Abstract

This dissertation establishes a dialogue between the hermeneutics formulated by feminist and Latin American liberation theologies. In particular, it studies the biblical methodologies of four theologians, representatives of feminist and liberation perspectives. Elisabeth Schuessler Fiorenza and Phyllis Trible offer hermeneutical contributions to the formulation of feminist theology. Carlos Mesters and Pablo Richard do the same for liberation theology. The approach used in this dissertation is one of comparison and dialogue, using the reality of Brazilian women as a background for evaluation of both theological movements. The object of this dissertation, however, is not restricted to establishing a dialogue between Latin American and North American liberation theologies. It also proposes to set the first steps for the formulation of a Latin American feminist hermeneutics. In this sense, drawing from two well-established theological perspectives, it attempts to present the novelty of Latin American feminist contributions to the theological arena. ;The first chapter of the dissertation provides an overview of the hermeneutical discussion, showing the move from an epistemological to an ontological approach to understanding, focusing primarily on the hermeneutical theories of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Habermas. The second chapter delineates the reality of Brazilian women, describing the community of accountability of the author and providing the background for evaluation and appropriation of biblical texts and theological writings. The third chapter provides an overview of feminist hermeneutics, which expands into chapters four and five with the hermeneutics of Elisabeth Schuessler Fiorenza and Phyllis Trible. Chapter six introduces liberation hermeneutics, laying the foundation for the hermeneutics of Carlos Mesters and Pablo Richard, discussed in chapters seven and eight. The last chapter establishes a dialogue between feminist and liberation hermeneutics and points toward the formulation of a Latin American feminist hermeneutics.