The study of religion is often a rigorous process because the central tenets of the subject: image, ritual, and myth are often copious in their complexity. For example, consider the multiple meanings that are inherent in the image of a crucifix. Some Christians might view it as an image of suffering, whilst others would reject that notion and instead perceive it to be one of love. These differences may seem inconsequential at first, but they can overtime shape the beliefs of an individual and by extension a community. To understand this dynamic better one only has to analyze the Christo Aparecido (Christ Appeared), an authentic Mexican crucifix with a fascinating history from the colonial era to the present. This history is made known by the text, Biography of a Mexican Crucifix: Lived Religion and Local Faith from the Conquest to the Present by Jennifer Hughes, from which I contend that over the life of the Christo Aparecido there continues to be an understanding among devotees that this crucifix is sacred because it displays animus while being a vestige for the sacred to occupy. To support my position I will attempt to relate the moments where the Christo Aparecido is said to show signs of life, in particular his stay in Mexico City during the colonial era and his role in more modern times with rival groups clashing over its efficacy in the village of Totolapan. “With all due ceremony and pageantry, the believers of Mexico City gathered to welcome the Christo Aparecido of Totolapan at the Augustinian Colegio de San Pablo.” (P. 91). In this passage we can infer that from the moment that the Christo Aparecido arrives in Mexico City the crucifix is treated as though he was Christ incarnate. This inference, on the part of the res... ... middle of paper ... ...e for themselves the way in which image, ritual, myth guided their lives. By analyzing the moments, past and present, in which the Christo Aparecido shows itself to be animate it can be said, “that the people of Totolapan understand themselves as both syncretic and traditional in their beliefs and practices (P. 179). It is this combination of syncretism and traditionalism that solidifies,“The Christo's status as a Santo, a manifestation of the divine for the people of Totolapan and as the central symbol of local religious and cultural identity” (P. 173). Thus, we can account for the continuity of the Christo Aparecido by the fact it has survived relegation to idolatry because the people are confident of its animus held within to be present. As long as this remains true the Christo, in the words of his devotees', will be continue understood as “tiempo inmemorial”.
...ligious life of the town of San Miguel and construction of its main temple which from 1872 he was raised to parish. But like everyone, this temple of the Holy Trinity underwent several transformations, for example: in the first decades of the 19th century was built the current altar; and from 1881 to 1897 he received major improvements, like the composure of the entire building, the purchase of pictures, furniture and several sacred ornaments as well as the construction of the chapels of the Tabernacle and Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and the arches of the entrance to the former chapel of the Entombment of Christ and the old sacristy; the most recent improvement was made in the last years of the 20th century, and which involved the National Institute of anthropology and history, the Government of the State and the father Carlos Cabrero, responsible for the parish.
Castillo first shows the reader her distrust of patriarchy and its vertical structures through La Loca Santa’s death. The first structure under scrutiny here is the Catholic Church. After La Loca awakens she throws herself into the air and lands on the top of the Church, saying that those below her carry the same scent that she had smelled while in hell. With Loca high above the others she can be seen as a “substation” for a new Chicana Christ figure (Delgadillo 895). She tells those gathered below that she has been sent back to pray for them so that they would be able to see their Creator in heaven. Father Jerome pleads with her to come down so that the congregation could pray for her. She then reminds him that it is she that was sent to pray for them. With La Loca in the position of a Christ figure of the system, the structure of the system, in this case religion,...
The following paper will be comparative of the cultures and ideas of the Americans and the Spanish. It will be primarily referring to the paper “Lived Ethnicity: Archaeology and Identity in Mexicano America, by Bonnie J. Clark”. The similarities as well as the differences will be discussed. After the comparisons and contrasts have been established, there will be a prediction of what will happen when these two cultures meet and begin to interact with one another.
Dutto, Rev. L. A. The Life of Bartolomé de Las Casas and the First Leaves of American Ecclesiastical History St. Louis, MO: B. Herder 1902
A major element of Aztec life was religion, as often is in the case in ancient civilizations. The Aztecs were a polytheistic people, and they often made use of human sacrifice to please their gods. Diaz often makes reference to the blood-stained walls of the Aztec temples in his account of the conquest. In reference to the success of Cortes and his soldiers, an anci...
...time. Las Casas’ retains a basic concern for the spread of the gospel. Yet he attends to what the gospel itself means for how it should be spread. Church and state, contends Las Casas, commandeer the power of Christ when they compel conversion by violence. Thus, they abrogate the very civilization and gospel they claim to serve. For Las Casas, the true messengers of God adhere to the true message of God: they call people to Christ by the love due to equal, rational beings created in the image of God.
Throughout Death Comes for the Archbishop, New Mexico is described as a very harsh environment, especially for those who are not used to living in it. Unlike the Native Americans and the Mexicans who had lived there for a thousand generations, Father Latour does not know his way around and ends of getting lost in the New Mexico desert, which was “so featureless—or rather, that it was crowded with features, all exactly alike” (Cather, 17). The New Mexico desert is not only “featureless,” but also very brutal. According to Father Latour it is “… like a country of dry ashes; no juniper, no rabbit brush, nothing but thickets of withered, dead-looking cactus, and patches of wild pumpkin—the only vegetation that had any vitality” (Cather, 88). A major theme of Death Comes for the Archbishop is perseverance. For instance, Father Latour did not let the harshness and brutality of New Mexico stop him from planting the seed of Catholicism. He kept preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins until this seed had grown in the strange and “featureless”
In 1697, another Christian mission of Franciscan priests attempted to set up shop in Calusa Territory. Father Lopez, the mission’s leader, described seeing a “house of masks”. I will discuss, and give details of, a mask found at Pineland Site Complex later in this paper. During the Franciscan’s short stint in Calos, the Calusa were observed participating in their masked
Chapter one, ‘Beginnings at Assisi,’ offers a vivid description of the social, political, economic, cultural, demographic description of Assisi and its inhabitants. Here, the author describes the life of Francis and the situations and circumstances prompting his journey to spread the ideal gospel life to the world. This chapter is relevant in determining the circumstances that instigated a need for reforms in the Catholic Church. This chapter is applicable in my life because it offers insight on the fundamental Christian I can rely on in my daily life.
In the short story of “The Gospel According to Mark”, Jorge Luis Borges introduces the readers to controversies to the works of missionaries faced by many civilizations around the world. Borges accomplishes this by accompanying the story with ironic symbols and substantial religious references which allow the readers to connect the story to relevant past events. In this short story, Borges ironically criticizes the effects which various missionaries had on different groups of indigenous people. Amongst these effects, a portion of the effects were positive, while a great majority of the effects was negatively impacting the indigenous groups which the missionaries came in contact with.
In this paper, I will be using Victor Turner’s concept of liminality to analyze the Christian rite of passage of baptism. Turner built upon Arnold van Gennep’s three-stage model of rites of passage, focusing on liminality rather than reaggregation and introducing the concept of communitas as the unstructured community during the liminal stage in which all members are equal. By using the anthropological lens of Turner to analyze baptism, specifically Jesus’ water baptism in the book of Mark, I hope to apply his concepts of liminality and communitas to the text to gain a deeper understanding of the model for modern Christian baptism rituals and interpretations, including Spirit baptism.
... gives insight into Junpero Serra’s world, his views, and how he changed New Spain and California. He inspired to spread Catholicism, the suppression of natives’ individualism, and the rejection of materialism. The books helps to show Juniper Serra in the good and bad. He had faults like any human being. Apart from seeing Junipero Serra in his life the world around him was also on display. It shows how New Spain and California was with the influence of Junipero Serra and how has drastically changed over time to what it is today. Now here in California there are various religions not just Catholicism anymore. California society is now individualistic something Serra had fought against; furthermore in society materialism is even more important than ever before. There changes have provided us the people a picture of the California of the past. One we should not forget.
Hall, Gerald. "Jesus' Crucifixon and Death." Academics' Web Pages. School of Theology at McAuley Campus. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society. The major Mayan gods and goddesses all have common characteristics and, according to “features which they share in large part with the gods of neighboring people of Middle America” (Thompson, 198). One of these characteristics is that Mayan gods and goddesses have “features which they share in large part with the gods of neighboring people of Middle America” (Thompson, 198).
Pietro DiDonato’s Christ in Concrete is a powerful narrative of the struggles and culture of New York’s Italian immigrant laborers in the early twentieth century. Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale, in their historical work La Storia, state that "Never before or since has the aggravation of the Italian immigrant been more bluntly expressed by a novelist" (368). A central component of this "aggravation", both for DiDonato as an author and for his protagonist Paul, is the struggle to reconcile traditional religious beliefs and customs with the failure of that very same faith to provide any tangible improvement in the immigrants’ lives. Through Paul’s experience, we observe the Catholic institutions lose influence and effectiveness as Capitalist ones, manifest in Job, take their place. While doing this, DiDonato also illustrates essential aspects of Italian (specifically southern) Catholicism and the pressures placed upon it by the American environment.