The Gospel In Art by the Peasants of Solentiname, edited by Philip Scharper (HC, 1984, $3)
On one end of Lake Nicaragua are the islands of Solentiname. There the peasants gathered into a spiritual community. On Sundays a chapter from the Gospels was read, and the peasants would reflect. The islands of Solentiname had little contact with the world. Their comments on the Gospels reflect that, and with their simplicity and directness can teach us much. Included in this book are not only their comments, but also their amazingly colored paintings.
In 1977 Somoza's National Guard burned the colony to the ground, but the islanders rebuilt after Somoza was overthrown in 1979. The commentaries here are pre-1977, the paintings from the early 1980s.
I had heard the term "liberation theology", but knew little about it. Looking at these paintings and commentaries made me realize liberation theology was more than a bunch of words. I hadn't planned to be moved by either the words or the art, but I was. For these peasants, the Gospel did not only happen then and over there, but was also happening now and right here. We can learn much from these people. (As I write this, I still have goosebumps, and I am not a particularly emotional person.)
I hate having to figure out where to put a book. It feels like I am trying to put the book in a cage, and this book, in particular, wants to be free. Art, religion, sociology... the book belongs in all those places, but since I have to choose, it will be first on the new non-fiction table, and eventually in the section on religion. Avail. 2/29.
