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Liberation Theology has become known worldwide for its preferential option for the poor and its prophetic voice against economic and political oppression. Since the end of the military regime in Brazil (1985) and the fall of the Berlin wall (1989), theologians have been grappling with the continuously appalling poverty, exclusion and marginalization of very large sectors of society, within an ever more complex context and a diversity of theoretical positions. In civil society, politics and education, citizenship has become the central notion behind participatory democracy. By describing what have been the main assets of Liberation Theology and how the new situation is challenging them, this article explores theological proposals from Brazilian authors, who have taken up the concern for citizenship. Hence, it states the need for a theology of citizenship and maps the field for linking this to the growing international debate on public theology; a phrase not commonly used in Brazil thus far. Liberation Theology has become known worldwide for its preferential option for the poor and its prophetic voice against economic and political oppression. Since the end of the military regime in Brazil (1985) and the fall of the Berlin wall (1989), theologians have been grappling with the continuously appalling poverty, exclusion and marginalization of very large sectors of society, within an ever more complex context and a diversity of theoretical positions. In civil society, politics and education, citizenship has become the central notion behind participatory democracy. By describing what have been the main assets of Liberation Theology and how the new situation is challenging them, this article explores theological proposals from Brazilian authors, who have taken up the concern for citizenship. Hence, it states the need for a theology of citizenship and maps the field for linking this to the growing international debate on public theology; a phrase not commonly used in Brazil thus far.
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