CHURCH AND UNIVERSITY: SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY FOR THE LAITY AND THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Intellectual training has been an increasing demand in contemporary society, given the need for people to deepen knowledge. The formative character within the Catholic Church has been established over the centuries, as instruments of culture, to deepen its salvific construct. In this sense, the Church influenced the creation of school institutions, ecclesial or not, among which, the University. In this article, we aim to reflect on the intertwining in history between the Institutions - Church and University and the partnership between the School of Theology for Dummies - ETEL of the Diocese of Ilhéus, Bahia and the State University of Bahia - UNEB. In this perspective, it will be discussed the influences exerted by the Church in the conception of the University and the tensions between scientific knowledge and religion in the historical development of the two institutions, as well as the transformations that took place before the imperative of promoting greater democratization in access to knowledge, formal or do not. Of singular importance was the Second Vatican Council, which promoted changes in the understanding of the Church, on the participation of the laity in the ecclesial community and favoring the creation of formative schools for this audience. It was in this context that ETEL was born, from the Diocese of Ilhéus, which, after 30 years of activity, signed UNEB, to develop projects of propaedeutic course of Theology for the laity, in the format of university extension, which has been positively evaluated by the institutions and by society.