalizados e vo se adaptando aos vitrais das catedrais geoculturais aonde chegam. Ao carem fronteiras religiosas institucionais, uma revoluo teocultural se fortalece. A mundializao informacional decreta a morte do ciclo mgico-agrcola subjetivista e relativiza a ordem objetivista da tecnocincia moderna. Esse processo cultural torna obsoleto o sistema dualista de pensamento, antagnico e monolgico, nascido com a pr-histria, e permite o surgimento de um tempo de possvel reconciliao, dialgica, da diversidade. Mas essa revoluo teocultural agrupa expectativas as mais diferentes, s vezes contraditrias, e tal pluralismo e diversidade pode transformar o mundo em um paraso ou num inferno. A religiosidade que emerge mais de baixo para cima ou, melhor ainda, na direo do mistrio que se esconde e manifesta entre e alm. Cada pessoa hoje mais capaz de aprender e oferecer feedback. A religio at ento tinha a ver s com credos e doutrinas, enquanto a religiosidade agora uma espcie de wiki-teologia, pluralista. A mundializao possibilitada pela internet e pela informtica provoca mudanas na ordem existencial e cultural de todos ns: estamos s vsperas de uma era de grande pacifismo e cooperao, pela possibilidade do reconhecimento de uma espiritualidade transreligiosa, conjugada com o debate cientfico transdisciplinar - ou ento de um confronto mundial sem propores. A coexistncia equitativa em um mesmo espao geogrfico e temporal de uma diversidade de culturas, de tradies e de religies, uma verdadeira revoluo, enriquecedora, humanizante e nica na histria humana. Mas pode ser que nem tanto: h indcios de movimentos profundos de busca transreligiosa de espiritualidade, mas, por vezes, o sagrado que aparece mais de novo selvagem, buscado por adeso seletiva, com um contedo autossistematizado para atender aos interesses emocionais do momento ou ainda busca mgica de prosperidade. Devido ambiguidade dessa virada axial na histria das culturas que precisamos ousar fazer cincias da religio e mesmo teologias, em bases mais adequadas. Pois s com a admisso de novas lgicas e epistemologias o dilogo intercultural e inter-religioso poder avanar. Em verdade, nem somente sobre religio que se deve tratar no dilogo inter-religioso e nem mesmo diretamente sobre Deus , mas

Condio ps-religiosa na Amrica Latina. VIso de um nordestino 45

sobre o projeto divino em vista de fazer deste mundo um paraso amoroso. Somente mudando o nvel da realidade, passando do terico-doutrinal para o da prxis tica e/ou do silncio espiritual, que o dilogo entre religies possvel. Somente ultrapassando a prpria experincia de Deus e buscando a tica que se esconde no humano e nos rene a todos de maneira sagrada que uma religio pode dialogar com outra e colaborar com o encontro de culturas. A relatividade que advm dos (des)encontros desse percurso no pode ser acusada imediatamente de relativista. Alis, no parece ser mais possvel aceitar-se a religio em sua forma tradicional, que a da heteronomia, baseada em magistrios ex cathedra, inadmissveis desde que a modernidade fundou a liberdade da razo. Mas convm medit-la novamente em seu contedo, enquanto mensagem de amor. Se recorrermos a um pouco mais de observao fenomenolgica e de interpretao hermenutica, logo perceberemos que uma nova comunidade de alcance mundial est em processo de formao, o que suscita o cultivo do dilogo intercultural e inter-religioso em meio busca por uma vida sustentvel para todos; e uma tica mundial, quem sabe, e uma espiritualidade universal cultivada particularmente segundo cada tradio de f ou filosofia. Mais at: a mudana do conceito religioso de misso: ao invs de converter o mundo e implantar a minha Igreja, ajudar na disponibilizao das mensagens de todas as tradies espirituais, para quem delas necessite em seu processo de formao (e transcendncia) humana e humanizante. H inclusive quem j proponha, sem mais ou menos, como base para a teologia (ou apologtica da experincia universal de transcendncia), toda a histria religiosa da humanidade - com todos os seus textos sagrados! Quanto trabalho! Eu me sinto convocado para o mutiro de reflexo ps-religional: espero que vocs tambm! Referncias
Veja-se a bibliografia do texto na precedente verso em ingls, pg. 38.

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www.unisinos.br/eventos/congresso-de-teologia

 47

Consultation about Religion: Religious Pluralism

Vctor CODINA Cochabamba, Bolivia

Resumen:
Comienza el autor centrando el tema afirmando el principio de que la crisis no es slo de las instituciones religiosas, sino tambin de la religin misma, matizndolo en diversos aspectos. Pasa revista a continuacin al panorama plural religioso del Continente, dando razn de aumentos y disminuciones, pervivencias y resurgimientos, presencias minoritarias y sectores religiosos en crecimiento. Aborda luego la situacin especfica de la Iglesia Catlica en AL y Caribe. Observa por una parte la pervivencia de una profunda religiosidad en el pueblo latinoamericano, y un debilitamiento general de la vida cristiana y la pertenencia a la Iglesia: existe una crisis de fe, en la que la Conferencia de Aparecida funge como una seal de alarma ante las causas principales de esta crisis: a nivel externo, un verdadero tsunami cultural global, y a nivel interno, un proceso restauracionista enfocado a crear una nueva cristiandad.

Abstract:
The author starts focusing the topic by stating that the crisis does not only belong to the religious institutions, but also to religion itself, showing various aspects. Next he gives an overview of the plural religious situation of the Continent, showing increases and decreases, survivals and revivals, presence of minorities and religious sectors growing. Then he deals with the specific situation of the Catholic Church in LA and the Caribbean. He observes on the one hand the survival of a deep religiosity among the Latin American people and a general weakening of Christian life and of belonging to the Church: there is a crisis of faith, for which the Aparecida Conference acts as an alarm signal of the main causes of this crisis: externally, a real global cultural tsunami, and internally, a restorative process focused on creating a new Christianity.

48 Vctor CODINA

I. Focusing the topic There is no doubt that in this change of era there is a crisis not only of religious institutions, but also of religion itself. The strong atheisms of the XIX and XX centuries do not longer exist but agnosticism and religious indifference grow in many sectors, while in others there is a growth of worth of everything spiritual and mystic, but outside religion. Faced with this complex situation about religion in general, we may ask about the state of religion in Latin America. I will try to answer this question, more concretely from Bolivia. I personally agree with Luiz Alberto Gmez de Souza, a Brazilian sociologist: I have always reacted against the idea of a linear secularisation, with the inevitable dawn of the sacred. The sacred is still and very much present in our societies, but in a plural world and post-Christian. We Catholics not always know how to understand the new present times and how to live in another climate. 1 The religious matrix in Latin America and the Caribbean has been very strong, the people have a big sense of transcendence and openness to God in everyday life. This maybe was not always understood by missionaries who come from very secularised countries, and less still by NGOs that work in the Continent. But secular modernism and intimate post-modernism, globalisation, migration from the countryside to the city, industrialisation, technological development, the impact of MCS and internet, permanent migrations affect the religious matrix of Latin America and transform many of its values, costumes and behaviours. For some expert observers, like Bartomeu Melia, these changes are so big that perhaps they may only have as an historic antecedent the transformations of the first colonial stage, when the life of natives was violated and a big part of their cultures and beliefs destroyed.

L.A.Gmez de Sousa, Possvel agenda para a Igreja nos prximos anos, Perspectiva Teolgica, 117 (Mai/Agosto 2010) 247, Belo Horizonte.

Consultation about Religion: Religious Pluralism 49

In this new context there is a bigger religious pluralism, both in all the religious denominations present in Latin America, and inside the Catholic Church. Consequence of this, to the national pluralism of Bolivia, cultural and ethnic, and of the other countries in LA, the religious pluralism must be added. A signal of this is the recognition of religious freedom and the separation between Church and State that has been occurring with different nuances in all Latin American countries, also in Bolivia. From colonisation and the first evangelisation, the Catholic Church had religious and moral hegemony in the continent: it was the official religion, the one that had impregnated culture and morality in all the society, in a Christian environment. This has radically changed, the Church must now earn its moral authority and credibility, not through its political power, but through its testimony and Christian coherence. It is not even the voice of the voiceless, it is one voice among many others, one religion among others.

II. Overview of religious pluralism in Latin America and the Caribbean. During the last decades the religious landscape in LA and the Caribbean has turned multifaceted. Without giving concrete numbers, all statistics show there is a diverse religious configuration. Let us see the main data. 1) Numerical decline in Catholicism and weakening of faith in the Catholic Church. Later we will try to specify the situation. 2) Increase in the number of evangelical groups and specifically an explosion of Pentecostalism, which is a new and surprising phenomenon: Pentecostalism together with Islam are the religions that grow most in the world today, some, like Jose Comblin (+), believe since the Reform there had not been such a profound religious change in Christianity. And Pentecostalism grows in marginal and poor areas, among women, black and indigenous people, who recover their voice and ecclesial prominence they did not have before in the historical Churches; now they experiment salvation and healing, read the Word and renew their strength to fight with the help of the Spirit. As Carlos Mesters has said, the poorest among the poor in LA are not in BECs but in Pentecostal groups.2 3) Survival and revival of originating religions. This does not only happen in Bolivia. Originating religions, which since colonisation had survived in a syncretic and many times semi-clandestine way, now
2

Onda pentecostal, Perspectiva Teolgica, 119 (Janeiro/Abril 2011), Belo Horizonte.

50 Vctor CODINA

recover their original force. For many, this cultural and religious recovery is done from their Christian faith, in an atmosphere of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, contributing to what is called indo and afro Christian theology. But there are more radical minorities who in the process of decolonisation wish to abandon Christian faith and return to their originating religions before evangelisation. On the other hand, originating culture and religion have also suffered the impact of globalised modernism, with its values and counter-values; the originating religion does not exist now in its pure state, as Simon Pedro Arnold sustains. 3 4) Minority presence of other non-Christian religious traditions: Judaism, Islam, Asian eastern religions, some of the esoteric and gnostic types (Rosicrucians, Acropolis New Age) that attract many persons who sincerely look for a spirituality they do not find in traditional and historical religions in LA. 5) Increase of sectors who do not believe themselves religious but agnostic, indifferent or even atheist. This group, composed by youth, intellectuals, professionals, politicians, women, workers, is similar to the one that is growing in Europe and USA. This brief exposition is enough to understand that the religious landscape in LA is a real mosaic, at the same time new and always changing. III. Specific situation of the Catholic Church in LA and the Caribbean. Within the Catholic Church there are also deep changes and a certain internal religious pluralism. Following Aparecida (2007), we can observe the following lines of force. 1) There is a deep religiosity and faith in the Latin American people that is shown through popular religiosity, in the ecclesial compromise with the poor, in biblical, liturgical and catechetical renovation, in the vitality of parishes and consecrated life, in the work of various specific pastorals, in the testimony of laymen, in the richness of different ecclesial communities, etc. (Aparecida 98-99). 2) But there is a weakening of Christian life and belonging to the Church, clericalism, individualism, marginalisation of women, sacramentalism with lack of evangelisation, little commitment from the lay in social life, decrease in the clergy and religious life, materialism, lack of a sense of transcendence, neglect of religious practices and a weakened belonging to the Church, transfer to other religious groups (Aparecida 100).
3

S-P. ARNOLD, Ensayos Andinos, Puno-Cochabamba 2009, 97-114.

Consultation about Religion: Religious Pluralism 51

3) Moreover, there is a crisis of faith, faith is eroding (Aparecida 13, 38), hence, a strong conversion and a pastoral correction are needed, otherwise, there will be a de-Christianisation as can be seen in other continents. There is believing without belonging (G.Davie) but there is also in many groups belonging without believing, ie they are post-Christian disbelievers that wish to keep Christian symbols because they belong to a western culture. 4 4) The motto of Aparecida disciples and missionaries is an alert signal, a red light in the ecclesial traffic light. The continental mission to which we are called, supposes Latin America is a continent of baptised people that have not been properly evangelised, who are not disciples or missionaries of the Lord. The causes for this deterioration of faith are various, external and internal to the Church. Among the external causes is the big change in era, which, like a global tsunami, has shaken everything: has questioned religious institutions and even faith. Among the internal causes, the Catholic Church that had started to live a spiritual revival and a true Pentecost since Vatican II, and that in Latin America had started a prophetic process since Medelln, in the last decades has experienced a restorative process, stopping and reversing: a new Christianity to be born. This is the situation of ecclesiastical winter we are going through. Moreover, the Church has been unable to answer the new challenges that in these 50 years after Vatican II have appeared in society and the proper ecclesial community. There is a muffled cry, sometimes with indignation, that arises from the basis of the Church claiming radical changes. Is anyone listening?

IV. A religious pluralism Going back to everything that through Aparecida we have noted about the religious and ecclesial situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, we may confirm that we are facing a great religious pluralism. The term religious pluralism, that is commonly applied to the coexistence of various religions in the world, is applied here to the coexistence of various religious forms and styles within the same society and within the Latin American Church. Specifically, there are well differentiated religious and ecclesial sectors that form like concentric and synchronic circles which coexist in Latin America, as well as in Bolivia. 1) A great majority of Catholics belong to the popular religiosity, with a great sense of the sacred, which has its roots more in the origi4

L. GONZLEZ CARVAJAL, Cristianos sin Iglesia, Concilium 340 (abril 2011) 115-121.

52 Vctor CODINA

nating religions that in Christianity. These are called Christians of the four stages in life who appear in church when their children are born (baptism), during adolescence-youth (first communion-confirmation), in adulthood (matrimony) and finally at death (death rites and memorial services). They live the Church celebrations, mainly Christmas, Holy Week, patron celebrations, and pilgrimages to Marian sanctuaries (Copacabana, Urkupia, Cotoca) or sanctuaries of the Lord. They are more addict to sacramentals (blessed water, ashes, palms, candles, saints) than to sacraments, they act more within the scheme of sociological Christians or cultural Christians, typical of the age of Christendom: there is belief but with a weak ecclesial belonging, they form part of something like a clandestine Church, informal, underground, creole, quite ignorant of biblical and dogmatic issues, free from moral laws of the ecclesial institution (Sunday precept, sexuality, matrimony) which many times they even ignore. Nevertheless, many of these followers, poor and simple, live great human and Christian values: love and solidarity, welcoming, resistance, harmony with nature, patience, fight for life, sense of celebration, trust and hope in God, prayer, the conviction that Dear God is always with them. Popular religiosity has synthesised well the originating cultures with Catholic faith. 2) There is a big number of Sunday practitioners, especially among middle and high classes, who regularly attend Eucharistic celebrations, but seldom work in ecclesial community tasks. They are usually very traditional in the Christian mentality, mainly in the social area. 3) There is a smaller but very much alive number of Catholics from different social levels, who seriously compromise with their faith, form part of communities, parishes, movements, base ecclesial communities they are concerned with a serious Christian education, have an evangelising and missionary orientation, are sensitive to justice and to social compromise. 4) There are other religious groups such as the EvangelicPentecostal, originating non-Christian religions as well as traditional and modern religions. 5) The number of agnostics is growing, indifferent and even atheists, totally outside Churches and religions, some in search of spirituality. To disregard this religious pluralism in Latin America and Bolivia, judge the Continent with European or North American parameters, is a big mistake. But all idealisation in the sense of considering it the hope Continent should be avoided. Here we see the coexistence of sacrality

Consultation about Religion: Religious Pluralism 53

and modernity and post-modernity, Christianity and the original rites of the ancestral religions, a sometimes Marxist ideology with popular religiosity, devotion to the Pope with ignorance of the Bible, pilgrimages to Marian sanctuaries with chauvinism, violence, drunkenness, sexual abuse, corruption, drug trafficking and injustice. The continent with the greatest number of Catholics is the one that keeps the greatest unjust structures; in a still recent past, on behalf of the western Christian civilisation, Latin American dictators killed entire populations of indigenous people, martyred peasants, women, youth, priests, nuns and bishops. Is it strange to be talking about the need of a new evangelisation, about moving from a continent of baptised people to a continent of disciples and missionaries, as Aparecida presents?

V. Questions towards the future. It is very difficult to forecast the future of religion in Latin America and of its Church. Aparecida states a very lucid paragraph: A Catholic faith reduced to baggage, group of regulations and prohibitions, fragmented devotional practices, occasional participation in some sacraments, repetition of doctrinal principles, soft or tense moralism that do not convert the lives of the baptised (Aparecida 12). Christianity is in agony, but agonies are sometimes slow and may last for some time.5 There are sectors in Church who yearn for those times when the states were proclaimed Catholic, temples were full, there were numerous vocations, bishops regulated public life through their teachings, the ecclesial institution was prestigious, it was the official religion and its leaders had social plausibility. But this religious world of the past is imaginary and not the present one, it is something residual. The crisis of the Church forms part of the crisis of established religions. To fall into catastrophic views is worthless. What we should do is have a positive view of the possibilities foreseen for the creation of a Church of convinced Christians, a Gods People Church, a Church that discovers the Spirits presence in history and in religions, a Church of open doors, entrance doors and atrium doors, in dialogue with other religions and with the growing forms of agnosticism, indifference and atheism. Religious pluralism is here to stay.

V. CODINA, La agona de la cristiandad, Cuarto intermedio, 89 (diciembre 2008) 80-94, Cochabamba.

54 Vctor CODINA

Consulta sobre Religin: Pluralismo Religioso

Vctor CODINA Cochabamba, Bolivia
I. Centramiento del tema Es indudable que en este cambio de poca existe una crisis no slo de las instituciones religiosas, sino de la misma religin. Ya no existen los fuertes atesmos de los siglos XIX y XX, pero en cambio crecen el agnosticismo y la indiferencia religiosa en muchos sectores, mientras en otros surge con fuerza la valoracin de todo lo que sea espiritualidad y mstica, pero al margen de toda religin. Ante esta compleja situacin sobre la religin a nivel general, podemos preguntarnos sobre el estado de la religin en Amrica Latina. Intentar responder a esta pregunta, ms concretamente desde Bolivia. Concuerdo personalmente con la afirmacin del socilogo brasileo Luiz Alberto Gmez de Souza: Siempre reaccion contra la idea de una secularizacin lineal, con el ocaso inevitable de lo sagrado. Lo sagrado sigue estando profundamente presente en nuestras sociedades, pero en un mundo pluralista y de post-cristiandad. No siempre los catlicos sabemos entender estos nuevos tiempos presentes y vivir en otro clima 1. La matriz religiosa ha sido muy fuerte en AL y el Caribe, el pueblo posee tradicionalmente un gran sentido de la trascendencia y de apertura a Dios en la vida cotidiana. Esto quizs no ha sido siempre comprendido, ni por misioneros que proceden de pases muy secularizados, ni mucho menos por las ONGs que trabajan en el Continente. Pero la modernidad secular y la post-modernidad intimista, la globalizacin, el xodo del campo a la ciudad, la industrializacin, el desarrollo tecnolgico, el impacto de los MCS y de internet, las continuas migraciones afectan la matriz religiosa de AL y transforman muchos de sus valores, costumbres y comportamientos. Para algunos observadores expertos, como Bartomeu Meli, estos cambios son de tal magnitud que tal vez slo tengan como antecedente histrico las transformaciones ocurridas en la primera poca colonial, cuando fue violentada vida de los nativos y destruida gran parte de sus culturas y creencias.
1

L.A.Gmez de Sousa, Possvel agenda para a Igreja nos prximos anos, Perspectiva Teolgica, 117 (Mai/Agosto 2010) 247, Belo Horizonte.

Consulta sobre Religin: Pluralismo Religioso 55

En este nuevo contexto se ha producido un mayor pluralismo religioso, tanto en el conjunto de las denominaciones religiosas presentes en AL, como especficamente dentro de la Iglesia catlica. Consecuencia de ello es que al pluralismo nacional, cultural y tnico de Bolivia y de los otros pases de AL, hay que aadir ahora tambin el pluralismo religioso. Una seal clara de ello es el reconocimiento de la libertad religiosa y la separacin entre Iglesia y Estado que se ha ido produciendo con diversos matices en todos los pases latinoamericanos, tambin en Bolivia. Desde la colonia y la primera evangelizacin, la Iglesia catlica haba mantenido la hegemona religiosa y moral en el Continente: era la religin oficial, la que haba impregnado la cultura y la moralidad de toda la sociedad, en un ambiente de Cristiandad. Esto ha cambiado radicalmente, la Iglesia ahora ha de ganarse su autoridad moral y su credibilidad no por su poder poltico sino por su testimonio y coherencia cristiana. Tampoco es ya la voz de los sin voz, es una voz entre las muchas voces existentes, una religin entre otras. II. Panorama del pluralismo religioso en Amrica Latina y el Caribe El panorama religioso de AL y el Caribe se volvi multifactico en las ltimas dcadas. Sin descender a nmeros concretos, todas las estadsticas nos muestran que existe una diversa configuracin religiosa. Veamos sus principales datos. 1) Declive numrico del catolicismo imperante y debilitacin de la fe en la Iglesia catlica. Ms tarde intentaremos especificar y concretar esta situacin 2) Aumento numrico de los grupos evangelistas y en concreto explosin del pentecostalismo, lo cual constituye un fenmeno nuevo y sorprendente: el pentecostalismo junto con el Islam son las religiones que ms crecen en el mundo de hoy; algunos, como Jos Comblin (+), creen que desde la Reforma no se haba experimentado en el cristianismo un cambio religioso tan profundo. Y el pentecostalismo crece en ambientes marginales y pobres, entre mujeres, negros e indgenas, que recuperan la voz y el protagonismo eclesial que no tenan antes en sus Iglesias histricas; ahora experimentan su salvacin y sanacin, leen la Palabra y renuevan sus fuerzas para luchar con la ayuda del Espritu. Como ha dicho Carlos Mesters, los ms pobres entre los pobres de AL no estn en las CEBs, sino en los grupos pentecostales 2. 3) Pervivencia y resurgimiento de las religiones originarias. Esto no slo sucede en Bolivia. Las religiones originarias que desde la colonia
2

Onda pentecostal, Perspectiva Teolgica, 119 (Janeiro/Abril 2011), Belo Horizonte.

56 Vctor CODINA

se haban mantenido de forma sincrtica y muchas veces semi-clandestina, ahora recuperan su fuerza original. Para la gran mayora esta recuperacin cultural y religiosa se hace desde su fe cristiana, en un clima de dilogo intercultural e inter-religioso, contribuyendo a lo que se llama teologa cristiana india y afro. Pero hay grupos minoritarios ms radicales que en el proceso de descolonizacin quieren abandonar la fe cristiana y volver a sus religiones originarias anteriores a la evangelizacin. Por otra parte, la cultura y religin originaria tambin ha sufrido el impacto de la modernidad globalizada, con sus valores y contravalores; la religin originaria tampoco existe en estado puro, como afirma Simn Pedro Arnold 3. 4) Presencia minoritaria de otras tradiciones religiosas no cristianas: Judasmo, Islam, religiones orientales asiticas, algunas de tipo esotrico y gnstico (Rosacruces, Acrpolis, New Age) que atraen a muchas personas sinceras que buscan una espiritualidad que no encuentran en las religiones tradicionales e histricas de AL. 5) Aumento de sectores que no se profesan religiosos sino agnsticos, indiferentes o incluso ateos. Este grupo, formado por jvenes, intelectuales, profesionales, polticos, mujeres, obreros.. se asemeja al que cada vez ms prolifera en Europa y USA. Baste esta somera exposicin para comprender que el panorama religioso en AL constituye un verdadero mosaico, a la vez nuevo y siempre cambiante. III. Situacin especfica de la Iglesia catlica en AL y el Caribe Dentro del seno de la misma Iglesia catlica tambin existen profundos cambios y un cierto pluralismo religioso interno. Siguiendo a Aparecida (2007), podemos constatar las siguientes lneas de fuerza. 1) Existe una fe y una profunda religiosidad en el pueblo latinoamericano que se manifiesta en la religiosidad popular, en el compromiso eclesial con los pobres, en la renovacin bblica, litrgica y catequtica, en la vitalidad de las parroquias y de la vida consagrada, en el trabajo en diversas pastorales especficas, en el testimonio de los laicos, en la riqueza de las diversas comunidades eclesiales, etc. (Aparecida 98-99). 2) Pero hay un debilitamiento de la vida cristiana y de la pertenencia a la Iglesia, clericalismo, individualismo, marginacin de la mujer, sacramentalismo con falta de evangelizacin, poco compromiso de los laicos en la vida social, disminucin del clero y de la vida religiosa, materialismo, falta de sentido de trascendencia, abandono de las prcticas religiosas y dbil pertenencia a la Iglesia, paso a otros grupos religiosos (Aparecida 100).
3

S-P. ARNOLD, Ensayos Andinos, Puno-Cochabamba 2009, 97-114.

Consulta sobre Religin: Pluralismo Religioso 57

3) Ms an, existe una crisis de fe, la fe se erosiona (Aparecida 13, 38), por lo cual se necesita una fuerte conversin y una correccin pastoral, si no se quiere llegar a una descristianizacin como ha sucedido en otros continentes. Hay creencia sin pertenencia (believing without belonging, G. Davie) pero tambin existe en muchos grupos pertenencia sin creencia, es decir son incrdulos postcristianos que desean mantener smbolos cristianos porque stos pertenecen a la cultura occidental 4. 4) El lema de Aparecida discpulos y misioneros es una seal de alerta, una luz roja en el semforo eclesial. La misin continental a la que se convoca, supone que Amrica Latina es un continente de bautizados que no han sido suficientemente evangelizados, que no son discpulos y misioneros del Seor. Las causas de este deterioro de la fe son mltiples, externas e internas a la Iglesia. Entre las externas est el profundo cambio de poca, que como un tsunami global todo lo ha sacudido; ha cuestionado a las instituciones religiosas y a la misma fe. A nivel interno, la Iglesia catlica que haba comenzado a vivir una primavera espiritual y un verdadero pentecosts desde el Vaticano II, y que en AL haba iniciado un proceso proftico desde Medelln, en las ltimas dcadas ha experimentado un camino restauracionista, de freno y marcha hacia atrs; se quiere edificar una nueva Cristiandad. Es la situacin de invierno eclesial que ahora padecemos. Ms an, la Iglesia ha sido incapaz de responder a los nuevos desafos que en estos 50 aos despus del Vaticano II han surgido en la sociedad y en la misma comunidad eclesial. Hay un sordo clamor, a veces con indignacin, que surge desde la base de la Iglesia pidiendo cambios radicales. Alguien lo escucha? IV. Un pluralismo religioso Reasumiendo todo cuando a travs de Aparecida hemos constatado sobre el panorama religioso y eclesial de Amrica Latina y el Caribe, podemos confirmar que nos encontramos frente a un gran pluralismo religioso. La expresin pluralismo religioso que ordinariamente se aplica a la coexistencia de varias religiones en el mundo, la entendemos aqu como la coexistencia de diversas formas y estilos religiosos dentro de la misma sociedad y de la Iglesia latinoamericana. Concretamente, conviven dentro de Amrica Latina, tambin de Bolivia, sectores religiosa y eclesialmente muy diferenciados que forman como unos crculos concntricos y sincrnicos. 1) Una gran mayora de catlicos pertenece a la religiosidad popular, con un gran sentido de lo sagrado, que tal vez tenga su raz ms en
4

L. GONZLEZ CARVAJAL, Cristianos sin Iglesia, Concilium 340 (abril 2011) 115-121.

58 Vctor CODINA

las religiones originarias que en el cristianismo. Son los llamados cristianos de las cuatro estaciones de la vida que acuden a la Iglesia en el nacimiento de sus hijos (bautismo), en la adolescencia-juventud (primera comunin-confirmacin), en la adultez (matrimonio) y finalmente en la muerte (ritos de difuntos y exequias). Viven las fiestas de la Iglesia, sobre todo Navidad y Semana Santa, las celebraciones patronales, y peregrinan a santuarios marianos (a Copacabana, Urkupia, Cotoca) o del Seor. Son adictos ms a los sacramentales (agua bendita, ceniza, palmas, velas, santos) que a los sacramentos, se mueven bajo el esquema de cristianos sociolgicos o cristianos culturales, tpico de la poca de Cristiandad: hay creencia pero con dbil pertenencia eclesial, forman parte de una especie de Iglesia clandestina, informal, subterrnea, a la criolla, bastante ignorante de cuestiones bblicas y dogmticas, muy libre frente a las normas morales de la institucin eclesial (precepto dominical, sexualidad, matrimonio) que muchas veces incluso desconocen. Sin embargo muchos de estos fieles, pobres y sencillos, viven grandes valores humanos y cristianos: el amor y la solidaridad, la acogida, la resistencia, la armona con la naturaleza, la paciencia, la lucha por la vida, el sentido de fiesta, la confianza y esperanza en Dios, la oracin, la conviccin de que Diosito les acompaa siempre. La religiosidad popular es la que ha sintetizado mejor las culturas originarias con la fe catlica. 2) Hay un buen nmero de practicantes dominicales, sobre todo de clase media y alta, que asisten regularmente a las celebraciones eucarsticas, pero que con dificultad se comprometen en las tareas de la comunidad eclesial. Suelen ser muy tradicionales en su mentalidad cristiana, sobre todo en lo social. 3) Existe un nmero ms reducido pero muy vivo de catlicos de diferentes niveles sociales, que se comprometen seriamente con su fe, forman parte de comunidades, parroquias, movimientos, comunidades eclesiales de base... se preocupan por una formacin cristiana seria, tienen una orientacin evangelizadora y misionera, ordinariamente son sensibles a la justicia y al compromiso social 4) Existen otros grupos religiosos como los evanglicos-pentecostales, religiones no cristianas tanto originarias como religiones tradicionales y modernas. 5) Crece el grupo de agnsticos, indiferentes e incluso ateos, totalmente al margen de las Iglesias y de las religiones, algunos en bsqueda de una espiritualidad. Desconocer este gran pluralismo religioso de Amrica Latina y de Bolivia, juzgar al Continente con parmetros seculares europeos o norteamericanos, es un grave error. Pero hay que evitar toda idealizacin en el sentido de que sea el Continente de la esperanza. Aqu conviven la sacralidad, con la modernidad y la post-modernidad, el cristianismo con

Consulta sobre Religin: Pluralismo Religioso 59

los ritos originarios de las religiones ancestrales, la ideologa a veces marxista con la religiosidad popular, la devocin al Papa con la ignorancia de la Biblia, las peregrinaciones a santuarios marianos con el machismo, violencia, borracheras, abusos sexuales, corrupcin, narcotrfico e injusticia. El continente con mayor nmero de catlicos es el que mantiene estructuras ms injustas; en un pasado todava reciente, en nombre de la civilizacin cristiana occidental, dictadores latinoamericanos asesinaron a poblaciones enteras de indgenas, martirizaron a campesinos, mujeres, jvenes, a sacerdotes, religiosas y obispos. Es extrao que se hable de la necesidad de una nueva evangelizacin, de pasar de un continente de bautizados a un continente de discpulos y misioneros, como postula Aparecida? V. Interrogantes de cara al futuro Es muy difcil pronosticar cul va a ser el futuro de la religin en AL y de la misma Iglesia. Aparecida recoge un prrafo de gran lucidez: No resistira 5 a los embates del tiempo una fe catlica reducida a bagaje, a elenco de normas y prohibiciones, a prcticas de devocin fragmentadas, a una participacin ocasional en algunos sacramentos, a la repeticin de principios doctrinales, a moralismos blandos o crispados que no convierten la vida de los bautizados (Aparecida 12). La Cristiandad est en agona, pero las agonas a veces son lentas y pueden durar un largo tiempo 6. Hay sectores de la Iglesia que aoran la poca de Cristiandad cuando los estados se proclamaban catlicos, los templos estaban llenos, haba numerosas vocaciones, los obispos normaban la vida pblica con su magisterio, la institucin eclesial gozaba de prestigio, era la religin oficial y sus dirigentes tenan plausibilidad social. Pero este mundo religioso del pasado es un imaginario que ya no es el actual, es algo residual. La crisis de la Iglesia forma parte de la crisis de las religiones establecidas. Caer en catastrofismos no conduce a nada. Ms bien hay que ver positivamente las posibilidades que se dibujan para la creacin de una Iglesia de cristianos convencidos, una Iglesia Pueblo de Dios, una Iglesia que descubra la presencia del Espritu en la historia y en las religiones, una Iglesia de puertas abiertas, del umbral y del atrio, en dilogo con las diversas religiones y con las crecientes formas de agnosticismo, de indiferencia y de atesmo. El pluralismo religioso ha venido para quedarse.
5

El texto original de la versin episcopal deca no resistir. La correccin vaticana cambia el futuro ms realista de los obispos por un condicional. V. CODINA, La agona de la cristiandad, Cuarto intermedio, 89 (diciembre 2008) 80-94, Cochabamba.

60

Consulta sobre Religio: Pluralismo Religioso

Vitor CODINA Cochabamba, Bolvia
Traduo: Rogrio Mosimann da Silva sj

I. Colocao do problema Na atual mudana de poca existe, sem dvida, uma crise no s das instituies religiosas, como da prpria religio. J no existem os fortes atesmos dos sculos XIX e XX, porm, em troca, crescem o agnosticismo e a indiferena religiosa em muitos setores, enquanto que em outros surge com vigor a valorizao de tudo o que seja espiritualidade e mstica, porm margem de toda religio. Ante essa complexa situao sobre a religio em geral, podemos nos perguntar sobre o estado da religio na Amrica Latina. Meu intento responder a essa questo, mais concretamente desde a Bolvia. Pessoalmente, concordo com a afirmao do socilogo brasileiro Luiz Alberto Gmez de Souza: Sempre reagi contra a ideia de uma secularizao linear, com o ocaso inevitvel do sagrado. O sagrado segue estando profundamente presente em nossas sociedades, s que em um mundo pluralista e de ps-cristandade. No sempre os catlicos sabemos entender estes novos tempos presentes e viver em outro clima 1. A matriz religiosa foi muito forte na Amrica Latina e no Caribe, o povo possui tradicionalmente um grande sentido da transcendncia e de abertura a Deus na vida cotidiana. Isso talvez no tenha sido sempre compreendido, nem por missionrios que procedem de pases muito secularizados, e muito menos pelas ONGs que trabalham no continente. Contudo, a modernidade secular e a ps-modernidade intimista, a globalizao, o xodo do campo para a cidade, a industrializao, o desenvolvimento tecnolgico, o impacto dos MCS e da internet, as contnuas migraes, tudo isso afeta a matriz religiosa da AL e transforma muitos de seus valores, costumes e comportamentos. Para alguns observadores atentos, como Bartomeu Meli, essas mudanas so de tal magnitude que
1

SOUZA, L. A. Gmez de, Possvel agenda para a Igreja nos prximos anos. Perspectiva Teolgica, 117, Belo Horizonte, maio-agosto de 2010, p. 247.

Consulta sobre Religio: Pluralismo Religioso 61

talvez s tenham como antecedente histrico as transformaes ocorridas na primeira poca colonial, quando foi violentada a vida dos nativos e destruda grande parte de suas culturas e crenas. Nesse novo contexto se produziu um maior pluralismo religioso, tanto no conjunto das denominaes religiosas presentes na AL, como especificamente dentro da Igreja catlica. Consequncia disso que ao pluralismo nacional, cultural e tnico da Bolvia e dos outros pases da AL, h que se acrescentar agora tambm o pluralismo religioso. Um sinal claro disso o reconhecimento da liberdade religiosa e a separao entre Igreja e Estado que se foi produzindo com diversos matizes em todos os pases latino-americanos, tambm na Bolvia. Desde a colnia e a primeira evangelizao, a Igreja catlica havia mantido a hegemonia religiosa e moral no continente: era a religio oficial, a que havia impregnado a cultura e a moralidade de toda a sociedade, em um ambiente de cristandade. Isso mudou radicalmente, a Igreja agora precisa conquistar sua autoridade moral e sua credibilidade no por seu poder poltico, e sim por seu testemunho e coerncia crist. Tampouco j a voz dos sem voz, uma voz entre tantas vozes existentes, uma religio entre outras. II. Panorama do pluralismo religioso na Amrica Latina e no Caribe Nas ltimas dcadas, o panorama religioso da AL e do Caribe se tornou multifacetrio. Sem descer a nmeros concretos, todas as estatsticas nos mostram que existe uma configurao religiosa diversa. Vejamos os principais dados. 1) Declive numrico do catolicismo imperante e debilitao da f na Igreja catlica. Mais tarde buscaremos especificar e concretizar essa situao. 2) Aumento numrico dos grupos evanglicos e, concretamente, exploso do pentecostalismo, que constitui um fenmeno novo e surpreendente: o pentecostalismo junto com o Isl so as religies que mais crescem no mundo de hoje; alguns, como Jos Comblin (recentemente falecido), creem que desde a Reforma no se havia experimentado no cristianismo uma mudana religiosa to profunda. E o pentecostalismo cresce em ambientes marginais e pobres, entre mulheres, negros e indgenas, que recuperam a voz e o protagonismo eclesial que no tinham antes em suas Igrejas histricas; agora experimentam sua salvao e cura, leem a Palavra e renovam suas foras para lutar com a ajuda do Esprito. Como disse Carlos Mesters, os mais pobres entre os pobres da AL no esto nas CEBs, e sim nos grupos pentecostais 2.
Onda pentecostal. Perspectiva Teolgica, 119, Belo Horizonte, janeiro-abril de 2011.

62 Vctor CODINA

3) Sobrevivncia e ressurgimento das religies originrias. Isso no acontece apenas na Bolvia. As religies originrias que desde a colnia se haviam mantido de forma sincrtica e muitas vezes semiclandestina, agora recuperam sua fora original. Para a grande maioria essa recuperao cultural e religiosa se faz desde sua f crist, em um clima de dilogo intercultural e inter-religioso, contribuindo ao que se chama teologia crist ndia e afro. Porm h grupos minoritrios mais radicais que no processo de descolonizao querem abandonar a f crist e voltar a suas religies originrias anteriores evangelizao. Por outro lado, a cultura e religio originria tambm sofreu o impacto da modernidade globalizada, com seus valores e contra-valores; a religio originria tampouco existe em estado puro, como afirma Simn Pedro Arnold 3. 4) Presena minoritria de outras tradies religiosas no crists: Judasmo, Isl, religies orientais asiticas, algumas de tipo esotrico e gnstico (Rosacruz, Acrpole, New Age,), que atraem muitas pessoas sinceras que buscam uma espiritualidade que no encontram nas religies tradicionais e histricas da AL. 5) Aumento de setores que no se professam religiosos mas agnsticos, indiferentes ou inclusive ateus. Este grupo, formado por jovens, intelectuais, profissionais liberais, polticos, mulheres, operrios, etc assemelha-se ao que cada vez mais prolifera na Europa e USA. Baste esta sumria exposio para compreender que o panorama religioso na AL constitui um verdadeiro mosaico, ao mesmo tempo novo e sempre em mudana. III. Situao especfica da Igreja catlica na AL e Caribe Dentro mesmo do seio da Igreja catlica tambm existem profundas mudanas e certo pluralismo religioso interno. Seguindo Aparecida (2007), podemos constatar as seguintes linhas de fora: 1) Existe uma f e uma profunda religiosidade no povo latinoamericano que se manifesta na religiosidade popular, no compromisso eclesial com os pobres, na renovao bblica, litrgica e catequtica, na vitalidade das parquias e da vida consagrada, no trabalho em diversas pastorais especficas, no testemunho dos leigos, na riqueza das diversas comunidades eclesiais, etc. (Aparecida, 98-99). 2) Mas h um enfraquecimento da vida crist e da pertena Igreja, clericalismo, individualismo, marginalizao da mulher, sacramentalismo, com falta de evangelizao, pouco compromisso dos leigos na vida social, diminuio do clero e da vida religiosa, materialismo, falta de sentido de transcendncia, abandono das prticas religiosas e dbil pertena Igreja, passagem para outros grupos religiosos (Aparecida, 100).
3

ARNOLD, S. P. Ensayos Andinos, Puno - Cochabamba, 2009, p. 97-114.

Consulta sobre Religio: Pluralismo Religioso 63

3) Mais ainda, existe uma crise de f, a f se desmorona (Aparecida, 13, 38), pela qual se necessita uma forte converso e uma correo de rota da pastoral, se no se quer chegar a uma descristianizao como ocorreu em outros continentes. H crena sem pertena (believing without belonging, G. Davie), mas tambm existe em muitos grupos pertena sem crena, quer dizer, so incrdulos ps-cristos que desejam manter smbolos cristos porque esses pertencem cultura ocidental 4. 4) O lema de Aparecida discpulos e missionrios um sinal de alerta no semforo eclesial. A misso continental qual de est sendo convocado supe que a Amrica Latina um continente de batizados que no foram suficientemente evangelizados, que no so discpulos e missionrios do Senhor. As causas dessa deteriorao da f so mltiplas, externas e internas Igreja. Entre as externas est a profunda mudana de poca, que como um tsunami global a tudo sacudiu; questionou as instituies religiosas e a prpria f. Em nvel interno, a Igreja catlica que havia comeado a viver uma primavera espiritual e um verdadeiro pentecostes desde o Vaticano II, e que na AL havia iniciado um processo proftico desde Medelln, nas ltimas dcadas experimentou um caminho restauracionista, de freio e marcha-a-r; quer-se edificar uma nova cristandade. a situao de inverno eclesial que agora padecemos. Mais ainda, a Igreja foi incapaz de responder aos novos desafios que nestes 50 anos depois do Vaticano II surgiram na sociedade e na prpria comunidade eclesial. Existe um surdo clamor, s vezes com indignao, que surge desde a base da Igreja pedindo mudanas radicais. Algum o escuta? IV. Um pluralismo religioso Reassumindo tudo o que constatamos, atravs de Aparecida, sobre o panorama religioso e eclesial da Amrica Latina e o Caribe, podemos confirmar que nos encontramos frente a um grande pluralismo religioso. A expresso pluralismo religioso, que ordinariamente se aplica coexistncia de vrias religies no mundo, ns a entendemos aqui como a coexistncia de diversas formas e estilos religiosos dentro da prpria sociedade e da Igreja latino-americana. Concretamente, convivem dentro da Amrica Latina, tambm da Bolvia, setores religiosa e eclesialmente muito diferenciados que formam como que uns crculos concntricos e sincrnicos. 1) Uma grande maioria de catlicos pertence religiosidade popular, com um grande sentido do sagrado, que talvez tenha sua raiz mais
4

GONZLEZ CARVAJAL, L. Cristianos sin Iglesia. Concilium, 340, abril de 2011, p. 115-121.

64 Vctor CODINA

nas religies originrias do que no cristianismo. So os chamados cristos das quatro estaes da vida que acodem Igreja no nascimento de seus filhos (batismo), na adolescncia-juventude (primeira comunhoconfirmao), na fase adulta (matrimnio) e finalmente na morte (ritos dos defuntos e exquias). Vivem as festas da Igreja, sobretudo Natal e Semana Santa, as celebraes do padroeiro(a), e peregrinam a santurios marianos (a Copacabana, Urkupia, Cotoca) ou do Senhor. So adeptos mais dos sacramentais (gua benta, cinza, ramos, velas, santos) que dos sacramentos, movem-se sob o esquema de cristos sociolgicos ou cristos culturais, tpico da poca de cristandade: h crena mas com fraca pertena eclesial, formam parte de uma espcie de Igreja clandestina, informal, subterrnea, a seu modo, bastante ignorante de questes bblicas e dogmticas, muito livre frente s normas morais da instituio eclesial (preceito dominical, sexualidade, matrimnio,) que muitas vezes inclusive desconhecem. Contudo, muitos destes fiis, simples e pobres, vivem grandes valores humanos e cristos: o amor e a solidariedade, a acolhida, a resistncia, a harmonia com a natureza, a pacincia, a luta pela vida, o sentido da festa, a confiana e esperana em Deus, a orao, a convico de que o Deusinho os acompanha sempre. A religiosidade popular a que melhor elaborou a sntese entre as culturas originrias e a f catlica. 2) H um bom nmero de praticantes dominicais, sobretudo de classe mdia e alta, que assistem regularmente s celebraes eucarsticas, mas que com dificuldade se comprometem com as tarefas da comunidade eclesial. Costumam ser muito tradicionais em sua mentalidade crist, sobretudo no que se refere ao social. 3) Existe um nmero mais reduzido mas muito vivo de catlicos de diferentes nveis sociais, que se comprometem seriamente com sua f, tomam parte de comunidades, parquias, movimentos, comunidades eclesiais de base... Preocupam-se por una formao crist sria, tm uma orientao evangelizadora e missionria, ordinariamente so sensveis justia e ao compromisso social. 4) Existem outros grupos religiosos como os evanglicos pentecostais, religies no crists tanto originrias como religies tradicionais e modernas. 5) Cresce o grupo de agnsticos, indiferentes e inclusive ateus, totalmente margem das Igrejas e das religies, alguns em busca de uma espiritualidade. Desconhecer esse grande pluralismo religioso da Amrica Latina e da Bolvia, julgar o continente com parmetros seculares europeus ou norte-americanos, um grave erro. Mas h que se evitar toda idealizao no sentido de que seja o continente da esperana. Aqui convive

Consulta sobre Religio: Pluralismo Religioso 65

a sacralidade com a modernidade e a ps-modernidade; o cristianismo com os ritos originrios das religies ancestrais; a ideologia s vezes marxista com a religiosidade popular, a devoo ao papa com a ignorncia da Bblia; as peregrinaes a santurios marianos com o machismo, violncia, bebedeiras, abusos sexuais, corrupo, narcotrfico e injustia. O continente com maior nmero de catlicos o que mantm estruturas mais injustas. Num passado ainda recente, em nome da civilizao crist ocidental, ditadores latino-americanos assassinaram a populaes inteiras de indgenas, martirizaram a camponeses, mulheres, jovens, a sacerdotes, religiosas e bispos. estranho que se fale da necessidade de uma nova evangelizao, de passar de um continente de batizados a um continente de discpulos e missionrios, como postula Aparecida? V. Interrogaes diante do futuro muito difcil prognosticar qual vai ser o futuro da religio na AL e da prpria Igreja. Aparecida recolhe um pargrafo de grande lucidez: No resistiria5 aos embates do tempo uma f catlica reduzida a uma bagagem, a um elenco de algumas normas e de proibies, a prticas de devoo fragmentadas, a adeses seletivas e parciais das verdades da f, a uma participao ocasional em alguns sacramentos, repetio de princpios doutrinais, a moralismos brandos ou crispados que no convertem a vida dos batizados (Aparecida 12). A cristandade est em agonia, mas as agonias s vezes so lentas e podem durar um longo tempo 6. H setores da Igreja saudosos da poca de cristandade quando os estados se proclamavam catlicos, os templos estavam cheios, havia numerosas vocaes, os bispos normatizavam a vida pblica com seu magistrio, a instituio eclesial gozava de prestgio, era a religio oficial e seus dirigentes tinham plausibilidade social. Contudo, esse mundo religioso do passado um imaginrio que j no o atual; algo residual. A crise da Igreja participa da crise das religies estabelecidas. Cair em catastrofismos no conduz a nada. Antes, preciso ver positivamente as possibilidades que se delineiam para a criao de uma Igreja de cristos convictos; uma Igreja povo de Deus; uma Igreja que descubra a presena do Esprito na histria e nas religies; uma Igreja de portas abertas, do umbral e do trio, em dilogo com as diversas religies e com as crescentes formas de agnosticismo, de indiferena e de atesmo. O pluralismo religioso veio para ficar.
5

O texto original da verso episcopal dizia no resistir. A correo vaticana muda o futuro mais realista dos bispos por um condicional. CODINA, V. La agona de la cristiandad. Cuarto intermedio, 89, Cochabamba, dezembro de 2008, p. 80-94.

66

TR

DU

D CI

AL

O A SP

John Shelby SPONG

Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith Is Being Born

A NEW CHRISTIANITY FOR A NEW WORLD

El nico libro que hace actualmente la propuesta de pasar de un cristianismo testa a otro pos-testa, justificndola y aplicndola concretamente a los diferentes componentes de la visin cristiana (Dios, Jess, Evangelio, Jess, Iglesia, oracin, liturgia, misin...). Jos Mara VIGIL. In this brave and important book, Bishop Spong continues his lifelong quest for a living faith and church worthy of the Christ in whom we can find God in our time. His call for a new reformation is honest, deep, provocative, and needed. Matthew FOX. In English, HarperSanFrancisco: www.harpercollins.com En espaol, increble su precio: US$ 8'5: www.abyayala.org y tiempoaxial.org In italiano: Un cristianesimo nuovo per un mundo nuovo, Massari Ed., www.enjoy.it/erre-emme

 67

The Crisis of Religion in Jose Comblin's Last Thinking

Jos COMBLIN Belgium - Brazil
Traduccin de Alicia Mndez

Resumen
Se explica en primer lugar el sentido y la justificacin de esta ponencia elaborada a partir de las obras de Jos Comblin en sus ltimos aos, por la voluntad que haba expresado pocos das antes de su muerte, de participar en la Consulta, sin aadir algo a lo que ya he escrito. Se aborda en primer lugar la crisis de la religin en funcin del surgimiento de nuevas percepciones actuales: la religin como necesidad humana, y como construccin cultural. Se distingue entre Jess, el Evangelio y la religin. Se seala los elementos principales de la religin que estn en crisis: la cosmologa subyacente, la heteronoma y el miedo. Se reconoce que la crisis est en su punto culminante en Europa, y en un nivel alto en Amrica Latina. Se avanza algunas previsiones sobre el futuro de la religin, y se aterriza tratando de destacar las tareas de la teologa ante esta crisis.

Abstract
Firstly, the meaning and justification of this paper is explained, elaborated from the works of Jos Comblin during his last years, since he had expressed a few days before his death the will to participate in this Consultation. Secondly, the crisis of religion is exposed, born from the new perceptions of today: religion as a human need, and as cultural construction. A distinction is made between Jesus, the Gospels and religion. The main elements of religion that are in crisis are noted: the underlying cosmology, heteronomy and fear. It is acknowledged that this crisis is at its highest in Europe, and at a high level in Latin America. Some predictions as to the future of religion are anticipated, and the work of theology facing this crisis is highlighted.

68 Jose COMBLIN

Justification for this paper This text is justified by the fact that Jose Comblin had accepted to participate in this Latinamerican Theological Consultation about Religion. On 16 February 2011 we cordially invited him to participate in our Consultation. He humbly replied: - I dont know if I could add something to what I have already written, but I can collaborate. We invited him to participate physically, travelling to be present, but he declined the invitation: - My problem is he said- that in the meetings I am not very useful because of my hearing problem: I can hardly hear what is said in groups. Death surprised him some days later, without giving him a chance to start his text. This is why, because of his intention to participate with a paper he said would not add much to what he had been writing lately, we thought it important to gather those ideas expressed in his last writings and bring them to this Consultation, as was his will. In fact, during his last years, Comblins thinking about religion had had a significant evolution. In 2005 we invited him to a small theological gathering, in San Jose de Costa Rica, to discuss the possible crisis of religion in Latin America. We were surprised at his negative reaction to even a hypothesis that in Latin America we could be at the start point of a crisis of religion. He said that the crisis of religion was a European problem, due to Europes decadence, a continent whose youth had no values or ideals, a youth that would not even wish to have children while in Latin America religion was not in a crisis, but it was in a state of explosion, with new religions appearing permanently, the growth of neo-pentecostalism, and the migration of many catholics to the new religious movements. Years later, in 2007 we met in Caracas, and I had the opportunity of talking with him largely and observed a big change in his positions. He not only did not deny the crisis of religion but also accepted it radically and based it on a well-developed stream of thought. I remember that, travelling by car to the airport as we were leaving the country, I decided to insist on the fact that he should write those ideas in a systematised way, requesting him formally to write an article about the topic for RELaT. Comblin wrote the article and we published it in RELaT (Nr. 377), where it can still be found as a real reference text. But it was some years before that this new stream of thought had been incubating, which made him interpret religion in a different way to the traditional, classic, common to all Christian Churches, and specifically to the catholic Church, theology of religion. I consider his book O Caminho (The Road. Essay on Jesus' following, Paulus, Sao Paulo), where

The Crisis of Religion in Jose COMBLIN's Last Thinking 69

maybe his reconceptualization of religion is exposed more clearly and concisely, a reconceptualization that allows for a new way of interpreting freer and more realistic- the situation of religion in todays world. Public conferences given by Comblin in the last years, such as the Theological Sessions of the South Cone (of Amerindia, which will be quoted here by its date, 091124), as well as interviews on radio given on the same occasion, that were made famous on youtube, are also documents that clearly show his brilliant and well-developed thinking on this topic. It is strange to see how a thought expressed through such different means keeps true to itself almost literally; a signal that those expressed key ideas of his thought to which the author goes back once and again with total confidence. Let us then make Jose Comblins wish to participate in this Consultation come true with a text that will really not add much to what he had written in the last years. We will firstly state the crisis or the change in the traditional theoretical proposals about religion that Comblin experimented. Secondly we will try to show how Comblin describes the crisis of religion, the content of the crisis and the future it allows us to foresee. Where possible I will try to quote Comblin, otherwise I will summarise his thinking. The new theoretical proposals about religion Crisis of the classic theoretical proposals about religion. The distinction between religion and spirituality as a starting point. Traditionally, spirituality, religion, gospels, Church, Christianity were different names to refer, from different angles, to a single reality, almost indivisible. Spirituality was a deep dimension, religions main content, up to the point of considering that outside of religion there is no spirituality. (Pagans may have moral virtues, human realities, but no supernatural virtues, relation with God, spirituality.) Mentioning religion was the same as saying spirituality, and the other way round. Both realities would be consubstantial. Religion was indistinguishable from spirituality, was not subordinate to it, was no means or instrument for anything but a reality totally linked to spirituality, therefore, an end in itself. Comblins latest thought is from the start contrary to this: the starting point of this new thought about religion, its reconceptualization, is the disidentification between spirituality and religion, or in Comblins words, between gospels and religion. Our starting point will be the distinction between religion and gospel. Christianity is not originally a religion and Jesus did not found any religion. Later Christians founded the Christian religion, human creation, not Gods (091124). o

70 Jose COMBLIN

Religion as a human need and cultural construction. Religion, then, is not equivalent to spirituality (to gospels, as Comblin says). Religion is more a human need. The human being needs to express his religious feelings, channel in a religious way his wishes and needs, and this creates religion. So, religion is clearly a human creation. It is not a reality coming directly from God, not a divine institution, but a human creation, based on a human need. Human beings at least up to now- cannot live without religion, they need it. Hence every people create its religion, within its culture: religion is a cultural construction. Each culture creates its own religion, and the people create their religion from their culture, but also being influenced, inevitably, by religions and cultures of peoples with whom they relate. Religion is thus usually a syncretic reality, that includes an array of values and elements of the neighbouring cultures and religions. This syncretism is always evolving: religion is in permanent evolution. (RELaT 377) Religion is the product of human culture. There is a great variety of religions, and they all have the same structure although very different external forms. They all have mythology, cult and a class dedicated to it. The Christian religion does not differ in this. She is a human creation, the product of various cultures. Religion is a basic reality of human existence. It deals with the problems of the meaning of life on earth, the problem of values, the place of the human being in the universe, and the problem of salvation of all evils of this world. Religion has been studied by religious anthropology, religious sociology, by the history of religions. All this illustrates the Christian religion as well. Because it is a human creation, Christian religion has changed and may still change in the future according to changes in the future. (091124) Jesus, gospels and religion So, the Christian religion was created after Jesus, by his followers, integrating religious elements of the Old Testament, of the Greek philosophy later, of Roman law, of Mediterranean polytheism, of Irish religious practices, of Germanic peoples and others. Jesus lived within the Jewish religion, and rejected it. He did not found any religion. What is more, what he preached was not a religion, but, worse still, destroys all religion. (O Caminho, 7-10). The Gospels, which Comblin likes to call the Road of Jesus, are not a religion, although they are practised within a religion. But they are above a religion, and must criticise and control it because religions tend to become autonomous and shadow the gospels (ibidem). The history of Christianity is the history of those religions called 'Christian', and the history of the criticism of The Gospels to those religions. The history of Christianity is the history of a tension or of a conflict between religion

The Crisis of Religion in Jose COMBLIN's Last Thinking 71

and gospel, between a human tendency to religion, and the voices or the lives of those who wanted to live according to the gospel. (091124) Jesus gospel is not a religion. Jesus did not found any religion: he did not proclaim a religious doctrine or a mythology, not even a speech about God, he did not found any cult nor any clerical class. Jesus proclaimed and started Gods kingdom on earth. Gods kingdom is not a religious kingdom, it is a rebirth of all humanity, rebirth that changes the sense of human history, opening a new era, the last. It is a message for all humanity in all its cultures and religions. It could be said that it is a meta-policy message and history. (091124) Many Christians and Christian structures fight against the gospel without knowing it. (091124) Religion is good if it helps to find the gospel instead of forgetting it under a religious cover. It is a human need, but has to be investigated and corrected. (091124) Regarding the crisis of religion What is in crisis in religion? Underlying cosmology. There are elements of the old religion that are now unacceptable. First is the underlying cosmology of the traditional religion. This was maybe common since the origins of humanity. The world appears to be divided in three levels: above is heaven. In heaven lies god. God is represented as a patriarch or king-emperor, according to the social structure of the people. Following the traditional cosmology everything that happens on earth was decided in heaven. God governs all terrestrial life following rules he only knows. What is more, God is not subjected to any rule. He may change them whenever he wishes. That is why prayer is so important, but it has to be strong and persevering. (RELaT 377, 3) In the religion of the masses this cosmology had an important role. It was like the intellectual basis of religion. It justified all Christian religious practices, and also justified the ancient pagan religions. Once that cosmology is destroyed young people were convinced that religion had no intellectual basis, it was pure imagination unrelated to reality. (RELaT 377, 3) In Latin America the old cosmology still abides in many popular sectors, but it will produce the same religious crisis among adolescents that start to study. School is the first secularisation factor and it destroys the traditional religious cosmology. (RELaT 377, 3) Heteronomy. In the middle, between heaven and hell, the earth is a place of permanent conflict between the powers of heaven and the powers of hell, which are in a never ending battle to win humanity. The

72 Jose COMBLIN

combat takes place within each person: in medieval spirituality this is a constant topic. The combat also takes place among human groups representing the forces of heaven and of hell. Each group believes his enemies are Satan armies and that he fights on behalf of God with all celestial forces. Life is lived as a permanent combat against hell forces. Life is a fight to avoid sin and practise virtue, to adore God instead of Satan. Human life would be a permanent tension between two forces external to the human being. He would be the terrain of a battle between two adversaries that are unyielding. Life would not be organised by human beings, but dominated by external forces. Well now, since the Renaissance it is very clear how each human being constructs his life. This is the discovery of how each person is responsible for organising his life with autonomy, conquering every more freedom, not subject to any supernatural forces, being those good or evil. This is also the discovery that adolescents have been making for centuries. Today this discovery is being made known, also due to schooling. The young person learns to build his life regardless of celestial or hell forces. There are still some remnants of archaic rural mentalities, but they are ever less operating. (RELaT 377, 3) Fear. Since modern age, human beings have discovered that their lives are not guided in that way by supernatural forces. They are owners of their own lives. Threats, risks, ills in their lives are not due to supernatural forces but to natural factors and decisions taken by human beings. Illness is not a punishment for sin. Victory is not given by God. Peace is a consequence of human action After this discovery human beings have lost fear. They do not fear God or the demons. They take life with its own limits and possibilities. They learn to know nature better and their own capacities to produce the effects they want to produce. They do not ask God for what they must do. They try to do it themselves. (RELaT 377, 3) State of the crisis Within Christianity, the crisis of religion is reaching its summit in Europe, and has reached a high level in America. But this crisis has very old roots. (RELaT 377) Post-modernism, far from bringing the end to the crisis of religion, has furthered it. At this time the crisis of religion is more radical than in 1970. Not only in Brazil or in Latin America in general, but in all ancient Christian territories. (ibidem) The Curia believed and maybe still believes- that it has an alternative to the new movements: Opus Die, the Focolare, Communion and

The Crisis of Religion in Jose COMBLIN's Last Thinking 73

Liberation, Neo-catechumenate, the Schnstatt movement, Legionaries of Christ and many others that are less known. One day the Pope proclaimed them agents of the new evangelisation. However, their programmes are of Christian restoration, which takes them apart from the contemporary society and makes any evangelisation impossible. For them evangelisation is recruitment of new members, which they do with all the tricks that psychology or communication sciences give them. That is not evangelisation. What is more, these groups are typical of middle class, which is not the class looking for a new culture, but for an adaptation of religion to their culture. The middle class wants a burgeois religion that will prove them that God and money can be adored at the same time. (ibidem) The crisis of religion exists and is not on the road to a solution. (ibidem) All this evolution is irreversible. Nobody will be able to go back to a past religious conscience. The cosmology and the anthropology born in modernism and further developed since, are definitive. There will always be some survivors of preceding times Nevertheless, from now on most part of the catholic cult is not more than a show for tourists. Tourists do not understand anything, but they like the anthropological museum that religions are in present times. Cathedrals will be visited ever more and pontifical masses will continue to be shown through television. (ibidem) The future of religion The XX century will have been the century of Pentecostalism. This was the great religious movement that slowly covered all the world and all the Churches and Christian denominations: it was a movement that converted hundreds of millions of Christians. (RELaT 377, 5) Related to religion, the most impressive fact in this century is the extraordinary expansion of Pentecostalism or neo-pentecostalism. Sociologists in Brazil estimate that in 10 years more they will be the religion of the majority in Brazil. They are already in Central America. They are aware of their future glory and are more arrogant in their public life. ( Jose Comblin's e-mail of 110313) The Pentecostals keep the traditional religious cosmology: God and Satan, heaven, earth and hell, sin and divine punishment, Satans temptations, the problem of salvation as central to religion. (RELaT 377, 5) Historical experience shows that the great crisis of modernisation appears in secondary school, around 15 years of age. The great majority of the poor do not reach that, except in a few countries, such as Chile or Uruguay. One day the poor will reach secondary school and will undergo the same crisis, and the Pentecostal Churches will not be attractive. (ibidem)

74 Jose COMBLIN

Pentecostalism may still grow, especially if historical Churches do not permeate intensively the popular world. It cannot be permanent because the poor classes will be better schooled and will undergo the same religious problems of modernism and post-modernism. This evolution will depend on social evolution. The present system of exclusion can still last for some years, 10, 20 or 50 years, depending on the resistance of the new capitalist burgeosie and its ability to maintain its power over society. (RELaT 377, 5) Religion belongs to human condition. Hence, in all cultures there is religion, and, if the culture changes, religion will change too, and another will appear. We are now in a crucial moment of history because of the radical change in culture. Religion has a future, but not necessarily the religions we now know. The traditional religion of Christianity has not much of a future because it is incomprehensible and the new culture wants to understand. The foundation of a new religion may last centuries, but there are already some signals appearing. Jesus did not found any religion, leaving the door open for his disciples to create the religion that would best adapt to their culture, what was done unknowingly, that is, without anybody knowing he was building a new religion. That is why the religion we now know and practise was created within the Roman Empire, and is a historical possibility. Others may appear. Up to now Christianity has permeated only one culture (with variances) from what existed in the Roman empire. This is only a beginning, a first stage, most probably there will not be a strong break up, but a progressive evolution. Certain institutions and practices will disappear and others will appear. After some centuries a new set will be present. (RELaT 377, 7) The Christian religion is exhausted and offers no answer to the present culture, except remnants from the past. (091124) Tasks for theology facing this crisis The main task and in a certain way unique, is the critical study of all the Christian tradition, to go back to the gospel. It is a matter of rediscovering what was really revealed by the life and death of Jesus. It is not a matter of destroying a religion. It would be futile because human beings need a religion and if it is supressed it will reappear under other forms. The problem lies in knowing all about the religion that is incomprehensible and unacceptable to the modern culture that invades all religions. We will have to look for what is really comprehensible and meaningful and may be an acceptable dress for the gospel. Let us look at the elements of religion. (091124)

The Crisis of Religion in Jose COMBLIN's Last Thinking 75

The task of theology will be to free the gospel of dogma rigidity. All the magisterial documents will have to be critically examined. As from Trento theologians habitually gave a maximalist interpretation of dogmas. We need to go back to a minimalist interpretation. What is it that the gospel really imposes? What is more, dogmas historically act by what they do not say. The first 4 councils concentrated solely on the concepts of person and nature. They forgot the human life of Jesus. That is why the human life of Jesus was not a subject of reflection for Christians during centuries. Tomas de Kempis could write a book about the Imitation of Christ, with no mention of the human life of Jesus. What kind of Christ is this? Dogmas hid the human life of Jesus for centuries. In Trento nobody spoke of faith in a biblical sense, but of a religious faith that is not Christian. The consequence was a lack of communication between catholics and protestants during centuries, which could have been avoided. (ibidem) Dogmas were defined by Popes or Bishops. But they do not represent necessarily all the Christian population, as if the Spirit did not exist among the people. There were councils that made a profound division and expelled big sectors from the Church: Sirian churches, from Egypt and all the East, not mentioning protestants. Within the assemblies there were dissensions which were heresies. For example in Vatican I. This makes definitions fragile. All this is the object of theology. (ibidem) Of course the same theology is suspect under the light of the gospels and has to be critically examined to see if it helps the comprehension of the gospels or it hides it, what happened many times. Because since Trento theology has become something controversial against protestants and the moderns. It went under the service of the hierarchy. That is not the task of theology. She is useful if she helps the Christian people better understand what the gospel says. She is at the service of the Christian people and not of the hierarchy. (091124) For centuries theologians have been dedicated to explain and justify all the elements of the system. Times have changed. All that was linked to the traditional culture has lost its sense and legitimacy. Theology must bring the gospel and the present world into contact. (ibidem) Jos Mara VIGIL Panama City, Panama

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La crisis de la religin en el pensamiento ltimo de Jos Comblin

Jos COMBLIN Blgica - Brasil

Justificacin de este escrito Este texto tiene su justificacin en el hecho de que Jos Comblin acept participar en esta Consulta Teolgica Latinoamericana sobre la Religin. Con fecha 16 de febrero de 2011 le cursamos una cordial invitacin a participar en la Consulta. Nos respondi humildemente: No s si podra aadir algo a lo que ya he escrito, pero puedo colaborar. Le invitamos a participar fsicamente, viajando para estar presente, pero declin la invitacin: Mi problema es -nos dijo- que en los encuentros ya no soy muy til, por mi problema de audicin: escucho cada vez menos lo que se dice en grupos. La muerte le sorprendi pocos das despus, sin darle oportunidad para comenzar su texto. Por eso, por esa intencin suya de participar con una ponencia de la que dudaba que pudiera aadir algo a lo que haba venido escribiendo ltimamente, es por lo que nos pareci importante recoger esas ideas expresadas en los escritos de sus ltimos aos, y traerlas a esta Consulta, como fue su voluntad. Efectivamente, en algunos pocos aos ltimos de su vida, Comblin haba dado una importante evolucin en su pensamiento respecto al tema de la religin. En 2005 le invitamos a un pequeo encuentro teolgico, en San Jos de Costa Rica, para debatir la situacin de la posible crisis de la religin en A.L. Nos llevamos la sorpresa de que Comblin reaccion negativamente ante la sola hiptesis de que en A.L. pudiramos estar a las puertas de una crisis de la religin. Expres que la crisis de la religin era un problema europeo, que se deba a la decadencia misma de Europa, un

La crisis de la religin en el pensamiento ltimo de Jos COMBLIN 77

continente con una juventud sin proyecto ni ideales, una juventud que ni siquiera quera tener hijos... mientras que en Amrica Latina la religin no slo no estaba en crisis, sino que estaba en estado de explosin, con el surgimiento constante de religiones nuevas, el crecimiento del neopentecostalismo, y el paso de muchos catlicos a los nuevos movimientos religiosos... Aos despus, coincidiendo con l en Caracas, en 2007, tuve la oportunidad de conversar largamente con l y observ un profundo cambio en sus posiciones. No slo no negaba la crisis de la religin sino que la afirmaba radicalmente y la fundamentaba con un esquema de ideas bien desarrollado. Recuerdo que, yendo en carro camino al aeropuerto para salir ya del pas, me decid a insistirle en que deba escribir sistematizadamente aquellas ideas, encargndole formalmente que escribiera un artculo sobre el tema para la RELaT. Comblin redact el artculo y lo publicamos en la RELaT (n 377), donde todava est como un autntico texto de referencia. Pero ya desde algunos aos antes estaba incubando ese nuevo esquema de pensamiento que le haca interpretar la religin de un modo diferente al que ha sido la teologa de la religin tradicional, clsica, comn en las Iglesias cristianas, en la Iglesia catlica concretamente. Considero que es en su libro O Caminho (Paulus, So Paulo), quiz donde expone ms clara y concisamente esta su reconceptuacin de la religin, reconceptuacin que permite interpretar de un modo nuevo -ms libre y realista- la situacin de la religin en el mundo actual. Conferencias pblicas pronunciadas por Comblin en estos ltimos aos, como la celebrada en las Jornadas Teolgicas del Cono Sur (de Amerindia, que citaremos aqu por su fecha, 091124), as como entrevistas radiofnicas concedidas en la misma ocasin, que se hicieron clebres por su difusin a travs de youtube, son tambin documentos que perfilan con claridad el pensamiento brillante y bien esbozado de Comblin en esta temtica. Es curioso observar que en fuentes tan dispares (un libro, una ponencia, una entrevista) hay con frecuencia pensamientos expresados con una igualdad casi literal; seal de que expresaban ideas clave de su pensamiento a las que el autor vuelve una y otra vez con seguridad. Vamos pues a dar cumplimiento al deseo de Jos Comblin de participar en esta Consulta con texto que, efectivamente, no va a tratar de aadir nada sobre lo que l ya haba escrito en los ltimos aos. En un primer momento expondremos la crisis o la transformacin de los planteamientos tericos tradicionales sobre la religin que experiment Comblin. En un segundo momento trataremos de reflejar cmo Comblin describe la crisis de la religin, el contenido de la crisis y el futuro que permite vislumbrar. Donde sea posible reproducir directamente palabras de Comblin; cuando sea necesario condensar el pensamiento.

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Los nuevos planteamientos tericos sobre la religin Crisis de los clsicos planteamientos tericos sobre la religin La distincin religin/espiritualidad como punto de partida

Tradicionalmente, espiritualidad, religin, evangelio, Iglesia, cristiandad... eran nombres distintos para referirse, desde aspectos diferentes, a una realidad nica, casi indivisible. La espiritualidad era la dimensin profunda, el contenido principal de la religin, hasta el punto de que se consider tradicionalmente que fuera de la religin no hay espiritualidad. (Los paganos pueden tener virtudes morales, realidades humanas, pero no virtudes sobrenaturales, relacin con Dios, espiritualidad. Decir religin era tanto como decir espiritualidad, y decir espiritualidad era tanto como decir religin. Ambas realidades seran como consustanciales. La religin no se distingua de la espiritualidad, ni tena un carcter subordinado hacia ella, ni era medio o instrumento de nada... sino una realidad consustancial con la espiritualidad, y por tanto un fin en s misma. El pensamiento reciente de Comblin se sita, de entrada, en una posicin contraria: el punto de partida de todo este pensamiento nuevo sobre la religin, de su reconceptuacin, es la desidentificacin entre espiritualidad y religin, o en palabras exactas de Comblin, entre evangelio y religin. Nuestro punto de partida ser la distincin entre religin y evangelio. El cristianismo no es originalmente una religin y Jess no fund ninguna religin. Ms tarde los cristianos fundaron la religin cristiana, creacin humana y no divina (091124). La religin como necesidad humana y construccin cultural La religin, pues, no es equivalente a la espiritualidad (al evangelio, en el decir mismo de Comblin). La religin es ms bien una necesidad humana. El ser humano necesita expresar sus sentimientos religiosos, canalizar religiosamente sus deseos y necesidades, y eso crea la religin. As, la religin es, claramente, una creacin humana. No es una realidad que provenga directamente de Dios, ni una institucin divina, sino una creacin humana, en base a una necesidad humana. Los seres humanos -hasta ahora al menos- no saben vivir sin religin, la necesitan. Y por eso cada pueblo crea su religin, en su propia cultura: la religin es as una construccin cultural. Cada cultura crea su religin, y cada pueblo elabora su religin desde su cultura, pero tambin, dejndose influenciar, inevitablemente, por las religiones de los pueblos y culturas que estn en relacin con l. La religin es as una realidad normalmente sincrtica, que incluye una amalgama de valores y elementos de las culturas y religiones vecinas. Ese sincretismo no para de evolucionar: la religin est en evolucin permanente. (RELaT 377)

La crisis de la religin en el pensamiento ltimo de Jos COMBLIN 79

La religin es producto de la cultura humana. Hay una gran variedad de religiones, y todas tienen la misma estructura aunque muy diversas en su forma exterior. Todas tienen una mitologa, un culto y una clase dedicada a su ejercicio. En eso la religin cristiana no es diferente de las dems. Ella tambin es creacin humana, producto de diversas culturas. La religin es una realidad bsica de la existencia humana. Plantea los problemas del sentido de la vida en esta tierra, el problema de los valores, el lugar del ser humano en el universo, y el problema de la salvacin de este mundo de todos sus males. La religin ha sido muy estudiada por la antropologa religiosa, por la sociologa religiosa, por la sociologa religiosa, por la historia de las religiones. Todo ello ilustra tambin la religin cristiana. Por ser creacin humana, la religin cristiana ha cambiado y puede todava cambiar en el porvenir segn los cambios de la historia (091124). Jess, el evangelio y la religin As, la religin cristiana fue creada despus de Jess, por sus seguidores, integrando elementos religiosos del Antiguo Testamento, de la filosofa griega despus, del derecho romano, del politesmo mediterrneo, de las prcticas religiosas de los irlandeses, de los pueblos germnicos... y otros. Jess vivi en la religin juda, y la rechaz. No fund ninguna religin. Ms: lo que l predic no es una religin, sino que -todava msdestruye toda religin. (O Caminho, p. 7-10). El Evangelio, que Comblin gusta de llamar el Camino de Jess, no es religin, aunque se vive normalmente en una religin. Pero es superior a la religin, y debe criticarla y controlarla porque la religin tiende a hacerse autnoma y a opacar el evangelio (ibidem). La historia del cristianismo es la historia de las 'religiones cristianas', y la historia de la crtica a esas religiones en nombre del Evangelio (O Caminho, 9). La historia del cristianismo es la historia de una tensin o de un conflicto entre religin y evangelio, entre una tendencia humana hacia la religin, y las voces o las vidas de los que queran vivir segn el evangelio (091124). El evangelio de Jess no es una religin. Jess no fund ninguna religin: no proclam una doctrina religiosa o una mitologa, ningn discurso sobre Dios, no fund ningn culto y no fund ninguna clase clerical. Jess proclam e inaugur el reino de Dios en la tierra. El Reino de Dios no es ningn reino religioso, es una renovacin de toda la humanidad, realizacin que cambia el sentido de la historia humana, abriendo una nueva poca, la ltima. Es un mensaje para toda la humanidad en todas sus culturas y religiones. Se podra decir que es un mensaje y una historia meta-poltica (091124).

80 Jos COMBLIN

Muchos cristianos y estructuras cristianas luchan sin saberlo contra el evangelio (091124). La religin es buena si ayuda a buscar el evangelio y no a olvidarlo bajo el revestimiento religioso. Es una necesidad humana, pero tiene que ser investigada y corregida (091124). Respecto a la crisis de la religin Qu es lo que en la religin est en crisis La cosmologa subyacente. Hay elementos de la religin antigua que ya no son asimilables. El primero es la cosmologa subyacente a la religin tradicional. Esta era comn tal vez desde los orgenes de la humanidad. El mundo aparece dividido en tres niveles: arriba est el cielo. En el cielo est Dios. Dios es representado como patriarca o como rey-emperador, segn la estructura social de los pueblos. Segn la cosmologa tradicional todo lo que sucede en la tierra, fue decidido en el cielo. Dios gobierna toda la vida terrestre segn normas que slo l conoce. Adems Dios no est sometido a ninguna norma. Puede cambiar cuando quiere. Por eso la oracin puede ser eficaz, pero tiene que ser fuerte y perseverante. (RELaT 377, 3). En la religin de las masas esta cosmologa tena un papel importante. Era como el fundamento intelectual de la religin. Era lo que justificaba todas las prcticas de la vida religiosa cristiana, as como justificaba las antiguas religiones paganas. Una vez que se produjo la ruina de esa cosmologa los jvenes tuvieron la conviccin de que la religin no tena fundamentos intelectuales, era pura imaginacin sin relacin con la realidad (RELaT 377, 3). En Amrica Latina la vieja cosmologa todava permanece en muchos sectores populares, pero va a provocar la misma crisis religiosa en los adolescentes que empiezan a estudiar. La escuela es el primer factor de secularizacin y de destruccin de la cosmologa religiosa tradicional. (RELaT 377, 3). La heteronoma. En medio entre el cielo y el infierno, la tierra es el lugar del conflicto permanente entre las potencias del cielo y las potencias del infierno, que estn en un combate permanente porque cada cual quiere conquistar la humanidad. El combate tiene lugar dentro de cada persona: el combate espiritual es tema constante de la espiritualidad medieval. El combate tiene lugar tambin entre grupos humanos representativos de las fuerzas del cielo y del infierno. Cada grupo humano cree que sus enemigos son los ejrcitos de Satans y que l mismo combate en nombre de Dios con las fuerzas celestiales.

La crisis de la religin en el pensamiento ltimo de Jos COMBLIN 81

La vida es vivida como combate permanente contra las fuerzas del infierno. La vida es lucha para evitar el pecado y practicar la virtud, adorar a Dios y no a Satans. La vida humana sera una tensin permanente entre dos fuerzas exteriores al ser humano. ste sera el terreno de un combate entre dos adversarios irreductibles. La vida no sera organizada por el mismo ser humano, sino ms bien dominada por fuerzas exteriores. Ahora bien, desde el Renacimiento est cada vez ms claro que el ser humano hace su vida. Es el descubrimiento de que cada cual tiene la responsabilidad de organizar su vida con autonoma, conquistando siempre ms libertad, sin estar sometido a fuerzas sobrenaturales, buenas o malas. Ese es tambin el descubrimiento que hacen los adolescentes desde hace siglos. Hoy en da ese descubrimiento ya se est generalizando, tambin por influjo de la escolarizacin. El joven aprende a hacer su vida sin preocuparse por las fuerzas celestiales o infernales. Todava hay restos de la mentalidad rural arcaica, pero son cada vez menos operantes. (RELaT 377, 3). El miedo. Desde la modernidad los seres humanos han descubierto que su vida no es dirigida en esa forma por fuerzas sobrenaturales. Ellos mismos son dueos de sus vidas. Las amenazas, los peligros, los males de sus vidas no se deben a fuerzas sobrenaturales sino a factores naturales y a decisiones tomadas por los mismos seres humanos. La enfermedad no es castigo del pecado. La victoria no es dada por Dios. La paz es efecto de la accin humana... A partir de este descubrimiento los seres humanos han perdido el miedo. Ya no temen ni a Dios ni a los demonios. Asumen su vida con sus lmites y sus posibilidades. Aprenden a conocer mejor la naturaleza y sus propias capacidades para producir ellos mismos los efectos deseados. No piden a Dios lo que ellos tienen que hacer. Tratan de hacerlo ellos mismos (RELaT 377, 3). Estado de la crisis Dentro de cristiandad la crisis de la religin est llegando a su punto culminante en Europa, y ya alcanz un nivel bien alto en Amrica. Pero esta crisis tiene races muy antiguas (RELaT 377). Lejos de traer el fin de la crisis de la religin, la pos-modernidad la profundiz. En este momento la crisis de la religin es mucho ms radical que en 1970. No slo en Brasil o en Amrica Latina en general, sino en todo el territorio de la antigua cristiandad (ibidem). La Curia pensaba -y a lo mejor todava piensa- que tiene una alternativa en los nuevos movimientos: Opus Dei, Focolares, Comunin y Liberacin, Neo-catecumenado, movimiento de Schnstatt, Legionarios

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de Cristo... y muchos otros con menor difusin. El Papa los proclam un da los agentes de la nueva evangelizacin. Sin embargo su programa es de restauracin de la cristiandad, lo que los aparta cada vez ms de la sociedad contempornea y hace imposible cualquier evangelizacin. Para ellos la evangelizacin es reclutamiento de nuevos miembros, lo que hacen con todas las astucias que la psicologa o las ciencias de la comunicacin ponen a su disposicin. Eso no es evangelizacin. Adems estos movimientos son tpicos de la clase media, que no es la clase que busca una nueva cultura, sino una adaptacin de la religin a su cultura. La clase media quiere una religin burguesa que le muestre que puede muy bien adorar a Dios y al dinero al mismo tiempo (ibidem). La crisis de la religin existe y no est en vas de solucin (ibidem). Toda esta evolucin es irreversible. Nadie podr retornar a una conciencia religiosa del pasado. La cosmologa y la antropologa nacidas en la modernidad y desarrolladas ms todava desde entonces, son definitivas. Habr siempre algunos supervivientes de las pocas anteriores... Sin embargo, desde ahora gran parte del culto catlico ya no es nada ms que espectculo para los turistas. Los turistas no entienden nada, pero les gusta el museo antropolgico que son las religiones en la actualidad. Las catedrales sern cada vez ms visitadas y las misas pontificales seguirn siendo difundidas por la televisin (ibidem). Futuro de la religin El siglo XX habr sido el siglo del pentecostalismo. ste fue el gran movimiento religioso que envolvi poco a poco al mundo entero y a todas las Iglesias y denominaciones cristianas: fue un movimiento de conversin de cientos de millones de cristianos (RELaT 377, 5). Sobre la religin el hecho impresionante de este sigo es la expansin extraordinaria del pentecostalismo o neopentecostalismo. En Brasil los socilogos estiman que en 10 aos, mas sern la religin de la mayora en Brasil. Ya lo son de hecho en Amrica central. Estn conscientes de su gloria futura y son mas arrogantes en la vida pblica (correo-e de Jos Comblin del 110313). Los pentecostales conservan la cosmologa religiosa tradicional: Dios y Satans, el cielo, la tierra y el infierno, el pecado y los castigos divinos, las tentaciones de Satans, el problema de la salvacin como problema bsico de la religin (RELaT 377, 5). La experiencia histrica muestra que la gran crisis de la modernizacin se produce en la enseanza secundaria, alrededor de los 15 aos. La inmensa mayora de los pobres no llegan hasta ah, salvo en pocos pases, como Chile o Uruguay. Un da llegar en que los pobres entrarn

La crisis de la religin en el pensamiento ltimo de Jos COMBLIN 83

en la escuela secundaria y van a pasar por la misma crisis, y las Iglesias pentecostales ya no les ofrecern tanto atractivo (ibidem). El pentecostalismo puede todava crecer, sobre todo si las Iglesias histricas no logran penetrar en forma intensiva en el mundo popular. No podr ser algo permanente, porque poco a poco las mismas clases pobres sern cada vez ms escolarizadas y entrarn en los mismos problemas religiosos de la modernidad y la pos-modernidad. Esta evolucin va a depender de la evolucin social. El sistema actual de exclusin todava puede durar algunos aos, 10, 20 50 aos, segn la resistencia de la nueva burguesa capitalista y su capacidad para mantener su dominio sobre la sociedad (RELaT 377, 5). La religin pertenece a la condicin humana. Por eso, en cualquier cultura hay religin, y, si la cultura cambia, la religin va a cambiar tambin, y otra aparecer. Estamos en un momento crucial de la historia por motivo del cambio radical de la cultura. La religin tiene futuro, pero no necesariamente las religiones que conocemos hoy da. La religin tradicional de la cristiandad no tiene mucho futuro porque ya es incomprensible y la nueva cultura quiere comprender. La fundacin de una nueva religin puede durar siglos, pero desde temprano hay algunas seales que aparecen. Jess no fund ninguna religin, dejando la puerta abierta para que sus discpulos crearan la religin ms adaptada a su cultura, lo que se hizo inconscientemente, o sea, sin que nadie supiera que estaba construyendo una religin nueva. Por eso esa religin que conocemos y practicamos, se form dentro del Imperio romano, y es una posibilidad histrica. Otras pueden aparecer. Hasta ahora el cristianismo slo penetr en una sola cultura (con dos variantes) a partir de lo que haba en el Imperio romano. Es slo un comienzo, una primera etapa. Lo ms probable es que no habr ruptura fuerte, sino evolucin progresiva. Ciertas instituciones o prcticas van a desaparecer y otras van a aparecer. Despus de algunos siglos se podr observar que apareci un nuevo conjunto (RELaT 377, 7). La religin cristiana est agotada y no ofrece respuesta a la orientacin de la cultura actual, salvo restos del pasado (091124) Tareas de la teologa ante la crisis La tarea principal y de cierto modo nica es el estudio crtico de toda la tradicin cristiana, para volver al evangelio. Se trata de redescubrir lo que realmente fue revelado en la vida y la muerte de Jess. No se trata de destruir la religin. Sera intil porque los seres humanos necesitan una religin y si se suprime ella reaparece en otras formas. El problema consiste en saber todo lo de la religin que ya no es comprensible ni

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aceptable en la nueva cultura moderna que entra en todas las religiones. Habr que buscar lo que es realmente comprensible y significativo y puede ser un revestimiento aceptable del evangelio. Veamos los elementos de la religin (091124). La tarea de la teologa ser liberar el evangelio de la rigidez del dogma. Habr que examinar crticamente todos los documentos del magisterio. Desde Trento los telogos dieron habitualmente la interpretacin maximalista de los dogmas. Necesitamos volver a una interpretacin minimalista. Qu es lo que el evangelio realmente impone? Adems los dogmas actan histricamente por lo que no dicen. Los 4 primeros concilios concentran todo en los conceptos de persona y naturaleza. Dejaron de lado la vida humana de Jess. Por eso la vida humana de Jess dej de ser durante siglos motivo de reflexin de los cristianos. Toms de Kempis pudo escribir un libro sobre la Imitacin de Cristo, sin ninguna alusin a la vida humana de Jess. Qu Cristo es ese? Los dogmas ocultaron la vida humana de Jess durante siglos. En Trento no se habl de la fe en sentido bblico, sino de una fe religiosa que no es cristiana. La conclusin fueron siglos de incomunicacin entre catlicos y protestantes, lo que poda haber sido evitado (ibdem). Los dogmas fueron definidos por Papas u obispos. Pero ellos no representan necesariamente todo el pueblo cristiano, como si el Espritu no estuviera tambin en el pueblo. Hubo concilios que dividieron profundamente y expulsaron de la Iglesia a sectores inmensos: las Iglesias de Siria, de Egipto y de todo el Oriente, sin hablar de los protestantes. Dentro de las asambleas hubo disensiones que no eran herejas. Por ejemplo en el Vaticano I. Esto fragiliza las definiciones. Todo eso es objeto de la teologa (ibdem). Por supuesto la misma teologa es sospechosa a la luz del evangelio y tiene que examinarse crticamente para ver si ayuda a la comprensin del evangelio o lo oculta, lo que sucedi muchas veces. Pues desde Trento la teologa se hizo polmica contra los protestantes y los modernos. Se puso al servicio de la jerarqua. No es esa la tarea de la teologa. Ella sirve para ayudar al pueblo cristiano a entender mejor lo que dice el evangelio. Est al servicio del pueblo cristiano y no de su jerarqua (091124). Durante siglos los telogos se han dedicado a explicar y justificar todos los elementos del sistema. Los tiempos han cambiado. Todo lo que estaba ligado a la cultura tradicional, perdi su sentido y su legitimidad. La teologa pondr en contacto el evangelio y el mundo actual (ibidem). Jos Mara VIGIL Panam, Panam

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Religion Does Not Redeem Theological Reflections about the Role of Religion Today
Josef ESTERMANN La Paz, Bolivia
Translation: Kari Fisher Eller Resumen
El presente trabajo parte de la constatacin de que la teologa contempornea mantiene a grandes rasgos un silencio sobre el hecho religioso y la coexistencia de una pluralidad de religiones. Esto de debe a que se considera al pluralismo religioso como amenaza al rol salvfico de la fe cristiana y un cuestionamiento a la pretensin universal y nica del cristianismo. Para romper con este silencio, el autor plantea la urgencia de salir de una concepcin monocultural de lo que es religin y buscar puentes interculturales. Desde el contexto andino, es imprescindible ampliar el panorama del campo religioso y deconstruir interculturalmente la concentracin del mismo en los aspectos institucionales, doctrinales y escriturales. Como conclusin, el autor plantea que en perspectiva de liberacin, no es la religin que libera o redime, sino la fe comprometida que se sirve del factor religioso como una mediacin.

Abstract
The present contribution starts noting that contemporary theology keeps in general silence about the religious filed and the coexistence of a plurality of religions. The main reason for this fact consists in considering religious pluralism as a danger for the salvific role of Christian faith and critics of the universal and unique pretension of Christianity. In order to break with this silence, the author suggests that it would be necessary to break with a monocultural conception of what is conceived as religion and to look for intercultural bridges. From an Andean context, it will be indispensable to interculturalize the religious phenomenon and deconstruct its concentration on institutional, doctrinal and scriptural aspects in an intercultural perspective. As a conclusion, the author states that in the sense of Liberation theology, it is not religion that liberates or redeems, but engaged faith which recurs to the religious factor as mediation.

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The topic of religion has risen, in the last decades a growing interest on part of the social sciences, postmodern philosophy, cultural studies and even development sciences, but not on part of theology. The factual plurality of the religious identities (religions) has constituted much time- above all for representatives of the so called monotheistic religions- a thorny problem or even an obstacle of such magnitude that many theologians have avoided touching it and prefer to stay silent scholars. And the few people who dare to confront the theme, run the risk of being reprimanded, notified and silenced, above all in a religious institution with a strong vigilance of the doctrine (Catholic Church, Islam, new religious movements). In a context dominated by a postmodern and mercantile spirit (Europe and North America), the loss of the institutionalized religiousness (ecclesiastical; doctrine; normative ethics and cultural) and the orthodox doctrine contrast with a proliferation of offers para and pseudo religions, a post secular civil religiosity, an exaltation of the worship to the body (wellness, cosmetic, body work), on one side, and the growth of fundamentalist movements in practically all of the congregations and religious identities, on the other. On the peripheral of the neoliberal capitalist empire, in the global south the always weak religious institutionality declines even more, not in the first place due to secularization and a shy irreligiosity, but rather the spectacular expansion of the neo Pentecostal churches of the electronic style, and the visibilization of clandestine forms of religion of the original peoples. 1. The Silence of Theology The relationship between religion and theology has been, despite an apparent marriage of convergence, always charged with mutual tension, suspicion and a certain hostility. Until the Constantine tour (315), faith in Jesus Christ was not discussed as a new religion or with much caution. It appears that the same concept religion has a roman origin and is not overcome in the Semitic tradition (Hebrew), nor in the Greek wisdom (Hellenic). For the first Christian theologians, religion was practically identical with the official worship of the Roman Empire, given that the new Jewish Sect was not only irreligious, but also their followers were atheist. Many of the so called founders of religion ( Jesus; Siddhartha Gautama; Mohammed) have been very critical and even hostile with the religion or religions of their time and they did not in any way constitute or found a new religion. However, what were movements of profound reform, within a few centuries had already converted in established institutions and recognized religions. In the case of Christianity, the preaching and practice of the reign of God very rapidly was converted into Church, and under the predominance of the Empire in an official religion.

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The theology is understood from a beginning as intellectual defense of the new faith and not as a reflection of the practices, beliefs and religious manifestations. To present, Catholic and Protestant theology is understood more as an explication of a doctrine and not as a reflection of a popular syncretic practice. The popular religiosity has not been, except a few counted incidences, object of a theological reflection and was, as the etymology reveals, associated with paganism and magical practices not worthy of theological efforts. In Christianity- especially in Catholicism- the question of salvation and redemption is associated very early to the church as a community of believers, and afterwards to the church as an institution (ex ecclesiam nulla salus). In dialectical theology, insuperable antagonism between faith and religion is planted, in such a way that religion is considered antipodal of the direct and personal relationship with the divine mystery (faith), and, as such, idolatry and an ideological obstacle for faith in Jesus Christ. In association with early Christianity, this is not interpreted as religion, but rather as a new way of relating with the divine. In Catholic theology, the religion is not seen as locus theologicus, not because it was not reality, rather because it was seen as a threat in the form of religious pluralism. The simple fact that other religions outside of Christianity (or precisely; Catholicism) existed constituted a danger for a theology that defines salvation and redemption in terms of membership and belonging. It is not the religion as such that constitutes a problem, but rather the religions and their pretension of universal validity. The silence of the theology in respect to the religious fact is only broken in the contemporary era due to the challenge of religious pluralism. From the II Vatican Council, emerges, in the Catholic environment, a theology of the religions or a theology of theological pluralism that is not the same as a theology of religion or a theology of religious facts. The famous dispute between Paul and Peter in the Jerusalem Council (ca. 70 EC) has been one of the first (and perhaps last) debates about the role of religion (customs; cultural norms; ritual practices) for the redemption, that is to say: about the role of religion in the salvific history of the human being. Despite the Pauline liberalization or a critical deconstruction of the religious factor, new religious forms as prerequisites for what was considered redemption and salvation were quickly installed with greater coercive strength, between them Hellenistic circumcision and the Roman legal stronghold. 2. Challenges for an Intercultural Theology of the Religious Fact The religion concept that Christian theology embodies- as much Catholic as Evangelical- in a large part of the world, has a Western origin and is a reflection of the philosophy of basically Hegelian religion, on

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one side, and the Eurocentrism (or Western Centrism) of the Classical Sciences of Religion of the XIX and XX centuries, on the other side. In one way, an overly schematic and monocultural concept of religion, inherited the illustrious debate about the autonomy of the human person and the alienating and ideological character of that which is religious. In another way, a very institutional and doctrinal (orthodox) concept of what is and should be a certain religion (above all in the sense of church) is maintained. An intercultural deconstruction of the religion propels, because the classic parameters of the Sciences of Religion and the mental schemes and prejudices still present in the official and academic theology, do not reflect the diversity and contemporary complexity of the religious field and of its manifestations. In first place, the dominant concept of religion has as a principal reference the existence or relevance of certain universal religions established and institutionalized. In the Sciences of Religion the high religions (Hochreligionen) were discussed until recently, a judgement of unacceptable value that reflects a Eurocentric point of view. This posture is articulated often with the supposition that monotheism (Christian) was the evolutionary point more advanced of that which is religious, such as the so called polytheist, animist and natural religions were relegated a second or third place. In second place, it normally referred to the religions as a total of doctrinal, ritual and institutional elements, well identified and separable from the same elements of other religious traditions. In the last years, we are witnessing a new syncretization in the religious field, together with a fundamentalization of beliefs and religious practices. Both tendenciesalthough they appear contradictory- are the two faces of the same coin and reflect the advanced process of cultural and economic globalization. In third place, the contemporary religious field is characterized by a diversification of the experiences and manifestations, in the sense of a patched religion in which very distinct elements of religious traditions are unified. This religious eclecticism carries with it a certain religious light that prescinds a defined doctrine, established institutions, determined norms and visible representatives. In fourth place, there is a re surging of ancestral religions made invisible for much time, from a supposed paganism (or neo paganism) inside and at the margin of classic religions, but also of religious pentecostal and charismatic dissidence, on one side, and conservative and traditionalists, on the other. Innumerable forms of double loyalty or birreligiosity (Sinoquismo), of religious hybridity, of syncretism and eclecticism, of civil religiosity and esoterisms, of obscurantism and occultisms exist.

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3. Religion, Religiosity, Spirituality, Cosmovision, etc. Speaking bluntly about religion, it is not anymore permitted to describe nor appreciate all of the religious panorama with that which the theological chores has to do. From the North (Europe and North America), there is a certain tendency that favors the term spirituality above religion. Spirituality is in fashion and embodies well the postmodern spirit of the New Age, precursor of a cosmic convergence of the distinct spiritualities, cosmovisions and life models, even more that the positions (slightly flexible) of the historic religions. This concept (spirituality) covers phenomenons so diverse as forms of Hindu meditation, Psychotherapeutic practices, rebirthing, the worship of the body (wellness) and forms of sufism or medieval mysticism. On the other side, a tendency also exists to not talk about religions as such, rather religiosities, that is to say: the cultural and collective ways of perceiving, representation and living the relationship with the sacred, if it does not imply the complete adhesion to an established religion. Given the fact that it tends to call ancestral religions religiosities, one has to question this strategy as an intent (unconscious) of differentiating and separating once again (as in the classic period of Sciences of Religion) two classes of religious expression: religions and religiosities. The same occurs with the inflated use of the term cosmovision that is used for whatever union of beliefs, life model, rituals and universal religions. Although it is appropriate for the indigenous original peoples, it reflects a Western predilection for the view and theory (theorein: to see). As a result, there are intents to reinterpret cosmovision to terms of cosmospirituality, cosmosentiments or cosmowisdom. However, it is still being used in comparison to what is considered philosophy, faith, religion and science, with the effect of a new axiological hierarchy in disfavor of the first. Finally, the influx of and abundant literature about the phenomenon of civil religion that opens apparently a panorama much wider for the religious field, including even the ideologies unique of development and progress as religious manifestations (as occurs with the word developism, the exaltation of progress, of economic growth, etc.). Capitalism and its hedonistic form of consumerism have been converted into very powerful and globalized civil religions. It is impossible to propose a definition more or less certain of the mentioned terms, and even less the central term of religion. Recently in and through intercultural dialogue, it is possible to arrive to a few provi-

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sional working definitions. However, it means leaving behind monocultural and culture centric definitions (today the most are still in majority Euro-centric). Religion implies just as much established religions on a planetary level as local religions; doctrinal and institutional religions like religions of low doctrinal intensity and have little to no institutionalization; spiritual and spatial practices, indigenous cosmovisions, old and new syncretisms, Pentecostal and charismatic proposals, expressions of a civil religion of a people and society. Finally, one has to take seriously the inherent ambiguity to religious systems, which can be inclined to promote more life, equality and well being, or justly contribute to more death, a lack of inequality and poverty. A true intercultural and inter religious dialogue is always critical and auto-critical, and in the same way is the incipient dialogue between religion and theology.

4. An Andean Perspective of the Religious Fact In the case of the Andes, the people are eminently religious (in Bolivia, 98% declare themselves believers in a Home Survey in 2001). Although many people pertain to a church of a Christian tradition, a large percentage practices traditions and ancestral religious rituals, possibly in a parallel form integrated to the dominant religion. The perspectives and concept of development, progress, and well being are loosely connected with ideas and religious forms and perceiving reality. The Andean religiousness is inclusive and is founded on the principal of relationships as a primary parameter of acting, perceiving and producing. As such, each theological reflection about the religious field has to start from this fact, that is: it has to take into account the religiosity as a transversal axis. In the Andean case, the term religion is associated with the institutional religious system of the Catholic Church and the Evangelical churches, and not as much with the indigenous ancestral religiosity and its spiritualities. In this context, attention is called to the paradigm change, in the Bolivian case, between the Political Constitution of the State (CPE) valid (1967) and the proposal of the new CPE of 2008, as we have indicated earlier. The CPE of 1967 reflects a highly Western and colonial spirituality, referring to the paradigm of the religion in an institutional and Semi-state corporational (Holy Seat) sense. In contrast, the CPE of 2008 intends to be decolonizing and inclusive, religion is understood in terms of spirituality and cosmovision.

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Religious (or spiritual) in the Andean context is not limited to a certain field or specific institutions or specialists, but rather it is present in all aspects of life, from birth until death, from the planting to the harvest, and of course in all that has to do with development and the bettering of life conditions. Religious or spiritual is for the Andean jaqi/ runa what is water for the fish: a second skin, the air that is breathed, the collective subconscious treasure. Religious normally is not objectified nor is it thematized, but rather it is lived in a ritual and celebratory form. For the West, religion is associated with a system (symbolic) of elements more or less consistent and coherent as they are objects of study and reflection, and are visualized in an institutional and doctrinal form. As a conglomerate of all sacred, it is contra posed to what is considered profane or secular, beginning with the political life, passing through economic activity and arriving to the judicial and legislative forum. The West has passed the criticism of the illustrious religion, the secularization and positivism, with the effect that the religious residues today is encountered only in the churches, while spirituality has won followers outside of the churches. We can, then conclude a not casual synchronicity between the postmodern planting in the West and the ancestral concept (pre-modern) of the indigenous cultures, respect to the theme of religion. The crisis of religion in modernity (or hypermodernity) is a crisis of institutionality and its dogmatic monocultural character. Postmodernity (Western) and indigenous spirituality aspire to liberate that which is religious of this stronghold that demands the established religions and their theologies. Only that the motives differ toto coelo, given that Andean spirituality is not the result of a disconnected individual rebellion, but rather the expression of a millennial collective wisdom. 5. Towards a Conclusion: Programatic Theses a) What is required today in a context such as Latin America, is not so much a theology of the religions or a theology of religious pluralism, but rather a theology of religion, a theology of the religious fact or a theology of that which is religious. Even though a theology of the religions is a part of the fact of constituted and institutionalized religions, a theology of religion reflects the role of religiosity (as anthropologic existential) in the salvific plan, it is to say respect to the construction of the reign of God, the integral liberation, the personal illumination, the eschatology, depending on the case. b) Religions are, above all, cultural and historical mediations of human ways toward perfection and redemption that are expressed in different utopic images, but do not form a constitutive and indispensable system for said perfection or redemption. Religions do not redeem them-

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selves, and the pertinence to one or another religion does not carry one to what the distinct religious traditions call nirvana, classless society, reign of God, paradise, neti-neti, etc. c) As such, the question of exclusivity of a certain religion, of the pretense of having the absolute truth, of universal value, is, theologically speaking, a question of the mediations, and not the objective itself (the sacred, the divine, the undefined, the mystery). As such exist many cultural, historical, existential and ritual paths to come close to what is embraced and what is not at our disposition, also many religious paths exist, that is to say: cultural religious mediation that arrive to the same reality that has many names and that is reflected in different human attitudes. d) A liberationist theology of religion (or theology of the liberation of the religious fact) part of the religious praxis of the peoples and those marginalized, oppressed, discriminated, that many times is a nonorthodox praxis inside the parameters of the religious cannon of the dominant religious tradition (see the religious praxis of people who Jesus speaks to) and that is given in all religious traditions, often in syncretic form. The question behind all of this is not the orthodoxy of such a religious practice, but rather its orthopraxis, that is to say: its liberating and inclusive potential that also it is possible to be given in all religious traditions (or religions). e) A liberationist theology of religion should be necessarily inter religious in its directionality, although it comes from a specific religious tradition. The criticality of said theology consists in the analysis of the dehumanizing and destructive aspects of the same religious tradition and the other traditions, but at the same time in the prophetic announcement of the humanizing and liberating aspects of all liberating traditions. The inherent ambiguity of each religion requires a critical theological reflection, in order to not fall into an idolatrization and fetishization of the same religion, as if it were the infinite source of life itself, and not one of many mediations that are always imperfect. f) In an intercultural perspective, a new theology of religion should deconstruct the concept of religion that the dominant tradition uses, that is, in the majority of the cases, culture centric and imperialistic in front of other forms of religiosity. While religion is defined as a union of phenomenas and structures that should have institutionality, sacred texts, holy specialists, an object of veneration and a doctrine, all types of religiosity: ancestral, non-theist, spiritual, animist or pantheist do not fit into the cannon. As such, one should take into account the existing asymmetries in the theological speeches between religion, on one side, and cosmovision, spirituality, beliefs, superstition, magic, etc., on the other side.

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g) The change that is produced in the last years in the religious field on a global and continental level, is not a process of growing non religiosity, but rather a transformation of the same religiosity. In this process, it is noted, between many other facets, basically two tendencies: the substitution of a religious religiosity (it appears redundant, but it means; traditional; non-theistic; doctrinal) to a civil or post-secular (consumerism, hedonistic, wellness, progress, well being, etc.) religiosity on one side, and on another spiritual and ancestral religiosity, on another. The spiritualization of religion- often under the common denominator of spirituality- is given in very diverse ways and even incompatible amongst them. The Gaia thought; ecofeminism; indigenous spiritualities; New Age; postmodern mysticism; syncretic spiritualities etc. h) Religions and religious expressions always have a cultural and historic charge that contradicts the values of human dignity, gender fairness, the respect for alterity and nature, and should, at least, submit to the intercultural deconstruction of the andro- and anthropocentrism put into force in them. On another side, it urges to empower the liberating aspects in the sense of inclusivity and holism, more so that any centrism in the cultural, ethnic, social and generic sense. A theology of liberationist religion in an intercultural key should be very sensible to these aspects and lead to a critique of the religion that is oriented in the inherent utopic potential to all religions, and not in their dogmatic and institutional structure.

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La religin no redime Reflexiones teolgicas sobre el rol de la religin hoy

Josef ESTERMANN La Paz, Bolivia

El tema de la religin ha suscitado, en las ltimas dcadas un creciente inters por parte de las ciencias sociales, la filosofa posmoderna, los estudios culturales (Cultural Studies) e inclusive por las ciencias del desarrollo, pero no as por parte de la teologa. La pluralidad fctica de las identidades religiosas (religiones) ha constituido por mucho tiempo sobre todo para representantes de las llamadas religiones monotestas un problema espinoso o inclusive un obstculo de tal magnitud que muchos/as telogos/as se abstuvieron de tocarlo y preferir quedarse con un silencio erudito. Y las pocas personas que se atrevan enfrentar el tema, corrieron el riesgo de ser amonestadas, notificadas y silenciadas, sobre todo en una institucionalidad religiosa con una fuerte vigilancia de la doctrina (iglesia catlica, islam, nuevos movimientos religiosos). En un contexto dominado por un espritu posmoderno y mercantil (Europa y Norteamrica), la prdida de la religiosidad institucionalizada (eclesialidad; doctrina; normatividad tica y cultual) y de la doctrina ortodoxa contrasta con una proliferacin de ofertas para- y seudo-religiosas, una religiosidad civil postsecular, una exaltacin del culto al cuerpo (wellness, cosmticas, body work), por un lado, y del crecimiento de movimientos fundamentalistas en prcticamente todas las congregaciones e identidades religiosas, por otro lado. En la periferia del imperio neoliberal-capitalista, en el Sur global, la siempre dbil institucionalidad religiosa se merma an ms, no en primer lugar por causa de la secularizacin y de una temida irreligiosidad, sino ante todo por la expansin espectacular de iglesias neopentecostales de tipo electrnico, y la visibilizacin de formas religiosas clandestinas de los pueblos originarios. 1. El silencio de la teologa Las relaciones entre religin y teologa han sido, a pesar de un aparente matrimonio de convergencia, siempre cargadas de mutuas ten-

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siones, sospechas y cierta hostilidad. Hasta el giro constantiniano (315 EC), no se hablaba de la fe en Jess el Cristo como una nueva religin o slo con mucha cautela. Parece que el mismo concepto religin tiene origen romano y no se remonta ni a la tradicin semita (hebrea), ni a la sabidura griega (helnica). Para los primeros telogos cristianos, religin era prcticamente idntica con el culto oficial del Imperio Romano, con tal de que la nueva secta juda no solamente fuera irreligiosa, sino que sus seguidores eran denominados ateos. Muchos de los llamados fundadores de religin ( Jess; Siddharta Gautama; Mahoma) han sido muy crticos y hasta hostiles con la religin o las religiones de su poca y no pretendieron de ningn modo constituir o inclusive fundar una nueva religin. Sin embargo, lo que eran movimientos de reformas profundas, dentro de unos pocos siglos ya se haban convertido en instituciones establecidas y religiones reconocidas. En el caso del cristianismo, la prdica y prctica del Reinado de Dios muy rpidamente se iba a convertir en Iglesia, y bajo el predominio del Imperio en religin oficial. La teologa se entenda desde un inicio como defensa intelectual de la nueva fe y no como una reflexin de las prcticas, creencias y manifestaciones religiosas. Hasta la actualidad, la teologa catlica y protestante se entiende ms como explicitacin de una doctrina y no como reflexin de una prctica popular sincrtica. La religiosidad popular no ha sido, salvo contadas excepciones, objeto de una reflexin teolgica y fue, como revela la etimologa, asociado con el paganismo y prcticas mgicas no dignas del esfuerzo teolgico. En el cristianismo especialmente en el catolicismo la cuestin de la salvacin y redencin se asociaba muy tempranamente a la Iglesia como comunidad de los fieles, y posteriormente a la Iglesia como institucin (extra ecclesiam nulla salus). En la teologa dialctica, se plantea el antagonismo insuperable entre fe y religin, de tal modo que la religin es considerada antpoda de la relacin directa y personal con el misterio divino (fe), y, por tanto, obstculo idoltrico e ideolgico para la fe en Jesucristo. En asociacin con el cristianismo primitivo, ste no se interpreta como religin, sino como una nueva manera de relacionarse con lo divino. En la teologa catlica, la religin no figura como locus theologicus, pero no porque no fuera una realidad, sino porque se la vea como amenaza, pero en la forma del pluralismo religioso. El simple hecho de que existan religiones fuera del cristianismo (o precisamente: del catolicismo) viene constituyendo un peligro para una teologa que define la salvacin y redencin en trminos de membresa y pertenencia. No es la religin como tal que constituye un problema, sino las religiones y sus pretensiones de validez universal.

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El silencio de la teologa respecto al hecho religioso slo se rompe en la era contempornea por causa del desafo del pluralismo religioso. A partir del Concilio Vaticano II, surge, en el mbito catlico, una teologa de las religiones o una teologa del pluralismo teolgico que no es lo mismo que una teologa de la religin o una teologa del hecho religioso. La famosa disputa entre Pablo y Pedro en el Concilio de Jerusaln (ca. 70 EC) ha sido uno de los primeros (y tal vez ltimos) debates sobre el rol de la religin (costumbres; normas cultuales; prcticas rituales) para la redencin, es decir: sobre el rol de la religin en la historia salvfica del ser humano. A pesar de la liberalizacin paulina o de una deconstruccin crtica del factor religioso, muy pronto se instalaban, con mayor fuerza coercitiva, nuevas formas religiosas como prerrequisitos para lo que era considerado redencin y salvacin, entre ellos la circuncisin helnica y la camisa de fuerza jurdica romana. 2. Desafos para una teologa intercultural del hecho religioso El concepto religin que maneja la teologa cristiana tanto catlica como evanglica en gran parte del mundo, tiene origen occidental y es un reflejo de una filosofa de la religin bsicamente hegeliana, por un lado, y del eurocentrismo (u occidentocentrismo) de las Ciencias de la Religin clsicas de los siglos XIX y XX, por otro lado. Por una parte, se maneja una concepcin demasiadamente esquemtica y monocultural de la religin, heredada del debate ilustrista sobre la autonoma de la persona humana y el carcter alienante e ideolgico de lo religioso. Por otra parte, se sigue manejando una concepcin muy institucional y doctrinal (ortodoxa) de lo que es y debe ser una cierta religin (sobre todo en el sentido de iglesia). Urge una deconstruccin intercultural de la religin, porque los parmetros clsicos de las Ciencias de la Religin y los esquemas mentales y los prejuicios todava presentes en la teologa oficial y acadmica, no reflejan la diversidad y complejidad contemporneas del campo religioso y de sus manifestaciones. En primer lugar, la concepcin dominante de religin tiene como referencia principal la existencia o vigencia de ciertas religiones universales establecidas e institucionalizadas. En las Ciencias de la Religin se hablaba hasta hace poco de religiones altas (Hochreligionen), un juicio de valor inaceptable que refleja un punto de vista eurocntrico. Esta postura se articulaba a menudo con la suposicin de que el monotesmo (cristiano) fuera el punto evolutivo ms avanzado de lo religioso, con tal de que las llamadas religiones politestas, animistas y naturales fueran relegadas a un segundo o tercer lugar. En segundo lugar, se refera normalmente a religiones como un conjunto de elementos doctrinales, rituales e institucionales, bien identifi-

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cados y separables de los mismos elementos de otras tradiciones religiosas. En los ltimos aos, estamos presenciando una nueva sincretizacin en el campo religioso, conjuntamente con una fundamentalizacin de creencias y prcticas religiosas. Las dos tendencias aunque parezcan contradictorias son las dos caras de la misma moneda y reflejan el proceso avanzado de la globalizacin cultural y econmica. En tercer lugar, el campo religioso contemporneo se caracteriza por una diversificacin de las experiencias y manifestaciones, en el sentido de una religin de parches en la que se juntan elementos de tradiciones religiones muy distintas. Este eclecticismo religioso conlleva una cierta religin light que prescinde de una doctrina definida, instituciones establecidas, normas determinadas y representantes visibles. En cuarto lugar, hay un resurgimiento de religiones ancestrales invisibilizadas durante mucho tiempo, de un supuesto paganismo (o neopaganismo) dentro y al margen de religiones clsicas, pero tambin de disidencias religiosas pentecostales y carismticas, por un lado, y conservadoras y tradicionalistas, por otro lado. Existen innumerables formas de doble fidelidad o birreligiosidad (sinoiquismo), de hibrididad religiosa, de sincretismos y eclecticismos, de religiosidad civil y de esoterismos, de oscurantismos y ocultismos. 3. Religin, religiosidad, espiritualidad, cosmovisin, etc. Hablar de religin a secas, ya no permite describir ni apreciar todo el panorama religioso con que el quehacer teolgico tiene que ver. Desde el Norte (Europa y Norteamrica), hay una cierta tendencia a favorecer el trmino de espiritualidad sobre el de religin. Espiritualidad est de moda y recoge bien el espritu posmoderno de la Nueva Era, precursora de una convergencia csmica de las distintas espiritualidades, cosmovisiones y modelos de vida, ms all de las posiciones (poco flexibles) de las religiones histricas. Este concepto (espiritualidad) abarca fenmenos tan diversos como formas de meditacin hind, prcticas psicoteraputicas, rebirthing, el culto al cuerpo (wellness) y formas del sufismo o del misticismo medieval. Por otro lado, tambin existe la tendencia de ya no hablar de religiones como tales, sino de religiosidades, es decir: de maneras culturales y colectivas de percibir, representar y vivir la relacin con lo sagrado, si que ello no implique la adhesin completa a una religin establecida. Debido al hecho de que se tiende a llamar a las religiones ancestrales religiosidades, hay que cuestionar esta estrategia como un intento (inconsciente) de diferenciar y separar nuevamente (como en el periodo clsico de las Ciencias de la Religin) dos clases de expresin religiosa: religiones y religiosidades.

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Lo mismo ocurre con el uso inflacionario del trmino cosmovisin que se viene usando para cualquier conjunto de creencias, modelos de vida, rituales y universos religiosos. Aunque es apropiado por los mismos pueblos originarios indgenas, refleja, en el fondo, una predileccin occidental por la vista y teora (theorein: ver). Por ello, hay intentos de reinterpretar la cosmovisin en trminos de cosmoespiritualidad, cosmosentimiento o cosmosofa. De todos modos, se lo sigue usando en contraposicin a lo que es considerado filosofa, fe, religin y ciencia, con el efecto de una nueva jerarqua axiolgica en disfavor de la primera. Finalmente, hay que mencionar el surgimiento y la literatura abundante sobre el fenmeno de la religin civil que abre aparentemente un panorama mucho ms amplio para el campo religioso, incluyendo inclusive a las propias ideologas de desarrollo y progreso como manifestaciones religiosas (como ocurre con el llamado desarrollismo, la exaltacin del progreso, del crecimiento econmico, etc.). El capitalismo y su forma hedonista del consumismo se han convertido en religiones civiles muy poderosas y globalizadas. Es imposible proponer una definicin ms o menos acertada de los trminos mencionados, y menos an del trmino central de religin. Recin en y a travs del dilogo intercultural, se puede llegar a unas definiciones provisionales de trabajo. Sin embargo, habr que dejar atrs definiciones monoculturales y culturo-cntricas (hoy todava en su gran mayora euro-cntricas). Religin implica tanto religiones establecidas a nivel planetario, como religiones locales; religiones doctrinales e institucionales como religiones de baja intensidad doctrinal y poco o nada institucionalizadas; prcticas espirituales y sapienciales, cosmovisiones indgenas, sincretismos antiguos y nuevos, propuestas pentecostales y carismticas, expresiones de la religin civil de un pueblo y una sociedad. Finalmente, habr que tomar muy en serio la ambigedad inherente a cualquier sistema religioso, ambigedad que puede inclinarse a fomentar ms vida, igualdad y bienestar, o justamente contribuir a ms muerte, desigualdad y pobreza. Un verdadero dilogo intercultural e interreligioso siempre es crtico y auto-crtico, y de la misma forma es el incipiente dilogo entre religin y teologa. 4. Una perspectiva andina del hecho religioso En el caso de los Andes, los pueblos son eminentemente religiosos (en Bolivia, un 98 % se declararon creyentes en una Encuesta de Hogar de 2001). Aunque muchas personas perteneces a una que otra iglesia

La religin no redime. Reflexiones teolgicas sobre el rol de la religin hoy 99

de tradicin cristiana, un gran porcentaje practica tradiciones y rituales religiosos ancestrales, sea en forma paralela y que stas sean integradas a la religin dominante. Las perspectivas y concepciones de desarrollo, progreso y bienestar estn estrechamente vinculadas con ideas y formas religiosas de concebir la realidad. La religiosidad andina es incluyente y se fundamenta en el principio de relacionalidad como parmetro rector de todo actuar, concebir y producir. Por lo tanto, cada reflexin teolgica sobre el campo religioso tiene que partir de este hecho, es decir: tiene que tomar en cuenta la religiosidad como un eje transversal. En el caso andino, el trmino religin se asocia con el sistema religioso institucional de la iglesia catlica y de las iglesias evanglicas, y no tanto con la religiosidad ancestral indgena y sus espiritualidades. En este contexto, llama la atencin el cambio de paradigma, en el caso boliviano, entre la Constitucin Poltica del Estado (CPE) vigente (del 1967) y la propuesta de la nueva CPE de 2008, tal como lo hemos sealado antes. La CPE de 1967 que refleja un espritu altamente occidental y colonial, se refiere al paradigma de la religin en un sentido de institucin y corporacin semi-estatal (Santa Sede). En contraste, la CPE de 2008 que pretende ser descolonizadora e incluyente, religin se entiende en trminos de espiritualidad y cosmovisin. Lo religioso (o espiritual) en el contexto andino no se limita a un cierto campo o ciertas instituciones y especialistas, sino que est presente en todos los aspectos de la vida, desde el nacimiento hasta la muerte, desde la siembra hasta la cosecha, y por supuesto en todo lo que tiene que ver con desarrollo y mejora de las condiciones de vida. Lo religioso o espiritual es para el jaqi/runa andino lo que es el agua para el pez: una segunda piel, el aire que se respira, el tesoro colectivo subconsciente. Lo religioso normalmente no se objetiviza ni se tematiza, sino se lo vive en forma ritual y celebrativo. Para Occidente, religin se asocia con un sistema (simblico) de elementos ms o menos consistentes y coherentes que son objetos de estudio y de reflexin, y que se visibilizan en forma institucional y doctrinal. Como conglomerado de todo lo sagrado, se lo contrapone a lo que se considera profano o secular, empezando con la vida poltica, pasando por la actividad econmica y llegando al foro judicial y legislativo. Occidente ha pasado por la crtica de la religin ilustrista, la secularizacin y el positivismo, con el efecto de que los residuos religiosos hoy en da se encuentren slo en las iglesias, mientras que la espiritualidad ha ganado adeptos/as fuera de ellas. Podemos, entonces, constatar una sincronicidad no causal entre el planteamiento posmoderno en Occidente y la concepcin ancestral (pre-

100 Josef ESTERMANN

moderna) de las culturas indgenas, respecto al tema de la religin. La crisis de la religin en la modernidad (o hiper-modernidad) es una crisis de su institucionalidad y de su carcter dogmtico monocultural. Tanto la posmodernidad (occidental) como la espiritualidad indgena pretenden liberar lo religioso de esta camisa de fuerza que exigen las religiones establecidas y sus teologas. Slo que los motivos difieren toto coelo, debido a que la espiritualidad andina no es el resultado de una rebelda del individuo desvinculado, sino la expresin de una sabidura colectiva milenaria. 5. A manera de conclusin: unas tesis programticas a) Lo que se requiere hoy en un contexto como el latinoamericano, no es tanto una teologa de las religiones o una teologa del pluralismo religioso, sino una teologa de la religin, una teologa del hecho religioso o una teologa de lo religioso. Mientras que una teologa de las religiones parte del hecho de religiones constituidas e institucionalizadas, una teologa de la religin reflexiona el rol de la religiosidad (como existencial antropolgico) en el plan salvfico, es decir respecto a la construccin del reinado de Dios, la liberacin integral, la iluminacin personal, la escatologa, segn el caso. b) Religiones son, ante todo, mediaciones culturales e histricas de caminos humanos hacia la perfeccin y redencin que se plasman en diferentes formas de imgenes utpicas, pero no forman un sistema constitutivo e indispensable para dicha perfeccin o redencin. Las religiones no redimen de por s, y la pertenencia a una u otra religin no lleva de por s a lo que las distintas tradiciones religiosas llaman nirvana, sociedad sin clases, reinado de Dios, paraso, neti-neti, etc. c) Por tanto, la cuestin de la exclusividad de una cierta religin, de la pretensin de tener la verdad absoluta, de la validez universal, es, teolgicamente hablando, una cuestin de las mediaciones, y no del objeto mismo (lo sagrado, lo divino, lo indefinido, el misterio). Tal como existen muchos caminos culturales, histricos, existenciales y rituales para acercarse a lo que nos engloba y lo que no est a nuestra disposicin, tambin existen muchos caminos religiosos, es decir: mediaciones culturo-religiosas que conducen a la misma realidad que tiene muchos nombres y se refleja en diferentes actitudes humanas. d) Una teologa liberacionista de la religin (o teologa de la liberacin del hecho religioso) parte de la praxis religiosa de los pueblos y personas marginados, oprimidos, discriminados, que muchas veces es una praxis no-ortodoxa dentro de los parmetros del canon religioso de la tradicin religiosa dominante (vase la praxis religiosa de las personas con quienes habla Jess) y que se da en todas las tradiciones religiosas,

La religin no redime. Reflexiones teolgicas sobre el rol de la religin hoy 101

a menudo en forma sincrtica. La cuestin de fondo no es la ortodoxia de tal y cual prctica religiosa, sino su ortopraxis, es decir: su potencial liberador e incluyente que tambin puede darse en todas las tradiciones religiosas (o religiones). e) Una teologa liberacionista de la religin debera ser necesariamente interreligiosa en su direccionalidad, aunque surge desde una cierta tradicin religiosa. La criticidad de dicha teologa consiste en el anlisis de los aspectos deshumanizadores y destructivos de la tradicin religiosa propia y de las dems tradiciones, pero a la vez en el anuncio proftico de los aspectos humanizadotes y liberadores de todas las tradiciones liberadores. La ambigedad inherente a cada religin requiere de una reflexin teolgica crtica, para no caer en una idolatrizacin y fetichizacin de la misma religin, como si fuera la fuente infinita de vida misma, y no una de muchas mediaciones siempre imperfectas. f) En perspectiva intercultural, una nueva teologa de la religin debe deconstruir el concepto de religin que la tradicin dominante maneja, que es, en la mayora de los casos, culturo-cntrico e imperialista frente a otras formas de religiosidad. Mientras que se defina religin como un conjunto de fenmenos y estructuras que deben de tener institucionalidad, textos sagrados, especialistas consagrados, un objeto de veneracin y una doctrina, todo tipo de religiosidad ancestral, no-testa, espiritual, animista o pantesta no caben en el canon. Por tanto, se debe tomar conciencia de las asimetras existentes en los discursos teolgicos entre religin, por un lado, y cosmovisin, espiritualidad, creencias, supersticin, magia etc., por otro lado. g) El cambio que se produce en los ltimos aos en el campo religioso a nivel mundial y continental, no es un proceso de creciente irreligiosidad, sino de una transformacin de la misma religiosidad. En este proceso, se puede notar, entre muchas otras facetas, bsicamente dos tendencias: la sustitucin de una religiosidad religiosa (parece tautolgico, pero quiere decir; tradicional; no-testa; doctrinal) a una religiosidad civil o post-secular (consumismo, hedonismo, wellness, progreso, bienestar, etc.), por un lado, y por una religiosidad espiritual y ancestral, por otro lado. La espiritualizacin de la religin a menudo bajo el denominador comn de espiritualidad se da en formas muy diversas y hasta incompatibles entre s: pensamiento Gaia; ecofeminismo; espiritualidades indgenas; Nueva Era; misticismo posmoderno; sincretismos espirituales; etc. h) Religiones y expresiones religiones siempre tienen una carga cultural e histrica que contradice los valores de la dignidad humana, la equidad de gnero, el respeto por la alteridad y la naturaleza, y deben, por tanto, someterse a una deconstruccin intercultural del andro- y antropocentrismo vigente en ellas. Por otro lado, urge potenciar los

102 Josef ESTERMANN

aspectos liberadores en sentido de la inclusividad y del holismo, ms all de cualquier centrismo en sentido cultural, tnico, social y genrico. Una teologa de la religin liberacionista en clave intercultural debe de ser muy sensible a estos aspectos y llevar a cabo una crtica de la religin que se orienta en el potencial utpico inherente a todas las religiones, y no en la estructura dogmtica e institucional de las mismas.

NOVELTY!
Roger LENAERS' book Nebuchadnezzars Dream The End of a Medieval Catholic Church, at Gorgias Press, Piscataway, NJ, U.S.A. 2007, is being translating into Indonesian language by FIDEI PRESS Publishing House Jl. Tanjung Lengkong No. 25, RT/RW 06/07, Kelurahan Bidaracina, Jatinegara Jakarta Timur 13330. Telph.: (021) 850 9929 / 3311 0199 Fax: (021) 850 9929. Orders to: fideipress@yahoo.com

 103

Suspicions and Philosophical Reflections on Religion's Crisis

Ivone GEBARA Camaragibe, PE, Brazil

Resumen:
La autora se reconoce como actora participante en la problemtica de la crisis de la religin, siendo sta no un objeto de estudio, sino un doloroso renacimiento de la religin a partir de fuentes ms creativas y actuales. Afirma que la cuestin subyacente que habita la crisis de las religiones es de orden filosfico, desglosndola en varios elementos: la nueva comprensin del ser humano, nuestra doble dimensin de seres de naturaleza y seres culturales, la necesidad de ir ms all de un universalismo cristiano, la descentralizacin del poder, la Biblia como palabra falible, la inadecuacin de la formacin teolgica actual, la vuelta a las pequeas comunidades de sentido, la consideracin del cristianismo como humanismo, as como la aceptacin del pluralismo y la diversidad.

Abstract:
The author recognizes herself as active participant in the problem of the crisis of religion, being this not an object of study, but an ailing rebirth of religion from more creative and present sources. She states that the underlying issue present in the crisis of religions is of a philosophical nature, breaking it down in various elements: a new understanding of the human being, our double dimension nature beings and cultural beings-, the need to go beyond a Christian universality, the decentralisation of power, the Bible as fallible word, the inadequacy of the present theological education, a comeback to small communities of meaning, the consideration of Christianity as humanism, as well as the acceptance of pluralism and diversity.

104 Ivone GEBARA

In an effort to understand something about what is taking place among religions today I will share with you some brief reflections and some intuitions I suspect in order to stimulate our thinking. First, I think that this Consultation is very pertinent for this historical moment. It could result in bringing about a fruitful dialogue among the participants and even more, could make a contribution to the thinking of an interested public. The Consultation invites us to give voice to some of the anguish we feel in regard to the actual state of the churches especially since the consulted do not seem to be facing issues foreign to their own proper experience. We are part of religions illness and hopefully will partake in its eventual recovery by using the most actual and creative resources available. Even though we are limited in many areas of this study, we are capable of reflecting on the historical, humanistic processes and on the religious convictions we have experienced. Simultaneously and equally we intend to address some of the anguish we feel in face of some present direction of both society and the churches. For me the underlying, transversal question, whether considered superficially or in depth, narrowly or broadly, through the lens of modernity or post modernity or whether seen from the perspective of the people or the elite, is philosophical in nature. Let me explain what I mean here. When I affirm that the question is philosophical in nature I am referring to the key questions for understanding and interpreting the meaning of human life. I am referring to the questions regarding meaning that have always been embedded in the humanistic philosophical thinking of both the east and west. The questions that seek to discern the sense or meaning of life, human relationships, the understanding of the world in which we live and of the diverse situations we face daily. I include the sense and meaning of suffering and death, of death in general or of death before its time, of violent death, of death as a fact of life, of my own individual death. The meaning of human progress and its inevitable rise and fall, its hopes for a world with a place for everyone and its exclusions and growing violence are part of our living process. Death is a certainty for all who are living and even though we have to describe ourselves as living

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human beings; we are living mortal beings who experience almost at one and the same time both processes of evolution and regression, of hope and despair. The crisis of the churches touches our life and mortality, our future hope and the various ways we create to cope with our finiteness. Now, let me formulate some philosophical questions that permeate the crises of the churches and religions. Conscious of limitations and obscure points, I will briefly spell out a few of the current questions. As the starting point in reference to these questions, I understand philosophy here to mean the effort we make to come to an understanding of and to reflect upon the challenges of our time. I write these reflections in my own name and engage in this dialogue in my own name. 1) New understanding of what it means to be a human being, in vogue in our culture I suspect that the new understanding of what a human being is, that is being delineated in our globalized world has not been adequately addressed by the theology of our churches. Liberation theology, especially in the seventies and eighties exposed the rational economic man by means of social-analytical mediations which influenced both theology and the reading of scripture. This theology though still valuable does not take into account the very real complexity of the world in which we now live. Today, particularly through the means of modern communication, we find ourselves situated in a planetary moment in time where distant spaces become proximate and past and future time is presented to us through cinema-graphic fiction. The Utopian dreams of former centuries no longer serve for the complexity of our times. We now have become Instant techno-communication man and at the same time are also described as the divided man in whom many types of identity attempt to impress themselves, thus revoking to a certain degree the Universalist conception of being human. Humanity or at least a great part of it seems to be aware of what scientific discoveries tell us about what it means to be human. New myths and new personages inhabit the infantile and juvenile world of various countries around the world. Consciousness that we are bound to the Earth grows more and more acute even though nationalism and the divisions caused by human diversity are on the ascent. We no longer have common, clear historical objectives. The utopian dreams that nourished the past two generations no longer sustain the new ones. Multiple common processes are what exist. There is no longer a single model for society or a single model for what it means to be human, that fulfills humankinds longing. Christian churches and in particular the Roman Catholic Church still continues with their salvific, dualistic discourse and its Universalist pretensions. Clerical mediation still appears in hierarchical

106 Ivone GEBARA

form placing the sacerdotal elite in opposition to a lay order having less and less effective power. This discourse, though still having adherents among a conservative majority and among masses of the faithful needing religious consolation and seeking divine care, does not as yet deal with humankinds new visage as now being described. The messages being delivered from the pulpit or other means of communication are sterile and at times imbecilic. They do not invite us to personal autonomous growth or ethical commitment. They provide circus for us and offer us promises of miracles that foster the illusion of magical solutions. There are multiple and varied reasons for rejecting new thinking about our contemporary world. One possible reason, at least on the part of the churches could be because it is difficult for religious power to undergo change, habituated as it is in perceiving its own power as having emanated from philosophical, ethical and supernatural theological conceptions. A possible confrontation would lead to change which religious authority and operative religious tradition do not want nor have at present condition to bring it about. One of the changes would have to deal with the term God Theos, a word coined from a hierarchical and dualistic conception of the world and which is still very much in use today in our theology, even in some of the most liberal ones. This vision of a divine being having proper metaphysical existence, existing outside of creation and yet somehow within it, still sustains the meaning for Christian belief today. This vision of God nurtures the image we have of human beings as being dependent on extra terrestrial and supernatural forces. This dependency in turn not only corroborates social and political dependencies but also hierarchalizes relationships. Insistence on belief in this model of God and religion and this models pretension of being the detainer of the only truth has led to a retrogression and a retardation of approaches to an understanding of humanity as both plural and at the same time unique and in great part responsible for its own destiny. The old expansionist claims of the Catholic Church are no longer recognized in a world which is seen at one and the same time as plural and unified. Yet, in spite of this, given the continued interventions of conservative groups of bishops and clergy and even of the pope, this traditional theology and politics remain in force. This is the paradox in which we live, a paradox recognized by some and ignored by others. 2) Human Beings: natural and cultural beings The contemporary description of what it means to be a human being opens up the question of the possible reinterpretation of alleged human superiority. Even though we continue to recognize the difference that comes because of our complex rationality today, it is affirmed as a

Suspicions and Philosophiocal Reflections On Religion's Crisis 107

difference, without a doubt important, but as a difference in relationship to other living beings. But we are speaking here of a difference that is not necessarily hierarchical. The notions of interdependence and simultaneousness assist us in making a more ample and inclusive re-reading of ethical and religious traditions. In the end culture is not opposed to nature but complements and differentiates it while at the same time not freeing itself from nature. Nature and culture are not opposed to one another but interact continually and to such a degree that we often do not know where one or the other begins or ends. Nature is all of creation or rather it is an eruption of all of life and in this same sense so too culture. It is this mysterious plural eruption of the life force of creation and all that maintains life that is the religious source for all humanity; a religious source in the root sense of the word religion- re-ligare, to bind again, to connect again, to connect everything that exists. Such a conception demands humility of each religious faith which needs to recognize that its own belief is just one among others and is only an expression of a particular experience in relation to this vital source. There would no longer be place for competition between churches, with each one trying to convince its adherents of the truth and force of its message. Different behavior than this is demanded in view of the incredible and contradictory violence hat has been displayed by religious institutions. 3) Beyond Christian Universalism For some groups and persons Christian universalism is giving place to a more historical perception of history itself. In other words, Christianity despite its complicity with the empires of this world and its self assurance of being in possession of integral truth about what a human being is and should be is seeing now in different way. In reality it has become one among the many of the ethical and wisdom traditions that offer us, within the limits of our human history, the consolation and affirmation of the transcendental character of our nature. These groups more and more make affirmations about the uncertainties of life and make the provisional nature of the certainties clearer. Little by little our fear of not having all the answers, nor a complete analysis or fear of our not possessing the absolute truth that legitimates our power over everything, is now giving way to the warm reception and welcome we are giving to life in all of its beauty and fragility. We are embracing the time that is called Today even though a majority still continues its attempt to regulate time by use of a supernatural transcendental template of time, of time outside of historical time. Based on the use of this control, the past becomes more valued than the present. Present directions can only be validated by use of the interpretation of texts from the past that are considered relevant and sacred and that, without regard to the political

108 Ivone GEBARA

or particular hermeneutics of their reading. I am concretely referring here to a primitive use of the bible and of a tradition that justifies the churchs magisterial positions relating to a variety of problems and in particular to those raised in regard to human sexuality. When a reading different from the reading considered official occurs, it is immediately considered false or mendacious in relationship to the powerful religious institutions interpretation That which is new is considered a threat. And even though official interpretations are confirmed, todays world makes it clear that multiple forms for reading and interpreting texts from our religious traditions exist. This is happening in such a way that our alleged interpretive universalism, rooted in a medieval dogmatic theology which sustains an ideology of religious power is continuously being eroded by the new situations and new voices that are being raised at this present historical moment. A dose of humility seems to be in order if there is ever to be a dialogue between various religious approximations. The word humility is derived from the word humus meaning earth, ground. Ground is certainly that from which we all spring. It invites us to reach into the simplicity of our common origin and make of it a fundamental reference. 4) The question of decentralization of power Despite the control of the imperial powers, above all that of the great international corporations and their disguised economic and cultural totalitarianism, a widespread thirst for wanting to have a share in power seems to be giving direction to the world. Each of us, in our own way recognizes this power and wants it to be used to benefit human dignity and to preserve the planet. Never before as we saw at the end of the last century and at the beginning of this, have there been so many self organizing groups formed for the vindication of their differences. That differentiated power has been attested to by the physical sciences and astrophysics. We are aware now that the Milky Way does not have a fixed center but exists in continually unfolding movement. We have discovered that this blue planet earth is a mere dot among the myriads of dots that constitute the universe. But concomitant with this, the Roman Catholic Church is intervening in order to eliminate the differences and desires of various groups that have been inspired by the Gospel of Jesus because their presence signals a critique of church power and doctrine. I am referring here in particular to feminists groups or to gay and lesbian groups and to the many individuals who in relation to polemical themes have dared to publish their theological perspectives. Another aspect but in the same direction is that generally when writing about Contemporary Catholic Church history, historians begins by

Suspicions and Philosophiocal Reflections On Religion's Crisis 109

telling us about the preparations for Vatican Council II, then move on to consider its effects among various national catholic communities around the world. They then continue by writing about the evolution of these communities since the time of the council. They write about betrayals and wrong interpretations of the council and its documents. These historians do not seem to perceive that their version offers a very limited key for interpretation of actual Catholicisms complexity and its daily observable diminishing numbers. Today, though the Council has its importance, it should not be considered as the most important event. Why not instead refer to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries indigenous movements: the afro-descendent movement, the feminist movement, the gay, lesbian and transsexual movements, and the ecological, technological and scientific movements of these last years? Why do we not refer to new theologies and biblical hermeneutics that are appearing on the margin of Catholic officialdom? Why dont we talk about the dissenters, the ones who provoke dissention in face of an officiousness that perceives itself as the representative of a perfect world and as arbitrator of the will of Jesus Christ? Groups that will not submit to institutional orthodoxy and orthopraxis are more and more disposed to follow their own lead, facing the fact that their lives though brief will take place outside the walls of the institutional church, a church that distances itself more and more from the issues and questions that are significant for peoples of the world. 5) The Bible as human fallible word Some groups today no longer consider the Bible to be the Word of God even though almost overwhelmingly, reference to the Bible as a monotheistic and religious book continues as normative and still validates many attitudes of both the faithful and hierarchy. Many groups denounce the atrophy of the Bibles use when it is considered a book of unquestionable reference and a word, superior in order and above the worlds disorder. New Bible approaches now regard the Bible as a collection of important texts of our tradition that includes in equal measure the truth and justice of our human experience as well as its unpredictableness, corruption and cruelty. The Bible is no longer treated as if it were sounding only a single idealistic and idealizing note distant from our reality. Today effort is made to hear the polyphony of sound that is contained in the books, sounds that invite us to reflect on what possible harmony we could make out of this multiple mix of sound often intermingled with the gunshot and cannon fire of daily life. This past wisdom best serves to incite, to excite and to provoke needed reactions in us for present day time. The affirmation that the Bible takes origin from a perfect world

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radically different from the one our bodies inhabit, no longer allows the bible to serve as the humanizing tool we so badly need. And even though there have been great advances made in Bible studies in these last decades, there still lingers a certain assurance that the Bible contains superior knowledge and the most normative ethics and this assurance is presumed to have been derived from the Bible itself. We continue to sacralize the Bible particularly when being used by the simple people in our communities. 6) The inadequacy of theological formation in face of actual ethical need Given all that I have affirmed above, it is patently clear that there is an urgent need to review the organizational and life producing forms of Christian communities. The clerical model has for some time now demonstrated its deficiency. Its alienating clerical role in regard to the many questions of our time and the continued division between the lay and clerical order has been exposed and is judged to be no longer tenable. During the last century in many countries around the world, including those of Latin America many attempts were made to overcome this inadequacy. I remember for example initiatives taken around workers movements especially those of Monsignor Cardijin in his attempts to form a worker world in Belgium. He worked to organize formation programs for urban and rural workers in order to help lay leadership assume more responsibility in their Christian communities. Shortly after this others followed, headed by Dom Helder Cmara (Brazil) and Dom Lenidas Proao (Ecuador). They wanted to form an active laity responsible for and having authority in both urban and rural communities. Culture and clerical tradition defeated these attempts. Traditionalists did everything to discredit the movements and to undercut their value and prestige because that would have cast a shadow upon clerical power and privilege. Today such groups are again trying to organize themselves and are again being defeated by both clerical strength and its weakness in regarding itself as the detainer in fact and by right of power over the sacred Christian. 7) Return of meaning to small communities Among many Christian groups a strong desire exists to form small communities in which the faith and tradition of following Jesus could be nourished. These communities in no way seek control over the clergy. Certainly the thinking and behavior of these groups will raise questions. But the questions can only be answered if the ecclesial institution permits diversity of responsibilities and forms of cult within its environment. And further, bishops and priests must not condemn nor undermine the prestige of these initiatives as something marginal and apart from cor-

Suspicions and Philosophiocal Reflections On Religion's Crisis 111

rect church tradition. These experiments are without a doubt very fragile and they follow no set rules. The lack of space for experimentation is notorious. In general, neither parish nor diocese permit experimental gatherings nor that, celebrations take place within their boundaries. It is almost as if church buildings themselves have to be obedient to the truly Christian form and content of celebration. 8) Christianity is humanistic Diverse groups and many writers have strongly insisted that Christianity be considered from the viewpoint of humanistic tradition. To affirm this in a certain manner is to fail to consider Christianity from the view point of its Christological dogmatic definition and its marialogical tradition, which in a noncritical way insists on the supernatural character of Christianity and in addition, underlines the primacy of masculine authority in the church. To work along the lines of humanism does not diminish the religious character of Christianity that is to say the character of being connected to others, of solidarity and of mutual help that are present in this tradition. A study of this kind would attempt to avoid the reduction of Christianity to the mode of first century thinking about the characteristics of Christianity and most particularly from that thinking that originated in that centuries many conflicts of power. This kind of study would not at any cost want to reduce Christianity to a canonical system of law or the observance of precepts. Emphasizing the humanistic ethical dimension of Christianity, in its concern for the everydayness of life, in its expression of care and mutual assistance, demands a theology anchored in the gospel tradition, which looks in fact at the things that help us to develop and maintain one anothers dignity 9) Pluralism and diversity or we who believe are many There are many of us who believe in the inheritance of those who preceded us, of those who wagered that we are capable of saving our lives by love and justice in a continually renewed daily process. Accepting this inheritance cannot mean merely to repeat its past way of celebrating and living as if being faithful to a supernatural tradition could stop time. Love has many forms of expression and often times they are contradictory. To embrace loves mixture is to allow it as one of the deepest desires of our times to emerge in all of its various forms. We are weary of heroes of the kingdom theologies, of the weighty structures that reduce the beauty of life and the complexity of human relationships to legal observance or to the model of a pre- established order. The dream of the possibility of forming small communities where diversity exists continues being a belief that the diversity we constitute needs to be respected so

112 Suspicions and Philosophiocal Reflections On Religion's Crisis

that life itself can continue to expand and recreate itself. 10) Conclusion in hope Today I continue groping along on my journey with a fragile hope that nourishes my life. I have no certainty other than my finiteness and mortality and a strong loving will to continue lifes adventure. And because of this willingness I want to conclude by saying that the uncertainty contributes to my search for liberty and demands of a creativity that our times call for. Human history and the history of Christianity are marked by crisscrossing and intertwined currents and trends. I do not intend to affirm how or which current will prevail nor how or which of the currents or tendencies will gain the widest adherence. But I want there to exist now a space within the reading we make of our Christian tradition, and an ever widening space within which we can affirm ever anew our love of neighbor, love of self and define ever more clearly our basic direction for social, political and religious commitment. We all want to be respected and we need to continue to respect those who are still convinced of the patriarchal tradition of our churches. Even in spite of our disagreements, the church, after all, in a certain sense, is our body and is certainly part of our history. Renewed dialogue is imperative and perhaps there is also a need to bring about new ways to recognize the common good so that the irritation caused by the divergence of positions does not create more division and conflict. Seeking mutual comprehension and maintaining relationships of love is an affirmation that Christianity is a possibility in our times.

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Suspeitas e reflexes filosficas em torno da crise da religio

Ivone GEBARA Camaragibe, PE, Brasil

Na tentativa de entender algo sobre o que est acontecendo com as religies em nosso tempo partilho algumas suspeitas e algumas breves reflexes para provocar o nosso pensamento. Em primeiro lugar acho a Consulta bastante pertinente no atual momento histrico e poder resultar num frutuoso dilogo entre os participantes, alm de uma contribuio reflexo para o pblico interessado. Ela nos convida a expressar algumas de nossas angstias em relao ao estado atual das religies visto que os consultados e consultadas no parecem enfrentar essa problemtica como um objeto alheio sua prpria existncia. Somos parte da doena e do eventual renascimento da religio a partir de fontes mais criativas e atuais. Apesar de nossa impotncia em muitos campos ainda estamos sendo capazes de pensar algo sobre os processos histricos que temos vivido a partir de nossas convices humanistas e religiosas. Estamos tentando igualmente lidar com nossas inquietaes frente a alguns rumos da histria presente da sociedade e de nossas igrejas. Para mim a questo subjacente, transversal, de profundidade, de superfcie, de altura, de largura, de modernidade, de ps-modernidade, do povo e da elite das religies de ordem filosfica. Eu me explico. Quando afirmo que de ordem filosfica estou me referindo s chaves de interpretao e compreenso da vida humana, s questes de sentido que sempre habitaram o pensamento filosfico humanista do Ocidente e do Oriente. Sentido ou sentidos para a vida, para as relaes humanas, para o mundo em que vivemos e para a diversidade de situaes que enfrentamos no cotidiano da vida. Sentidos diante do sofrimento, da morte em geral, da morte antes do tempo, da morte brutal, da morte como realidade

114 Ivone GEBARA

necessria e tambm de minha morte como individuo. Sentidos diante do progresso humano, de sua derrocada e nova ascenso, das esperanas em um mundo onde caibam todos e das excluses e violncia em crescimento. A morte se impe para ns que estamos vivos e embora nos definamos como seres viventes nos reconhecemos como viventes mortais experimentando quase ao mesmo tempo processos diversos de evoluo e de regresso, de esperana e de desespero. A crise das religies toca tambm a nossa mortalidade, nossas esperanas futuras e as diferentes formas que criamos para lidar com a nossa finitude. Como explicitar a questo filosfica que habita a crise das religies? Tentarei elencar algumas questes atuais de forma breve tendo conscincia de seus limites e, sobretudo de seus pontos obscuros. A filosofia apresentar-se- como esforo de entender e pensar os desafios de nosso tempo a partir dessas questes. Escrevo em meu nome e me engajo nesse dilogo em meu nome. 1) A nova compreenso do ser humano em voga em nossa cultura. Creio que a nova compreenso do ser humano que est se delineando em nosso mundo globalizado no foi devidamente enfrentada pela teologia das igrejas crists. A teologia da libertao especialmente dos anos 70 e 80 abriu-se para o homem racional econmico atravs das mediaes scio-analticas que influenciaram o conjunto da teologia e da leitura bblica. Essa mediao embora guarde seu valor j no d conta da complexidade do real em que vivemos. Hoje, sobretudo atravs dos meios de comunicao estamos num momento planetrio onde espaos distantes tornam-se prximos e tempos passados e futuros so apresentados em novas fices cinematogrficas. As utopias dos sculos passados j no do conta da complexidade de nossa histria atual. Passamos a ser o homem da tecnocomunicao instantnea. Passamos a ser tambm e ao mesmo tempo o homem dividido em que identidades de muitos tipos tentam impor-se revogando at certo ponto a concepo universalista do ser humano. Toda a humanidade ou uma grande parte dela parece participar das novas descobertas cientficas sobre os seres humanos. Novos mitos e novos personagens habitam o mundo infantil e juvenil de diferentes pases do mundo. A conscincia de que somos terrcolas parece cada vez mais aguada muito embora os nacionalismos e as divises a partir da diversidade humana se acentuam. J no temos mais objetivos histricos comuns claros e as utopias que nutriram as duas ltimas geraes j no sustentam mais as novas. H muitos processos concomitantes e no existe mais um nico modelo de sociedade e de ser humano que possa conter todos os anseios da populao.

Suspeitas e reflexes filosficas em torno da crise da religio 115

As Igrejas crists e particularmente Igreja Catlica Romana ainda continuam com um discurso salvfico dualista e com pretenses universalistas. A mediao clerical ainda aparece na sua forma hierrquica opondo as elites sacerdotais a um laicato cada vez mais com menos poder efetivo. Este discurso, embora possa ainda ter adeptos nas maiorias conservadoras e nas massas pobres consumidoras da religio consolo e providncia, no se enfrentaram ainda a esse novo rosto humano que se delineia. As mensagens transmitidas nos plpitos ou atravs dos meios de comunicao so estreis e algumas chegam a ser imbecilizantes. No convidam ao crescimento pessoal em autonomia e compromisso tico e acabam fornecendo apenas circo e milagre provocando a iluso das solues mgicas. As razes da recusa do novo pensamento sobre o mundo contemporneo so mltiplas e variadas. Uma possvel razo, a partir das igrejas, seria a dificuldade de mudana do poder religioso habituado a legitimar seu prprio poder a partir de uma concepo tica, filosfica e teolgica sobrenatural. Esse possvel enfrentamento levaria a mudanas que o poder religioso e as tradies religiosas vigentes no querem ou no esto ainda em condies de fazer. Uma das mudanas tem a ver com o termo Deus, Theos, termo cunhado a partir de uma concepo hierrquica e dualista do mundo ainda em vigor em nossas teologias mesmo as mais libertrias. essa viso de um ser divino fora e dentro da criao, com uma existncia metafsica em si mesma que mantm ainda o sentido das crenas crists. essa imagem de Deus que continua a nutrir uma imagem do ser humano dependente de foras extraterrestres ou de foras sobrenaturais e, tal dependncia no s corrobora as dependncias de ordem social e poltica como hierarquiza as relaes. A insistncia na crena de que esse modelo de Deus e esse modelo de religio so detentores da verdade nica tem significado um retrocesso ou um atraso para uma aproximao de uma humanidade plural ao mesmo tempo nica e em grande parte responsvel por seu destino. As velhas pretenses expansionistas da Igreja Catlica j no tm mais lugar reconhecido num mundo ao mesmo tempo unificado e plural. Apesar disso, dadas as contnuas intervenes de grupos conservadores, de alguns bispos, padres e at do papa, as teologias e as polticas tradicionalistas continuam em vigor. Este o paradoxo no qual vivemos; um paradoxo percebido por diferentes pessoas e grupos e ignorado ainda por muitos. 2) Os seres humanos: seres da natureza e da cultura O delineamento contemporneo do ser humano pelo ser humano abre-se para uma reinterpretao da pretensa superioridade humana. Embora continuemos reconhecendo a diferena que nos vem de nossa

116 Ivone GEBARA

complexa racionalidade esta se afirma hoje como diferena sem dvida importante em relao aos outros seres vivos. Mas, trata-se de uma diferena no necessariamente hierrquica. As noes de interdependncia e simultaneidade aparecem para ajudar-nos a reler nossas tradies ticas e religiosas numa perspectiva mais ampla e inclusiva. Afinal a cultura no se ope natureza, mas acrescenta a ela algo que a diferencia e ao mesmo tempo no a libera da natureza. Natureza e cultura no se opem, mas interagem continuamente e a tal ponto que nem sempre sabemos os limites de uma e de outra. A natureza passa a ser toda a criao ou toda a irrupo da vida e, nesse sentido tambm a cultura. E essa misteriosa irrupo plural da vida, essa fora de criao e manuteno da vida que se torna a fonte religiosa de toda a humanidade. Fonte religiosa no sentido tradicional da palavra religio re-ligare, de ligao, de conexo entre tudo o que existe. Tal concepo vai exigir de cada crena religiosa um esforo de humildade no sentido de ser uma palavra entre outras, a expressar a experincia particular em relao a essa fonte vital. No haveria mais lugar para a competio entre as igrejas, cada uma tentando convencer adeptos de sua veracidade e da fora de sua mensagem. Outro comportamento exigido para fazer face incrvel e contraditria violncia que nos vm das instituies religiosas. 3) Para alm do universalismo cristo Para alguns grupos e pessoas o universalismo cristo est cedendo lugar a uma percepo mais histrica da prpria histria. Em outros termos, o cristianismo apesar da aliana com os Imprios desse mundo e das aparncias de propriedade da verdade integral sobre o destino dos seres humanos, na realidade passa a ser uma entre as muitas tradies de sabedoria, de tica, de consolo, de afirmao do carter transcendente dos seres humanos nos limites da histria humana. Cada vez mais esses grupos esto afirmando a realidade das incertezas da vida e das certezas provisrias. Pouco a pouco nosso medo a no ter anlises completas, respostas totais, verdades absolutas, poderes legitimadores de tudo est cedendo acolhida da vida naquilo que tem de beleza e fragilidade. Estamos acolhendo o tempo que se chama hoje muito embora a maioria ainda pretenda dominar a partir do tempo transcendental sobrenatural chamado eternidade, tempo para alm da histria. E, nesse domnio valorizar mais o passado do que o presente, legitimar as orientaes do presente atravs de interpretaes de textos passados considerados revelados e sagrados sem que se perceba a hermenutica contextual e a orientao pessoal e poltica de cada leitura. De forma concreta refirome ao uso da Bblia e da Tradio primitiva para justificar posturas do Magistrio da Igreja em relao a uma variedade de problemas e de

Suspeitas e reflexes filosficas em torno da crise da religio 117

forma particular questes em torno da sexualidade humana. Quando se apresentam leituras diferentes das que se pretendem oficiais estas so imediatamente consideradas insolentes, falsas ou mentirosas em relao a interpretao do poder religioso institucional. O que novidade considerado ameaa. Entretanto, apesar da oficialidade afirmada nas interpretaes, nosso mundo est revelando muitas formas de ler e interpretar os textos de nossas tradies religiosas. De forma que o pretendido universalismo interpretativo a partir de uma dogmtica medieval que sustenta a ideologia do poder religioso est continuamente sendo abalada em nome das novas situaes e das novas vozes que se levantam na histria presente. Uma dose de humildade parece ser exigida para que um dilogo entre as vrias aproximaes religiosas possa ser possvel. A palavra humildade vem de hmus, terra e justamente a terra da qual todos ns proviemos que nos convida a tocar a simplicidade de nossa origem comum e fazer dela uma referncia fundamental. 4) A questo da descentralizao do poder Apesar da dominao dos imprios, sobretudo, das grandes corporaes internacionais com seu totalitarismo econmico e cultural disfarado h uma disseminada sede de participar do poder ou dos poderes que parecem dirigir o mundo. Estamos todos de uma maneira ou de outra reconhecendo nossos poderes e querendo us-los em favor da dignidade humana e do planeta. Nunca como no final do sculo passado e nesse sculo vimos tantos grupos se organizarem a partir da reivindicao de suas diferenas. A prpria cincia fsica e astrofsica vem confirmando essa multiplicidade de poderes quando afirma, por exemplo, que na Via Lctea no h um nico centro, mas um desdobramento de movimentos e que essa Terra, esse planeta azul apenas um ponto entre as mirades de pontos que constituem o universo. Nesse mesmo tempo cronolgico a Igreja Catlica Romana tm intervindo para eliminar as diferenas e os anseios inspirados no Evangelho de Jesus de muitos grupos. E isto porque eles significam uma crtica a seu poder e a sua doutrina. Refiro-me de maneira particular aos movimentos feministas, gays e lsbicas e a muitas pessoas que individualmente ousaram publicar suas idias teolgicas em relao a diferentes temas polmicos. Em geral quando se escreve a Histria da Igreja Catlica contempornea se comea a falar da preparao do Conclio Vaticano II e em seguida dos efeitos do Conclio nas diferentes comunidades catlicas nacionais. A partir da, historiadores da Igreja continuam contando a histria partir da evoluo da vida das comunidades a partir do Conclio. E

118 Ivone GEBARA

ainda contam as traies e interpretaes mal feitas dos documentos do Conclio. No se percebe que esta uma chave muito limitada para dar conta da complexidade do catolicismo atual e particularmente da diminuio do nmero de fiis qual diariamente estamos assistindo. Hoje, embora o Conclio tenha tido muita importncia, no se pode tom-lo como o marco mais importante. Por que no nos referimos a todo o movimento indigenista do sculo XX e XXI, ao movimento dos afro-descendentes, ao movimento feminista, ao movimento dos gays, lsbicas e transexuais, ao movimento ecologista, ao movimento tecnolgico e cientfico dos ltimos anos? Por que no nos referimos s novas teologias e hermenuticas bblicas que surgiram margem do catolicismo oficial? Por que no olhamos os dissidentes, os que provocaram dissenso em relao a uma oficialidade que se julga representante de um mundo perfeito e intrprete da vontade de Jesus Cristo? Cada vez mais os grupos que no se submetem ortodoxia e ortopraxia institucionais esto dispostos a seguir em frente mesmo que sua vida, talvez breve, acontea fora dos muros da instituio catlica cada vez mais distante das questes e dos problemas que de fato so significativos para as populaes do mundo. A vida dessas pessoas e grupos nos convida ao pensamento. 5) A Bblia como palavra humana falvel A Bblia j no mais considerada por alguns grupos como a Palavra de Deus muito embora quase que massivamente a referncia a Bblia como um livro religioso monotesta continue normativa e legitimadora de muitas atitudes dos fiis e das hierarquias. Muitos grupos tm denunciado a atrofia que se faz da Bblia considerando-a um Livro de referncia inquestionvel, uma palavra superior de ordem sobre a desordem do mundo. Novas aproximaes bblicas como um conjunto de textos importantes de nossa tradio, tradio que contm igualmente a imprevisibilidade, a corrupo, a crueldade, a verdade e a justia da experincia humana. No se trata mais de ouvir da Bblia uma nota s, uma nota idealista e idealizante, longe de nossa limitada realidade. Mas agora se tenta ouvir a polifonia de sons escritos nos livros que nos convidam a pensar que sadas possveis podemos ter nessa mesma polifonia muitas vezes entremeada de balas perdidas e de tiros de canho de nosso dia a dia. para isso que servem as sabedorias do passado: para incitar, excitar, provocar as reaes do presente. Afirmar a Bblia como quase proveniente de um mundo perfeito, s vezes at radicalmente diferente do que nossos corpos vivenciam no parece mais ser a chave humanizadora da qual estamos necessitados. E, embora j tenhamos avanado muito nos estudos bblicos, sobretudo nos ltimos decnios ainda continuamos com

Suspeitas e reflexes filosficas em torno da crise da religio 119

uma espcie de razo superior ou tica maior que julgamos provir da Bblia visto que de alguma maneira a sacralizamos mesmo quando usada pelo povo simples de nossas comunidades. 6) A inadequao da formao teolgica diante das necessidades ticas atuais Por tudo isso que afirmei acima se mostra de maneira flagrante a urgente necessidade de rever as formas organizativas e reprodutivas das comunidades crists. O modelo clerical vem mostrando j h muito tempo sua deficincia visto que tem revelado o papel alienante do clero nas muitas questes de nosso tempo e a continuidade de uma diviso entre clero e laicato que j no se sustenta mais. Ao longo do sculo passado muitas experincias foram feitas em diferentes pases do mundo e inclusive da Amrica Latina para tentar superar essa inadequao. Lembro-me, por exemplo, das iniciativas em torno da teologia da enxada, inspiradas pela iniciativa de Monsenhor Cardjien de formar o mundo operrio na Blgica. Pretendeu-se organizar uma formao de camponeses para ajudar lideranas laicas a assumir mais responsabilidade nas comunidades crists. Em seguida vieram outras encabeadas por Dom Helder Cmara e D. Lenidas Proao (Ecuador) que quiseram formar um laicato atuante, com responsabilidade e autoridade nas comunidades crists rurais e citadinas. Todas essas experincias foram derrotadas pela tradio clerical das igrejas e da cultura de nossos povos. Os grupos tradicionalistas tudo fizeram para desmerecer e desprestigiar todas as iniciativas que pudessem fazer sombra ao poder clerical e a seus privilgios. Hoje, novamente, alguns grupos tentam se organizar e mais uma vez se vem acuados pela fora e fraqueza do clero que se consideram de fato e de direito como os nicos detentores dos poderes sobre o sagrado cristo. 7) A volta das pequenas comunidades de sentido H um desejo forte em muitos grupos cristos e indivduos para constituir pequenas comunidades de sentido nas quais a f e a tradio do Movimento de Jesus possam ser alimentadas. Entretanto, essas comunidades no querem de forma alguma o controle do clero. Sem dvida muitas questes podem ser levantadas, sobretudo quanto ao pensamento e as aes desses novos grupos. Mas elas s podero ser respondidas se a instituio eclesial permitir que a diversidade de responsabilidades e inclusive das formas de culto possa existir em seu meio. E mais, se o clero e os bispos no condenarem ou desprestigiarem de antemo essas iniciativas como sendo parte ou marginais em relao prpria tradio da Igreja. Esses ensaios so, sem dvida, bastante frgeis e nem sempre conseguem obedecer a ritmos mais ou menos pr-fixados. A falta de espaos para isso notria. Em geral as parquias e dioceses no permitem que encontros alternativos e celebraes alternativas se realizem em seu

120 Ivone GEBARA

meio. como se a prpria propriedade dos prdios das igrejas tivesse que obedecer s mesmas formas de celebrao e aos mesmos contedos estabelecidos como sendo verdadeiramente cristos. 8) O cristianismo um humanismo Alguns autores e grupos diversos tm insistido muito em considerar o Cristianismo a partir de sua tradio humanista. Dizer isso significa de certa forma deixar de consider-lo a partir das definies dogmticas cristolgicas e mariolgicas tradicionais que insistem de forma acrtica no carter sobrenatural do Cristianismo. E, alm disso, sublinham a primazia da autoridade masculina na Igreja. Trabalhar na linha do humanismo no diminui o carter religioso, isto , de ligao, solidariedade, ajuda mtua presentes na mesma Tradio. O que se tenta evitar a reduo do Cristianismo a uma maneira de pens-lo caracterstica dos primeiros sculos do Cristianismo e, sobretudo proveniente de muitos conflitos de poder. No se quer reduzir o cristianismo a um sistema de leis cannicas e de observncia de preceitos. Enfatizar a dimenso tica humanista do cristianismo, a preocupao com o cotidiano da vida na sua expresso de cuidado e ajuda mtua necessita de uma teologia ancorada numa leitura da tradio evanglica a partir das coisas que de fato nos ajudam a devolver e a manter a dignidade de uns e outros. 9) Pluralismo e diversidade ou somos muitos os que acreditamos. Somos muitos os que acreditamos na herana dos que nos precederam na aposta pelo amor e pela justia capazes de salvar nossas vidas num processo cotidiano continuamente renovado. Essa herana no pode ser a repetio do mesmo jeito de viver e celebrar como se parssemos o tempo em fidelidade a uma tradio sobrenatural. O amor tem expresses variadas e muitas vezes contraditrias. Acolher essa mistura em nossos amores, permitir que emerjam nas suas diversas formas um dos anseios de nosso tempo. J estamos cansados das teologias dos heris do Reino de Deus, das estruturas pesadas que reduzem a beleza da vida e a complexidade das relaes humanas a uma observncia legal ou a um modelo de vida pr-estabelecido. Sonhar na possibilidade de construir pequenas comunidades onde a diversidade possa existir continua sendo a crena de que a diversidade que nos constitui precisa ser respeitada para que a vida continue expandindo-se e recriando-se. 10) Para concluir com esperana. Estamos continuando nossa caminhada s apalpadelas com a tnue esperana que nutre nossa vida hoje. J no temos certezas fora a certeza de nossa finitude e mortalidade e a forte vontade de continuarmos a

Suspeitas e reflexes filosficas em torno da crise da religio 121

aventura da vida amorosamente. Por isso gosto de dizer que as incertezas colaboram para a nossa busca de liberdade e para a criatividade qual o presente momento histrico nos convoca. A histria humana e a histria do cristianismo so marcadas por vrias correntes ou tendncias que se cruzam e entrecruzam. No temos a pretenso de nos afirmarmos como a corrente que deve prevalecer e nem como a corrente que ter uma grande audincia. Mas, queremos espaos para existir dentro da leitura que fazemos da tradio crist. Queremos espaos talvez maiores para afirmar sempre de novo o amor ao prximo e o amor a ns mesmos, como orientao bsica de nosso compromisso social, poltico e religioso. Queremos ser respeitadas/os e continuar respeitando aqueles que ainda esto convencidos da pertinncia da tradio patriarcal de nossas igrejas. Ela tambm ainda de certa forma nosso corpo e parte de nossa histria apesar de nosso dissenso em muitos assuntos. Um renovado dilogo se impe e talvez precisemos buscar novas formas de reconhecimento do bem comum para que o acirramento de posies no crie mais divises e conflitos. Buscar a compreenso mtua afirmar a possibilidade do Cristianismo em nosso tempo.

122

Toward a Planetary Theology

The fifth and last volume of the Series. Published in March 2010, by Dunamis Publishers, Montreal, Canada, 198 pages.
A collective EATWOT's work by Michael AMALADOSS (India), Marcelo BARROS (Brazil), Agenor BRIGHENTI (Brazil), Edmund CHIA (Malaysia-USA), Amn EGEA (Spain), Paul KNITTER (USA), David LOY (USA), Laurenti MAGESA (Tanzania), Jacob NEUSNER (USA), Irfan OMAR (USA), Teresa OKURE (Nigeria), Raimon PANIKKAR (India-Spain), Peter PHAN (Vietnam-USA), Aloysius PIERIS (Sri Lanka), Richard RENSHAW (Canada), Amando ROBLES (Costa Rica), K. SESHAGIRI (USA), Afonso SOARES (Brazil) Faustino TEIXEIRA (Brazil) and Jos Maria VIGIL (Panama) You can download freely this book from the Net, at http://tiempoaxial.org/AlongTheManyPaths/ On paper it is published by DUNAMIS PUBLISHERS
For orders: dunamis@live.com For Canada: $20 (shipment included) For USA: $23 (shipment included) For rest of the world: $27 (shipment included)

 123

The End of Religin or Birth of Spirituality?

Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES So Paulo, Brazil - Nagpur, India - Lisbon, Portugal
Translation by Jusitniano Liebl

Humanity today is at a critical time in its history. 'Critical' comes from the word 'crisis', and its a crisis caused in the West primarily by financial markets. Basically it is a crisis of values. However, crisis is primarily a great time, a precious time to correct, to initiate radical and pending structural changes, a time of creativity to test new ways (according to the method of trial and error mistakes help us grow). The religious and especially the spiritual attitude, has something important to say, since it is a symbolic space in this global and globalizing context. 1. First, to insure clarity in this text, we must define the concepts used. What is meant by 'religion'? What is meant by 'spirituality'? 1.1.By 'Religion' here we mean the spiritual, external, exoteric structure, including dogmas or philosophical-theological principles, sacred times or worship/liturgy, sacred spaces or temples, "clergy" or hierarchy, and a determined ethics, both individual and social, etc. All this corresponds to the institutional aspect of spirituality. It is this sociological definition, which, without denying, differs most from the traditional meaning as religare, "= re-uniting what is separated (the end of dualism). 1.2. By 'spiritual' here we mean the mystical, interior, esoteric, experimental, relationship with God, Divinity, Absolute or Transcendent Sphere (whatever we might understand by that). And so, both aspects, internal and external/social are not necessarily opposed, but can be complementary. In some cases they even become conflictive and mutually exclusive, although in themselves they are not necessarily so.

124 Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES

2. We have witnessed in the West, since modern times, such as the late eighteenth century and especially during the nineteenth and part of the twentieth century, a radical criticism of the religious phenomenon. Several rational explanations of this phenomenon are being investigated, including its causality, and it is expected to terminate soon. Examples are: the Marxian position -- as opium of the people in the sense of opium that the people give themselves, because of their alienation within the productive process; the Freudian -- as an illusory projection; the Nietzschian -- as the "death of God and opposition to the pure unfolding of life and its "logic, etc. The constant note has been "prophesying" its imminent end. 3. Some data seems to support this hypothesis: the growing process of secularization in the North-Atlantic hemisphere has led to a slight decline in religious practice (especially Christian, but not other historical religions such as Islam), and increased atheistic and agnostic attitudes. However, overall, the religious phenomenon has not decreased statistically. Franz Damen, for example writes in his, 'Overview of the 19102010 world religions': "In the last hundred years, Christianity has suffered a relatively slight decline, and there was also a notable shift in its ethnic and linguistic composition. There was a significant decrease in the North-West and Central Asia areas, but a strong growth in the southern hemisphere. It can also be said that the increase in historical religions like Islam, has been remarkable. Also the growth of Hinduism and, more modestly of Buddhism, is another noteworthy occurrence. In Latin America the religious landscape has undergone major changes in the last century. Christianity has maintained its dominant position here, although it has changed in its composition: huge-growth Pentecostal Christianity versus dominant Catholicism. Some countries, such as Uruguay have seen a significant increase in the presence of agnosticism and atheism. It seems that growth of a (relatively) good economic situation involves a decrease in religious practice. 4. In our view, the socio-historical context of the contemporary Western world, especially in relation to Christianity, is favorable in a twofold aspect: (1) its a crisis of religion as such (qualitatively but not necessarily quantitatively) and (2) theres a central search for the practical-experiential element in the spiritual realm.

The End of Religion od Birth of Spirituality 125

It seems that the ordinary products of religious institutions do not favor a personal encounter with the Transcendent, or at least they are not seen as such by many people. We have to make an exception here for Pentecostal-like movements within the Protestant religions and the charismatic movement within the Catholic. But today it is possible (even technically) to have a relationship with spirituality that is personal and in some cases, individualistic. This is made possible by reading various publications in the religious market, without having to get involved with any church or place of worship, but only by the practice of individual meditation and/or various techniques of spirituality. In some more serious and consistent cases, this implies the creation of small communities of "searching people", who seem to know rather well what that dont want, better than just what they do want. They feel that official sacred spaces have become too "dry" and mediocre, and tend to be places of power and prestige, of a "social practice in the most superficial sense of the word. All of this does not allow them to directly experience their relationship with the Divine (in whatever way it might be represented) or the Supreme Reality. 5. During the time of early Christianity there was a tension between the more interior and spiritual aspects (Gnostics) and its more popular external and massive aspects (Orthodox sector). This dilemma was "resolved" by the predominance of the externalist, popular, massive tendency. In our days there is the possibility to revise all this, because of a growing interest in these contemplative spiritual spaces among many ordinary Christians. There would therefore be an opportunity to restore a balance between the inner (yin) and outside (yang) in Christianity, in such a way that would produce neither groups of elite insiders, nor its opposite, groups of massive mediocrity. 6. As far as Catholicism goes, we are presently involved in a crisis, which need not necessarily be negative. Theologically theres the possibility of its being a time of growth in both testimony and authenticity. Here are some areas that affect the Catholic Church. But first off, we have to clarify better just what we mean by the Catholic Church. When speaking about Catholicism, we ought to refer to different spheres: (1) The Vatican; (2) Episcopal Conferences of the Bishops;

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(3) Priests involved in parishes; (4) Women and men in religious institutes; (5) Women and men who are not clergy nor in religious institutes, -- the people, the laity-- some of whom are involved in small communities. So when we refer to the Catholic Church, just what do we mean? To which sphere do we refer? The Catholic Church is not a homogeneous institution: there may be conflicts and different tendencies, more or less apparent, within these identified areas. There is another series of spheres where these conflicts become intensified: at ethnic, gender and generational levels. Therefore, no one can or should do a generalized analysis of the phenomenon called the "Catholic Church", without considering all the above distinctions. 7. Returning to the Catholic ecclesial crisis, we are able to identify a number of problematic elements within it (considered from more topdown intensity from point 1 to 5, as set out above) that hinder spiritual practice: 7.1. Authoritarianism. Predominantly it is the power scheme of an Absolute Monarchy, especially found in the Vatican, but which tends to be reproduced in other vertical spheres (from 1 to 5). Today, the challenge is to a church as a whole, to be more democratic, fraternal, egalitarian, horizontal and respectful, of human rights (especially those of women) in the internal forum. This greater horizontality does not break off from the verticality of reference to the Master of Galilee, nor from other ministries within the institutional Church, according to the ecclesiological logic of the Second Vatican Council. 7.2. There exists an outdated concept of sexuality. I think the appeal to a life of seriousness in sexual and emotional aspects, makes sense within the Church, but there is a lack of realism in these areas that still shows up strongly. 7.3. The language still continues being very abstract, paternalistic, in need of a philosophical and, I would say, poetic overhaul: (new metaphors about God; a new way of talking about spirituality). This is a challenge at all levels of the Catholic Church. 7.4. The forms are still not transparent, due to a disguised insecurity sometimes bordering on hypocrisy. It seems more similar to the logic of the Scribes and Pharisees than to that of the "disciples of The Way," of the early Christian era.

The End of Religion od Birth of Spirituality 127

7.5. The conservative political and social level is still outstanding. Progressive positions are systematically punished by instances of ecclesiastical power. There is more fear than evangelical freedom of speech. And worst of all: a frame of mind intellectually conservative. 8. This is where Christianity is given the opportunity to choose a radical solution: a clear and definite option for the poorest and most marginalized people in this system -- children of the street, lonely old people; women punished with lower wages, inequality, domestic violence; the feminization of poverty; indigenous and black peoples treated as second class citizens; destruction of whats left of Nature ("we men and women are Nature!"); construction of credible values for a society that would be different from the present dominant capitalistic financial system etc.. 9. An important point here is the macro-ecumenical dialogue: the search by the various historical religions for a convergence on social alternative action (values of Justice, Peace and the Integration of Nature). 10. One of the key challenges then is: the "spiritualization" of religion, i.e. the search for direct and immediate experience of the Absolute. This also applies to Christianity, and in particular to Catholicism. This implies the relaxing of those hard institutional spaces, greater sensitivity to the suffering of others, practical commitment to alternate ways of life-style: (environmental, vegetarian, non-violent pacifism, spiritual feminism); concretely overcoming ancient religious dualisms (e.g. the contradiction between body and spirit, personal, collective and political liberation etc..), a simple life without hypocrisy, the practice of daily meditation; learning to remain serene (Stoicism) when encountering the ravages Life, etc.. Conclusion The hypothesis of our research would be that religion offers TWO basic options with their different ramifications: (1) an openness to a mature and serious spirituality, that would be a vital experience producing plentiful-ness (a banana skin religion ); (2) a religion closed in upon itself - ecclesio-centric, more selfcentered on its ecclesiastic navel than interested in provoking deep encounters, meaningfulness and silence (an empty shell religion). In our opinion this is THE critical challenge for the future of religion as such. If not, we might just find ourselves with a church that "func-

128 Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES

tions" but does not go deep, does not fulfill, and remains unconvincing. In a word, that does not transform. Which of these two options are really making happen in our own life? Do we have the possibility to change without an intense faith in a transforming God? Does our religion have a real mystique? Or is it a mystique without religion? From my perspective, these are key questions. It would be another story to develop a holistic spirituality -- something we have been trying to achieve for quite some time, but here is not the place to take up that task.

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Fin de la religin o nacimiento de la espiritualidad?

Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES So Paulo, Brasil - Nagpur, India - Lisboa, Portugal

Abstract:
El artculo intenta precisar la diferencia entre las categoras de religin y espiritualidad, que no son necesariamente lo mismo, aunque se puedan entrecruzar. Se centra la cuestin en la predominancia de una prctica vivencial espiritual frente a la crisis (relativa) de la religin en nuestros das. Sin esa vivencia espiritual (que el autor cree encontrar en la espiritualidad holstica), la misma religin puede perder su credibilidad, al quedarse en el cascarn externo de los dogmas, preceptos morales, templos, instituciones eclesisticas, clrigos (masculinos), etc.

Resumen:
The author begins by establishing a decisive difference between these categories: religion and spirituality, which are not necessarily the same, even they can interweave. He focuses the issue of the predominating spiritual practice, in front of the (relative) crisis of religion nowadays. Without such a spiritual living (which authors find in the holistic spirituality), the very religion can loss its credibility and contents...

La Humanidad se halla hoy en un momento crtico de su Historia. Crtico viene de crisis, una crisis provocada en Occidente fundamentalmente por los mercados financieros. De fondo, es una crisis de valores. Pero crisis es ante todo un tiempo oportuno, es tiempo de corregir, de iniciar cambios radicales y estructurales pendientes, de creatividad y de ensayo de nuevos caminos (segn el mtodo de prueba-error: las equivocaciones ayudan a crecer). La actitud religiosa, y especialmente la espiritual, tienen algo importante que decir, como espacio simblico, en este contexto global y globalizante.

130 Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES

1. En primer lugar, para claridad de este texto, debemos definir antes los conceptos utilizados. Qu se entiende por religin? Qu se entiende por espiritualidad? 1.1. Por religin se entiende aqu una estructura espiritual externa (exotrica), que incluye dogmas (o principios filosficos-teolgicos), tiempos sagrados o culto/liturgia, espacios sagrados o templos, clero o jerarqua, una determinada tica individual y social, etc. Corresponde al aspecto institucional de la espiritualidad. Es sta una definicin sociolgica, que se aparta ms, sin negarla, de la tradicional como religare, volver a unir lo separado (fin del dualismo). 1.2. Por espiritualidad entendemos aqu la estructura interior (esotrica), mstica, experimental, de relacin con un Dios, Divinidad, Absoluto, o Esfera Transcendente (sea lo que fuere que entendamos por ella). Pues bien, ambos aspectos, interior y exterior/social no son necesariamente opuestos, sino que pueden ser complementarios. En algunos casos llegan a ser conflictivos y excluyentes, aunque en s, necesariamente, no lo sean. 2. Asistimos en Occidente, desde la Modernidad, y especialmente desde finales del siglo XVIII y, sobre todo, desde el siglo XIX y parte del siglo XX, a una crtica radical del fenmeno religioso. Se van a buscar diversas explicaciones racionales de dicho fenmeno, incluso una causalidad, y se espera que en breve termine. Ejemplos son la postura marxiana (como opio del pueblo, en el sentido de opio que el pueblo se da a s mismo, debido a su alienacin dentro del proceso productivo), freudiana (una proyeccin ilusoria), nietzscheana (muerte de Dios y oposicin al puro desplegarse de la Vida y su lgica etc.). La constante ha sido profetizar su fin inminente. 3. Algunos datos pareceran apoyar esta hiptesis: el proceso creciente de secularizacin en el Hemisferio Nor-Atlntico ha provocado un ligero retroceso en las prcticas religiosas (especialmente cristianas, aunque no de otras religiones histricas, como el islamismo), y el crecimiento de posturas agnsticas y ateas. Sin embargo, globalmente, el fenmeno religioso no ha decrecido estadsticamente. Franz Damen, por ejemplo, en Panorama de las religiones en el mundo 1910-2010, escribe, en relacin al cristianismo, que: en los ltimos cien aos, el cristianismo ha sufrido una disminucin relativa ligera, mientras se observ un desplazamiento en su composicin tnica y lingstica 1. Tuvo una disminucin notable en el mbito Nor-occidental y Asia Central, pero un crecimiento fuerte en el Sur del planeta. Podemos
1

In: Agenda Latinoamericana mundial 2011, pp. 22-24.

Fin de la religin, o nacimiento de la espiritualidad 131

decir tambin que el incremento de religiones histricas, como el islamismo, ha sido notable. Tambin el crecimiento del hinduismo y, ms moderadamente, del budismo, son otros fenmenos destacables. En Amrica Latina el panorama religioso no ha sufrido grandes modificaciones en el ltimo siglo. El cristianismo ha mantenido aqu su posicin hegemnica, si bien ha cambiado en su composicin: crecimiento enorme del cristianismo pentecostal frente al catolicismo dominante. Algn pas, incluso, como Uruguay, ha visto incrementar significativamente la presencia del agnosticismo y del atesmo. Parece que el crecimiento de una (relativa) sociedad del bienestar implica un decrecimiento de su prctica religiosa. 4. En nuestra opinin, el contexto socio-histrico del mundo contemporneo occidental, especialmente en lo referente al cristianismo, est favoreciendo un aspecto doble: (1) crisis de la religin en cuanto tal (crisis cualitativa, no necesariamente cuantitativa 2); y (2) bsqueda central del elemento prctico-vivencial en el mbito espiritual. Parece que las salidas institucionales religiosas standard no favorecen el encuentro personal con lo Transcendente, o, por lo menos, no son percibidas as por mucha gente. Debemos exceptuar aqu los movimientos pentecostales y afines, dentro del protestantismo, as como el carismtico catlico. Pero hoy es posible (incluso tecnolgicamente) una relacin personal y, en algunos casos, individualista, con la Espiritualidad. Esto se logra mediante la lectura de diversas publicaciones en el mercado religioso, sin necesidad de integrarse en ninguna iglesia o templo, as como una prctica individual de meditacin y/o diversas tcnicas de espiritualidad. En algunos casos, ms serios y consecuentes, esto implica la creacin de pequeas comunidades de buscadores/as, que parecen saber ms bien lo que no quieren, negativamente, que lo que quieren, positivamente. Sienten que los espacios sagrados oficiales se han quedado demasiado secos, mediocres, son espacios de poder y de prestigio, de prctica social, en el sentido ms superficial del trmino, y que no les permite experimentar directamente su relacin con la Divinidad (sea como fuere que sta se represente) o la Suprema Realidad.

Entendemos por crisis cualitativa una crisis de legitimidad del orden religioso, es decir, puede no haber decrecimiento cuantitativo (en nmero) de miembros, pero se ha perdido la calidad devocional, el convencimiento, la originalidad, la creatividad, entrando significativamente en un proceso de masificacin.

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5. Si en otras pocas del cristianismo primitivo hubo una tensin entre sus aspectos interiores-espirituales (gnsticos) y sus aspectos ms populares (sector ortodoxo), y el dilema fue resuelto con el predominio de su vertiente externalista, popular, de masas, hoy en da hay la posibilidad de revisar todo esto, pues crece el inters por los espacios espirituales contemplativos en muchos y muchas de las y los practicantes habituales del cristianismo. Habra, pues, una oportunidad de restablecer un equilibrio entre el espacio interior (yin) y el exterior (yang) dentro del cristianismo, de tal manera que los grupos no cayeran en el intimismo elitista, o en su contrario, una masificacin mediocrizante. 6. En lo referente al Catolicismo, nos encontramos actualmente con esta crisis, y ello no tiene que ser necesariamente negativo: puede ser, teolgicamente, la posibilidad de un crecimiento en testimonio y autenticidad. Veamos algunos aspectos en que es afectada la Iglesia Catlica. Pero antes de ms, debemos clarificar mejor qu entendemos por Iglesia Catlica. Al hablar de Catolicismo, podemos referirnos a diversos mbitos: (1) El Vaticano; (2) Conferencias Episcopales u Obispos; (3) Sacerdotes en el mundo de la Parroquia; (4) religiosos y religiosas; (5) laicos/as, algunos de ellos y ellas en pequeas comunidades. Pero cuando hablamos entonces de Iglesia Catlica, a qu nos referimos? A qu mbito de estos queremos aludir? La Iglesia Catlica no es una institucin homognea: puede haber conflictos y diversas tendencias, ms o menos manifiestas, dentro de estos mbitos sealados. Adems, hay otra serie de mbitos donde estos conflictos se intensifican: a nivel tnico, a nivel de gnero y a nivel generacional. No se puede ni se debe hacer entonces un anlisis generalista del fenmeno Iglesia Catlica, sin tener en cuenta las anteriores diferenciaciones. 7. Volviendo a la crisis eclesial catlica, podramos identificar una serie de elementos problemticos dentro de ella (que se observan con ms intensidad de arriba-abajo, del punto 1 al 5, anteriormente enunciados), que obstaculizan una prctica espiritual: 7.1. El autoritarismo. El esquema de poder predominante todava es la Monarqua Absoluta, especialmente a partir del Vaticano, pero que tiende a reproducirse en los dems mbitos, verticalmente (del 1 al 5). Hoy, el reto es de una Iglesia, como un todo, ms democrtica, fraterna, igualitaria, horizontal y respetuosa, al nivel interno, de los derechos humanos (especialmente de las mujeres). Esta mayor horizontalidad no quiebra la verticalidad de la referencia al Maestro de Galilea, ni los dems ministerios dentro de la Iglesia-institucin, en la lgica de la eclesiologa del Concilio Vaticano II.

Fin de la religin, o nacimiento de la espiritualidad 133

7.2. Una concepcin trasnochada de la sexualidad. Creo que tiene mucho sentido el apelo dentro de la Iglesia a una seriedad de vida en los aspectos sexuales y afectivos, pero el irrealismo en estos mbitos todava tiene una fuerte presencia. 7.3. El lenguaje sigue siendo muy abstracto, paternalista, necesitado de una renovacin filosfica e, incluso, dira, potica (nuevas metforas sobre Dios; nueva manera de hablar sobre la espiritualidad). Esto es un reto para todos los niveles de la Iglesia Catlica. 7.4. Las formas siguen siendo poco transparentes, producto de una inseguridad disfrazada, rayana a veces en la hipocresa. Se parece ms a la lgica de los fariseos y los escribas que a la de los discpulos/as del Camino, de los primeros tiempos del cristianismo. 7.5. El conservadurismo a nivel poltico y social sigue siendo notorio. Las posturas progresistas son sistemticamente castigadas desde el Poder eclesistico. Hay ms miedo que parresa evanglica. Y lo peor: una estructura mental e intelectual conservadora. 8. Aqu es donde se le plantea al cristianismo una salida de peso: una opcin clara y decidida por las y los ms pobres y marginados de este Sistema (nios y nias de la calle, ancianos solitarios, mujeres castigadas con peores salarios, desigualdad, violencia domstica, feminizacin de la pobreza, indgenas y negros secundarizados, destruccin del resto de la Naturaleza (Nosotros/as somos Naturaleza!), construccin de valores crebles para una sociedad alternativa al capitalismo financiero dominante actual, etc. 9. Un punto importante aqu es el dilogo macro-ecumnico: la bsqueda de las diversas religiones histricas de convergencias para la accin social alternativa (valores de la Justicia, la Paz y la Integracin de la Naturaleza). 10. Uno de los retos claves es entonces: la Espiritualizacin de la Religin, es decir, la bsqueda de la experiencia directa e inmediata con el Absoluto. Esto es vlido tambin para el Cristianismo, y Catolicismo en particular. Esto implica la relativizacin de los espacios de institucionalizacin dura, para hacerse ms flexible; una mayor sensibilidad ante el sufrimiento ajeno; el compromiso prctico con formas de vida de tipo alternativo (ecologismo, vegetarianismo, pacifismo no-violento, feminismo espiritual); superacin en concreto los dualismos religiosos milenarios (por ejemplo, la contradiccin cuerpo/espritu, liberacin personal y colectiva, interior y Poltica, etc.); una vida no hipcrita y sencilla; la prctica de la meditacin diaria; una serenidad (estoicismo) ante los embates de la Vida, etc.

134 Rui Manuel GRCIO DAS NEVES

Conclusin Nuestra hiptesis de trabajo de investigacin sera que la religin tiene bsicamente dos opciones, con sus diferentes ramificaciones: (1) apertura a una espiritualidad madura y seria, que sea realmente una experiencia vital que llene los vacos de plenitud (religin piel de pltano); (2) una religin cerrada en s misma, eclesiocntrica, ms centrada en s misma (en el ombligo eclesitico), que provocadora de verdadero encuentro, significatividad y silencio plenos (religin cscara vaca). En nuestra opinin esto es un reto decisivo para el futuro de la religin como tal. Si no, pudiramos encontrarnos con una Iglesia que funciona, pero que no ahonda, no llena, no convence. En una palabra, que no transforma. Cul de las dos opciones estamos realmente potenciando con nuestra vida? Tenemos posibilidad de cambiar sin una fe intensa en un Dios que transforma? Tiene mstica nuestra religin? O es una mstica sin religin? He aqu preguntas esenciales, desde mi perspectiva. Otra cosa sera ya desarrollar una espiritualidad holstica, algo que estamos intentando hacer desde hace tiempo, pero cuya tarea no es para implementar aqu.

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Change - Significance and Challenges

A new view of religion or new theology of religions
Deivit MONTEALEGRE1 University of Geneva, University Institute ISEDET, Buenos Aires
Resumen
No es posible concebir la religin como algo esttico, por el contrario, hablar de religin es hablar de dinmicas, de relaciones de interdependencia y por supuesto de cambios; no obstante, todo cambio trae consigo desafos y obliga a la resignificacin de los contenidos. As, nuestro inters es exponer algunos procesos que la religin ha atravesado a lo largo de su historia en el mundo, procesos que han hecho de ella una metfora capaz de ser interpretada de diferentes maneras y desde diferentes especialidades. Decir teolgicamente lo que hoy es Religin; es hablar no slo de una amalgama de cualidades del espacio reservado al vinculo entre lo sagrado y lo profano, sino adems de una dimensin del no-lugar. Teolgicamente religin hoy es el lugar del desencuentro, el espacio de la frontera entre las identidades, una espacio de virtualidad en el que lo econmico poltico y social del ser humano se ve dominado por la terceridad de sus deseos y obligaciones en un mundo viciado de capitalismo y neoliberalismo.

Abstract
Is not possible understand religion as something static, however talk of religion is talk of dynamics, relations of interdependence and of course, changes; nevertheless, every change brings with it challenges and requires the resignification of the contents. Thus, our interest is to expose some processes that religion has crossed over his history in the world, processes that have made it a metaphor able to be interpreted in different ways and from different specialties. Say what is now theologically Religion, is to speak not only an amalgam of qualities of the space reserved for the link between sacred and profane, but also a dimension of non-place. Theologically religion today is the site of the clash, the borders space between identities, a virtual space in which the political economic and social human being is dominated by the thirdness of his desires and obligations in a flawed world of capitalism and neoliberalism.

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Over and over we have heard that human beings are religious beings, that within us there is a sort of device that leads us to pursuit of transcendence, that one way or another seek the divine, that which connects us a reality beyond the finite in which we live. However, for generations the religion step away from being an expression of the transcendent and became institutions of the sacred, a place of power in which the enlightened would developed their desire for transcendence and mastery, a space in which the divine, although present, was mediated by an unlimited number of objects and symbols, promising an approach to God directly. Religion move from being a part of the re-ligare condition of human beings - with all that involves and ceases to involves this statement - and transformed into a set of dogmas, liturgies, doctrines, prayers ... that made it increasingly absent-present, i.e., religion finished linked to legal aspects and almost-judicial that move away from the real communities life constantly changing and got closer to certain areas of society who were avid support and legitimacy of its structures of thought. With the preceding we do not mean that religion lost its meaning, if ever there was a unique sense of religion, rather, we make our readers understand that there are processes religion has gone through over its history in the world, processes that have made it a metaphor able to be interpreted in different ways and from different specialties. So much that what is now theologically Religion, is to speak not only of an amalgam of qualities (political, social, cultural, economic...) of the space reserved for the link between what is considered sacred and what is considered profane, but also a dimension of other-place, theologically religion today is the site of mismatch, the boundarys space between identities, a virtual space in which economic, political and social human beings aspects are dominated by the thirdness of their desires and obligations in a world tainted by capitalism and neoliberalism. When we speak of thirdness we are talking about the dimension of the virtuality, not in the sense of technology, but using its words, but in the sense of an experience beyond of the concrete or imaginary plane, the space of virtuality or thirdness is the space now occupied by religion. The other-place. Thus, talking about religion nowadays does not imply to belief in a particular doctrine or in a plurality of them, but talking about a virtual

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place (another) where even, some times, is not necessary to believe, just to dwell. A space capable of supporting religions overwhelming diversity which at the same time re-builds the identities of the sacred. This can be seen in many religions practices carried out at the time of making its teachings, many have been compelled to transform its language by a more inclusive one, abandoning radical exclusivism, others have chosen to be recognized as part of a great whole, as a place of revelation alongside the others. However, the combination of these views comes the new understanding of religion, a space that does not belong to anyone, an other-place, a place where plural and diverse gets its reason for be without opposing the particular identity. It is as if religion was being liberated from the chain of the categorizer language for become prey to the metamorphosis of thirdness, ie a process of identification with the unidentified. We believe this is one of the great changes that have been appearing in our time. A religion that refuses to be framed by restricted and classificatory language, it chooses the formula of metaphor, for the space of collision between identities and knowledge of different religious traditions and ancient spiritualities. Religion is becoming in the place of the non-identity, even though respect the identities, a space capable of hosting the most dissimilar. Many may say that this was always so, which we must answer no. While religion seen from the more general sight or from the science of religion can be seen as neutral space almost every religious tradition filled with its own significant, this is not what happens today. What our generation is living is the intersection of a religion that is no longer space to be filled, but a filled space that refuses to be put in a single place and that claims to itself an other-place. Religion ceased to be what religions were saying to become the relationship between the confluences of the epistemological break; produced by religious pluralism, and the theology of religious pluralism. A theological perspective of religion and its current transformation will produce a theology of religions that makes explode the concept of particular and to engage in the task of a theology of religions from boundary, ie, a theology that is able to respond from a plural identity and not from the perspective of the signifiers of a particular religious tradition. A new theology of religion must be thought. That religion which responded from its place of clear boundaries and precise scopes does not realize the changes and transformations in our society. And at this point we base our observation. We as a society have changed, we are crossed

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by a splitting of our identity, by the fragility of permanent relationships with the same system of signifiers, the Internet and all the technocratization of our communities which have made our classical way to see and understand the theology of religion is put in parentheses. In this new walking appear major issues that must be solved or at least seriously considered, namely, what God are we talking about when we talk about religion is an other-place, a thirdness, the place of the non-identity, it is say, from this new perspective can we still talking about the God of Christianity or Islam, etc., or must we lose our fear and make explode the significant God re-thinking it from a place closer to the negative theology one or simply changing his/her conception?, and Within Christian tradition Christology must be considered from an improper place as part of the dynamic relationship between humanity and their transcendence? What place will have in this new paradigm the conception of ecclesial community or religious community in general? However, about these challenges we consider, that the most important, is the conception of our own religious identity, that is, will we have to find out for a theological-religious identity which is not based on a particular religious conception of identity, but builds its base in the relationship of the boundary-line between different religious traditions? If we would like to make this reflection something programmatic to be studied, we suggest that it is started looking in a sort of journalistic exercise, the changes in the way we communicate both inside and outside our religious communities. Then we suggest answering the following questions:
- What do we call religious identity? - What is essential in sharing our beliefs with others? (To be heard, to proselytize, to help understand our perspective, among others.) - How was confidence in religion 20 years ago? and how is it today, and what kind of changes can we observe? Do these changes have practical implications for our lives? - What we thought when we heard speaking about religion as other-place? What is expected from religion today?

The intention of our questions is to approach a reflection that can be guided to understand what it means today to talk about religion and especially to change our attitude toward the impending change we are experiencing.

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Finally we do not want to leave aside the political implications that this new paradigm brings to religions. We believe that both; the hierarchy of religions as systems of government and the ways in which power is distributed in the different religious traditions will be reflected in its heart innermost this change. Is not the same to politically support a paradigm in which the faithful or believers are identified with the particular of each tradition, than one in which both believers and unbelievers can take place thanks to a complex and plural system capable to withstand them. As a preliminary conclusion we argue that there is no possible religion without this is redirected to the new questions of society and that in a plural age a religion cannot be singular.

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Cambio: significacin y desafos Una nueva visin de la Religin

David MONTEALEGRE1 Universidad de Ginebra, Instituto Universitario ISEDET, Buenos Aires

Una y otra vez hemos escuchado que los seres humanos somos seres religiosos, que dentro de nosotros existe una suerte de dispositivo que nos inclina a la bsqueda de la trascendencia, que de una u otra forma buscamos lo divino, aquello que nos conecte con una realidad ms all de la finita en la que nos encontramos. No obstante, por generaciones, la religin pas de ser una expresin de lo trascendente y se convirti en la institucionalidad de lo sagrado; un lugar de poder en el que los ilustrados desarrollaban sus deseos de trascendencia y dominio; un espacio en el que lo divino, aunque presente, era mediado por un sin nmero de objetos y smbolos, que prometan acercarnos a Dios de una forma directa. La religin pas de ser una parte de la condicin de re-ligare del ser humano con todo lo que implica y deja de implicar este enunciado y se transform en un conjunto de dogmas, liturgias, doctrinas, oraciones, que la hicieron cada vez ms ausente-presente, es decir, la religin termin vinculada a aspectos legales y casi judiciales que la alejaron de la vida real de las comunidades en constante transformacin, y la acercaron a determinados espacios de la sociedad que se hallaban vidos del soporte y legitimacin de sus estructuras de pensamiento. Con lo anterior no queremos decir que la religin perdi su sentido, si es que en algn momento hubo un nico sentido de la religin; ms bien, buscamos hacer que nuestro lector comprenda que hay procesos que la religin ha atravesado a lo largo de su historia en el mundo, procesos que han hecho de ella una metfora capaz de ser interpretada de diferentes maneras y desde diferentes especialidades. Tanto es as que decir teolgicamente lo que hoy es Religin es hablar no slo de una amalgama de cualidades (polticas, sociales, culturales, econmicas) de dicho espacio reservado al vnculo entre lo considerado sagrado y lo considerado profano, sino adems de una dimensin

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del otro-lugar. Teolgicamente religin hoy es el lugar del desencuentro, el espacio de la frontera entre las identidades, una espacio de virtualidad en el que lo econmico, poltico y social del ser humano se ve dominado por la terceridad de sus deseos y obligaciones en un mundo viciado de capitalismo y neoliberalismo. Cuando hablamos de terceridad estamos hablando de la dimensin de lo virtual, no en el sentido de la tecnologa, aunque, usando sus palabras, sino en el sentido de una experiencia que se pone ms all del plano de lo concreto o imaginario. El espacio de lo virtual o de la terceridad es el espacio que hoy ocupa la religin. El otro-lugar. Por tanto, hablar de religin hoy no implica la creencia en una determinada doctrina o en una pluralidad de doctrinas, sino hablar de un lugar virtual (otro) en donde dado el caso no es necesario creer; slo habitar. Un espacio capaz de soportar la sobrecogedora diversidad de lo religioso, y que a su vez reconstruye las identidades de lo sagrado. Esto se puede ver en las prcticas que muchas religiones llevan a cabo a la hora de realizar su tarea de enseanza; muchas se han visto obligadas a transformar su lenguaje por uno ms inclusivo, abandonando exclusivismos radicales; otras han optado por reconocerse como parte de un todo mayor, como espacio de revelacin junto a las dems. No obstante, en la conjuncin de estas posturas surge la nueva comprensin de la religin: un espacio que no le pertenece a nadie, un otro-lugar, un espacio donde lo plural y lo diverso obtiene su razn de ser sin oponerse a la identidad particular. Es como si la religin estuviera siendo liberada de las cadenas del lenguaje categorizador, para hacerse presa de la metamorfosis de la terceridad, esto es, de un proceso de identificacin con lo no identificado. Creemos que ste es uno de los grandes cambios que ha estado apareciendo en nuestra poca, una religin que se resiste a ser enmarcada por el lenguaje clasificatorio y restringido, que opta por la frmula de la metfora, por el espacio de colisin entre las identidades y saberes de las distintas tradiciones religiosas milenarias y de las espiritualidades histricas. La religin se est transformando en el lugar de lo no identitario aunque respete las identidades; un espacio capaz de albergar lo ms dismil. Muchos pueden opinar que esto siempre fue as, a lo cual debemos responder que no. Si bien la religin vista desde el plano ms general o desde las ciencias de la religin puede verse como espacio casi neutro que cada tradicin religiosa llena con sus propios significantes, no es esto lo que ocurre hoy en da. Lo que nuestra generacin est viviendo es la interseccin de una religin que ya no es ms espacio a ser llenado, sino espacio lleno que

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se resiste a ser puesto en un nico lugar y que reclama para si un otrolugar. La religin dej de ser lo que las religiones dicen que es, para pasar a ser la relacin de las mismas y la confluencia del quiebre epistemolgico producido por el pluralismo religioso y la teologa pluralista de las religiones. Una perspectiva teolgica de la religin y su transformacin actual, producir una teologa de las religiones que haga estallar el concepto de lo particular y se involucre en la tarea de una teologa de las religiones desde el lmite, es decir, una teologa que sea capaz de responder desde una identidad plural y no desde la perspectiva de los significantes de una tradicin religiosa particular. Un nueva teologa de la religin debe ser pensada. Ya la religin que responda desde su lugar de lmites claros y alcances precisos no da cuenta de los cambios y las transformaciones de nuestra sociedad. Y es en este punto que basamos nuestra observacin. Nosotros como sociedad hemos cambiado, estamos atravesados por un desdoblamiento de nuestra identidad, por la fragilidad de las relaciones permanentes con el mismo sistema de significantes, por la internet y por toda la tenocratizacin de nuestras comunidades; lo cual ha hecho que nuestra forma clsica de ver y entender la teologa de la religin sea puesta en parntesis. En este nuevo caminar aparecen grandes temas que deben ser resueltos o por lo menos considerados muy seriamente, a saber, de qu Dios estamos hablando cuando hablamos de que la religin es un otrolugar, una terceridad, el lugar de lo no identitario, es decir, desde esta nueva perspectiva podremos seguir hablando del Dios del cristianismo o del Islam, etc., o tendremos que perder el miedo y hacer estallar el significante Dios repensndolo desde un lugar ms cercano al de la teologa negativa, o simplemente transformando su concepcin? Dentro de la tradicin cristiana la cristologa deber ser pensada una vez ms desde un lugar impropio como parte de la relacin dinmica de la humanidad y su trascendentalidad? Qu lugar tendr en este nuevo paradigma la concepcin de la comunidad eclesial o comunidad religiosa en general. No obstante, sobre estos desafos consideramos que el ms importante es el de la concepcin de nuestra propia identidad religiosa, es decir, tendremos que dar cuenta de una identidad teolgico-religiosa que no reposa en una concepcin de identidad religiosa particular, sino que construye su base en la relacin del lmite-frontera entre las diferentes tradicin religiosa? Si quisiramos hacer de esta reflexin algo programtico para ser estudiado, proponemos empezar observando en una suerte de ejercicio periodstico los cambios en la forma en que nos comunicamos tanto al interior de nuestras comunidades religiosas de base como al exterior de

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ellas con el resto de la sociedad. Posteriormente sugerimos dar respuesta a las siguientes preguntas:
- A qu llamamos identidad religiosa? - Qu es lo esencial a la hora de compartir nuestras creencias con otros? (Ser escuchados, hacer proselitismo, ayudar a la comprensin de nuestra perspectiva, entre otras.) - Cmo era la confianza en la religin hace 20 aos y cmo es hoy?, qu tipo de cambios podemos observar?, tienen estos cambios implicaciones para nuestra vida prctica? -qu idea nos hacemos cuando escuchamos hablar de otro-lugar de la religin? Qu se espera de la religin hoy?

La intencin de nuestras preguntas es acercarnos a una reflexin que pueda ser guiada a comprender que significa hablar de religin hoy y sobre todo a cambiar de actitud frente al inminente cambio que estamos experimentando. Finalmente no queremos dejar de un lado las implicaciones polticas que este nuevo paradigma trae para las religiones. Creemos que tanto la jerarqua de las religiones como los sistemas de gobierno y las formas en que se reparte el poder en las diferentes tradiciones religiosa ver reflejado en su fuero ms interno este cambio. No es lo mismo sostener polticamente un paradigma en que los fieles o creyentes se identifican con lo particular de cada tradicin, que uno en el cual tanto creyentes como no creyentes puedan tener lugar gracias a su sistema complejo y plural capaz de soportarlos. A manera de conclusin preliminar sostenemos que no hay religin posible sin que sta sea redireccionada por las nuevas preguntas de la sociedad y que en una era plural no es posible una religin singular.

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Post-religonal Paradigm?
Towards a complex understanding of the contemporary religious phenomenon
Alejandro ORTIZ Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla Mxico

Intentionality We would like to propose, in the following lines, the idea of the existence of civilizational-paradigms, which have guided the historical walk of humanity, in relation and permanent conflict, coexisting at the same time, creating alliances, intersections or conflicts between them. And also, wed try to erase a vision of lineal and consequent paradigms where one outdoes the previous one, and where the exceeded paradigm disappears in history over time. This last modern progressive vision doesn't help -in our view- to understand the complexity that is current reality. Thats why we believe that saying that we live or that we are moving towards a post-religious paradigm can be an unsuitable way, -for being fast and simple- to understand the world and the religious role in the contemporary world. Instead, we locate several civilizing paradigms that have consequently emerged one after another, paradigms that dont completely disappear, but are transformed, or certain expressions of a paradigm find new ways of expression and to exist from the relations and/ or the intersections with other existing civilizing paradigms. In order to better understand these ideas, I will develop in a narrative way a minimal vision of the five civilizing paradigms that in my consideration I place, if not as the only ones, as the main ones. In the explanation of each paradigm I will write how the religious phenomenon lives and develops. First ideas In the history of humanity we can point with certain ease five civilizing paradigms that mutually coexist today creating countless intersections, alliances, contradictions, etc., which in turn create what we call

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reality. When the Zapatistas* mention their utopia of creating a world where many worlds fit they have as a base idea that: there are in coexistence and in conflict several ages today. That a dominant and exclusionary epochal vision believes that its perspective is the best and it tries to dominate the others is part of the Zapatista analysis, but what really interests us in this moment is the idea of the existence of several times converging at a same time and space. Another way to say the same thing can be: that in current societies as well as in contemporary family nuclei coexist at the same time and several times in the same place, three different ways of seeing the world: the pre modern, modern and post modern perspective, each of them with its advantages and values; with its contradictions and negativities. Families become war fields when the dialog and negotiation don`t prevail. Likewise, we can talk about other social institutions. We call civilizing paradigms these collective systems that lead -dominantly- human communities in a certain time and space and from their central values they build social, cultural, and political economic subsystems that allow them to create conviviality, cultures and sociability. Then, from these paradigms, human civilizations that will be able to survive over the years are created, as long as they are adjusted, sometimes very tightly, with the new paradigms that are emerging and that become the dominant ones. Paraphrasing Corb, these civilizing paradigms are the great vessels where civilizations in each age are shaped in certain ways and forms. We will briefly describe each civilizing paradigm and will point out briefly, also, how religions play an important role in each of them. The Naturalist Civilizational Paradigm The first civilizing paradigm can be called naturalist. In this paradigm the physical context that wraps the communities is the focal. Is nature which is endowed with personality and with which you have to talk so it can be lenient with the human communities. Soon, nature will be our mother, Gaia according to the Greeks, Pachamama according to the Latin-Americans. While it is true that here religious practices are important, the axis arent the gods but nature. In the beginning gods will help us to understand the secrets of nature, the rhythms of cyclical destinies which invariably and eternally happen every so often. Understanding it until mastering it will be a long dialog and a drama that the human beings will act with nature with important consequences. Initially, then, it will be the ground, the skies, the stones, the flowers, the animals, the big cultural symbols from which the communities will build their social and cultural proposals. As Corb stated, it will be hunting, collecting, and agriculture,

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the economical activities that will give meaning to the communities of that time. However, the knowledge of nature, the learning of its secrets, of its movements, of its cycles, of its stages will be the epistemological forms with which the world and the role of the human being in it will be explained. We can detect it in several myths and rituals. The shamans, the wise men and women will learn from nature. They will dance its rhythms; they will heal -from secret and forbidden odors, except for them- the sick communities. They will guide the communities not to upset natural forces which later will be called gods- and instead they will teach us to know how to thank them for what they do so the communities can live. Then, it is clear to understand that the human being becomes a servant, a watcher, a manager, a steward of the earth as stated in the Genesis myth, we will be made from corn as the Mayan myth in Popol Vuh states or as the other Genesis myth says, we will be living earth. At present, the Greek body and soul will not exist, but the Latin American tonal* or nahual*. Tonal will be the spirit of an animal that will look after us all our lives. The biggest secret will be to know which is our own tonal and master him until we get confused with it. When we achieve this we will be nahuales. The great social and initiation rites will have to do with the domain of hunting magical animals. We can observe that the indigenous cultures, Afro Americans, Africans and some Arabs still have as civilizing matrix this paradigm. They adapt it by stressing and confronting the new dominant existing paradigms. Although it might seem to be the weakest paradigm, today we can say that all the other civilizing paradigms grew out of it and each one has something of it. Some say that this civilizing paradigm has managed to survive in the new expressions of new age where the natural (against the artificial), the green, the ecological, becomes a new way of living this civilizing paradigm. In this naturalist paradigm, the religious forms are still expressed in what Otto called the tremendum. Religion is part of something bigger, the religious creates rites minors that mimic the bigger cycles of nature. Perhaps it is the stage of what is called the pre-religious by several scholars of the religious phenomenon. For example, before Passover would become the great Jewish religious ritual and then Christian; before, it was a meal that reflected the respect and the sacred approach to the context of the desert. Then, again it will become from the sacred experience of the exodus a rite of religious identity until it returned to be one of the greatest Jewish religious rites. This paradigm still exist today, and perhaps a very profound and true way of expressing today could be through the Indian and Afro theologies.

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The Religious Civilizing Paradigm Then, from this paradigm, and also from the development of agriculture and the creation of irrigation, as well as the subsequent cattle raising, the communities started searching religion as a civilizing paradigm in itself. It will not serve any longer to mediate between natural forces and its spirits, and human beings, but it will become an end in itself and from itself it will be based, justified and it will order the existing world. The ones that will guide the human course will be the local gods and not the cosmic forces. Religion or religions- will become the second civilizing paradigm. From it, empires, cities and civilizations will be built. It will be a battle of gods where only the most dominant be positioning. This until monotheism is reached, where only one god fits: the own. The churches, religious communities will become of prime importance as much or more than kings themselves. The sacred books, the temples and the priests, the second trinities, according to Pannikar, will be the mediations through which communities will find course and direction in their lives. This civilizing paradigm as the former one continues until today. People are still religious although not so institutionally. Participation in churches decreases but the religious search grows. It is not a matter of the elderly, but of those big farming communities that migrate to the cities bringing their religious beliefs. For instance, the Mexican migrant communities have imposed on American communities their guadalupanas* beliefs. We can briefly say that the civilizing paradigm still exists and will continue for many years. However, this paradigm doesnt finish explaining the whole religious reality in the world. We must say that the traditional religious institutions of this paradigm are the ones that are dominant and the ones that politically play in shaping the current globalization. Judaism and its various political worldwide groups, Roman Catholicism and its conservative expressions such as Opus Dei- or its more progressive strands like Liberation Theology in Latin America, historic Protestantism especially in England and the United States, Islam and its Sunni and Shia forms in the Arab countries, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and its various expressions; all of them explain the world- not to mention the thousands of religious forms that structure the Hindu reality, the current geopolitics. Here we must make multiples analysis of how religious expressions of this civilizing paradigm converge and/or intersect with the other existing civilizing paradigms. When asked expressly if we live a post-religious paradigm, we can say yes, but that doesnt mean that the religious will disappear or that it will become meaningless for millions of

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people; rather, we must understand which strategies and new forms will be adopted by this civilizing paradigm in its historical expressions to the new existing paradigms. The Human Civilizing Paradigm As several authors have said, among them Luc Ferry, Jean Luc Marion, etc., it has been the Judeo-Christian matrix the one that opened the door for the birth of a third paradigm that we can call humanist. From the Judeo-Christian civilizing religious paradigm, the human being will no longer be a servile object to the wishes of gods, but a counterpart with which it will negotiate, and alliances will be made. It will no longer start from of the infinite debt to the gods, but from the human freedom to accept the sacred berith. From this humanist part will prevail a great theological dose but little by little, it will turn into philosophy and the great Renaissance, Humanists and Modern movements will be built where the human being is once again the center of human societies. This dynamics will be slower because of its struggle against the dominant civilizing paradigm, but it will not be until the economic activity gives it a boost and starts imposing socially. Along with the birth and imposition of this civilizing paradigm as dominant, the religious will find three states or forms. We can summarize it with three words: Displacement, Substitution and Consent. The humanistic modernity has tried from its global empowerment to displace the religious and turn to be center itself, meaning and horizon of new human communities. It has tried to transform the religious dynamics in private acts. It has tried to replace the justifications that religious institutes use to give by producing a state that legitimates and gives social order to modern communities. It is not about religious ideals but social, the ones that will guide in a utopian way human paths. Democracy will become the important thing. It will also do rough things such as propose its own transcendence mediations, the famous civil religion where the flag or the national symbols are worshiped. It will think that this paradigm will be only a matter of time before the religious disappears, the analysts will say more theories than observable truths, many will say that the religious disappeared, taking the European case as a global reality, but they were wrong: religion never left, it never came back, it is still mutating, transforming, or still crusting. Today the discussion is like the modern states, they accept and consent /tolerate the current religious forms. How far its social acting and its political participation allow, this is the current theme of this paradigm. In another moment we would have to analyze from these paradigms the experience of religious orders.

150 Alejandro ORTIZ

The Economicist Civilizing Paradigm It is not unknown for anyone how modernity, with the industrial and liberal dynamics, became a non humanistic modernity and quite an economist one. And that was where the fourth paradigm was born, the one that prevails and is the one that most damaged has caused in the actual world. The market has become a fetish as Marx said or an idol as it was said by the liberation theologians. Anyway, it has become the linchpin of current globalization. In this dominant paradigm, today, but with death signals too, the religious still occupies a relevant place. In the first place, we talk about a religious perspective where the same paradigm is a religious system of transcendence, has its own temples (Wall Street) , its priests (the brookers), its own sacred books (Dow Jones, for example), its prophets (presidents) and Levites (IMF, just as an example), its ethics (to maintain the status quo as Mardones said). On the other hand, it makes religious expressions trade themselves and thus move away from their first and central objectives. All sacred is for sale. The pilgrimages became touristic tours; devotions became gold medals of John Paul II that are sold on TV or images stickers- on bags of fries. Everything is sacred commodity. We can see the excesses in some Pentecostal sects that mislead people with holly water from the Jordan or with sand from the dessert where Jesus prayed. The theology of prosperity of the televangelist is the height allowed. Camdessus, Novak and others have tried to see sacred truths and new sacred values in Neoliberalism itself. The Digital Civilizing Paradigm It is thanks to the last two paradigms that the next civilizing paradigm emerges and consolidates: the Digital. Science, from the humanistic civilizing paradigm has had a development that hasnt stopped. And technology, specially computers and data have became the great business and the great new power of all new knowledge societies as Castells said, until reaching the digital world that the current, new and elitists youth generations already enjoy. We already talk about digital natives, that is to say, whole generations that already were born in a world where the daily life and normal is the artificial, the cement, the touch, the immediate, the access, the no distance, the multitask, but also superficiality, the networks and the simulation, among other things. We still have a long way to understand and grasp this new civilizing paradigm. There are still more critics and prejudices than reasoning and comprehension, even though we dont intend justify ourselves. Here the religious and transcendental is science and technology itself. David

Towards a complex understandig of the contemporay religious phenomenon 151

Noble has been in charge of clarifying how science is seen as the new god that will provide us a new world. Others more atheists verify Gods death and postulate how machines with their artificial intelligence in the year 2040 will become as intelligent as human beings and also as beings as themselves. Here we can say in a better way how the cutting-edge, progressive, traditional, religious expressions have linked with this new civilizing paradigm. There are more questions than answers. Maybe we can close this essay asking ourselves, in this new civilizing paradigm which ones will be the poverties and the new exclusions and how Liberation Theology will be able to face them?

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Proyecto teolgico completado!

Acaba de aparecer el quinto y ltimo volumen de

Por los muchos caminos de Dios

serie de cinco volmenes colectivos organizada por la Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana de ASETT/EATWOT y concluida finalmente por su Comisin Teolgica Internacional. La primera y hasta ahora nica obra que aborda el cruzamiento entre teologa de la liberacin y teologa del pluralismo religioso. Los cinco volmenes son: I. Desafos del pluralismo religioso a la teologa de la liberacin II. Hacia una teologa latinoamericana del pluralismo religioso III. Teologa latinoamericana pluralista de la liberacin IV. Teologa pluralista liberadora internacional y V. Hacia una teologa planetaria organizado por Jos Mara VIGIL, con la participacin de: M. Amaladoss (India), M. Barros (Brasil), A. Brighenti (Brasil), E.K-F. Chia (Malaysia), A. Egea (Espaa), P.F. Knitter (EEUU), D.R. Loy (EEUU), L. Magesa (Tanzania), J. Neusner (EEUU), I.A. Omar (EEUU), T. Okure (Nigeria), R.Panikkar (India-Espaa), P.C. Phan (Vietnam-EEUU), A. Pieris (Sry Lanka), R. Renshaw (Canad), J.A. Robles (Costa Rica), K.L. Seshagiri (EEUU), A.M.L. Soares (Brasil), F. Teixeira (Brasil). 190 pginas. 75 US$. Pedidos a: editorial@abyayala.org / www.abyayala.org Tambin en formato digital: a la mitad de precio, por correo-e Ms informacin: http://tiempoaxial o http://tiempoaxial.org/PorLosMuchosCaminos tiempoaxial.org/AlongTheManyPaths tiempoaxial.org/PelosMuitosCaminhos Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana de ASETT comision.teologica.latinoamericana.org comissao.teologica.latinoamericana.org y Comisin Teolgica Internacional de la EATWOT internationaltheologicalcommission.org

 153

A Theological Project Completed!

The fifth and last volume has just been published

Along the Many Paths of GoD

a five volume collection series, edited by the Latin American Theological Commission of EATWOT and finally concluded by its International Theological Commission. The first and until now unique work addressing the cross-fertilization between Theology of Liberation and Theology of Pluralism The five volumes are: I. Challenges of Religious Pluralism for Liberation Theology II. Toward a Latin American Theology of Religious Pluralism III. Latin American Pluralist Theology of Liberation IV. International Pluralist Liberating Theology and the last one now also appearing in English: V. Toward a Planetary Theology edited by Jos Mara VIGIL vwith the collaboration of: M. Amaladoss (India), M. Barros (Brazil), A. Brighenti (Brazil), E.K-F. Chia (Malaysia), A. Egea (Spain), P.F. Knitter (USA), D.R. Loy (USA), L. Magesa (Tanzania), J. Neusner (USA), I.A. Omar (USA), T. Okure (Nigeria), R. Panikkar (India-Spain), P.C. Phan (Vietnam-USA), A. Pieris (Sri Lanka), R. Renshaw (Canada), J.A. Robles (Costa Rica), K.L. Seshagiri (USA), A.M.L. Soares (Brazil), F. Teixeira (Brazil). This fifth book is published in English by Dunamis Publishers To order: dunamis@live.com / dunamispublishers.blogspot.com For the Spanish edition: editorial@abyayala.org / www.abyayala.org (sold also in digital format: at half price, by e-mail ) For further information: tiempoaxial.org/AlongTheManyPaths tiempoaxial.org/PorLosMuchosCaminos tiempoaxial.org/PelosMuitosCaminhos tiempoaxial.org/PerIMoltiCammini Comisin Teolgica Latinoamericana de ASETT comision.teologica.latinoamericana.org and the International Theological Commission of EATWOT internationaltheologicalcommission.org

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Paradigma posreligional?
Hacia una comprensin compleja del fenmeno religioso contemporneo
Alejandro ORTIZ Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla Mxico

Intencionalidad Quisiramos proponer, en las siguientes lneas, la idea de la existencia de paradigmas civilizatorios -que han guiado el caminar histrico de la humanidad-, en relacin y conflicto permanente, conviviendo al mismo tiempo, creando alianzas, intersecciones o conflictos entre ellos; y tratar de borrar una visin de paradigmas lineales y consecuentes donde uno va superando al anterior, y donde el paradigma superado va desapareciendo en la historia con el tiempo, esta ltima visin moderna progresista no ayuda a nuestro entender- a comprender la complejidad que es la realidad actual. Por eso creemos que el decir que vivimos o vamos hacia un paradigma post-religioso puede ser una manera no apta, -por ser rpida y sencilla-, de entender el mundo y el papel de lo religioso en el mundo contemporneo. Al contrario, ubicamos varios paradigmas civilizatorios, que si bien han surgido de manera consecuente uno despus de otro, los paradigmas no desaparecen del todo sino que se van transformando o ciertas expresiones de un paradigma van encontrando nuevos caminos de expresin y de existir a partir de las relaciones y/o intersecciones con otros paradigmas civilizatorios existentes. Para comprender mejor estas ideas desarrollar de manera narrativa una visin mnima de los cinco paradigmas civilizatorio que a mi consideracin ubico, si no como los nicos si como los principales. Dentro de cada explicacin en cada uno de los paradigmas escribir cmo el fenmeno religioso vive y se desarrolla.

Hacia una comprensin compleja del pensamiento religioso contemporneo 155

Primeras ideas En la historia de la humanidad podemos sealar con cierta facilidad cinco paradigmas civilizatorios que conviven mutuamente en la actualidad creando un sinfn de intersecciones, alianzas, contradicciones, etc., que a su vez crean lo que denominamos realidad. Los zapatistas al mencionar su utopa de crear un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos suponen de base esta idea: existen en convivencia y en conflicto mltiples pocas en la actualidad. Que una visin epocal dominante y excluyente crea que su perspectiva sea la mejor y trate de dominar a las otras es parte del anlisis zapatista, pero lo que nos interesa en este momento es la idea de la existencia de varias pocas convergiendo en un mismo tiempo y espacio. Otra manera de decir lo mismo puede ser: que en las sociedades actuales, as como en los ncleos familiares contemporneos, conviven al mismo tiempo y muchas veces en el mismo lugar tres maneras diferentes de ver el mundo: la perspectiva premoderna, moderna y postmoderna, cada una con sus ventajas y valores, as como con sus contradicciones y negatividades. Las familias se vuelven campos de batallas cuando el dilogo y la negociacin no prevalecen. As mismo podemos hablar de otras instituciones sociales. Llamamos paradigma civilizatorio a esos sistemas colectivos que rigen dominantemente- a las comunidades humanas en un tiempo y espacio determinados, y que desde sus valores centrales construyen subsistemas socio-culturales y econmico-polticos que les permiten crear convivialidad, culturas y sociabilidad. Se crean, entonces desde estos paradigmas, civilizaciones humanas que podrn sobrevivir con los aos en la medida que se van ajustando, a veces de modo muy tenso, con los nuevos paradigmas que van surgiendo y que van siendo los dominantes. Parafraseando a Corb, estos paradigmas civilizatorios son las grandes vasijas donde se moldean de determinadas maneras y formas las civilizaciones en cada poca. A continuacin describiremos brevemente cada paradigma civilizatorio y sealaremos tambin brevemente cmo las religiones van jugando un rol importante en cada uno de ellos. El paradigma civilizatorio naturalista El primer paradigma civilizatorio lo podemos llamar naturalista. En este paradigma es el contexto fsico que envuelve a las comunidades el eje rector. Es la naturaleza a la que se dota de personalidad y con la cual hay que dialogar para que sea benvola con las comunidades humanas. Pronto la naturaleza ser nuestra madre, la Gaia segn los griegos, la Pachamama segn los latinoamericanos.

156 Alejandro ORTIZ

Si bien es cierto que aqu las prcticas religiosas son importantes, el eje no son los dioses sino la naturaleza. Los dioses nos ayudaran en primer momento a comprender los secretos de la naturaleza, los ritmos de los destinos cclicos que invariablemente y eternamente suceden cada determinado tiempo. Comprenderla hasta dominarla ser una largo dilogo y drama que actuarn los humanos con la naturaleza con importantes consecuencias. Al principio, entonces, ser la tierra, los cielos, las piedras, las flores, los animales, los grandes smbolos culturales a partir de los cuales las comunidades irn construyendo sus propuestas sociales y culturales. Como dice Corb, ser la caza, la recoleccin y la agricultura las actividades econmicas que les darn sentido mayoritariamente a las comunidades de entonces. Sin embargo el conocimiento de la naturaleza, el aprender de sus secretos, de sus movimientos, de sus ciclos, de sus etapas ser las formas epistemolgicas con las cuales se explicara el mundo y el papel del ser humano en l. Lo detectamos en varios mitos y ritos. Los chamanes, los hombres sabios y las mujeres sabias aprendern de la naturaleza, bailarn sus ritmos, curarn, -desde los olores secretos y prohibidos menos para ellos-, a las comunidades enfermas. Ellos y ellas guiarn a las comunidades para no enojar las fuerzas naturales, -que despus se llamarn diosesy en cambio nos ensearn a saber agradecerles lo que hacen para que las comunidades puedan vivir. Entonces es claro comprender que el ser humano se vuelve un sirviente, un cuidador, un administrador, un mayordomo de la tierra. Como dice el mito del Gnesis, seremos hechos de maz como lo dice el mito maya Popol vuh, o como dice otro mito del Gnesis, seremos tierra viviente. En estos momentos no existir el cuerpo y alma griegos, sino el tonal y nahual latinoamericanos. El tonal ser ese espritu de un animal que nos cuidara en toda nuestra vida. El secreto mayor ser conocer cul es nuestro propio tonal, y dominarlo hasta confundirnos con l. Cuando logramos esto seremos nahuales. Los grandes ritos sociales y de iniciacin tendrn que ver con el dominio en la caza de animales mgicos. Podemos observar que los pueblos indgenas, afroamericanos, africanos y algunos rabes todava tienen como matriz civilizatoria este paradigma. Lo van adecuando, tensionando y enfrentando a los nuevos paradigmas dominantes existentes. Aunque pareciera ser el paradigma ms dbil, en la actualidad podemos decir que todos los dems paradigmas civilizatorios nacieron de ste y todos tienen algo de l. Algunos dicen que este paradigma civilizatorio ha logrado sobrevivir en las nuevas expresiones del new age, donde lo natural (en contra de lo artificial), lo verde, lo ecolgico se vuelve una nueva manera de vivir este paradigma civilizatorio.

Hacia una comprensin compleja del pensamiento religioso contemporneo 157

En este primer paradigma naturalista las formas religiosas todava se expresan en lo que Otto llamaba lo tremendum. Lo religioso es parte de algo mayor, lo religioso crea ritos menores que imitan los ciclos mayores de la naturaleza. Tal vez es la etapa de lo que se llama lo pre-religioso por varios estudiosos del fenmeno religioso. Por ejemplo, antes de que laspascua se volviera el gran rito religioso judo y despus cristiano, antes era una comida que reflejaba el respeto y el acercamiento sagrado al contexto del desierto; despus se volver desde la experiencia sagrada de los xodos en un rito de identidad religiosa hasta volver en uno de los grandes ritos religiosos de los judos. Hoy sigue existiendo este paradigma y tal vez una forma bastante profunda y verdadera de expresarse hoy sea a travs de las teologas indias y afros. El paradigma civilizatorio religioso Despus, desde este paradigma y tambin desde el desarrollo de la agricultura y la creacin de los sistemas de riego as como de la posterior ganadera, las comunidades irn ubicando a la religin como paradigma civilizatorio en s misma, ya no servir para mediar entre las fuerzas naturales y sus espritus y los humanos, sino ms bien se volver fin en s misma y desde ella se fundamentar, justificar y se ordenar el mundo existente. Sern ya los dioses locales o dominantes los que dirijan los rumbos humanos y no las fuerzas csmicas. La religin o religiones- se volver el segundo paradigma civilizatorio. Desde ella se construirn imperios, ciudades, civilizaciones. Sera una lucha de dioses donde se irn posicionando slo los ms dominantes. Hasta llegar a los monotesmos, donde slo cabe un dios: el propio. Las iglesias, comunidades religiosas, se volvern de primera importancia, tanto o ms que los propios reyes. Los libros sagrados, los templos y los sacerdotes, las segundas trinidades, segn Pannikar, sern las mediaciones mediante las cuales las comunidades encontrarn rumbo y direccin en sus vidas. Este paradigma civilizatorio como el anterior contina hasta la fecha. La gente sigue siendo religiosa aunque ya no tan institucionalmente. La participacin en las iglesias disminuye pero la bsqueda religiosa crece. No es cuestin solo de viejitos sino de aquellas grandes comunidades agrarias que emigran hacia las ciudades llevando consigo sus creencias religiosas. Por poner un ejemplo: las comunidades migrantes mexicanas han impuesto a las comunidades anglosajonas norteamericanas sus creencias guadalupanas. Podemos decir brevemente que el paradigma civilizatorio religioso sigue existiendo y seguir por mucho aos. Sin embargo este paradigma

158 Alejandro ORTIZ

no termina de explicar toda la realidad religiosa en el mundo. Debemos decir que son las instituciones religiosas tradicionales de este paradigma las que son las dominantes y las que juegan polticamente en la configuracin de la globalizacin actual. El judasmo y sus distintos grupos polticos mundiales, el catolicismo romano y sus expresiones conservadoras como el opus dei- o sus vertientes ms progresistas como las teologas de la liberacin en Amrica latina, los protestantismos histricos sobre todo en Inglaterra y Estados Unidos, el islam y sus formas chitas y sunitas en los pases rabes, el taosmo, el confucianismo, el budismo y sus distintas expresiones, explican todos ellos en el mundo sin olvidar las miles de formas religiosas que estructuran la realidad hind- la geopoltica actual. Aqu debemos hacer mltiples anlisis de cmo expresiones religiosas de este paradigma civilizatorio convergen y/o interseccionan con los otros paradigmas civilizatorios existentes. Ante la pregunta expresa, si vivimos un paradigma pos-religioso, podemos decir que s, pero eso no significa que lo religioso desaparezca, ni deje de tener sentido para millones de personas; ms bien debemos entender qu estrategias y nuevas formas adopta este paradigma civilizatorio en sus expresiones histricas ante los nuevos paradigmas existentes El paradigma civilizatorio humanista Como lo han dicho varios autores, entre ellos Luc Ferry, Jean Luc Marion, etc., ha sido la matriz judeocristiana la que abri la puerta para que naciera un tercer paradigma que podemos llamar humanista. Desde el paradigma civilizatorio religioso judeocristiano, el ser humano ya no ser ms un objeto servil a los deseos de los dioses ,sino una contraparte con la cual se negociara, se harn alianzas. Ya no se parte de la deuda infinita hacia los dioses, sino de la libertad humana para aceptar la berith sagrada. Esta parte humanista prevalecer una gran dosis teolgica, pero poco a poco se ir volviendo filosofa y se irn construyendo los grandes movimientos renacentistas, humanistas y modernos donde el ser humano vuelve a ser el centro de las sociedades humanas. Esta dinmica ser ms lenta por su lucha contra el paradigma civilizatorio religioso dominante, pero ser hasta que la actividad econmica le d un fuerte impulso y se vaya imponiendo socialmente. Con el nacimiento e imposicin de este paradigma civilizatorio como dominante lo religioso se encontrar en tres estadios o formas. Podemos resumirlo con tres palabras: Desplazamiento, Sustitucin y Consentimiento. La modernidad humanista ha tratado desde su empoderamiento global de desplazar a lo religioso y volverse ella misma centro, sentido y horizonte de las nuevas comunidades humanas. Ha tratado de

Hacia una comprensin compleja del pensamiento religioso contemporneo 159

transformar la dinmica religiosa en actos privados. Ha tratado de sustituir las legitimaciones que daban las instituciones religiosas produciendo un estado que legtima y da orden social a las comunidades modernas. Ya no se trata de ideales religiosos sino sociales, los que guiaran utpicamente los caminos humanos. La democracia se volver lo importante. Tambin har cosas burdas como proponer sus propias mediaciones de trascendencia, la famosa religin civil donde se rinde culto a la bandera o a los smbolos patrios. Pensar este paradigma que ser slo cuestin de tiempo para que lo religioso desaparezca; los propios analistas dirn ms teoras que verdades observables; muchos dirn que lo religioso desapareci, tomando el caso europeo como realidad global, pero se equivocaron: la religin nunca se fue, nunca retorn, sigue mutndose, sigue transformndose o sigue hacindose costra. Hoy la discusin es como los estados modernos aceptan y consienten/toleran las formas religiosas actuales. Hasta dnde permiten su actuacin social y su participacin poltica: ste es el tema actual desde este paradigma. En otro momento tendramos que analizar desde estos paradigmas la vivencia de las rdenes religiosas El paradigma civilizatorio economicista Para nadie es desconocido cmo la modernidad, con las dinmicas industriales y liberales, se fue convirtiendo en una modernidad nada humanista y s mucho economicista. Y ah naci el cuarto paradigma que prevalece y es el que mayor dao nos ha hecho en el mundo actual. El mercado se ha vuelto un fetiche como dira Marx, o un dolo, como dijeron los telogos de la liberacin. Como sea, se ha vuelto el eje rector de la globalizacin actual. En este paradigma dominante hoy, pero con seales de muerte tambin, lo religioso sigue ocupando un lugar relevante. En primer lugar hablamos de una perspectiva religiosa donde el mismo paradigma es un sistema religioso de trascendencia, tiene sus templos (Wall street), sus sacerdotes (los agentes de la bolsa), sus libros sagrados (dow jones por ejemplo) sus profetas (presidentes) y levitas (FMI, por poner un ejemplo) su tica (la de mantener el status quo como deca Mardones). Por otro hace que las expresiones religiosas se mercantilicen y con ello se alejen de sus objetivos primeros y centrales. Se vende todo lo sagrado. Las peregrinaciones se volvieron tours tursticos, las devociones se volvieron medallas de oro de Juan Pablo II que se venden por televisin o imgenesstickers en bolsitas de papas fritas. Todo es mercanca sagrada. Los excesos podemos verlos en algunas sectas pentecostales que engaan a la gente con agua bendita del Jordn o arena del desierto donde or Jess. La teologa de la prosperidad de los telepredicadores evanglicos es el colmo permitido. Camdessus, Novak y otros han tratado

160 Alejandro ORTIZ

de ver en el mismo neoliberalismo verdades sagradas y nuevos valores sagrados. El paradigma civilizatorio digital Es gracias a los dos ltimos paradigmas que va surgiendo y se van consolidando como el prximo paradigma civilizatorio dominante el Digital. La ciencia desde el paradigma civilizatorio humanista ha tenido un desarrollo que no ha parado. Y la tecnologa, sobre todo la computacional e informtica, ha resultado el gran negocio y el gran nuevo poder de las nuevas sociedades de conocimiento como dira Castells, hasta llegar al mundo digital que disfrutan ya las nuevas y elitistas generaciones juveniles actuales. Se habla ya de nativos digitales es decir de generaciones enteras que ya nacieron en un mundo donde lo cotidiano y normal es lo artificial, el cemento, lo touch, lo inmediato, el acceso, la no distancia, las multitareas, pero tambin la superficialidad, las redes y la simulacin, entre otros elementos. Nos falta mucho entender y comprender este nuevo paradigma civilizatorio. Todava hay ms criticas y prejuicios que razonamientos y comprensiones, aunque no pretendemos justificaciones. Aqu lo religioso y trascendental es la ciencia y la tecnologa en s misma. David Noble se ha encargado de aclararnos cmo la ciencia se ve ya como el nuevo dios que nos facilitar un nuevo mundo. Otros ms ateos verifican la muerte de Dios y postulan cmo las maquinas con inteligencia artificial en el ao 2040 sern tan inteligentes como los seres humanos y tambin tan sintientes como ellos. Aqu podemos decir mejor cmo las expresiones religiosas tradicionales, progresistas, de vanguardia se han relacionado con este nuevo paradigma civilizatorio. Hay ms preguntas que respuestas. Tal vez podemos cerrar este escrito preguntndonos: en este nuevo paradigma civilizatorio, cules sern las pobrezas y las nuevas exclusiones, y de qu manera la teologa de la liberacin podr enfrentarlas?

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From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religious Culture

Juan Diego ORTIZ Universidad de Guadalajara, Mxico.

Resumen
El presente artculo aborda algunos cambios que se perciben en la cultura religiosa de la poblacin, particularmente entre los jvenes. El anlisis terico se hace a partir de los postulados sobre tesmo y postesmo de John Shelby Spong, obispo cristiano perteneciente a la iglesia anglicana estadounidense, quien ha estudiado las transformaciones en el sistema de creencias religiosas. El estudio tiene como base emprica una encuesta que se aplic a 100 jvenes estudiantes que habitan en la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, y que muestra ciertas tendencias en la manera de comprender la fe cristiana. El artculo muestra que hay transformaciones en la cultura religiosa y que por lo mismo es pertinente darle seguimiento a este fenmeno. El trabajo no se sita en el campo de la increencia religiosa, sino en saber en qu creen y cmo creen los jvenes que se sienten pertenecientes al catolicismo. Es decir, se trata de comprender si efectivamente se est dando un proceso de transicin en las formas testas de creer, hacia un postesmo que rebasa el culto tradicional y la doctrina clsica del cristianismo catlico.

Palabras clave: Tesmo, postesmo, catolicismo, cultura religiosa, jvenes Summary

This article discusses some changes that are perceived in the religious culture of the population, particularly among young people. The theoretical analysis is based on the tenets of theism and postesmo John Shelby Spong, Bishop Christian belonging to the U.S. Anglican church, who has studied the changes in the system of religious beliefs. The empirical study is based on a survey applied to 100 young students living in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, which shows certain tendencies in the

162 Juan Diego ORTIZ

way of understanding the Christian faith in light of our rapidly changing times. The paper shows the changes in religious culture and therefore it is appropriate to follow up on this phenomenon. The work is not situated in the field of religious unbelief, but in knowing what they believe and how they think young people feel belonging to Catholicism. That is, trying to understand if indeed it is making a transition in forms of theistic belief, to a cult postesmo exceeding the traditional and the classical doctrine of Catholic Christianity.

Keywords: Theism, postesmo, Catholicism, religious culture, youth.

Introduction In these times of globalization and cultural changes, its said that religions and their churches have entered a deep crisis, particularly in Europe. Opinions and analyses regarding Latin America are diverse, and not all of them come to conclude that there is a crisis in religions; they accept, at most, that the crisis is focused in the churches and their hierarchies, but that it doesnt show itself in peoples spirituality. In any case, the subject has become a topic of interest for those who study religious phenomena because it reaches the vast majority of the population. From different angles, the impacts of cultural change withheld over the world are being researched, and they affect religions. Aside from the different conclusions, the irrefutable fact is that the youngest layer of society shows a gradual distancing from religious systems and churches, though this has its differences according to the region thats being analyzed. If we choose Europe and Latin America as a case, we will find contrasts and diverse rhythms in the process of cultural change, needless to say that this applies too to the Middle East, central Asia or Africa. Nevertheless, in spite of the contrasts and different rhythms, a change in religious culture is happening among young people, and it is there where bigger efforts in research should be layed. To analyze this topic, people draw from John Shelby Spongs ideas on post-theism in the belief system, and how this phenomenon is generating transformations in the religious field, especially in the Christian one. Spongs theory is accompanied by information from a survey that was applied among young people in Guadalajara, Mexico, which shows empirical evidence about religious cultural change. Results of the survey show certain trends, for it is only the opinion of 100 youth between 18 and 30 years old with a strong urban identity, so one cannot say absolute truths about what goes on in the highly populated and industrial zone of the state of Jalisco. With all this, the present article has a theoretical

From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religius Culture 163

basis and field information with which its attempted to analyze religiosity among youths in aims to understand it. Spong and theism Its appropriate to start this article explaining briefly who Spong is, for, according to some theologians, he is the author with the most conviction and bravery among those proposing the idea of post-theism, and who more insistently calls for a post-theist reading of Christianism. Spong is a retired bishop from the Christian Episcopal Church, the American version of the Anglican Church. He was born in North Carolina, United States, and has written over 10 books, one of which is A New Christianity for a New World: Why traditional faith is dying and how a new faith is being born, from where the following lines are drawn. Its a non orthodox writer who has been questioning the literal truths of the Bible, and has consequently walked many roads to understand, from other points of view, the deep contents and messages of Christianity. In the preface of Spongs book (2011), the author writes:
In that Christianity versed to the future I have looked to avoid the pseudo-assurance offered by traditional Christianity. The God of eternal arms, ready to help us when we fall (cf. Dt 33,27), and the Jesus we call the Eternal Rock, to whom well hold on eternally, both produce I think so now immature people, who need the cares of a supernatural, paternal deity.

As one can tell, Spong is a theologist in search of new paradigms to understand Christianity. Its an author whos unsatisfied by the traditional formulas and the truths of that orthodox, doctrinal Christianity, and he calls to build one radically reformulated, and able to survive in this daring new world. This retired bishop has wanted and needed to dialogue with the academic world, so he can be read from two sides: the academic one and the theological one, giving a more interesting and argued posture about religion and the times were living in. His 45 years of career inside a church and his presence in several American universities have given him an undisputable intellectual strength. As a Christian, Spong states that a rereading of Christianity is necessary; he speaks of a reform in Christianity and its church, but of a radical, deeply theological reform, proclaiming that the way in which traditional christianism was formulated has lost credibility. It is exactly among young people that religions, including Christianity, but especially the churches, seem to lack credibility, and thus there is a gap that distances many of them from religious belief and belonging to the church. If they still believe in any religion they do it in ways that differ from the traditional schemes; that is why Spongs

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approaches are pertinent: because they deal with reinterpreting Christian faith under the light of these days, an issue that many find outrageous, especially because theyre made from a post-theist posture, which may not be new but has been enriched by challenging approaches that call for deep reflection. Having the above information about our author as a reference, let us now turn to the matter of theism, but before we get into what Spong says, its important to review the definition that Roystons Diccionario de religiones (Dictionary of religions) has about this concept:
Theism "(from gr. Theos," God "). Etymologically, belief in the existence of a God, but usually "theist" applies to someone who believes in a personal God, transcendent and as interested in men as to make Revelation to them. The "deist" (etymologically the same) believes, however, in a Divinity that after creating the universe, has withdrawn completely and never intervenes in human affairs (p.436).

This concept of theism tells us that there is a belief about a god who intervenes directly in human lives, has been revealed, is transcendent and is therefore located outside this world, that is, there is a divinity in the realm of the extraterrestrial, in heaven, in the superhuman, in the supernatural. In the meantime, deism believes in a god who has created the world but doesnt intervene in human business. Between theism and deism there is a wide debate, one of the polemic issues being whether God is an interventionist or not in the carrying of human life in the world. Getting into Spongs ideas about theism, he tells us that Christian education has taught us the image of a theistic God, that is, a transcendent God who does intervene in human history but with supernatural powers, who lives outside this world and regularly invades it to fulfill divine will (ibid p. 38), but after reviewing his intervention, it turns out that many divine acts could be considered in modern times, immoral, according to our author. Take for example the plagues used to punish Egyptians and the massive downing of hundreds of them in the Red Sea to free Gods chosen people from Egyptian rule. Beholding this, Spong asks himself, is this the work of a moral God? Are these actions not the reflection of a God that the Egyptians could never adore? Another example of the theist God who intervenes with supernatural power, in actions that turn out to be incomprehensible to actual human thought, is the sacrifice of Jesus before the cross, which until these days means that God gave his son to be tortured and murdered in payment for our sins. And also how that blood washes the sins of the world to be resurrected later as a sign of triumph. Here, Spong ponders if this God who needs a bloody human sacrifice is worthy of adoration nowadays, when we become fully conscious of this offensive idea.

From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religius Culture 165

Following the line of a theistic God our author says that religious beliefs are weakening, and sets other examples: when people say today that the age of miracles has passed, it doesnt mean that miracles no longer happen, but that they never happened at all, because the age when we perceived some events as miraculous is over (ibid p. 38). What Spong wants to show is that scientific knowledge has provided a better understanding of the universe and life in the Earth, which means we now understand certain phenomena not as miracles of God, but as the result of workings of nature or of human actions though knowledge.
We used to see God as the prime mover in areas of health and sickness. We thought that illness was a reflection of divine punishment and health of its blessing. But then we discovered germs and viruses, and we developed antibiotics, surgical procedures and things like chemotherapy. With this new knowledge we started to realize that antibiotics, surgeries and chemotherapy work on sinners as well as on saints. Thus, the realm of disease as an area of operation of God grew smaller and medicine made its contribution to the modern development of secularization. Formerly, we saw God as the cause of climate and we interpreted floods, droughts, hurricanes and storms as expressions of divine will. Then we discovered meteorology, weather fronts, high and low pressure systems, the winds of El Nio and la Nia, the climatic effects of tides and so many other facts that the idea of a supernatural being who manipulated the weather for moral reasons became untenable. We believed that if God guided our country in the battle we would beat the enemy, or if our faithfulness to this God decayed, he would make us try his divine wrath with defeat But with the arrival of modern wars, it seems that God is always on the side of the ones who have the strongest weapons (p. 39).

Spong states that with the previous examples can prove that God, understood theistically, is no longer functional in our belief system. He claims that the God of theism is dying and, therefore, religious beliefs are changing even if many people try to hold on to that God with supernatural powers who rules Earth and human life from the outside. In another set of examples, Spong notes that there are emotional data that suggest that the role of security provider, attributed to the theist God in the past, no longer work. He points there are many human behaviors that account for the disappearance of this idea of a protecting and controlling God. Today, many people in the world find self-assurance and control for their fears and hysterias in addictions and use of tranquilizers, in the use of violence, in suicide, in racism, even in not complying with certain commandments of Christian churches, such as not divorcing, not using contraceptives, not having homosexual practices, etcetera, behaviors that, according to Spong, are emotional proofs of the death

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of the theist God, that is, that God who controlled it all and gave assurance, so there is no longer a supernatural almighty God who intervenes to solve every personal situation and provide the necessary certainties for existence. These quests for assurance are no longer focused on divine intervention, but in the most varied human behaviors. This fix-it-all God is extinguishing and more so in the conscience of youths, who are finding assurance in other ways or, put in a different manner, are solving their insecurities in ways that might not be the most appropriate. Their needs to believe in a transcendent being or to fulfill spirituality are parts of a renewed religious culture that is far from the schemes of traditional Christianity. In his book A New Christianity for a New World, which we have been referring to, Spong points that the revolution of knowledge and the emerging human maturity have conspired to reduce the credibility the old theist molds. Far from viewing this as a problem, our author comments that the weakening of theism shouldnt represent something frightful and evil, but should be considered as a step towards maturity, towards a human coming of age through which we can stop being those children relating to and depending on a heavenly father. Spong claims that this maturity can be the starting point to discover a new way to understand God, that is to say it represents a transit where the old myth of theism quickly loses its power to create a new myth, which is in progress and will be the result of the ways of the new era that global society is living. The construction of a new myth is not necessarily held outside the sacred scriptures of Christianity, but in a rereading of them, where there are, according to Spong, important clues to understand in other ways the existence of God, and the relationship that a human being can hold with that Foundation and Source of all beings. Following the crisis of theism, he says no religion can give assurance to a person, and that when such assurance is looked for though personal religions, what people find are usually illusions. He explains, on the other hand, that every true religiosity lets embrace life with all its radical uncertainty and live it with courage. This sends us back to the youths, who dont normally look to any god to sort out their problems. Young people dont go to church seeking for assurance, they manage without religion and that doesnt mean that they are not spiritual or they dont have religious beliefs. The point is they assume that relationship with the divine in a different way. The following are the results of a survey where some changes in young peoples religious culture can be appraised, changes that may be related with Spongs post-theism. As it was stated in the beginning, its a first explanatory

From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religius Culture 167

study to detect trends, so only initial interpretations about the religious phenomenon are presented. God as universal energy The referred survey was answered by 100 youths living in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, that is, they are inhabitants of the municipalities of Zapopan, Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque, Tonal and Tlajomulco. Their ages range from 18 to 30, theyre students and some of them recently finished college. Nevertheless, its necessary to mention that the survey was also applied to another 100 people whose ages range from 31 to 80. This means the sample harvests the opinion of 200 believers about how they view some of the religious truths of Christianity, and its objective is to recognize the possible cultural or epistemological changes happening to their own religion. For the purposes of this piece and for reasons of space, only the results of the hundred surveys applied individually to young people in different parts of the city are discussed and analyzed. The survey contains 17 items, but only the results of five of them are presented because its impossible to talk about all of them in this piece. Nonetheless, they are the most representative ones of the topic of this essay. Lets start with one of the answers that most catches attention in the field research, which is the one for the question, Who is God? Its peculiarly related to the theism Spong questions. As one can tell, deductions can be made saying a cultural religious change is happening among youths, and its located in a post-theist context. Who is God? The Creator 24% A punishing father 0% A loving father 18% A universal energy 46% I don't know 12% Total 100% Most of the answers of the surveyed youth (46%) identify God as a universal energy, and another thing that catches attention is that nobody identifies God as a punishing father, but as a loving father (18%). The answers go against what the church traditionally teaches, for they have historically promoted the idea of a theist God, namely an almighty God who should be feared, who punishes and rewards depending on peoples behavior. Even the idea of a creator God has been replaced by the idea that God is universal energy present everywhere. Additionally, the sample shows that its not a personal God located outside human reality, but a

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universal energy pervading all around. This can be inferred from the answers to the next question of the survey. The question was, Where is God? Participants answered as follows: Where is God? In Heaven 16% In this world's life 60% Nowhere 10% I don't know 14% Total 100% Again, the most extended answer does not match the idea of a theist God located in the supernatural, outside the human realm, in heaven. Instead, participants believe in a God located in life in this world (60%), and therefore its not a distant unreachable God, so these answers too add up to the idea that we are in the middle of a process of change in religious culture, and there are signs of a rereading of theological teachings. Moreover, the following answers also reveal that something is happening in the religious education of young people. The question was, How do you feel closer to God? The results are: How do you feel closer to God? Attending mass 13% Reading the Bible 1% Praying 23% Being loving to the others 63% Total 100% The option about feeling closer to God by being loving to others is the one that convinced the most participants in the survey (63%). The results reach religious rituality, because according to the sample, now its more important to focus religiosity around the relationship with others and not attending to mass (13%), reading the Bible (1%) or praying (23%). This appraisal puts the belief in God in a concrete and human realm, in the field of the immediate and everyday, in the proximity with the other one, setting aside the church as an intermediary to reach the divine. This also represents, in some way, a transformation in the belief system that breaks with the tradition of emphasizing the rituality of attending mass, group readings of the Bible or learning and repeating prayers to feel the transcendent. Nowadays the choice is to practice love unto others, which has certainly been a substantial part of the deep message of Christianity, but that was slowly replaced by the strong presence of the church and its role as a filter to reach God.

From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religius Culture 169

At this point, its important to go back to the post-theist ideas of Spong, who explains his definitions of a non-theist God. This Anglican bishops first definition is that this non-theist God is the supreme source of life. One adores this God by living fully and sharing deeply. In his second definition, he establishes God is the primordial source of love, and the way to worship this God is to love abundantly, distributing love frivolously and giving love without thinking about the price. Finally, he defines God as the Being, as the reality that underlies everything. To worship this God, one has to be willing to risk it all, forsaking ones defenses and self-imposed social constructions of assurance and security. With all the above, Spong means the non-theist God is not a supernatural being who helps the unsure and troubled, but a presence beyond the image of external divinity. This presence resembles the universal energy the surveyed have chosen to define God, a God that belongs to this world, a God that is present in every act of human love. A god that doesnt punish and from whom we dont have to expect certainties, but that doesnt demand any praise either, as the church boasts. Back to the survey with youths, another very interesting question deals with religious cultural change, but its answers are even more interesting. Can you believe in God without religions? Here are the results: Can you believe in God without religions? Yes 77% No 11% I don' know 12% Total 100% As one can see, there is an overwhelming majority (77%) thats convinced that one can believe in God without necessarily belonging to a religion and church, while a very small part of the surveyed (11%) considers one cant believe in God without a religion. Again, theres useful information to recognize the changes in religious culture. That 77% is not minor data, and it points that young people hold their beliefs in a frame of freedom beyond the limits of religions. These are beliefs that question the authority of the churches and their doctrines, and this supposes breaking with the catholic and Christian molds that hold access to the divine is only possible through rites, tradition and the clergy. This little sample could represent what some call the movement toward a post-religious paradigm, where religions and their churches are no longer needed to live human religiosity and spirituality, which constitutes a relevant cultural change. Robles (2001) says that todays man rejects traditional religion, the religion of beliefs, because it is dogmatic, heteronomous and imposed. That is probably why young people feel the autonomy and

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freedom of answering that it is possible to believe in God without the impositions and orthodoxies of religious institutions. The fifth and last question of the exposed survey asks: How attached do you feel to your church? Agreed that all those who answered were catholic, the answers were as follows: How attached do you feel to your church? A lot 12% More or less 29% A little 20% Not at all 39% Total 100% Its evident that the majority of the participants dont have a feeling of belonging to their church (39%), namely the catholic one, but aside from which one it is, there is a gap and a detachment from the traditional forms of undertaking religiosity. Only 12% of the youths feel very close to their church. This fact shows a crisis in the churchs ability to summon and, therefore, in authority and legitimacy of the ecclesial institution, but also a lack of need to feel part of a space and religion that provides assurance and identity in collective imaginary. Thus, analyzing the results of the five questions, its clear that there is not only a shift towards posttheism in beliefs regarding God, but also a deepening crisis in the church, and together they impact the religious culture of youth. Roger Lenaers (2008) explains that thoughts and convictions are everyday more being determined by occidental scientific thought, and it is precisely what keeps conditioning us and has originated the shift from theism to post-theism, and precisely that occidental knowledge society will be the one to give birth to new ways of understanding and new meanings to faith. Both knowledge and peoples autonomy are shaping new ways to undertake religion, and this has come into contradiction with the heteronomous axiom of Christian catholic doctrine. As young people know more, assume their freedom and their autonomy of thought, they reconfigure their beliefs and its no longer easy to transmit myths and doctrines, because societies are not static and ignorant anymore. Detraditionalization is in progress, and accelerated cultural change is part of the new reality. As Vigil (2006) states, new generations grow in an environment where irrefutable truths can lo longer be taught. The cultural structure where they are growing asks them to demand support for traditions (religion included) that are evidently human constructions. Lenaers doesnt state the start of religions disappearance in new times, as Spong doesnt either, but they both behold the beginning of transformations in religions, and consider that from their current crisis,

From Theism to Post-Theism: A Change in Religius Culture 171

sooner or later new interpretations, a renewed mythology and a resignification in faith will arise, to live a new Christianity to match global times. Lenaers says the modern believer is outgrowing the old mythical thought because he wants to find the richness that underlies that mythical language, to make it accessible to the 21st century. Its perharps like the surveyed youth expressed: they question the great myths but they feel the need to reinterpret and undertake autonomously their religious belief systems. They want to continue being believers, but not in the old fashioned way, they want to be modern believers even if this poses a threat to traditional clergy. From a more radical point of view there is also a sector of young people who go beyond their questionings and dont feel attached to any type of religion or church, locating themselves in unbelievance. That is why youth and religious cultural change has to be the source of varied researches to gain a deeper understanding of the consequences and paths of this phenomenon. Conclusion In these times of accelerated scientific, technological and cultural changes, the way the world is understood is shifting, and the ways in which we understand and undertake religiousness are changing too. It can be said that the transformations that are happening in the 21st century and that affect religions are, to a certain point, natural, matching the development of societies, especially in the western world. The shift from theism to post-theism, post-religionals approaches that propose the possibility of believing without a religion, the growing acceptation of religious pluralism, the massive conversion from one religion to another, the apparition of new churches, secularization, unbelief and the quest for spiritual alternatives are nothing but manifestations of a new stage, a new axial time, as some theologists and philosophers may say, from which religions will emerge transformed, in the best scenario. Its important to conclude saying that nobody has certainty as to what road religions will take, and even Spong is honest by saying that with the passing of theist myths new myths havent arisen with new ways to understand God. Only changes are noticeable, deep transformations, but nothing is set and nobody can define the road religions and spirituality will take. There is just one certainty left: God is a mystery and nobody has the absolute truth for his comprehension. Besides, there is another fundamental fact pointed by theologists and academics: God cannot be understood by reason, but experience is determinant, and this turns things even more complex, because the experience of God is personal, it belongs to each believer, and this narrows down the possibilities of aca-

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demic analysis regarding the transcendent and the divine. Nevertheless, this doesnt mean reason has to stop dialoguing with faith. On the contrary, it means the debate has to go deeper, learning to be tolerant from both human aspects.

References
Lenaers, Roger (2008). Otro cristianismo es posible. Fe en lenguaje de modernidad. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Abya Yala. Ortiz, J. Diego (2011). Encuesta Creencias religiosas en los jvenes de la ZMG. Guadalajara, Mxico: Universidad de Guadalajara. Robles, J. Amando (2001). Repensar la religin, de la creencia al conocimiento. San Jos, Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad Nacional Heredia. Royston, Edgar (2005). Diccionario de las Religiones. Mxico, DF: Fondo de Cultura Econmica. Spong, John S. (2011). Un cristianismo nuevo para un mundo nuevo. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Abya Yala. Vigil, Jos Mara (2006). Teologa del pluralismo religioso. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Abya Yala.

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Del tesmo al postesmo: un cambio en la cultura religiosa

Juan Diego ORTIZ Universidad de Guadalajara, Mxico.

Introduccin En esta poca de globalizacin y cambios culturales se llega a afirmar que las religiones y sus iglesias han entrado en una profunda crisis, particularmente en Europa. Con respecto Amrica Latina las opiniones y los anlisis son ms diversos y no todos llegan a la conclusin de que ya se est en una crisis de las religiones, si acaso se acepta que la crisis se localiza en las iglesias y sus jerarquas, pero que incluso esa crisis no se manifiesta en la espiritualidad de las personas. De cualquier modo, el asunto se ha convertido en un foco de inters para los estudiosos del fenmeno religioso, ya que se trata de un tema que atae a la mayora de la poblacin. Desde muy diversos ngulos se estn investigando los impactos del cambio cultural que se registra en la inmensa mayora de los pases del orbe, y que en mayor o menor medida afecta a las religiones. Pero al margen de las distintas conclusiones, lo que es un hecho irrebatible es que en la capa joven de las sociedades se percibe un distanciamiento gradual, cada vez mayor, con respecto a los sistemas religiosos y las iglesias, aunque esto tambin tiene sus matices segn la regin de que se trate. Si ponemos como caso a Europa y Amrica Latina, encontraremos diferencias y ritmos muy diversos en el proceso de cambio cultural, y no se diga si se habla de Oriente Medio, Asia central o frica. Sin embargo, a pesar de los matices y los ritmos diferenciados, el cambio cultural religioso se est dando en la franja de poblacin joven, y es ah donde habra que poner mayores esfuerzos en la investigacin. Para realizar el anlisis de este tema, se parte de las ideas de John Shelby Spong sobre el postesmo en el sistema de creencias, y cmo este fenmeno est generando transformaciones en el campo religioso, particularmente en el cristiano. La teora de Spong es acompaada con

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informacin proveniente de una primera encuesta que se aplic a jvenes de la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, con lo cual se muestra evidencia emprica acerca del cambio cultural relacionado con las religiones. Los resultados de la encuesta indican ciertas tendencias en dicho proceso, ya que slo es la opinin de 100 jvenes de entre 18 y 30 aos de edad con una fuerte identidad urbana, por lo que no se pretende decir verdades absolutas sobre lo que est ocurriendo en la zona ms poblada e industrial del estado de Jalisco. De este modo, el trabajo aqu expuesto tiene unas bases tericas e informacin de campo con la cual se pretende lograr una aproximacin analtica para comprender el fenmeno de la religiosidad en los jvenes. Spong y el tesmo Es pertinente comenzar este artculo explicando, aunque sea de manera breve, quien es Spong, el cual, segn algunos, es el autor con ms conviccin y valenta que est proponiendo el tema del postesmo y que con ms insistencia est llamando a realizar toda una relectura postesta del cristianismo. Spong es un obispo jubilado perteneciente a la iglesia cristiana episcopal, que es la versin estadounidense de la iglesia anglicana. Naci en Carolina del Norte, Estados Unidos, y ha escrito ms de 10 libros, entre ellos, Un cristianismo nuevo para un mundo nuevo. Por qu la fe tradicional est muriendo y cmo una nueva fe est naciendo, texto del cual nos apoyamos para desarrollar las siguientes lneas. Se trata de un autor poco ortodoxo que ha estado cuestionando las verdades literales de la Biblia, y que por consiguiente ha recorrido caminos distintos para comprender, desde otras pticas, los contenidos y mensajes profundos del cristianismo. En el prefacio del libro de Spong (2011), sealado lneas arriba, el autor escribe:
En ese cristianismo volcado al futuro he buscado tambin evitar la seudo-seguridad ofrecida por el cristianismo tradicional. El Dios de los brazos eternos, que est listo para socorrernos cuando nos caemos (cf. Dt 33,27), y el Jess a quien llamamos la Roca Eterna, a quien nos agarraremos eternamente, ambos producen as lo creo ahora- personas inmaduras, que necesitan los cuidados de una deidad sobrenatural y paternal (p.18).

Como se puede observar, Spong es un telogo que est en bsqueda de nuevos paradigmas para comprender el cristianismo, se trata de un autor insatisfecho con las frmulas tradicionales y las verdades de ese cristianismo ortodoxo y doctrinal, apela ms bien a construir un cristianismo radicalmente reformulado que sea capaz de sobrevivir en este desafiante mundo nuevo. Este obispo retirado ha gustado y se ha visto en la necesidad de dialogar con el mundo acadmico, por lo que se le puede leer desde dos aristas: la teologal y la acadmica, razn por la cual resul-

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tan ms interesantes y argumentadas sus posturas acerca de la religin y la poca que estamos viviendo. Sus 45 aos de carrera dentro de la iglesia y su paso por varias universidades estadounidenses, le dan una fuerza intelectual indiscutible. Como cristiano, Spong dice que es necesaria una relectura del cristianismo, habla de una reforma del cristianismo y su iglesia, pero de una reforma radical profundamente teolgica, proclama que la forma en la que el cristianismo fue formulado tradicionalmente ya no tiene credibilidad. Y precisamente entre los jvenes pareciera que las religiones, entre ellas el cristianismo, pero sobre todo las iglesias, ya no tienen la credibilidad suficiente y por ello existe hoy un distanciamiento que aleja a muchos de ellos de la creencia religiosa y la pertenencia a la iglesia. Y si acaso siguen creyendo en alguna religin lo estn haciendo bajo otras formas que dista de los esquemas tradicionales, por ello, los planteamientos de Spong resultan pertinentes porque se trata de reinterpretar la fe cristiana a la luz de los nuevos tiempos, cuestin que para muchos resulta un atrevimiento, sobre todo porque se hace desde una postura postesta, que si bien no es nueva, s ha sido enriquecida con planteamientos desafiantes que llaman a la reflexin profunda. Pues bien, teniendo como referencia la informacin anterior sobre nuestro autor, pasemos ahora al tema del tesmo, mas antes de adentrarnos en lo que nos dice Spong, es importante revisar la definicin que contiene el Diccionario de Religiones de Royston sobre este concepto:
Tesmo (del gr. Theos, dios). Etimolgicamente, creencia en la existencia de un Dios. Por lo comn se llama testa a quien cree en un Dios personal, trascendente y tan interesado en los hombres que les ha hecho Revelacin. El desta (etimolgicamente lo mismo) cree, en cambio, en una Divinidad que, despus de crear el universo, se ha apartado completamente y jams interviene en los asuntos humanos (p. 436).

Este concepto sobre tesmo nos dice que hay una creencia sobre un dios que interviene directamente en la vida humana, que ha sido revelado, que es trascendente y que por lo tanto se encuentra fuera de este mundo, es decir, hay una divinidad que se sita en lo extraterrestre, en el cielo, en lo suprahumano, en lo sobrenatural. Mientras que el desmo cree en un dios que es el creador del mundo pero que no interviene en los asuntos humanos. Entre el tesmo y el desmo existe un amplio debate, siendo uno de los puntos polmicos el de si Dios es intervencionista o no en el desarrollo de la vida humana en el mundo. Adentrndonos en las ideas de Spong sobre el tesmo, ste nos dice que la educacin cristiana nos ha enseado la imagen de un Dios testa, es decir, un Dios trascendente que s interviene en la historia humana pero con poderes sobrenaturales, que vive fuera de este mundo y lo

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invade peridicamente para realizar la voluntad divina (Ibidem, 38), pero al revisar dicha intervencin resulta que muchos de los actos divinos pueden considerarse para los tiempos actuales, como actos inmorales, segn nuestro autor. Por ejemplo, las plagas con las que se castig a los egipcios y el ahogamiento masivo de cientos de egipcios en el Mar Rojo, en el contexto para liberar al pueblo elegido de Dios del dominio egipcio. Ante ello, Spong se pregunta es esa la obra de un Dios moral? Esos actos no reflejan un Dios que los egipcios jams podran adorar? Otro ejemplo del Dios testa que interviene con poderes sobrenaturales pero que resultan ser actos incomprensibles para la conciencia humana actual, es el sacrificio de Jess ante la cruz, lo que hasta nuestros das sigue significando que Dios entreg a su hijo para que fuera torturado y asesinado en pago a nuestros pecados. Y como esa sangre de Jess lava los pecados del mundo para luego ser resucitado como seal de triunfo. Aqu Spong se pregunta, este Dios, que necesita un sangriento sacrificio humano, ser merecedor de adoracin hoy, cuando terminemos de tomar conciencia de esta idea ofensiva? En esta lnea del Dios testa nuestro autor afirma que las creencias religiosas se estn debilitando, y vuelve a poner como ejemplo otras situaciones cuando la gente dice hoy que la poca de los milagros ya pas, no significa que los milagros dejaron de ocurrir, sino que nunca ocurrieron, porque la poca en que percibamos algunos eventos como milagrosos ya pas (Ibidem, 38). Lo que Spong quiere dar a entender es que el conocimiento cientfico nos ha hecho comprender mejor el universo y la vida en la Tierra, lo que significa que ahora entendemos ciertos fenmenos no como milagros de Dios, sino como el resultado del funcionamiento de la naturaleza o las acciones humanas a travs del conocimiento.
Antes veamos a Dios como el primer motor en los temas de enfermedad y salud. Pensbamos que la enfermedad era el reflejo del castigo divino, y la salud de su bendicin. Pero luego descubrimos los grmenes, y los virus, y desarrollamos antibiticos, procedimientos quirrgicos y cosas como la quimioterapia. Con ese nuevo conocimiento comenzamos a ver que los antibiticos, las operaciones quirrgicas y la quimioterapia hacen efecto tanto en los pecadores como en los santos. As que el mbito de la enfermedad, como rea de actuacin de Dios, se empez a reducir y la medicina hizo su aportacin al desarrollo moderno de la secularizacin. Antiguamente, veamos a Dios como la causa del clima e interpretbamos las inundaciones, sequas, huracanes, tempestades como expresiones de la voluntad divina. Pero entonces descubrimos la meteorologa, los frentes climticos, los sistemas de presin baja y alta, los vientos de el Nio y la Nia, los efectos climticos de las mareas, y tantas otras

Del tesmo al postesmo: un cambio en la cultura 177

realidades que el concepto de un ser sobrenatural que manipula el clima por motivos morales se volvi insostenible. Creamos que Dios guiaba nuestro pas en la batalla derrotando al enemigo o, si nuestra fidelidad a este Dios decaa mucho, nos haca probar su ira divina con la derrota Pero, con la llegada de las guerras modernas, parece que Dios siempre est del lado del que posee las armas ms potentes. (Ibidem:39).

Spong dice que con los ejemplos anteriores se puede demostrar racionalmente que Dios, entendido testicamente, ya no es operativo en nuestro sistema de creencias. Asegura que el Dios del tesmo est muriendo, que por tanto, las creencias religiosas estn cambiando a pesar de que mucha gente se sigue aferrando a ese Dios con poderes sobrenaturales que gobierna la Tierra y la vida humana desde fuera. En otro orden de ejemplos, Spong seala que hay datos de carcter emocional que sugieren que el rol de proveedor de seguridad, en otros tiempos atribuidos al Dios testa, ya no funciona. Indica que hay abundantes comportamientos humanos que dan cuenta de que esa idea de Dios protector y controlador de las situaciones est desapareciendo. Hoy, muchas personas en el mundo encuentran su seguridad personal y el control de sus ansiedades e histerias en las adicciones y el consumo de tranquilizantes, en el ejercicio de la violencia, en el suicidio, en la prctica del racismo, incluso en el no cumplimiento de ciertas ordenanzas de las iglesias cristianas, tales como no divorciarse, no usar anticonceptivos, no tener prcticas homosexuales, etctera, comportamientos que segn Spong, son manifestaciones emocionales de la muerte del Dios testa, es decir, ese Dios que controlaba todo y daba seguridad, por lo que no existe ms un Dios todopoderoso sobrenatural que interviene para resolver cada situacin personal y brindar as las seguridades necesarias para la existencia. Estas bsquedas de seguridades ya no se localizan en la intervencin divina, sino en los ms diversos comportamientos humanos. Ese Dios arregla-todo se est extinguiendo, y ms en la conciencia de los jvenes, los cuales estn encontrando sus seguridades en otros mbitos, o visto de otra manera, resuelven sus inseguridades por otros caminos que muchas veces no son los adecuados. Sus necesidades de creer en alguien trascendente o de llevar a cabo su espiritualidad estn formando parte de una renovada cultura religiosa que dista mucho de los esquemas del cristianismo tradicional. En su libro Un cristianismo nuevo para un mundo nuevo, al que hemos estado haciendo referencia, Spong indica que la revolucin del conocimiento y la madurez humana emergente han conspirado para volver poco crebles los antiguos moldes testas (Ibidem, 66). Pero lejos de ver esto como un problema, nuestro autor comenta que el debilitamiento

178 Juan Diego ORTIZ

del tesmo no debera representar algo temeroso y malo, sino tiene que verse como un paso hacia la madurez, hacia la mayora de edad humana, a travs de la cual podemos dejar de ser esos nios que se relacionan y dependen de un padre celestial. Spong afirma que esa madurez alcanzada puede ser el punto de partida para descubrir una nueva forma de entender a Dios, es decir, representa un trnsito en donde el viejo mito del tesmo pierde aceleradamente su poder para ir creando un nuevo mito, el cual se encuentra en proceso y ser resultado del caminar de la nueva poca que vive la sociedad global. Pero la construccin de un nuevo mito no necesariamente tiene que darse fuera de las sagradas escrituras del cristianismo, sino de una relectura de stas, en donde existen, segn Spong, claves importantes para comprender de otra manera la existencia de Dios y la relacin que la persona humana pueda tener con ese Fundamento y Fuente de Todo ser. En continuidad con la crisis del tesmo nos indica que ninguna religin le puede dar seguridad a alguien y que cuando se busca dicha seguridad a travs de las propias religiones, lo que se encuentra son ilusiones. Explica por el contrario, que toda religiosidad verdadera permite abrazar la vida con toda su inseguridad radical y vivirla con valor (Ibidem, 73). Esto nos remite de nuevo al caso de los jvenes, los cuales por lo general no acuden a ningn dios para sortear sus problemas; los jvenes no van a la iglesia en bsqueda de seguridad, se las arreglan al margen de las religiones, sin que eso suponga que no sean espirituales o no tengan un conjunto de creencias religiosas; lo que sucede, es que asumen de manera diferente esa relacin con lo divino. Lo que a continuacin se expone son los resultados de una encuesta en la que se pueden percibir algunos cambios en la cultura religiosa de los jvenes, cambios que pueden estar en sintona con lo expuesto sobre el postesmo de Spong. Como se dijo al inicio, se trata de un primer estudio exploratorio para detectar tendencias, por lo que slo se presentan interpretaciones iniciales acerca del fenmeno religioso. Dios como energa universal La encuesta referida se aplic a 100 jvenes que viven en la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, es decir, se trata de habitantes pertenecientes a los municipios de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque, Tonal y Tlajomulco. Los jvenes que respondieron al cuestionario tienen una edad entre los 18 y 30 aos, son jvenes que estudian y algunos recin egresados de sus carreras, sin embargo, es preciso aclarar que la encuesta tambin se aplic a otras cien personas cuya edad oscila entre los 31 y 80 aos de edad. O sea, la muestra recoge la opinin de 200 creyentes en relacin a cmo perciben algunas de las verdades religiosas del

Del tesmo al postesmo: un cambio en la cultura 179

cristianismo y cuyo objetivo es conocer los posibles cambios culturales o epistemolgicos que se estn dando en cuanto a su propia religin. Para el propsito del presente trabajo y por problemas de espacio slo se explican y analizan los resultados de las 100 encuestas relacionadas con los jvenes, las cuales se aplicaron personalmente en diferentes rumbos de la ciudad. La encuesta contiene 17 preguntas, sin embargo, slo se presentan los resultados de cinco de ellas porque es imposible hablar de todas ellas en este trabajo, pero son las ms representativas del tema que nos ocupa en este ensayo. Comenzamos con una de las respuestas que ms llama la atencin en el estudio de campo, que es la relacionada con la pregunta acerca de quin es Dios?, pero particularmente es relevante en relacin con el tesmo que cuestiona Spong. Como se podr observar, se pueden hacer deducciones en el sentido de que efectivamente se est dando un cambio cultural religioso en los jvenes que se ubica en un contexto postesta. Quin es Dios? El creador Un padre castigador Un padre amoroso Una energa universal No s Total

24% 0% 18% 46% 12% 100%

La mayora de las respuestas de los jvenes encuestados (46%) identifican a Dios con una energa universal, pero adems otra cuestin que llama la atencin es que nadie identifica a Dios con un padre castigador, sino con un padre amoroso (18%). Las respuestas van a contracorriente de lo que tradicionalmente ensea la iglesia, quien histricamente ha promovido la idea de un Dios testa, es decir, un Dios todopoderoso al que hay que temer, que castiga y premia segn el comportamiento humano, incluso la idea de un Dios creador ha sido superada por la creencia de que Dios es una energa universal que est presente en todas partes. Asimismo, la muestra indica que no se trata de un Dios personal situado fuera de la realidad humana, sino que esa energa universal impregna todo lo existente, esto se puede inferir a partir de las respuestas a la siguiente pregunta del cuestionario. La pregunta de la encuesta, fue en dnde est Dios?, interrogante que los jvenes contestaron de la siguiente manera:

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En dnde est Dios? En el cielo 16% En la vida de este mundo 60% En ningn lugar 10% No s 14% Total 100% De nuevo, la respuesta mayoritaria no corresponde a la idea del Dios testa que se localiza en lo sobrenatural, fuera de lo humano, en el cielo. Ms bien, los participantes creen que Dios est situado en la vida de este mundo (60%), por lo tanto no es un Dios lejano e inalcanzable, por lo que tambin stas respuestas abonan a la idea de que s estamos en un proceso de cambio en la cultura religiosa, y hay signos de que se comienza hacer una relectura de las enseanzas teolgicas. Por otra parte, las siguientes respuestas tambin revelan que algo est ocurriendo en la educacin religiosa de los jvenes, la pregunta que contestaron, fue cmo te sientes ms cerca de Dios?, los resultados fueron de este modo: Cmo te sientes ms cerca de Dios? Asistiendo a misa 13% Leyendo la biblia 1% Orando 23% Siendo amoroso con los dems 63% Total 100% La opcin de sentirse cerca de Dios siendo amoroso con los dems es la que ms convenci a los participantes en la encuesta (63%), los resultados trastocan la ritualidad religiosa porque segn la muestra ahora es ms importante centrar la religiosidad en la relacin hacia los dems y ya no asistiendo a misa (13%), ni leyendo la Biblia (1%), ni orando (23%). Esta valoracin de los encuestados coloca la creencia en Dios en un plano concreto y humano, en el terreno de lo inmediato y lo cotidiano, en la proximidad con el otro, dejando a un lado a la iglesia como la intermediaria para acceder a lo divino. Lo cual tambin representa de algn modo, una transformacin en el sistema de creencias que rompe con la tradicin de poner mayor nfasis en la ritualidad que representa asistir a misa, las lecturas grupales de la Biblia o aprenderse y repetir oraciones para sentir lo trascendente. Ahora la opcin es la prctica del amor hacia el otro, que

Del tesmo al postesmo: un cambio en la cultura 181

ciertamente ha sido parte sustancial del mensaje profundo del cristianismo, pero que sin embargo, fue sustituido paulatinamente por la presencia poderosa de la iglesia y su papel como filtro para acceder a Dios. En este punto es importante regresar a las ideas postestas de Spong, quien nos explica cules son las definiciones que l tiene acerca de un Dios no-testa. Al respecto, la primera definicin de este obispo anglicano refiere que ese Dios no-testa es la suprema fuente de la vida. Uno adora a este Dios viviendo en plenitud y compartiendo profundamente (Ibidem, 75). En su segunda definicin establece que Dios es la fuente primordial del amor. Y la manera de adorar este Dios es amando abundantemente, distribuyendo amor frvolamente y regalando amor sin pensar en el precio (Ibidem, 76). Finalmente define que Dios es el Ser, la realidad que subyace a todo lo que existe. Para adorar a este Dios, tenemos que estar dispuestos a arriesgar todo, abandonando nuestras defensas y nuestras construcciones sociales de seguridad autoimpuestas (Ibidem, 77). Con todo lo anterior, Spong est queriendo decir que el Dios notesta no es una entidad sobrenatural que socorre a los inseguros y desventurados, sino que es una presencia que est ms all de la imagen de la divinidad externa. Dicha presencia se asemeja a esa energa universal por la que optaron los encuestados para definir a Dios, un Dios que pertenece a este mundo, un Dios que se hace presente en todo acto de amor humano. Un Dios que no castiga y del cual no hay que esperar seguridades, pero que tampoco exige alabanzas como lo pregona la iglesia. Volviendo a la encuesta con los jvenes, hay otra pregunta muy importante en relacin al cambio cultural religioso, pero ms interesantes son las respuestas. La pregunta que se realiz, fue se puede creer en Dios sin las religiones?, los resultado son los siguientes: Se puede creer en Dios sin las religiones? Si 77% No 11% No s 12% Total 100% Como se aprecia, hay una mayora abrumadora (77%) que est convencida de que se puede creer en Dios sin necesariamente estar adscrito a alguna religin e iglesia, mientras escasamente otro sector de los encuestados (11%) considera que no se puede creer en Dios si no es a travs de una religin en particular. De nuevo aparece informacin relevante para conocer los cambios en la cultura religiosa, ese porcentaje

182 Juan Diego ORTIZ

de 77% no es un dato menor, ya que se percibe que los jvenes sostienen sus creencias en un marco de libertad ms all de los lmites de las religiones. Son creencias que ponen en entredicho la autoridad eclesial y de las doctrinas, lo que supone a su vez romper con los moldes catlicos y cristianos de que slo es posible el acceso a lo divino por medio de la mediacin de los ritos, la tradicin y el clero. Esta pequea muestra pudiera estar representando los que algunos llaman el paso hacia un paradigma posreligional, donde las religiones y sus iglesias ya no son necesarias para vivir la religiosidad y la espiritualidad humana, lo que representa un cambio cultural relevante. Robles (2001) afirma que el ser humano actual rechaza la religin tradicional, la religin de creencias, por ser una religin dogmtica, heternoma e impuesta, por ello, tal vez los jvenes sintieron la autonoma y la libertad de responder que s es factible creer en Dios sin las imposiciones y ortodoxias de las instituciones religiosas. La quinta y ltima pregunta de la encuesta que se expone en este trabajo dice qu tan apegado te sientes a tu iglesia?, en el entendido de que todos los jvenes que respondieron son creyentes catlicos. Las respuestas fueron las siguientes: Qu tan apegado te sientes a tu iglesia? Mucho 12% Regular 29% Poco 20% Nada 39% Total 100% Resulta evidente que la mayora de los encuestados no sienten pertenencia a su iglesia (39%), la cual es la catlica, pero al margen de cul sea, existe un distanciamiento y un desapego hacia las formas tradicionales de asumir la religiosidad. Slo un 12% de los jvenes se sienten muy cercanos a su iglesia. Este fenmeno denota una crisis de convocatoria y por tanto de autoridad y legitimidad de la institucin eclesial, pero a su vez una ausencia de necesidad de sentirse parte de un espacio y una religin que en el imaginario colectivo proporciona seguridad e identidad. Por tanto, se puede visualizar, analizando los resultados de las cinco preguntas, que no slo se est gestando un proceso hacia el postesmo en las creencias hacia Dios, sino tambin se est profundizando una crisis en la iglesia, que juntas estn impactando en la cultura religiosa de los jvenes. Roger Lenaers (2008) explica que cada da ms las maneras de pensar y las convicciones van siendo determinadas por el pensamiento cientfico occidental, y es precisamente lo que nos sigue condicionando

Del tesmo al postesmo: un cambio en la cultura 183

y lo que ha originado ese proceso del tesmo al postesmo, y ser esa misma sociedad del conocimiento occidental la que dar origen a nuevas maneras de comprender y resignificar la fe. Tanto el conocimiento y la autonoma de los sujetos estn configurando nuevas maneras de asumir la religiosidad, lo cual ha entrado en contradiccin con el axioma heternomo de la doctrina catlica cristiana. Por eso, los jvenes en la medida en que saben ms, asumen su libertad y su autonoma para pensar, van reconfigurando su marco de creencias, ya no es tan fcil la transmisin de mitos y doctrinas porque no estamos ya en la fase de las sociedades estticas e ignorantes. El proceso de destradicionalizacin est en marcha, el cambio cultural acelerado es parte de la nueva realidad. Como dice Vigil (2006), las nuevas generaciones crecen en un ambiente en donde ya no se les pueden transmitir verdades indiscutibles la estructura cultural en que se estn formando les exige pedir justificaciones para tradiciones (religin incluida) que perciben con toda evidencia como una construccin humana. Lenaers no plantea que en los nuevos tiempos se est perfilando la desaparicin de las religiones, como tampoco lo establece Spong, sino ambos consideran que se est dando paso a transformaciones en las religiones, que de la crisis actual por la que pasan, tarde que temprano surgirn nuevas interpretaciones, una renovada mitologa, una resignificacin de la fe, que se vivir un nuevo cristianismo que estar a la altura de los tiempos globales. Lenaers asegura que el creyente moderno est superando el pensamiento mtico antiguo porque quiere encontrar la riqueza que yace enterrada en ese lenguaje mtico, para hacerlo accesible al siglo XXI. Es tal vez como lo expresaron los jvenes de la encuesta, que cuestionan los grandes mitos pero que sienten la necesidad de reinterpretar y de asumir de manera autnoma sus sistemas de creencias religiosas. Quieren seguir siendo creyentes, pero no a la antigua, quieren ser creyentes modernos aunque para el clero tradicional eso constituye una amenaza. Aunque desde una postura ms radical tambin hay un gran sector de personas jvenes que van ms all en sus cuestionamientos y que no se sienten ligadas a ningn tipo de religin e iglesia, y que por tanto se sitan en la increencia. Por eso, los jvenes y el cambio cultural religioso tienen que seguir siendo fuente de variados estudios para conocer ms a detalle las consecuencias y el rumbo de este fenmeno. Conclusiones Estos tiempos acelerados de cambios cientficos, tecnolgicos y culturales estn cambiando la manera de entender el mundo, pero tambin estn transformando la forma de entender y asumir la religiosidad.

184 Juan Diego ORTIZ

Se puede decir que las transformaciones que vivimos en pleno siglo XXI y que afectan al campo de las religiones, pueden ser hasta cierto punto naturales, de acuerdo al desarrollo que estn teniendo las sociedades, particularmente en el mundo occidental. El proceso del tesmo al postesmo, los planteamientos posreligionales que indican que es posible creer sin religiones. La aceptacin cada vez mayor del pluralismo religioso, las conversiones masivas de una religin a otra, la aparicin de nuevas iglesias, la secularizacin, la increencia, la bsqueda de alternativas espirituales, no son ms que manifestaciones de que estamos en una nueva poca, en un nuevo tiempo axial, como diran muchos telogos y filsofos, del cual saldrn transformadas las religiones, en el mejor de los escenarios. Es importante concluir diciendo que nadie tiene certeza sobre qu rumbo tomarn las religiones, incluso el propio Spong es honesto al decir que con la muerte de los mitos testas no han surgido nuevos mitos con nueva direccin en la comprensin de Dios; slo se advierten cambios, transformaciones profundas, pero nada est decidido ni nadie podr definir el camino que tomarn las religiones y la espiritualidad. Slo sigue quedando una certeza, la de que Dios es un misterio y que nadie tiene la verdad absoluta para su comprensin. Pero adems hay otro elemento fundamental en el que insisten telogos y acadmicos, de que a Dios no se le puede comprender slo desde la razn, sino que el terreno de la experiencia es muy determinante en este sentido, y aqu se vuelve ms complejo el problema, porque eso de experimentar a Dios slo le pertenece a cada persona, a cada creyente, y ah el anlisis acadmico estrecha sus posibilidades de descifrar este campo de lo trascendente, de lo divino. Sin embargo, esto no quiere decir, que la razn tenga que dejar de dialogar con la fe, al contrario, el debate se tiene que profundizar aprendiendo a ser tolerantes desde las dos dimensiones humanas. Bibliografa
Lenaers, Roger (2008). Otro cristianismo es posible. Fe en lenguaje de modernidad. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Abya Yala. Ortiz, J. Diego (2011). Encuesta Creencias religiosas en los jvenes de la ZMG. Guadalajara, Mxico: Universidad de Guadalajara. Robles, J. Amando (2001). Repensar la religin, de la creencia al conocimiento. San Jos, Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad Nacional Heredia. Royston, Edgar (2005). Diccionario de las Religiones. Mxico, DF: Fondo de Cultura Econmica. Spong, John S. (2011). Un cristianismo nuevo para un mundo nuevo. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Abya Yala. Vigil, Jos Mara (2006). Teologa del pluralismo religioso. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Abya Yala.

 185

A Copernican Shift of Religion and Theology

J. Amando ROBLES CEDI, Heredia, Costa Rica

Resumen:
Dado que ciencia y tecnologa han comenzando a ser nuestro paradigma y forma de vida, los grandes cambios ocurridos en ellas estn produciendo cambios profundos en la religin. Concretamente, ha cambiado la cosmologa, la antropologa y la historia, visiones culturales marco sobre las que se ha articulado religin y teologa. Ms grave e importante an, ha cambiado la religin como axiologa, la transformacin religiosa sin duda ms profunda de todas. De esta manera la teologa est asistiendo al cambio de lo que ha sido su objeto de estudio y la funcin de su conocimiento. En esta presentacin se postula que si la religin ha cambiado copernicanamente, del mismo modo tiene que cambiar la teologa, si quiere hacerse creble hoy.

Abstract:
Given that science and technology are becoming a new paradigm in our form of life, their implied changes are also producing deep changes in religion. Up to this date religion and Theology have been built upon cosmological, anthropological and historical views that are already gone. Even more, the most profound religious transformation in our days is the change in the conception of religion as an axiological view. Therefore Theology is facing a change of what has been so far its object of study and its epistemological function. The present article postulates that if religion has experienced such a Copernican twist, Theology has to change in a similar manner not to lose credibility.

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We are experiencing profound changes mainly at the level of science and technology. These are indeed Copernican changes since they constitute a new paradigm and a new way of living, also affecting religion. Therefore this Copernican twist should be experienced also in theology, if it wants to be credible today. We mean by paradigm, in this context, a matrix scheme useful to represent reality and our relationship with it in order to live and not die. By lifestyle we mean the resources allowing a group or society to live. It includes the technological development to produce goods and services and the specific way of organization employed to obtain them. The changes refer to in this presentation are mainly those of paradigm and lifestyle. Cosmology has changed Not only has changed what was one cosmological vision over several millennia, but the changes were so deep and large that cosmology, as a product of that vision, has ceased to exist, at least as an experience that leads to transcendence. As Raimon Panikkar has repeatedly warned, modern human being is a human being without cosmology. What you have instead is a cosmic vision built upon scientific evidence or, rather, its projection to the cosmos, which is very different from a cosmological view. It is proved by the fact that a traditional cosmological vision carries or leads to socially and culturally shared transcendence values, whereas a cosmological vision of more scientific nature is individual and atomized, precisely because there no longer exists a common cosmological view, and therefore no possibility of articulating a theology on it. As if to weaken these assertions, it is said that when dimensions or aspects of reality are "disenchanted", other dimensions or aspects do "re-enchant". This is somehow true and we are seeing some of this today. But, there is not such a mechanical process related to the cosmos, ecology and nature in general, That is to say, the enchantment is not a substitute without further disenchantment, but rather recalls and confirms it. The cosmological vision of the past transcended and appropriated the cosmos; it was felt like a "sacred canopy" covering things, space and time. The scientific cosmic vision, instead, makes us aware of our common origin and

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destiny, of the unique being that we deeply are. We are now aware of our integration in a whole, of our interdependence and of the communion in which we live. But on a background or under a "canopy" that will no longer be common or sacred, although some individuals and groups still feel like that. With cosmology as a cosmos vision, several millennia of cosmic religion articulated to it ceased to exist; this is a fact for many modern men and women. . But it is still built-in in current religion and theology in such a way that in general they think it does not represent a crisis for them. The same could not be stated for other aspects very tied to that vision, that certain persons still consider useful. Even if the cosmos is no longer conceived with a center or origin from which everything comes about neither is conceived in a causal way, having a God as its creator and its cause, there still remains some need for grounding, transcendence and objectivity. A need for a holistic or vision of wholeness, of communion with the whole... aspects upon which religion and theology are still trying to articulate, and they do whenever they can. This need is obvious in a proposal like the one presented by the "new age", which has also the advantage of being broad, emotive and flexible, as the "movement" that has taken place and constitutes it. These ideas are still present, albeit more subtle, when current theologies feel the theoretical need of reasoning expressed in terms of "theonomy". This is an attempt to overcome, two antagonistic and as such not reconciled positions: heteronomy/autonomy, The same need is also present in the different holistic, cosmological, historical, social and political religious and theological worldviews that exist today. They all have in common their emphasis in deep social and human needs: objectivity, reasonableness, validity, significance, identity, meaning, value; and offer a plausible and rational religious proposal. One could say that cosmology as a cosmic evidence of God disappeared, but not the personal and social functions it fulfilled. Some of these still remain, and theology, in general, seeks its fulfillment through new constructions, in general always looking for concordance between science and religion, reason and faith, relative/functional and absolute dimension of the world. And yet the attempt to establish a pseudo-religious or pseudoscientific concordance or both at the same time, prompted crisis in traditional cosmology and continues to do so today. This postulate and supposed continuity between two human dimensions, and therefore of reality, even if presented in a manner evolutionary and historical, does not have neither a scientific nor a religious character. Hence, the fast developing of crisis in successive religious and theological constructions.

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One of these dimensions is relative, it exists to guarantee life; and the other is absolute, i.e, not oriented to anything else. Yesterday cosmology as a religious function fell and, its substitutes begin to fall nowadays. What is at stake in theses crisis is the nature of religious experience genuinely as such, and the epistemology required to understand it. Both go beyond rational or scientific constructions and above all continuity with those, beyond the personal and social functions with which they have been identified and, therefore, constitute a great challenge to theology, that only could know them objectively if symbolically expressed. In any case, theology can no longer continue its way as if these changes were not being happening, without diving deep into its nature and its challenges. Some of the crisis in theological constructions could be prevented and, even better, totally stopped. Specially when it comes to consider religion in the line of objectivity and competition. Objectivism of what it wants to know and competence in autonomous fields such as conception of the human being, ethics, human history, sexuality... Why not change this line of thought? Anthropology changed and changing Anthropology changed and keeps changing. The very concept of human being conception, with the challenge that such changes mean for theology, especially when taking into account that an anthropology underlies any theology. Consistent with past cosmological vision, the human being was seen as essentially lacking and in need. This perception was equivalent to a heteronomous conception of God as his fullness and completion. Today human being perceive him/herself as autonomous, able to be as full and complete a can be. Hence the almost instinctive cultural rejection to everything that means heteronomy about him, and even with respect to the cosmic reality as such. Heteronomy as a theory has entered in deep crisis, while autonomy is on the rise. But as with cosmology, also in anthropology not all items that come up are also in crisis. In the first place, clear and grossly heteronomous elements make crisis. But still remaining elements that have to do with values and ethical standards, the meaning of human life and history, the anthropomorphic or personal conception of God, the conception of human beings as autonomous, and his realization. On these elements and aspects theology still articulates its proposals, though not without feelings of a short time validity.. Thus, autonomy is recognized in man and in reality, but still within a teleological conception. In other words, humans, and reality in general,

A Copernican Shift of Religion and Theology 189

still lack something, sometimes essential, to achieve a "telos" or purpose that is beyond, waiting, challenging him. Therefore he is "autonomous" but "in need" and again "lacking". For that he should have to undergo a process or processes, and given the nature of any procedural implementation, only a few will succeed, or rather, nobody, because how to establish "the end" of what is by nature always extendable? Determination is prioritized but the other question about autonomy is not answered. When one can not guarantee human beings the full and total realization here and now, there is little difference although for other effects is so great between a promise of success in heteronomous or autonomous terms. Because there's always a hteros between him and his completion, there will always be an objective distance, a heteronomy, which is the one that currently is in crisis. Because it can not be achieved as promised and is not real, remaining always as an unfinished project, into a proposal for implementation, a simple promise, as Ken Wilber wanted to show with the title of his book "The Atman Project." For achieving such human autonomy, it is not enough to release the space up and down, divine and human, soul and body. There must be a release of time as a continuum and there must be a full and complete reality here and now. And this is the great change that anthropology is experiencing: to discover that this dimension already exists in the human being, no matter what stage in space and time, he can be full and complete here and now. Conception of human being is in crisis as it was before teleology as an approach to knowledge of nature. Then this knowledge was liberated from teleology. Now conception of human being must also be liberated from a teleological conception. It is necessary to liberate human being from a God that provides a teleology that is no longer needed. Human being is what it is and being what it is, is full and complete in its being, in its absolute dimension. If theology is articulated upon a teleological conception of human being, it would not help achieve what it promises, with the resulting crisis. If it articulates upon the absolute dimension of which human beings are endowed here and now, it get free from all "telos", from time and the process it entails. History changes As a consequence of these major changes at both cosmology and anthropology, it is also changing what has been a product of modernity: the perception of ourselves in terms of historicity, of history as the human continuum, culturally and socially necessary for our fulfillment.

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This way of looking at ourselves, as Raimon Panikkar liked to report again and again, is a relatively recent product of Western modernity, but which we have adhered as essential. We used to think of ourselves as essentially historical, and never thought that could be otherwise. We needed to follow our so-called teleology orientation and, this way, be in history as individuals and society. Although by its very historical structure this is a contradiction and this accomplishment becomes impossible. Today, because of the outlined changes affecting our perception of space and time, our modern Western perception of history is also changing profoundly. What seemed like a call to be universal perception and sine qua non of our human fulfillment, as individuals and as society, now turns out to be local, and within its location in the West, not only, but one of the many that have been, in other words, temporary. As temporary that, past the first industrial revolution modernity, this perception is in crisis, crumbling as qualified interpretation of time, and displayed mythical as it is, the myth of Western history. Time, like space, is a "quality" correlative to our perception of reality. According to our representational paradigm and to what is our way of life, we, Western modern men and women need not to conceive or think it as history. The cosmic reality, human life and history have no teleology, are not subject to it. They are intended for us to discover the meaning and value that we want and can give them. There is no God, or something, directing the universe's history or the world, nor of human history on our planet. There isnt either universal cosmic laws to fulfill this function, although they may seem so. Increasingly being imposed on us to distinguish between "teleonomy" and "teleology", between purpose and aim, and between reality in itself and a supposed order that the reality would obey. Hence, the historical and social, cultural and political visions built around the conception of history as a dynamic place of human fulfillment are also in crisis. Such is the phenomenon that, still not believing what we see, it seems we are witnessing. Still very recently, and almost without realizing how this happened, we witnessed the fall of a religious cosmological vision as captivating as that of Teilhard de Chardin. Perhaps we did not realize it, because very soon that vision and others were replaced by other socio-historical, cultural and political visions that were, or so it seemed, much more grounded and practical, more biblical, more and more evangelical Christians. But nothing indicates that such visions, correct as they may seem, in their very nature may differ from the cosmological visions and will not suffer the same fate. Cosmological views and visions of history, both are social constructs and as such children of time.

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Deep changes in our current paradigm and lives Changes in our cosmological and anthropological vision, and as a result, also in our conception of time, are the expression of a new representational paradigm and a new way of life, in which we have already entered. Structural changes at this level are deep in the background of all other changes. And both representational paradigm and way of life, consist of a new type of knowledge, not axiological. We have always lived by our knowledge in any type of society. But this knowledge was axiologic, a type of meaningful knowledge and the values that individuals need to live human and socially. Now, for the first time, we live not only based in knowledge as a paradigm but as a resource and a technology. For that, this knowledge has to be nonaxiological, purely functional or technical. Otherwise, with axiological knowledge, we could not ensure our life or survival as a collective. This is what it means to be a knowledge society: to base our life in knowledge, but a type that is sterile axiologically, so to speak. Hence the need to strip knowledge, and reality that it shows, of any significance (cosmological, anthropological, teleological) apart from that of its functionality, and usefulness of its results. We could not live without values, without goals, objectives and goals, either individually or socially, but these values will also need to be constructed scientifically, in a value-aseptic manner, based on assumptions and in a continuous process, therefore continually subject to evaluation and adjustment of test error. And built on these values religion will not be articulated because, by definition, it is the summit of axiology. A summit that has to be beyond any construction, since a religion that is scientifically built is not religion. Hence the disappointment soon produced by "engineering religions", as Ken Wilber described the proposals of the "New Age" as well as the charm that still keep the traditional religions, when they are lived honestly, in correspondence to a way of life. Because, even with its limitations, they are pointing to transcendence. A Copernican shift in Religion The changes thus seen and interpreted, to speak of Copernican revolution in religion, though necessary, is an understatement. The change is so profound that what has always been religion has ceased to be. In men and women of knowledge society, religion as we have known it can't replay itself. It can't be articulated around the axiology of the paradigm of knowledge, as it always did, because its paradigm does not have it, does not produce it. Neither can it reproduce itself upon any axiology, past or present to be built scientifically. It is not possible on the past ones, because they

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no longer exist, but also upon those we build today because of their quality of "constructed", since it cant build what literally has to be apex, and crown. Religion will be built upon itself and from itself, as full and complete human experience, always possible as a dimension that has a purpose: the full realization of human beings, but not an end; beyond, therefore, of any use, from all convenience and interest. Change can't be greater. Religion has been experience and axiological knowledge, built around the axiology of life forms. Over this conception of religion is that theology has been established and built. Now religion is to be pure experience, gratuitous, total, without substance or form, without content, without subject or object, experience and only experience, no need to ask what or why. And theology can only be founded and articulated about it if it is symbolically expressed and depending on the experience itself, with no other interest or purpose. There is a Copernican revolution in religion, there also must be a Copernican shift in theology.

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Cambia copernicanamente la religin. Debe cambiar la teologa

J. Amando ROBLES CEDI, Heredia, Costa Rica
Consecuencia de cambios profundos experimentados sobre todo a nivel de la ciencia y de la tecnologa en la medida en que ambas han comenzado a constituir nuestro paradigma y nuestra forma de vida, se estn dando cambios profundos, verdaderamente copernicanos, en la religin, y por tanto debieran darse en la teologa, si es que sta quiere ser creble hoy. Por paradigma estamos entendiendo aqu el esquema matricial que, al permitirnos representarnos la realidad y relacionarnos con ella, nos permite poder vivir y no morir. Por forma de vida, el recurso o recursos gracias a los cuales un grupo, colectivo o sociedad vive, la tcnica o tecnologa con que los obtiene y la forma como socialmente se organiza para lograrlo. Los cambios de los que va a ser objeto en esta presentacin se ubican fundamentalmente en este nivel, del paradigma y de la forma de vida. Ha cambiado la cosmologa No slo ha cambiado lo que fue una visin cosmolgica plurimilenaria, sino que los cambios fueron tan profundos y grandes que la cosmologa como producto de esa visin ha dejado de existir, al menos como experiencia que lleva a lo trascendente. Como lo ha advertido reiteradamente Raimon Panikkar, el ser humano moderno es un ser humano sin cosmologa. En su lugar lo que tiene es una visin csmica hecha de elementos cientficos o, ms bien, la proyeccin de estos a nivel del cosmos, cosa muy diferente de una visin cosmolgica. La prueba es que una visin cosmolgica tradicional es portadora de trascendencia, social y culturalmente compartida, o lleva a ella, y una visin csmica de naturaleza ms bien cientfica o no lleva del todo o solo de manera individual y atomizada, precisamente porque no existe ya una visin cosmolgica comn, y por ello, tampoco la posibilidad de una teologa articulndose sobre ella.

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Como queriendo quitar fuerza a estas aseveraciones, se recuerda a propsito de las mismas que cuando dimensiones o aspectos de la realidad se desencantan, otras dimensiones o aspectos se reencantan. Si bien es cierto, y a algo de esto estamos asistiendo en la actualidad con respecto al cosmos, la ecologa y la naturaleza en general, no es tan mecnico el proceso o, mejor dicho, el reencantamiento no sustituye sin ms al desencantamiento, ms bien lo recuerda y lo confirma. La visin cosmolgica pasada trascenda, cosmizaba, se senta como un dosel sagrado cubriendo cosas, espacio y tiempo. La visin csmicocientfica nos hace conscientes de nuestro origen y destino comn, del ser nico que en el fondo somos, del todo que formamos y de la interdependencia y comunin en que vivimos, pero sobre un teln de fondo o bajo un dosel que ya no ser comn ni sagrado, aunque individuos y grupos as lo vivan. Con la cosmologa como visin del cosmos ha dejado de existir la religin csmica plurimilenaria articulada sobre la misma, tal como sucede en muchos hombres y mujeres modernos. Pero esto es algo ya tan asumido por la religin y teologa actuales que en general, se piensa, no representa crisis alguna para ellas. No se puede decir lo mismo de aspectos todava muy vinculados a aquella visin, que aun se reproducen como necesarios en ciertos actores. Aunque el cosmos ya no es concebido como cntrico y causal, ni Dios como su creador y su causa, an persiste cierta necesidad de fundamentacin, trascendencia objetividad, visin total u holstica, comunin con el todo, aspectos sobre los cuales intentan articularse todava religin y teologa, y sobre los cuales se articulan hasta donde pueden. Esta necesidad es obvia en una propuesta como la de la New Age, que adems tiene la ventaja de ser amplia, emotiva y flexible, como el movimiento a que ha dado lugar y en el que consiste. Pero no deja de estar presente, aunque sea de manera mucho ms sutil, cuando teologas actuales sienten la necesidad necesidad de fundamentacin de expresarse en trminos de teonoma para superar, uniendo, lo que, si no, seran dos posiciones antagnicas, heteronoma / autonoma, y como tales no reconciliadas. Esta misma necesidad est igualmente presente en las diferentes visiones de mundo religiosas y teolgicas, holsticas, cosmolgicas, histrico-sociales y polticas que se dan en nuestros das. Todas ellas tienen la nota en comn de partir de necesidades humanas y sociales profundas objetividad, racionalidad, fundamentacin, trascendencia, identidad, sentido, valor y presentar una propuesta religiosa y racionalmente plausible. Se podra decir que la cosmologa desapareci como evidencia csmica de Dios, pero no las funciones personales y sociales que cumpla. Como que algunas de estas todava se mantienen, y desde la teologa se

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busca su realizacin a travs de nuevas construcciones, en general siempre concordistas entre ciencia y religin, razn y fe, dimensin relativofuncional del mundo y dimensin absoluta. Y sin embargo, es este concordismo pseudoreligioso o pseudocientfico o, mejor, ambos a la vez, el que ha hecho crisis en la cosmologa tradicional y el que sigue haciendo crisis en la actualidad. Es ese postulado y pretendido continuismo, en general presentado en clave evolucionista e histrica, entre dos dimensiones humanas, y por tanto de la realidad, una relativa o en funcin de la vida y la otra absoluta o en funcin de s misma, el que muy pronto se revela no ser cientfico ni ser religioso. De ah la crisis rpida en la que caen estas sucesivas construcciones religiosas y teolgicas. Ayer cay la cosmologa con funcin religiosa, en nuestros das comienzan a caer y seguirn cayendo sus sucedneos. Lo que en estas crisis est en juego es la naturaleza de la experiencia religiosa genuinamente tal y la epistemologa para entenderla, ambas ms all de toda construccin racional o cientfica y de toda continuidad con sta, ms all de las funciones personales y sociales con las que se les ha identificado, y por tanto un gran reto a la teologa, que slo puede conocerlas objetivamente en tanto son simblicamente expresadas. En todo caso, la teologa no puede seguir su camino de elaboracin como si estos cambios no se estuvieran dando, sin bucear en profundidad en su naturaleza y en sus retos. Hay crisis en las construcciones teolgicas que se pueden evitar con tiempo y, mejor an, del todo, en este caso en lo que refiere a seguir proponiendo la religin en clave de objetivismo y de competencia, objetivismo de lo que pretende conocer y competencia sobre campos que le son autnomos, concepcin del ser humano, tica, historia humana, sexualidad Por qu no hacerlo? Cambi y cambia la antropologa Cambi y cambia la antropologa, la propia concepcin del ser humano, con el reto que tales cambios implican para la teologa, sobre todo si se tiene en cuenta que a toda teologa subyace una antropologa Consecuentemente con la visin cosmolgica pasada, el ser humano era percibido como esencialmente carente y necesitado. Percibirlo as y percibir heternomamente a Dios como su plenitud y acabamiento era lo mismo. Hoy el ser humano se percibe como ser autnomo, con capacidad para ser lo pleno y total que pueda ser. De ah el rechazo cultural casi instintivo a todo lo que suponga heteronoma con respecto a l e incluso con respecto a la realidad csmico-material sin ms. La heteronoma como planteamiento ha entrado en profunda crisis, mientras la autonoma est en alza.

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Pero como sucediera con la cosmologa, igualmente en la antropologa no todos los elementos que la integran entran igualmente en crisis. Entran en crisis en primer lugar los ms clara o burdamente heternomos, mantenindose todava por ejemplo los que tienen que ver con valores y criterios ticos, el sentido de la vida humana y de la historia, la concepcin antropomrfica y/o personal de Dios, la concepcin del ser humano como autnomo y su realizacin, elementos y aspectos sobre los cuales todava articula la teologa sus propuestas, aunque no sin presentimientos de caducidad. As, se reconoce la autonoma en el ser humano y en la realidad, pero todava en el marco de una concepcin teleolgica. En otras palabras, al ser humano, como en general a la realidad, todava le falta algo, a veces lo esencial: alcanzar un telos o fin que todava est fuera de l, ms all de l, esperndolo, desafindolo, resultando entonces autnomo, pero necesitado y de nuevo carente. Para ello tendr que seguir un proceso o procesos, someterse a ellos, y dada la naturaleza de toda realizacin procesual, slo unos pocos lo lograrn o, mejor dicho, nadie porque cmo establecer el fin de lo que por naturaleza siempre es alargable?, primando la determinacin y quedando en el aire la pregunta: y la autonoma? Cuando al ser humano no se le puede garantizar la realizacin plena y total aqu y ahora, poca es la diferencia, aunque a otros efectos sea tan grande, entre prometerle su realizacin en trminos heternomos o autnomos, porque siempre habr un hteros entre l y su realizacin, siempre habr una distancia objetiva, una heteronoma, que es la que actualmente entra en crisis. Porque no es realizable como se promete ni es real, quedando siempre en proyecto inacabado, en propuesta de realizacin, en promesa, como lo quiso poner de manifiesto Ken Wilber con el ttulo de su libro El proyecto Atman. Para que la autonoma humana sea tal, no basta con liberarla del espacio, arriba y abajo, divino y humano, alma y cuerpo; hay que liberarla del tiempo como continuum y tiene que ser una realidad plena y total aqu y ahora. Y ste es el gran cambio que est experimentando la antropologa, al descubrir que esa dimensin existe ya en el ser humano, que no importa cul sea el escenario en el espacio y en el tiempo, l puede ser pleno y total aqu y ahora. Como entr en crisis la teleologa en el conocimiento de la naturaleza y hubo que liberarla de ella, otro tanto est sucediendo en la concepcin del ser humano y hay que liberarla de ella. Hay que liberar al ser humano de Dios que le proporcionara una teleologa que no necesita. El ser humano es lo que es, y siendo lo que es, es pleno y total en su ser, en su dimensin absoluta.

Cambia copernicanamente la religin. Debe cambiar la teologa. 197

Compete a la teologa articularse sobre una concepcin teleolgica del ser humano, y de esta manera no ayudar a lograr lo que promete, con la consecuente crisis, o articularse sobre la dimensin absoluta de la que est dotado el ser humano aqu y ahora, liberada de todo telos, del tiempo y del proceso que este implica. Cambia la historia Consecuencia de estos grandes cambios a nivel tanto de la cosmologa como de la antropologa, est cambiando tambin lo que ha sido un producto de la modernidad, la percepcin de nosotros mismos en trminos de historicidad, de la historia como el continuum humana, cultural y socialmente necesario de nuestra realizacin. Esta manera de percibirnos, como gusta denunciar una y otra vez Raimon Panikkar, es un producto relativamente reciente, de la modernidad occidental, pero al que hemos adherido como algo esencial. Pensndonos necesariamente histricos, no se nos pasaba por la mente que pudiramos no serlo. Necesitbamos seguir nuestra pretendida orientacin teleologa y, siguindola, realizarnos en la historia como individuos y como sociedad. Aunque por su misma estructura histrica ello sea una contradiccin y tal realizacin resulte imposible. Hoy, en virtud de los cambios reseados afectando en la forma en que lo hacen nuestra percepcin de espacio y tiempo, nuestra percepcin moderna occidental de la historia est cambiando tambin profundamente. Lo que pareca una percepcin llamada a ser universal y condicin sine qua non de nuestra realizacin humana, en tanto individuos y en tanto sociedad, ahora resulta ser local, y dentro de su localizacin en Occidente, no la nica, sino una de las muchas o al menos varias que ha habido, en otras palabras, temporal. Tan temporal que, pasada la modernidad de la primera revolucin industrial, ella misma entra en crisis, se desmorona como interpretacin calificada del tiempo, y se muestra mtica como es, el mito de la historia de Occidente. El tiempo, como el espacio, es una cualidad correlativa a la percepcin que tenemos de la realidad, y de acuerdo a nuestro paradigma representacional y a la que es nuestra forma de vida, nosotros, hombres y mujeres occidentales y modernos, no necesitamos concebirlo ni pensarlo como historia. La realidad csmica, la vida humana y la historia no tienen teleologa, no estn sometidas a ella, slo tienen el propsito que nosotros podamos descubrir y con l como recurso, el sentido y valor que nosotros les queramos y podamos dar. No hay un Dios, o algo as, dirigiendo la historia del universo ni del mundo, tampoco la historia humana en nuestro planeta. No hay tampoco leyes csmico-universales cumpliendo esa funcin, aunque as lo parezca. Cada vez ms se nos

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impone distinguir entre teleonomia y teleologa, entre propsito y fin, entre la realidad como es en s y un supuesto ordenamiento al que su realidad estara obedeciendo. De ah que las visiones histrico-sociales, culturales y polticas articuladas sobre la historia como lugar dinmico de la realizacin humana tambin estn en crisis. Y tal es el fenmeno al que, sin creer todava lo que vemos, pareciera estamos asistiendo. Todava muy recientemente, y casi sin darnos cuenta de cmo es que ello sucedi, asistimos a la cada de una visin cosmolgica religiosa tan subyugante como la de Teilhard de Chardin. Quizs no nos dimos cuenta, porque muy pronto esa visin y otras fueron sustituidas por visiones histrico-sociales, culturales y polticas que eran, o as nos parecan, mucho ms aterrizadas y prcticas, ms bblicas, ms evanglicas y ms cristianas. Pero nada indica que como visiones, por ms correctas que nos parezcan, en su naturaleza intrnseca sean diferentes de las visiones cosmolgicas y no vayan a correr la misma suerte. Visiones cosmolgicas y visiones de la historia, ambos tipos son construidos y como tales hijos del tiempo. Cambios profundos en nuestro paradigma y en nuestra vida Los cambios en nuestra visin cosmolgica y antropolgica, y como consecuencia de ello en nuestra concepcin del tiempo, son la expresin de un nuevo paradigma representacional y de una nueva forma de vida, en los que ya hemos entrado. Transformaciones a este nivel estructural profundo son las que estn en el trasfondo de todos los dems cambios. Y ambos, paradigma representacional y forma de vida, consisten en un nuevo tipo de conocimiento, no axiolgico. Siempre, en cualquier tipo de sociedad, se ha vivido del conocimiento y gracias a l. Pero ste siempre ha sido axiolgico, siempre ha sido un conocer significativo, con valores, que individuos y sociedad necesitan para vivir humana y socialmente. Ahora, por primera vez vivimos del conocimiento no slo en tanto paradigma sino en cuanto recurso y tecnologa, y para ello el conocimiento tiene que ser no axiolgico, puramente funcional o tcnico. De otra manera, con un conocimiento axiolgico, no podramos garantizar nuestra vida y sobrevivencia como colectivo. Esto es lo que implica ser una sociedad de conocimiento: no solo vivir del conocimiento sino de un conocimiento axiolgicamente asptico, por as decir. De ah la necesidad de despojar el conocimiento y la realidad que conoce de toda significacin (cosmolgica, antropolgica, teleolgica) que no sea la de su funcionalidad, la de sus resultados y utilidad. No se podr vivir sin valores, sin fines, objetivos y metas, ni individual ni socialmente hablando, pero estos valores necesarios tambin

Cambia copernicanamente la religin. Debe cambiar la teologa. 199

tendrn que se construidos cientficamente, de una manera valricamente asptica, partiendo de postulados y en un proceso ininterrumpido, por tanto continuamente sometido a evaluacin y a ajuste, de prueba error. Y sobre estos valores as construidos no se va a poder articular la religin, que por definicin es la cumbre de la axiologa. Una cumbre que tiene que estar ms all de toda construccin, ya que una religin cientficamente construida no es religin. De ah el desencanto que pronto producen las religiones ingenieriles, como calific Ken Wilber a las propuestas de la New Age, as como el encanto que an guardan las religiones tradicionales cuando son vividas honestamente en correspondencia a una forma de vida. Porque, aun y con sus limitaciones, apuntan a la trascendencia. Cambia copernicanamente la religin As vistos e interpretados los cambios, hablar de cambio copernicano en la religin, aunque necesario, es quedarse corto. El cambio es tan profundo que lo que siempre fue la religin ha dejado de ser. En los hombres y mujeres de la sociedad de conocimiento la religin tal como la hemos conocido no se puede volver a reproducir como tal. No puede volver a articularse sobre la axiologa del paradigma de conocimiento, como lo hizo siempre, porque el suyo, el paradigma actual, no la tiene, no la produce. No se puede reproducir sobre ninguna axiologa, ni sobre las pasadas, ni sobre la actual a construir cientficamente. No es posible hacerlo sobre las pasadas, porque stas ya no existen, pero tampoco sobre la que vamos construyendo actualmente, porque sobre su naturaleza de construida no se puede construir lo que literalmente tiene que ser culmen, vrtice y corona. La religin tendr que construirse sobre s misma y a partir de s misma, como experiencia humana plena y total, posible en todo momento, como dimensin que tiene un propsito, la realizacin plena del ser humano, pero no un fin; ms all, pues, de toda utilidad, de toda conveniencia y de todo inters. El cambio no puede ser mayor. Articulada sobre la axiologa correspondiente a la forma de vida, la religin ha sido experiencia y conocimiento axiolgico, con forma y contenidos, y sobre ella como conocimiento y axiologa religiosa es que se ha fundado y articulado la teologa. Ahora la religin ser experiencia pura, una, gratuita y total, sin fondo ni forma, sin contenido, sin sujeto ni objeto, experiencia y solo experiencia, sin para qu ni por qu. Y la teologa slo se podr fundar y articular sobre ella en tanto es simblicamente expresada y en funcin de la experiencia misma, sin otro inters ni otra finalidad. Est cambiando copernicanamente la religin, tiene que cambiar tambin copernicanamente la teologa.

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 201

Catholic Religion and Social Changes in Latin America and Caribe

Luigi Schiavo DEI, San Jos, Costa Rica

Abstract
The self-referencial attitude of the Church, expressing itself through concepts by revelation, in dogmatics positions based on the super-evaluation of the instituctional and autoritative dimension and in the churchcentrism, is brought into question by the new cultural moment and by the new inter-relationality paradigm. This text analyses the actual situation of the Church and points out all challenges proposed to the Catholic Church in Latin America.

Resumen
La actitud auto-referencial de la Iglesia, que se hace visible en conceptos como revelacin, en posturas dogmticas basadas en la sper-valoracin de la dimensin institucional y autoritativa y en el eclesiocentrismo, es puesta en cuestin por el nuevo momento cultural y el paradigma de la interrelacionalidad. El presente texto analiza la actual situacin eclesial y apunta algunos desafos que se proponen a la Iglesia Catlica en Amrica Latina.

The cultural changes that we are living, drive the structural changes at all levels: political, economic, social, cultural and religious. Reference models of some years ago are in crisis and enable to satisfy any new requirements. We live in a time of instability, which becomes stronger in the field of politics and economics. The centrality of the economy reveals the fragility of the current political system, that being based on participatory democracy, can not guarantee indistinctively to everyone, the fundamental rights. The market economy, based on "the calculation of utility," fails to satisfy the greed of a market that reveals all its indifference in relation to social, material and ecological matters. These elements, combined

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with others, generate a deep crisis of the development model, dependent on the capital and on the market. In the social field, the great waves of immigration of recent years, from the south to the north of the world and from the east to west, are reshaping the global social environment. The contact, not always peaceful between different cultures, creates problems of social instability that can engender attitudes of intolerance and ethnocentrism, as well as bring to life interesting experiences of meeting and openness. If, on one side, the economic globalization sees positively this openness to pluralism and multiculturalism, as instruments of economic expansion, on the other hand, there are cultures and peoples, especially indigenous, natives and Africans that resist with all their forces to the cultural and economic homogenization that would lead them to disappear or be reduced to mere cultural folklore. In the same context we must place the crisis of religion, especially the classic and more institutionalized ones , while the new religious groups, widely spread throughout Central and Latin America, seem to live a moment of great expansion. It should be them, according to the opinion of some experts of religion, the best interpreters of religion in today's new socio-cultural context, referring to their view of religion. In this paper, we will try to place some issues mostly concerning the Catholic Church, trying to indicate, at the end, some specific challenges. New Paradigms Beyond the items mentioned in the introduction, what is happening, in the opinion of many, its a paradigm shift whose consequences are quite profound. The paradigm of modernity supported science and was legitimized in the philosophical thought, had its rationale in the subject-object dualism and ended by emphasizing the former over the latter. The subject, from his ability to think, learn and formulate, becomes the reference point of all. Thus, the thinking subject and his reason became the decisive impulse of the scientific progress and of the modern development system. Through reason and its scientific and technological production, everything could be objectified and transformed starting from the interests of the human subject. The philosophical reflection, oriented as well to the study of being, just putting its emphasis on it, giving legitimacy to such ideological paradigm, which asserts the superiority of the one over the other: in the field of science, as well as in that of the social, religious, cultural, relations, and so on. That kind of thinking is at the origin of the systems of domination such as patriarchy, eurocentrism and capitalism, to quote some ones. The emerging paradigm proposes another type of approach: from the bipolar dualistic system that preferred

Catholic Religion and Cultural Changhes in Latin America and Caribe. 203

one of the two elements to against the other, to a view where everything is related to everything: the interrelationality. The discovery of quantum physics where matter is energy, resulting from exchange, caused a revolution in science, in thought and in the various fields of social, political and cultural life. The overcoming the dualistic opposition: subject x object, leading, for example to understand that there is something (an object) outside or separated from the subject as something static that can be known, otherwise there is a vital link between the two, by which, we not only know each other, as we interact and this interaction is the beginning of a continuous transformation. The subject is not one to be defined once for all, but is constantly transforming itself: the result of its relationships. It is a statement of fundamental importance, leading to the reformulation of key concepts such as truth, identity, and the review of relations nowadays essential, for example, the relationship with others (be they individuals, peoples or nations), with nature and the cosmos. The Catholic religion against those changes This new cultural situation challenges in a special way the Catholic Church, and some of its fundamental concepts and structures that need to be rethought and reformulated. - One of the central aspects of Catholicism is its self-consciousness and self-understanding that is founded on key concepts such as "revelation" and "incarnation." Such formulations are too emphasized, can be compromised by inter-religious dialogue, arriving to an exclusive or partially inclusivist position. They are also related to Christology: excessive stress in the person of Jesus sets in a less important level the subversive message of the Kingdom. The message is replaced by the messenger. The person of Jesus is important, fundamental, as the bridge, the road, while the Reign remains the ultimate goal. Furthermore, the centrality of Christology can produce a magical religion: it was not what Jesus expressed by his life and words. Rethinking the fidelity to the Gospel means coming back to the centrality of God's plan, which coincides with what is commonly called the Kingdom of God. - Related to the concept of revelation is the question of truth. The Catholic Church is very concerned about the truth, and mantains a very clear position on what it considers truth, as the logical consequence of the revelation of God and the incarnation of Jesus Christ. But the truth is conceived as something objective, the "deposit" received, to be preserved and passed: it is a set of beliefs and statements that define the Church's doctrinal body. For this is the function of the Magisterium, whose main task is the preservation, protection and transmission of the deposit. The

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teaching function is characterized by some key dimensions: its divine origin, resulting in religious consecration of its members, the visible expression of the divine call, its apostolicity linking the unbroken line of bishops to the apostles, apostolic fidelity guarantee ; his infallibility, even if recognized only in certain cases, in which are expressed its conscience and authority. Dogmatic attitudes of the Church and its doctrinal intransigence are logical consequences of this restrictive conception of truth and authority. From the new relational paradigm, it is understood that there is no truth neither already existing nor created, but there is a collective and plural search for truth. That means more than talking about truth, we must consider several truths, as many as the people involved in the search, because each one has their own understanding. Taking as an example the glass, it is not defined by one of its facets, but by all. The truth is proposed, then as a path, a process that is never finished, there will always be the possibility of new contributions and new understandings. - This concept of truth leads to an overestimation of the teaching function, which is characterized by hierarchy, institutionalization and self-referentiality. Its standing in the divine call, makes it a necessary and untouchable institution, and its essential reference to the sacred places gives it a position of superiority and separation in relation to the laity. Its hierarchical structure expresses the degree of proximity to the divine and responsibility in its role as intermediary. All that area of mystery and holiness of the Catholic hierarchy confers absolute and unquestionable power, because its origin is considered divine. It is here that the question of self-referentiality of the Magisterium originates, transforming the tradition of the Church and its doctrinal statements, mostly of the past, as a reference to the present and future, without considering that they also are result of social, political, historical and cultural processes. The doctrinal dogmatism is the logical consequence of this archaic conception of authority and doctrinal fixity and the monopoly of interpretation related only to the magisterium, is made with no possibility of internal questioning the Church itself, which falls under the dictatorship of fidelity doctrine and dogmatism, which are expressed by the concept of the infallibility of the hierarchy. In fact, nothing more than a self-referential truth. In that sense it is also understood its patriarchal structure, which favors only the access of men to power, damaging the other social categories such as women. - Another problem with the Catholic Church is the question of the inculturation of the gospel and, therefore, the concept of mission. It is part of the constituent elements of the Church's mission "ad gentes", which expresses the universal attitude of Christianity. But the universal expansion became, in most cases, a real conquest or cultural imposition,

Catholic Religion and Cultural Changhes in Latin America and Caribe. 205

with all human problems, both social and cultural getting from the "evangelized" cultures. There is, to understand the mission a serious mistake: the conception of the gospel as something superior to the cultures, which is above, and that is good for everyone, without distinction. The gospel is considered as a metaphysical body of values, applicable equally to all peoples and cultures. Without denying the validity of the Gospel ethics, that position also forgets that the gospel is the result of a cultural process, and an expression of a historically and sociologically contextualized situation. So the gospel is also related to its time, its society and culture. To universalize it, it must be inculturated as: translated into the symbolic systems and the languages typical of cultures with which it comes into contact. To do that without obstacles, you have to put on an equal situation and discuss equally with other "gospels", expressions of other cultures and religions. - The result of these medieval conceptions is a church closed in his temple, looking for its center, concentrated on internal issues rather than on dialogue with the world. Ecclesiocentrism prevalence is on a more dialogic, missionary, transforming and liberating model. Thus, the Church focuses on a sacramental pastoral and doctrinal, ritual where the function gets a central importance. The worship and the observance of ecclesiastical norms (for that is the canon law!) guarantee the faithful correct interpretation of the gospel and, ultimately, salvation. The world is always seen as something negative, you need transformation, and God is far from that reality, being put out of this world, considered unworthy of him. The sky is transformed into the reference to God, to which rising the incense smoke of religious celebrations, whose languages and symbols are no longer understood by the people, because they are not expressions of his life. Life, faith and celebration have no harmony between them, not being expressions of the same outlook on life, God and religion. The current closure of part of Latin-American church to the social question, the poor and the transformation of reality, can only be understood with the advance of ritualistic and sacramental model of the Church. Challenges to the Catholic religion in LA and the Caribbean According to what said before, it seems that some challenges are urgently to the Catholic Church. - Rethinking its identity and mission, from the centrality of the Word of God. In times of crisis back to the origins is always one of the elements that helps in the evaluation of the way. Listening to the word enables to reaffirm the centrality of Jesus' plan and to understand the social, cultural and historical elements, preventing from a greater trust in it. But it is not a simple method of reading the word: it is necessary to

206 Luigi SCHIAVO

start from the historical-critical method, not legitimizing history but being reference of a cultural construction of the text, and giving value to the immense contributions of biblical Latin-American hermeneutics. In particular the popular reading of the Bible that gets more easily than other methods, establishes the relationship between life, truth. - The word has in itself the option for the poor, the impoverished, "subjects denied", the "excess mass" as privileged theological place in a continent scarred by a history of colonization and spoliation. The invitation to resume the mission made at the Conference of Aparecida, is an invitation to leave the temples, and internal problems to return to the streets, squares, where are the people, especially those that are suffering. The credibility of the Church depends on its prophetic ability and on his desire to be again leaven in society. A neutral church, committed to the excluded is not a true Church of Jesus Christ. - The consequence of these choices lead to the centrality of communional look, to an inclusive attitude from the excluded, to the priority of the relational element of the institutional. In a society marked by great migrations, products of individualism and social exclusion the communional inclusive attitude may be interpreted as a prophetic element of the Church, expression of the project of Jesus of the shared bread. The possibility of inclusion in relational communities, will enable the emergence of new subjectivities and social and political projects that are truly alternative, because their subjects are different. The relational element is not opposed to the mass: the two are complementary. But the Church must avoid the temptation of mass not to keep as central the question of primary relationships. - It is necessary a reflection to obtain a more inclusive understanding of the ministry, involving women and other categories of people so far excluded. This goes beyond the internal democratization of the Church: it means the overcoming of a patriarchal conception of authority, for the expression of power really understood as a service to all existing subjectivities. It also involves the assumption of the relationship as basic category that governs not only the institutional and power relations, but also relations from which depends the hermeneutical process of definition of truth, identity and mission of the Church itself. - Finally, it is necessary a reflection on faith in different cultures, being more concerned with fidelity to the values rather than with history of the definitions and doctrinal formulations. Inculturation means recognizing that the Spirit becomes before the missionaries, and is expressed by an attitude of appreciation of difference and otherness, and being less concerned with ourselves. One of the great challenges of Christianity is to get over the fear of others (be they religious denominations, other

Catholic Religion and Cultural Changhes in Latin America and Caribe. 207

religions, other cultures or the world), distrust, superiority and attitude of confrontation, which are resolved in the attempt to reduce everyone to himself/herself. Simply going out from ourselves to meet the other is to follow Jesuss commandment, who invites to consider the other more important than yourself. The emphasis on relationship is the way to overcome the opposition! Thus, we believe, Christianity get out of its closure to open a pluralistic dialogue in and welcome diversity, difference, plurality. Referential Bibliography
Bauman, Zygmunt. La sociedad individualizada. Ctedra, Madrid 2001. Bauman, Zygmunt. Confianza y temor en la ciudad. Vivir con extranjeros. Arcadia, Barcelona 2006. Boff, Leonardo Muraro, Rose Maria. Femenino y Masculino. Una nueva consciencia para el encuentro de las diferencias. Trotta, Madrid 2004 Capra, Fritjof. El punto crucial. Creencia, Sociedad y Cultura nasciente. La necesria visin de una nueva realidad. Una reconciliacin entre la creencia y el espritu humano para hacer posible el futuro. Integral, 1985. Capra, Fritjof. La trama de la vida. Una perspectiva de los sistemas vivos. Anagrama, Barcelona, 1998. Capra, Fritjof. Las conexiones ocultas. Implicaciones sociales, medioambientales, econmicas y biolgicas de una nueva visin del mundo. Anagrama, Barcelona 2002. Daz-Polanco, Hctor. Elogio de la diversidad. Globalizacin, multiculturalismo, etnofagia, Casa de las Amricas, La Habana (Cuba) 2008. Hinkelammert, Franz. La maldicin que pesa sobre La ley. Las races del pensamiento crtico en Pablo de Tarso. Arlekn, San Jos, Costa Rica, 2010. Levinas, Emmanuel. La huella del otro. Taurus, Mxico 2000. Maturana Humberto. El sentido de lo humano. Dolmen, Santiago de Chile, 81996. Najmanovich, Denise. El juegos de los vnculos. Subjetividad y redes: figuras en mutacin. Biblos, Buenos Aires 2005. Vigil, J.M.,Theology of Religious Pluralism. Lit Verlag, Berlin, 2006.

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Religin catlica y cambio cultural en Amrica Latina y Caribe

Luigi Schiavo DEI, San Jos, Costa Rica
El cambio cultural Los cambios culturales que estamos viviendo, impulsan a cambios estructurales a todos los niveles: poltico, econmico, social, cultural y religioso. Los modelos de referencia de algunos aos atrs estn en crisis y no satisfacen ms las nuevas exigencias. Vivimos un momento de inestabilidad, que se hace ms notoria en el campo de la poltica y de la economa. La centralidad de la economa revela las fragilidades del sistema poltico actual, que, incluso estando fundado en la democracia participativa, no consigue garantizar, a todos y todas indistintamente, los derechos fundamentales. La economa de mercado, establecida sobre el clculo de la utilidad, no consigue satisfacer la voracidad de un mercado que revela toda su indiferencia en relacin a los problemas sociales, materiales y ecolgicos. Estos elementos, y otros, generan una profunda crisis del modelo de desarrollo, por lo dems, dependiente del capital y del mercado. En el campo social, las grandes olas migratorias de estos ltimos aos, del sur a norte del mundo y del este a oeste, estn rediseando el panorama social mundial. El contacto, no siempre pacfico, entre culturas diferentes, genera problemas de inestabilidad social que pueden engendrar actitudes de intolerancia y etnocentrismo, como pueden tambin dar vida a experiencias interesantes de encuentro y apertura. Si por un lado la globalizacin econmica ve con simpata esa apertura al pluralismo y al multiculturalismo, como instrumentos de su expansin econmica, por otro lado, hay culturas y pueblos, sobre todo los autctonos, indgenas y africanos que resisten con todas sus fuerzas a la homogeneizacin cultural y econmica, que los llevara a desaparecer o a ser reducidos a mero folklore cultural. En ese mismo contexto hay que situar la crisis de la religin, sobre todo de las clsicas y ms institucionalizadas, mientras que los nuevos grupos religiosos, florecidos numerosos en toda Amrica Latina y Central,

Religin catlica y cambio cultural Amrica Latina y Caribe 209

parecen vivir un momento de gran expansin. Seran, en la opinin de algunos estudiosos de la religin, los mejores intrpretes de la religin en el actual nuevo contexto socio-cultural, en lo que se refiere a la religin. En el presente trabajo, trataremos de enfocarnos sobre algunas problemticas que se refieren ms directamente a la Iglesia Catlica, procurando indicar, al final, algunos desafos concretos. Nuevos paradigmas Ms all de los elementos sealados en la introduccin, lo que est ocurriendo, en la opinin de muchos, es un cambio de paradigmas, cuyas consecuencias sern bastante profundas. El paradigma de la modernidad serva de base a la ciencia y se legitimaba en el pensamiento filosfico: tena su razn fundamental en el dualismo sujeto-objeto y acababa enfatizando el primero sobre el segundo. El sujeto, a partir de su capacidad de pensar, conocer y de formular se transformaba en el punto de referencia de todo. De esa forma, el sujeto pensante y su razn se convirtieron en el impulso decisivo del progreso cientfico y del sistema de desarrollo moderno. A travs de la razn y de su produccin cientfica y tecnolgica, todo poda ser objetivado e transformado a partir de los intereses del sujeto humano. La reflexin filosfica, ella tambin orientada al estudio del ser, acababa poniendo su nfasis en el mismo, dando legitimidad ideolgica a ese tipo de paradigma, que afirmaba la superioridad del uno sobre los dems: en el campo de la ciencia, como tambin de las relaciones sociales, religiosas, culturales, etc. Ese tipo de pensamiento est en el origen de sistemas de dominacin como el patriarcado, el eurocentrismo y el capitalismo, por citar algunos. El paradigma emergente propone otro planteamiento: del sistema bipolar dualista, que privilegiaba uno de los dos elementos en perjuicio del otro, se pasa a una concepcin en la que todo est en relacin con todo: la interrelacionalidad. El descubrimiento de la fsica cuntica de que la materia es energa y que sta es fruto de interrelaciones, desencaden una verdadera revolucin en las ciencias, en el pensamiento y en los varios mbitos de la vida social, poltica y cultural. La superacin de la oposicin dualstica: sujeto versus objeto, lleva, por ejemplo, a entender que no hay algo (un objeto) fuera o separado del sujeto, como algo esttico que se puede conocer; sino que existe una relacin vital entre los dos, por la cual, no slo nos conocemos recprocamente, sino que interactuamos y esta interrelacin es el principio de una continua transformacin. El sujeto no es un ser definido de una vez por todas, sino en constante de-venir: es el resultado de sus relaciones. Es una afirmacin de fundamental importancia, que lleva a la reformulacin de conceptos clave, como el de verdad, el de identidad... y lleva tambin a la

210 Luigi SCHIAVO

revisin de relaciones hasta ahora fundamentales, como, por ejemplo, la relacin con los otros (sean ellos personas, pueblos o naciones), con la naturaleza y el cosmos. La religin catlica frente esos cambios Esa nueva situacin cultural desafa de modo especial la Iglesia Catlica, y a algunos de sus conceptos y estructuras fundamentales, que necesitan ser repensados y reformulados. - Uno de los aspectos centrales del catolicismo es su auto-consciencia y auto-comprensin fundados en conceptos claves como revelacin y encarnacin. Tales formulaciones, si se enfatizan demasiado, pueden ser perjudiciales para el dilogo inter-religioso, pues llevaran a una posicin exclusivista o parcialmente inclusivista. Adems, estn relacionados con la cristologa: la excesiva acentuacin en la persona de Jess pone en segundo plano el mensaje subversivo del Reino. Al mensaje le acaba sustituyendo el mensajero. La persona de Jess es importante, fundamental, por ser el puente, el camino, mientras que el Reino sigue siendo el propsito final. Adems, la centralidad de la cristologa puede llevar a una religin mgica, y no fue eso lo que Jess testimoni con su vida y palabras. Retomar la fidelidad al evangelio, significa, entonces, retornar a la centralidad del proyecto de Dios, que coincide con lo que comnmente llamamos Reino de Dios. -Relacionada al concepto de revelacin est la cuestin de la verdad. La Iglesia catlica est muy preocupada por la verdad, y tiene una postura muy clara en relacin a lo que considera verdad, entendida como la consecuencia lgica de la revelacin de Dios y de la encarnacin de Jesucristo. Pero la verdad es concebida como algo objetivo, el depsito recibido, que debe ser conservado y transmitido: se trata de un conjunto de creencias y de afirmaciones que definen el cuerpo doctrinal de la Iglesia. Para esto est la funcin del Magisterio, cuya tarea principal es la conservacin, defensa y transmisin del depsito. La funcin magisterial se caracteriza por algunas dimensiones esenciales: su origen divino, que se traduce en la consagracin religiosa de su miembros, expresin visible del llamado divino; su apostolicidad: la lnea ininterrumpida que liga los obispos a los apstoles, garanta de la fidelidad apostlica; su infalibilidad, que aunque sea reconocida slo en determinados casos, expresa su consciencia y su autoridad. Las actitudes dogmticas de la Iglesia y su intransigencia doctrinal son consecuencias lgicas de esa concepcin rgida de la verdad y de la autoridad.

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A partir del nuevo paradigma relacional, se entiende que no hay una verdad ya confeccionada y lista, sino que existe un proceso colectivo y plural de bsqueda de la verdad. Eso significa que ms que hablar de una verdad, debemos considerar varias verdades, tantas cuantas son las personas involucradas en su bsqueda, porque cada una tiene de la misma su propia comprensin. Como un diamante, ella no se define por una sola de sus facetas, sino por todas. La verdad se propone, entonces como camino, proceso que nunca ser acabado, pues siempre habr posibilidad de nuevos aportes y nuevas comprensiones. - Esta concepcin de la verdad conlleva una supervaloracin de la funcin magisterial, que se caracteriza por su jerarquizacin, institucionalizacin y auto-referencialidad. Su legitimacin sobre el llamado divino la transforma en una institucin necesaria e intocable; y su referencia esencial a lo sagrado la pone en situacin de superioridad y de separacin en relacin a los laicos. Su estructura jerrquica refleja el grado de proximidad a lo divino y de responsabilidad en su funcin de intermediacin. Toda esa esfera de misterio y de santidad confiere a la jerarqua catlica un poder absoluto e incuestionable, porque se considera derivacin divina. Es aqu donde tiene sus races la cuestin del auto-referencialidad del magisterio, que transforma la tradicin de la Iglesia y sus afirmaciones doctrinales, la mayora del pasado, en referencia para el presente y el futuro, sin considerar que tambin son fruto de procesos sociales, polticos, histricos y culturales. El dogmatismo doctrinal es la consecuencia lgica de esa concepcin arcaica de autoridad; y la rigidez doctrinal y el monopolio interpretativo relacionado solamente al magisterio eclesistico, hacen que no haya posibilidad de cuestionamiento interno a la propia Iglesia, que cae en la dictadura de la fidelidad doctrinal y del dogmatismo, que se expresan en el concepto de infalibilidad de su jerarqua. En realidad, no pasa de una verdad autorreferencial. En ese sentido se entiende tambin su estructura patriarcal, que privilegia nicamente el acceso de los varones al poder, en perjuicio de otras categoras sociales, como las mujeres. - Otro problema de la Iglesia catlica es la cuestin de la inculturacin del evangelio y, por consiguiente, el concepto de misin. Forma parte de los elementos constitutivos de la Iglesia la misin ad gentes, que expresa la actitud universalista del cristianismo. Pero, la expansin universalista se transform, en la mayora de los casos, en verdadera conquista o imposicin cultural, con todos los problemas humanos, sociales y culturales que eso trajo para las culturas evangelizadas. Hay, por detrs de esa comprensin de misin un equvoco muy serio: la concepcin del evangelio como algo superior a las culturas, algo que estara por encima, y que sera bueno para todos. Se considera el evangelio como un cuerpo metafsico de valores, aplicable indistintamente a todos los pueblos

212 Luigi SCHIAVO

y culturas. Sin negar la validez tica del evangelio, esa posicin olvida que tambin el evangelio es fruto de un proceso cultural, y es expresin de una situacin contextualizada tanto histrica como sociolgicamente. Entonces, tambin el evangelio es relativo a su tiempo, a su sociedad y a su cultura. Para universalizarlo, tiene que ser inculturado, quiere decir: traducido en los sistemas simblicos y en los lenguajes tpicos de las culturas con las cuales entra en contacto. Sin embrago, para hacer eso, hay que ponerse en una situacin de igualdad y dialogar de par a par con otros evangelios, expresiones de otras culturas y religiones. - El resultado de esas concepciones medievales es una Iglesia cerrada dentro su templo, que mira para su ombligo, preocupada por sus cuestiones internas ms, que en dialogo con el mundo. Es la prevalencia del eclesiocentrismo sobre un modelo ms dialogal, misionero, transformador y liberador. De esa forma, la Iglesia se concentra en una pastoral sacramental y doctrinal, en las que la funcin ritual adquiere importancia central. El culto y la observancia de normas eclesisticas (para eso est el derecho cannico!) garantizan a los fieles su correcta interpretacin del evangelio y, al final, su salvacin. El mundo es siempre entendido como algo negativo, que necesita de transformacin, y Dios est alejado de esa realidad, es puesto fuera de este mundo, considerado indigno de l. El cielo es transformado en la referencia de Dios, hacia el cual se elevan los humos de incienso de las celebraciones religiosas, cuyos lenguajes y smbolos ya no son entendidos por el pueblo, porque no son expresiones de su vida. Vida, fe y celebracin no tienen ya sintona entre ellas, no son expresiones de la misma visin de la vida, de Dios y de la religin. La actual actitud de rechazo de parte de la iglesia latino-americana hacia la cuestin social, del pobre y de la transformacin de la realidad, slo puede ser entendida con el avance del modelo ritualista y sacramental de Iglesia. Desafos a la religin catlica en Amrica Latina y Caribe Frente a lo expuesto anteriormente, nos parece que algunos desafos se presentan con urgencia a la Iglesia Catlica. - Repensar su identidad y misin, a partir de la centralidad de la Palabra de Dios. En perodos de crisis volver a los orgenes es siempre uno de los elementos que ayudan en la evaluacin del camino. Ponerse en la escucha de la Palabra posibilita reafirmar la opcin y la centralidad del proyecto de Jess y entender los elementos sociales, culturales e histricos que impiden una mayor fidelidad al mismo. Pero, no se trata de cualquier mtodo de lectura de la Palabra: es necesario partir del mtodo histrico-critico, no como legitimador de la historia, sino como referencia de una construccin cultural del texto, y valorizando las inmensas

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contribuciones de la hermenutica bblica latino-americana. Sobre todo la lectura popular de la Biblia que consigue, ms fcilmente que otros mtodos, establecer la relacin entre vida, palabra y fe. - La Palabra lleva a la opcin por los pobres, los empobrecidos, los sujetos negados, las masas sobrantes, como lugar teolgico privilegiado, en un continente marcado por una historia de colonizacin y expoliacin. La invitacin a retomar la misin hecha en la Conferencia de Aparecida, es invitacin a salir de los templos, y de los problemas internos para volver a las calles, a las plazas, donde se encuentra el pueblo, sobre todo los que ms estn sufriendo. La credibilidad de la Iglesia depende de su capacidad proftica, y sa, de su voluntad de volver a ser fermento dentro la sociedad. Una Iglesia neutra y no comprometida con los excluidos no es una Iglesia fiel a Jess. - La consecuencia de estas opciones lleva a la centralidad del aspecto comunional, a una actitud inclusiva a partir de los excluidos, a la prioridad del elemento relacional sobre lo institucional. En una sociedad marcada por grandes migraciones, productos del individualismo y de la exclusin social, la actitud inclusiva y comunional podr ser interpretada como uno de los elementos profticos de la iglesia, en fidelidad al proyecto del pan compartido de Jess. La posibilidad de inclusin en comunidades relacionales, posibilitar el emerger de nuevas subjetividades y de proyectos sociales y polticos verdaderamente alternativos, porque sus sujetos son diferentes. El elemento relacional no se opone a la masa: los dos son complementarios. Pero la Iglesia tiene que evitar la tentacin de la masa, sin poner en el centro el aspecto de las relaciones primarias. - Es necesaria una reflexin para una comprensin ms inclusiva del ministerio, que englobe las mujeres y otras categoras de personas hasta ahora excluidas. Eso va ms all de una democratizacin interna de la Iglesia: implica la superacin de una concepcin patriarcal de la autoridad, en favor de la expresin del poder entendido realmente como servicio a todas las subjetividades existentes. Implica tambin la asuncin de la interrelacin como categora bsica que regula no solamente las relaciones institucionales y de poder, como tambin las relaciones de las cuales depende el proceso hermenutico de definicin de la verdad, de la identidad y misin de la propia Iglesia. - Finalmente, es necesario una reflexin que piense la fe dentro de las diferentes culturas, preocupndose ms por la fidelidad a los valores que por la historia de las definiciones y formulaciones doctrinarias. Inculturacin significa reconocer que el Espritu precede a los misioneros/as, y se traduce en una actitud de valorizacin de la diferencia y de la otreidad, y una menor preocupacin con s mismo. Uno de los grandes desafos del Cristianismo es lo de conseguir superar el miedo de los otros

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(ya sean otras confesiones religiosas, otras religiones, otras culturas o el mundo), la desconfianza, la actitud de superioridad y de confrontacin, que se resuelven en la tentativa de reducir todos y todas a s mismo. Salir de s para ir con sencillez al encuentro del otro es poner en prctica el mandamiento de Jess, que invita a considerar al prjimo como ms importante que uno mismo. El nfasis en la relacin es el camino para superar la contraposicin! De esa forma, creemos, la cristiandad conseguir salir de su cerrazn actual para abrirse al dilogo plural y acoger en su medio la diversidad, la diferencia, la pluralidad. Bibliografa de referencia
Bauman, Zygmunt. La sociedad individualizada. Ctedra, Madrid 2001. Bauman, Zygmunt. Confianza y temor en la ciudad. Vivir con extranjeros. Arcadia, Barcelona 2006. Boff, Leonardo Muraro, Rose Maria. Femenino y Masculino. Una nueva consciencia para el encuentro de las diferencias. Trotta, Madrid 2004 Capra, Fritjof. El punto crucial. Creencia, Sociedad y Cultura naciente. La necesaria visin de una nueva realidad. Una reconciliacin entre la creencia y el espritu humano para hacer posible el futuro. Integral, 1985. Capra, Fritjof. La trama de la vida. Una perspectiva de los sistemas vivos. Anagrama, Barcelona, 1998. Capra, Fritjof. Las conexiones ocultas. Implicaciones sociales, medioambientales, econmicas y biolgicas de una nueva visin del mundo. Anagrama, Barcelona 2002. Daz-Polanco, Hctor. Elogio de la diversidad. Globalizacin, multiculturalismo, etnofagia, Casa de las Amricas, La Habana (Cuba) 2008. Hinkelammert, Franz. La maldicin que pesa sobre La ley. Las races del pensamiento crtico en Pablo de Tarso. Arlekn, San Jos, Costa Rica, 2010. Levinas, Emmanuel. La huella del otro. Taurus, Mxico 2000. Maturana Humberto. El sentido de lo humano. Dolmen, Santiago de Chile, 81996. Najmanovich, Denise. El juegos de los vnculos. Subjetividad y redes: figuras en mutacin. Biblos, Buenos Aires 2005. Vigil, J.M., Teologia do pluralismo religioso. Para una releitura pluralista do cristianismo. So Paulo, Paulus, 2006.

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Religion in a Thecno-centric and Market-Based World

Sinivaldo Silva TAVARES ISTA, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil
Abstract
We live, today, under the hegemony of a techno-centric and market-based paradigm. It is the authentic horizons, in the interior of which are uncovered all of the scopes of the human experience. That said, what does human kind and religion become in this new era? Techno-science has become a horizon of comprehension of man regarding the world and himself. Not only our lifestyles, and our way of life and work, are conditioned by technology, but also our deeper identity is lost by the technical difference. We are still victims of the absolutization of the market: an authentic mercantilization of life and, therefore, culture and religion. The market presents itself as the only setting of our present civilizations story line. Our vital fluctuations, as well as the values and religious and cultural symbols become merchandise to consume and discard. This has been the price that religion decided to pay in exchange for the right of citizenship in a world dominated by techno-science and by the market.

Resumen
Vivemos, hoje, sob a hegemonia do paradigma tecnocntrico e mercadolgico, que se constituem em autnticos horizontes no interior dos quais se desvelam todos os mbitos da experincia humana. Isso posto, o que o ser humano e a religio se tornam nessa nova situao epocal? A Tecnocincia tornou-se horizonte de compreenso do ser humano em relao ao mundo e si prprio. No apenas nossos estilos de vida, nosso modo de trabalhar e viver, so condicionados pela tcnica, mas tambm nossa identidade mais profunda dada pela diferena tcnica. Somos ainda vtimas da absolutizao do Mercado: uma autntica mercantilizao da vida e, portanto, tambm da cultura e da religio. O mercado vai se impondo como nico cenrio de nossa trama civilizacional atual. Nossos fluxos vitais e tambm os valores e smbolos culturais e religiosos se tornam mercadoria de consumo e de descarte. Esse tem sido o preo que a religio decidiu pagar em troca do direito de cidadania em um mundo dominado pela tecnocincia e pelo mercado.

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Religion is an extremely complex phenomenon; such that we shun the pretension that we could exhaust such complexity. What we want, in fact, is to consider religion in the context of the contemporary hegemonic paradigm, as well as techno-centric and market-based context. It appears to us that, in such context, religion runs the risk of succumbing when faced with a double reductionism. We purposely choose the term reductionism because we believe that, in both cases, religion feels obliged to circumscribe the situations that, in principle, are foreign to the phenomenon that is religion. This double reductionism is the price that religion has paid for acquiring the right of citizenship, in a world dominated by techno-science and the market. 1. Techno-science as horizon of the present base experience The modern Western paradigm is characterized, among other things, by a visible anthro-centrism expressed in the peculiar attitude of putting ourselves above things; objectifying them as foreign, because disconnected from human beings, they are seen as merely as our subjects. Modernity is revealed, like this, as a movement that, from the centrality of Cartesian thought, was disintegrating the mystic nature of the world, so that human beings could embody more and more their intent to become, in effect, le maitre et le possesseur de la nature (Descartes). It is attested, in this sense, a correlation between might makes right of the modern subject and the disenchantment of the world considered merely an object. Things begin to be seen by humans only in light of their usefulness. Westerners are made prisoners, therefore, to their own interest and to the image of themselves neglecting other humans and creatures, while limiting their relations to those things that are useful and functional. Our subject felt more and more the ray of his power, subjecting and subordinating everything he found himself faced with. In this perspective, the human being is auto-affirmed in a fight against the others (those considered strange) and, therefore, they are made objects to be dominated or eliminated. In such a context, technology was co-opted by the subject as a privileged instrument for the wielding of that knowledge as power. In fact, technology was used, in the condition of an instrument, to that domain of the thinking subject about other beings considered mere measurable objects. Considered by human kind as a mere instrument, technology was seen as emanating from the subject, in other words a sort of extension of his members in relation to the potency of his domain over things. In a word, technology was considered a mere instrument at the disposal of the human being.

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For some decades now we have been witness to a huge expansion of techno-science to the point of being considered a new era. From a mere instrument of domination at human disposal, techno-science has constituted a final horizon where we uncover all of the scopes of experience, arriving at adjusting, even the way that humans understand themselves. After all, wouldnt complete control embody pretensions of totality? Wouldnt the expansion of planetary control be inherent to the same essence of all technology? Wouldnt contemporary technologies only be causing the final consequences of the modern intent to equate knowledge with power? The advancement and expansion of technology has produced a phenomenon described as the displacement of subjectivity. Who has better characterized this passage, carrying it with strong colors that the Italian philosopher Umberto Galimberti. He writes:
To that height, man is no longer a subject, but something arranged in the horizon uncovered by technology, that is, therefore, what determines the way of man to perceive, feel, think, and project. [] Technology, in its old version, was the mediator in the man-nature relationship in its modern version becomes the horizon inside which man and nature are arranged by the demands that technical possibilities promote. [] Man is not more capable of perceiving himself even outside of the world arranged by technology. As mans environment, technology is that relationship through which todays man arrives at self understanding. [] By that we say that in the arrangement of the world, and not in its instrumentality should we identify the essence of technology. And this signifies that technology is not more applied science but a horizon inside which pure science also finds the condition and the destination of its inquiry.

The verification of this simultaneous process of techno-sphere emergency and the displacement of subjectivity would justify for itself alone the need for its own hermeneutics for techno-science to be understood. We cant continue speaking of a world custom-made for humans, but of humans custom-made for the world. By that, we begin to employ the term techno-sphere to refer to a sort of internal environment where new visions of the cosmos are produced. We overcome, for example, that geometrical and mechanistic vision of classical physics and its domesticating function. Now, in the regime of techno-science, nature is decomposed and, so to speak, recreated according to models of informational science and molecular biology. In other words, technology stopped being that sort of slave that helped humans achieve their own ends, and became now the producer of need of which humans become more and more dependent. The technological world becomes more and more indispensible for the survival of human beings.

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The relationship between techno-science and humans becomes still more complex when considered from the perspective of recent experiences of hybridization between them. The technologies are not themselves simply in opposition to human beings. In its autonomy, technology is capable of integrating with humans in its technical apparatus. And what comes to be created, from here on, is a man-machine system, and human behavior is delegated merely to a function of the machines with the machines regulated by technology. With good reason R. Marchesini writes:
Technology transforms human epistemic imports; it imports nonhumans in the dimensions; it modifies the formative perception that man has of himself; it facilitates the processes of change in reference with non-humans; and finally it conjugates and hybridizes (it does not separate nor purify); it de-anthro-centralizes and does not reinforce anthrocentral thought.

This makes us think that, in the end, all technology is, in fact, a biotechnology. The technology becomes, in that case, a partner of humans since it modifies not only its profile, but also modifies its profile as a biological entity. In this sense, technology opens us for the world in the exact proportion in that it facilitates the hybrid process between humans and non-humans. In fact, technology penetrates the human interior to the point of becoming, for all intents, its meat. In this way our body is transformed into a true proving ground of the new technologies and this hybridization has happened with increasing acceleration with profound modifications when it comes to the predicates and human attributes. Considering, therefore, that technology in our days has become an indispensible horizon of comprehension for humans regarding the world and technology itself, then perhaps it was the case for us to ask ourselves, What have humans and religion become in the broad situation uncovered by technology? Perhaps it is important to remember, in such a case, that techno-science becomes fundamentally conditioned as much through the facility for unlimited experimentation as by the infinite manipulation thereof. In that sense, not only are our lifestyles, and way of work and life conditioned by technology, but also our deeper identity is conditioned by technological differences. And in this radical turn-around, we are faced with a hardly surmountable conclusion: Its no longer what we are able to do with technology, but what technology can do with us. Religion within the narrow limits of mere functionality Technology does not propose, nor does it establish, goals to be reached. Its movement is the growth of its own results, and its incidence rests in its self-potency. Considering itself the purpose, technology assumes that the principal regulating device is the imperative categorical

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according to which everything should be done that can be done. This being the case, technology does not respond to another end or beginning that is not from the achievement of its own possibilities. Although many of our contemporaries still hold messianic expectations in technology, technology does not remeem us. Nore save us. It only grows, or better yet, swells and inflates itself, expanding itself for its own benefit. Technology is unlimited and, in that sense, swallows the spaces that were once reserved for religion. By that some authors speak of the twilight of religion as one of the characteristics of the age of technology. The only limit of technology is the present state of the results achieved. By this reason, we frequently hear expressions like: that is not yet possible, but with all certainty, in the near future it will be. We perceive in this way, that the limit can be placed to the infinite. Technology operates, having as its unique purpose, its own increasing power. Technology becomes its own end. In the age of technology constitutive elements of religion are put in crisis. Constitutive dimensions of practically all the big religious traditions have been ethics. It finds us, today, in a situation of impasse. This impasse borders on impotence, when for example, ethics is found incapable of impeding the effectiveness of technology and its possibilities. It is inevitable that in a little while, what is technically possible, will be carried out, according to the great cosmologist Stephen Hawking. Everything that is possible looks to have gained, in our days, legitimacy, and therefore is sought by technologies in a sort of morbid compulsion. When technology was still utilized as a mere instrument, it was done within the limits of ethics. Therefore ethics was concerned about the ends, while technology was in charge of the means for the achievement of those same ends. It was, therefore the role of ethics to approve technology as well as the ends produced while guiding the technical process. In our days, that situation has reversed itself. Technology no longer needs ethics to approve the ends it produces. Technology conditions ethics in the sense of obliging it to take part of an artificial reality. The ends become nothing more than the results of the technical procedures. The act of making, as production of results, assumes a place of higher importance than the act as a choice and decision of the ends. Ethics, therefore, finds itself faced with the results of technical procedures, and without having chosen them is unable to detach itself from them. In the age of techno-science we perceive the honor of being a finalist. Forced by the creation of a world more and more artificial; a world that is a product of contemporary technology, ethics are no longer able to arrange another model, except continuous technical output. Our ethics, matured in the heart of the Western tradition had, without

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exception, a diverse model: cosmological (old), theological (medieval), anthropological or ideological (modern). Our religious and humanistic ethics are found in a situation of true impotence. They are not able to transpose the universe of inter-subjective relations in order to notice an artificial reality that has pretensions of universality and whose scope is, in fact, planetary. Besides, technological works are revealed as impersonal. In our days, the effects of technological works are not fruit of decisions taken by works of man. They are, to the contrary, results of procedures and approaches already initiated and whose only basis is the accumulation of knowledge. In that sense, technology works in the following way: the results accumulate throughout--and by means of--its own procedures. The effects, therefore, can no longer be traced to the initial agents. Another constitutional dimension of the religious phenomenon is time, be it cyclical or lineal. The experience of time as an event that manifests itself in the course of history loses importance in the age of technology. We speak of the twilight of history conceived like time endowed with sense. The dimension of history completely annuls itself while the narrative itself is woven around a constructed feeling deconstructed and reconstructed around three axes: past, present, and future. We are suffocated by the inflation and swelling of the present that extends its tentacles more and more until achieving the dimensions of the entire world. The past loses itself in the insignificance of the ultra-past; the future is reduced to an insignificant improvement of technical procedures. The only time contemplated by the new technologies is the one that distinguishes its products in first, second, third, last generation. New technologies assume a peculiar relation with time. We watch today a process of increasing acceleration of time and of the attempt to circumscribe the scope of mere quantity. Years ago, we still spoke of progress. We would say that the modern paradigm was structured around the axis of progress, understood as well-being, and production of wealth for all, etc. The notion of progress, in spite of all its historical contradictions, still denotes an interior advance of the horizon of sense. Today, to the contrary, we only hear speak of development or growth. By means of those two categories time seems to lose any and all trace of intensity to establish itself only in the sphere of the quantitative. Time, in effect, is merely quantitative measure. We find ourselves in the age of technology, entangled in the fibers of the kronos time, whose rhythm is despotic and merciless, dragging everything it encounters without mercy. Technology consigns time to its results and nothing more. If, in fact, technology has become, in our days, a true environment; in other words, that regarding which modern man comes to self

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knowledge, and of the world in which man finds himself inserted, then it is also true that technology has become a sort of atmosphere in which and by means of whichhumans perceive, think, and express their basic relations: with himself, with his peers, and with the world in which he lives. In this context, situations emerge that would be characterized as true symptoms of that new environment promoted by the techno-science. The culture of narcissism, for example, is where the liberty of self-realization is confused with the impossibility of leaving the plane of the I. Another example would be the situation of monologue produced by the media language of today. In this new configuration, the existence of people taken as individuals would only be justified on the basis of the technical ability and productive capacity of that same individual. In that case, the identity of a person would be reduced to his functionality. In other words, a persons value would reside in their own competence and professionalism. And this is because technology recognizes efficiency as the only value. The conception of truth is found, in the world of technology, conditioned by the notion of efficacy. The truth of technology is, for all effects, functional. True is what is effective in real terms and nothing else. It no longer interests us to search for pure knowledge, but instead utilizable knowledge. It is an issue of the reduction of the logos to its technological dimension. We witness, therefore, the hegemony of instrumental reason; reason that, in its time produces a simultaneous dual trial of dehumanization of the human and the denaturalization of nature. In the exercise of reason the result is the translation of the ends to results, rewarding the be like this over the should be like this; the reduction of the unknown to unknowable mathematical and, finally, the submission of the novelty to the order of prediction. On the basis of what was said up to here, technology is found free of any ties. It is presented, for all effect, as being ab-solute, in the etymological sense of the term, solutes ab, free of any tie, where tie can be understood as horizon of ends, output of meaning, limit or conditioning. We would be able to conclude saying that, in the age of technology, no end justifies the means, given that only the means justify the ends. It is what G. Anders bluntly affirms:
For a long time now weve been preparing the degeneration of the double concept means to an end. Any of the phases of that process-means and endshave changed roles: the fabrication of means becomes today, the end of our existence. And it searched frequently (in all countries, because the evolution is general) things are justified that before had value as an end (purpose), showing that they can be used, doubtless, as a means to itself with great results (for example: distraction and love, and even religion). [] What we cannot try to prove is that a means does not

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have access to the modern cosmos of objects. By that: The exact reason they are not means, the ends are considered to be without any objective. The objective of the objectives consists, today, in being means of the means. It is simply a point of fact and the formulation is paradoxical, only because the fact is paradoxical.

Assuming this, we would dare to formulate the following question: In our days, would the religions be to a great extent witnessing that singular paradox set out above? Would they not be swallowing the bait that is thrown by our techno-centric civilization subjecting themselves to the conditions that are offered, restricting themselves to the narrow limits of mere functionality? 2. The absolutization of the market We are victims, at present, of a process that could be described as absolutization of the market; in other words, an authentic commoditization of life and, therefore, consequently, of culture and religion. This signifies, that the market imposes itself as the only scenario of our civilizations story line. In that context, our vital fluctuations, and the values and religions and cultural symbols become merchandise of consumption and disposal. Sharp analysts have debated about this present phenomenon that has attacked our contemporary societies. We have witnessed a new phase of Western capitalism, described as intangible capitalism or symbolic capitalism. In the bulge of this great transformation of the material culture, the so-called immateriality constitutes one of its more fascinating traits. In this new configuration, less and less work is required for the manufacture of products, creating a fragile cost and a low price. To contain this price cut, companies transform their material products into esthetic, affectionate, symbolic, intangible property. What counts now is no longer the practical utility of the product, but yes, the subjective desire to obtain, through the consumption of a determined product: identity, prestige, personality, or the desire to obtain the quality of knowledgeof which the consumer judges the result. By means of the fall of the value of the material products and the artificial increase of the intangible change in value, a collapse of the basics of the political economy is verified: knowledge, products, and capital. We enter, like this, into a new phase of Western capitalism; not more productive, but this time consumerist. For this a frantic search to merchandize everything in order to inflate (to the maximum) the universe of goods in view of greater and greater consumption. If before, in the industrialist era, we needed the alluring expression of Michel Foucault, helpful, available, and docile bodies; today the interest is in qualified

Religion in a Thecno-centric and Market-Based World 223

soulssubjectivities drawn from the qualities more desired in the labor market. In its new phase, capitalism is interested in the formation of subjective consumers. And in order to increase the consumption, and the appetite of consumers, it becomes indispensable to invest in the fetishism of the goods. All of this is only possible under the presumption that we find (in the process) a growing supremacy of the market in the administration of the vital fluctuations. In the contemporary world, life itself is defined like a producta merchandise; in a word, a human invention. All of this is thanks to the unheard-of capacity of 21st century capitalism to operate an authentic symbolic kidnapping of the vital forces. Capitalism does not only capture such forces, but also is able to recycle the resistances to this kidnapping by means of the output of advertising slogans and good to be consumed. On the basis of such analyses, neoliberal capitalism would be finalizing its growing process of expansion and its consequent hegemony of mercantile tentacles. Insofar as it is possible to transform life, and therefore transform the values, and religions and cultural symbols in merchandise of consumption and the neoliberal capitalism has consolidated its hegemony over our entire civilization. Referring to that expedient, the well-known theologian Joao Baptist Libanio formulates an expressive and alluring pun: Religion becomes neoliberal and neo-liberalism becomes religion. And what is more disturbing: this process has also begun in the heart of the thousands of religious traditions. Religion is subjected to the unseemly interests of the market Our era finds itself marked by a phenomenon that has come to be known as The divine epiphany. Surprised, in fact, we watch the phenomena that we allow to become visible in a clear excess of belief. This appears to constitute a vital atmosphere of our contemporary culture. The subjectifying of the faith or privatization of religion is fundamentally characterized by a diffuse religiosity, whose most significant result looks to be the instrumentalization of religion in function of individual needs and interests. What is established is a religiosity without demand for conversion; without any external intervention capable of provoking in the faithful a process of unconditional adhesion to God, expressed in the greater search of conformity to Gods will. The sense of faith as an attitude of obedience to God is lost. This specific experience of the sacred is firstly a superficiality of feelings and emotions; leaving, to the contrary, intact those innermost existential structures of human beings. It is besides a religiosity without any objectivity; the objective precepts of the religious traditions are con-

224 Sinivaldo Silva TAVARES

sidered too hard. Desired now, in this new reference chart, is a lighter religiosity of character where the individual needs and short-comings begin to occupy a place of prominence. This situation is aggravated still more when considered in its consumer society. Witnessing this sort of consumerist instrumentalization of religion are so many initiatives proposed with frequency in such environments. It isnt by chance, and has been said with enough frequency, in the last times of the religion of the market. The media has performed a very important role in the process of fetish-ization of religions products. And the media, as we know, has stopped being a simple means to become a world outside of which we are no longer able to live. We can no longer separate ourselves from a media-driven world since it has become impossible to have an experience except for the proposal made by the media. The media-driven description of the world constructs the facts based on the information, and not to the contrary as one would think. And the combination between market and media has been revealed as very efficient with regard to the unseemly interests of the market. The market seems to have discovered, finally, an immense virgin land. By that, with unheard-of voracity, the market has invested in the fetishism of the symbolic-religious good, exploring (to the maximum) the deep religious desire of immense majorities of the population. A large part of the religious leaders have let themselves be seduced by the offerings of the market, believing they will be the protagonists of an authentic religious revival. It seems to us the grand illusion. Instead of protagonists, they are being submitted, knowingly or not, to the seductions of a market that reduces religious symbols to mere goods of consumption, obeying the unseemly interests. Conclusion: The indispensable process of religious discernment We are of the opinion that we must not elude ourselves with present religious awakenings. More than anything it looks to be an expression of a singular anxiety of the contemporary human being; the same human that believed excessively in technology and in its messianic promises of salvation. Conscious of the lure of which human kind has been victim, today man understands the techno-scientific progress with its project of infinite expansion, which it carries in its own excesses, the possibility of destruction and the threat of extinction of a significant part of life on the planet. However, recent facts of the last census, promoted by the IBGE in Brazil, has shown a process of growing migration in the religious scope.

Religion in a Thecno-centric and Market-Based World 225

With much facility, people migrate from one religious denomination to another in a short period of time. And that is repeated one, two, three. ten times. And in the end those people end up declaring themselves without religion. And what moves such people to carry out that singular itinerary are the expectations that religion nourishes. They seek the religion where their expectations of luck can be satisfied as quickly as possible. They let themselves be impressed, better yet, seduced by the most immediate offering of satisfaction of their own needs. And once frustrated by such expectations, they change religions. And after successive frustrations, they completely abandon the religious universe. Such facts seem to confirm our theory of the double reductionism where religion is a victim in the present world. If, in fact, our theory is pertinent, then it becomes indispensable to establish a process of discernment for religion. Presuming its character of eminent mediator, religion will never allow itself to swallow unseemly intentions of techno-science, or of the market. Religious leaders will never allow themselves the luxury of feeling released from participation and social inclusion, and finally, the fate of life on our planet. Religion is perhaps the only establishment capable of reconnecting, as expressed in the etymology of the word, the broken threads of the complex web that is our world. In this sense, the religious universe is constituted in privileged space to usurp the overwhelming omnipotence of new technologies and the market, unmasking their oppressive tentacles and their unseemly interests. If the responsibility of religion is to reconstruct from the ruins; to sew again from the lacerations and fragmentations, then how is this done if not by seeking to rescue its intrinsically religious dimension? In this sense, we are of the opinion that religious are faced with a singular responsibility: rethink the risks and the importance of that paradoxical and ambiguous dimension of human kind that reflects in the religious sphere. And so that such a responsibility yields fruit, it is fundamental that religions recuperate and embody the profile that they, an fact, are called to fit: the urgent solicitation of religious discernment.

226

A Religio em um mundo tecnocntrico e mercadolgico

Sinivaldo Silva TAVARES ISTA, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

A religio um fenmeno extremamente complexo. Por isso, longe de ns a pretenso de esgotar tal complexidade. O que queremos, na verdade, considerar a religio no contexto do paradigma contemporneo hegemnico, tecnocntrico e mercadolgico. Parece-nos que, em tal contexto, a religio corre o risco de sucumbir diante de um duplo reducionismo. Escolhemos de propsito o termo reducionismo por acreditarmos que, em ambos os casos, a religio se sente obrigada a se circunscrever a situaes que, em princpio, so alheias ao fenmeno religioso propriamente dito. Esse duplo reducionismo, em ltima instncia, o preo que a religio tem pagado para adquirir direito de cidadania em um mundo dominado pela tecnocincia e pelo mercado. 1. A tecnocincia como horizonte de fundo da experincia atual O paradigma ocidental moderno se caracterizava, entre outras coisas, por um visvel antropocentrismo, expresso na peculiar atitude de se colocar sobre as coisas, objetivando-as, e julgando-as alheias, porque, desconectadas do ser humano, concebido como sujeito. A Modernidade revelou-se, assim, como um movimento que, a partir da centralidade do cogito cartesiano, foi desintegrando e pulverizando a ndole mistrica do mundo, para que o ser humano pudesse concretizar cada vez mais seu intento de se tornar, para todos os efeitos, le matre et le possesseur de la nature (Descartes). Atestava-se, neste sentido, uma correlao entre vontade de poder do sujeito moderno e o desencantamento do mundo considerado apenas como objeto. As coisas passaram a ser vistas pelo ser humano apenas na sua utilidade. Preso, portanto, ao prprio interesse e imagem de si, o ser humano ocidental passou a descuidar dos outros humanos e das criaturas, limitando-se a manter relaes meramente funcionais e utilitrias. O cogito foi se sentindo sempre mais o raio de seu poder, sujeitando e subordinando tudo o que encontrava diante de si. Nessa perspectiva, o

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ser humano se auto-afirmava em luta contra os outros, considerados estranhos e, portanto, objetos a serem submetidos ou eliminados. Num tal contexto, a tcnica foi excogitada pelo sujeito como instrumento privilegiado para o exerccio desse saber como poder. Com razo se dizia que a tcnica nada mais era que cincia aplicada. De fato, a tcnica se prestava, na condio de instrumento, a esse domnio do sujeito pensante sobre os demais seres considerados meros objetos mensurveis. Concebida como mero instrumento, a tcnica era vista como emanao do sujeito, vale dizer, uma espcie de extenso de seus membros em vistas ao potenciamento de seu domnio sobre as coisas. Numa palavra, a tecnologia era considerada mero instrumento disposio do ser humano. Desde algumas dcadas, estamos assistindo a uma expanso tamanha da tecnocincia a ponto de se caracterizar uma autntica virada epocal. De mero instrumento de dominao disposio do ser humano, ela teria se constitudo em horizonte ltimo no interior do qual se desvelam todos os mbitos da experincia, chegando a condicionar inclusive a maneira de o prprio ser humano se auto-conceber. Afinal, todo controle no encarnaria pretenses de totalidade? A expanso de um controle planetrio no seria inerente essncia mesma de toda tcnica? As tecnologias contemporneas no estariam apenas levando s ltimas conseqncias o intento moderno do saber como poder? O avano das tecnologias e sua expanso tm produzido um fenmeno descrito como deslocamento da subjetividade. Quem melhor tem caracterizado essa passagem, carregando-a com cores fortes, o filsofo italiano Umberto Galimberti. Escreve ele:
A essa altura, o homem no mais sujeito, mas algo disposto no horizonte desvelado pela tcnica, que , pois, o que decide o modo de o homem perceber, sentir, pensar e projetar. [...] A tcnica que em sua verso antiga, era o mediador na relao homem-natureza, na sua verso moderna torna-se o horizonte dentro do qual o homem e a natureza so dispostos pelas demandas que as possibilidades tcnicas promovem. [...] o homem no mais capaz de perceber a si mesmo fora do mundo disposto pela tcnica. Como seu ambiente, a tcnica aquilo em relao ao qual o homem de hoje chega ao conhecimento de si. [...] Por isso, dizemos que na disposio do mundo, e no na instrumentalidade, deve ser identificada a essncia da tcnica. E isso significa que a tcnica no mais cincia aplicada, mas horizonte dentro do qual tambm a cincia pura encontra a condio e a destinao do seu indagar 1.

A constatao desse processo simultneo da emergncia da tecnosfera e do deslocamento da subjetividade justificaria por si s a necessidade de uma hermenutica prpria para se compreender a tenocincia. No se poderia, a rigor, continuar falando em um mundo medida do ser humano, mas, sim, de um ser humano medida do mundo. Por isso,

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chega-se a empregar o termo tecnosfera para se referir a uma espcie de ambincia no interior da qual se produzem novas cosmovises. Supera-se, por exemplo, aquela viso mecanicista e geomtrica da fsica clssica e sua funo domesticadora. Agora, no regime da tecnocincia, a natureza decomposta e, por assim dizer, recriada segundo os moldes da cincia informtica e da biologia molecular. Em outras palavras, a tecnologia deixou de ser aquela espcie de escrava que ajudava o ser humano a alcanar seus prprios fins, para se tornar agora produtora de necessidades das quais o ser humano se torna cada vez mais dependente. O mundo tecnolgico se torna cada vez mais imprescindvel para a sobrevivncia do ser humano. Essa relao entre tenocincia e ser humano se torna ainda mais complexa quando considerada sob o ngulo dos recentes processos de hibridizao entre ambos. As tecnologias no se contrapem simplesmente ao ser humano. Em sua autonomia, a tecnologia capaz de integrar o ser humano em seu aparato tcnico. E o que vem a se criar, a partir da, um sistema homem-mquina e os comportamentos humanos ficam reduzidos a meras partes de mquinas, e essas, por sua vez, regulados pela tecnologia. Com razo, escreve R. Marchesini:
A tecnologia transforma a epistmica humana, importa modelos no-humanos na dimenso, modifica a percepo formativa que o homem tem de si mesmo, facilita os processos de trocas referenciais com o no-humano; enfim conjuga e hibridiza, no separa nem purifica, antropodescentraliza e no refora o pensamento antropocentrado 2 .

Isso nos faz pensar que, no final das contas, toda tecnologia de fato uma biotecnologia. A tecnologia se torna, nesse caso, parceira do ser humano uma vez que ela modifica no apenas seu perfil, mas tambm o modifica enquanto entidade biolgica. Nesse sentido, a tecnologia abrenos para o mundo na exata proporo em que ela facilita os processos hbridos entre humanos e no-humanos. De fato, a tcnica penetra no interior do ser humano a ponto de se tornar, para todos os efeitos, sua carne. E assim nosso corpo se transforma num verdadeiro campo de aplicao das novas tecnologias e essa hibridizao tem se dado numa acelerao crescente com profundas modificaes no tocante aos predicados e atributos humanos. Considerando, portanto, que a tcnica, em nossos dias, se tornou horizonte imprescindvel de compreenso do ser humano em relao ao mundo e si prprio, ento talvez fosse o caso de nos perguntarmos: o que o ser humano e a religio se tornam nessa situao epocal desvelada pela tcnica? Talvez seja importante lembrar, em tal caso, que a tecnocincia se encontra condicionada fundamentalmente tanto pela experimentabilidade ilimitada quanto pela manipulabilidade infinita. Nesse sentido, no apenas nossos estilos de vida, nosso modo de trabalhar e viver, so

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condicionados pela tcnica, mas tambm nossa identidade mais profunda condicionada pela diferena tcnica. E, nesta radical reviravolta, somos postos diante de um questionamento dificilmente contornvel: no mais o que ns poderemos fazer com a tcnica, mas o que a tcnica pode fazer de ns. A religio dentro dos estreitos limites da mera funcionalidade A tcnica no se prope fins, no estabelece nenhuma meta a ser atingida. Seu movente est no crescer sobre os prprios resultados e sua incidncia repousa em seu autopotenciamento. Ao se considerar finalidade em si mesma, a tcnica assume como princpio regulador o imperativo categrico segundo o qual se deve fazer tudo o que se pode fazer. Assim sendo, a tcnica no responde a nenhum outro fim ou princpio que no seja o da realizao das prprias possibilidades. Embora muitos de nossos contemporneos ainda depositem nas tecnologias suas expectativas messinicas, elas simplesmente no nos redimem, nem nos salvam, elas apenas crescem, ou melhor, incham, inflacionam-se, expandem-se em benefcio prprio. A tcnica ilimitada e, nesse sentido, ela engole os espaos que antes eram reservados s religies. Por isso, alguns autores falam do crepsculo da religio como uma das caractersticas da idade da tcnica. O nico limite da tcnica o estado atual dos resultados alcanados. Por essa razo, ouvimos freqentemente expresses como: isso ainda no possvel, mas, com toda certeza, em um futuro prximo o ser. Percebemos, assim, que esse limite pode ser deslocado ao infinito. A tcnica opera, tendo como escopo nico seu autopotenciamento. Ela se torna, dessa forma, fim em si mesma. Na idade da tcnica elementos constitutivos da religio so postos em crise. Dimenso constitutiva de praticamente todas as grandes tradies religiosas tem sido a tica. Encontramo-nos, hoje, em uma situao de verdadeiro impasse. Esse impasse beira impotncia quando, por exemplo, a tica se descobre incapaz de impedir a tcnica na efetivao de suas possibilidades. inevitvel sentencia o grande cosmlogo Stephen Hawkin daqui a pouco, quando for tecnicamente possvel, ser realizado. Tudo o que possvel de ser feito parece ter assumido, em nossos dias, legitimidade e, portanto, passa a ser buscado pelas tecnologias em uma espcie de compulso mrbida. Quando a tcnica ainda era utilizada como mero instrumento, ela estava submetida tica. Pois, de fato, a tica se destinava aos fins, enquanto a tcnica se ocupava dos meios para a realizao desses mesmos
1

U. Galimberti, Psiche e techne. O homem na idade da tcnica, Paulus, So Paulo 2006, 383.389.391.393.

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fins. Era, portanto, a tica que promovia a tcnica, enquanto tocava-lhe a deciso dos fins que deviam orientar os processos tcnicos. Em nossos dias, essa situao se inverte. A tecnocincia no necessita mais da tica para lhe prescrever as finalidades de seu operar. A tcnica condiciona a tica no sentido de obrig-la a tomar parte de uma realidade artificial. Os fins passam a ser os resultados dos procedimentos tcnicos. O fazer como produo de resultados assume o primado do agir como escolha e deciso dos fins. A tica, portanto, encontra diante de si os resultados dos procedimentos tcnicos e, sem t-los escolhido, no consegue mais prescindir dos mesmos. Na idade da tecnocincia, percebe-se o primado do fazer afinalista. Forada pela criao de um mundo cada vez mais artificial, produto das tecnologias contemporneas, a tica no pode mais dispor de outro referente a no ser a contnua produo tcnica. Nossas ticas, amadurecidas no seio da tradio ocidental tinham, sem exceo, um referente diverso: cosmolgico (antigos), teolgico (medievais), antropolgico ou ideolgico (modernos). Nossas ticas de cunho religioso ou humanista se encontram numa situao de verdadeira impotncia. Elas no conseguem transpor o universo das relaes intersubjetivas para dar conta de uma realidade artificial que tem pretenses de universalidade e cuja extenso , de fato, planetria. Ademais, o fazer tcnico se revela como impessoal. Em nossos dias, os efeitos do fazer tcnico no so fruto de decises tomadas pelo agir humano. So, ao contrrio, resultados de procedimentos e mtodos j iniciados e cuja base nica o saber acumulado. Nesse sentido, a tcnica trabalha da seguinte forma: os resultados vo se acumulando ao longo de e mediante os prprios procedimentos; os efeitos, portanto, no podem mais ser reconduzidos aos agentes iniciais. Outra dimenso constitutiva do fenmeno religioso o tempo, seja ele cclico ou linear. A experincia do tempo como evento que se manifesta no curso da histria perde sua importncia da era da tcnica. Trata-se do crepsculo da histria concebida como tempo dotado de sentido. Anula-se completamente a dimenso da histria enquanto narrativa que se tece ao redor de um sentido construdo, desconstrudo e reconstrudo ao redor de trs eixos: passado, presente e futuro. Somos sufocados pela inflao e inchao do presente que vai estendendo seus tentculos sempre mais at alcanar as dimenses do mundo inteiro. O passado se perde na insignificncia do ultra-passado; o futuro se resu2

Cf. R. Marchesini, Uma hermenutica para a tenocincia, em I. Neutzling P.F.C. de Andrade (orgs.), Uma sociedade ps-humana. Possibilidades e limites das nanotecnologias, Editora Unisinos, So Leopoldo 2009, 153-182, aqui 155-156, os verbos em itlico de responsabilidade nossa.

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me a um mero aperfeioamento dos procedimentos tcnicos. O nico tempo contemplado pelas novas tecnologias aquele que distingue seus produtos em 1, 2, 3, ltima gerao. As novas tecnologias assumem uma peculiar relao com o tempo. Assistimos hoje a um processo de crescente acelerao do tempo e da tentativa de circunscrev-lo ao mbito da mera quantidade. Tempos atrs, ainda se falava em progresso. Diramos que o paradigma moderno se estruturou entorno do eixo do progresso, entendido como bem-estar, produo de riqueza para todos, etc. A noo de progresso, apesar de todas as suas contradies histricas, ainda denota um avanar no interior de um horizonte de sentido. Hoje, ao contrrio, s se ouve falar em desenvolvimento ou em crescimento. Mediante essas duas categorias, o tempo parece perder todo e qualquer trao de intensidade para se resolver unicamente na esfera do quantitativo. O tempo, para todos os efeitos, medido apenas quantitativamente. Encontramo-nos, na idade da tecnocincia, enredados nas malhas do krnos: aquele tempo cujo ritmo avassalador e impiedoso, que vai arrastando sem piedade tudo o que encontra diante de si. A tcnica consigna o tempo a seus resultados e nada mais. Se, de fato, a tcnica se tornou, em nossos dias, um verdadeiro ambiente, vale dizer, aquilo em relao ao qual o homem de hoje chega ao conhecimento de si e do mundo no qual se encontra inserido, ento tambm verdade que ela se tornou uma espcie de ambincia na qual e por meio da qual os seres humanos percebem, pensam e expressam suas relaes bsicas: consigo mesmo, com seus semelhantes e com o mundo em que vivem. Nesse contexto emergem situaes que caracterizaramos como verdadeiros sintomas dessa nova ambincia promovida pela tecnocincia. A cultura do narcisismo, por exemplo, onde a liberdade da autorealizao confundida com a impossibilidade de sair do horizonte do eu. Outro exemplo poderia ser a situao de monlogo produzida pela linguagem meditica de hoje. Nessa nova configurao, a existncia das pessoas tomadas singularmente s se justificaria com base na habilidade tcnica e capacidade produtiva dessa mesma pessoa. Nesse caso, a identidade de uma pessoa se resolveria na sua funcionalidade. Em outros termos, seu valor residiria na prpria competncia e profissionalidade. E isso porque a tcnica reconhece como nico valor a eficincia. A prpria concepo de verdade se encontra, no mundo da tcnica, condicionada pela noo de eficcia. A verdade da tcnica , para todos os efeitos, funcional. Verdadeiro o que surte efeito em termos reais e no outra coisa. Interessa no mais a busca do conhecimento puro, mas sim do conhecimento utilizvel. Trata-se da reduo do logos sua

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dimenso tecno-lgica. Testemunha-se, portanto, a hegemonia da razo instrumental; razo essa que, por sua vez, produz um processo duplo e simultneo de desumanizao do ser humano e de desnaturalizao da natureza. Em seu exerccio, opera-se a traduo dos fins em resultados, o primado do ser-assim sobre o dever-ser; a reduo do desconhecido a incgnita matemtica e, enfim, a submisso da novidade ordem da previso. Com base no que foi dito at aqui, a tcnica, se encontra livre de qualquer amarra. Ela se apresenta, para todos os efeitos, como sendo absoluta, no sentido etimolgico do termo, solutus ab, livre de qualquer lao, onde lao pode ser entendido como horizonte de fins, produo de sentido, limite ou condicionamento. Poderamos concluir dizendo que, na idade da tcnica, nenhum fim justifica os meios, dado que s os meios justificam os fins. o que afirma de maneira contundente G. Anders:
J h muito tempo que se vinha preparando a degenerao da dupla conceitual meio-fim. Quaisquer que tenham sido as fases desse processo, meio e fim, trocaram de papis: a fabricao de meios tornouse, hoje, o fim da nossa existncia. E se busca freqentemente (em todos os pases, porque a evoluo geral) justificar coisas que antes tinham valor de fim (finalidade), demonstrando que podem ser usadas, sem dvida, como meio se com timos resultados (por exemplo: a distrao e o amor, at a religio). [...] O que no pode provar ser um meio, no tem acesso ao hodierno cosmo de objetos. Por isso: justamente porque no so meios, os fins so considerados desprovidos de objetivo. O objetivo dos objetivos consiste, hoje, em ser meios dos meios. simplesmente um dado de fato.E a formulao paradoxal, somente porque o fato paradoxal 3.

Isso pressuposto, ousaramos formular a seguinte questo: em nossos dias, as religies no estariam em grande parte testemunhando essa singular paradoxalidade explicitada acima? No estariam elas engolindo a isca que lhes lanada pela nossa civilizao tecnocntrica: sujeitar-se condio que lhes oferecida, de forma velada, de se restringir aos estreitos limites da mera funcionalidade? 2. A absolutizao do Mercado Somos vtimas, atualmente, um processo que poderia ser descrito como absolutizao do mercado, vale dizer, uma autntica mercantilizao da vida e, portanto, conseqentemente, da cultura e da religio. Isso significa que o mercado vai se impondo como nico cenrio de nossa trama civilizacional atual. Nesse contexto, nossos fluxos vitais e tambm os valores e smbolos culturais e religiosos se tornam mercadoria de

A religio catlica em um mundo tecnocntrico e mercadolgico 233

consumo e de descarte. Analistas agudos tem se debruado sobre esse fenmeno atual que tem acometido nossas sociedades contemporneas4. Testemunhamos uma nova fase do capitalismo ocidental, descrita como capitalismo imaterial ou ainda como capitalismo simblico. No bojo desta grande transformao da cultura material, a assim chamada imaterialidade constitui um de seus traos mais fascinantes. Nesta nova configurao, exige-se cada vez menos trabalho para a confeco material dos produtos, tornando assim o custo frgil e o preo baixo. Para conter essa baixa de preos, as empresas transformam seus produtos materiais em bens imateriais, simblicos, afetivos, estticos. O que conta, agora, no mais a utilidade prtica do produto, mas, sim, o desejo subjetivo de obter, atravs do consumo de um determinado produto, identidade, prestgio, personalidade ou o desejo de se obter a qualidade dos conhecimentos dos quais se julga serem o resultado. Mediante a queda do valor dos produtos materiais e o aumento artificial do valor de troca do imaterial, verifica-se um desmoronamento dos fundamentos da economia poltica: conhecimento, trabalho material e capital5. Ingressamos, assim, em uma nova fase do capitalismo ocidental. No mais produtivo, mas, dessa vez, consumista. Por isso, a busca frentica por mercantilizar tudo a fim de inflacionar maximamente o universo das mercadorias em vistas do consumo cada vez maior 6. Se antes, na era industrial, exigiam-se na sugestiva expresso de Michel Foucault corpos dceis, disponveis e teis, hoje, interessam almas capacitadas, subjetividades munidas das qualidades mais cotadas no mercado de trabalho. Em sua nova fase, interessa ao capitalismo a produo de subjetividades consumidoras. E para incrementar o consumo e o apetite dos sujeitos consumidores torna-se imprescindvel investir no fetichismo das mercadorias 7. Tudo isso s possvel sob o pressuposto de que se encontra em processo uma crescente supremacia do mercado na administrao dos fluxos vitais. No mundo contemporneo, a vida se define como um produto, uma mercadoria; numa palavra, uma inveno humana. E isso graas inaudita capacidade do capitalismo do sculo XXI de operar um autntico seqestro simblico das foras vitais. Ele no apenas captura tais foras como tambm consegue reciclar as resistncias a esse seqestro mediante a produo de slogans publicitrios e mercadorias a serem consumidas. Com base em tais anlises, o capitalismo neoliberal estaria ultimando seu crescente processo de expanso e conseqente hegemonia de seus tentculos mercantis. Na medida em que vem conseguindo transformar a vida e, portanto, tambm os valores e smbolos culturais e religiosos em mercadoria de consumo e de descarte, o capitalismo neoliberal tem

234 Sinivaldo Silva TAVARES

consolidado sua hegemonia sobre nossa inteira civilizao. Referindo-se a esse expediente, o conhecido telogo Joo Batista Libanio formula um expressivo e sugestivo trocadilho: A religio se faz neoliberal e o neoliberalismo se faz religio 8. E o que mais preocupante: esse processo tem se dado tambm no seio das tradies religiosas multimilenrias. A religio sujeita aos interesses escusos do mercado Nossa poca encontra-se marcada por um fenmeno que se convencionou chamar de epifania do divino. Surpresos, na verdade, assistimos a fenmenos que deixam transparecer um visvel excesso de crena. Essa parece constituir a atmosfera vital de nossa cultura contempornea. A subjetivao da f ou privatizao do religioso se caracteriza fundamentalmente por uma religiosidade difusa, cujo resultado mais significativo parece ser a instrumentalizao da religio em funo de interesses e de necessidades individuais. Constata-se assim uma religiosidade sem nenhuma exigncia de converso, sem qualquer interveno externa capaz de provocar no fiel um processo de adeso incondicional a Deus, expresso na busca de conformidade maior sua vontade. Perde-se o sentido da f como atitude obediencial a Deus. Esta especfica experincia do sagrado toca antes a superficialidade dos sentimentos e das emoes, deixando, ao contrrio, intactas aquelas estruturas existenciais mais ntimas do ser humano. Trata-se, ademais, de uma religiosidade sem nenhuma objetividade; os preceitos objetivos das tradies religiosas so considerados por demais hard. Deseja-se agora, neste novo quadro referencial, uma religiosidade de carter mais light, onde as necessidades e carncias individuais passam a ocupar lugar de relevo. Esta situao agrava-se ainda mais quando considerada na sua estreita relao com o consumismo. A privatizao da f serviu como uma luva aos interesses econmicos da sociedade de consumo. A testemunhar esta espcie de instrumentalizao consumista do religioso esto tantas iniciativas propostas com freqncia em tais ambientes. No por acaso, tem se falado com bastante freqncia, nos ltimos tempos, de religio de mercado 9. A Mdia tem desempenhado um papel importantssimo no processo de fetichizao das mercadorias religiosas. E a Mdia, como sabemos, deixou de ser simples meio para se tornar um mundo. Mundo esse fora do
3 4

G. Anders, Luomo antiquato, vol. I: Considerazioni sullanima nellera della seconda rivoluzione industriale, Il Saggiatore, Milo 1963, 250. Cf. G. Lipovetsky, O imprio do efmero. A moda e seu destino nas sociedades modernas, Companhia das Letras, So Paulo 2006; Z. Bauman, Vida para consumo. A transformao das pessoas em mercadoria, Zahar, Rio de Janeiro 2008.

A religio catlica em um mundo tecnocntrico e mercadolgico 235

qual no se pode mais viver. No se pode mais prescindir desse mundo miditico uma vez que tem se tornado impossvel uma experincia diferente da proposta pela Mdia. A descrio miditica do mundo constri os fatos pela informao e no o contrrio, como comumente se pensa. E a combinao entre mercado e mdia tem se revelado profundamente eficiente com respeito aos interesses escusos do mercado. O mercado parece ter descoberto, finalmente, um imenso terreno virgem. Por isso, com inaudita voracidade ele tem investido no fetichismo das mercadorias simblico-religiosas, explorando ao mximo o profundo desejo religioso de imensas maiorias da populao. Grande parte dos lderes religiosos tem se deixado seduzir pelas ofertas do mercado, acreditando serem eles, os protagonistas de um autntico revival religioso. Grande iluso, segundo nos parece. Em vez de protagonistas, eles esto se submetendo, conscientemente ou no, s sedues de um mercado que reduz os smbolos religiosos a meras mercadorias de consumo, obedecendo a interesses escusos. Concluso: o imprescindvel processo de discernimento da religio Somos de opinio de que no devemos nos iludir pelo atual despertar religioso. Mais do que outra coisa ele parece ser expresso de uma singular inquietude do ser humano contemporneo. Desse mesmo ser humano que acreditou demasiadamente na tcnica e em suas promessas messinicas de salvao. Consciente do engodo do qual tem sido vtima, o ser humano tem se dado conta, hoje, de que o to propalado progresso tecnocientifico com seu projeto de expanso infinita carrega em seu prprio bojo a possibilidade de destruio e a ameaa de extino de uma significativa parte da vida no Planeta. Todavia, dados recentes do ltimo censo, promovido pelo IBGE, no Brasil, tm mostrado um processo de crescente migrao no mbito religioso. Com tamanha facilidade, migra-se de uma denominao religiosa para outra em um curto espao de tempo. E isso se repete uma, duas, trs... dez vezes. E, ao final, essas pessoas terminam se declarando sem-religio. E o que move tais pessoas a realizar esse singular itinerrio
A. Gorz, A crise e o xodo da sociedade salarial, Cadernos IHU. Idias 31, So Leopoldo 2005, 20; cf. ainda A. Gorz, O imaterial, Annablume, So Paulo 2005. 6 Cf. as importantes obras do antroplogo N. Garca Canclini, Consumidores e cidados, Editora UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro 2008; Diferentes, desiguais e desconectados, Editora UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro 2007;. 7 Cf. P. Sibilia, O Homem Ps-Orgnico. Corpo, subjetividade e tecnologias digitais, Relume Dumar, Rio de Janeiro 2002, 156-202 8 J.B. Libanio, A religio no incio do milnio, Loyola, So Paulo 2002, 152-159.
5

236 Sinivaldo Silva TAVARES

parecem ser as expectativas que nutrem para com as religies. Buscam a religio como espao onde suas expectativas de toda sorte possam ser satisfeitas o mais depressa possvel. Deixam-se impressionar, melhor dizendo, seduzir pelas ofertas mais imediatas de satisfao de suas prprias necessidades. E uma vez frustradas tais expectativas, mudam de religio. E aps sucessivas frustraes, abandonam por completo o universo religioso. Tais dados parecem confirmar nossa tese do duplo reducionismo do qual tem sido vtima a religio no mundo atual. Se, de fato, nossa tese pertinente, ento imprescindvel se faz instaurar um processo de discernimento da religio. Pressuposto seu carter eminentemente mediador, as religies jamais podero se deixar tragar por interesses escusos sejam esses oriundos da tecnocincia ou do mercado. Elas jamais podero se dar ao luxo de se sentir desobrigadas a participar do amplo debate acerca das questes cruciais do nosso tempo: a dignidade inalienvel do ser humano, a justia, participao e incluso sociais e, enfim, o destino da vida em nosso planeta. A religio talvez seja a nica capaz de religar, como exprime a prpria etimologia da palavra, os fios rompidos dessa complexa teia do nosso mundo. Nesse sentido, o universo religioso se constitui em espao privilegiado para se furtar a essa onipotncia esmagadora das novas tecnologias e do mercado, desmascarando seus tentculos opressores e seus interesses escuros. Se a incumbncia da religio reconstruir a partir das runas, a de coser de novo a partir das dilaceraes e fragmentaes, ento como faz-lo seno procurando resgatar sua dimenso intrinsecamente religiosa? Nesse sentido, somos de opinio de que as religies tm diante de si uma incumbncia singular: repensar o risco e a importncia dessa dimenso ambgua e paradoxal do ser humano que se reflete na esfera do religioso. E para que tal incumbncia seja levada a cabo fundamental que as religies recuperem e encarnem o perfil que as faz ser o que elas, de fato, so chamadas a ser: a instncia do discernimento da religio.

Cf. L.A. Luz, Carnaval da Alma: comunidade, essncia e sincretismo na Nova Era, Vozes, Petrpolis 2000; J.B. Libanio, A religio no incio do milnio, Loyola, So Paulo 2002.

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2. DEEPENING & RELAUNCHING of the Consultation 2.1. For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia 2.2. Constituent Elements in the Post-Religional Paradigm 2.3. Towards a Post-Religional Paradigm. Theological Proposal 2.4. Practical proposal to work. Possible research projects

2. PROFUNDIZACIN Y RELANZAMINETO de la Consulta 2.1. Para una Teologa Crtica. Aportacin desde Asia 2.2. Elementos Constitutivos del Paradigma Posreligional 2.3. Hacia un Paradigma Post-Religional? Propuesta Teolgica 2.4. Propuesta prctica de trabajo. Posibles proyectos de investigacin.

238

 239

For a Critical Theology A contribution from Asia *

Tissa BALASURIYA Centre for Society and Religion, Colombo, Sri Lanka

What are presuppositions in theology Presuppositions are certain propositions that are accepted or assumed as true by a community or religious group even if they are not verifiable. In so far as religions present perspectives concerning other worldly realities such as life after death or the nature of the Divine their acceptance belongs to the realm of faith. Their positions may not be rationally or experimentally verified by human knowledge. The propositions of religions in these fields are accepted because of faith in a person in whom there is confidence and trust and/or as presuppositions that form the basis of the teaching of the religion. At the foundation of all the religions, that propose meta-cosmic perspectives on human life, there are some assumptions or presuppositions that are taken for granted. They cannot be demonstrated as necessarily true to the human reason but are accepted due to faith in the teachers of the religions; they are the implicit working hypotheses of the religions. Some explanation that religions give about human life can be verified e.g. concerning the birth, growth, health, sickness and cause of death of persons or groups. Sociological factors such as the distribution of food, housing and employment and psychological realities such as love and friendship, joy and sorrow can be inquired into by the human scientific disciplines. We can also have consciousness of right and wrong, virtue and vice, of fulfillment and frustration, of acceptance and rejection, of power and powerlessness, of justice and injustice. On these there may be, and there are, differences of opinion, but they are verifiable by human experimentation and reflection. The moral teachings of the religions are developed around such a consciousness among persons of a given community.
* The text has been reduced, by reasons of space. Thanks to the author by his approval.

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Presuppositions can be at different levels of the evolution of a religion or faith. They may be concerning the founder and his or her teachings, concerning the texts which contain such teachings or later elaborations by the religious community built up around the founder and the original core message of the foundation. These different levels of presuppositions do not have the same claim to the loyalty of the followers of a religion. The core values and foundational teachings are generally from the primordial religious experience of the founder. The later elaborations are influenced by the course of history and the particular evolution of a religious community. Even a founders teachings are conditioned by the culture of that time, generally they tend to be more universalistic at least in their basic intuitions. Presuppositions are generally not called in question within the group that accepts them, unless they are disadvantageous to them. They are ingrained in the life of a people and become part of their cultural heritage. For centuries the Bible story of creation in six days was unquestioned by most of all the Christian people and even many theologians until scientific data seemed to contradict it. People generally acquire a certain uncritical approach towards the presuppositions on which their religious and cultural life are based. Many religious conflicts have been concerning these perceptions which have acquired the force of deep convictions and form as it were the identity of a religious group. Hence inter-religious conflicts have been, and are common, in human history. Validity of presuppositions in theology A presupposition is a proposition that is assumed to be true: it is generally taken for granted; it is not necessarily the subject of proof and rational argument. To the one who believes in a presupposition of religion, it has a validity and a truthfulness based on faith. It can be borne witness to by living according to its teachings or demands. It can be inspiring and meaningful to the one who accepts it. The presupposition of one religion may not, however, be accepted as necessarily true by persons of others religions, or of no religion. They would not accept it in faith. They can however respect the faith of the believer particularly when it leads to good of the believer and of others. There can be differences concerning presuppositions even within the same religious tradition. Thus within Christianity there are certain presuppositions that may be accepted by all Christians e.g. that Jesus is the supreme teacher and that he gave his life in fidelity to his teaching. There are other claims of some Churches that are not accepted by others Christians. Thus the teaching concerning the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff is a point of division of the Churches. There are other issues on

For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia 241

which Christian Churches have divergent views; e.g. the nature of original sin, grace and redemption. There can be fundamental differences in the interpretation of commonly accepted texts such as the Bible. Many theological debates of the 4th and 5th centuries or in the Reformation debates related to different interpretations of texts of the Bible, chosen according to the interests of the disputants. More profound issues arise when different religions present totally different sets of propositions based on different presuppositions. There may be a similarity at certain levels as in the core values or in their applications to a concrete situation, but the overall thinking within one religion may be organized in a different manner from the thinking in another. Thus Christian theology and Buddhist religious thought or philosophy may agree on certain common values and applications, but the construct of thinking and their expression are quite different from each other. So long as these religions are practiced by people in different contexts, there may be no issue concerning their inter relation. But when they are lived by different groups within the same country or region their interaction is important. As history shows us, the claim of one religion that it is the unique and privileged path to salvation, and that it has a right to dominate the others, can lead to much inter-religious conflict. As religions are based on different presuppositions we need to develop criteria and methodologies for their inter-relation. The presuppositions of one religion are not necessarily more valid than those of another. Both may be assumptions about things concerning which there can be no proof. They can have a significance within a cultural matrix. We can of course see from their impact whether and how far each leads to human fulfillment. In such a context we should not compare the theory of one with the practice of another, or the best of one with the worst of another. The saintly mystic of one religion should not be compared with the evil doers in another. We must recognize presuppositions as assumptions and hence valid only to those who accept them. We can however study the implications of different sets of assumptions or theological positions. A religion which acknowledges the equality of all races before God would have a different impact on history from one which has a concept of being a chosen people who are favored by God, especially if such favors are understood as a right to domination. Naturally in such a study it would be necessary to see the impact of an ideology which may Influence the interpretation and living of the core values of a religion. Can we have some common critical principles for evaluating all presuppositions and consequently all theologies that depend on them? Or

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at least within each tradition can such principles be evolved. Within the Christian tradition it is possible to evolve a critical principle that would be valid at least in its application to elaborations of Christian theology? Such a principle, if it is rationally convincing or consonant with the core values of other religions and persuasions, may have a validity for them also. Role of imagination in theology There is much room for the play of imagination in the evolution of theologies because theology often deals with things about which we have no verifiable information or are beyond the capacity of the human mind to understand and comprehend. God is a mystery; the origins of the human race are unknown to us. What happens to a person after death is also an unknown. But religions weave different explanations about these from their cultural tradition. Christian theology is linked to the mythical presentations of the old testament, such as the Genesis story and the writings in the new testament. These have been developed imaginatively into theology and at times defined doctrines. Thus there are different explanations concerning the origin of Eve from Adam, but generally in favor of the priority of the male. Varying interpretations are given concerning the condition of Adam and Eve before the alleged Fall in a state of original justice. This is something about which we cannot know anything by reason or experience. The Genesis narrative itself does not describe it except briefly and idyllically. It is later theological writers who refer to the action of the first parents (in the myth) as a grave sin against Gods commands. The concept of original sin in Catholic theology is evolved over the centuries of Christians experience including St. Augustine through the Middle Ages to the definitions of the Council of Trent in the 16th century. The differences among schools of theology, as between the Catholics and Protestants, and even among Catholics and among Protestants show what varieties of interpretation are possible. Each view presents an explanation of the state of original justice, the nature of the fall, its consequences and correspondingly a concept of redemption. While we know from experience that human fallibility and mortality are combined with the desire for good and for immortality, we cannot know the historical origins of this predicament. Is not what is said about that state and stage very much a matter of theological imagination e.g. Adam and Eve not being subject to concupiscence or death? Thus in the debates between the Pelagians and their opponents in the early fifth century those who held that human nature had fallen in the sin of Adam and Eve taught that the souls of infants, who died without baptism, would be condemned, but as they had no personal sin,

For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia 243

they would not go to hell but to a lighter punishment. Pelagians thought that as they had no sin they would not go to hell, but they would go, not to heaven, but to a lesser happiness in eternal life. On the other hand according to Augustine, if an infant had received the sacraments of the Mediator, then, although the present life be immediately brought to an end, the child having been transferred from the power of darkness to the kingdom of Christ, shall not only be saved from eternal punishments, but shall not even suffer purgatorial torments after death. For spiritual regeneration of itself suffices to prevent any evil consequences resulting after death from the connection with death which carnal generation forms. (Augustine: City of God XXI, 16 in The Essential Augustine, edited by Vernon J. Bourke, Hackett, Indianapolis 1974, p. 180). It will be easily seen nowadays that both schools were giving interpretations about an unknown and unknowable hypothesis, based on the acceptance of the presupposition concerning original sin and its consequences. Their philosophical and theological reflection was very profound about freedom and the grace of God; but all was based on the assumptions drawn from scriptural quotations. This need not be a problem if the doctrines have no unfavourable impact on the relations among persons and communities. But these concepts led to conclusions about the nature and necessity of redemption of humanity from sin and Satan. The need of a divine redeemer was deduced from the presupposition of the fall and the alienation of the whole of humanity from God. Thence the conclusion on the need of the grace of Christ and of the Churches for salvation. Hence the other religions were not salvific. Such interpretations of myth in Christian theology had disastrous consequences on the understanding of the gender and inter-religious relations. The Adam and Eve story has been a foundation of an ideology of male domination. It led to the exclusivist and intolerant teachings and attitudes of Christian theology and Christian powers such as the European colonizers in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania in the past five centuries. Thus very vital theological issues were responded to on the basis of conclusions derived from the interpretation, given over time, to a mythical story. Further each succeeding generation in the Church attributed the value of tradition to interpretations of their predecessors in the faith. The influence of ideology Theology is influenced not only by the teachings of the religious founders and the presuppositions of the community but also by the interests of the group that evolves the thinking. A line of thinking developed

244 Tissa BALASURIYA

to foster the interests of a group may be called an ideology. All power holders tend to develop thought patterns that legitimize their power and perpetuate it. They are not generally satisfied with physical power through legal, political and military control over people. They wish to win over the minds of their subjects. They develop ideologies for an intellectual and moral justification of their power. Every ruling oligarchy of history has found ideological pretensions as important a bulwark of authority as its political power. 1 Religious establishments also tend consciously or unconsciously to evolve their religious teaching to control power in the religious community. Normally, they do not elaborate doctrines that disempower them, even though religious founders regard power as a service. If anyone of you wants to be great he must be the servant of the rest (Mk 10,43). But power holders may consider their own power the greatest service to the community. The Catholic Church with centennial spiritual and political power over whole peoples can be particularly susceptible to ideologizing its theology, i.e. suiting it to benefit its power holders. Thus of all the references to Peter in the gospels, the church highlights what it considers useful for empowering the papacy. Thou art Peter and not get behind me, satan also addressed by the Lord to Peter. All human knowledge continues Niebuhr, is tainted with an ideological taint. It pretends to be more true than it is. It is finite knowledge, gained from a particular perspective but it pretends to be final and ultimate knowledge.2 Throughout most of its history the evolution of Catholic theology has been controlled by male, celibate clerics. Till this generation they have been mainly Europeans or the descendants of Europeans in other continents. Hence Catholic theology is likely to be evolved in the interests of the male Euro-American clergy. A hermeneutic of suspicion is therefore necessary in the analysis of theology. Since the ideological taint is a common human phenomenon, it is to be expected in all theology (including the present writers). With centuries of feudalism followed by European domination over most of the world, Christian theology is likely to be tainted with the feudal and later European capitalist and imperialist ideology. When theology deals with matters not subject to empirical verification or rational investigation,

1 2

Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man, Scribners, New York, 1964. Op.cit., p. 194.

For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia 245

there is more room for the influence of ideology. Then what is taught as faith may coincide with the interests of the powerful. When theology advances and propagates doctrines with an ideological bias, there is a tendency for them to get ingrained in a people to the extent of becoming a prejudice and a stereotype for evaluating situations. This can be clearly seen from the impact of the garden of Eden story on the attitude of society towards women. Myth and theology A myth is a narrative which seeks to express through symbols the ultimate reality which transcends both the capacity for discursive reasoning and expression in ordinary human language. A myth is a narrative concerning fundamental symbols which are vehicles of ultimate meaning. A myth tries to express through symbols ultimate reality which transcends both the capacity of discursive reasoning and expression in ordinary human language.3 The presuppositions of a religion may relate to myths. Thus the creation story in the Bible has the character of a myth; it contains an implicit truth which is communicated through the narrative to those who accept it. Formally myths are narratives about symbols, functionally they are vehicles of ultimate meaning. Since the beginning and end of the universe and of human life are beyond our experiential knowledge, the religions claim access to certain revelations by God/the Ultimate, and utilize different myths to interpret their perspectives on these issues. Myth signifies some event which is said to have taken place in primeval time, and is considered fundamental for the whole order and regulation of life. A myth should not be taken literally as if it were fully historically real and not a story. Theology may be built around a myth. Then much would depend on the interpretation given to it and its message concerning the ultimate realities. Since a myth is a narrative that endeavors to communicate an aspect of the ultimate or transcendent reality in relation to the origin, destiny and meaning of human life or for a community, it leaves considerable room for phantasy and imagination. This is true of the biblical story of creation or the peoples stories of their ethnic origins like St. George and the Dragon or the arrival of Vijaya and his followers from India to Sri Lanka. Thus Pope Leo I (440-461) combined Romes imperial greatness with its high Christian dignity. He explained in a sermon on 29 June that St. Peter and St. Paul had replaced Romulus and Remus as the protecting patrons of Rome.4
3 4

The New Dictionary of Theology: on Myth. Henry Chadwick: The Early Church, Penguin, London, 1967/1990, p. 243.

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This literary form enables subsequent interpreters of the myth also to exercise their imagination in explaining and developing the myth. Power holders in a community are likely to do so to safeguard their interests. A twofold criterion for evaluating Christian theologies While appreciating the innumerable and unfathomable benefits Christian theology has brought to many millions of human beings during nearly two millennia, we need to evaluate its drawbacks for the sake of believers, the Church and of interreligious relations specially in Asian countries. The sources of Catholic theology, the Bible and tradition are both subject to a critical evaluation. The Bible has a core teaching of love and unselfish service which can be truly meaningful and redeeming for all humanity. This is part of the primordial religious intuition, inspiration, experience and example of the Jewish people in the Old Testament and of Jesus and his disciples in the New. However there are many elements in the Bible which are less praise worthy or are even undefensible specially as they impinge on the rights of human beings. Thus the Book of Deuteronomy calls for the total extermination of the seven nations that will be inhabiting Canaan when Israel occupies it. (Dt 7. 1-5, 20, 16-18). The Israelites are to utterly destroy them (Dt 7.2) and to save nothing that breathes (Dt 20.16). Before the interests of Israel the chosen people of God, the lives of these others do not count. 5 Likewise in tradition too there are different interpretations of texts which have led to conflicts among Christians, and teachings of the Church that have been intolerant and harmful to others e.g. concerning other religions, cultures and women. We propose a twofold principle one negative and one positive -for evaluating theology. It is derived from the love command of Jesus the core of his message. a) Negatively Any theology authentically derived from God in Jesus must be loving, respectful and fulfilling of all sections of humanity of all places and times. This is the nature of the just and loving God revealed in the basic (and better) inspiration of the Bible specially by Jesus. Hence any element in a theology that Insults, degrades, dehumanizes and discriminates against any section of humanity of any time or place cannot be from
5 George

Soares Prabhu: Communalism and the Role of the Theologian, MS New Delhi, 1987.

For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia 247

God in Jesus. Any such element in Christian theology is an unjustifiable intrusion by later theologizers and should be exorcised from the body of acceptable Christian theology. As Jesus says from their fruits you will know them. Fruits of hate and insult cannot come from Jesus or God. This gives a principle for the purification of a prevailing and predominant Christian theology. If there are such degrading elements in a theology their source must be searched. Perhaps they are an illegitimate inference from an acceptable source, or else the source itself may be a presupposition that is not justified or justifiable. In the latter case, that source itself must be very critically analyzed and evaluated. We must be careful not to attribute to God what is of mere human elaboration. This principle can lead to a review of much of the traditional construct of Western Christian theology. b) Positively Since all good comes from God, everything truly humanizing and ennobling in any religion or ideology is also ultimately from the divine source, and must be respected as such. As God wills the happiness and fulfillment of all persons and peoples, the more a theology leads to genuine human self-realization of all persons and peoples, the closer it is to the divine source. This principle of critique is a rational and an ethical one. It can be applied to any religion or ideology. It is based also on the central teaching of Jesus Christ. It makes the core message of Jesus the touchstone of good theology. Should not Christian theology have this as its guiding principle? It affirms God in Jesus Christ as a God of love who cares for all irrespective of any divisions even of creed. It affirms the centrality of universal love which is made a measuring rod of the authenticity of any sacred text, church teaching or practice. It will seem both simple and exacting. But so is the Gospel of Jesus. He himself purified the religion of the day. He struggled against the wrong interpretations of the Law and the Prophets that imposed unnecessary burdens on the people in the name of religion. The teaching of Jesus is very much concerning the moral life inspired by the love of God. The dogmatic definitions of later Christianity are not found as such in his teaching. But the evangelical teaching of Jesus was neglected in church dogma and catechisms used for teaching religion. 6
6

cf. The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2; Catholic Book, Publishing Co. N.Y. 1962. The U.S. Baltimore Catechism had three parts: the creed, the commandments, and the sacraments and prayer; the emphasis was on the life of the church; less on the core message of Jesus of love of neighbour and its implications in the world of the time. Everyone born into the world had original sin on his soul and was therefore a slave of the devil. p. 36.

248 Tissa BALASURIYA

There would naturally be differences of opinion in the application of this principle. But the principle as such would seem to have a validity both in relation to the teaching of Jesus and human rationality. It gives us a way of applying the key value of the Jesus Gospel to the theologies that claim to be from him. It helps us liberate Christian theologies from presentations of God that are unfaithful to the Jesus teaching ego of God as intolerant, partial and cruel or fostering inhumanity, dehumanization and exploitation of human beings. It thus constrains us to seek deeper into the origins of certain theological teachings which cannot be from God in Jesus and are of purely human sectarian sources. Criteria for evaluating the myths of a religion With this principle of critique we can propose some criteria for evaluating the myths of a religion. The myths, or conceptual framework which thus purports to explain human life and its meaning and destiny cannot be proved or, even disproved by empirical evidence or by rational thought, as they are beyond verifiable history. They can have a verisimilitude as a good story, as giving feasible explanations. They may have entered the cultural ethos and collective memory of a people or of whole civilizations. The myths of a religion have to be understood empathetically from. within the religious tradition and in relation to the cultural background of their origins and development. As Raimundo Panikkar writes,7 Religions deal mainly with the collective ultimate self-understanding of a human group. The truth of religion can be gauged only within the unifying myth that makes the selfunderstanding possible. The myths of religions or of a particular human community are deep rooted collective perceptions that influence their thinking and actions at a primordial level. They are generally accepted unquestioningly as true and valid. They are part of the strong emotive subconscious of a people. Myths or narratives concerning symbols which are mere pointers to the ultimate realities may themselves be taken as literal truths. Their interpretation may serve the power holders in the community. Once this route of theological development has been entered into, tradition, considered a source of revelation, can buttress the ideological positions and hand them down from generation to generation as divinely revealed truths.
7

Raimundo Panikkar, in Towards a Universal Theology of Religion, Ed. Leonard Swidler, Orbis, New York, 1987, p. 129.

For a Critical Theology. A contribution from Asia 249

Among myths, the founding myths are of primary importance as the basis of much that follows in belief and life. Such founding myths cannot be evaluated historically unless they are clearly contrary to proven scientific date and evidence. They cannot be directly verified at source if they are claimed to be from a divine revelation, as this cannot be consulted by us. The distinction between myth or narrative and historical fact is therefore extremely important; likewise between presuppositions and authentic teachings of the Jesus. The limitations in the past theology was partly due to a literal interpretation of the Genesis story as historical data revealed by God. This mythical narrative can have an important spiritual message concerning the human predicament, but taken as literal truth it can leave much room for ideology. Christian theology has found it difficult to refute the rationalistic rejection of the myth of the Fall without falling into the literalistic error of insisting upon the Fall as an historical event. One of the consequences of this literalism, which has seriously affected the thought of the Church upon the problem of mans essential nature, is the assumption that the perfection from which man fell is to be assigned to a particular historical period i.e. the paradisiacal period before the Fall.8 In Christian theology the original mythical. presentation of Genesis has been interpreted in later centuries by the ecclesiastical authorities. These claimed authority to do so on the basis of divine inspiration and the power given to them by Jesus Christ. These interpreters were male clergy, feudal lords and sometimes political rulers as in the Holy Roman Empire. It is therefore necessary to exercise a critical judgment on the evolution of the myth (or from the myth) into religious teaching and later even defined dogma of the Catholic Church. A combination of myth interpreted by the authorities turning into Church tradition may thus be given a quasi divine sanction and considered a source of revelation. The imagination of teachers and authorities may be invoked to interpret the myth ideologically. Modern thinkers, such as Rudolf Bultmann, have developed the concept of demythizization to separate the real import of a myth from its imaginative expression. The myths generally give an advantage to a dominant group within a community. It may be an ethnic group, a class, royal family, a priestly caste or the dominant sex. Myths thus consolidate prevailing inequalities by internalizing them within peoples mind-sets and cultures. Myths even give an aura of sacredness to such convictions which are thus not to be questioned but accepted as true.
8

Reinhold Niebuhr: Op. cit, pp. 267-268.

250 Tissa BALASURIYA

These considerations show us that it is important that we adopt a hermeneutic of suspicion in order to try to evaluate the impact of myth, ideology, imagination and prejudice in the evolution of dogmas. This is particularly necessary in situations in which dogmas have a divisive impact in a pluralist society or deflect the attention of Christians from the more important issues of human community living and the core message of the Gospel.

 251

Constituent Elements in the Post-Religional Paradigm *

Mari CORB CETR, Centre of Study of Traditions of Wisdom Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

The spiritual, deep human quality, cannot be lived as a separate phenomenon from ways of thinking and feeling of a particular society. We cannot think there are different patterns or paradigms for the practice of a spiritual life and for everyday life. It has never been like this and it would be crazy. Cultural transformations we have already mentioned complete disappearance of pre-industrial societies or on their way to extinction, the generalisation of industrialisation, settling of knowledge societies and a continuous change and globalisation- have transformed the paradigm from which all the human axiological phenomenon is interpreted and experienced, including what our ancestors called spirituality and we should call profound or deep human quality, because our anthropology does not understand humans as a composite of body and spirit. We cannot think about the problem of the axiological paradigm of a collective by considering only the religious paradigm. In our case we cannot deal with the problem of the paradigm of spirituality, or better of the profound human quality after religions, without noticing that first we need to solve the problem of the axiological paradigm of society as a whole, under the conditions imposed by globalised knowledge societies. In the same way as the religious paradigm influenced all levels of interpretation and appreciation of reality, the post-religious paradigm or pattern will influence all interpretation and appreciation of reality. This is an axiological paradigm, post-religions, that will encompass the whole culture of the new societies.
* This paper was published originally in the HORIZONTE, Journal of PUC-MINAS, Belo Horizonte, v. 9, n. 23, p. 821-838, out./dez. 2011.

252 Mari CORB

I will describe some aspects of this new paradigm, subsequent to all systems of belief.

The paradigm must be adjusted to the new industrial societies of innovation and permanent change. The new paradigm cannot be dependent on any system of beliefs, neither religious, nor lay. We could say it is a non-believing paradigm. Societies that live by continually changing the interpretation of reality due to the transformation of our scientific knowledge, in all areas of human life, that live under a permanent technological creation that change continuously our way of living, of working, of organisation and, therefore, our systems of cohesion and of objectives. cannot be believers, because beliefs are fixed, and new societies survive by changing all their patterns of life. If members of the new societies must be always ready to change all aspects of their lives, and hence, cannot be believers, they will not be able to be religious, because religion comes conveyed by beliefs. The new paradigm is neither based on religion nor beliefs. Consequently, this cultural paradigm cannot be presented or experienced as exclusive and unique. New societies are aware that beliefs do not come from gods and are not in the nature of things, they know they are human creation, conditioned by ways of survival and by globalisation. The post-religious axiological paradigms will vary according to the state and development of techno-sciences and their consequences. That non-exclusivity will be the base of an intercultural dialogue and of a full ecumenism.

The post-religious paradigm should be adjusted to societies that live in a continuous creation of knowledge. If post-religious axiological patterns are human creation and relative to forms of survival, they are then changeable. The interpretation and appreciation patterns that are human creation, relative to forms of survival, cannot pretend to be a faithful description of reality, they will have to accept they are just models of reality tailored to our forms of survival in concrete and always changing cultural forms. They cannot then be interpreted from a mythic epistemology, but from a non-mythic epistemology.

Constituent Elements in the Post-Religional Paradigm 253

The collectives of the new societies must be aware that they are the creators of their own axiological principles and their own collective projects. And they must be aware that they should be alert to change them to the rhythm of accelerated growth of our techno-sciences and of all the consequences that the transformations of our techno-scientific equipment will bring to our ways of life and organisation. They must be aware that they live under the influence of their own constructions, conditioned and changeable. The traditional principle of revelation should radically change. Revelation will be understood through human constructions; therefore, it will have to be understood as spirit (according to the expression in the gospels), not fixed to the word or any type of fixed formulas; revelation will have to be understood as a profound human quality proposal, expressed in human words but absolutely independent from them.

The new paradigm will have to adjust to globalised societies. The new paradigm is born in the midst of globalisation, therefore, it should be able to inherit all the religious and spiritual knowledge of humanity. It should be able to value and never undervalue all knowledge traditions of humanity. It should be able to embrace and take on all means of expression and cultivation of the deep human quality, wherever they appear.

General aspects of the axiological paradigm The new axiological paradigm, appearing after the era of religions, should be able to offer a proposal without any sign of imposition or submission. The offer cannot appear as an obligation but as the best of human possibilities. It should be able to make human groups understand that if the deep human quality is not sufficiently cultivated, which is the cultivation of the absolute and free dimension of reality, we will see ourselves reduced to the condition of inconsiderate predators of anything around us, armed with a techno-scientific equipment getting day by day more powerful and full of risks. The new paradigm will have to make humanity aware that, without the procedures of cultivation, individual and collective, of the deep dimension of reality, which is a totally free dimension, there is no equality, no justice, no true love, not even an adequate practical efficiency.

254 Mari CORB

The new paradigm must create awareness that without the explicit cultivation of the free absolute dimension of reality, there is no respect for the environment nor a sustainable culture. None of these things, gratuity, equality, justice, true love, respect for the environment, creation of a sustainable culture, can be obtained with voluntarism; all that is just the fruit of the cultivation of the absolute dimension of what is real and of the human quality that it generates. The new paradigm should allow us to inherit all the wisdom of religions and spiritual traditions of our ancestors in all humanity, without incurring in our becoming believers, religious and compliant. We have stated that the new paradigm cannot be religious, or based on belief and, consequently, cannot be founded on complacency or on imposition. With these characteristics it will not need to rely on power, and power will not see any utility in something that does not give rise to its legitimation, to the exercise of complacency and coercion. Can we describe, although very generally, the features of the axiological paradigm post-religions? Can we briefly describe a paradigm adjusted to societies that live in a continuous creation of scientific and technologic knowledge and, through them, a permanent innovation of products and services in globalised conditions? In very general terms we could say that the new societies live and prosper through constant investigation and mutual service. That is to say, spirituality, deep human quality, should be conceived as a road of continuous enquiry, communication and service: constant enquiry of the legacy of wisdom from our ancestors in all traditions and of our own deep interior and permanent communication with the teachers of the past and with our travelling companions and service to our adventure peers and to all humanity. There cannot be a constant enquiry without a fluid and complete communication; and this quality of communication does not exist without interpersonal service in the act of enquiry. Without deep communication there is no constant enquiry and without mutual service there cannot be communication, and therefore, nor can there be enquiry. Enquiry, communication and mutual service are three aspects of a same attitude that cannot be separated. This triad can adopt countless different forms, but it will always be free enquiry, not submissive; of immediate inheritance, according to possibilities, without any hierarchical mediation; and of mutual service, if possible, unconditioned.

 255

Elementos constitutivos del Paradigma Pos-religional *

Mari CORB CETR, Centro de Estudio de las Tradiciones de Sabidura Barcelona, Catalua, Espaa.

Lo espiritual, la cualidad humana honda, no se puede vivir como un fenmeno aparte de lo que son las maneras de pensar y sentir de una concreta sociedad. No podemos pensar que haya unos patrones o paradigmas para la prctica de la vida interior y otros para la vida cotidiana. Nunca ha sido as y sera un disparate. Las transformaciones culturales que ya hemos sealado, -la desaparicin completa de las sociedades preindustriales o su camino a la extincin, la generalizacin de la industrializacin, el asentamiento de las sociedades de conocimiento y cambio continuo y la globalizacin-, han transformado el paradigma desde el que se interpreta y vive la totalidad del fenmeno axiolgico humano, incluido lo que nuestros antepasados llamaron espiritualidad y que nosotros deberemos denominar como cualidad humana profunda porque nuestra antropologa ya no comprende a los humanos como un compuesto de cuerpo y espritu. No podemos plantearnos el problema del paradigma axiolgico de unos colectivos pensando slo en el paradigma de lo religioso. En nuestro caso no podemos plantearnos el problema del paradigma de la espiritualidad, o mejor de la cualidad humana profunda despus de las religiones, sin advertir que hemos de solventar previamente el problema del paradigma axiolgico de la sociedad entera, en las condiciones que imponen las sociedades de conocimiento globalizadas. Como el paradigma religioso afectaba a todos los niveles de la interpretacin y valoracin de la realidad, as el paradigma o patrn posreligional afectar a toda la interpretacin y valoracin de la realidad. Se trata de un paradigma axiolgico, posterior a las religiones, que abarcar la totalidad de la cultura de las nuevas sociedades.
* This paper was published originally in HORIZONTE, Journal of PUC-MINAS, Belo Horizonte, volume 9, n. 23, p. 821-838, out./dez. 2011.

256 Mari CORB

Describir algunos rasgos de este nuevo paradigma posterior a todo sistema de creencias. El paradigma deber ser adecuado a las nuevas sociedades industriales de innovacin y cambio constante El nuevo paradigma no podr estar sometido a ningn sistema de creencias, ni religioso, ni laico. Podramos decir que es un paradigma no creyente. Las sociedades que tienen que vivir de cambiar continuamente la interpretacin de la realidad a causa de la transformacin continua de nuestros conocimientos cientficos, en todos los mbitos de la vida humana; que viven de la continua creacin tecnolgica que cambia continuamente nuestros modos de vida, de trabajo, de organizacin y, por consiguiente, nuestros sistemas de cohesin y de fines: no pueden ser creyentes, porque las creencias fijan, y las nuevas sociedades sobreviven moviendo todos los parmetros de sus vidas. Si los miembros de las nuevas sociedades han de estar siempre dispuestos al cambio en todos los aspectos de su vida y, por ello, no pueden ser creyentes, no podrn ser religiosos porque la religin viene vehiculada por las creencias. El nuevo paradigma no es, pues, creyente, ni religioso. Consecuentemente ese paradigma cultural no puede presentarse ni vivirse como exclusivo y excluyente. Las nuevas sociedades son conscientes de que no los reciben ni de los dioses ni de la naturaleza misma de las cosas, sabe que son creacin humana, condicionada por los modos de sobrevivencia y por la globalizacin. Los paradigmas axiolgicos posreligionales variarn segn el estado y desarrollo de las tecnociencias y sus consecuencias. Esa no exclusividad ser la base del dilogo intercultural y del pleno ecumenismo. El paradigma posreligional deber ser adecuado a las sociedades que viven de la creacin continua de conocimientos Si los patrones axiolgicos posteriores a la religin son creacin humana y son relativos a los modos de sobrevivencia, son mutables. Los patrones de interpretacin y valoracin que son creacin humana, relativa a los modos de sobrevivencia, no pueden tener la pretensin de ser una descripcin fidedigna de la realidad, tendrn que saber que son slo modelaciones de la realidad a la medida de nuestros modos de sobrevivencia en unas formas culturales concretas y continuamente cambiantes.

Elementos constitutivos del paradigma pos-religional 257

No pueden, pues, ser interpretados desde una epistemologa mtica, sino desde una epistemologa no mtica. Los colectivos de las nuevas sociedades tendrn que ser conscientes de que son ellos mismos los que crean sus propios postulados axiolgicos y los propios proyectos colectivos. Y debern ser conscientes de que habr que estar vigilantes para cambiarlos al ritmo del crecimiento acelerado de nuestras tecnociencias y de todas las consecuencias que las trasformaciones de nuestros aparatos tecnocientficos tienen sobre nuestros modos de vida y organizacin. Tendrn que ser conscientes de que viven conducidos por sus propias construcciones, condicionadas y cambiantes. La nocin tradicional de revelacin tendr que mutar profundamente. La revelacin se entender travs de las construcciones humanas; por consiguiente tendr que ser comprendida como espritu (segn la expresin evanglica) no ligado a la letra ni a ningn tipo de frmulas fijadas; la revelacin se tendr que entender como una propuesta de cualidad humana profunda, expresada en formulaciones humanas pero completamente libres de ellas. El nuevo paradigma tendr que ser adecuado a las sociedades globalizadas El nuevo paradigma nace en el seno de la globalizacin, deber, pues, ser capaz de heredar toda la sabidura religiosa y espiritual de la humanidad. Tendr que ser capaz de valorar y no menospreciar a ninguna de las tradiciones de sabidura de la humanidad. Tendr que ser capaz de reconocer la cualidad humana profunda, aunque no sea en formas religiosas o espirituales, como el arte, la filosofa, la filantropa, el ecologismo, etc. Tendr que ser capaz de acoger y asumir todos los procedimientos de expresin y cultivo de la cualidad humana profunda, donde quiera que se presenten. Rasgos generales del nuevo paradigma axiolgico El nuevo paradigma axiolgico, posterior a la poca de las religiones, tendr que presentarse como capaz de hacer una oferta sin rasgo alguno de sumisin e imposicin. Su oferta no puede presentarse como un deber sino como la mejor de las posibilidades humanas. Tendr que ser capaz de hacer comprender a los grupos humanos que si no se cultiva suficientemente la cualidad humana profunda, que es el cultivo de la dimensin absoluta y gratuita de la realidad, nos veremos

258 Mari CORB

reducidos a la condicin de depredadores inconsiderados de todo lo que nos rodea, dotados de un aparato tecnocientfico da a da ms poderoso y lleno de riesgos. El nuevo paradigma deber hacer consciente a la humanidad de que sin procedimientos de cultivo, individual y colectivo, de la dimensin absoluta de la realidad, que es la dimensin completamente gratuita, no hay ni equidad, ni justicia, ni amor verdadero, ni siquiera eficacia prctica adecuada. El nuevo paradigma debe crear la conciencia de que sin cultivo explcito de la dimensin absoluta y gratuita de la realidad no hay ni respeto del medio, ni cultura sostenible. Ni la gratuidad, ni la equidad, ni la justicia, ni el verdadero amor, ni el respeto del medio, ni la creacin de una cultura sostenible pueden conseguirse con voluntarismo; todo eso es slo fruto del cultivo de la dimensin absoluta de lo real y de la cualidad humana que de ese cultivo se genera. El nuevo paradigma nos tiene que posibilitar heredar toda la sabidura de las religiones y de las tradiciones espirituales de nuestros antepasados de toda la humanidad, sin que eso suponga tener que hacernos creyentes y religiosos y sumisos. Hemos indicado que el nuevo paradigma no puede ser ni religioso, ni creyente y que, consecuentemente, no puede fundamentarse ni en la sumisin y ni en la imposicin. Con estas caractersticas no tendr, pues, ningn inters en apoyarse en el poder, ni tampoco el poder ver ninguna utilidad en quien no le proporciona creencias que den pie a su legitimacin, al ejercicio de la sumisin y la coercin. Podemos describir, aunque no sea ms que los rasgos generales del paradigma axiolgico, posterior a las religiones? Podemos describir sumariamente un paradigma que sea adecuado a las sociedades que viven de la continua creacin de conocimientos cientficos y tecnolgicos y, a travs de ellos, de la continua innovacin de productos y servicios en condiciones de globalidad? En rasgos muy generales podramos decir que las nuevas sociedades viven y prosperan a travs de la investigacin constante, la comunicacin y el servicio. Si es as, los rasgos ms generales del paradigma posreligional seran la indagacin constante, la comunicacin y el servicio mutuo. Es decir, habra que concebir la espiritualidad, la cualidad humana profunda, como un camino de continua indagacin, de comunicacin y servicio.

Elementos constitutivos del paradigma pos-religional 259

Indagacin constante del legado de sabidura de nuestros antepasados de todas las tradiciones y de nuestra propia profundidad interior y comunicacin constante con los maestros del pasado y con los compaeros de viaje y servicio a los compaeros de aventura y a la humanidad entera. No puede haber una indagacin constante sino es en una comunicacin completa y fluida; y no puede darse esa calidad de comunicacin sin que se d el servicio de unos a otros en la indagacin. Sin comunicacin profunda no hay indagacin constante y sin servicio mutuo no puede haber comunicacin y, por tanto, tampoco indagacin. La indagacin, la comunicacin y el servicio mutuo son tres aspectos de una misma actitud que no pueden separarse uno del otro. Esa trada podr adoptar infinidad de formas diferentes, pero siempre se tratar de indagacin libre, no de sumisin; de herencia inmediata, en la medida de las posibilidades, sin mediacin jerrquica ninguna; y de servicio mutuo, a ser posible incondicionado.

260

 261

Towards a Post-Religional Paradigm Theological proposal

EATWOT's International Theological Commission

There is more talk about the decline of Christianity in the West every day. Both Catholicism and Protestantism are in a deep crisis, in Europe and in North America. But more observers are foreseeing that after the crisis of Christianity other religions will undergo a crisis. There is the suspicion that the present crisis is not due to a problem of Christianity itself, but more to the nature of religions as we know them, and the growing incapacity of these to accommodate to the deep cultural changes that are under way. The hypothesis of the advent of a so-called postreligional paradigm wishes to express the possibility of our facing a very deep socio-cultural transformation, in which neolithic religions will stop being viable when the society of knowledge 1 gets rooted, which will be a post-religional 2 society, and in which religions that have been unable to free themselves from ancestral religional conditionings will be relegated to residual margins of the course of present history.

We try not to emphasise a concrete characterisation of the new culture or society being born, so as not to introduce a debate that could distract us from the central debate. Our preference goes along the denomination of society of knowledge, not in the sense of an educated or wise society, but in the sense that probably knowledge will be its axis of accumulation and production, that is, societies living (eating even) from knowledge production. Independently of that characterisation, the important for our goal is to look after the epistemological structure of such a society. We use the neologisms religional and post-religional as technical concepts absolutely different from religious and post-religious, as explained later.

262 Theological proposal

It is obvious that this paradigm-hypothesis would coexist with very opposed phenomena of religious conservatism, spiritual revivals, charismatism and neo-pentecostalism. This new paradigm may be present mostly in some specific geographical sectors, but some observers state that the symptoms are growing in urban sectors that are educated, both young and adult, with access to culture and technology it might be starting to appear also in Latin America (also in Africa and Asia?). Without taking into account quantitative field investigations, we want to concentrate on the theorising of a first reflexive and inquisitive presentation of what we want to call post-religional paradigm, which we present to be debated and contrasted by the community of students of theology and of the sciences of religion, as well as pastors and all people concerned about the present evolution of the religious. POSSIBLE FOUNDATION FOR THE HYPOTHESIS Among others, a broadening of human knowledge and a silent confrontation of science with religion could be the intellectual causes for this new paradigm. The development of the sciences is taking humanity to observe itself and is building a different idea of religiosity from the one it had up to now, which entails also a different attitude towards religion. In this moment in history, cultural anthropology believes it can make a different judgment of religion from the one religion has been making of itself, the definition religion has given of itself throughout millennia, with which it has forged the major view of traditional societies up to now. Although there is still much to investigate, and although other sciences can also say much, the cultural anthropology considered as interdisciplinary- thinks it knows when religions were forged, with which social and epistemological mechanisms they operate, and which are the deep human dimensions at stake in its relation to the human being, individual and collective. The novelty of these judgments is radical, and seems to generalize and spread in developed societies both quickly and subliminally, generating a spontaneous and deep change of attitude towards religion, which we are interpreting precisely as the advent of a new post-religional paradigm. These wouldin synthesis-be the nuclear points (to be developed later) of this new vision cultural anthropology is presenting today about religion: Religions have not always existed, not since the world is world, nor since the human being appeared on Earth. Today we know that religions are young, almost recent. The eldest, Hinduism, is only 4500 years old. Judeo-Christianity, 3200 years. In developmental terms, even limiting time to the homo, (between 5 and 6 million years), or even to the homo

Towards a Post-religional Paradigm 263

sapiens (150 or 200 thousand), religions appeared yesterday. We have been more time without religions than with them, although it appears we have been spiritual from the very beginning: homo sapiens and homo spiritualis seem to be contemporaries. Religions are not something that necessarily come with the human being, as history shows 3. Religions appeared in the neolithical era, after the transformation our species went through when passing from nomadic tribes of collectors to live sedentarily in urban societies linked to the cultivation of land, due to the agrarian revolution 4. At that stage of development (maybe the most difficult time) humanity had to reinvent itself creating codes that enabled it to live in society, not in gangs or herds, with law, moral, social cohesion, sense of belonging and being viable and able to survive as a species. In this stage, our species has resorted to maybe its greatest force since its emergence as a species: its symbolic and religious capacity, its need for meaning and the experience of transcendence. Maybe it could have been otherwise, but it was like this. Since the Neolithic era until today, societies have been religious, centred on religion, permeated by religion in all their structures: their wisdom (and ignorance), their beliefs, their culture, their sense of identity, their social cohesion and sense of belonging of their members, their law, politics, legitimacy, social structure, vision of the cosmos, art, culture has been the form of religion, and religion has been the soul of culture (Paul Tillich). The religious impulse, the force of religion,

With suspicion and resignation we accept the word spirituality, trying to overlook and forgive its obvious connotation which is etymologically dualist. It is a word established by usage, which we know we do not accept as referring to a spirit as opposed to a supposed matter which is not spiritual Obviously, we postulate a more adequate conceptualisation of what is meant by spirituality: that profound dimension (Tillich), that need to frame our lives in wider contexts (Armstrong), the profound human quality (Corb), the last motivations, the mystic by which a person lives and fights and with which he infects others (Casaldliga-Vigil) To remember this limitation of the word spirituality we have tried to put it together with synonyms and parallel expressions even if unnecessary sometimes.

We talk of agrarian society or age not in the sense of rural society or society of agriculture, dedicated to the primary sector of the economy, but we refer from a more anthropologiccultural perspective, to the human society post the Neolithic-agrarian revolution, as listing globally a period that would reach its present dissolution. We call it agrarian in the widest sense, including cattle breeding societies, that share epistemological structures belonging to all this neolithic time after a socio-cultural revolution that started with the discovery of agriculture. The scientific revolution (from the XVI century) and the industrial revolution (from the XVIII century) and their several waves, could be considered as the first moments of a breakdown of the Neolithic or agrarian age, breakdown that is currently undergoing its final phase. These categories and the statements need much clarification; we pedagogically adopt this simple terminology to make possible a simple presentation of this paradigm.

264 Theological proposal

has been the engine of the operating system of societies. Except the last two centuries, since the agrarian revolution up to now, we have not met any big social movement or society, not even revolutions, which are non-religious; it is clear that their motivations were also, and mainly, economic and political, but through the religious these social impulses were managed. Religion itself with an almost divine prestige, unquestionable authority, beliefs, myths, dogmas, laws, moral even its inquisitorial instances- served as the programming software of each society. This has been so throughout all the Neolithic or agrarian in a broader sensewhich now the CA claims is perishing. Through which internal mechanisms religions have exercised their controlling and programming capacity in society? Through: - the creation and imposition of their own view of the cosmos on society: religion has told humanity, in each society, what reality is, its origin, sense and moral requirements; - the main beliefs conveyed through the sacred myths, that have given society its assumptions, axioms and postulates unverifiable, but which had been believed without doubt; - a mythical epistemology that attributes to God its own elaborations, to present them as revelation or God's will, and thus make them absolute in order to give safety to human society; - a radical imposition of submission (islam means submission), of faith (a foremost imposition in Christianity), of believing what cannot be seen (or not even understood); - managing all these mechanisms as an operating system of society (evidenced in the social systems of empires with their religion of the State, (the society of Christendom or theocratic regimes in other religions, for example). From these principles of CA we could now produce an ad hoc technical definition of religion, in the sense we want to give this expression: we technically call religion the socio-institutionalised configuration that human religiosity (spirituality) of all times adopted in the Neolithic, through which it has served as a fundamental system of programming and self-control of Neolithic agrarian societies. Here we understand religion in this strict technical sense, and not in any of the other meanings of the word (religiosity, religious dimension, spirituality, religious institution); without this semantic precision we would inevitably fall into confusion. Consecutively, we will call technically religional all that relative to this Neolithic or agrarian socio-religious configuration, while, in the

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ordinary meaning of the dictionary, we will call religious all that relative to the spiritual dimension of the human being and of society, in general. In this sense, it should be noted that the paradigm we refer to is called post-religional, not post-religious, because it will continue to be religious in the normal sense of the dictionary, as related with the spiritual dimension of the human being and society; we call it postreligional because it will establish itself once the religious configuration is overcome (those ways of functioning we will refer to as pertaining to the religions we call agrarian including cattle breeding and more specialised ones. The prefix post does not refer literally to time (as after) but in a meaning that generically is overcoming: further. Therefore, it would be valid to say a-religional, with no confusion with the temporal dimension. Post-religional does not mean then post-religious nor post-spiritual, but, strictly, beyond the religious, marginal to what the agrarian religions have been, or a religiosity without religions, a spirituality without religious systems, without dogmas, social control, submission Of course we will rely on other mediations, gestures, symbols, institutions or "systematisations" of different types, because human spiritual experience cannot be presented in a void; but this is not the moment to discuss this issue 5. MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE POST-RELIGIONAL PARADIGM Let us try now to establish the main elements of the new post-religional conscience of the emerging social culture as a main consequence of the spreading of this growth of human knowledge. 1. Religions are something else from what we traditionally thought, from what many people still think, from what they affirm about themselves and have spread in society for millennia. They are not backed by a sort of pre-existence that would make of them a prime supreme body of knowledge, divine knowledge authentically revealed by God
These semantic precisions can explain why it is necessary to create this non-technical neologism well within the etymological rules of the language-, to avoid ambiguity, be it to equate it to the religious in the common sense of the dictionary, or to unduly confuse it with the anti-religious or the atheist. In any way: Is the adjective religional the most appropriate to define this paradigm?? We think it is correct, it is adequate, and it is useful (due to plasticity and effect), but we also think it is not absolute, and may be improved, because it does not come from the essence of the phenomenon nor recalls what could be its material foundation or its epistemological specificity. Therefore, we humbly propose it as provisional and improvable

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himself, what would make them the sole means of access to revelation and of the relation to the Mystery. Religions always in the specific sense we are giving to the word- are, rather, a historical phenomenon, a concrete socio-cultural dress that the permanent deep dimension of human beings has given it in a specific historic period; they are not religiosity itself, nor the same as the human spirituality of all times. Religions are forms, historical, contingent, and changing, while spirituality is a dimension that constitutes humanity, permanent, and essential to the human being Spirituality may be experienced within or outside religions. We could do without religions, but we will never be able to dispense with human being's dimension of trascendence. 2. Religions are also human constructions As already said, science and society already know a lot about their origins, their formation, their mechanisms. This radically changes our perception about them: religions are our work, human creation, great but human sometimes, too human-, and must be at our service, not the other way. Religions their beliefs, myths, moral- are not the direct work of a God, out there, up there, who sent us the gift of religions, on the contrary, they are something born down here, something very terrestrial, made for humans by humans, driven of course by the force of the divine mystery that covers us, but according to our own possibilities and with our own very concrete conditionings. Religions made themselves absolute, when they ascribed their own origin to God. It was a mechanism whose purpose was to fix and give an immovable character to those human constructions, in order to save the social formulas of coexistence that humanity had been able to create. Today, we are losing ingenuity, and this absolute character of religions, that was for millennia an essential component of human societies, that made human lives easier and more passive, seems now as a wonderful anthropological mechanism, through a false belief, which today is not necessary, nor desirable, nor bearable. 3. Then, we are not subjected to religions, we are not condemned to march through history along the path drawn by them, as if it was a divine plan that previously marks from eternity- our destinies, as if it would impose on us the solutions that our ancestors found to solve their problems and to interpret reality according to their possibilities If religions are our construction, this means that we are free, we have the right (and the obligation) to speak out before history and give our own answer to the problems of existence and to express with confidence our own

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interpretation of the reality we are, helped by our scientific discoveries, instead of being made to take as an untouchable and impenetrable truth, the obsolete interpretations and ancient solutions given to themselves by human generations of many thousands of years ago, as if those interpretations were Gods Word, an extraneous supposed revelation, coming from outside and of absolute binding. This religional mistake in which our ancestors have lived, seems to us, at this time in history, an alienation. It is frightening to feel alone, responsible before history, free from traditional religious paths, without a safe and unquestionably mandatory road drawn by the gods but this new vision of the world, this postreligional paradigm generates a human self-conscience profoundly different from the one the traditional religional conscience had marked for us. Now we feel free from religional bindings to unleash our personal and collective fulfillment, to fully take responsibility for our decisions, our interpretation at our risk, without any restriction or supposedly external coercion, although worried to tune up to the Mystery that moves us. 4. Religions are not, by nature, eternal, for ever, the only ones to know the beginning of times and the end of the world Now we know they are temporal, recent, contingent, very limited in time, and we know it is not absurd they might disappear. They are not essential to our nature, nor indispensable in time. Moreover: Neolithic religions are bound to the Neolithic age: we could say they were born to make the human species viable in that new era, the one subsequent to the agrarian revolution. But it is precisely that era that specialists say is presently coming to an end. What future can we see for religions in a time of transition that announces the end of the era that gave birth to them? The hypothesis that religions (we insist we refer to the religions of that time, not to religiosity itself, the deep dimension) may disappear is very plausible. It does not appear as impossible in itself, nor should it be necessarily an important historical disaster. We have lived most of our history without religions (all the Paleolithic), and it is evident this did not prevent our deep quality, our spirituality from being. 5. At this point it is already indirectly evident that there is a distinction to be made. Traditionally religions believed themselves as holders of the spiritual. A person could only be spiritual only thanks to religions. They were the source of spirituality, who could connect us directly with the Mystery. Religions and spirituality were all one, the same thing. As we have just expressed, the conceptualisation of religions is changing radically in the emerging post-religional paradigm. Today, more and more persons feel as evident that religions are not the source of

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spirituality, just some socio-cultural ways the same can be dressed in, even frequently a brake and an obstacle for it. Religions and spirituality are perceived today as realities of a totally different kind: religions would be a specific socio-cultural configuration in which the spirituality of human beings has been expressed for some time, while spirituality would continue to be an essential dimension and a characteristic of the human being, that permanently and inevitably accompanies him since its emergence as a species. The words religion, religious, religions, which traditionally were embracing indiscriminately all that referred to spirituality, today should scrupulously go through the screen of the distinction between the religious (what has to do with that mysterious dimension of the human being) and the religional, which belongs simply to the field of socio-cultural configurations and institutions we have called Neolithicagrarian religions. This distinction allows us to separate religious realities from the religional: non-religional experiences of the religious. The new paradigm has in this distinction one of its fundamental basis.

SYNTHESIS OF THE POST-RELIGIONAL PARADIGM Once presented these main elements that constitute the vision of the post-religional paradigm, we could try to express its core argument in synthesis: - First premise: religions (not religion, nor spirituality or religiosity), in the technical sense we have given here to the term, are a Neolithic creation, of the agrarian stage of humanity, product of it as well as its cause. - Second: the socio-cultural transformation we are going through now is, precisely, the end of the Neolithic-agrarian era. What is now being overcome and removed has been in the foundation of human society and the shape of the human conscience of the species for the last 10.000 years, since the start of the agrarian age; there lies the depth of the present change. A new type of society is emerging, with different foundations especially epistemological- that are incompatible with the ancient operating system. A change of system both at an epistemological level and at the level of spiritual conscience of humanity prevails. This is the cause for such a radical and deep change of era we are experiencing, a new axial time. - Consequence: religions (Neolithic-agrarian), identified with agrarian conscience, vision of the world and epistemology, are losing ground and starting on a deep decline as due to the never stopping growth of knowledge, scientific, technological, social and experiential- a new type of conscience is emerging, of vision of the world and of epistemology,

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incompatible with the traditional neolithic one. Human beings of the new age cannot express their spiritual dimension in that concrete configuration of agrarian societies (both of agriculture and cattle breeding), and these are unable to tune to and make themselves understood by the new society. The Neolithic-agrarian religions face radical transformation or their disappearance. Meanwhile members of those religions, as they travel to the new culture, let go of the mechanisms and epistemology of the agrarian religions and start living their spirituality post-religionally. Consequently, to verify this hypothesis: - the technical concept of Neolithic-agrarian religions will have to be analysed, not only going back to the moment of their birth during the agrarian revolution, but by making a contrast of what have been their main characteristics and in some way permanent, during the agrarian time. - the statement that we are facing the end of the Neolithic era must be demonstrated with arguments, concretely detailing on which anthropological elements we base this, which are the characteristics of the new society that outweigh the agrarian society and are incompatible with the new society. - And a project of support of society in the times coming will be needed, to accompany the transit from an agrarian society to the new society. In conclusion, we call post-religional paradigm this way of living the deep dimension of the human being that overcomes, ignores or rejects the mechanisms typical of the Neolithic-agrarian societies, such as:
- their mythical epistemology, their beliefs and myths, - the monopoly over spirituality, - their requirement of submission, of blind acceptance of some beliefs as revealed by God, - their exercise of political and ideological power over society, be it under Christian regimes, Caesaro-papist, Islamic, of Church and State union, of imposition of the ecclesiastical laws over the lay society - their imposition of a heteronomous moral, coming from above, with an interpretation of the natural law from an officially imposed philosophy, with a moral not subject to a democratic examination, - their control of the human thought, with dogmas, pursuit of freedom of thought, Inquisition, condemnation and execution of heretics, with an infallibility pretension of divine inspiration, the only authorised instance to interpret the indisputable will of God - their proclamation as revelation of the book (in the case of

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book religions) that has gathered the ancient traditions, exalted as Gods direct Word, regulating and indisputable - their pre-modern interpretation of reality as a world in two stories, with the supernatural, divine world above us, from which we depend, and below the one we are in - their interpretation of life and death as a test, judgment and reward/punishment by a Universal Judge who is the supreme Lord of the same religion

With the end of the agrarian age, all these ancient structures of thought, axiological and epistemological, are stopping to be viable with the emergence of the new society. They were a great human invention. Thanks to them, the nomadic bands of gatherers were able to find the way to coexist in a city, regulated by law, joined by a religious conscience of membership to a collective whose identity was given by the gods The present crisis is not due to secularisation processes, or to a loss of values, or to the dissemination of materialism or hedonism, (blaming interpretation usually held by religions' officers), neither to the lack of testimony or to the moral scandals of religion, but to birth of a new cultural situation, that puts an end to the radical transformations of the knowledge, axiological and epistemological neolithic structures, transformation that started with the scientific revolution in the XVI century, the Enlightenment of the XVIII century and the various waves of industrialisation. The symptoms that this gradual transformation produces appear in ways such as certain diffuse agnosticism, loss of epistemological ingenuity, a more accentuated critical sense, a more utilitarian conceptualisation of religions as a service to the human being instead of receptors of full loyalty from their members, the disappearance of the idea of a unique true religion and a revealed moral. We are not facing a really new phenomenon, just only its radicalisation. And we are not dealing with a radically new interpretation (this post-religional paradigm), but with an awareness that the accumulative axis of the change Is mainly epistemological, and that it radically transforms everything. Two warnings: A) As already mentioned at the beginning, we are not trying to say that this is the only thing happening in the religious field, as if all the scenery were now occupied by this transformation of the agrarian religions paradigm into a post-religional paradigm. There are many other phenomena taking place in the field of religion simultaneously, even

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chaotically, since they are In certain aspects contradictory. Together with this crisis of religion, we mention religious effervescence and revivals, reversals and fundamentalisms. In this theological proposal we have specifically focused on a concrete aspect of this on-going transformation, that does not deny all the other present elements. There are other things happening in the field of religion, but this one is happening too, and this theological proposal wants to call attention on it, despite its almost imperceptible character, and still minor in many regions. B) What we have been saying cannot be applied indiscriminately to ALL religions. Not all religions are "agrarian". There are quite a lot of religions that have not passed through the agrarian and urban revolutions. They still have a matrix of religious experience typical of times before the neolithic transformation (previous to the separation against the placenta of the sacredness of nature, the assumption of the dualistic and a-cosmic divine transcendence, etc.), and did not fall into the controlling and programming current of society through submission to doctrines, dogmas, inquisitions Here we can place the great family of cosmic religions, indigenous, animists as well as others that, even from the neolithic period and being religions of agrarian societies (agricultural or cattle breeding) kept themselves away from that dogma-doctrinal control, as for example Hinduism, a "religion without truths". This means that this paradigm does not apply to all religions. Reality is more complex than our simplifying attempts to understand, what demands of us more precision, more humility and a greater interest in field study, investigation and dialogue.

FACING THE IMMEDIATE TRANSIT This proposal we are presenting is theological, a theoretical deepening to better transform the reality it interprets (interpreting as a way to transform). But it is obvious it has pastoral consequences, and big ones. Because what we are talking about is a cultural and religious tsunami, a metamorphosis that may make it difficult for us to recognise ourselves in the near future. And this can be a very difficult situation to go through for humanity; anthropologists say the passage from the paleolithic to the neolithic society, with the agrarian revolution, was the most difficult situation experienced by our species; maybe we are in a similar moment of evolution. It is necessary to present how to accompany this "transit" society is going to take or is already starting to take, from "agrarian" religions to a new type of society whose spiritual fulfilment will take place by paths and according to models that will continue to be religious but

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"post-religional", but today we do not know exactly how these models and paths will be, hence we will have to invent them. Religions will face in many places now- situations of decline, of loss of members and loss of credibility and plausibility , on the one hand, and on the other will experience a contradiction with their own agrarian mechanisms. Already many persons feel they have to radically transform their religiosity, but poignantly feel the contradiction with the official doctrine, considered infallible and immutable, that prohibits all change or abdication of the ancient principles. In some societies there are already tens of millions people who silently abandon religions to continue being religious post-religionally. It is possible that some religious hierarchies, anchored in the mirage of a sacred loyalty, may adamantly prefer to sink their own religious institutions by blocking their evolution, doing it with the best of intentions, to the glory of God. But it is also possible that many human groups may be able to transform themselves. It is really possible, and we believe also desirable, that agrarian religions might evolve towards new religious forms (post-religional) in accordance with this new society of knowledge. They will become aware that, as in the past science rightly contradicted the geocentrism they considered as revealed, today science discovers that the religiocentrism has been a religional illusion and that as before it is possible to abandon the old cosmovision and continue to find spiritual fulfilment in a new stage of evolution. All seems to foretell that the Titanic of the agrarian religions will not float in the latitudes of the ocean of the society of knowledge. All seems to indicate it will not endure much and will sink. Its kairs is gone, although there is still a little cronos. But it is not the end of the world. It is only the end of one world, the end of the agrarian-neolithic world and its epistemology, and with it the end of the religional configurations of spirituality, what we have called "agrarian-neolithic religions". Life and its deep dimension continue. And it is our duty to understand what is happening, so as not to find ourselves fighting against Reality, but helping this new evolutionary birth of our species, to reinvent ourselves once more as we did at the beginning of the neolithic. It is our duty to be cautious, not to push anyone beyond his needs or his possibilities, to clearly warn that the situation is difficult, it is a new birth, a metamorphosis, a "change of species"", or a change in the operative system, and a time of important risks, both socially and individually. It is the duty of theology to foresee the novelty, not only in its deconstructive aspect, but in its constructive one: not just what we cannot believe, but how we can develop our transcendental or spiritual dimension fully, the deep human quality that religional religions, after all, with more or less limitations, wanted to support. Many things are dying, this is inevitable, and they do not completely die, we try to aid them to die well, (the ars moriendi of dying giving life to others, giving birth). Meanwhile, it is a brand new world that

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is trying to rise, and finds It difficult to rise, and we wish to help it rise. Religions will find themselves in the need to reinterpret and reconvert their symbolic patrimony, created under the epistemological conditionings of the agrarian times. It would be a re-elaboration, a "reception" (Congar) of all its patrimony, created initially millennia ago, and historically sustained under an ignorance and inculturation of which we have recently emerged, thanks to the ample display of sciences. Religions will have to find how to re-understand, and what is left -if something- of the various beliefs, dogmas, heteronomous moral, agrarian rites among this new situation of knowledge and the new frames of Interpretation. Many human beings, when they see themselves unable to continue leaning on religions to spiritually survive, will experiment serious difficulties in the spiritual integrity of their lives. As when the airplane takes off and abandons the support system of its wheels, having to support itself on a new system, totally different, that of its wings, most of humanity will have to undergo moments of difficult balance in the transit from one to another axiological system, so different and to some extent incompatible and without automatic change. What comes is a tsunami. Risks are serious on all grounds. The duty of a responsible theology is to foresee these problems and try to accompany the inevitable "transit" in which we already find ourselves. Both In the theoretical aspect as in the practical aspect, the subject deserves much more attention than what we are giving it In this simple "theological proposal". We leave it here, and we deliver it to consultation and debate, hoping It will be corrected and improved. Could we offer, by the end of this year, an ample book, with the reflections, insights and debates that this simple presentation of the POST-RELIGIONAL paradigm arouses? You are all cordially invited.

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Hacia un paradigma Pos-religional Propuesta teolgica

Comisin Teolgica Internacional de la EATWOT

Cada vez se est hablando ms del declive del cristianismo en Occidente. El catolicismo y el protestantismo por igual, atraviesan una grave crisis, tanto en Europa como en Amrica del Norte. Son cada vez ms los observadores que pronostican que a continuacin la crisis va a afectar tambin a otras religiones. Se sospecha que la crisis no parece deberse a un problema propio del cristianismo, sino a la naturaleza misma de las religiones, y la incapacidad creciente que stas experimentan para acomodarse al profundo cambio cultural que est en curso. La hiptesis del advenimiento de un paradigma posreligional quiere plantear la posibilidad de que estemos ante una transformacin socio-cultural de hondo calado, en la que las religiones neolticas van a dejar de ser viables cuando se implante a fondo la adveniente de sociedad del conocimiento1, que ser una sociedad pos-religional2, y que las religiones que no se liberen de sus condicionamientos religionales ancestrales se vern abocadas a los mrgenes residuales del curso de la historia.
1

Tratamos de no hacer nfasis en una caracterizacin concreta de la nueva cultura o sociedad emergente para no introducir un debate lateral. Nuestra preferencia sera denominarla sociedad del conocimiento, no en el sentido de sociedad muy culta, sino en el sentido de que el conocimiento probablemente ser su eje de produccin y acumulacin, es decir, sociedades que viven de producir conocimiento. Sea cual sea esa caracterizacin, lo importante para nuestro objetivo es atender a la estructura epistemolgica de esa sociedad. Utilizamos los neologismos religional y pos-religional como conceptos tcnicos a ser distinguidos cuidadosamente de religioso y pos-religioso, como luego explicaremos.

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Es obvio que este paradigma-hiptesis estara conviviendo con fenmenos bien contrarios de conservadurismo religioso, revivals espirituales, carismatismo y neopentecostalismo. Slo en algunos sectores geogrficos puede estarse dando mayoritariamente, pero algunos observadores afirman que crecen los sntomas de que en las capas urbanas, cultas, tanto de jvenes como de adultos, con acceso a cultura y tecnologa... estara empezando a hacerse presente este paradigma, tambin en Amrica Latina (tambin en frica y Asia?). Prescindiendo de sondeos cuantificadores de campo, nos queremos concentrar en la elaboracin terica de una primera presentacin reflexiva e indagatoria de lo que aqu queremos llamar paradigma pos-religional, que proponemos a debate y contraste de la comunidad de estudiosos de la teologa y de las ciencias de la religin, as como de los pastores y de todas las personas preocupadas por la evolucin actual de lo religioso.

POSIBLE FUNDAMENTO DE LA HIPTESIS Una ampliacin del conocimiento humano y un callado enfrentamiento de la ciencia actual con la religin pareceran ser causas intelectuales de este nuevo paradigma, entre otras. El desarrollo de las ciencias est llevando a la humanidad a observarse a s misma y a hacerse de su religiosidad una idea en gran medida diferente de la que hasta ahora tena de ella, lo cual repercute en una actitud nueva frente a la religin. A estas alturas de la historia, la antropologa cultural se cree ya en capacidad de poder hacer sobre la religin un juicio diferente al que sta ha venido haciendo de s misma, a la auto-definicin con la que durante milenios la religin se ha presentado y con la que ha fraguado la opinin mayoritaria de las sociedades tradicionales, hasta hoy. Aunque quede mucho por investigar, y aunque otras ciencias tambin pueden aportar mucho, la antropologa cultural interdisciplinariamente considerada cree saber ya cundo y cmo se fraguaron las religiones, con qu mecanismos sociales y epistemolgicos operan, y cules son las dimensiones humanas profundas en juego en su relacin con el ser humano, individual y colectivo. La novedad de estos juicios es radical, y parece generalizarse y difundirse en las sociedades evolucionadas tan rpida como subliminalmente, generando un cambio profundo de actitud hacia la religin, que estamos interpretando precisamente como la llegada de un nuevo paradigma pos-religional. stos seran muy en sntesis los puntos nucleares de esta nueva visin que la antropologa cultural est presentando hoy da sobre la religin:

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277

Las religiones no son de siempre, no existen desde que el ser humano est sobre la faz de la Tierra. Hoy sabemos que las religiones son jvenes, casi recientes. La ms antigua, el hinduismo, slo tendra unos 4500 aos. El judeocristianismo, 3200. En trminos evolutivos, aun limitndonos a los tiempos del gnero homo (entre 5 y 7 millones de aos), o ms todava de la especie homo sapiens (150 mil o 200 mil), las religiones son de ayer mismo. Hemos pasado muchsimo ms tiempo sin religiones que con ellas, aunque espirituales parece que lo hemos sido desde el primer momento: homo sapiens y homo spiritualis parecen ser coetneos. Las religiones no son por tanto algo que acompaa necesariamente al ser humano, como muestra la historia 3. Las religiones se han formado en la poca neoltica, tras la gran transformacin que vivi nuestra especie al pasar de ser tribus nmadas de cazadores y recolectores, a vivir sedentariamente en sociedades urbanas ligadas al cultivo de la tierra, a raz de la revolucin agraria 4. En esa coyuntura evolutiva (tal vez el momento ms difcil de su historia evolucionaria) la humanidad ha tenido que reinventarse a s misma creando unos cdigos que le permitieran vivir en sociedad, no ya en bandas o manadas, con derecho, moral, cohesin social, sentido de pertenencia... para ser viable y sobrevivir como especie. En esa coyuntura, nuestra especie ha echado mano de la que es quiz su fuerza mayor desde su

Con recelo y resignacin aceptamos la palabra espiritualidad, tratando de no transigir con su innegable connotacin etimolgica dualista. Es una palabra consagrada por el uso, y es sabido que no la aceptamos como referida a un espritu contrapuesto a una supuesta materia no espiritual... Postulamos una conceptuacin ms adecuada de lo que por espiritualidad se quiso significar: aquella dimensin de profundidad (Tillich), aquella necesidad de enmarcar nuestras vidas en contextos ms amplios (Armstrong), la calidad humana profunda (Corb), las motivaciones ltimas, la mstica por la que vive y lucha y con la cual contagia a los dems (Casaldliga-Vigil)... Para subsanar su limitacin, tratamos de reconducir la palabra acompandola con expresiones paralelas.

Hablamos de sociedad o poca agraria no en el sentido de sociedad rural o de sociedad agrcola, dedicada al sector primario de la economa, la agricultura, sino refirindonos, desde una perspectiva antropolgico-cultural, a la sociedad humana posterior a la revolucin agraria neoltica, como catalogacin global de una poca que llegara hasta su disolucin actual. La llamamos agraria en sentido amplio, incluyendo las sociedades ganaderas, que comparten unas estructuras epistemolgicas propias de todo ese tiempo neoltico posterior a la revolucin sociocultural que se inici con el descubrimiento de la agricultura. Las revoluciones cientfica (siglo XVI) e industrial (XVIII y siguientes) pueden ser consideradas como el comienzo del fin del neoltico o edad agraria profunda, quiebre que actualmente estara en su fase de culminacin. Estas categoras y las afirmaciones necesitan mucha matizacin; adoptamos pedaggicamente este lenguaje simplificado para facilitar una presentacin sencilla de este paradigma.

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aparicin como especie emergente: su capacidad simblica y religiosa, su necesidad de sentido y de experiencia de trascendencia. Quiz podra haber sido de otra manera, pero ha sido de hecho as. Desde el neoltico hasta nuestros das, las sociedades han sido religiosas, religiocntricas, transidas de religin en todas sus estructuras: su conocimiento (y su ignorancia), sus creencias, su cultura, su sentido de identidad, su cohesin social y el sentido de pertenencia de sus miembros, su derecho, su poltica, su legitimidad, su estructura social, su cosmovisin, su arte... La cultura ha sido la forma de la religin, y la religin ha sido el alma de la cultura (Tillich). El impulso religioso, la fuerza de la religin, ha sido el motor del sistema operativo de las sociedades. Si exceptuamos los dos ltimos siglos, desde la revolucin agraria no hemos conocido sociedades ni grandes movimientos sociales ni siquiera revoluciones no religiosas; es claro que sus motivaciones eran tambin y fundamentalmente econmicas y polticas, pero era a travs de lo religioso como eran gestionados esos impulsos sociales. La religin misma con un prestigio cuasidivino, su autoridad incuestionable, sus creencias, mitos, dogmas, leyes, moral... e incluso sus instancias inquisitoriales- funga como software programador de cada sociedad. Eso ha sido as durante todo el tiempo neoltico o agrario en el sentido amplio que estamos utilizando-, que ahora la antropologa cultural sostiene que se est acabando. Con qu mecanismos internos las religiones han ejercido esta su capacidad programadora de la sociedad? Por medio de: la creacin e imposicin de su cosmovisin sobre la sociedad: ella es quien ha dicho a la humanidad, en cada sociedad, qu es la realidad, cul es su origen, su sentido y sus exigencias morales; las creencias fundamentales vehiculadas por los mitos sagrados, que han fungido como los presupuestos, axiomas, postulados, presupuestos profundos de cada sociedad, como la arquitectura epistemolgica misma de la sociedad humana; una epistemologa mtica, que ha atribuido a Dios sus propias elaboraciones, para presentarlas como revelacin o voluntad de Dios, y as absolutizarlas para dar seguridad a la sociedad humana; una exigencia radical de sumisin [islam significa sumisin], de fe [una exigencia primera en el cristianismo], de creer lo que no se ve (o lo que ni siquiera se entiende); ejerciendo con todos estos mecanismos como sistema operativo de la sociedad (lo que se evidencia en los sistemas sociales de los imperios con su religin de Estado, la sociedad de cristiandad o los regmenes teocrticos en otras religiones, por ejemplo).

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A partir de estas premisas podramos dotarnos ahora de una nueva definicin tcnica ad hoc de las religiones en el sentido que aqu queremos dar al trmino: llamamos tcnicamente religin a la configuracin socio-institucionalizada que la religiosidad (espiritualidad) constitutiva del ser humano adopt en la edad agraria, configuracin que ha fungido como sistema fundamental de programacin y de autocontrol de las sociedades agrarias neolticas. En esta exposicin entendemos religin en este estricto sentido tcnico, y no en cualquiera de las otras acepciones de la palabra (religiosidad, dimensin religiosa, espiritualidad, institucin religiosa...); no tener en cuenta esta precisin de vocabulario nos llevara inevitablemente a la confusin. Derivadamente, llamaremos tcnicamente religional a lo relativo a esta configuracin socio-religiosa propia del tiempo agrario o neoltico En este sentido, es de notar que el paradigma que queremos presentar es calificado como pos-religional, no como pos-religioso, porque continuar siendo religioso en el sentido normal del diccionario, en cuanto relacionado con la dimensin espiritual del ser humano y de la sociedad, aunque cambien las culturas y las pocas; lo llamamos posreligional porque ciertamente se instalar en la superacin de la citada configuracin de lo religioso (aquellos modos de funcionar a los que luego nos vamos a referir propios de las religiones que genricamente llamamos agrarias -incluyendo ah las ganaderas y otras formas ms especializadas-). El prefijo pos no lo tomamos en el sentido literalmente temporal (como un despus de) sino en un sentido genricamente superador: ms all de. Por ello, igualmente sera vlido decir a-religional, sin posible confusin en la dimensin temporal. Pos-religional no significa pos-religioso ni post-espiritual, sino, estrictamente, ms all de lo religional, es decir, ms all de lo que han sido las religiones agrarias, o una religiosidad sin religiones (agrarias), una espiritualidad sin la configuracin socio-institucionalizada propia de la edad neoltica (sin programacin social, sin sumisin, sin dogmas...) 5. Obviamente, nos
5

Estas precisiones de vocabulario pueden explicar por qu se hace necesario acudir a este artesanal neologismo perfectamente dentro de las reglas etimolgicas de la lengua-, para evitar el equvoco, tanto de equipararlo con lo religioso en el sentido normal del diccionario, como de confundirlo indebidamente con lo anti-religioso o lo ateo. De todas formas: es el adjetivo religional el ms adecuado para calificar este paradigma? Creemos que es correcto, que es adecuado, y que es til (por plstico y efectista), pero creemos que no es absoluto, y que puede ser mejorado, porque quiz no proviene de lo esencial del fenmeno al que se refiere ni tal vez evoca lo que pudiera ser su base material o su especificidad epistemolgica. Por eso, nosotros lo proponemos con humildad como provisional y mejorable.

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apoyaremos en otras mediaciones, gestos, smbolos, instituciones o sistematizaciones de otro tipo, porque la experiencia espiritual humana no puede darse en el vaco...; pero no es ste el momento dirimir este punto.

ELEMENTOS PRINCIPALES DEL PARADIGMA POS-RELIGIONAL Tratemos de establecer ya los elementos principales de la nueva conciencia pos-religional propia de ese fenmeno complejo de la cultura social emergente, consecuencia principal de la ampliacin del conocimiento humano. 1. Las Religiones son otra cosa que lo que tradicionalmente pensbamos, que lo que todava piensa mucha gente, que lo que ellas piensan de s mismas y han difundido en la sociedad durante milenios. Las religiones no estn respaldadas por una especie de preexistencia que hara de ellas un cuerpo supremo primordial de sabidura, unas formas de sabidura divina reveladas por Dios mismo, lo que las convertira en el nico medio de acceso a esa revelacin y a la relacin con el Misterio. Las religiones -siempre, no se olvide, en el sentido especfico que estamos dando al trmino- son, ms bien, un fenmeno histrico, una forma sociocultural concreta que la dimensin profunda de siempre del ser humano ha revestido en una determinada era histrica. No son la religiosidad misma. No son equiparables sin ms a la espiritualidad humana de todos los tiempos. Las religiones son formas, histricas, contingentes, y cambiantes, mientras que la espiritualidad es una dimensin constitutiva humana, permanente, anterior a las formas, y esencial al ser humano... La espiritualidad puede ser vivida en, o fuera de las religiones. Podramos prescindir de las religiones, pero no podremos prescindir de la dimensin de transcendencia del ser humano... 2. Las religiones son tambin construcciones humanas... Como hemos dicho, la ciencia y la sociedad ya saben mucho sobre su origen, su formacin, sus mecanismos. Ello cambia radicalmente nuestra percepcin sobre ellas: las religiones son obra nuestra, creaciones humanas, geniales, pero humanas a veces, demasiado humanas-, y que deben estar a nuestro servicio, no al revs. Las religiones -sus creencias, sus mitos, su moral...- no son obra directa de un Dios out there, up there, que nos envi ese don de las religiones, sino que son algo que ha surgido de aqu abajo, algo muy terrestre, que nos lo hemos hecho nosotros los humanos, impulsados

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ciertamente por la fuerza del misterio divino que nos invade, pero segn nuestras posibilidades y con nuestros condicionamientos muy concretos. Las religiones se absolutizaron a s mismas al atribuir su propio origen a Dios. Fue un mecanismo que sirvi para fijar y dar consistencia inamovible a las construcciones humanas que ellas eran, en el afn de asegurar las frmulas sociales de convivencia con las que la humanidad haba logrado dotarse. Hoy estamos perdiendo la ingenuidad, y ese carcter absoluto de las religiones, que durante milenios fue un componente esencial de las sociedades humanas, que nos hizo ms fcil y ms pasiva la vida de los humanos, se nos evidencia como un llamativo espejismo epistemolgico, que habamos asumido por va de una creencia, pero que hoy ya no nos resulta ni necesario, ni deseable, ni soportable. 3. Entonces, no estamos sometidos a las religiones, no estamos condenados a marchar por la historia por el camino acabadamente trazado por ellas, como si fuera un designio divino que marcara previamente desde siempre, y desde fuera- nuestro destino, como si nos obligara a adoptar las soluciones con que nuestros ancestros trataron de resolver sus problemas y de interpretar la realidad a la medida de sus posibilidades... Si las religiones son construccin nuestra, ello significa que no nos quitan el derecho (ni la obligacin) de pronunciarnos ante la historia y de aportar nuestra propia respuesta a los problemas de la existencia, y de expresar con autoconfianza nuestra propia interpretacin de la realidad de lo que somos, ayudados por nuestros descubrimientos cientficos. No estamos obligados a tomar como verdad intocable e infranqueable las interpretaciones obsoletas y las soluciones ancestrales que se dieron a s mismas generaciones humanas de hace unos cuantos miles de aos, como si aquellas interpretaciones fueran una supuesta revelacin venida de fuera y de obligado cumplimiento. Ese equvoco religional en el que han vivido nuestros antepasados, nos parece, a estas alturas de la historia, una alienacin. Da miedo sentirnos solos, responsables ante la historia, libres ante los caminos religiosos tradicionales, sin un camino seguro e indiscutiblemente obligatorio trazado por los dioses... Esta nueva visin del mundo, este paradigma pos-religional, genera una autoconciencia humana profundamente diferente respecto a la que nos haba marcado la conciencia religional tradicional. Ahora nos sentimos libres de las ataduras religionales para dar rienda suelta a nuestra realizacin personal y colectiva, para asumir plenamente nuestra responsabilidad, nuestras decisiones, nuestra interpretacin al propio riesgo, sin ninguna restriccin ni coaccin supuestamente externa, aunque bien preocupada por sintonizar con el Misterio que nos mueve.

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4. Las religiones, supuestamente las nicas conocedoras del principio de los tiempos y del final del mundo, no son, por naturaleza, eternas, para siempre. Ahora las sabemos ms bien temporales, construidas humanamente, recientes, contingentes. Y sabemos que no es imposible que puedan desaparecer. No son esenciales a nuestra naturaleza, y nos han acompaado una pequea parte de nuestra historia evolucionaria. Las religiones agrarias estn ligadas a la poca neoltica: podramos decir que surgieron de hecho para hacer viable la especie humana al entrar en esa era nueva, la subsiguiente a la revolucin agraria. Pero, es precisamente esa era la que los especialistas dicen que actualmente est llegando a su fin. Qu futuro podemos pronosticar a las religiones en una poca de transicin que anuncia el final de la era que las hizo surgir? Parece plausible la hiptesis de que las religiones (agrarias) pudieran desaparecer. No parece un imposible en s mismo, ni tendra por qu ser un desastre histrico gravsimo: hemos vivido la mayor parte de nuestra historia sin religiones (todo el paleoltico), y est demostrado que ello no impidi nuestra cualidad humana profunda, nuestra espiritualidad. 5. A estas alturas ha quedado ya indirectamente evidenciada una distincin que se impone. Tradicionalmente las religiones detentaban el monopolio de lo espiritual. Una persona podra ser espiritual, solamente mediante las religiones. Eran consideradas la fuente misma de la espiritualidad, la conexin directa con el Misterio. Religiones y espiritualidad eran todo uno, la misma cosa. Hoy, como acabamos de expresar, la conceptuacin de las religiones est cambiando radicalmente en el paradigma posreligional emergente. Cada da a ms personas se les hace evidente que las religiones no son la fuente de espiritualidad, sino slo unas formas socio-culturales que la espiritualidad ha revestido histricamente; con frecuencia son un freno y un obstculo para la espiritualidad, que es una dimensin esencial y caracterstica del ser humano, que le acompaa permanente desde su surgimiento como especie. Las palabras religin, religioso, religiones, que tradicionalmente venan cubriendo intercambiablemente todo el mbito de lo relativo a la espiritualidad, hoy debern pasar, escrupulosamente, por la criba de la distincin entre lo religioso (lo que tiene que ver con esa dimensin misteriosa del ser humano) y lo religional (lo que pertenece simplemente al mbito de esas configuraciones socio-culturales e institucionales que hemos llamado religiones agrcola-neolticas).

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EL PARADIGMA POS-RELIGIONAL EN SNTESIS Una vez expuestos estos elementos principales de la visin constitutiva del paradigma posreligional, podramos tratar de expresar su ncleo argumentador en apretada sntesis: Primera premisa: Las religiones (no la religin, ni la espiritualidad, ni la religiosidad...), en el sentido tcnico que hemos dado aqu al trmino, son una creacin neoltica, de la edad agraria de la humanidad, tanto productos de ella como causas de la misma. Segunda: La transformacin socio-cultural que estamos atravesando en la actualidad implica, precisamente, el final de esa poca agrario-neoltica. Lo que ahora est siendo superado y barrido ha estado en los fundamentos de la sociedad humana y en la forma de la conciencia humana de la especie durante los ltimos 10.000 aos (desde el comienzo de la edad; sa es la profundidad del cambio actual). Emerge un tipo nuevo de sociedad, con unos fundamentos distintos sobre todo epistemolgicos- que resultan incompatibles con el sistema operativo milenario neoltico. Se impone, por ello, un cambio sistmico tanto a nivel epistemolgico como a nivel del tipo de conciencia espiritual de la humanidad. De ah la radicalidad y la profundidad del cambio epocal que estamos viviendo, un nuevo tiempo axial. Consecuencia: las religiones (agrario-neolticas), identificadas con el tipo de conciencia, cosmovisin y epistemologa agrarios, estn perdiendo base y entrando en un profundo declive a medida que -por la acumulacin de conocimientos cientficos, tecnolgicos, sociales y experienciales- va emergiendo un tipo de conciencia, de cosmovisin y de epistemologa nuevo, incompatible con el tradicional neoltico. Los humanos de la sociedad adveniente ya no pueden expresar su dimensin espiritual en aquella configuracin concreta de las religiones agrarias (tanto agrcolas como ganaderas), y stas no logran sintonizar y hacerse entender por la nueva sociedad. Las religiones agrario-neolticas se ven abocadas por tanto a transformarse radicalmente, o a desaparecer. Por su parte, las personas, comunidades e instituciones de estas religiones, a medida que pasan a la nueva cultura, se van desprendiendo de los mecanismos y de la epistemologa agrarios, y van pasando a vivir su espiritualidad pos-religionalmente. Para verificar consecuentemente esta hiptesis: Habr que profundizar en el concepto tcnico de religiones agrario-neolticas, no limitndonos a la referencia a su origen tras la Revolucin Agraria, sino adentrndonos en su estructura epistemolgica y sus caractersticas esenciales, permanentes durante este tiempo de la edad agraria.

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Habr que mostrar ms fundamentadamente la afirmacin de que estamos ante el fin de la edad neoltica, detallando concretamente en qu elementos antropolgicos sustanciamos esta afirmacin, y cules son los rasgos de la nueva sociedad que resultan incompatibles con sus religiones. Y habr que elaborar un proyecto de acompaamiento a la sociedad en esta poca que se avecina de trnsito desde la sociedad agraria a la nueva sociedad. Concluyendo, llamamos paradigma pos-religional a esa forma de vivir la dimensin profunda del ser humano que se libera y supera los mecanismos propios de las religiones agrario-neolticas, a saber:
su epistemologa mtica, su monopolio de la espiritualidad, su exigencia de sumisin, de aceptacin ciega de unas creencias como reveladas por Dios, su ejercicio del poder poltico e ideolgico sobre la sociedad, ya sea en regmenes de cristiandad, cesaropapistas, islmicos, de unin de Iglesia-Estado, de imposicin de las leyes eclesisticas sobre la sociedad civil... su imposicin de una moral heternoma, venida de lo alto, con una interpretacin de la ley natural desde una filosofa oficialmente impuesta, con una moral no sometida a un examen comunitario y democrtico, su control del pensamiento humano, con los dogmas, la persecucin de la libertad pensamiento, la Inquisicin, la condena y ejecucin de herejes, la pretensin de infalibilidad, de inspiracin divina, de detentar la interpretacin autorizada de la voluntad de Dios... su proclamacin como Santas Escrituras reveladas (en el caso de las religiones del libro) de las tradiciones ancestrales acumuladas, exaltadas como Palabra directa de Dios, como normativa suprema e indiscutible para la sociedad y para las personas... su interpretacin premoderna de la realidad como un mundo en dos pisos, con un mundo divino sobrenatural encima de nosotros, del que dependemos y hacia el que vamos... su interpretacin de la vida y de la muerte en trminos de prueba, juicio y premio/castigo de manos de un Juez Universal que es el Seor supremo de cada religin...

Con el fin de la era agraria, todas estas estructuras cognoscitivas, axiolgicas y epistemolgicas milenarias, estn dejando de ser viables, a medida que adviene la nueva sociedad. Fueron un gran invento humano. Gracias a esas andaderas, las bandas nmadas de cazadores y recolecto-

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res lograron reinventar su humanidad hacindola capaz de convivir en la ciudad, regulada por el derecho, unida por una conciencia religiosa de pertenencia a una colectividad con una identidad atribuida a los dioses... La crisis actual no se debe principalmente a procesos de secularizacin, o a prdida de valores, o a la difusin del materialismo o del hedonismo (interpretacin culpabilizante normalmente esgrimida por la oficialidad de las religiones), ni tampoco a la falta de testimonio o a los escndalos morales de las religiones, sino a la eclosin de una nueva situacin cultural, que culmina la transformacin radical de las estructuras cognoscitivas, axiolgicas y epistemolgicas neolticas, transformacin que comenz con la revolucin cientfica del siglo XVI, la Ilustracin del XVIII y las varias olas de industrializacin. Los sntomas sociales son un cierto agnosticismo difuso, la prdida de la ingenuidad epistemolgica, un sentido crtico ms acentuado, una conceptuacin ms utilitarista de las religiones como al servicio del ser humano en vez de como receptoras de una lealtad total por parte de sus adeptos, la desaparicin de la idea de la nica religin verdadera y el desvanecimiento de la plausibilidad de una moral revelada heternoma; pero el cambio estructural gravita sobre la citada transformacin epistemolgico-cultural. No estamos pues ante un fenmeno realmente nuevo, sino slo ante su radicalizacin Y no estamos ante una interpretacin radicalmente nueva (este paradigma pos-religional), sino ante la toma de conciencia de que el eje de acumulacin del cambio es sobre todo epistemolgico, y que ello lo transforma radicalmente todo. Dos cautelas: a) Como ya sealamos al principio, no estamos queriendo decir que slo esto es lo que acontece en el campo religioso, como si todo el escenario estuviera actualmente ocupado por esta transformacin del paradigma de las religiones agrarias en un paradigma pos-religional. En el campo religioso tienen lugar muchos otros fenmenos, simultneamente, incluso caticamente, ya que son en algunos aspectos, contradictorios. Junto a esta crisis de la religin, decimos que se dan efervescencias religiosas y revivals, retrocesos y fundamentalismos. En esta propuesta teolgica nosotros hemos centrado nuestro foco selectivamente en un aspecto concreto de la transformacin en curso, que no niega todo el resto de elementos presentes. Ocurren otras cosas en el campo religioso, pero tambin ocurre sta, y esta propuesta teolgica quiere llamar la atencin sobre ella, a pesar de su carcter difcilmente perceptible y todava minoritario que reviste en muchas regiones. b) Lo que venimos diciendo tampoco se puede aplicar, indiscriminadamente, a TODAS las religiones. Porque no todas las religiones

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son agrarias. Hay una buena cantidad de religiones, todo un gnero de las mismas, que no han pasado por la revolucin agraria y urbana. Conservan en su seno una matriz de experiencia religiosa propia de los tiempos anteriores a la transformacin neoltica (a la separacin frente a la placenta de la sacralidad de la naturaleza, a la asuncin de la transcendencia divina dualista y acsmica, etc.), y no cayeron en la deriva controladora y programadora de la sociedad mediante la sumisin a doctrinas, dogmas, inquisiciones... Aqu podemos ubicar la gran familia de religiones csmicas, indgenas, animistas... as como otras que, aun perteneciendo histricamente al perodo neoltico y siendo religiones de sociedades netamente agrarias (agrcolas o ganaderas), se mantuvieron al margen del ese control dogmtico-doctrinal, como por ejemplo el hinduismo, una religin sin verdades. Quiere esto decir que tampoco este paradigma se aplica a todas las religiones. La realidad es pues, ms compleja que nuestros intentos simplificadores de comprensin, lo cual nos urge a una mayor precisin, a una ms serena humildad y a un mayor inters por el estudio de campo, la investigacin y el dilogo.

DE CARA AL INMEDIATO TRNSITO sta que estamos haciendo es una propuesta teolgica, una profundizacin terica para mejor poder transformar la realidad que interpreta (interpretar como forma de transformar). Pero es obvio que tiene repercusiones pastorales, y muy grandes. Porque de lo que estamos hablando es de un tsunami cultural y religioso, de una metamorfosis que tal vez nos har difcil reconocernos a nosotros mismos en un prximo futuro. Y esta puede ser una situacin muy difcil de atravesar para la humanidad; los antroplogos dicen que el trnsito de la sociedad paleoltica a la neoltica, con la revolucin agraria, fue la situacin ms difcil que ha experimentado nuestra especie; tal vez estamos en un momento evolutivo semejante. Se hace necesario plantear cmo acompaar este transito que va a realizar o ya est inicindose en la sociedad, desde las religiones agrarias, a un nuevo tipo de sociedad cuya realizacin espiritual va a darse ms bien por vas y segn modelos que continuarn siendo religiosos pero pos-religionales, sin que hoy por hoy sepamos concretamente cmo sern esas vas y esos modelos, pues... habremos de inventarlos. Las religiones se van a ver abocadas ya lo estn siendo en muchos lugares- a situaciones de declive, de prdida de miembros y prdida de credibilidad y plausibilidad, por una parte, y por otra van a experimentar la contradiccin con sus propios mecanismos agrarios. Ya muchas personas perciben que necesitan transformar su religiosidad, radicalmente, pero sienten punzantemente la contradiccin con la doctrina oficial, con-

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siderada infalible e inmutable, que les prohibe todo cambio o abdicacin de los principios ancestrales. En algunas sociedades se cuentan ya por decenas de millones las personas que abandonan calladamente las religiones para seguir siendo religiosos pos-religionalmente. Es posible que algunas jerarquas religiosas, prendidas en el espejismo de una lealtad sagrada, prefieran numantinamente hundir a sus propias instituciones religiosas al bloquear su evolucin, hacindolo, con la mejor intencin, a la mayor gloria de Dios. Pero es tambin posible que muchos grupos humanos sean capaces de transformarse. Es bien posible, y lo creemos adems deseable, que las religiones agrarias evolucionen hacia unas nuevas formas religiosas (pos-religionales) consistentes con esta nueva sociedad del conocimiento. Se darn cuenta de que igual que la ciencia contradijo con razn el geocentrismo que ellas consideraban incluso revelado, hoy la ciencia nos descubre que el religiocentrismo ha sido un espejismo religional, y que igual que entonces fue posible abandonar la vieja cosmovisin y continuar con la vivencia espiritual, as hoy ser posible y necesario- liberarnos de las ataduras de lo religional, para encontrar la realizacin espiritual en un nuevo escaln evolutivo. Todo parece indicar que el Titanic de las religiones agrarias no va a llegar a flotar en las latitudes del ocano de la sociedad del conocimiento. Todo parece indicar que no va a durar tanto, y se va a hundir. Se pas su kairs, aunque le queda un poco de cronos. Pero no es el fin del mundo. Es slo el fin de un mundo, el fin del mundo agrario-neoltico y de su epistemologa, y con ello el fin de las configuraciones religionales de la espiritualidad, las que hemos llamado religiones agrario neolticas. La vida y su dimensin profunda continan. Y es deber nuestro comprender lo que est sucediendo, para no encontrarnos luchando contra la Realidad, sino para ayudar a este nuevo parto evolutivo de nuestra especie, para volver a reinventarnos como hicimos al comienzo del neoltico. Es deber nuestro tambin ser prudentes, no empujar a nadie ms all de sus necesidades ni de sus posibilidades, advertir claramente que la situacin es difcil, es un nuevo nacimiento, una metamorfosis, un cambio de especie, o un cambio de sistema operativo, y que es un momento de riesgos importantes, tanto en el plano social cuanto individual. Es deber de la teologa avizorar lo nuevo, no slo en el aspecto deconstructivo, sino en el constructivo: no slo lo que ya no podemos creer, sino cmo podemos pues desarrollar en plenitud nuestra dimensin transcendente o espiritual, la cualidad humana profunda que las religiones religionales, despus de todo, con ms o menos limitaciones, queran apoyar. Muchas cosas estn muriendo, es inevitable que mueran, y no acaban de morir. Tratamos de ayudarles a bien morir (el ars moriendi, arte de morir dando vida para otros, dando a luz). Mientras tanto, es todo un mundo nuevo el que trata de nacer, no acaba de nacer, y queremos ayudarle a nacer.

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Las religiones van a verse en la necesidad de reinterpretar y reconvertir todo su patrimonio simblico, que fue creado bajo los condicionamientos epistemolgicos del tiempo agrario. Se tratara de una reelaboracin, una re-recepcin (Congar) de todo su patrimonio, elaborado inicialmente hace milenios, y mantenido histricamente bajo una ignorancia y una incultura de las que hace muy poco que acabamos de salir, gracias al portentoso despliegue de las ciencias. Las religiones habrn de buscar cmo re-comprender, y qu queda si queda algo- de muchas de las creencias, dogmas, moral heternoma, ritos agrarios... dentro de esta nueva situacin del conocimiento y de los nuevos marcos de interpretacin. Muchos seres humanos, al verse incapacitados de seguir apoyndose en las religiones para sobrevivir espiritualmente, van a experimentar serias dificultades en la integridad espiritual de sus vidas. Como cuando el avin despega y abandona el sistema de apoyo de sus ruedas sobre el suelo, teniendo que pasar a apoyarse en un nuevo sistema de sustentacin, totalmente distinto, el de sus alas, la mayor parte de la humanidad va a tener que pasar por momentos de difcil equilibrio en el trnsito de uno a otro sistema axiolgico, tan diferentes, y hasta cierto punto, incompatibles, y sin cambio automtico. Lo que viene es un tsunami. Los riesgos son graves, en todos los rdenes. Es deber de la teologa responsable avizorar estos problemas y tratar de acompaar este trnsito inevitable en el que ya estamos. Tanto en el aspecto terico como en el prctico, el tema merecera mucha ms extensin que la de esta sencilla propuesta teolgica. Nosotros la dejamos aqu, y la entregamos a consulta y debate, deseosos de que sea corregida y mejorada. Podramos ofrecer, a final de este ao, un libro amplio, con las reflexiones, profundizaciones y debates que esta sencilla presentacin del paradigma pos-religioso suscite? Quedan ustedes cordialmente invitados.

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Rumo a um Paradigma Ps-religional? Proposta teolgica

Comisso Teolgica Internacional da EATWOT

Fala-se cada vez mais do declnio do cristianismo no Ocidente. Tanto o catolicismo como o protestantismo atravessam uma greve crise, assim na Europa como na Amrica do Norte. So cada vez mais numerosos os observadores que prognosticam a continuao da crise a afetar tambm outras religies. Suspeita-se que ela no se relacione a um problema do cristianismo, mas sim, prpria natureza das religies e crescente incapacidade destas se adaptarem profunda mudana cultural em curso. A hiptese do advento de um paradigma ps-religional levanta a possibilidade de nos encontrarmos diante de uma transformao sciocultural to profunda que as religies neolticas se tornaro inviveis quando a adveniente sociedade do conhecimento se instalar, sociedade esta que ser uma sociedade pos-religional, e que as religies que no se libertarem de seus condicionamentos religionais ancestrais ver-se-o nas margens residuais do curso da histria. Obviamente, este paradigma-hiptese coexistiria com fenmenos a ele opostos, como conservadorismo religioso, reavivamentos espirituais, carismatismo e neopentecostalismo. Apenas em alguns reas geogrficos pode estar acontecendo majoriatariamente esta mudana, mas alguns observadores afirmam que os sintomas esto crescendo nas camadas urbanas cultas, tanto de jovens como de adultos com acesso cultura e tecnologia... e que ele estaria comeando a fazer-se presente tambm na Amrica Latina (tambm na frica e na sia?). Independentemente de pesquisas quantitativas de campo, concentramo-nos na elaborao terica de uma primeira apresentao reflexiva e interrogativa do que, aqui, denominamos paradigma ps-religional, e que propomos ao debate e ao contraditrio da comunidade de estudiosos de teologia e de cincias da religio, bem como dos pastores e de todas as pessoas preocupadas com a atual evoluo do fenmeno religioso.

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Possvel fundamento da hiptese Uma expanso do conhecimento humano e um silencioso enfrentamento entre a cincia atual e a religio pareceriam ser, entre outras, as causas intelectuais deste novo paradigma. O desenvolvimento das cincias est levando a humanidade a observar-se a si mesma e a fazer-se uma ideia de sua religiosidade em grande parte diferente da que dela tinha at agora, o que provoca uma nova atitude frente religio. Nesta altura da histria, a antropologia cultural acredita estar em condies de elaborar a respeito da religio um conceito diferente do que esta vinha fazendo de si mesma, ou seja, diferente da auto-definio com que durante milnios a religio se apresentou e com a qual moldou at hoje a opinio majoritria das sociedades tradicionais. Embora ainda haja muito a ser investigado e outras cincias tambm possam fornecer muita contribuio, a antropologia cultural interdisciplinarmente considerada acredita j saber quando e como as religies foram forjadas, com que mecanismos sociais e epistemolgicos operam, e quais so as dimenses humanas profundas que esto em jogo em sua relao com o ser humano, individual e cletetivamente considerado. A novidade destas avaliaes radical e parece difundir-se e generalizar-se de maneira to rpida e subliminarmente nas sociedades assim evolutivas que gera uma profunda mudana de atitude em relao religio, o que estamos interpretando como a chegada de um novo paradigma, o paradigma ps-religional. Em sntese, estes seriam hoje em dia os pontos focais da nova viso que a antropologia cultural apresenta a respeito da religio: As religies no so de sempre, ou seja, s existem desde que o ser humano se encontra sobre a face da Terra. Sabemos hoje que elas so jovens, quase recentes. O hindusmo, a mais antiga, s teria em torno de 4.500 anos. O judeu-cristianismo, 3.200. Em termos evolutivos, mesmo que nos limitemos aos tempos do gnero homo (entre 5 e 7 milhes de anos) ou ainda espcie homo sapiens (150 ou 200 mil), as religies so de ontem. Passamos muito mais tempo sem religies que com elas, embora espirituais parece que o temos sido desdo o primeiro momento: homo sapiens e homo spiritualis parem ser coetneos. Portanto, as religies no so algo que necessariamente acompanha o ser humano, como a histria mostra 1.
1

Com receio e resignao aceitamos a palavra espiritualidade, procurando no transigir com sua inegvel conotao etimolgica dualista. uma palavra consagrada pelo uso e sabido que no a aceitamos como sendo referida a um esprito conttraposto a uma suposta matria no espiritual... Postulamos uma conceituao mais adequada do que se quiz significar com por espiritualidade: aquela dimenso de profundade (Tillich), aquela necessidade de enquadrar nossas vidas em contextos mais amplos (Armstrong), a qualidade humana profunda (Corb), as motivaes ltimas, a mstica pela qual se

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As religies se formaram no perodo neoltico, aps a grande transformao por que passou nossa espcie ao passar de nmades tribos de caadores e coletores para sociedades urbanas sedentrias, ligadas ao cultivo da terra transformao denominada de revoluo agrria 2. Nessa conjuntura evolutiva (talvez o momento mais difcil de sua histria evolutiva), a humanidade teve que reinventar-se a si mesma, criando cdigos que lhe permitissem viver em sociedade e no mais em bandos ou grupos, ou seja: com direito, moral, coeso social, sentido de pertena..., para ser vivel e sobreviver como espcie. Nessa conjuntura, nossa espcie lanou mo daquela que certamente sua maior fora desde sua apario como espcie emergente: sua capacidade simblica e religiosa, sua necessidade de sentido e de experincia de transcendncia. Talvez pudesse ter sido de outra maneira, mas, de fato, foi assim. Do neoltico a nossos dias, as sociedades foram religiosas, religiocntricas, permeadas de religio em todas as suas estruturas: seu conhecimento (ou sua ignorncia), suas crenas, sua cultura, seu sentido de identidade, sua coeso social e o sentido de pertena de seus membros, seu diretio, sua poltica, sua legitimidade, sua estrutura social, sua cosmoviso, sua arte... A cultura foi a forma da religio e a religio foi
vida e luta e com a qual se contagia aos demais (Casaldliga, Vigil)... Para superar sua limitao, procuramos reconduzir a palavra, acompanhando-a com expresses paralelas.
2

Falamos de uma sociedade ou poca agrria no em sentido de sociedade rural ou de sociedade agrcola, dedicada ao setor primrio da economia, a agricultura, mas referimo-nos, sim, a uma perspectiva antropolgico-cultural, sociedade humana posterior revoluo agrria neoltica, catalogao geral de uma poca, cuja dissoluo chega at nossos dias. Denomina-la de agrria em sentido amplo, incluindo as sociedades pastoris, que compartilham algumas estruturas epistemolgicas prprias de todo este tempo neoltico posterial revoluo scio-cultural que teve incio com o descobrimento da agricultura. As revolues cientfica (s. XVI) e industrial (s. XVIII e seguintes) podem ser consideradas como o comeo do fim do neoltico ou da idade agrria evoluda, final que atualmente estaria em sua fase conclusiva. Estas categorias bem como as afirmaes necessitam de muita matizao; pedagogicamente, adotamos esta linguagem simplificada para possibilitar uma apresentao singela e simples deste paradigma. Estas precisaes de vocabulrio podem explicar o por qu se faz necessrio lanar mo deste artesanal neologismo perfeitamente dentro das regras etimolgicas da lngua -, para evitar o equvoco de equipar-lo com o religioso no sentido normal do dicionrio, como de confundi-lo indevidamente com o anti-religioso ou ateu. Em todo caso: o adjetivo religional o mais adequado para qualificar este paradigma? Cremos que sja correto, adequado e til (plstico e enigmtico), porm, cremos tambm que no seja absoluto e que, portanto, possa ser melhorado, porque, quem sabe, no provenha do essencial do fenmeno ao qual se refere nem, talvez, evoque o que poderia ser sua base material ou sua especificidade epistemolgica. Por isso e com humildade, ns o propomos como provisrio e melhorvel.

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a alma da cultura (Tillich). O impulso religioso, a forma da religio foi o motor do sistema operativo das sociedades. Se excetuarmos os dois ltimos sculos, desde a revoluo agrria no conhecemos sociedades nem grande movimentos sociais nem sequer revolues que no fossem religiosas; certo que suas motivaes eram tambm e fundamentalmente econmicas e polticas, porem era atravs do religioso que eram gerados e conduzidos estes impulsos sociais. A religio com seu prestgio quase divino, sua autoridade inquestionvel, suas crenas, mitos, dogmas, leis, moral... e, inclusive, com suas instncias inquisitoriais fez as vezes de software programador de cada sociedade. Assim foi durante todo o tempo neoltico ou agrrio, no sentido amplo que lhe estamos atribuindo -, mas que, agora, a antropologia cultural sustenta no estar mais sendo. Com que mecanismos internos exerceram as religies esta sua capacidade programadora da sociedade? Com os seguintes: com a criao e imposio de sua cosmoviso sobre a sociedade: foi ela que disse humanidade, em cada sociedade, o que a realidade, qual sua origem, seu sentido e suas exigncias morais; com as crenas fundamentais que, veiculadas pelos mitos sagrados, serviram de postulados, axiomas, pressupostos profundos de cada sociedade, constituindo-se na prpria arquitetura epistemolgica da sociedade humana; com uma epistemologia mstica, atribuindo a Deus suas prprias elaboraes para apresent-las como revelao ou vontade de Deus e, assim, absolutizando-as, fundamentar a segurana da sociedade humana; com uma radical exigncia de submisso (islam significa submisso), de f (uma exigncia de primeira ordem no cristianismo), de crer no que no se v (ou no que nem sequer se entende); com um sistema operativo da sociedade que se vale de todos estes mecanismos (o que fica evidente nos sistemas sociais dos imprios com sua religio de Estado, com a sociedade de cristandade ou com os regimes teocrticos em outras religies, por exemplo). Agora, a partir dessas premissas, poderamos nos dotar de uma nova definio tcnica ad hoc das religies, no sentido que aqui queremos dar ao termo: chamamos tecnicamente de religio configurao socio-institucionalizada que a religiosidade (espiritualidade) constitutiva do ser humano adotou na idade agrria, configurao que fez as vezes de sistema fundamental de programao e de auto-controle das sociedades agrrias neolticas. Portanto, nesta exposio, entendemos religio neste estrito sentido tcnico, e no em outra acepo da palavra (religiosidade, dimenso religiosa, espiritualidade, instituio religiosa...); no levar

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em conta esta precisao de vocabulrio, levar-nos-ia inevitavelmente confuso. Derivadamente, chamaremos tecnicamente religional ao que relativo a esta configurao scio-religiosa prpria do tempo agrrio ou neoltico. Neste sentido, de se notar que o paradigma que queremos apresentar qualificado como ps-religional, no como ps-religioso, uma vez que continuar sendo religioso no sentido normal do dicionrio, enquanto relacionado dimenso espiritual do ser humano e da sociedade, embora mudem as cultduras e as pocas; chamamo-lo de psreligional, porque, certamente, se instalar como forma de superao da citada configurao do religioso (ou seja, aqueles modos de funcionar a que logo mais nos referiremos, como sendo prprios das religies que genericamente chamamos de agrrias incluindo a as pastoris ou outras formas mais especializadas). No tomamos o prefixo ps em sentido literalmente temporal (como um depois de), mas sim, em sentido genericamente superador de alm de. Por isso, tambm seria vlido dizer a-religional, sem cair em confuso com a dimenso temporal. Ps-religional no significa ps-religioso nem ps-espiritual, seno, estritamente, para alm do religional, ou seja, para alm do que foram as religies agrrias, ou no sentido de uma religiosidade sem religies (agrrias), uma espiritualidade sem a configurao scio-institucionalizada prpria da idade neoltica (sem programao social, sem submisso, sem dogmas...). Evidentemente, apoiar-nos-emos em outras mediaes, gestos, smbolos, instituies ou sistematizaes de outro tipo, porque a experincia espiritual humana no pode acontecer no vazio...; porm, no este o momento para equacionar este ponto. Principais elementos do paradigma ps-religional Tratemos logo de estabelecer os principais elementos da nova conscincia ps-religional, prpria desse complexo fenmeno da cultura social emergente, principal consequncia da ampliao do conhecimento humano. 1. As religies so outra coisa do que tradicionalmente imaginvamos, do que muita gente ainda imagina, do que as prprias religies imaginam de si mesmas e o difundiram durante milnios na sociedade. As religies no esto respaldadas por uma espcie de pr-existncia que faria delas um conjunto primordial de sabedoria ou uma espcie de formas desabedoria divina reveladas pelo prprio Deus, o que as converteria no nico meio de acesso a essa revelao e relao com o Mistrio. As religies sempre, no o esqueamos, no sentido especfico que estamos atribuindo ao termo so, antes, um fenmeno histrico, uma forma

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sociocultural concreta que a profunda e permanente dimenso humana revestiu numa determinado perodo da histria. No so a prpria religisidade. No so, sem mais, equiparveis espiritualidade humana de todos os tempos. As religies so formas histricas, contingentes e mutantes, enquanto a espiritualidade uma dimenso humana constitutiva, permanente, anterior s formas, e essencial do ser humano... A espiritualidade pode ser vivida na ou fora das religies. Poderamos prescindier das religies, mas no poderamos prescindir da dimento transcendente do ser humano... 2. Tambm as religies soo construes humanas... Como dissemos, a cincia e a sociedade j sabem muito sobre sua origem, sua formao e seus mecanismos. E isso muda radicalmente nossa perceo a respeito da religies: elas so obra nossa, so criaes humanas, geniais, mas humanas por vezes, demasiado humanas -, e que devem estar a nosso servio, no o contrrio. As religies suas crenas, seus mitos, sua moral... no so obra direta de um Deus l de fora (out there) ou l de cima (up there), que nos teria enviado este dom, mas sim, algo que surgiu daqui de baixo, algo muito cho, que ns, os humanos, criamos para ns mesmos, certamente impulsionados, sim, pela fora do mistrio divino que nos permeia, mas tambm segundo nossas possibilidades e nossas limitaes muito concretas. Ao atribuir sua prpria origem a Deus as religies se absolutizaram a si mesmas. Foi um mecanismo que serviu para fixar e dar firme consistncia s construes humanas que elas mesmas eram, n af de assegurar as frmulas sociais de convivncia com as quais a humanidade havia conseguido dotar-se. Hoje estamos perdendo a ingenuidade, e esse carter absoluto das religies, que durante milnicos se constituiu num componente essencial das sociedades humanas, que tornou mais fcil e passiva a vida humana, se nos evidencia como uma sedutora miragem epistemolgica que tnhamos assumido atravs de uma crena, mas que hoje j no nos resulta nem necessria, nem desejvel e nem suportvel. Portanto, no estamos submetidos s religies. No estamos condenados a caminhar pela histria, percorrendo o caminho aprontado por elas, como se fosse um desgnio divino que previamente desde sempre e de fora para dentro - tivesse estabelecido nosso destino, como se nos obrigasse a adotar as solues com as quais nossos ancestrais procuraram resolver seus problemas e interpretar a realidade na medida de suas possibilidades... Se as religies so construo humana, isto significa que no nos tiram o direito (nem a obrigao) de nos pronunciar diante da histria e de apresentar nossa prpria resposta aos problemas da exis-

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tncia e de expressar com autoconfiana nossa prpria interpretao da realidade que somos, ajudados por nossos descubrimentos cientficos. No somos obrigados a tomar como verdade intocvel e impenetrvel as interpretaes obsoletas e as solues ancestrais que geraes humanas consctruram para si mesmas h alguns milhares de anos, como se aquelas interpretaes fossem uma suposta revelao vinda de fora e cujo seguimento seria obrigatrio. Este equvo religional em que viveram nossos antepassados, nesta altura da histria, parece-nos uma alienao. D medo sentirmo-nos sozinhos, responsveis perante a histria, livres diante dos caminhos religiosos tradicionais, sem um traado seguro e indiscutivelmente obrigatrio e marcado pelos deuses... Esta nova viso do mundo, este paradigma ps-religional gera uma autoconscincia humana profundamente diferente daquela que nos tinha marcado a conscincia religional tradicional. Agora sentimo-nos livres em relao s amarras religionais para dar rdea solta nossa realizao pessoal e coletiva, para assumir plenamente nossa responsabilidade, nossas decises, nossa interpretao por conta e risto prprio, sem nenhuma restrio nem coao supostamente externa, embora preocupados em sintonizar com o Mistrio que nos move. 4. As religies, supostamente as nicas conhecedoras do incio dos tempos e do final do mundo, no so, por natureza, eternas, perenes. Agora temos maior cincia de que so temporais, humanamente construdas, recentes, contingentes. E sabemos que no impossvel que possam desaparecer. No so essenciais nossa natureza e nos acompanharam durante uma pequena parte de nossa evoluo histrica. As religies agrrias esto ligadas poca neoltica: poderamos afirmar que surgiram para que a espcie humana se tornasse vivel ao ingressar nesta na nova era, a subsequente revoluo agrria. Porm, precisamente esta era que, afirmam os especialistas, est chegando ao fim. Que futuro podemos ento prognostidar para as religies, numa poca de transio que anucia o final da era que as fez surgir? Parece plausvel a hiptese de que as religies (agrrias) poderiam desaparecer. No parece um impossvel em si mesmo, nem haveria por que ser um gravssimo desastre histrico: vivemos a maior parte de nossa histria sem religies (todo o paleoltico), e est demonstrado que isto no inviabilizou nossa qualidade humana profunda, nossa espiritualidade. 5. A esta algura j ficou indiretamente evidenciada uma distino que impe. Tradicionalmente, as religies detinham o monoplio do espiritual. Uma pessoa s poderia ser espiritual mediante as religies. Estas eram consideradas a prpria fonte da espiritualidade, a direta conceo com o Mistrio. Religies e espiritualidade constituam um todo nico, coincidiam.

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Hoje, como acabamos de dizer, a concepo que se tem da religies est mudando racicalmente em funo do emergente paradigma ps-religional. Com efeito, a cada dia e a mais pessoas se faz evidente que as religies no so a fonte da espiritualidade, mas sim, to somente algumas formas scio-culturais com que a espiritualidade se revestiu histricamente. Antes e com frequncia, so um freio e um obstculo para a espiritualidade, que uma dimenso essencial e caracterstica do ser humano e que o acompanha permanentemente desde seu surgimento como espcie. As palavras: religio, religioso, religies que tradicional e intercambialmente cobriam todo o mbito do que relativo espiritualidade, deveriam, hoje, passar escrupulosamente pelo crivo da distino entre o religioso (o que tem a ver com a dimenso misteriosa do ser humano) e o religional (o que simplesmente pertence ao mbito das configuraes scio-culturai e institucionais que denominamos de religies agrcola-neolticas). O paradigma ps-religional em sntese Expostos os principais elementos da viso constitutiva do paradigma ps-religional, poderamos apresentar seu ncleo argumentador em breve sntese, assim: Primeira premissa: As religies (no a religio, nem a espiritualidade, nem a religiosidade...), no sentido tcnico que aqui damos ao termo, so uma criao neoltica, da idade agrria da humanidade, tanto produtos como causas da mesma. Premissa segunda: A transformao scio-cultural que estamos atravessando na atualidade implica o fim da poca agrrio-neoltica. O que agora est sendo superado e varrido esteve nos fundamentos da sociedade humana e na forma da conscincia da espcie durante os ltimos 10.000 anos (desde o comeo da idade; esta a profundidade da atual mudana). Emerge um novo tipo de sociedade, com fundamentos diferentes sobretudo epistemolgicos , incompatveis com o milenrio sistema operativo do neoltico. Impe-se, pois, uma mudana sistmica, tanto a nvel epistemolgico como de conscincia espiritual da humanidade. Da a radicalidade e a profundidade da mudana epocal que estamos vivendo, um novo tempo axual. Consequncia: As religies (agrrio-neolticas) identificadas com o tipo de conscincia, cosmoviso e epistemologia agrrias esto perdendo cho e entrando em acentuado declive medida que em razo do acmulo de conhecimentos cientficos, tecnolgicos, sociais e experienciais emerge um novo tipo de conscincia, de cosmoviso e de epistemologia, incompatvel com o tipo tradicional neoltico. Os humanos da emergente sociedade j no conseguem exprimir sua dimenso espiritual na configurao das religies agrrias (tanto as agrculas

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como as pecuaristas), e estas, por sua vez, no conseguem sintoniar com a nova sociedade nem fazer-se entender por ela. Portanto, as religies agrrio-neolticas veem-se foradas a transformar-se radicalmente ou a desaparecer. Por seu turno, as pessoas, comunidades e instituies destas religies, medida que migram para a nova cultura, vo se desprendendo dos mecanismos e da epistemologia agrrios e vo passando a viver sua espiritualidade ps-religionalmente. Para consequentemente verificar esta hiptese: Temos que aprofundar o conceito tcnico de religies agrrioneolticas, no nos limitando referncia de sua origem relacionada revoluo agrria, mas sim, entrar em sua estrutura epistemolgica e em suas caractersticas essenciais e perdurveis durante o tempo da idade agrria. Haver que se demostrar mais fundamentadamente a afirmao de que estamos diante do fim da idade neoltica, detalhando concretamente em que elementos antropolgicos se fundamenta esta afirmao e quais so as caractersticas de nova sociedade que so incompatveis com suas religies. E se ter que elaborar um projeto de acompanhamento da sociedade nesta poca em que se aproxima a passagem da sociedade agrria para a nova sociedade. Concluindo, chamamos de paradigma ps-religional forma de o ser humano viver sua dimenso profunda, libertando-se e superando os mecanismos prprios das religies agrrio-neolticas, a saber: sua epistemologia mtica, seu monoplio da espiritualidade, sua exigencia de submisso, de cega aceitao de algumas crenas como sendo reveladas por Deus, seu exerccio do poder poltico e ideolgico sobre a sociedade, seja em regimes de cristandade, cesaropapistas, islmicos, de unio Igreja-Estado, de imposio das leis eclesisticas sobre a sociedade civil... sua imposio de uma moral heternoma, vinda do alto, com uma interpretao da lei natura a partir de uma filosofia oficialmente imposta, com uma moral no submetida a um exame comunitrio e democrtico, seu controle do pensamento humano atravs dos dogmas, da perseguio liberdade de pensamento, da inquisio, da condenao e execuo de hereges, da pretenso de infalibilidade, de inspirao divina, de deter a interpretao autntica da vontade de Deus...

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sua proclamao das tradies ancestrais acumuladas como Sagradas Escrituras reveladas, exaltadas como Palavra direta de Deus, como normativa suprema e indiscutvel para a sociedade e para as pessoas... sua interpretao pr-moderna da realidade como um mundo em dois andares, estando o mundo divino e sobrenatural acima de ns, de qual dependemos e para o qual nos dirigimos... sua interpretao da vida e da morte expressa em termos de prova, juzo e prmio/castigo nas mos de um Juiz Universal, que o Senhor supremo de cada religio... Com o fim da era agrria e medida do advento da nova sociedade, todas estas estruturas cognoscitivas, axiolgicas e epistemolgicas milenares esto deixando de ser viveis. Constituram-se numa grande inveno humana. Graas a esses andadores, as nmades tribos de caadores e coletores conseguiram re-inventar sua humanidade, tornando-a capaz de viver em cidade e regulamentada pelo direito, unida em torno de uma conscincia religiosa de pertena a uma coletividade com uma identidade atribuda aos deuses... A atual crise no se deve primeiramente a processos de secularizao ou perda de valores ou ainda difuso do materialismo ou do hedonismo (interpretao culpabilizante, normalmente esgrimada pela oficialidade das religies), nem tampouco falta de testemunho ou aos escndalos morais das religies, mas sim, ecloso de uma nova situao cultural que culmina com a radical transformao das estruturas cognitivas, axiolgicas e epistemolgicas neolticas, transformao que comeou com a revoluo cientfica do sculo XVI, com o iluminismo do sculo XVII e com as vrias ondas de industrializao. Os sintomas sociais se traduzem num certo agnosticismo difuso, na perda da ingenuidade epistemolgica, no sentido crtica mais acentuado, na concepo mais utilitarista das religies como estando a servio do ser humano e no como receptora de uma lealdade a toda prova por parte dos adeptos, do desaparecimento da ideia de a nica religio verdadeira e do desvanecimento da plausibilidade de uma moral heteronomamente revelada; porm, a estrutural mudana gravita em torno da transformao epistemolgico-cultural. Portanto, no nos encontramos diante de um fenmeno totalmente novo, mas sim, to somente diante de sua radicalizao. Tambm no nos encontramos diante de uma interpretao radicalmente nova (paradigma ps-religional), mas diante de uma tomada de conscincia de que o principal eixo portante da mudana o epistemolgico e que, por isso, a transformao abrange tudo.

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Duas advertncias: a) Como assinalamos no incio, no queremos dizer que s isso que est acontecendo no campo religioso, como se atualmente todo o cenrio estivesse tomado pela transformao do paradigma das religies agrrias para um paradigma ps-religional. No campo religiosa acontecem, simultaneamente, muitos outros fenmenos, inclusive de maneira catica, uma vez que, em alguns aspectos, so contraditrios entre si. Juntamente com a crise religiosa que viemos descrevendo, dissemos que acontecem efervecncias religiosas e reavivamentos (revivals), e retrocessos e fundamentalismos. Em nossa leitura teolgica, apenas focalizamos um aspecto da transformao em curso, no negando, a existncia dos demais elementos. Ocorrem outras coisas no campo religioso, como ocorre esta; e esta proposta teolgica quer chamar a ateno para ela, apesar de seu carter dificilmente perseptvel e ainda minoritrio em muitas regies. b) O que estamos dizendo tambm no pode ser indiscriminadamente aplicado a todas as religies. Pois, nem todas so agrrias. H uma boa quantidade, todo um gnero delas, que no passou pela revoluo agrria e urbana. Em seu seio conservam uma matriz de experincia religiosa prpria dos tempos anteriores transformao neoltica ( separao relativa placenta de sacralidade da natureza, assuno da transcendncia divina dualista e csmica etc.) e no ficaram merc da sociedade controladora e programadora atravs da submisso a doutrinas, dogmas, inquisies... Aqui podemos arrolar a grande famlia de religies csmicas, indgenas, animistas..., assim como outras que, embora historicamente pertencendo ao perodo neoltico e sendo religies de sociedades nitidamente agrrias (agrcolas e pecuaristas), mantiveram-se margem deste controle dogmtico-doutrinal, como, por exemplo, o hindusmo, uma religio sem verdades. Isto somente quer dizer que o paradigma que estamos propondo no se aplica a todas as religies. Portanto, a realidade mais complexa do que nossas tentativas simplificadoras de compreenso, o que nos insta a uma maior precisao, a uma mais serena humildade e a um maior interesse de estudo de campo, de investigao e de dilogo.

Frente iminente mudana Apresentamos uma proposta de interpretao teolgica, de aprofundamento terico para melhor poder transformar a realidade (interpretar como forma de transformar). bvio, porm, que esta proposta tem repercusses pastorais muito significativas, pois estamos falando de um tsunami cultural e religioso, de uma metamorfose que, talvez, num futuro

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prximo, far com que tenhamos dificuldade em nos reconhecer. Para a humanidade, esta pode ser uma situao muito difcil de atravessar; os antroplogos afirmam que a passagem da sociedade paleoltica para a neoltica, com a revoluo agrria, foi a situao mais difcil que nossa espcie experimentou; talvez estejamos num momento evolutivo semelhante. Faz-se necessrio estabelecer como acompanhar este transito que ir acontecer ou que j se iniciou na sociedade, a partir das religies agrrias para um novo tipo de sociedade, cuja realizao espiritual, certamente, se dar por vias e segundo modelos que continuaro sendo religiosos, porm, ps-religionais, sem que, por ora, saibamos concretamente como sero estes caminhos e estes modelos, pois... teremos que invent-los. As religies sero fadadas e j o esto sendo em muitos lugares , por um lado, a experimentar situaes de declive, de perda de membros, de credibilidade e de plausibilidade, e, por outro, experimentaro a contradio de seus prprios mecanismos agrrios. Muitas pessoas j percebem que precisam transformar radicalmente sua religiosidade, mas sentem de maneira pungente a contradio com a doutrina oficial, considerada infalvel e imutvel, que lhes probe toda mundana ou abdicao dos princpios ancestrais. Em algumas sociedades j so dezenas de milhes as pessoas que abandonam silenciosamente as religies para continuar sendo religiosas ps-religionalmente. possvel que alguns representantes hierrquicos, presos miragem de uma lealdade sagrada, prefiram inflexivelmente afundar suas prprias instituies religiosas, bloqueando sua evoluo e fazendo-o com a melhor das boas intenes e para a maior glria de Deus. Porm, tambm possvel que muitos grupos humanos sejam capazes de transformar-se. Entendemos ser bem possvel, e acreditamos mesmo que seja desejvel, que as religies agrrias evoluam para novas formas religiosas (ps-religionais) condizentes com a nova sociedde do conhecimento. Dar-se-o conta de que, assim como a cincia contextou, com razo, o geocentrismo que, inclusive ela considerava revelado, nos diga que o religiocentrismo foi uma iluso religional, e que, assim como outrara foi possvel abandonar a velha cosmoviso e continuar a vivncia espirirual, tambm hoje ser possvel e necessrio libertarmo-nos das amarras do religional, para encontrar a realizao em um novo patamar evolutivo. Parece que o Titanic das religies agrcolas no vai ficar a flutuar nas latitudes do oceano da sociedade do Tudo parece indicar que o Titanic das religies agrrias no vai conseguir flutuar nas latitudes do oceano da sociedade do conhecimento. Tudo pare indicar que, em breve, afundar. Passou seu kairs, embora lhe reste ainda um pouco de cronos. Porm, isto no ser o fim do mundo. somente o fim de um mundo, o fim do mundo agrrio-neoltico e de sua epistemologia e, com isso, o

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fim das configuraes religionais da espiritualidade, que denominamos de religies agrrio-neolticas. A vida e sua dimenso profunda continuam. nosso dever compreender o que est acontecento, para que no nos encontremos lutando contra a Realidade, mas sim, que ajudemos este novo parto evolutivo de nossa espcie, a fim de reiventar-nos, como fizemos no comeo do neoltico. Tambm nosso dever ser prudentes, no empurrar ningum para alm de suas necessidades e possibilidades, advertir claramente que se trata de uma situao difcil, de um novo nascimento, de uma metamorfose, de uma mudana de espcie ou de uma mudana de sistema operativo, e que um momento de significativos riscos tanto no plano social como no individual. dever da teologia vislumbrar o novo, no s em sentido descontrutivo, mas tambm no construtivo: no s o j no podemos acreditar, mas tambm como podemos desenvolver plenamente nossa dimenso transcendente ou espiritual, a qualidade humana profunda que as religies religionais, apesar de tudo, com mais ou menos limitaes, queriam apoia. Muitas coisas esto morrendo, inevitvel que morram, e no param de morrer; tratamos, ento, de ajud-las a bem morrer (a ars moriendi, dando vida a outros, dando a luz). Enquanto isso, h todo um novo mundo que nasce, que no pra de nascer, e queremos ajud-lo a nascer. As religies ver-se-o na necessidade de re-interpretar e de reestruturas todo seu patrimnio simblico, criando nos condicionamentos epistemolgicos do tempo agrrio. Tratar-se-ia de uma reformulao, de uma re-recepo (Congar) de todo o seu patrimnio, desenvolvida por milnios e historicamente mantido sob uma ignorncia e uma falta de cultura da qual, h pouco, acabamos de sar, graas ao portentoso desenvolvimentos das cincias. As religies tero que buscar formas de como re-entender e de ver o que fica se algo permanece de muitas crenas, dogmas, moral heternoma, ritor agrrios... na nova situao do conhecimento e dos novos parmetros de interpretao. Muitos seres humanos, ao dar-se conta de no mais conseguir apoiar-se nas religies para espiritualmente sobreviver, experimentao srias dificuldades com a integridade espiritual de suas vidas. maneira do avio que decola e abandona o sistema de apoio de suas rodas sobre o solo, tendo que passar a apoiar-se em um novo sistema de sustentao, totalmente diferente, o de suas asas, assim tambm a maior parte da humanidade ter que passar por momentos de difcil equilbrio na passagem de um sistema axiolgico para outro, to diferentes e, at certo ponto, incompatveis e sem cmbio automtico. O que vem por a um tsunami. Os riscos so graves, em todos os nveis. , pois, dever de um fazer teolgico responsvel prever esses problemas e procurar acompanhar este trnsito inevitvel em que nos

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encontramos. Tanto na teoria como na prtica, este tema mereceria muito mais do que esta singela proposta teolgica. Enquanto isso, oferecemola consulta e ao debate, desejosos de que seja corrigida e melhorada. Para o final deste ano [2012] ou incio do prximo, estaramos em condies de oferecer um livro, amplo, com as reflexes, aprofundamentos e debates que esta singela apresentao do paradigma ps-religioso suscitar? Sintam-se todos cordialmente convidados. Traduo da equipe da Revista Eclesistica Brasileira. Publicada em REB 72 (2012) 944-957.

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Verso un paradigma post-religionale? Proposta teologica

Commissione Teologica Internazionale dell'EATWOT

Si parla sempre pi del declino del cristianesimo in Occidente. Il cattolicesimo e il protestantesimo attraversano entrambi una grave crisi, tanto in Europa quanto in America del Nord. Sono sempre di pi gli osservatori che prevedono che la crisi colpir successivamente anche altre religioni. Si sospetta che essa non sia dovuta a un problema proprio del cristianesimo, bens alla natura stessa delle religioni, e allincapacit crescente di queste a far fronte al profondo cambiamento culturale in corso. Lipotesi dellavvento di un paradigma post-religionale delinea la possibilit che si stia dinanzi a una trasformazione socio-culturale di grande profondit, in cui le religioni neolitiche siano destinate a segnare il passo nella misura in cui si insedier la nascente societ della conoscenza, che sar una societ post-religionale, e che le religioni che non si liberino dei propri condizionamenti religionali ancestrali si vedranno sospinte ai margini della storia. ovvio che lipotesi di questo paradigma stia convivendo con fenomeni opposti di conservatorismo religioso, revival spirituali, crescita carismatica e neopentecostale. Ma ci si registra in maniera massiccia solo in alcuni settori geografici, mentre, secondo alcuni osservatori, nelle fasce urbane, colte, di giovani e di adulti con accesso a cultura e tecnologia comincerebbe a farsi presente questo paradigma, anche in America Latina (pure in Africa e in Asia?). Prescindendo dalle indagini sul campo, vorremmo concentrarci sullelaborazione teorica di una prima presentazione di ci che qui intendiamo chiamare paradigma post-religionale, su cui invitiamo a dibattere la comunit di studiosi di teologia e di scienze della religione, come pure i pastori e tutte le persone interessate allevoluzione attuale della dimensione religiosa.

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POSSIBILI FONDAMENTI DELLIPOTESI () Lo sviluppo delle scienze sta conducendo lumanit a osservare se stessa e ad avere della religiosit unidea in gran misura diversa da quella che conservava finora, e che si traduce in un atteggiamento nuovo di fronte alla religione. A questo punto della storia, lantropologia culturale si ritiene ormai capace di esprimere sulla religione un giudizio diverso dallautodefinizione con cui per millenni questa si presentata forgiando fino ad oggi lopinione maggioritaria delle societ tradizionali. Per quanto resti molto da studiare e per quanto anche altre scienze possano offrire un grande contributo, lantropologia culturale ritiene ormai di sapere quando e come si sono create le religioni, con quali meccanismi sociali ed epistemologici operano e quali dimensioni umane profonde sono in gioco in relazione allessere umano individuale e collettivo. La novit di questi giudizi radicale e sembra generalizzarsi e diffondersi nelle societ evolute in maniera tanto rapida quanto subliminale, generando un profondo cambiamento di atteggiamento verso la religione, che stiamo interpretando precisamente come lavvento di un nuovo paradigma post-religionale. Questi sarebbero in estrema sintesi i punti centrali di questa nuova visione presentata oggi dallantropologia culturale: - Le religioni non sono da sempre, non esistono dalla comparsa dellessere umano sulla faccia della Terra. Oggi sappiamo che le religioni sono giovani, quasi recenti. La pi antica, linduismo, avrebbe solo 4500 anni. La religione giudaico-cristiana, 3200. In termini evolutivi, anche limitandoci ai tempi del genere homo (tra 5 e 7 milioni di anni), o pi ancora della specie homo sapiens (150 mila o 200 mila), le religioni sono da ieri. Abbiamo passato moltissimo pi tempo senza religioni che con esse, per quanto sembra che esseri spirituali lo siamo stati dal primo momento: homo sapiens e homo spiritualis sembrano essere coetanei. Le religioni non sono pertanto qualcosa che accompagna necessariamente lessere umano, come mostra la storia. - Le religioni si sono formate in epoca neolitica, dopo la grande trasformazione che ha vissuto la nostra specie passando dalle trib nomadi di cacciatori e raccoglitori alla vita sedentaria in societ urbane legate alla coltivazione della terra, a radice della rivoluzione agraria. In questa congiuntura (forse il momento pi difficile della sua storia evolutiva) lumanit ha dovuto reinventare se stessa creando dei codici che le permettessero di vivere in societ, non pi in bande o in gruppi, con un diritto, una morale, una coesione sociale, un senso di appartenenza... per

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poter sopravvivere come specie. In questo contesto, la nostra specie ha fatto ricorso a quella che forse la sua maggiore forza dalla sua apparizione come specie emergente: la sua capacit simbolica e religiosa, la sua necessit di senso e di esperienza di trascendenza. (). - Dal neolitico ai nostri giorni, le societ sono state religiose, religiocentriche, rette dalla religione in tutte le loro strutture: conoscenza (e ignoranza), credenze, cultura, senso di identit, coesione sociale e senso di appartenenza, diritto, politica, legittimit, struttura sociale, cosmovisione, arte... La cultura stata la forma della religione, e la religione stata lanima della cultura (Tillich). Limpulso religioso, la forza della religione, stato il motore del sistema operativo delle societ. Ad eccezione dei due ultimi secoli, a partire dalla rivoluzione agraria non abbiamo conosciuto societ n grandi movimenti sociali e neppure rivoluzioni che non siano stati religiosi; chiaro che le loro motivazioni erano anche e fondamentalmente economiche e politiche, ma era attraverso la sfera religiosa che venivano gestiti questi impulsi sociali. La religione stessa con un prestigio quasi divino, unautorit indiscutibile, credenze, miti, dogmi, leggi, morale e anche istanze inquisitoriali fungeva come software di ogni societ. stato cos durante tutto il tempo del neolitico, tempo che lantropologia culturale sostiene stia volgendo ora al termine. - Con quali meccanismi interni le religioni hanno esercitato la loro capacit di programmazione della societ? Per mezzo della creazione e imposizione della loro cosmovisione alla societ (); delle credenze fondamentali veicolate dai miti sacri, che hanno operato () come architettura epistemologica della societ umana; di unepistemologia mitica che ha attribuito a Dio le proprie elaborazioni, presentandole come rivelazione o volont di Dio e cos assolutizzandole per dare sicurezza alla societ umana; di unesigenza radicale di sottomissione (islam significa sottomissione), di fede (unesigenza primaria nel cristianesimo), di credere a ci che non si vede (o che neppure si intende); dellesercizio di tutti questi meccanismi come sistema operativo della societ (il che si evidenzia nei sistemi sociali degli imperi con la loro religione di Stato, nella societ di cristianit o nei regimi teocratici in altre religioni, per esempio). A partire da queste premesse, potremmo dotarci ora di una nuova definizione tecnica ad hoc delle religioni nel senso che qui vogliamo dare al termine: chiamiamo tecnicamente religione la configurazione socioistituzionalizzata che la religiosit (spiritualit) costitutiva dellessere umano ha adottato nellet agraria, configurazione che ha operato come sistema fondamentale di programmazione e di autocontrollo delle societ agrarie neolitiche. (). Di conseguenza, chiameremo tecnicamente religionale ci che relativo a questa configurazione socio-religiosa propria del tempo agrario o neolitico.

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In questo senso, va notato che il paradigma che vogliamo presentare qualificato come post-religionale, non come post-religioso, perch continuer ad essere religioso nel senso normale della parola, in quanto legato alla dimensione spirituale dellessere umano e della societ, al di l del cambiamento di culture e di epoche (). Il prefisso post non lo usiamo in senso letteralmente temporale (come un dopo di) ma in un senso che va genericamente oltre: pi in l di. Per questo, sarebbe ugualmente valido dire a-religionale, senza possibile confusione nella dimensione temporale. Post-religionale non significa post-religioso n post-spirituale, ma, in senso stretto, pi in l del religionale, cio pi in l di quello che sono state le religioni agrarie, o come una religiosit senza religioni (agrarie), una spiritualit senza la configurazione socio-istituzionalizzata propria dellet neolitica (senza programmazione sociale, senza sottomissione, senza dogmi...). Ovviamente, ci appoggeremo su altre mediazioni, gesti, simboli, istituzioni o sistematizzazioni di altro tipo, perch lesperienza spirituale umana non pu darsi nel vuoto (). ELEMENTI PRINCIPALI DEL PARADIGMA POST-RELIGIONALE Cercheremo ora di stabilire gli elementi principali della nuova coscienza post-religionale propria di questo fenomeno complesso della cultura sociale emergente, conseguenza principale dellampliamento della conoscenza umana. 1. Le religioni sono una cosa diversa da quello che tradizionalmente pensavamo, che ancora pensa molta gente, che esse pensano di se stesse e che hanno diffuso nella societ per millenni. Le religioni non godono di una specie di preesistenza che farebbe di esse delle forme di saggezza divina rivelate da Dio stesso, cosa che le renderebbe lunica via di accesso a questa rivelazione e alla relazione con il Mistero. Le religioni sono, piuttosto, un fenomeno storico, una forma socioculturale concreta che la dimensione profonda di sempre dellessere umano ha rivestito in una determinata era storica. (). Le religioni sono forme storiche, contingenti e mutevoli, mentre la spiritualit una dimensione costitutiva umana, permanente, anteriore a quelle forme, ed essenziale allessere umano... La spiritualit pu essere vissuta nelle religioni o fuori di esse. Potremmo prescindere dalle religioni, ma non dalla dimensione di trascendenza dellessere umano... 2. Le religioni sono costruzioni umane... Come abbiamo detto, la scienza e la societ sanno ormai molto sulla loro origine, sulla loro formazione, suoi loro meccanismi. Ci cambia radicalmente la nostra percezione di esse: le religioni sono opera nostra, creazioni umane, geniali, ma

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umane a volte troppo umane e devono essere loro al nostro servizio, non il contrario. Le religioni le loro credenze, i loro miti, la loro morale non sono opera diretta di un Dio l fuori, l sopra, che ci ha inviato questo dono delle religioni, ma sono qualcosa che sorto qui sotto, qualcosa di molto terrestre, che ci siamo fabbricati noi stessi, spinti certamente dalla forza del mistero divino che ci invade, ma secondo le nostre possibilit e con i nostri condizionamenti concreti. Le religioni hanno assolutizzato se stesse attribuendo la propria origine a Dio. stato un meccanismo che servito per fissare e dare consistenza inamovibile alle costruzioni umane che esse erano, nella necessit di assicurare le formule sociali di convivenza di cui lumanit si era dotata. Oggi stiamo perdendo lingenuit, e questo carattere assoluto delle religioni, che per millenni ha rappresentato una componente essenziale delle societ, rendendo pi facile e pi passiva la vita degli esseri umani, ci si rivela come una significativa illusione epistemologica, che avevamo assunto per via di una fede, ma che oggi non risulta n necessaria, n desiderabile, n sopportabile. 3. Pertanto, non siamo sottomessi alle religioni, non siamo condannati a marciare nella storia sul cammino compiutamente tracciato da esse, come fosse un disegno divino che segnasse previamente da sempre, e da fuori il nostro destino, come se ci obbligasse ad adottare le soluzioni con cui i nostri antenati hanno cercato di risolvere i loro problemi e di interpretare la realt nella misura delle loro possibilit... Se le religioni sono una nostra costruzione, ci significa che non ci tolgono il diritto (n lobbligo) di pronunciarci di fronte alla storia, offrendo la nostra risposta ai problemi dellesistenza ed esprimendo con fiducia in noi stessi la nostra stessa interpretazione della realt di ci che siamo, aiutati dalle nostre scoperte scientifiche. Non siamo obbligati ad assumere come verit intoccabile e insuperabile le interpretazioni obsolete e le soluzioni ancestrali che si sono date le generazioni umane di qualche migliaio di anni fa, come se quelle interpretazioni fossero una presunta rivelazione venuta da fuori e di compimento obbligato. Tale equivoco religionale in cui hanno vissuto i nostri antenati ci appare, a questo punto della storia, come unalienazione. Fa paura sentirsi soli, responsabili di fronte alla storia, liberi rispetti ai cammini religiosi tradizionali, senza un cammino sicuro e indiscutibilmente obbligatorio tracciato dagli dei... Questa nuova visione del mondo, questo paradigma post-religionale, genera unautocoscienza umana profondamente differente rispetto a quella che aveva segnato la coscienza religionale tradizionale. Ora ci sentiamo liberi dai legacci religionali per dare briglia sciolta alla nostra realizzazione personale e collettiva, per

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assumere pienamente la nostra responsabilit, le nostre decisioni, la nostra interpretazione a nostro rischio e pericolo, senza nessuna restrizione n coazione esterna, per quanto con la preoccupazione di sintonizzarci con il Mistero che ci muove. 4. Le religioni, presunte conoscitrici uniche del principio dei tempi e della fine del mondo, non sono, per natura, eterne, per sempre. (...). Non sono essenziali alla nostra natura e ci hanno accompagnato per una piccola parte della nostra storia evolutiva. Le religioni agrarie sono legate allepoca neolitica: potremmo dire che sono sorte di fatto per consentire alla specie umana di entrare in questa era nuova, quella successiva alla rivoluzione agraria. Ma precisamente questa era quella che gli esperti dicono stia giungendo alla fine. Che futuro possiamo pronosticare alle religioni in unepoca di transizione che annuncia la fine dellera che le ha viste sorgere? Sembra plausibile lipotesi che le religioni (agrarie) possano scomparire. Non sembra un fatto impossibile in s, n vi sono motivi perch appaia un disastro storico gravissimo: abbiamo vissuto la maggior parte della nostra storia senza religioni (tutto il paleolitico), ed dimostrato che ci non ha impedito la nostra qualit umana profonda, la nostra spiritualit. 5. A questo punto ormai evidente che si impone una distinzione. Tradizionalmente le religioni detenevano il monopolio della sfera spirituale. Una persona avrebbe potuto essere spirituale solamente mediante le religioni. Erano considerate la fonte stessa della spiritualit, la connessione diretta con il Mistero. Religioni e spiritualit erano tuttuno, la stessa cosa. Oggi, la concettualizzazione delle religioni sta cambiando radicalmente nel paradigma postreligionale emergente. Ogni giorno per pi persone diventa evidente che le religioni non sono la fonte della spiritualit, ma solo delle forme socio-culturali che la spiritualit ha assunto storicamente; e sono spesso un freno e un ostacolo per la spiritualit, che una dimensione essenziale e caratteristica dellessere umano, accompagnandolo permanentemente dalla sua apparizione come specie. Le parole religione, religioso, religioni, che tradizionalmente venivano coprendo, interscambiandosi, tutto lambito di ci che relativo alla spiritualit, dovranno oggi passare, scrupolosamente, per il vaglio della distinzione tra il religioso (quanto ha a che vedere con questa dimensione misteriosa dellessere umano) e il religionale (ci che appartiene semplicemente allambito di queste configurazioni socio-culturali e istituzionali che abbiamo definito religioni agricole-neolitiche).

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IL PARADIGMA POST-RELIGIONALE IN SINTESI Una volta esposti questi elementi principali della visione costitutiva del paradigma postreligionale, potremmo cercare di esprimerne sinteticamente il nucleo: - Prima premessa: le religioni (...) sono una creazione neolitica, di cui sono tanto prodotto quanto causa. - Seconda premessa: la trasformazione socio-culturale che stiamo attualmente attraversando implica, precisamente, la fine di questa epoca agrario-neolitica. Quello che ora si sta superando ha costituito il fondamento della societ umana e la forma della coscienza umana negli ultimi 10.000 anni (). Emerge un tipo nuovo di societ, con fondamenti distinti soprattutto epistemologici che risultano incompatibili con il sistema operativo millenario neolitico. Si impone, perci, un cambiamento sistemico tanto a livello epistemologico quanto a livello del tipo di coscienza spirituale dellumanit. Da qui la radicalit e la profondit del cambiamento epocale che stiamo vivendo, un nuovo tempo assiale. - Conseguenza: le religioni (agrario-neolitiche), identificate con il tipo di coscienza, di cosmovisione e di epistemologia agrarie, stanno perdendo terreno ed entrando in un profondo declino nella misura in cui - per laccumulazione di conoscenze scientifiche, tecnologiche, sociali ed esperienziali - va emergendo un nuovo tipo di coscienza, di cosmovisione e di epistemologia, incompatibile con quello tradizionale neolitico. Gli esseri umani della societ nascente non possono pi esprimere la propria dimensione spirituale in quella configurazione concreta delle religioni agrarie e queste non riescono a sintonizzarsi con la nuova societ e farsi intendere da questa. Le religioni agrario-neolitiche si vedono pertanto obbligate a trasformarsi radicalmente, o a scomparire. Da parte loro, le persone, le comunit e le istituzioni di queste religioni, nella misura in cui passano alla nuova cultura, si vanno allontanando dai meccanismi e dallepistemologia agrari, passando a vivere la propria spiritualit postreligionalmente. Per verificare conseguentemente tale ipotesi: - Bisogner approfondire il concetto tecnico di religioni agrarioneolitiche, non limitandoci a riferirci alla loro origine dopo la Rivoluzione Agraria, ma addentrandoci nella loro struttura epistemologica e nelle loro caratteristiche essenziali, che permangono per tutto questo tempo dellet agraria. - Bisogner fondare maggiormente laffermazione che ci troviamo di fronte alla fine dellet neolitica, precisando concretamente gli elementi antropologici su cui si sostanzia tale affermazione, e quali sono i tratti della nuova societ che risultano incompatibili con le religioni neolitiche.

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- E bisogner elaborare un progetto di accompagnamento alla societ in questa transizione dallet agraria alla nuova epoca. Concludendo, chiamiamo paradigma post-religionale questa forma di vivere la dimensione profonda dellessere umano che si libera e supera i meccanismi propri delle religioni agrario-neolitiche, e cio: la loro epistemologia mitica; il loro monopolio della spiritualit; la loro esigenza di sottomissione, di accettazione cieca di alcune credenze come rivelate da Dio; il loro esercizio del potere politico e ideologico sulla societ (...); la loro imposizione di una morale eteronoma, venuta dallalto, con una interpretazione della legge naturale a partire da una filosofia ufficialmente imposta (...); il loro controllo del pensiero umano, con i dogmi, la persecuzione della libert di pensiero, linquisizione, la condanna degli eretici, la pretesa di infallibilit, di ispirazione divina, di possesso dellinterpretazione autorizzata della volont di Dio; la loro proclamazione come Sacre Scritture rivelate (nel caso delle religioni del libro) delle tradizioni ancestrali che si sono andate accumulando, esaltate come Parola diretta di Dio, come normativa suprema e indiscutibile per la societ e per le persone; la loro interpretazione premoderna della realt come un mondo a due livelli, con un mondo divino soprannaturale al di sopra di noi, da cui dipendiamo e verso cui andiamo; la loro interpretazione della vita e della morte in termini di prova, giudizio e premio/ castigo per mano di un Giudice Universale che il Signore supremo di ogni religione. Con la fine dellera agraria, tutte queste strutture conoscitive, assiologiche ed epistemologiche millenarie stanno cedendo terreno nella misura in cui va sorgendo la nuova societ. Sono state una grande invenzione umana, grazie a cui i gruppi nomadi di cacciatori e raccoglitori sono riusciti a reinventare la propria umanit rendendola capace di convivere nella citt, regolata dal diritto, unita dalla coscienza religiosa di appartenenza a una collettivit con unidentit ricondotta agli dei... La crisi attuale non si deve principalmente a processi di secolarizzazione o a perdita di valori, o alla diffusione del materialismo o delledonismo (interpretazione colpevolizzante normalmente offerta dalle religioni ufficiali), neppure alla mancanza di testimonianza o agli scandali morali delle religioni, ma allesplosione di una nuova situazione culturale, in cui culmina la trasformazione radicale delle strutture conoscitive, assiologiche ed epistemologiche neolitiche, trasformazione che ha preso avvio con la rivoluzione scientifica del XVI secolo, lIlluminismo del XVIII e le varie ondate di industrializzazione. I sintomi sociali sono un certo agnosticismo diffuso, la perdita dellingenuit epistemologica, un senso critico pi accentuato, una concettualizzazione pi utilitarista delle religioni che devono essere al servizio dellessere umano invece che esigere

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una lealt totale da parte dei loro adepti, la scomparsa dellidea dellunica religione vera e la sparizione della plausibilit di una morale rivelata eteronoma. Ma il cambiamento strutturale gravita sulla citata trasformazione epistemologico-culturale. (...). Due cautele: a) Come abbiamo gi indicato, non vogliamo dire che questo solo che avviene in campo religioso, come se tutto lo scenario fosse attualmente occupato da questa trasformazione del paradigma delle religioni agrarie in un paradigma post-religionale. In campo religioso hanno luogo molti altri fenomeni, simultaneamente, anche caoticamente, essendo in alcuni aspetti contraddittori. Insieme a questa crisi della religione, si registrano effervescenze religiose e revival, involuzioni e fondamentalismi. In questa proposta teologica ci siamo concentrati in maniera selettiva su un aspetto concreto della trasformazione in corso, che non nega il resto degli elementi presenti. (). b) Quello che stiamo dicendo non si pu neppure applicare, indiscriminatamente, a tutte le religioni. Perch non tutte le religioni sono agrarie. C una buona quantit di religioni che non passata per la rivoluzione agraria ed urbana, conservando una matrice di esperienza religiosa propria dei tempi anteriori alla trasformazione neolitica (alla separazione dalla placenta della sacralit della natura, allassunzione della trascendenza divina dualista e acosmica, ecc.), e non cadendo nella deriva del controllo e della programmazione della societ mediante la sottomissione a dottrine, dogmi, inquisizioni... Qui possiamo ubicare la grande famiglia di religioni cosmiche, indigene, animiste, cos come altre che, pur appartenendo storicamente al periodo neolitico e a societ nettamente agrarie, si sono mantenute ai margini di questo controllo dogmatico-dottrinale (...). Ci vuol dire che questo paradigma non si applica neppure a tutte le religioni. La realt allora pi complessa dei nostri tentativi semplificatori di comprensione, cosa che ci spinge a una maggiore precisione, a una pi serena umilt e ad un maggiore interesse per lo studio di campo, la ricerca e il dialogo. DI FRONTE AL PASSAGGIO IMMEDIATO Questa una proposta teologica, un approfondimento teorico per poter meglio trasformare la realt che si interpreta. Ma ovvio che ha ripercussioni pastorali, e molto grandi. Perch ci di cui stiamo parlando uno tsunami culturale e religioso, una metamorfosi che forse render difficile riconoscere noi stessi in un prossimo futuro. E questa pu essere una situazione molto complessa per lumanit: se gli antropologi dicono che il passaggio dalla societ paleolitica a quella neolitica, con la rivoluzione agraria, stata la situazione pi difficile che

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abbia sperimentato la nostra specie, forse siamo dinanzi a un momento evolutivo simile. Si rende necessario delineare il modo in cui accompagnare questo passaggio che si realizzer o che gi sta iniziando, a partire dalle religioni agrarie, verso un nuovo tipo di societ la cui realizzazione spirituale si dar piuttosto per vie e secondo modelli che continueranno ad essere religiosi, ma post-religionali, senza sapere ad oggi concretamente come saranno queste vie e questi modelli, poich dovremo inventarli. Le religioni saranno da una parte esposte gi cos in molti luoghi a situazioni di declino, di calo di fedeli e di perdita di credibilit e plausibilit, e dallaltra sperimenteranno la contraddizione con i propri meccanismi agrari. Gi molte persone avvertono la necessit di trasformare la propria religiosit, radicalmente, ma sentono in maniera cocente la contraddizione con la dottrina ufficiale, considerata infallibile e immutabile, che proibisce loro ogni cambiamento o abdicazione dai principi ancestrali. In alcune societ sono gi decine di milioni le persone che abbandonano silenziosamente le religioni per continuare ad essere religiose post-religionalmente. possibile che alcune gerarchie religiose, prese dallillusione di una lealt sacra, preferiscano far crollare le proprie istituzioni religiose bloccandone levoluzione, facendolo con la migliore intenzione, a maggior gloria di Dio. Ma anche possibile che molti gruppi umani siano capaci di trasformarsi. ben possibile, e lo riteniamo anche desiderabile, che le religioni agrarie evolvano verso nuove forme religiose (post-religionali) coerenti con questa nuova societ della conoscenza. Si renderanno conto che, cos come la scienza ha contraddetto il geocentrismo che esse consideravano addirittura rivelato, oggi la scienza scopre che il religiocentrismo stato unillusione religionale, e che, come allora stato possibile abbandonare la vecchia cosmovisione e portare avanti lesperienza spirituale, cos oggi sar possibile e necessario liberarci dai legacci del religionale per trovare la realizzazione spirituale in un nuovo scatto evolutivo. Tutto sembra indicare che il Titanic delle religioni agrarie non arriver nelle acque delloceano della societ della conoscenza. Tutto sembra indicare che non durer tanto, e sprofonder. passato il loro kairs, per quanto resti un poco di cronos. Ma non la fine del mondo. solo la fine di un mondo, la fine del mondo agrario-neolitico e della sua epistemologia, e con ci la fine delle configurazioni religionali della spiritualit, quelle che abbiamo chiamato religioni agrario-neolitiche. La vita e la sua dimensione profonda continueranno. Ed nostro dovere comprendere quello che sta succedendo, per trovarci non a lottare contro la Realt, ma a contribuire a questo nuovo parto evolutivo della nostra specie, tornando a reinventarci come abbiamo fatto allinizio del neolitico.

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nostro dovere anche essere prudenti, non spingendo nessuno pi in l delle sue necessit e delle sue possibilit, avvertendo chiaramente che la situazione difficile, che una nuova nascita, una metamorfosi, un cambiamento di sistema operativo, e che un momento di rischi seri, tanto sul piano sociale quanto su quello individuale. dovere della teologia scrutare il nuovo, non solo nellaspetto decostruttivo, ma in quello costruttivo: non solo quello a cui non possiamo pi credere, ma il modo in cui possiamo sviluppare in pienezza la nostra dimensione trascendente o spirituale, la qualit umana profonda che le religioni religionali, dopotutto, con pi o meno limitazioni, volevano sostenere. Molte cose stanno morendo, inevitabile che muoiano e che non smettano di farlo: cerchiamo di aiutarle a morire bene (lars moriendi, morire dando la vita per altri, dando la luce). Nel frattempo, tutto un mondo nuovo che cerca di nascere e non smette di farlo, e vogliamo aiutarlo a nascere. Le religioni si vedranno nella necessit di reinterpretare e riconvertire tutto il loro patrimonio simbolico, che stato creato sotto i condizionamenti epistemologici del tempo agrario. Si tratterebbe di una rielaborazione, una ri-ricezione (Congar) di tutto il loro patrimonio, elaborato da millenni e tenuto storicamente sotto unignoranza e una incultura di quelle da cui siamo usciti ben poco tempo fa, grazie al portentoso sviluppo delle scienze. Le religioni dovranno cercare come ri-comprendere e cosa resta se resta qualcosa di molte delle credenze, dei dogmi, della morale eteronoma, dei riti agrari... allinterno di questa nuova situazione di conoscenza e del nuovo quadro di interpretazione. Molti esseri umani, sentendosi non pi in grado di continuare ad appoggiarsi sulle religioni per sopravvivere spiritualmente, sperimenteranno serie difficolt nellintegrit spirituale delle loro vite. Come quando laereo decolla, abbandonando il sistema di appoggio delle ruote per un nuovo sistema di sostegno, totalmente distinto, quello delle ali, la maggior parte dellumanit dovr passare per momenti di difficile equilibrio nel passaggio da uno allaltro sistema assiologico, essendo i due tanto differenti e, fino a un certo punto, incompatibili, e senza cambiamento automatico. Quello che in arrivo uno tsunami. I rischi sono gravi, a tutti i livelli. dovere di una teologia responsabile scrutare questi problemi e cercare di accompagnare questo passaggio inevitabile in cui gi ci troviamo. Tanto nellaspetto teorico quanto in quello pratico, il tema meriterebbe uno sviluppo molto pi esteso di questa semplice proposta teologica. Noi la lasciamo qui e la sottoponiamo a consultazione e dibattito, nel desiderio che venga corretta e migliorata.

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Vers un paradigme post-religional Proposition thologique

Commission Thologique Internationale de l'EATWOT

On parle toujours de la dcadence du christianisme en Occident. Non seulement le catholicisme, mais le protestantisme aussi traversent une grave crise, tant en Europe quen Amrique du Nord. De plus en plus, les observateurs prdisent, chaque fois, que la crise touchera aussi les autres religions. Il semble que la crise ne soit pas due un problme propre au christianisme, mais la nature mme des religions et lincapacit progressive de celles-ci sadapter au profond changement culturel en cours. Lhypothse dun paradigme post-religional veut proposer la possibilit de se trouver face une trs profonde transformation socioculturelle, dans laquelle les religions nolithiques vont arrter dtre viables quand stablira rsolument la socit de la connaissance 1, laquelle serait une socit post- religieuse 2, et les religions qui ne se librent pas de leurs conditionnements religionaux ancestraux seront mises en marges rsiduelles de lhistoire. videmment cette hypothse-paradigme voit le jour parmi des phnomnes bien contraires de conservatisme religieux, de renouveaux spi1

Nous essayons de ne pas mettre l'accent sur une description prcise de la nouvelle culture ou socit pour ne pas ouvrir une discussion qui dtournerait du sujet. Nous prfrons pltot parler de socit de la connaissance, non pas dans le sens de la socit bien duque, mais dans le sens d'une socit qui possde une vaste culture gnrale ou qui soit intlligente, mais dans le sens que la connaissance soit son axe de production et d'accumulation, c'est--dire, nous parlons des socits qui vivent de la production de connaissance. Quelle que soit la description, est de tenir compte de la structure objective pistmologique de telle socit. Nous utilisons les nologismes religional et post-religional comme des concepts techniques qui doivent tre nettement distingus du religieux et post-religieux, comme nous lexpliqueront plus en avant.

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rituels, de charismatisme et de no-pentectisme. Mme si ces phnomnes ne prvalent que dans quelques secteurs gographiques quelques observateurs affirment que dans la strate urbaine cultive, tant des jeunes comme des adultes ayant un bon accs la culture et la technologie ce paradigme est dj prsent dans lAmrique Latine (peut-tre aussi en Afrique et en Asie?). part des sondages quantificateurs de champ, nous voulons nous concentrer sur llaboration thorique d'une premire reflexion et des sondages de ce que nous appelons le paradigme postreligionnal, que nous proposons dbat la communaut cientifique de la thologie et des sciences des religions, et nous invitons les pasteurs et toutes les personnes proccupes par lvolution actuelle du phnomne religieux participer cette discussion. Possible fondement de lhypothse Une augmentation de la connaissance humaine et la confrontation silencieuse de la science actuelle avec la religion pourraient tre une des causes de ce nouveau paradigme, mais pas lunique. Le dveloppement des sciences amne lhumanit sobserver elle-mme et concevoir sa religiosit d'une manire biendiffrente jusqu' prsent. Et il en rsulte une nouvelle attitude envers la religion. En ce moment de lhistoire, lanthropologie culturelle se retient capable de se faire une ide de la religion qui se distingue de la conception que la religion avait d'elle-mme, de la dfinition que la religion s'tait fait d'elle-mme et qui avait domin sa prsentation pendant des millnaires et qui avait forg lopinion majoritaire dans les socits traditionnelles, jusqu nos jours. Mme si il reste beaucoup explorer et mme si dautres sciences pourraient, elles aussi, apporter beaucoup, lanthropologie culturelle -considre comme une science interdisciplinaire- croit savoir quand et comment se sont forges les religions, avec quels mcanismes sociaux et pistmologiques elles oprent et quelles sont les profondes dimensions humaines en jeu dans la relation avec ltre humain individuel et collectif. Linusit de ce jugement est radical et semble se gnraliser et se diffuser dans les socits dveloppes autant de manire rapide que subliminale. Il produit un changement profond dattitude envers la religion, que nous interprtons prcisment comme larrive dun nouveau paradigme post-religional . Les points nuclaires de cette nouvelle vision que lanthropologie culturelle prsente aujourdhui sur la religion se laissent rsumer ainsi : * Les religions nexistent pas depuis toujours , ni ds que ltre humain est apparu sur la face de la terre. Nous savons aujourdhui que les religions sont jeunes, presque rcentes. La plus ancienne, lhindouisme, date seulement de 4500 annes. Le judo-christianisme, de 3200

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ans. En termes volutifs, mme si on parle des temps du genre homo (entre 5 et 7 millions dannes) ou de lespce homo-sapiens (150 mille ou 200 mille ans) les religions ne datent que dhier . Nous, en tant quhommes, avons pass beaucoup plus de temps sans religions quavec elles. Cependant il semble que comme tres spirituels, nous le sommes depuis le premier moment: lhomo-sapiens et lhomo-spirituel semblent tre contemporains. Les religions ne sont pas pour autant un phnomne indispensable de l'existence humaine, comme le montre notre histoire 3 . * Les religions se sont formes dans lpoque nolithique aprs la grande transformation qua subit notre espce, celle de passer dtre des tribus nomades de chasseurs et de rcolteurs celle de tribus sdentaires en groupes urbains lis la culture de la terre, par la rvolution agraire 4. Dans cette conjoncture volutive (peut-tre le moment le plus difficile de lhistoire de lvolution), lhumanit a du se rinventer elle mme, en crant des codes qui permettent de vivre, non en bandes ou en groupes, mais en socit, avec le droit, la morale, la cohsion sociale, le sens dappartenance pour tre stables et survivre en tant quespce. Dans cette conjoncture, notre espce a pris ce qui est sa majeure force depuis sont apparition en tant quespce mergente : c'est--dire sa capacit symbolique et religieuse, son besoin de sens et dexprience de transcendance. Peut tre cela aurait-il pu se passer autrement, mais dans les faits cela sest pass ainsi.
3

Avec mfiance et rsignation nous acceptons le mot spiritualit, en essayant de ne pas transiger avec sa connotation tymologique dualiste indniable. Cest un mot consacr par l'usage, et nous ne lentendons pas comme faisant rfrence un esprit par opposition une suppose matire non spirituelle. Nous proposons une conceptualisation plus adquate de ce que la spiritualit signifierait : la dimension de profondeur (Tillich), qui doit encadrer nos vies dans un contexte plus large (Armstrong), la qualit humaine profonde (Corb), les motivations ultimes, la mystique grce laquelle on vit et on lutte et avec laquelle on communique avec les autres (Casaldliga-Vigil)... Pour rparer cette limite, nous essayons dutiliser le mot accompagn d'expressions parallles.

Nous parlons de la socit ou d'une poque agraire pas dans le sens de la socit rurale et socit agricole, ddie au secteur primaire de l'conomie, de l'agriculture, mais en se rfrant, avec perspective anthropologique culturelle, la socit humaine aprs le rvolution agraire nolithique , comme le catalogage global dune poque qui arrive sa dissolution actuelle. Nous l'appelons agraire dans un sens large, y compris les socits d'leveurs, qui ont partag les structures propres cette poque pistmologique post-nolithique postrieure la rvolution culturelle qui a commenc avec la dcouverte de l'agriculture. Les rvolutions scientifique (XVI sicle) et industrielle (XVIII et suivants) peuvent tre considres comme le dbut de la fin de la nolithique ou ge agraire profonde, rupture qui en serait actuellement sa phase culminante. Ces catgories et ces affirmations ont besoin de beaucoup nuances ; nous adoptons pdagogiquement ce langage simplifi pour faciliter une prsentation simple de ce paradigme.

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* Depuis le nolithique et jusqu nos jours, les socits ont t religieuses, religieux-centristes , imprgnes de religion dans leurs structures : leur connaissances (et leurs ignorances), leurs croyances, leur culture, leur sens didentit, leur cohsion sociale et le sens dappartenance de leurs membres, leur droit, leur politique, leur lgitimit, leur structure sociale, leur cosmovision, leur art La culture a t la forme de la religion, et la religion a t lme de la culture (Tillich). Llan religieux, la force de la religion, a t le moteur du systme opratif des socits. Aprs la rvolution agraire, si nous excluons les deux derniers sicles, nous navons pas connu de socits, ni de grands mouvements sociaux, ni mme des rvolutions non-religieuses. Cest clair que les motivations ont t fondamentalement conomiques et politiques, mais travers le religieux se sont canalises des impulsions sociales. La religion mme avec un prestige quasi divin, son autorit indubitable, ses croyances, mythes, dogmes, lois, morales ou mme ses instances inquisitoriales a servie de software programmateur chaque socit. Il en a t ainsi durant tout le temps nolithique agraire , dans le sens ample avec lequel nous lutilisons ce terme- qui selon ce que lanthropologie culturelle soutient, est en train de se finir. * Avec quels mcanismes internes les religions ont-elles exerc cette capacit de programmer la socit? Par ces moyens : - la cration et limposition de sa cosmovision sur la socit : dans chaque socit, cest elle qui a dit lhumanit ce que c'est la ralit, ce que sont son origine, son sens et ses exigences morales. - les croyances fondamentales lies par les mythes sacrs, qui ont servi de croyances, propositions, axiomes, postulats, prsupposs profondes de chaque socit, comme larchitecture pistmologique profonde de la socit humaine. - une pistmologie mythique qui a attribu Dieu ses propres laborations, pour les prsenter comme rvlation ou volont de Dieu, et ainsi les absolutiser pour donner scurit la socit humaine. - une exigence radicale de soumission [islam signifie soumission] de foi [une exigence premire dans le christianisme], de croire ce quon ne voit pas (et mme ce qui ne se comprend pas) ; - en exerant, avec ces mcanismes comme systme opratif de la socit (ce qui est vident dans les systmes sociaux des empires avec leur religion dtat, la socit christianit ou les rgimes thocratiques dans dautres religions, par exemple). partir de ces indices nous pouvons prtendre une nouvelle dfinition technique ad hoc des religions dans le sens quici nous voulons donner cette parole : nous appelons techniquement religion la configuration socio-institutionnalise que la religiosit (spiritualit)

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constitutive de ltre humain a adopte dans lge agraire, configuration qui a servi comme systme fondamental de programmation et dautocontrle des socits agraires nolithiques. Dans cet expos nous concevons religion dans le sens strict du terme, et pas du tout dans les autres significations de la parole (religiosit, dimension religieuse, spiritualit, institution religieuse) ; sans une prcision du vocable nous serions ports invitablement confusion. Donc, nous appellerons techniquement religional tout ce qui concerne cette configuration socioreligieuse propre lpoque agraire ou nolithique . Dans ce sens il est retenir que le paradigme que nous voulons prsenter est qualifi comme post-religional , et non comme postreligieux parce que il sera toujours tre religieux dans le sens commun du dictionnaire, comme ce qui concerne la dimension spirituelle de ltre humain et de la socit , mme si changent les cultures et les poques. Nous lappelons post-religional parce que certainement il sintgrera dans le surpassement de la configuration mentionn du religieux (cette manire de fonctionner au quelle nous faisons rfrence, et qui est propre aux religions que gnriquement nous appelons agraires , inclue les socits dlevage et aussi dautres formes plus spcialises). Nous ne prenons pas le prfixe post dans le sens littral temporel (comme un aprs ) mais plutt dans le sens commun plus loin. Cependant, on pourrait dire a-religional , pour viter la dimension temporelle. Post-religional ne signifie pas post religieux ni postspirituel mais, nettement au-del du religional , cest--dire au-del de ce que les religions agraires ont t, ou une religiosit sans religion (agraire) , une spiritualit sans les configurations socio-institutionnalises propres lre nolithique (sans programmation sociale, sans soumission, sans dogmes) 5. Certainement que nous nous appuyons sur des mdiations, gestes, symboles, institutions ou rationalisations dun autre type, car lexprience spirituelle humaine ne peut se donner dans le vide ; mais ce nest pas ici le bon moment pout traiter de ce point.
5

Ces prcisions de vocabulaire peuvent expliquer pourquoi il est ncessaire de faire appel ce nologisme artisanal - parfaitement dans les rgles tymologiques de la langue pour viter tout malentendu, la fois dassimiler religieux dans le sens habituel du dictionnaire, tout comme de le confondre tort avec l ' antireligieux ou lathe. Quoi qu'il en soit, est ce que cest l'adjectif religional le mieux adapt pour dcrire ce paradigme? Nous pensons que c'est correct et adquat, et que cest utile (car il est pratique et effectif), mais nous pensons que ce n'est pas absolu, et que cela peut tre amlior, car peut-tre il ne peut pas venir de l'essence du phnomne auquel il se rfre, ni il voque peut-tre ce qui pourrait tre le matriel de base ou de sa spcificit pistmologique. Par consquent, nous le proposons humblement comme un terme provisoire et amliorer.

320 Proposition thologique

ELEMENTS PRINCIPALS DU PARADIGME POST-RELIGIONAL Nous voulons tablir les lments principaux de la nouvelle conscience post-religionale propre ce phnomne complexe de la culture sociale qui merge, consquence principale de laugmentation de la connaissance humaine. 1. Les religions sont autre chose que ce que traditionnellement nous avons pens, de ce qu'encore beaucoup de gens pensent, de ce que les religions pensent d'elles-mmes, et de ce qu'on a rpandu comme ides dans les socits pendant des millnaires. Les religions ne se fondent sur une sorte de prexistence qui les renderait d'elles un corps suprme primordial de sagesse, des patrimoines de sagesse divine rvle par Dieu lui mme, de manire qu'elles deviennent l'unique moyen d'accs cette rvlation et la relation avec le Mystre. Les religions toujours -n'oublions pas le sens spcifique que nous donnons ce terme - sont plutt un phnomne historique, une forme socioculturelle concrte que la dimension profonde et constante de l'tre humain a revtu dans une re dtermine historique. Les religions ne sont pas la religiosit en elle-mme. Elles ne sont pas comparables la spiritualit humaine de tous les temps. Les religions sont des structures historiques, contingentes, et changeantes, alors que la spiritualit est une dimension humaine constitutive, permanente, antrieure essentielle l'tre humain La spiritualit peut tre vecue au sein des religions, ou en dehors des religions. Nous pourrions faire abstraction des religions, mais nous ne pourrions mconnatre la dimension de transcendentale de l'tre humian... 2. Les religions sont aussi des constructions humaines Comme nous avons dit, la science et la socit savent dj beaucoup sur leur origine, leur formation et leurs mcanismes. Ceci change radicalement notre perception sur celles-ci : les religions sont notre uvre, des crations humaines, gniales, mais humaines - parfois trop humaines - et qui doivent tre notre service et non l'inverse. Les religions - ses croyances et ses mythes, sa morale- ne sont pas uvre directe d'un Dieu out there, up there, qui nous a envoy ce don des religions, mais quelque chose qui a surgi ici bas, quelque chose de trs terrestre, que nous avons fait, nous les humains, pousss certainement par la force du mystre divin qui nous envahit, mais selon nos possibilits et avec nos conditionnements trs concrets. Les religions se sont absolutises elles-mmes quand on a attribu leur origine Dieu lui-mme. C'tait un mcanisme qui a servi fixer et donner une consistance fixe telles constructions humaines, dans le dsir d'assurer les formules sociaux de coexistence, desquelles l'humanit s'tait dote. Aujourd'hui nous perdons l'innocence, et ce caractre absolu

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des religions, pendant des millnires qui rendait la vie des personnes plus facile et passive, se rvle n'tre autre qu'une illusion pistmologique. Aujourd'hui, ce caractre absolu des religions, accept par nous auparavant comme une croyance, ne nous rsulte plus ncessaire, ni dsirable, ni mme supportable. 3. Donc, nous ne sommes pas soumis aux religions, nous ne sommes pas condamns suivre l'ornire de l'histoire, le chemin dfini par les religions, comme s'il s'agissait d'un propos divin dordre antrieur et exterieur notre destin, comme si nous tions obligs d'adopter les solutions avec lesquelles nos anctres ont essay de rsoudre leurs problmes et d'interprter la ralit dans la mesure de leurs possibilits Si les religions sont notre construction, ceci signifie qu'elles ne nous retirent pas le droit (ni l'obligation) de nous positionner face l'histoire et d'apporter notre propre rponse aux problmes de l'existence, et de manifester avec pleine confiance en nous-mmes notre propre interprtation de la ralit que nous sommes, en nous appuyant sur nos dcouvertes scientifiques. Nous ne sommes pas obligs de prendre comme une vrit intouchable et inbranlable les ralits dsutes et les solutions ancestrales que se donnrent elles mmes, les gnrations humaines de je ne sais combien de milliers d'annes, comme si ces interprtations taient une super rvlation venue du dehors et avec un accomplissement obligatoire. Cet quivoque religional dans lequel ont vcu nos anctres, nous parait, ce moment de l'histoire, une alination. Cela fait peur de se sentir les seuls responsables sans l'histoire, libres des chemins traditionnels religieux, sans un chemin sur et indiscutablement obligatoire trac par les dieux Cette nouvelle vision du monde, ce paradigme post-religional , gnre une auto-conscience humaine profondment diffrente par rapport celle qui a marqu notre conscience religionale traditionnelle. Maintenant nous nous sentons libres des contraintes pour laisser libre cours seulement notre ralisation personnelle et collective, pour assumer pleinement notre responsabilit, nos dcisions, notre interprtation avec ses risques, sans aucune restriction ni coercition supposment extrieure, mme si telle ft motiv par la proccupation de s'accorder avec le Mystre qui nous anime. 4. Les religions, supposment les seules expertes en ce qui concerne l'origin du temps et la fin du monde, ne sont pas, par nature, ternelles, pour toujours. Maintenant nous savons bien qu'elles sont des constructions humaines, rcentes, imprvisibles. Et nous savons qu'il n'est pas impossible qu'elles puissent disparatre. Elles ne sont pas essentielles notre nature, et elles nous ont accompagnes durant une petite partie de notre histoire de l'volution. Les religions sont lies l'agriculture nolithique: on pourrait dire quelles ont rellement merg pour assurer la viabilit de l'espce

322 Proposition thologique

humaine au moment o elle entrait dans cette nouvelle re, faisant suite la rvolution agraire. Mais, c'est prcisment cette re qui, daprs les experts, arrive actuellement sa fin. Quel futur pouvons-nous prdire aux religions dans une priode de transition qui annonce la fin de l're qui leur a donn naissance? Lhypothse que les religions ( agraires ) pourraient disparatre semble plausible. Cela ne semble pas impossible en soit, ni une grave catastrophe historique: nous avons pass la plupart de notre histoire sans religion (toute lre palolithique), et il est attest que cela n'a pas empch notre qualit humaine profonde, notre spiritualit. 5. A ce point ci, il nous reste faire une distinction qui simpose et qui, indirectement, est venue dj en vidence. Les religions traditionnelles dtenaient le monopole du monde spirituel. Une personne pouvait tre spirituelle, uniquement grce aux religions. Les religions taient considres comme la source mme de la spiritualit, la connexion directe avec le Mystre. La religion et la spiritualit taient une seule et mme chose. Aujourd'hui, comme on vient de le dire, la conceptualisation des religions est en train de changer radicalement en ce paradigme mergeant post-religional. Chaque jour, toujours plus de personnes constatent que les religions ne sont pas la source de la spiritualit, mais seulement des formes socioculturelles que, historiquement, la spiritualit a prise. Souvent elles sont un frein et un obstacle la spiritualit, dimension essentielle et caractristique de ltre humain, qui laccompagne en permanence depuis son apparition en tant qu'espce. Les mots religion, religieux, religions, qui traditionnellement englobent l'ensemble de la spiritualit, aujourd'hui devront passer, scrupuleusement, par le triage de la distinction entre le religieux (qui est li cette dimension mystrieuse de l'tre humain) et le religional (ce qui appartient seulement au domaine des paramtres socioculturels et institutionnels que nous appelons religions agricoles-nolithiques).

LE PARADIGME POST-RELIGIONAL EN BREF Une fois expos les lments principaux de la vision constitutive du paradigme post-religional, nous pourrions essayer d'exprimer le noyau central de son argumentation en un bref rsum : Premire hypothse : les religions (pas la religion, ni la spiritualit, ni la religiosit), dans le sens technique que nous avons dfini ici, sont une cration nolithique, tout autant comme fruit que comme cause, de lre agraire de l'humanit.

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Deuximement : La transformation socioculturelle que nous vivons l'heure actuelle, implique, prcisment la fin de cette poque agraire. Ce qui est maintenant surmont et balay, a t aux fondements de la socit humaine et de la forme de la conscience humaine au cours des 10.000 dernires annes (depuis le dbut de cette poque; ceci est la profondeur du changement actuel). Un nouveau type de socit merge, avec des fondements diffrents - en particulier pour lpistmologie- qui sont incompatibles avec le systme opratif nolithique millnaire. Par consquent, un changement systmique est impratif tant au niveau pistmologique, quau niveau du type de conscience spirituelle de l'humanit. De l, le caractre radical et la profondeur du changement d'poque que nous vivons, un nouvel temps axial . Consquence : les religions (agricoles nolithiques), caractrises par le type de conscience, de cosmologie et dpistmologie agricole, perdent leur fondement et entrent dans un profonde dclin au fur et mesure que - par l'accumulation de connaissances scientifiques, technologiques, sociales et exprientielles - merge un autre type de conscience, de cosmovision et dpistmologie nouvelle, incompatible avec le traditionnel nolithique. Les humains de la socit qui merge, ne peuvent plus exprimer leur dimension spirituelle, dans cette configuration particulire des religions agraires (tant agricoles que dlevage) et ils ne parviennent pas sharmoniser et se faire comprendre par la nouvelle socit. Les religions agraire-nolithiques sont obliges de se transformer radicalement, ou de disparatre. Pendant ce temps, les personnes, les communauts et les institutions religieuses, au fur et mesure quelles passent la nouvelle culture, vont se librer des mcanismes et de l'pistmologie agricole, et se mettre vivre leur spiritualit post-religionalement . Pour vrifier cette hypothse conscutivement : Nous allons devoir approfondir le concept technique de religions agraires-nolithiques, en ne nous limitant pas la rfrence des origines aprs la rvolution agraire, mais, en pntrant dans sa structure pistmologique et ses caractristiques essentielles, permanentes au cours de cette priode de l'ge agraire. Il faudra que nous dmontrions davantage les fondements solides de l'affirmation selon laquelle il s'agit de la fin de l'ge nolithique, en dtaillant concrtement quels sont les lments qui justifient une telle affirmation et, quelles sont les caractristiques et les principes de la nouvelle socit, qui sont incompatibles avec leurs religions. Et nous aurons besoin dlaborer dun projet daccompagnement pour la socit de cette poque qui est en transition entre la socit agraire et une socit nouvelle.

324 Proposition thologique

En conclusion, nous appelons le paradigme post-religional ce mode de vivre la profonde dimension de l'tre humain qui se libre et va au-del des mcanismes propres aux religions agricole-nolithiques, savoir: son pistmologie mythique, son monopole sur la spiritualit, son obligation de soumission, dacceptation aveugle des croyances comme si frent rvles par Dieu, son exercice du pouvoir politique et le contrle idologique sur la socit, que ce soit dans les rgimes de la chrtient, islamiques, d'union d'glise-tat, d'imposition de lois ecclsiastiques sur la socit civile... sa imposition d'une morale htronome, venue d'en haut, avec une interprtation du droit naturel partir dune philosophie officiellement impose, avec une morale non soumise une examen communautaire et dmocratique, son contrle de la pense humaine, avec les dogmes, la perscution de la libert de pense, l'Inquisition, la condamnation et l'excution des hrtiques, la prtention de l'infaillibilit d'inspiration divine, de dtenir l'interprtation autorise de la volont de Dieu... sa proclamation comme Saintes critures rvles (dans le cas des religions du Livre) des traditions ancestrales accumules, exaltes comme Parole directe de Dieu, comme rgle suprme et incontestable. pour la socit et pour les personnes... son interprtation pr-moderne interprtation de la ralit comme un monde deux tages, un monde surnaturel divin au-dessus de nous, dont nous dpendons et vers laquelle nous allons... son interprtation de la vie et de la mort en termes de preuve, jugement et rcompense / punition universelle dans les mains d'un juge qui est le Seigneur suprme de chaque religion... la fin de l're agraire, toutes ces structures cognitives, axiologiques et pistmologiques millnaires, cessent d'tre viables, pour laisser place la nouvelle socit. Elles taient une grande invention humaine. Grce ces promeneurs, les bandes de nomades et de chasseurscueilleurs ont russi rinventer lhumanit, la rendant capable de vivre ensemble dans la ville, rglemente par le droit, unis par une conscience religieuse d'appartenance une communaut ayant une identit attribue aux dieux... La crise actuelle nest pas principalement d au processus de scularisation, ou la perte de valeurs, ou lexpansion du matrialisme et de l'hdonisme (interprtation culpabilisante gnralement avance

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par les dirigeants des religions), pas plus qu l'absence de tmoignages ou aux scandales moraux des religions, mais lclosion d'une nouvelle situation culturelle, o la transformation radicale des structures cognitives, axiologiques et pistmologiques nolithiques culmine, transformation qui a commenc avec la rvolution scientifique du XVIe sicle, le sicle des Lumires (XVIIIe sicle) et les diffrentes vagues d'industrialisation. Les symptmes sociaux sont un certain agnosticisme diffus, la perte de la navet pistmologique, un sentiment critique plus accentu, une conceptualisation plus utilitariste des religions comme tant au service de ltre humain plutt que comme bnficiaires dune loyaut totale de la part de ses adhrents, la disparition de l'ide de lunique vraie religion et l'affaiblissement de la plausibilit d'une morale rvle htronome ; mais le changement structurel gravite autour de la transformation lpistmologique-culturelle. Nous ne sommes donc pas face un phnomne vraiment nouveau, mais seulement face sa radicalisation. Et ce n'est pas une interprtation radicalement nouvelle (ce paradigme post-religional), mais cest la prise de conscience de ce que l'axe de concentration du changement est principalement pistmologique et qu'il transforme tout radicalement. Deux mises en garde: a) Comme nous l'avons mentionn au dbut, nous n'aimerions pas sugrer que rien d'autre se passe dans le domaine religieux, comme si tout le scnario tait actuellement occup par cette transformation du paradigme des religions agraires en un paradigme post-religional. Dans le domaine religieux, d'autres phnomnes se produisent simultanment, de manire chaotique mme, car ils sont, certains gards contradictoires. Paralllement cette crise de la religion, il y a des effervescences religieuses et des rveils, des reculs et intgrismes. Dans cette proposition thologique, nous avons cadr notre centre d'intrt sur un aspect de la transformation en cours, qui ne nie pas tous les autres lments prsents. D'autres ralits se vivent dans le domaine religieux, mais il se produit galement cette ralit, et notre proposition thologique veut attirer l'attention sur elle, malgr sa caractristique peine perceptible et minoritaire dans de nombreuses rgions. b) Ce que nous disons ne peut pas tre appliqu indistinctement TOUTES les religions. Parce que toutes les religions ne sont pas agraires. Il y a beaucoup de religions, toutes du mme genre, qui n'ont pas vcu la rvolution agraire et urbaine. Elles ont conserv en leur sein une matrice de lexprience religieuse propre des temps prcdent la transformation nolithique ( la sparation face au placenta de la sacralit de la nature, la prise en charge de la transcendance divine dualiste et acosmique, etc.)

326 Proposition thologique

et elles ne sont pas tombes dans la drive contrleuse et programmatrice de la socit travers la soumission aux doctrines, dogmes, inquisitions... Ici, nous pouvons cerner la grande famille des religions cosmiques, indignes, animistes... ainsi que d'autres qui, nappartenant pas historiquement la priode nolithique et tant des religions de socits purement agraires (agriculture ou levage) sont restes en marge du contrle dogmatique-doctrinal, comme l'hindouisme, une religion sans vrits . Cela signifie que ce paradigme ne s'applique pas toutes les religions. La ralit est donc plus complexe que nos tentatives simplificatrices de comprhension, qui nous poussent une plus grande prcision, une humilit plus sereine et un plus grand intrt pour l'tude de terrain, de la recherche et du dialogue. FACE AU PASSAGE IMMDIAT Ce que nous faisons est une proposition thologique, un approfondissement thorique pour pouvoir mieux transformer la ralit que nous interprtons (interprtation comme un moyen de transformer). Mais il est videmment quil aura des rpercussions pastorales trs grandes. Parce que ce dont nous parlons est un tsunami culturel et religieux, une mtamorphose quil nous sera parfois difficile de reconnatre nousmmes, dans un avenir proche. Et cela peut tre trs pnible franchir pour lhumanit : les anthropologues disent que la transition de la socit palolithique la nolithique avec la rvolution agraire, a t la situation la plus ardue que notre espce ait connue, peut-tre sommes nous dans un temps volutionniste semblable. Il est ncessaire d'examiner comment accompagner ce transit qui va seffectuer ou qui a dj commenc dans la socit, des religions agraires vers un nouveau type de socit, dont la ralisation spirituelle sera aussi bien par des voies et selon des modles qui continueront tre religieux mais post-religionaux , sans quactuellement nous sachions, prcisment comment seront ces voies et ces modles... car nous devrons les inventer. Les religions seront voues - elles le sont dj dans de nombreux endroits des situations de dclin, de perte de membres, de crdibilit et de plausibilit, d'une part, et dautre part elles exprimenteront des contradictions avec leurs propres mcanismes agricoles. Dj de nombreuses personnes peroivent le besoin de transformer leur religiosit, radicalement, mais sentent de faon poignante la contradiction avec la doctrine officielle, considre comme infaillible et immuable, qui leur interdit toute modification ou abdication d'anciens principes. Dans certaines socits, il y a dj des dizaines de millions de personnes qui quittent tranquillement la religion, et restent religieux post-religionalment. Il est possible que certaines hirarchies religieuses, perdues dans le mirage

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d'une fidlit sacre, persistent dans leur prfrence de couler leurs propres institutions religieuses, pltot que de permettre la progression, mme avec les meilleures intentions, et pour la gloire de Dieu. Mais il est galement possible que de nombreux groupes soient capables de se transformer. Cest bien possible et nous souhaitons vraiment, que les religions agraires voluent vers de nouvelles formes religieuses (post-religionales) compatibles avec cette nouvelle socit du savoir. Ils se rendront compte que, de la mme faon que la science a contredit le gocentrisme qu'ils considraient mme rvl, la science rvle maintenant que le religio-centrisme tait un mirage religional, et que comme ce moment la il a t possible dabandonner la vieille cosmovision et de continuer vivre spirituellement, alors aujourd'hui il sera possible, et ncessaire, de se librer des chanes de ce religional, pour trouver l'panouissement spirituel dans une nouveau grade de l'volution. Il semble que le Titanic des religions agricoles narrivera pas flotter dans les latitudes de l'ocan de la socit de la connaissance. Il semble quil ne durera pas trs longtemps et quil va couler. Il a puiss son kairos, mais il lui reste un peu de temps de chronos. Mais ce n'est pas la fin du monde. C'est juste la fin d'un monde, la fin du monde agricole-nolithique et de son pistmologie, et donc avec lui, des configurations religionales de la spiritualit, que nous avons appel religions nolithiques agraires . La vie et sa dimension profonde continuent. Et nous devons comprendre ce qui se passe, pour ne pas nous retrouver lutter contre la Ralit, mais d'aider la naissance de cette nouvelle tape volutionnaire de notre espce, pour contribuer se rinventer comme nous l'avons fait au dbut du Nolithique. Notre devoir est aussi de faire preuve de prudence et ne pas pousser quelqu'un au-del de ses besoins ou de ses possibilits, avertir clairement que la situation est difficile, il sagit dune nouvelle naissance, dune mtamorphose, un changement des espce, ou un changement de systme opratif, et c'est un moment de risques importants, tant sur le plan de dconstruction, comme sur le plan constructif : non seulement pour ce auquel nous ne pouvons plus croire, mais aussi comment nous pouvons dvelopper pleinement notre dimension transcendante et spirituelle, la qualit humaine profonde que les religions religionales, aprs tout, avec plus ou moins de limites, tentaient de soutenir. Beaucoup de choses sont en train de mourir, il est invitable quelles meurent, et elles ne finissent pas de mourir, nous essayons de les aider bien mourir (cest lars moriendi, de mourir en donnant la vie aux autres, en donnant naissance). Entretemps, c'est un monde tout nouveau qui est en train de natre, qui lutte pour naitre, mais mais il n'est pas encore n, et nous aimerions l'aider naitre. Les religions ne jugent pas ncessaire de rinterprter et de restructurer l'ensemble de leur patrimoine symbolique, qui a t cr dans le

328 Proposition thologique

cadre des conditionnements pistmologiques de lre agricole. Ce serait une rlaboration, une r-rception (Congar) de toute son patrimoine, labor depuis des millnaires, et maintenu historiquement dans une ignorance et le manque de culture dont nous venons de sortir rcemment, grce au dploiement prodigieux des sciences. Les religions devraient chercher comment r-comprendre ce qui reste, sil reste quelque chose, des croyances, des dogmes, des rites agraires moraux htronomes... au sein de cette nouvelle situation de connaissance et de ces nouveaux cadres d'interprtation. Beaucoup d'tres humains, se verront inaptes continuer s'appuyer sur les religions pour survivre spirituellement, ils auront de srieuses difficults avec l'intgrit spirituelle de leur vie. Comme lorsque l'avion dcolle et quitte le systme dappui de ses roues sur le sol, ayant passer s'appuyer sur un nouveau systme de soutien, compltement diffrent, celui de ses ailes, la plupart de l'humanit devra passer par des moments difficiles d'quilibre dans la transition dun systme l'autre systme de valeurs, si diffrents, et dans une certaine mesure, incompatibles, et sans la possibilit de mettre le pilote automatique. Un tsunami est venir. Les risques sont graves, tous les niveaux. Il est du devoir de la thologie responsable de prvoir ces problmes et d'essayer d'accompagner ce transit invitable o nous nous trouvons. Tant dans la thorie que dans la pratique, la question mrite beaucoup plus quune simple proposition thologique . Nous l'avons laiss ici, et nous la livrons la consultation et au dbat, dsireux quelle soit corrige et amliore. Pourrions-nous offrir, la fin de cette anne, un ouvrage complet, avec les rflexions, les ides et les dbats ns de cette simple prsentation du paradigme post-religieux? Vous tes cordialement invits.

 329

Practical Proposal to Work Possible research projects

EATWOT's International Theological Commission

The Belo Horizonte Consultation concluded with an eye to the future. The result of the consultation had been very good, and indeed, it was deemed necessary to give it continuity. The idea now is to produce a guide, a list of research projects with which it would be possible to address all the issues and topics raised by the Consultation, while at the same time trying to bring out the differences, to verify and even to improve the proposed interpretation of what we are calling the postreligional paradigm. With this list or index as guide, the International Theological Commission of EATWOT is opening a second phase of the consultation which consists in convoking both those who participated in the first phase, as well as all theologians and scientific students of religion who might still like to participate. People or institutions that feel inspired and motivated to develop any of these suggestions or lines of thought, are invited to contact our Theological Commission. This would be either to report on their work or to search for colleagues and/or set up alliances. The ideas and proposals were worked up in thematic blocks, but this is purely a methodological mesure and freely open to reformulation. (See) Thematic block of FACTS - The HISTORY of "agrarian religion": its origin, essential identity, basic features, epistemological mechanisms, control over society, and: Just what did our ancestors do to latch on to this "reinvention of society'?...

330 Possible research projects

- Comparative studies of religiosity in the agrarian Neolithic and Paleolithic eras. What can we learn today from these studies? - Study and compare the contrasting religious relationship of the human person with the existing nature of the Paleolithic and the Neolithic periods. When were we separated from the Great Mother Goddess? How and why did this happen? What is the existing basis for our current reclaiming of: "a return to our natural home" our homecoming? From just where did we turned off, and at what point in our evolutionary history did we abandon our telluric and cosmic placenta? What role did our agrarian Neolithic religion play in all this and how do we go about recovering from this self-imposed exile from which we are still suffering? Was this a pure contingency or a real necessity? Was it just this way even though it could have been otherwise, or did it have to be this way and could not have been otherwise? - The society that is still to come: How to characterize it and what to call it? A society of knowledge, innovation, post-industrial ...? What will be the principle features of this emerging culture of the new society? - The epistemology of the new society: its limits, convergence and incompatibility with the dominant epistemology of Neolithic times. - Field studies to verify and assess specifically the presence of this new society in Latin America and/or other continents. - Focus on the facts which are in dissonance with this presumed pos-religional paradigm: the spread of fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, spiritual revivals, the persistence of magical thinking ... Are they compatible? What is the overall direction of the flow, despite so many whirlpools in the river of religious history today?

(Judge) Thematic block on (AGRARIAN) RELIGION -First off: What is the religious/spiritual drive of the human person? Elucidate over a more compelling, interdisciplinary and functional definition of the religiosity of human beings, including its essentially transcendent dimension. -The "Neolithic Agrarian Religion" as a factor in programming and social cohesion. Submission and thought-control as a characteristic mechanism of religions. "Ontology of submission" (Corb). - With all agrarian religions? Is there a variation of positions between some religions and others in this feature of being "social programmers"?

Practical Proposal to Work 331

- Ought we to consider the " programming characteristic" of religions, and the "submission" by members of society, the principle or nuclear feature of agrarian Neolithic time? - Can it be held that liberation from this programmer control and the subsequent submission was the principle and central characteristic of the era that superceded the agrarian Neolithic period? - Can it be said that overcoming this, paved the way for the Enlightenment and its Sapere aude! (Dare to know!)? -Can it be said that the main feature of the new post-agrarian era will be the freeing of epistemology, or liberation epistemology? - Towards a religion that is post-religional: with control of neither thought, nor opinion nor its expression; without dogmas, doctrines, or absolute truths; without submission ... A religion centered upon - what? - Towards a new "theology of religion" (re-defining religion). If the traditional role of religion in the Neolithic agrarian world became nonviable, what will religion be like in a pos-religional society? Would it move towards a new "theology of religion, a new consideration of the deep religious significance of religion itself and what it means to be religious? Would it be a theology of religion that adopts today's perspective: that religions are human constructs (not purely divine); that religions are relative (not absolute), purely cultural-positioning (not supernatural and universal), and that they are limited (flawed) and not unique ... Specific thematic block CHRISTIANITY - Christianity is also an agrarian Neolithic-religion. ... As for being founded by Jesus, or in spite of being "founded" Jesus? Study of the agrarian-Neolithic dimensions of Christianity: its being, quantity, origin, its taking shape in the history of Christianity ... - "Is Christianity a religion? Reconsidering this classic question. Did Jesus found a religion or is it that his message represents precisely the displacement of religions? Is it possible to reinterpret or reformulate Christianity in a non-religious way? It would be worth while replanting the ever timely question of a "non-religious Christianity" (secularizing movements of John AT Robinson, the theology of the death of God, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gustave Thils, John Shelby Spong ...) - The Future of Christianity: What path will the tradition of Jesus follow in the new post-religional world? What can we foresee? - Possibilities of Christianity: Can Christianity cease to be an agrarian-Neolithic religion? What particular elements of agrarian religions are found in Christianity? List them. Are they really essential to Christianity? Do they actually flow from the message of Jesus? Are there actually agrar-

332 Possible research projects

ian religious elements in the message itself of the historical Jesus? Is it strange that they are found there? - Obviously the thought patterns of Jesus were geocentric, just as those of any person of his time would be. (" The Father makes the sun to shine on both the just and sinners"). Nevertheless we, although with great difficulty on the part of the institution, have been able to move into a Christianity with a heliocentric cosmic view . In a parallel manner: just as Jesus was religious with the agrarian religiosity of the Judaism which he professed, wouldnt it be possible for us to move into a non-religional Christianity? Special difficulties of Catholicism: Will Roman Catholicism be able to discard agrarian- Neolithic features after having been so profoundly inbred by Greek metaphysics and after Catholicism has radically bolstered itself up with the doctrines of infallibility, immutability and unreinterpretability for both its dogmas and the deposit of faith, and now after its persecution of dissidents and heterodoxy ... or will Catholicism die as a martyr of fidelity to these principles? Faced with this tsunami of cultures just ahead: Just what can we expect of Christianity if it fails to transform itself? - "Jesus invites us to surpass religions" (Thomas Sheehan). Christianity without religion (Gustoff Thils). Jesus calls us to a nonordained, a lay sanctity. (Bonhffer) "Jesus for the non-religious" (book by John Shelby Spong). "A Jesus for atheists" (of Machovec) ... In a pos-religional culture, just what would diferentiate faith in Jesus, the following of Jesus, the community of followers of Jesus? Thematic bloc of EPISTEMOLOGY and RELIGION - This would entail a thorough study of the epistemology of agrarian religions:
their beliefs (in the technical sense), their myths, the "great mechanism" of divine attribution ... and its unfeasibility today ...

- And equally:
the end of mythical epistemology, the end of "naive realism" (Barbour) the recognition of the metaphorical character of all religious expression, and the "end of the dogmatic religious dream" ...

- Traditionally theology has been an element of agrarian religion it has been its theoretical expression and doctrinal base when necessary. Is a post-religional theology possible? Obviously there will always be

Practical Proposal to Work 333

need for a "local theology to respond for every religion, but shouldnt theology be remade with a focus that is beyond the local, towards a pluralistic, inter-religious, multi-religious, trans-religious ...a planetary theology? Can we move towards a global theology? - If a post-religional paradigm transforms the conceptualization of religion itself, forcing us to come up with a new, completely different face for religion, wont a "new theology of religion" also be necessary?

Thematic block on LIBERATION THEOLOGY - LIBERATION THEOLOGY is that that theology that re-read the modernizing Christianity of the last third of the twentieth century with its conscience focused upon the political dimension and the option for the poor. It acts completely like a paradigm, the liberating paradigm. We must ask: Do the liberating paradigm and the post-religional paradigm have something to do with each other? Do they have something in common? Are they compatible? - The theological proposal of a pos-religional paradigm presented here would answer that: at first blush it appears neutral from the standpoint of a liberating paradigm. Is it actually possible to be politically neutral? (Does anything politically neutral actually exist?). With the advent of a post-religional paradigm and a society of knowledge: would it be in favor of the poor or of the powerful? - Can we make a presentation of the post-religional paradigm from a "political neutrality" at least for methodological reasons? - Liberation Theology is still clearly a "religional" theology. Even though it polished up many of the conservative aspects of traditional Christianity, in fact it assumed the central structure of its epistemology, together with its great story, and of course the main "beliefs" of Christianity. Just as in past years it has been tried, and to a good degree achieved, to "cross" Liberation Theology with the pluralist paradigm, coming up with a "Pluralist Liberation Theology". Would it be possible to cross Liberation Theology with the post-religional paradigm and come up with a "Post-religional Liberation Theology"? Since many elements of the agrarian religions would disappear: just what agrarian elements of Liberation Theology would have to be transformed? Thematic block of SPIRITUALITY - The new relevance given to spirituality in the reflection on religion. The decline of religions in the world, and the emergence of a sense of priority and absoluteness of the spiritual ...

334 Possible research projects

- Movements towards a pluralistic concept of spirituality. Is spirituality one, or are there many different spiritualities? Discussion about different approaches. - Spirituality and religions: What about spirituality beyond religion...; spirituality without religion ...; a lay spirituality that is simply human ... - The non-dual spirituality: a growing Eastern ascendancy over the West. - The so-called "neo-atheism" and the post-religional paradigm: do a comparative contrasting study. ("Act") Thematic block of TRANSITION Theorizing over a pos-religional paradigm should be responsible and include in its consideration the felt need to accompany the "transition" that in reality has already been initiated by largely agrarian-Neolithic societies into pos-religional societies in the style of knowledge societies. Regarding this transition, different levels must be distinguished: that of individuals, that of communities, the "People of God", institutions, and those self-exiled people who have left by the millions... To foresee and accompany this transition we must ...: - Be able to foresee a new historical figure of Spirituality, that is far beyond that of agrarian religions, their basic principles and functioning mechanisms ... This requires heading towards a pos-religional religiosity: heading towards a being spiritual or religious beyond "religional religion", a "profound humanization without religious forms... - Concretely attempting to reinterpret Christianity in a non-religional key. What would be the spiritual significance of Jesus if we should hold that he never intended to found a religion? How would Christianity have to transform itself if, -- even though it has been a religion, -- it will have to stop being a religion in order to move on into the pos-religional future at the end of the agrarian-Neolithic era? - Develop a proposal of "pastoral and social strategies to accompany religions and societies in this transition. (To "maintain the child after bathing, instead of throwing it out with the bath water"). This would be to avoid having a society being left without a dimension of profundity and spirituality at the time religions are entering a decline, since these, -- even with their shortcomings, -- have been the principal means for their cultivation. - Research and work up a new vision of "secular spirituality" as being simply something of a profound and deeply-human dimension ...

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- Since in some way this "transition" will involve a certain "regression" -- a "return to our eco-mother-home" of eco-centric spirituality ("homecoming") -- it is important to develop an adequate analytic reflection on it , in order to avoid dualistic transcendence-immanence and while overcoming patriarchal agrarian religions finally re-encountering our eco-spirituality in REALITY. - Since the perception of this paradigm will probably shock if not even scandalize quite a few people who are religious in the traditional agrarian sense, the question comes up: Is it correct and valid for us to propose this post-religional paradigm when we actually still have no perfectly clear idea of just where we are going to arrive at, and up to what point the human spiritual dimension will evolve in the coming post-agrarian period? Would it perhaps be better to wait? Or on the contrary is it urgent to act now in order to prevent and/or care for those who already have become victims of this transformation and whose numbers run into the tens of millions? Ought we to try to avoid scandalizing the simple, or should we strive to help those already suffering existential damage? - How to help believers -- submitted to mythical epistemology and conditioned in that line -- move forward with this changing society which every day makes their personal situation less feasible... - How to help institutions, churches and religions confront this future. Help them re-discover themselves, to change their goals, to accept a metanoia that produces "conversion", and with it a consequent change of attitude. Its worth while recalling a point made by Raymond Hostie : "Historically, 75% of religious institutions founded during the history of the Catholic Church disappear". They face the dilemma of radically renewing, or of dying in peace. They must learn the ars moriendi (the art of dying), the art of accepting death and making of it the supreme act in favor of life; instead of dying in despair, dying to help bring to life different realities more in line with the times; dying to give life ("as dying in childbirth" ultimately converts death into giving life). Help common people to gradually overcome the "beliefs" (in the technical sense), the mythical thought, the epistemology of submission and control ... Make a list of "beliefs" common in Christianity (even in Liberation Theology), analyze them in detail, as a pedagogical aid to overcome them ...

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 337

Propuesta Prctica de Trabajo Posibles proyectos de investigacin

Comisin Teolgica Internacional de la EATWOT

La Consulta de Belo Horizonte concluy con la mira puesta en el futuro. El resultado de la Consulta haba sido muy bueno y, efectivamente, haba que darle continuidad. Se trat de elaborar una gua, un elenco ordenado de proyectos de investigacin con los que fuera posible abordar todas las cuestiones y temticas suscitadas en la Consulta, para tratar de contrastar y verificar o mejorar la propuesta interpretativa del llamado paradigma pos-religional. Con esta gua, con este elenco, se abre una segunda fase de la Consulta, a la que la Comisin Teolgica Internacional de la EATWOT convoca tanto a quienes participaron en la primera, como a todos los telogos/as y cientistas de la religin que quieran incorporarse a partir de ahora. Las personas, o instituciones, que se sientan inspirados y motivados a desarrollar cualquiera de estas sugerencias o pistas de trabajo, pueden ponerse en contacto con nuestra Comisin Teolgica, ya sea para informar sobre su trabajo como para buscar colegas y entablar alianzas. Las ideas y propuestas fueron ordenadas por bloques temticos (lo cual es un recurso meramente metodolgico, que puede ser libremente reformulado). (Ver) Bloque temtico de LOS HECHOS - La historia misma de la religin agraria (su surgimiento, su identidad esencial, sus rasgos caractersticos, sus mecanismos epistemolgicos, su control sobre la sociedad, cmo hicieron nuestros antepasados para dotarse de esta reinvencin de la sociedad... - Estudios comparados de la religiosidad agrario-neoltica y de la religiosidad paleoltica. Qu podemos hoy saber en esa comparacin?

338 Propuesta prctica de trabajo

- Estudiar y comparar la contrastante relacin religiosa del ser humano con la naturaleza en el perodo paleoltico y en el perodo neoltico. Cundo nos separamos de la Gran Diosa Madre? Cmo y por qu ocurri? Qu fundamento tiene la actual reclamacin de una vuelta a nuestro hogar natural (homecoming)? Dnde fue que nos desviamos, en qu momento de nuestra historia evolutiva nos separamos de nuestra placenta telrica y csmica? Qu papel tuvieron en ello las religiones agrario-neolticas? Cmo recuperarnos de este autoexilio que an padecemos? - Contingencia o necesidad?: Fue as aunque podra haber sido de otra manera, o tuvo que ser as porque no podra haber sido de otra manera? - La sociedad adveniente: Cmo caracterizarla? Cmo llamarla? Del conocimiento, de innovacin, post-industrial...? Rasgos principales de la cultura emergente de la nueva sociedad. - La epistemologa de la nueva sociedad: lmites, convergencias e incompatibilidades con la epistemologa dominante en el tiempo neoltico. - Estudios de campo que verifiquen y valoren concretamente la presencia de esta nueva sociedad en Amrica Latina y/u otros continentes. - Atencin a los hechos disonantes con este supuesto paradigma posreligional: difusin de los fundamentalismos, pentecostalismos, revivals espirituales, pervivencia de la mentalidad mgica... Son compatibles? Cul es la direccin global de la corriente, a pesar de tantos remolinos en el ro de la historia religiosa actual? (Juzgar) Bloque temtico de LA RELIGIN (AGRARIA) - Previamente, qu es la religin-espiritualidad del ser humano...? Elucidar de un modo ms convincente una definicin funcional e interdisciplinar sobre la religiosidad del ser humano, su dimensin esencial de transcendencia. - La Religin agrario-neoltica como factor de programacin y de cohesin social. La sumisin y el control del pensamiento como mecanismo caracterstico de las religiones. La ontologa de la sumisin (Corb). - Profundizacin en el concepto utilizado de religiones agrarias. Todas las religiones de la poca neoltica? Tambin aquellas de sociedades cuya base material no era mayoritariamente la agricultura? Y las religiones de sociedades fundamentalmente ganaderas? Hay variacin de posiciones entre unas religiones y otras en su caracterstica de programadoras sociales, en sus mecanismos epistemolgicos u otras dimensiones?

Posibles proyectos de investigacin 339

- Sera el carcter programador por parte de las religiones, y la sumusin por parte de los miembros de la sociedad, la caracterstica principal, la nuclear, del tiempo agrario neoltico? Sera la liberacin de ese control programador y de esa sumisin la caracterstica principal y central de la nueva era superadora del tiempo agrario-neoltico? Podrase decir que esta superacin comenz con la Ilustracin y su spere aude!? Podrase decir que la caracterstica principal de la nueva era pos-agraria va a ser la liberacin de la epistemologa, o una epistemologa liberadora? - Hacia una religin pos-religional: sin control del pensamiento ni de la opinin ni de su expresin, sin dogmas, sin doctrina, sin verdades, sin sumisin... Una religin centrada en qu? - Hacia una nueva teologa de la religin (redefinicin de la religin). Si el papel tradicional de la religin en el mundo agrcola-neoltico se hace inviable, qu va a ser la religin en una sociedad posreligional? Hacia una nueva teologa de la religin, una nueva reconsideracin del significado religioso profundo de la religin misma y de lo religional. Una teologa de la religin que acoja la perspectiva actual: religiones que son construcciones humanas (no puramente divinas), religiones relativas (no absolutas), ubicadamente culturales (no sobrenaturales y universales), limitadas (con limitaciones), sin unicidad... Bloque temtico especfico de EL CRISTIANISMO - El cristianismo es tambin una religin agrario-neoltica... En cuanto fundada por Jess, o a pesar de ser fundada por Jess? Estudio de las dimensiones agrario-neolticas del cristianismo: entidad, dosis, origen, su plasmacin en la historia del cristianismo... - El cristianismo es una religin?: replanteamiento de esta pregunta clsica. Jess fund una religin, o su mensaje representa precisamente la superacin de las religiones? Es posible reinterpretar/reformular no religiosamente el cristianismo? Replanteamiento de la recurrente cuestin de un cristianismo no religioso (movimientos de secularizacin, John A.T. Robinson, teologa de la muerte de Dios, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gustave Thils, John Shelby Spong...) - Futuro del cristianismo: Por dnde continuar la tradicin de Jess en el nuevo mundo pos-religional? Qu podemos vislumbrar? - Posibilidades del cristianismo: Podr el cristianismo dejar de ser una religin agrario-neoltica? Qu elementos propios de las religiones agrarias encontramos en el cristianismo? Enumerar. Son esenciales al cristianismo? Provienen del mensaje de Jess? Hay elementos de religiosidad agraria en el mensaje mismo del Jess histrico? Es extrao que los haya?

340 Propuesta prctica de trabajo

- Jess pensaba geocntricamente, como persona de su tiempo (el Padre hace salir el sol sobre justos y pecadores); pero nosotros, aunque con grandes dificultades por parte de la institucin, hemos podido pasar a un cristianismo con una cosmovisin heliocntrica. Paralelamente: si Jess era religioso religionalmente, con una religiosidad agraria, como lo era el judasmo que Jess profes, podremos pasar a un cristianismo no religional? - Dificultades especiales del catolicismo: podr el catolicismo romano superar los rasgos agrario-neolticos habindose identificado tan profundamente con la metafsica griega, y habindose escorado tan radicalmente hacia la doctrina de la infalibilidad, la inmutabilidad e ininterpretabilidad de sus dogmas, de la fe revelada, del depsito de la fe, la persecucin de la disidencia y de la heterodoxia... o morir vctima y mrtir de la fidelidad a esos principios? Ante el tsunami culturas que est llegando, qu se puede esperar del cristianismo si no se transforma? - Jess invita a la superacin de las religiones (Thomas Sheehan). Cristianismo sin religin (Gustave Thils). Jess nos llama a una santidad laica (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Jess para los no religiosos (libro de John Shelby Spong). Jess para ateos (de Milan Machovec)... En una cultura posreligional, qu ser la fe en Jess, el seguimiento de Jess, la comunidad de los seguidores de Jess? Bloque temtico de EPISTEMOLOGA, TEOLOGA Y RELIGIN - Estudio detallado y en profundidad de la epistemologa propia de las religiones agrarias: las creencias (en sentido tcnico), los mitos, el gran mecanismo de atribucin divina... y su inviabilidad hoy... - e igualmente: el fin de la epistemologa mtica, el fin del realismo ingenuo (Barbour), el reconocimiento del carcter metafrico de toda expresin religiosa, el fin del sueo dogmtico religioso... - La teologa ha sido tradicionalmente un elemento de las religiones agrarias, y ha sido como s expresin terica, y doctrinal en su caso. Es posible una teologa pos-religional? Es obvio que siempre habr necesidad de una teologa local, de cada religin... pero no deber la teologa rehacerse con un enfoque supralocal, pluralista, inter-religioso, multireligioso, trans-religioso... planetario? Hacia una teologa planetaria? - Si el paradigma pos-religional transforma la conceptuacin de la religin misma, haciendo que descubramos un nuevo rostro, completamente distinto, no ser necesaria una nueva teologa de la religin?

Posibles proyectos de investigacin 341

Bloque temtico de TEOLOGA DE LA LIBERACIN - La teologa de la liberacin es la teologa que reley el cristianismo modernizante del ltimo tercio del siglo XX con la toma de conciencia de la dimensin poltica y la opcin por los pobres. Ella funge como todo un paradigma, el paradigma liberador. Preguntamos: el paradigma liberador y el paradigma pos-religional, tienen algo que ver? Tienen algo en comn? Son compatibles? - La propuesta teolgica del paradigma pos-religional que aqu se presenta diramos que, en principio, parece neutra desde el punto de vista del paradigma liberador. Es posible que sea neutra polticamente? (Hay algo polticamente neutro?). El advenimiento del paradigma posreligional y la sociedad del conocimiento, favorece a los pobres o a los poderosos? - Podramos hacer una presentacin del paradigma pos-religional desde una neutralidad poltica por razones metodolgicas? - La teologa de la liberacin es todava, claramente, una teologa religional. Aunque puli muchos de los aspectos conservadores del cristianismo tradicional, de hecho asumi la estructura central de su epistemologa, su gran relato, las principales creencias del cristianismo. Del mismo modo que en los aos pasados se ha intentado y en buena parte se ha conseguido- cruzar la teologa de la liberacin con el paradigma pluralista, llegando a una teologa pluralista de la liberacin, ser posible cruzar la teologa de la liberacin con el paradigma pos-religional... y llegar a una teologa pos-religional de la liberacin? Si muchas cosas de las religiones agrarias van a desaparecer... qu elementos agrarios de la teologa de la liberacin es probable que hayan de transformarse?

Bloque temtico de ESPIRITUALIDAD - La nueva relevancia que est adquiriendo la espiritualidad en la reflexin sobre la religin. El declive de las religiones en el mundo, y la emergencia de la prioridad y del carcter absoluto de la espiritualidad... - Hacia un concepto plural de espiritualidad. La espiritualidad es una, o hay muchas diferentes espiritualidades? Debate de planteamientos. - Espiritualidad y religiones: La espiritualidad ms all de las religiones. Espiritualidad sin religiones, espiritualidad laica, simplemente humana... - La espiritualidad no dual: creciente influjo oriental sobre Occidente.

342 Propuesta prctica de trabajo

(Actuar) Bloque temtico de EL TRNSITO Una teorizacin sobre el paradigma posreligional debe ser responsable e incluir en su consideracin la preocupacin por acompaar el trnsito que ya se ha iniciado desde las sociedades mayoritariamente agrcola-neolticas hacia sociedades posreligionales del tipo de sociedades del conocimiento. Respecto a este trnsito hay que distinguir niveles: las personas, las comunidades, el Pueblo de Dios, las instituciones, los autoexiliados que han abandonado por millones... Para prever y acompaar el trnsito necesitamos...: - Ser capaces de prever una nueva figura histrica de la Espiritualidad, ms all de las religiones agrarias, de sus presupuestos y sus mecanismos de funcionamiento... Ello exige caminar hacia una "religin sin religin", a una religin pos-religional, hacia un ser religiosos o espirituales ms all de la religin-religonal, una humanizacin profunda sin formas religionales... - Intentar concretamente una relectura del cristianismo en clave no religional. Cul es la significacin espiritual de Jess si contamos con que l no quiso fundar una religin? Cmo debe transformarse el cristianismo si, a pesar de que ha sido una religin, necesita dejar de serlo para adentrarse en el futuro a-religional posterior al fin de la edad agrario-neoltica? - Elaborar una propuesta de estrategias "pastorales" y "sociales" para acompaar a las religiones y a la sociedad en este trnsito. (Para sujetar el nio despus de haberlo lavado, en vez de tirarlo con el agua sucia). Para que la sociedad no se quede sin dimensin profunda, sin espiritualidad, al entrar en declive las religiones, que fueron el vehculo principal de su cultivo, aun con sus deficiencias. - Estudio y elaboracin de una nueva conceptuacin de la espiritualidad laica, como dimensin profunda simplemente y profundamente- humana... - Dado que en algunos aspectos el trnsito va a implicar una cierta vuelta atrs, un retorno a nuestro hogar eco-materno, a la espiritualidad eco-centrada (homecoming), elaborar una reflexin adecuada para esta transformacin, para la superacin del dualismo transcendenciainmanencia, para superar el patriarcalismo de las religiones agrarias, para reencontrar nuestra eco-espiritualidad dentro de la Realidad. Cmo ayudar a los creyentes, sometidos a la epistemologa mtica, programados... que avanzan con esta sociedad que se transforma haciendo cada da ms inviable esa su situacin personal... Ayudarles a ir

Posibles proyectos de investigacin 343

superando las creencias (en el sentido tcnico), el pensamiento mtico, la epistemologa del control, la ontologa de la sumisin... Hacer concretamente un elenco de las creencias ms habituales en el cristianismo (inclusive en la teologa de la liberacin), abordndolas explcitamente y tratndolas pormenorizadamente, con sentido pedaggico para ayudar a su superacin... Cmo ayudar a las instituciones de las Iglesias y religiones a afrontar este futuro. Ayudarlas a recomprenderse a s mismas, a reconvertir sus objetivos, a asumir una metanoia que produzca una conversin, con un cambio consecuente en sus actitudes. Recordar un dato de Raymond HOSTIE: las partes de los institutos religiosos fundados en toda la historia de la Iglesia catlica ya han desaparecido... Estn ante el dilema de renovarse radicalmente, o morir en paz. Necesitan aprender el ars moriendi, el arte de saber aceptar la muerte haciendo que sea un acto supremo en favor de la vida: en vez de morir en la desesperacin, morir ayudando a que nazcan otras realidades ms acomodadas al tiempo, morir dando vida (morir de parto en definitiva, convertir la muerte en donacin de vida).

344

Living Well - Living Well Together

Latin American Agenda' 2012
Foreword: Pedro CASALDLIGA 33 author's contributions by the best known names of Latin America and beyond :
Jos COMBLIN, Frei BETTO, Leonardo BOFF, Margot BREMER, Marcelo BARROS, Jose Mara VIGIL, Fernando HUANCUNI, lvaro GARCA LINERA, Eduardo GALEANO, Gregorio IRIARTE, Pablo SUESS, Boaventura DE SOUZA, David CHOQUEHUANCA, Bartomeu MELI, Pedro DVALOS, Elsa TMEZ, Luis RAZETO, Jorge E. MENDOZA, Pedro RIVEIRO DE OLIVEIRA, Edgardo LANDER, Josep Manel BUSQUETA, Marc PLANA, Alejandro DAUS, Rosa Martha ZRATE... You can download this edition freely digitally at the page of the Latin American Agenda, here: For the printed copy: Dunamis Publishers, Montreal, Quebec, Canada www.dunamispublishers.blogspot.com dunamis@live.com

Latinoamericana.org/English

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348

Per i molti cammini di Dio

Teologia Liberatrice Intercontinentale del Pluralismo Religioso vol IV

Prlogo di Paul KNITTER Prefazione di Letizia TOMASSONE Pazzini Editore Villa Verrucchio RN, Italia 2011 www.pazzinieditore.it pazzini@pazzinieditore.it
Contenuto: La teologia del Pluralismo Religioso in A.L., Faustino TEIXEIRA Molteplici appartenenze: il pluralismo che verr, Marcelo BARROS Salvezza indigena e afroamericana, Diego IRARRZAVAL Pluralismo e missione. Per un'ermeneutica dell'alterit, Paulo SUESS Cristologia nella teologia pluralista, Jos COMBLIN Valore teologico del sincretismo, Afonso M Ligrio SOARES Identit cristiana e teologia del pluralismo religioso, Jos Maria VIGIL Teologia asiatica e pluralismo religioso, Edmund CHIA Teologia del pluralismo religioso in Asia, K.C. ABRAHAM Dialogo con lo Shintoismo, Ismael GONZLEZ FUENTES Dalle cristologie europee alle teologie asiatiche, Jonathan TAN YUN-KA L'interpellanza del pluralismo religioso, Raimon PANIKKAR Perch una cristologia pluralistica in Asia, Tissa BALASURIYA Teologia del pluralismo religioso in Africa, Mari GETUI Relazioni inter-religiose in Sudafrica, Ramathate DOLAMO Salvezza e guarigione, Mari GETUI La liberazione del popolo a partire delle minoranze degli USA, Dwight HOPKINS Teologia del pluralismo religioso in Europa ed in Occidente, Carlo MOLARI Voci di chi abita sulla frontiera, Lieve TROCH La Terra: riferimento primordiale per la teologia delle religioni, R. RENSHAW Epilogo. Teologia pluralista: i dati, i compiti, la sua spiritualit, J.M. VIGIL

Prossimo a uscire: Per

i molti cammini di Dio, vol. V

Eatwot's Theological Journal

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Free downloadable at: www.InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES

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Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians Asociacin Ecumnica de Telogos/as del Tercer Mundo Association Oecumnique des Thologiens du Tiers Monde Volume XXXIV N 2012/1 New Series January-March 2012
http://InternationalTheologicalCommission.org/VOICES ISSN: 2222-0763