Ernesto Cardenal: A Latin American Liberation Mystic

This paper explores mysticism as seen in Ernesto Cardenal’s El Evangelio en Solentiname (The Gospel Solentiname), aiming at both defining Cardenal a revolutionary and traditional mystic, shaped by Thomas Merton’s influence Latin American political circumstances. Mysticism is usually defined individual contemplation of God, immediate unmediated. Yet, the context 20th-century struggles for liberation, became God while committed to community. perspective studied book, supported with his memoir Las ínsulas extrañanas Strange Islands), show that notwithstanding commitment, or precisely because that. The theoretical background draws notions from liberation theology philosophy. Paradoxically, spite its claims, can be line mysticism, challenge power margins presentation alternative modes communicating divine.