Biography of a Mexican Crucifix

Lived Religion and Local Faith from the Conquest to the Present
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-19-536707-2
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 326 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 503 g

Unique insight into the history of Christianity in Mexico through one of ist most celebrated religious artefacts

In 1543, in a small village in Mexico, a group of missionary friars received from a mysterious Indian messenger an unusual carved image of Christ crucified. The friars declared it the most poignantly beautiful depiction of Christ's suffering they had ever seen. Known as the Cristo Aparecido (the "Christ Appeared"), it quickly became one of the most celebrated religious images in colonial Mexico. Today, the Cristo Aparecido is among the oldest New World crucifixes and is the beloved patron saint of the Indians of Totolapan.

In Biography of a Mexican Crucifix, Jennifer Scheper Hughes traces popular devotion to the Cristo Aparecido over five centuries of Mexican history. Each chapter investigates a single incident in the encounter between believers and the image. Through these historical vignettes, Hughes explores and reinterprets the conquest of and mission to the Indians; the birth of an indigenous, syncretic Christianity; the violent processes of independence and nationalization; and the utopian vision of liberation theology. Hughes reads all of these through the popular devotion to a crucifix that over the centuries becomes a key protagonist in shaping local history and social identity. This book will be welcomed by scholars and students of religion, Latin American history, anthropology, and theology.

Zielgruppe

Students and scholars of church history, ritual, and Mexican culture

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hughes, Jennifer Scheper

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunststile Christliche Kunst
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Missionswissenschaft, Missionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Christliche Kunst und Kultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Künstlerische Stoffe, Motive, Themen Künstlerische Stoffe, Motive, Themen: Religiöse Themen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1.: Introduction: The Iconography of Suffering
2.: "Christ Appeared": Material Religion and the Conquest of Mexico
3.: Performance and Penance: The Cristo and Christian Evangelization
4.: The Cristo Comes to Life: Lived Religion in Colonial Mexico City
5.: Repatriation: Christ Comes Again to Totolapan
6.: The Red Bishop, the Cristo, and the Aesthetics of Liberation
7.: The Gentle Devotions of a Rebellious People: The Phenomenology of a Santo
8.: : Beauty and Devotion: Fiesta at the Dawn of a New Millennium
9.: Conclusions: The Two Souls of Christ Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jennifer Scheper Hughes, Professor, Un iversity of California, Riverside.