Do Instituto de Filosofia e Teologia ao Instituto de Formação Teológica - IFT (1965-1969): Palavras e ações - expectativas e frustrações

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the short trajectory of the Institute of Philosophy and Theology, IFT, between 1965 to 1969, the motivations that led to its creation by the Conference of Religious of Brazil in São Paulo, its project for philosophical and theological formation for seminarians, the performance of the Academic Board Onze de Outubro, through which the students acted in resistance to the military regime, the conflict with the cardinal archbishop of São Paulo D. Agnelo Rossi and its impact in the demise of the institution. Situated in a religious, political, and social context of profound and turbulent cultural transformation due to the Second Vatican Council, to the military regime in the process of dictatorial hardening and to the youth protest movements, the IFT proposed a new model of religious formation, influenced by the Catholic left and post-Stalin revisionist Marxism161,2,3,4,5,6 The main sources consist of the DAXIX Proceedings Book, articles and anonymous writings, course booklets, students work, and DEOPS documents. Its analysis required the search of its meanings from production to recognition, and the possible readings7,8,9 in the academic environment that motivated some students to political and social engagement. The micro-history, given that there are few direct sources relating to the IFT, and the category of cultural circularity1710,11,12 allowed the understanding of the facts that involved the institution and its members since the great expectancy of religious changes, ecclesiastical and social issues to frustrations in the face of internal confrontations among the students themselves, between the institution with the cardinal archbishop, and the academic directory with the military regime, through the student movements. The Oral History,13,14 through interviews, between what was said and the silences, allowed understanding the meanings of speeches, the reconstitution of elements of the trajectory of the IFT and its impact in the lives of those who carried out their theological studies there. Prosopography15 offered analytical tools to understand the performance of the various historical agents involved, both institutional and personal. Before accessing other sources, the conflict with the cardinal was presented as the only factor for the extinction of the IFT. The search for sources within the DEOPS archives, however, brought up to light other facts in which some IFT students were involved, leading them to inquiries, investigations, and lawsuits, such as the XXX UNE Congress and the Marighella Case. Between the youthful ardor for change, between dreams and frustrations, between conflicts and protests, arrests, and the submission to torture of some students, the IFT disappeared, without a trace, falling into silence and oblivion. The thesis consists of an effort to bring to light an innovative institution that became the first seedbed of Liberation Theology in Brazil