José Comblin: teólogo e pastor dos pobres

Abstract

The object and aim of this study is to analyze the trajectory and work of a Catholic thinker, Father José Comblin, as a historical agent and thinker who experiences and lives his own theology. Between Comblin, as the focus and object of this research, and the researcher, there is something in common: the identification with a Church that must be faithful to Jesus Christ and the Gospel, which prioritizes the service to the poor, without colluding with any political or economic powers, aimed at meeting the needs of humanity, with a sense of justice and equity. José Comblin, from his early years in Louvain, felt uncomfortable with certain practices of the Catholic clergy towards the people. Such discomfort arises in him despite the post-Tridentine theological training he received. He then began to think of another type of theology and to practice another type of pastoral presence in Christian communities. The central assertion of this thesis is that in his life trajectory and in the theology he produced, the central assertions of what Michel Löwy called Liberation Christianity are expressed and summarized. We used a bibliographic research methodology, ordering and interpreting fragments of texts considered important, written in the technique of “frankly-speaking”, which distinguishes Comblin's way of being and thinking. In addition to his own texts, we owe much to recent historical studies on the life of Fr. Comblin, especially the biographies that have been written about him. The procedure we use, as a whole, can be considered a historical-critical method. We hope to have demonstrated in the development of this thesis that José Comblin, whether as a religious and pastoral agent or as a theologian and thinker, was inserted in the socio-political and economic reality of Brazil and Latin America and, together with other relevant theologians and bishops, such as Helder Câmara and Manuel Larraín, led an ecclesiology focused on the poor as an actor and main interpreter of the evangelical proclamation. From these considerations, the title given to the work emerges: José Comblin: theologian and pastor of the poor