Reflections on the relation between science and theology in Latin American liberation theology began at the inception of this theological movement. These considerations have played a rather peripheral role even though it was seminal to early ideas about the Christian implication of the option for the poor and the release of liberation processes. Thoughts on the relationship between science and theology, however, have been moving gradually from the periphery to the centre of focus within liberation theology. I have presented elsewhere different milestones of the dialogue between liberation theology and science. In this chapter, I shall embark on a journey that starts with the creation theology of Pedro Trigo, continuing with the critical theology of Juan Luis Segundo, the SOTER Conference in Brazil in 1999, the ecotheology of Leonardo Boff and finishing with the Regional Theological Conferences in 2011, in Chile.

Pedro Trigo and Juan Luis Segundo – Between a Critical Dialogue and an Integrative Reception

In his Creación e historia en el proceso de liberación (History and Creation in the Process of Liberation), Pedro Trigo understands science to be part of the modern world view, within the framework of the Illustration. He asserts that science has enabled development past the ‘magical’ understanding of divine providence in order to understand God's action outside mundane causality. This is a contribution to the historical process of humanization, insofar as it forms part of the dialectical process that allows man to humanize nature.