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This document presents a bibliometric analysis of the academic production of the journal Theologica Xaveriana in Colombia, from 1951 to 1991. The main objective is to expose the transformations in Latin American theological thought through this journal. The analysis reveals the relationship between the directors, authors, and the changes that occurred in the Faculty of Theology and Catholic theology. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the journal is a vehicle for understanding the changes in Catholic theology in general and in Colombia in particular. [Extracted from the article]

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The article explores the Catholic doctrine of christology as it has developed in Latin America since the 1968 CELAM (Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano, Latin American Episcopal Council) conference in Medellín, Colombia. The author discusses the impact on Latin American Roman Catholic Christology of the II Vatican Council, describes the principle of partiality to the poor and the human side of Jesus Christ emphasized at the 1968 Medellín conference and considers the further Christological developments in successive CELAM conferences in Puebla (Mexico), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and Aparecida (Brazil). The author also mentions the warning against Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino pronounced by the Roman Catholic authorities before the 2007 CELAM conference in Aparecida.

This article identifies and proposes a framework to explain the responses of Latin America's Roman Catholic churches to a new strategic dilemma posed by religious and political pluralism. Because the church's goals of defending institutional interests, evangelizing, promoting public morality, and grounding public policy in Catholic social teaching cut across existing political cleavages, church leaders must make strategic choices about which to emphasize in their messages to the faithful, investment of pastoral resources, and alliances. The article presents a typology of episcopal responses based on Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico and explains strategic choices by the church's capacity to mobilize civil society, its degree of religious hegemony, and the ideological orientations of Catholics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Bishops (Aparecida, Brazil, May 2007) offers the occasion to study the doctrine of the Church on the evangelization of the political world and to revise documents such as the Catechism, that of Santo Domingo and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. In Latin America, the pastoral need of confronting new political challenges is felt: the active defense of human rights, the so-called "caudillismos," intercontinental relations, ecology, integration, the new left, etc. It has been proposed that some permanent deacons be prepared and may assume the mission of evangelizing the political world, in front of the activism of non-Catholic pastors, following the steps of Thomas More, so that a true discipleship may be established among governing persons and politicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the historical and social roots of the process of renovation in Catholic theological teachings or liberation theology. Liberation theology points to biblical passages revealing God's will to liberate mankind. The article also discusses socioeconomic problems and how the Catholic church addressed them. It explains that before the church began to address social problems in Latin America, the European church had begun to respond to social and economic changes and during those times, Catholicism's emphasis on spiritual values in contrast to economic concerns were criticized.

The article introduces this issue of the journal and the topics which are developed including the relationship between theology and evangelization, the history of the Roman Catholic Church since the 1968 CELAM (Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano) Conference in Medellín, Colombia, and the participation of the Church in contemporary society.