Translated Christianities. Mark Z. Christensen

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Translated Christianities - Mark Z. Christensen Latin American Originals

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href="#ub3253742-98c3-5af0-affa-acb098e9e40a">4, and 5 have never seen publication anywhere.

      I have made every effort to make the English translations readable. Thus, oftentimes I favor a figurative rather than a literal translation of the texts. Nahuatl and Maya texts generally omit punctuation, spacing, and paragraphing according to modern conventions, so I have included them. In instances of possible confusion, I use parentheses to convey intended meanings and brackets for omitted words. Occasionally, the native-language texts contain headings or brief sentences in Spanish; these appear translated in italics. Latin also appears at times in these texts, and I similarly translate such passages in italics but indicate their Latin origins in the notes.

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       Native-Language Religious Texts

      Neither Castilian nor Latin... could more expressively persuade nor teach the mysteries of our Catholic religion than that which this [Nahuatl] work manifests.

      —Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, in Ignacio de Paredes, Promptuario manual mexicano, 1759

      It would be very useful to have printed books in the language of these Indians (Mayas) about Genesis and the creation of the world; because they have fables, or very harmful histories, and some of these they have written, and they guard them and read them in their meetings. And I had one of these copybooks that I confiscated from a maestro named Cuytun of the town of Sucopo, who escaped. And I could never have him to know the origin of this his Genesis.

      —Pedro Sánchez de Aguilar, Informe contra idolorum, 1636

      After years of hard work, Ignacio de Paredes submitted his book for publication. It was the year 1759, and the Jesuit priest was hopeful that his Promptuario manual mexicano would help Spanish priests preach the Christian message to the descendants of the Aztecs and the natives of central Mexico. The book was written in the Aztec language, Nahuatl, and its purpose was to provide ecclesiastics with a sermon or speech for every Sunday of the year; all the priest had to do was read from the manual every Sunday and the natives would learn the Christian doctrine. Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, who understood Nahuatl well, had the task of reviewing the book to ensure that it was free of any translation errors. He deemed the book and its conveyance of the doctrine in Nahuatl so eloquent that he claimed, “Neither Castilian nor Latin... could more expressively persuade nor teach the mysteries of our Catholic religion.”

      Both examples are representative in a number of ways. To begin, they illustrate the important role religious texts written in Nahuatl and Maya played in the evangelization of central Mexico and Yucatan. These books allowed ecclesiastics and their assistants to convey something of Christianity to the natives. These two examples, however, also demonstrate that texts could vary in their content and doctrinal accuracy. Some religious texts, like that of Paredes, conveyed Christianity in sufficiently orthodox ways, while others, like those Sánchez de Aguilar discovered, failed to do so. Thus, both examples represent two ends of a spectrum with orthodox native-language religious texts on one end, unorthodox texts on the other, and other Nahuatl and Maya texts somewhere in between.

      The second purpose of this book is to illustrate the diversity of religious texts and their messages. To do so, it brings together English translations of Nahuatl and Maya texts of a similar genre (i.e., catechisms, confessional manuals, sermons) or that discuss a similar theme. This uncommon presentation of the translated texts is necessary for comparative insights into the Nahuatl and Maya works themselves, including authorial influence and their cultural, regional, and temporal adaptations. In a larger sense, a collection of translated Nahuatl and Maya religious texts offers a keener, more comprehensive understanding of the evangelization efforts made in central Mexico and Yucatan.

      But evangelization efforts among native peoples were not monopolized by Catholics. Protestant faiths likewise utilized native-language religious texts to aid their proselytization—a largely unstudied fact due to the dearth of surviving works. This book provides a rare glimpse at the Methodist efforts to convert the Yucatec Mayas through a nineteenth-century Methodist catechism translated into Maya. The Methodist tract joins the other texts to enhance our appreciation of the diverse Christian messages native-language texts conveyed.

      The third and final purpose of this book is to highlight the range in orthodoxy of religious texts from true and faithful representations of the Faith, to culturally modified redactions of Christianity. Although friars and priests composed religious texts, natives trained in religion and writing also put pen to paper. As a result, many of the texts translated in this book provide insights into how Christian doctrine changed according to the preferences and contributions of both Spanish and native authors. This, combined with the regional, temporal, cultural, and even denominational differences, all gave variety to Nahuatl and Maya religious texts and their translated Christianities.

      Religious Texts

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