Hugo Assmann
Hugo Assmann (1933–2008) was a Brazilian Catholic theologian who developed important work after the Second Vatican Council. He is considered one of the pioneers of liberation theology in Brazil. Biography. Assmann was born on 22 July 1933 in Venâncio Aires, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He did his studies in philosophy at the Central Seminary of Saint Leopold (1951–1960) and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1954–1958). Assmann also studied sociology at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Ordained priest, he received his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Back in Brazil, Assmann  settled in Porto Alegre, where he was vicar of the parish of Our Lady of Montserrat and teacher at Viamão Seminary. During this period his work has developed around the theology of development through the seminary magazine. With the advent of the military regime in Brazil, Assmann went to Uruguay, then to Bolivia and Chile of Salvador Allende. During this period he developed his reflections on the theology of revolution. In 1973 he published "Teologia desde la praxis de la Libertacion", which marked the transition to liberation theology. With the fall of Allende, Assman went to Costa Rica, where along  with Franz Hinkelammert, developed his theological reflections on the relationship between theology and economics in the Department of Ecumenical Investigaciones (DEI), founded by both. This center would be one of the leading producers and trainers of liberation theology. Assmann also helped found the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians and the Brazilian Society of Theology and Religious Studies. Back to Brazil in the early 1980s, he was Professor of Philosophy of Education and Communication at the Methodist University of Piracicaba. His work has a strongly interdisciplinary and ecumenical character, transitioning between economics, social sciences, communication, and pedagogy. His reflection was  not focused on dogmatic questions, but from the practices of liberation in regards to spiritual and emotional fulfillment in peoples' lives. Assmann was one of the first theologians to use the categories of Social Sciences in theological discourse. He was also critical of the theological presuppositions of liberal capitalism and the market absolutism, or "idolatry of the market" which, in his view, requires the sacrifice of human lives. His life was dedicated to fighting poverty and social exclusion, calling the church and society to take this fight. Assmann died on 22 February 2008 in Piracicaba, São Paulo. The collection of  his works (books and journals) was donated by his family to the Ecumenical Library Program Graduate in Sciences of Religion of the Methodist University of São Paulo (UMESP).