In Solentiname, a remote archipelago in Lake Nicaragua, the people gathered each Sunday to reflect together on the Gospel reading. From recordings of their dialogue, this extraordinary document of faith in the midst of struggle was composed. First published in four volumes, The Gospel in Solentiname was immediately acclaimed as a classic of liberation theology—a radical reading of the good news of Jesus from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed. (It was also banned by the Somoza dictatorship.) Forty years later The Gospel in Solentiname retains its freshness and power. Though times may have changed, the message of Jesus—as heard by these peasants—continues to challenge the rulers of our age and to inspire the poor with the hope of a different world.

Available for the first time in one volume, a classic commentary on the gospels in the spirit of liberation theology. For many years, the peasants in Solentiname, a remote archipelago in Lake Nicaragua, gathered each Sunday to reflect on the gospel reading. From recordings of their dialogue, this extraordinary document was composed. First published in the 1970s in four volumes, it was immediately acclaimed as a classic expression of liberation theologya radical reading of the Good News of Jesus from the perspective of the poor and oppressed. (It was also banned by the Somoza dictatorship.) Forty years later, now available in one volume, The Gospel in Solentiname retains its freshness and power. Though times may have changed, the message of Jesusas heard by these peasantscontinues to challenge the rulers of our age, and to inspire the poor with the hope of a different world.

These poems were collected and edited at Solentiname in Nicaragua in 1977 by the Venezuelan poet and workshop originator Mayra Jimenez. The Solentiname colony was established on an island at the southern end of Lake Nicaragua in 1965. Father Ernesto Cardenal lived there for 12 years celebrating the Mass, teaching the Gospel, and encouraging the islanders to create paintings and poetry. Then came the Sandinista revolution, in which Father Cardenal participated. The poems written by the children and adults of Solentiname were saved, collected, and finally published in Managua in 1980. Father Ernesto Cardenal decided in the middle 1970s that revolution in Nicaragua could not be peacefully achieved. As a result, he occupied a difficult vocation, as priest, poet, and revolutionary. Eventually, with the success of the revolution, he was appointed Minister of Culture in 1979.