NOTES ON THE DISPUTE BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM

Abstract

This article studies Protestantism and it’s confronts with Catholicism. To accomplish that, we take two complementary ways, on one hand a theoretical study that enquires about the origins of Lutheranism and its possible links with individualism and the new conceptions of the community, and on the other hand a reflection upon Latin America in the last decades as a concrete scene in which protestant communities have gained an enormous and unprecedented ground. The first part of this paper is dedicated to the study of Lutheran stances from their most ancient roots in the XIV century. As a result, the question towards the concept of community shows its importance, faced to certain kind of individualism that arises from Protestant doctrine. The second part considers the enormous importance that the appearance of new ways of Protestantism has had in the last decades in Latin American’s culture, making reference, precisely, to what extent is a community in Protestantism possible and which are its specific characteristics. Finally, through a brief review of some nodal points, some inputs or core ideas of the Lutheran doctrine can be put in a comparative level with actual movements in clear growth.