This volume contains part of the proceedings of a symposium held at San Cristóbal de Chiapas in July 1974 commemorating the supposed fifth centenary of the birth of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas. The Second Latin American Conference of the Comisión de Estudios de Historia de la Iglesia en Latinoamérica (CEHILA) had for its theme “Bartolomé de Las Casas, Critical Prophet of Colonialism and Current World Oppression.” The work is divided into two parts. Part I contains nine essays concerning the life and thought of Las Casas. Part II contains the record of proceedings of the conference. The appendixes contain regional CEHILA reports and documents and communications concerning the Commission.
All of the essays will engage the attention of those interested in learning more about Las Casas and his doctrines in the light of the present. As Benjamin Keen and Juan Friede recently observed, “the teachings of Las Casas fully conform to the Christian ethic” and are of special interest for an age that “has seen the decisive defeat of fascism, and is witnessing the liquidation of colonial systems founded on the anti-Lascasian principles of racism and the right of the strong to dominate the weak. It is, therefore, a time of full vindication of Las Casas and his ideals.”
The opening essay by Enrique Dussel sets the tone for the contributions. In addition to demonstrating that Las Casas throughout his life and in his works respected Indians within the framework of their own culture and was one of the first critics of the entire system organized for the exploitation of the first Americans, Dussel correctly observes that Las Casas was more than a humanist and head of a political movement, much less a paranoiac. Rather, he was “principally a prophet, in its Christian and theological meaning, and for this reason his works should be regarded as having been written in an apocalyptic style and meaning. He was a prophet who disemboweled in its origins the imperial European colonial world which ends in the present with the Russian-American peace.”
Dussel’s essay is followed by an interesting and readable paper by Father Juan Villegas on “Providencialismo y denuncia en la Historia de las Indias.” Like St. Augustine, Las Casas believed in Divine Providence and considered the discovery of America an episode in the history of salvation. The other contributions in order of arrangement are as follows: Enrique Ruíz Maldonado, “La justicia en la obra de Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas;” Eduardo Hoornaert, “A tradição lascasiana no Brasil;” Hugo E. Polanco Brito, “Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas en la Isla Española;” Josep M. Barnadas, “Una contribución a la historia del lascasismo;” Roberto Tisnes, “Una edición granadina de la Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias” Eduardo Hoornaert, “A evangelização segundo a tradição guadalupana;” and Prudencio Moscoso Pastrana, “Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas en Ciudad Real, Chiapas.” Although of uneven quality and importance, the papers do justice to the moral genius of the foremost champion of the Indians who thundered against injustice in the tradition of the Old Testament and believed that “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
