Stubborn Hope

by Phillip Berryman

"Chronicling over a decade of war, revolution, and social change, Phillip Berryman offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of the interplay between religion and politics in Central America. Focusing on Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Berryman shows how during the 1980s each country became the setting for a profound drama of faith and oppression, revolution and retrenchment." "In Nicaragua, the Sandinista revolution presented an alliance of Christians and Marxists inspired by a common ideal of social change. But with Christians also prominent in the opposition, the ensuing social conflict had a distinctly religious character. In El Salvador, as Christians increasingly opted for the cause of the poor, they found themselves sharing "the same fate as the poor," with priests, nuns, and even an archbishop among the victims of right-wing terror. In Guatemala, a succession of military governments - including one headed by a born-again Christian - resorted to wholesale mass