Three major theological movements have helped shape the Church in Latin America. What form of Christianity will best take root in the soil of this, one of the most diverse regions in the world? Does this 500-year-old question finally have an answer?
Roman Catholicism: faith imported for the New World
Christianity arrived in Latin America along with the discovery and conquest of the New World. Beginning in the 16th century, missions from the Jesuits and Franciscans faced the challenge of introducing Catholic teachings to indigenous populations. Such missions were largely successful in integrating Catholic faith into a Latin American culture. Even today, nearly half of the world’s one billion Roman Catholics reside in Latin America.
While large numbers of people have come into the Catholic faith in Latin America, colonialism’s intertwined history with Catholic missions has continued to be problematic for the Church. In many regions, faith that was imposed upon the indigenous populations did not embed itself deeply within the culture. As a result, many people have combined elements of indigenous beliefs and practices with Catholic teaching. In some cases, the result has been faith practices that barely resemble Catholic teaching or practice. Also, in the linking colonialism and mission, many have viewed the Church as part of the larger structure that imposed economic and political hardships on its people.
Liberation Theology: movement to liberate the poor
In the 20th century, Marxist thought made inroads into Latin America. In the 1960’s, a movement known as liberation theology combined elements of Marxist political activism with Catholic teaching. The movement viewed Jesus as a revolutionary, and its aim was to liberate the poor and oppressed in both the Church and in society. Whereas many viewed the Church as perpetuating a system of oppression, liberation theology challenged the Church to reevaluate its theology and mission with a “preferential option for the poor.” However, the link of liberation theology to such Marxist philosophies as the doctrine of class struggle has remained a source of controversy in the larger Church.
In the 1980’s, as the political world climate shifted, so too did the influence of liberation theology in Latin America. Pope John Paul II challenged the Church to greater work on behalf of the poor but condemned the teaching of liberation theology. Likewise, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, strongly characterized its teachings as a “singular heresy.” Liberation theology never became a majority movement within Catholicism; however, its influence remains strong in Latin America. Although its origins are located within the Catholic Church, it has since found a following in many Christian traditions around the world.
Evangelicalism: accent on Holy Spirit power
Beginning in the 1970’s, the Catholic Church began seeing a dramatic decline in membership as evangelical churches began seeing a dramatic increase. The term, “evangelical,” used in Latin America to describe the wide array of emerging Christian movements, including Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal, is the fastest growing religion in Latin America. This movement now accounts for more than 15 percent of the population.
Much of this growth is a result of conversions from the Catholic faith. Several years ago the Latin American Catholic Bishops Conference stated that every day 8,000 Catholics were switching from the Catholic Church to evangelical churches. At the same time, evangelicals – particularly Pentecostals – have had an increased emphasis upon working among the poor and marginalized. In many cases, evangelicals are not witnessing to the poor and marginalized, but rather, they are the poor and marginalized.
While the evangelical movement as a whole is growing, a vast majority of evangelicals and the fastest-growing segment of this category is among Pentecostals. In 1970, Pentecostals represented a mere four percent of the Latin American population, whereas recent statistics have shown an increase to as much as 13 percent, or approximately 75 million people. Many are drawn to the Pentecostal movement’s emphasis upon the work of the Holy Spirit. Ecstatic experiences in worship and a feeling of direct connection to God have been a big attraction. And the Pentecostal movement has influenced other evangelical and Catholic churches. Christians who describe themselves as “charismatic,” believing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit while remaining a member of the Catholic or other evangelical churches, is on the increase well.
The future of Latin America’s Church: transformative trends to continue
The growth of new evangelical churches is changing the expression of Christianity in Latin America. A continuing growing marketplace of religious ideas and the success of evangelical mission make it appear that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future. And while Latin America undergoes such a transformation, both Catholics and evangelicals will be challenged with the commission to reach those growing numbers among them who do not claim any religious affiliation.
Mike Hoppe, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, is a former Mission Society missionary to Central Asia and is an elder in the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church. He begins studies as a Beeson Scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary this summer.
