Choice-Rezension
Klaiber presents a welcome contribution to the limited scholarship on the Catholic Church in Latin America. After an introductory theoretical chapter he considers 11 country cases of church-state relations during periods of dictatorship, repression, and societal violence: Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico. Although all the cases provide valuable information, the role of the Church as a champion of human rights and mediator and facilitator of democratization is especially interesting in the so-called national security regimes of Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, where repressive "dirty wars" by militaries and regime forces resulted in the deaths and disappearances of thousands. Given Klaiber's The Catholic Church in Peru, 1821-1985 (1992), one of the stronger chapters treats Peru's terrorist threat the Shining Path. Inclusion of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, where even less information exists on church and state, results in a comprehensive overview. Each chapter's political history frames a balanced review of official and unofficial positions of the church and the sometimes intense internal divisions among religious conservatives and progressives. Although the political history is sketchy at times and might be interpreted differently, the book is a unique and valuable interdisciplinary contribution. Strongly recommended to general and specialized readers, and as a supplement in Latin American courses. W. Q. Morales; University of Central Florida