A Left „Theocracy": The Church and the State in Revolutionary Nicaragua

Abstract

This paper analyses the antagonism between the established (Ni¬caraguan and global) Catholic Church and the Sandinista movement and government, which was one of the focal points for the ascendancy of a conti¬nental and global liberation theology movement. The paper provides a critical overview of the Nicaraguan liberation theology movement, as well as Sandi¬nista strategies, primarily in relation to the social functions of religion and religious institutions. The central focus of this essay is to identify how the left-theological and Sandinista understanding of the imperatives of the counter¬-hegemonic project, the „historical bloc“ (conceived as a system of political and social networks and alliances) and the „national-popular“strategy contributed to the tentative naissance of a novel state religion and a novel political project: a left-wing „theocratic“ social order. The Nicaraguan experience is useful for focusing the wider discussion about the importance of context-specific nor¬mative judgments about Church-state relations.