The Catholic Church and Democracy in Chile and Peru

by Michael Fleet, Brian H. Smith

Overview

Recent changes imposed by the Vatican may redefine the Chilean and Peruvian Church's involvement in politics and social issues. Fleet and Smith argue that the Vatican has been moving to restrict the Chilean and Peruvian Church's social and political activities. Fleet and Smith have gathered documentary evidence, conducted interviews with Catholic elites, and compiled surveys of lay Catholics in the region. The result will help chart the future of the Church and Chile and Peru.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268079826
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	11/15/2015
Series:	From the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael Fleet is Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University and the author of The Rise and Fall of Chilean Christian Democracy (1985).
Brian H. Smith holds the Charles and Joan Van Zoeren Chair in Religion, Ethics, and Values at Ripon College. He is the author of More Than Altruism: The Politics of Private Foreign Aid (1990) and Religious Politics in Latin America, Pentecostal vs. Catholic (1998).

Table of Contents

Introduction		1	(12)
Church and Society in Theoretical Perspective		13	(22)
The Chilean Church: A Historical Overview		35	(42)
The Peruvian Church: A Historical Overview		77	(34)
The Chilean Church and the Transition to Democracy		111	(48)
Chile's Consolidation of Democracy		159	(36)
The Church and the Transition to Civilian Rule in Peru		195	(22)
The Church and the Consolidation of Democracy in Peru		217	(52)
Conclusions		269	(24)
Appendix Tables 4--1 through 4--4		293	(6)
Notes		299	(48)
Bibliography		347	(12)
Index		359

Editorial Reviews

“A thorough analysis of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century in Chile and Peru and its role in the political process. [T]he theology is sound, the scholarship painstaking, and the conclusions valid and provocative.

Catholic Library World

“Michael Fleet and Brian H. Smith’s excellent new book . . . demonstrates how far social science scholarship on the church has come in three decades. Fleet and Smith’s study of the Chilean and Peruvian Catholic churches is theoretically sophisticated, richly informed with empirical and historical detail, carefully and systematically comparative, and well written. In short, for research scholars and teachers alike, the book will be profitable to study and a pleasure to read.

Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs

“[A] remarkably thorough study of Chile and Peru. The book lays out a coherent narrative of the evolution of ecclesiastical and church-sponsored politics in these countries since the early days of Christian Democracy, with an emphasis on the recent period leading up to the transition to democracy. This is no mean feat, as anyone familiar with the alternately tendentious and spotty nature of the sources can attest. Fleet and Smith advance the agenda of research on the politics of Catholicism. They are especially good at delineating the tension between the church’s intramural absolutism, notably but not exclusively with regard to questions of sexual morality, and its pragmatic but not quite principled dedication to liberal democracy and procedural pluralism.

Journal of Religion

“[A] major comparative historical analysis of Catholicism and politics in Latin America . . . . It is a work of extraordinary depth. Highly recommended to anyone interested in a fresh analysis of Church-state relationships in Latin America.

Choice