Le pastorat du protestantisme historique à Cuba: ses approches socio-religieuses et la nouvelle théologie cubaine

Abstract

Protestantism is a minority religion, but is the vector of very interesting currents within the panorama of religions in Cuba. The pastors are truly leaders of their communities. The authors provide the results of a survey carried out among pastors of historical Protestant churches. Cuban Protestant immigrants, coming from the United States, forged links with the independence movement in Cuba. The American intervention at the end of the last century and at the beginning of this century had as a consequence the replacement of the local pastorate by North American missionaries. The tutelage of missionary churches lasted until 1959 and was characterized by legalism and apolitism, linked to considerable efforts in the educative and charitable domains. With the Revolution, Protestantism underwent a considerable shock. The North American missionaries returned to the United States, followed for that matter by a certain number of Cubans. Those who remained sought a new language, notably in a new theological production based on a contextual interpretation of the Bible. This theological conception led to an ecumenical attitude and developed an ethics with a social dimension in relation to a biblical God, defender and liberator of the oppressed. From whence a critique of capitalism and a political choice in favour of socialism, yet without falling into a simple apology for Cuban socialism, from the very fact of the eschatological dimension of theological thought.