Overview

Contradiction and Conflict explores the rich history, ideology, and development of the popular church in Nicaragua. From careful assessments within the context of Nicaragua's revolutionary period (1970s-1990), this book explains the historical conditions that worked to unify members of the Christian faith and the subsequent factors that fragmented the Christian community into at least four identifiable groups with religious and political differences, contradictions, and conflicts. Debra Sabia describes and analyses the rise, growth, and fragmentation of the popular church and assesses the effect of the Christian base communities on religion, politics, and the nation's social revolutionary experiment.

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9780817357771

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Reviews

Sabia's interviews provide a penetrating look at the variety of perspectives that can be found even within the superficially homogeneous world of the Nicaraguan popular church. Her nuanced differentiation of the revolutionary Christian type from the reformist Christian type is helpful. -- Hispanic American Historical Review Sabia's contributions are demonstrating how the extent of leftism in the Nicaraguan Catholic Church was overstated in the 1980's, and through ethnographic research, describing 'the variegated nature of the progressive Christian sector in Nicaragua.' -- The Catholic Historical Review Sabia s interviews provide a penetrating look at the variety of perspectives that can be found even within the superficially homogeneous world of the Nicaraguan popular church. Her nuanced differentiation of the revolutionary Christian type from the reformist Christian type is helpful. Hispanic American Historical Review Debra Sabia explains what became of Nicaragua's Church of the Poor in this informative and up-to-date volume. Moving deftly between institutional analysis and revealing interviews, Sabia shows that Nicaragua, liberation theology's greatest success story, could not escape the problems that beset the movement elsewhere in the region. The book reflects our growing understanding of the complex ways in which religious faith translates into political action and how this complexity can both enrich and undermine religio-political movements. Carol Ann Drogus, Hamilton College

"""Debra Sabia explains what became of Nicaragua's Church of the Poor in this informative and up-to-date volume. Moving deftly between institutional analysis and revealing interviews, Sabia shows that Nicaragua, liberation theology's greatest success story, could not escape the problems that beset the movement elsewhere in the region. The book reflects our growing understanding of the complex ways in which religious faith translates into political action and how this complexity can both enrich and undermine religio-political movements."" --Carol Ann Drogus, Hamilton College ""Sabia's interviews provide a penetrating look at the variety of perspectives that can be found even within the superficially homogeneous world of the Nicaraguan popular church. Her nuanced differentiation of the revolutionary Christian type from the reformist Christian type is helpful."" --Hispanic American Historical Review"

Debra Sabia explains what became of Nicaragua's Church of the Poor in this informative and up-to-date volume. Moving deftly between institutional analysis and revealing interviews, Sabia shows that Nicaragua, liberation theology's greatest success story, could not escape the problems that beset the movement elsewhere in the region. The book reflects our growing understanding of the complex ways in which religious faith translates into political action and how this complexity can both enrich and undermine religio-political movements. Carol Ann Drogus, Hamilton College

Sabia's contributions are demonstrating how the extent of leftism in the Nicaraguan Catholic Church was overstated in the 1980's, and through ethnographic research, describing 'the variegated nature of the progressive Christian sector in Nicaragua.' -- The Catholic Historical Review

Author Information

Debra Sabia is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Georgia Southern University, USA.

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