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lukescalone's review against another edition
4.0
I have to say, I'm impressed. First off, I want to say that this is not a book about Andean religion in a vacuum, nor is it about Incan religion. There is a distinction between the two: Incan religion, in MacCormack's terms, is the state cult of the Inca Empire and has its origins in the space around Cuzco. Andean religion is more localized--by the time of Spanish arrival, Incan religion was partially incorporated into localized faiths throughout the entire empire.
Instead, this book is about how Andean religion impacted the ways that the Spanish saw and interacted with Andean peoples. Upon Spanish arrival, most conquistadores did not care at all about Andean faiths. They came for treasure, and when they began to build an imperial state, they often kept the same priests as earlier rulers. They were expected to work under a Christian rubric, but that was no problem, as Andean peoples were accustomed to absorbing other faiths into their own. The peoples of the Andes were in the process of incorporating Incan religion, so why not the Spanish religion as well?
Enter the church. Member of the clergy arrived in Peru with the assumption that all people in the entire world had heard of Christianity. In fact, all peoples once practiced it, but over time the faith became perverted until it was unrecognizable. This could be a plausible case in the Old World, where Christians existed in as distant regions as Portugal, Ethiopia, India, Syria, Russia, and even China. However, there was absolutely no indication that Christianity ever had a foothold in the Americas. At times, the Spanish would see some passing similarity between Andean religions and Christianity, so long as they squinted hard enough, but upon further inspection it proved to be an illusion. As a result, Spanish priests did not have the toolkit to introduce a brand new faith from what amounted to scratch.
Perhaps the largest challenge faced by the Spanish was the importance to oracles in Andean religion. According to European tradition, people received visions from God through imagination. God moved people's imagination in certain ways in order to get them to act as he wanted, or to give some sort of message. Andean people had a similar process, where messages from oracles would be read through imagination. However, to the Spanish, it was impossible that God would contact these people who had never even heard of Christianity--as a result, they attributed the messages to the Devil. In fact, the idea that Andean peoples were--in some way--Satanic came to loom large over Spanish interactions. This was a serious problem, because Andean peoples were not afraid to incorporate parts of Christianity into their worldview, but this would mean an amalgamation of religion from both God and the Devil.
In attempting to come to terms with this, a number of Spanish thinkers relied heavily on the works of Aristotle. MacCormack's writing goes a bit over my head here, which is a shame because the book is largely an intellectual history, rooted in writings that Spanish thinkers and friars made while trying to square Andean religion with classical texts. As you can imagine, the Spanish perception of Andean peoples thoroughly soured by the mid-17th century, which is when the book comes to an end. In addition, by this point, Incan religion had been so widely absorbed that Incan traditions and Andean traditions were indistinguishable--they had blended together to become one belief system. Ostensibly, this could have happened with Christianity as well, had the Spanish not been so thorough in policing religious faith.
I do wonder what Andean religious traditions do continue in the practices of the people in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Historians generally attest the the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Mexico, was initially "seen" by Spaniards, but news of it spread and she was again seen in Mexico City. From that point on, the Virgin of Guadalupe has since taken on some blended characteristics from the Mexica pantheon.
This book is meant for readers with more solid grounding in classical philosophy than I have, but I did find a lot of it to be really interesting.
Instead, this book is about how Andean religion impacted the ways that the Spanish saw and interacted with Andean peoples. Upon Spanish arrival, most conquistadores did not care at all about Andean faiths. They came for treasure, and when they began to build an imperial state, they often kept the same priests as earlier rulers. They were expected to work under a Christian rubric, but that was no problem, as Andean peoples were accustomed to absorbing other faiths into their own. The peoples of the Andes were in the process of incorporating Incan religion, so why not the Spanish religion as well?
Enter the church. Member of the clergy arrived in Peru with the assumption that all people in the entire world had heard of Christianity. In fact, all peoples once practiced it, but over time the faith became perverted until it was unrecognizable. This could be a plausible case in the Old World, where Christians existed in as distant regions as Portugal, Ethiopia, India, Syria, Russia, and even China. However, there was absolutely no indication that Christianity ever had a foothold in the Americas. At times, the Spanish would see some passing similarity between Andean religions and Christianity, so long as they squinted hard enough, but upon further inspection it proved to be an illusion. As a result, Spanish priests did not have the toolkit to introduce a brand new faith from what amounted to scratch.
Perhaps the largest challenge faced by the Spanish was the importance to oracles in Andean religion. According to European tradition, people received visions from God through imagination. God moved people's imagination in certain ways in order to get them to act as he wanted, or to give some sort of message. Andean people had a similar process, where messages from oracles would be read through imagination. However, to the Spanish, it was impossible that God would contact these people who had never even heard of Christianity--as a result, they attributed the messages to the Devil. In fact, the idea that Andean peoples were--in some way--Satanic came to loom large over Spanish interactions. This was a serious problem, because Andean peoples were not afraid to incorporate parts of Christianity into their worldview, but this would mean an amalgamation of religion from both God and the Devil.
In attempting to come to terms with this, a number of Spanish thinkers relied heavily on the works of Aristotle. MacCormack's writing goes a bit over my head here, which is a shame because the book is largely an intellectual history, rooted in writings that Spanish thinkers and friars made while trying to square Andean religion with classical texts. As you can imagine, the Spanish perception of Andean peoples thoroughly soured by the mid-17th century, which is when the book comes to an end. In addition, by this point, Incan religion had been so widely absorbed that Incan traditions and Andean traditions were indistinguishable--they had blended together to become one belief system. Ostensibly, this could have happened with Christianity as well, had the Spanish not been so thorough in policing religious faith.
I do wonder what Andean religious traditions do continue in the practices of the people in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Historians generally attest the the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Mexico, was initially "seen" by Spaniards, but news of it spread and she was again seen in Mexico City. From that point on, the Virgin of Guadalupe has since taken on some blended characteristics from the Mexica pantheon.
This book is meant for readers with more solid grounding in classical philosophy than I have, but I did find a lot of it to be really interesting.
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