Rubem Alves

This article is about the Brazilian theologian and philosopher Rubem Alves; for the Franco-Portuguese director, see Ruben Alves .

Rubem Azevedo Alves (born September 15, 1933 in Boa Esperança , Minas Gerais ; † July 19, 2014 in Campinas , São Paulo ) was a Brazilian Reformed , later Lutheran theologian , philosopher , psychoanalyst , author and university professor . Along with Gustavo Gutierrez , Lucio Gera and Leonardo Boff, he is considered a pioneer of liberation theology .

Life

Rubem Alves studied theology at the Seminário Teológico Presbiteriano do Sul in Campinas (Bachelor 1957) and at the Union Theological Seminary in New York (Master of Divinity 1964). After returning to Brazil, he worked as a pastor. Because of his liberation-theologically oriented sermons, tensions soon arose with the church leadership of the Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil , the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, which presented him with a long list of “misleading teachings”. In 1969 he received his doctorate with the thesis A Theory of Human Hope at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey (PhD 1968). In São Paulo he attended courses in psychoanalysis. Alves resigned from the Presbyterian Church and joined the Lutheran Church in protest against their "apolitical" attitude towards the Brazilian military dictatorship. In 1969 he became assistant professor for social philosophy in Rio Claro , one of the locations of the later Universidade Estadual Paulista , and in 1974 he became professor of philosophy at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas UNICAMP in Campinas. Later he taught a. a. at the University of Birmingham .

Alves belonged to the liberation theological study and discussion group "Iglesia y Sociedad en América Latina" (ISAL) as well as the Commission for Faith and Church Order of the World Council of Churches . He has published over 120 books on philosophy, education, children's literature and theology.

Selected Writings: Books in German Translation

• I believe in the resurrection of the body . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1983. ISBN 3-491-72129-6 .
• What is religion Pendo, Zurich 1985. ISBN 3-85842-099-9 .
• The wind blows where it wants. Brazilian meditations . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1985. ISBN 3-491-72149-0 .
• Our father . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988. ISBN 3-491-72199-7 .

literature

• Leslie James: Toward an Ecumenical Liberation Theology. A Critical Exploration of Common Dimensions in the Theologies of Juan L. Segundo and Rubem A. Alves . Peter Lang, New York 2001. ISBN 0-8204-3345-4 . In it, on Alves' theology, especially the chapter Alves, the Theology of Hope, and Messianic Humanism , pp. 19-21.
• Klaus Koschorke , Frieder Ludwig, Mariano Delgado (eds.): Non-European Christianity History. Asia, Africa, Latin America 1450–1990 . Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2004. ISBN 3-7887-2045-X . In No. 311: Rubem Alves, a Protestant Liberation Theologian, pp. 314f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brazilian liberation theologian Rubem Alves has died , Tiroler Tageszeitung, July 19, 2014
2. ↑ Klaus Koschorke, Frieder Ludwig, Mariano Delgado (ed.): Non-European Christianity History. Asia, Africa, Latin America 1450–1990 . Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2004. p. 314.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Manfred Hofmann: Identification with the other. Theological themes and their hermeneutical place among Latin American theologians of liberation . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1978. ISBN 3-525-56825-8 . P. 223.

Web links

• Iglesia Descalza - a voice from the margins of the Catholic Church: Biography of Rubem Alves , accessed October 28, 2014.