The Maya and Catholicism-"John Early"

As early on theorizes: "The Spaniards sign defeat of the Maya showed the Maya that the Spanish gods were more powerful protectors of their own gods" (114). Because of this, Early argues that because of their ability and knowledge of universality, including accurate prayers and rituals, Catholic non-Christian priests ultimately became all-important(a) to Mayans. This remains true even in worship operate in modern times. For most Mayans that adopted elements of Catholicism, only a Catholic priest could channel this more powerful god.

The Maya and Catholicism is a highly readable work, despite some bar in Spanish and Mayan names and words. However, Early, a professor of anthropology, knows the field well, having conducted social science research and pastoral service as a Catholic priest in southern Mexico and Guatemala. When there are difficult concepts and terminology related to distinctions between " formalised" and "folk" Catholicism, Early uses his ministerial and theological experience to clarify them for readers. Early provides historical and ethnographic research to guide his thesis, unless there are some limitations in the scope of the work. iodine weakness is Early's in depth focus on Spanish Catholicism from the 16th to the 18th century, but his subsequent alter treatment of the religion systems of the

Mayan peoples. This is compound by Early's treatment of the "Mayans" as a collective radical of people who shared a similar religion that could be analyzed, when various ethnic groups that spoke several(predicate) languages and had different spectral centers. They were also without a centralized phantasmal authority and this transmutation more accurately characterizes the indigenous people of the era than some(prenominal) unified unearthly group.

In his favor, the author does characterize the conversion and complexity of the indigenous people of this time and place and their religious practices as "impossible to conceptualize" (Early 85). This is primarily true because of the lose of a unified culture and religious system among the different groups Early refers to as "Mayans."

Early's work adds a good compete of knowledge to my historical base on Catholicism and its enamor on indigenous cultures that were conquered by Imperial forces and confronted with missionaries and conversion. His analysis of how and why the Spanish priests became such an integral component of Mayan religious systems is fascinating, in particular as he provides an explanation for this that is rooted in preexisting Mayan religious worldviews. Confronted by more powerful and better fortify warriors from Spain - the Conquistadors - the Mayan believed the gods of these people had to be superior to their own gods. In defeat, they dour to elements of Catholicism that helped them make sense of their world from their own religious framework. To channel and know such powerful gods, the Catholic priest was seen as a vital and necessary conduit. In this way, many an(prenominal) elements of Catholicism became embedded in Mayan
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