Youth of Liberation Theology

This article analyzes the process of formation of PJB: its pedagogical method and its policy options. The analysis is developed through a historical context that identifies the changes in the method of PJB in the 1980s and 1990s. The text shows that during the 1980s PJB emphasized the political dimension in their training activities and participated in the various social movements that were organized around the proposed re-democratization of Brazil. However, in the 1990s came a reformulation of the method that emphasized the education of the personal and theological dimensions, encouraging a practice directed towards the interior of the Catholic Church. Some factors contributed to these changes. As an internal factor, the article mentions the return of the Pentecostal movement in the Catholic religious scenery, which hindered the articulation of the PJB with the parish youth groups. As an external factor the text cites the advent of postmodern culture in Brazilian society that brought the predominance of individualistic practices devoid of collective sense.