Leonardo Boff's "Jesus Christ Liberator": The Hermeneutic Dimension of Liberation Christology

Author

Mark E. Brenneman, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Date of Award

1996

Document Type

Graduate Paper

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Systematic Theology

Department

School of Theology and Seminary

First Advisor

William J. Cahoy

Second Advisor

Francisco R. Schulte, OSB

Subject Categories

Christianity | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

Leonardo Boff in Jesus Christ Liberator invites us to approach Christ in terms of the Latin American Liberation context. His "political" portrayal of Jesus Christ is carried out via a complex hermeneutic reevaluation of what and how Jesus Christ "signifies." He situates Christ in special reference to the forms of repression alive in certain Latin American contexts. In his initiatory interpretive move, Boff revisits and critically appropriates Rudolf Bultmann's concept of "demythologization." This aspect of Boff's Christology seen as a strategy of theological "appropriation," is described and discussed in this essay. I attempt to explicate Boff's proposal to "remythologize" Jesus Christ with the christological predicate "liberator."

Comments

Access restricted to College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University on-campus users.

Recommended Citation

Brenneman, Mark E., "Leonardo Boff's "Jesus Christ Liberator": The Hermeneutic Dimension of Liberation Christology" (1996). School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses. 828.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers/828