Almost three hundred mission church-monastery complexes were built in central Mexico from the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521 to 1600. What did this extensive construction campaign signify? Early historians viewed it as a sign of mendicant zeal: Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians expanding into ever more Indigenous communities and gaining converts along the way. Revisionists rejected this narrative’s triumphalism and instead argued for continuities in Indigenous religion, emphasizing native adaptation of Christianity to fit Mesoamerican religious frameworks. Crewe challenges both interpretations by viewing the Mexican mission as a political and social project more than a religious one. He explores why Indigenous communities invested so much labor in building churches (for it was the Indigenes who actually built them) and how the missions were staffed and funded rather than the ways Indigenous peoples translated Christianity into a Mesoamerican context. This focus results in a set of interrelated arguments that center...
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July 1, 2022
