Abstract:
The main purpose of this research has been to reflect on citizen participation in the public sphere through pastoral practice and theological thought, specifically in the context of the Iglesia Luterana de Nicaragua Fe y Esperanza (ILFE). This church has been taken as a reference for this study, since the ILFE has been a church that historically since its formation and development has been involved in different spaces of civil society. It has participated in tables of social movements, networks of non-governmental organizations and ecumenical spaces advocating on different social issues such as climate change, human rights, gender and domestic violence, HIV and AIDS and sexual and reproductive rights. However, these actions in the public sphere have now been weakened, essentially in decision-making spaces. The first chapter dealt with the birth and the historical and current context of ILFE. The second chapter develops an analysis of the perception of ILFE leaders of citizen participation from the church in public decision-making spaces. Taking into account the creation of the law of citizen participation and the creation of the special prosecutor's office for citizen participation, exclusively created and aimed at religious interest groups. In the last chapter, it tries to recover the theological understanding about prophetic Diakonia and the actions that ILFE implements from the Department of Diakonia and Development. This is a qualitative research because it was dedicated to the investigation of subjective aspects, therefore, the research is based on the phenomenological approach. It is a study that seeks the perceptions and assessments of ILFE leaders with respect to the presence of the political factor in ILFE's theological praxis and the social and political challenges it faces from its right to citizen participation. This study proposes not only the analysis of the influence of political power on religion, but it is also an impulse for reflection on the subject of public theology in Nicaragua.
