Institution for
Theological Education in
Translation by Elizabeth MacGregor
Objectives:
·
Prepare
theologians for liberation most relevant to the Christian faith in churches and
in society. For people who desire to
work in the following capacities:
·
Christian
educators
·
Pastoral
agents
·
Church
pastors and community leaders
·
University
students
·
Grass
roots educators
·
Autonomous
professionals (?)
·
Christian
leaders in churches and society
·
People
interested in an ecumenical and contextualized theological education
2.
Give the
opportunity to study and reflect theologically on the relationship between
Christian faith and social problems.
Promote opportunities to experience first hand the interaction of
churches and society.
3.
Offer
opportunities for the student to dialog at the end of which he or she acquires
a theological comprehension of his or her vocation, and has the tools to
discover and develop, in openness and critically, the relevance of Christian
faith above ideologies and philosophic sciences.
4.
Promote
and exercise the interrelationship between churches and society.
5.
Promote
and support reflections and specific pastoral practices such as courses,
debates, seminars and encounters according to the needs identified by the
socio-cultural reality of
6.
Prepare
men and women for the task of ministering in local churches and of teaching in
public schools.
Excerpts from the website of ITEBA
Translated by Elizabeth MacGregor
Trajectory – 18 years of history in
The mission that guides ITEBA in these 18 years of
history is directly associated with its origin.
Members of different Christian denominations perceived the necessity to
create in
The idea was made concrete little by little, and, in
1986, the institute was officially created with the objective of enabling the
people for redemption more relevant to Christianity in society. According to Marlene Moreira da Silva, current
General Director of ITEBA, no institution working with this type of educational
method, with an ecumenical bias, existed in the region at the time of its
founding. Even today, ITEBA appears to
be the sole institution that works in this way in
Thus, having as its goal creating the possibility of
a junction between faith and life in the students, adhering to a line of
liberation theology, the entity started to offer a
Bachelor’s Degree in Theology, its chief vehicle. Explained Rev. Áureo Bispo dos
ITEBA prepares its students to be agents of
transformation, to act in the communities, applying concepts and proposals
learned in the classroom. “If this
doesn’t occur, we lose the sense of mission of ITEBA. Students must apply ideologies, ideas,
thoughts and actions for these groups.
We have to have this interrelationship between theory and practice,”
comments Áureo Bispo on this transforming thread of the institution, which
passes also through great social questions which today confront Brazilian
society, and principally, the northeast.
This transforming axis of ITEBA can be witnessed
through innumerable people who already have been in its classrooms. “ITEBA is a center of necessary conflict;
when we are in a conflict situation, we are in the perfect moment to create
alternatives and give answers. The
course was an awakening for renewal, strengthened my principals of tolerance,
of experience in community and of respect for differences,” confessed
theologian William Tavares, who completed the course in 1994 and currently is a
professor of the institution.
Over the years, engagement with the struggle of the
underprivileged classes and with social questions made ITEBA widen its course
offerings, placing focus on gender, ethnicity and race. Perceiving that the majority of its students
were black men, it resolved to structure programs to attract more women,
adjusting them to fit the reality of their lives. In 1992, the Feminist Nucleus of Theology
Students of ITEBA was created, which afterwards received the name YAMI –
Ecumenical Theological Nucleus of Feminist Studies of ITEBA, which sought to
affirm the identity of women in the lifelong work against patriarchalism,
racism and other forms of class domination.
In the following year, as the fruit of this
experience, the entity launched a summer course, “Women do theology – from the
drought of the northeast, women burst forth a new theology,” empowering, since
then, northeasterners, principally poor, black and indigenous. Beginning in 1999, ITEBA created a four-year
post-graduate course in Feminist Theology, in consultation with Dr. Elisabeth
Schüssler Fiorenza of
Another important activity is the realization of
Thematic Seminars, beginning in 1994, in which themes such as Practical
Theology, Black Spirituality and Religious Intolerance are explored. Everything is done to show Bahianos that it
is possible to unite despite their differences for a superior ideal. “The studies made possible in me a greater
acceptance of others and contact with different religions,” said Irênio Viana
Filho, theologian, interim treasurer and former professor of the institute,
about an ITEBA seminar on Coexistence.
ITEBA
By
Rev. Áureo Bispo dos
ITEBA is the realization of a dream of its founders,
made up of Protestant pastors and theologians, whose biography is based on a
biblical-theological reflection different from the literal, conservative style
that is characteristic of traditional Protestantism.
In this dream, the prophets and Jesus Christ appear
as the blacksmiths and dynamiters of this reflection and action. In other words, first, as evidenced in the
expansiveness of the prophetic message recorded in the Old Testament, is an
intransigent defense of the poor and oppressed against injustice and oppression
by the rich and powerful; and, second, the same message is incarnate in the
life and ministry of Jesus, expanded in his manifestation of rejection of any
type of discrimination between men and women (gender) and between races
(ethnic) and, also in the mission passed on to the disciples who lived and proclaimed
the unity of their followers in all times, as recorded in the New Testament.
The creators of ITEBA began to teach and to proclaim
this message of the Scriptures in churches, seminaries, encounters and
congresses beginning in the 1960’s.
ITEBA is connected to the history of its founders. This situates it at a crossroads in which a
biblical-theological effervescence, originating in ecumenical encounters
promoted directly or indirectly by the World Council of Churches (WCC),
coincided with the socio-political-economic context and Brazilian culture at
full boil (1957-84).
The emphasis of the WCC, in unity with Christians
and the socio-political-economic responsibility of the Christian in the world,
encountered a fertile ground in a segment of evangelical Brazilian youth,
especially college and university students.
Once trained, they assumed responsibility for tending to churches,
teaching in seminaries or other professional activities connected or not to
churches, seeking to contextualize the Christian message to the Brazilian
reality of social injustice, authoritarianism, machismo, racism and
socio-economic inequality.
This new positioning of pastors, professors and
leaders of churches and of denominations, in general, was met in the first
place with a contrary reaction on the part the biblically, theologically,
socially and politically conservative segment, resulting in the explosion,
dismissal and dispossession of this new leadership, the dissolution of churches
and councils for being considered liberal, modern, ecumenical and communist;
and second, with the military dictatorship, implanted in Brazil in 1964, these
pastors and other leaders in churches were denounced by the agencies of
repression in the new regime, with the consequence of prison, exile and death.
However, the reaction of churches and of the
totalitarian Brazilian state did not cause them to abandon the dreams and the
vision of implanting the reign of justice, peace, equality and love. The proclamation of the unity of Christians
and the search for equality, not only socio-economic, but also gender and
ethnic equality, continues to be the message that is lived and proclaimed
through churches, non-governmental organizations and ecumenical organizations
like CESE [Ecumenical Coordination of Services, an ecumenical Brazilian service
agency], KOINONIA [an ecumenical Brazilian service agency], CEDITUR
[Evangelical Commission on Land Rights, an agrarian reform and land rights
organization], CONIC [Brazilian National Council of Churches], ITEBA, etc.
In
Second, at the suggestion of the WCC Commission, the
Salvador Presbytery resolved to create a “Theology Course of Today,” aiming at
the preparation of staff specifically for churches, while the Theological
Project for Development returned to the service of NGOs, ecumenical
organizations, schools, unions, etc.
Nonetheless, these two projects continued to be officially connected to
the Presbyteries of Salvador and Vitória (Espírito Santo) of the IPU.
Third, the ecumenical vision of the direction,
officials, teaching corps and learning demanded the foundation of an official
agency, also ecumenical, in which all the denominations and ecumenical
organizations participated. In this
spirit, ITEBA was then organized, initially constituted by the United
Presbyterian Church of Brazil, the Methodist Church, the Evangelical Church of
Lutheran Confession of Brazil, the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, the
Nazareth Baptist Church, the Pentecostal Church of Brazil for Christ, CEPTAS
[Center for Social Action Research and Theology], and, later, the Second of
July Foundation.
In this moment, when ITEBA has competed 18 years of
existence, we cannot forget the road we have traveled. This history of struggle constitutes a mark
and a challenge for which this institution continues steadfast and determined
to fulfill its mission of realizing the dream despite obstacles that can seem
insurmountable.
Origin
There are two types of ecumenical, graduate or
post-graduate theological education, depending on the institution that
administers it. The first type is
connected to denominational institutions, with admission open ecumenically, to
provide education for candidates from other churches. The second type are
institutions that were born ecumenically, founded by various churches or
ecumenical organizations to provide theological courses for candidates from any
church as well as for those without an ecclesiastical affiliation.
ITEBA is part of the second type. Born in December 1986 in
With its ecumenical openness since its inception,
ITEBA had, as its purpose, administering courses for creating theologians, not
giving priority to clerical training exclusively for strengthening the
structure of a definitive confessional church.
The courses were planned to provide biblical, theological and practical
disciplines for the formation of its students in the sense of preparing them
for diverse ministries (between them and pastoral ministry), opening a spectrum
of opportunities for those who desired to prepare to better serve churches and
society, as theologians, ordained or not ordained.
The churches received benefits in theological
preparation of their pastors, because more than 10% of the alumni of ITEBA are
today pastors in the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Adventist or
other churches. Some alumni were pastors
who came to take courses at ITEBA because they had not studied theology in
their own denomination. ITEBA has given
some churches the ability to give specific doctrinal, liturgical and
administrative preparation for their students who desire to become pastors.
For the churches that have ecumenical openness, the
curriculum of ITEBA prepares their candidates for many ministries, in two
ways: in the intellectual learning and
in the close association with colleagues and professors of various Christian
confessions. It is a new and challenging
experience to sit down together in the same class: Pentecostal, Catholic,
Adventist, Presbyterian and others that do not belong to any particular church.
ITEBA has succeeded in “demasculinizing” the
education of theology. The participation
of women as professors, students and administrators is great in the life of the
institution. They have made a big
contribution to theological reflection.
The curriculum of ITEBA has been adjusted to satisfy the new federal
legislation governing religious education in public schools, which established
that religious training in schools must be ecumenical and not
denominational. The teachers, therefore,
must have an ecumenical theological preparation, and there are few institutions
that can fulfill this objective.
The most difficult part of ecumenical theological
education, for an institution like ITEBA, is its financial administration. While the denomination-affiliated
theological institutions have financial support from their respective churches,
ecumenical theological institutions formed by a group of churches and/or
ecumenical organizations do not have the same guarantees of survival. They depend on voluntary contributions from
churches and individuals or from foreign ecumenical entities that today
designate little budgetary allowances to ecumenical theological education. The denominations that already maintain their
own seminaries do not have much interest in helping another institution.
Before the birth of ITEBA, four entities brought
about its appearance:
Founding Churches and Entities
Today ITEBA is affiliated with ASTE (Association of
Evangelical Theological Seminaries) and to CETELA (Latin American and Caribbean
Ecumenical Theological Education Community)
Partnered with the Ecumenical Institute of Post-Graduate
Theology of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession of
Departments
Department of Practical Theology
Yami – Ecumenical Theological Nucleus of Feminist
Studies
Offering:
Seminars, workshops and encounters connected to emerging themes
Our history
Yami is a theological nucleus of feminist
studies. The word “Yami” is an
appropriate term to define our nucleus.
“Yami” is a Yoruba word that means the ancestral
feminine power conferred to women. It is
that which organizes and knows the secrets of the cosmos. It is the essence for the harmonious continuity
of life. So that this harmony comes into
being, the Yami divide with their companions the power to control and know
death, because they understand that undivided power brings destruction,
domination and exploration. But
patriarchal society cannot understand that the Yami possess the power of
fertility and pregnancy, thus this power needs to be controlled, therefore, the Yami were considered witches. They were repudiated and marginalized. They were kept at a distance, a time that
inconvenienced and disquieted the patriarchal power.
Yami – Ecumenical Theological Nucleus of Feminist Studies, was created in 1992 as a space of theological
reflection away from the socio-cultural and religious reality of northeastern
women who are black, who are native and who are poor. While the priority of Yami is to fill the gap
that exists for these social individuals, it also integrates, and does not make
a distinction of other groups that produce feminist theologians.
The nucleus was born of the perception that a
theological reflection did not exist that contemplated the necessities of black
and native women here in the northeast, who in the socio-economic scale, occupy
one of the most degraded positions in Brazilian society. We are an ecumenical group; we belong to
diverse religious denominations:
Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Spiritist, Candomblé and indigenous
religions.
We begin with a small group. We read texts from the reality in which we
were inserted in this Brazilian region; we questioned the patriarchal system
that in its way of doing theology made the participation of women invisible,
especially black and native women!
At the beginning of our organization, we developed
consciousness of the fact that all theological production is imported from the
south and southeast of the country and also from outside the country. In light of this consciousness, the Yami
nucleus felt the necessity of an education and theological production that
contemplates the Brazilian northeast with its peculiarities and specific
realities. With this, Yami sought to
take another step in its organization and define for itself the following
objectives:
Objectives of YAMI:
Since 1993 we have begun to carry out our courses of
education and enabling. The general
theme of our courses is: “Women do
Theology: From the Drought of the
Northeast, Women Burst Forth a New Theology.”
1993: Women
and the Bible: Carried out with the
financial partnership of CESE [Ecumenical Coordination of Services, an ecumenical
Brazilian service agency] – the event took place in the month of January (five
days)
1994: Women
and Biblical myths: Carried out with
voluntary donations and the effort of Yami (month of January – five days)
1995: Women
in African myths and Native myths – Carried out with voluntary donations and
efforts of the nucleus (month of January – five days)
1996: Black
Women: Slavery and resistance – Carried
out with voluntary donations and efforts of the nucleus (month of January –
five days)
1997: Gender
Studies – Carried out with voluntary donations and efforts of the nucleus
(month of January – five days)
1998: Bible
and Sexuality – Carried out with voluntary donations and efforts of the nucleus
(month of January – five days)
1999: Gender
and Sexuality – Carried out with voluntary donations and efforts of the nucleus
(month of January – five days)
2000:
Biblical reading from a perspective of gender, class and race – Carried
out with voluntary donations and efforts of the nucleus (month of January –
five days)
2001:
Sexuality and the Bible (month of January – five days)
2002: Tenth
Anniversary Celebration
2003: A
Theological Experience from the Perspective of Native Patoxós
Hã- Hã- Hãe
Women
2004: Women
in the Cot of Diversity in the Cradle of Intolerance