Introduction

It seems that for every commentator who has put pen to paper or given voice uponthe lecture circuit, there is set forth a different, and supposedly conclusive,definition of the base ecclesial community (comunidade eclesial de base). Ever since the emergence of this innovative and challengingecclesial phenomenon within the Latin American continent, ecclesiologists andsociologists alike have fallen over themselves in an attempt to explicate theconcrete, lived experiences of those within the base communities by way of theirown preferred analytical vocabulary. The precision with which etymologicalorigins, epistemological status and theological significance is sought, whilstlaudable in terms of theoretical rigour, often belies the haphazard, disjointedand sporadic nature of much of the actual pastoral practice and tangibleexperience of those engaged in the day-to-day struggle to survive at the base ofLatin American society.

As the above intimates, it is not our intention here to understand the baseecclesial community by means of dissecting the words comunidade, eclesial, de base. Rather, we shall explorethe character of the comunidade eclesial de base (hereafter, CEB)by way of highlighting a number of landmark events and experiences which, over thecourse of at least a decade, played a constitutive part in the emergence of theCEB phenomenon. To this end, we seek to understand the CEB, not as a neatlydefinable entity, but rather as an ecclesial tool and lived experience which hasemerged out of a prolonged series of pastoral crises, perceived threats,ecclesiological shifts, theological refinements, and historical exigencies born ofa whole gamut of economic, political, social, and theoretical upheavals. In short,there can be no unilineal representation of CEB development, nor can there begiven a singularly conclusive definition.