Description: Hughes uses the long history of popular devotions to a famous crucifix to introduce and explore the most salient religious issues in Mexican history: conquest and mission to the Indians; the birth of an indigenous, syncretic Christianity; the rise of a baroque spirituality and aesthetic; the declining influence of the Catholic religious orders; the sometimes violent processes of independence, nationalization, and secularization; the utopian vision and practice of liberation theology and its institutional dismantling; and finally, the rise of charismatic Catholicism.
Review Quotes: "Hughes deftly constructs a convincing and innovative religious history of Mexico told from the perspective of the devotional life of the townspeople...The book is especially great when discussing the aesthetics and emotions associated with Mexican Catholic devotion; indeed, the book significantly contributes to our understanding of Mexican lived religion. Moreover, Hughes' considerable fieldwork adds to her insight and sensitivity into her subjects' experiences. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in material religion as well as religion in Latin America."--Religious Studies Review
"This history of the five-hundred-year odyssey of a Mexican crucifix and its devotees is both scholarly and deeply respectful of local belief. Overcoming the apparent dichotomy between indigenous and Christian practices, Hughes's work shows how this and other Mexican crucifixes are profoundly part of both at the same time. This is an engaged study that allows us analytical distance and yet draws us in to grapple with the meaning it holds for religious life." -- Rosemary Radford Ruether, Professor of Theology, Claremont Graduate University"Jennifer Scheper Hughes shows extraordinary interpretive skill in turning this 'biography of an object, ' the Cristo Aparecido of Totolapan, into a scholarly revelation of complex religious devotion in Mexico. Combining the sharpness of a detective story with a new kind of historical writing, humanity and agency are given to all the participants - Spanish priests, indigenous parishioners and historians too! Readers are led to 'draw nearer' to a richer and deeper understanding of how the 'Christ Appeared' stays alive over centuries, through rivalry and violence, tenderness and affection, in the souls of indigenous Mexico. This book is first rate and compelling, humane and scholarly, respectful and insistent, innovative and grounded in the best historical writing of the last decades."-- Davíd Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, Harvard University
"Throughout Hughes proposes a new aesthetic and affective approach to the study of religion....recommended."--CHOICE"...well-written and documented, carefully proofread, and enhanced by a number of well known-chosen black-and-white illustrations."--J. Robert Wright, The General Theology Seminary