Document Type
Undergraduate Syllabus
Date
Spring 2023
School
Diplomacy
Course Number
DIPL 3850 / CORE 3850
Course Description
This course has two central objectives: to provide students with an understanding of the evolving role of religion in Latin American politics, with a primary emphasis on the role of Catholicism and the Catholic Church from the period of the Second Vatican Council until the present; and to provide students an opportunity to reflect on the normative questions of how religious beliefs and religious institutions should affect politics and of how different political systems and state policies should affect the practice of religion. Major themes, examined through both Catholic and non-Catholic perspectives, include the institutional relationship between the Catholic Church and the state, the different political expressions of Catholicism (from those inspired by Liberation Theology to supporters of Christian Democratic or Conservative political parties), the persecution of the Church under certain authoritarian regimes, the rise of religious and political pluralism, and the role of religion in contemporary politics and public policy.
Recommended Citation
Goldfrank, Benjamin Ph.D., "DIPL 3850/CORE 3850 Church, State, and Politics in Latin America" (2023). Diplomacy Syllabi. 719.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/diplomacy-syllabi/719
