Department of Philosophy, Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya

Title and Précis:

The Relations of Tutelage and Legitimacy between the Catholic Church and the Peruvian State

     The complex relation between the Roman Catholic Church and the Peruvian state has ranged from union of Church and state to an autonomous cooperation between the two. There are numerous examples of tutelage within the Peruvian government, especially regarding public rituals, which are impregnated with Catholic values. This project will examine such syncretism between the Church and Peruvian state in order to highlight the shared traditions, culture, and history of both socially operative spheres. This in turn will highlight the special function which the Catholic Church has in public opinion. The theories of Jürgen Habermas will be used in order to explicate this Church-state relation.

Biography:

     Dr. Maria Soledad Escalante Beltrán is Professor of Philosophy at the Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya. She earned her Doctoral degree from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany under the direction of Dr. Axel Honneth. Before receiving her professorship, Dr. Escalante Beltrán was the Academic Secretary of UARM from 2001-2007 and the General Secretary from 2003-2004. She is a member of the International Hegel Society (Berlin) and the International Hegel Union (Heidelberg).