Obeying and shaping
Dissertation of historian Dr. Antje Schnoor published in Spanish translation
The political attitudes and actions of Jesuits in Chile between 1962 and 1983 are dealt with in a recently published monograph in Spanish under the title “Santa Desobediencia. Jesuitas entre Democracia y Dictadura en Chile, 1962–1983” by the historian Dr. Antje Schnoor. The book is a translation of her dissertation from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” and the Center for Religion and Modernity (CRM) of the University of Münster, which was published in 2016 under the title “Gehorchen und Gestalten. Jesuiten zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur in Chile (1962-1983)” (Obeying and Shaping. Jesuits between Democracy and Dictatorship in Chile, 1962-1983) in the “Religion and Modernity” series of Campus Verlag.
The author examines the role of the Jesuits in Chile during the Christian Democratic government under Eduardo Frei, the Socialist government under Salvador Allende and the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. She shows how the direction and extent of the political action of the Society of Jesus resulted from the change of the Jesuit understanding of obedience. Her study proves how the Order co-determined the political attitude of the Catholic Church, at the same time manifesting itself as an independent political force.
The translation was done by the theologian Manuel Ossa Bezanilla. In April 2019, the book was showcased at the University of Alberto Hurtado by the theologian Jorge Costadoat S.J., the historian and jurist Andrea Botto of the Catholic University of Chile (UC) and the historian Maximiliano Salinas of the University of Santiago de Chile (USACH). (exc/sca)