Bienaventurados los pobres

La figura del pensamiento como punto de orientación en el método de la Teología de la Liberación

Abstract

Drawing on the observation that there is a fundamental dissonance between liberation theologians’ academic discourse about the poor and the theologians’ conversation with the poor, this article highlights the difference between academic theology’s use of the poor as a theological concept and theologians’ encounter with the poor person. With the aim to minimize the destructive consequences of this dissonance, the poor as a theological concept is presented as a figure of thought and as a fixation image in which several intertwined figures could be read out. Despite a diversity of potential motifs, the author contends that two motifs dominate this figure of thought: a “motif of lacking” and a “motif of resonance”. By discussing how the figure of thought could be used within academic theology, the author outlines the basic features for how an academic liberation theology could be designed, including some challenges such project couldface.