Abstract
The shifts in global politics in the last two decades have been described as the demise of Marxism and the triumph of capitalism. In this context, the murder of Ignacio Ellacuría SJ, five other Jesuits and two women (who had sought protection in their residence at the Universidad Centroamericana in San Salvador), was one of the last military operations conducted in twentieth-century ideological conflicts over Marxism. As Rector of the University, Ellacuría was an ‘engaged intellectual’ who was well-known for his commitment to the poor. In response members of the Salvadoran military, church and business community repeatedly claimed that Ellacuría was a Marxist subversive and eventually these accusations precipitated his assassination. The analysis of his relationship to Marxist movements, analysis and thought presented here demonstrates that this was never the case. Ellacuría had contacts with leaders of the armed opposition but was never a member of any armed or Marxist group. He drew on Marxist analysis and terminology but, as his response to the Vatican Instruction on liberation theology shows, despite recognising the value of parts of its analysis he always remained critical of Marxism as a system and distanced himself from aspects that he saw as incompatible with his Christian faith. He insisted that he was a Christian not a Marxist, and that the most significant influence on his thought was his faith in God in a world of inhuman suffering. Since Ellacuría’s death, El Salvador’s peace process and transition to democracy in the 1990s has changed the social and political context in which he worked. However, the structural violence and poverty remain a crucial challenge to Christian faith in El Salvador and elsewhere in Latin America. Ellacuría’s understanding of the virtues and potential pitfalls of theological engagement with Marxist social analysis will continue to be relevant for liberation theology as it seeks to present Christian faith in a prophetic way in the new so-called ‘post-Marxist’ context.