This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains reports, correspondences, publications, and other materials relating to the PELCS congress. The majority of documents are in Spanish. English translations of the conference's final report are included. The bulk of the materials were created in preparation for PELCS. This includes reports on socialist movements in various Latin American countries; dispatches from the executive secretary of the PELCS, William Redington; and in-depth essays on the ten áreas (themes) of the conference as follows: I. Underdevelopment, dependence, and the transition to socialism in Latin America. II. Mobilization of the masses. III. Conditions for a strategic alliance between Christians and Marxists. IV. Ideology and religion: Cultural Revolution and the Christian faith. V. Class struggle: ethical positions and obstacles for Christians. VI. Christian institutions and ideology: a critical evaluation. VII. Political action and faith: liberation theology. VIII. Popular parties, unions, and pragmatic Christianity. IX. Field-labor movements and church initiatives. X. The middle class, women in the revolution, and the Christian factor.
This series contains reports, correspondences, publications, and other materials relating to the PELCS congress. The majority of documents are in Spanish. English translations of the conference's final report are included. The bulk of the materials were created in preparation for PELCS. This includes reports on socialist movements in various Latin American countries; dispatches from the executive secretary of the PELCS, William Redington; and in-depth essays on the ten áreas (themes) of the conference as follows: I. Underdevelopment, dependence, and the transition to socialism in Latin America. II. Mobilization of the masses. III. Conditions for a strategic alliance between Christians and Marxists. IV. Ideology and religion: Cultural Revolution and the Christian faith. V. Class struggle: ethical positions and obstacles for Christians. VI. Christian institutions and ideology: a critical evaluation. VII. Political action and faith: liberation theology. VIII. Popular parties, unions, and pragmatic Christianity. IX. Field-labor movements and church initiatives. X. The middle class, women in the revolution, and the Christian factor.
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL9, Latin America
This collection is organized in one unarranged series.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
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Item description, MRL 9: Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano de Cristianos por el Socialismo (PELCS) Records, 1971-1973, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Formerly part of the independent Missionary Research Library (MRL), these records were accessioned by the Burke Library at the time of the MRL's closure in 1976.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
When the Burke Library acquired the PELCS papers, an attempt was made to maintain the original order imposed on the contents. Folded materials were flattened. Staples, rubber bands, and metal clips were removed and replaced with plastic clips. All materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. The collection was updated in 2014 as part of the Henry Luce Foundation grant; over time the folders had become acidic, and were thus replaced. The finding aid was created by Miguel Escobar in 2006, reviewed and updated by Brigette Kamsler in 2014 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2024.
2024-02-27 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
The Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano de Cristianos por el Socialismo (PELCS) represents the concerted efforts of eighty Chilean priests whose socialist commitments drew followers from throughout Latin America. Originally dubbed Las Ochenta (the eighty), this group issued a 1971 manifesto supporting the socialist movements in Chile. One year later, the group had changed its name to Cristianos por el Socialismo and had expanded their group's vision to include laity, women religious, and Protestants. They called for the first "encounter" of Christian socialists to take place in Santiago, Chile in April of that year. PELCS had two primary goals. First, this conference aimed to unite Christian groups across the church's hierarchical and denominational divides. Thus, attendees included Roman Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, laity, and women religious. In doing so, the PELCS sought to create a broad commitment to the liberation of Latin American people from economic dependence on capitalist countries. They argued that such dependence had resulted in Latin America's state of underdevelopment. The second goal of the PELCS concerned the integration of Christian and socialist ideologies. In doing so, conference leaders sought to provide a rationale by which Christians could understand their faith as a basis for participation in the liberation struggles taking place. The PELCS conference was deliberately held at the same time (and across the street from) the United Nation's Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). An article from The Christian Century noted that those attending the PELCS were "constantly aware of the nearby UNCTAD sessions, whose call for developed nations to assist underdeveloped nations sharply contrasted with the socialist Christians' conviction that prolonging dependency and underdevelopment in the Third World is necessary to developed nations, and that development programs serve only to maintain such relations and conditions." The conference drew more than 450 attendees including various organizations such as Third World Priests of Argentina, the Golconda Movement of Columbia, and Church and Society in Latin America (ISAL). Many of the attending laypersons were fieldworkers living in base communities.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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| Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano de Cristianos por el Socialismo (Location of meeting: Santiago, Chile). Date of meeting or treaty signing: (1972 :.) -- : Archives | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |