Carlos Mesters : the people's perspective in reading the Bible

Abstract

In this dissertation I have thoroughly studied the works of Carlos Mesters, a Liberation theologian living and working for many years in Brazil. The aim for my work is to show the validity of what is happening in Latin America as regards the reading of the Bible from the poor. This new approach to the Scriptures as proposed by Carlos Mesters starts by taking into consideration the people's perspective. The new hermeneutics as presented by Carlos Mesters has as a subject the poor and oppressed people. This new approach to the Bible was followed by a new paradigm in theology, which is valid today because it aims at the liberation of the oppressed, and of creation. The perspective of the people in reading the Bible led theology to be more concerned with the agenda of the people especially in the emerging countries. Theology is there to be at the service of Truth but also at the service of humanity, which poses new questions and searches answers for a meaningful existence. I started my investigations first through my summer experiences in Bolivia where I had several contacts with poor people and the reality of Basic Christian Communities. Then my interest followed by reading some contributions, which Carlos Mesters had given in the field of biblical hermeneutics in the Latin American Church. My interest in the subject grew and with the help of Maria Tereza Cavalcanti and Corrado Pastore, two main contributors for the divulging of this new method of reading the Bible, where I managed to gather the necessary resources to write my modest work.