Crosscurrents in indigenous spirituality : interface of Maya, Catholic, and Protestant worldviews /
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The resurgence of indigenous cultures and the reappearance of their ancient spiritualities, during the 1990s, is of great interest to social scientists. Several such cultures are featured in this book. The indigenous populations of struggling multi-ethnic \'democracies\' in Latin America are demanding to be integrated into the national mainstream, together with their holistic values of family, economics and ecology. Institutional Christianity is being challenged by indigenous theologies that are critical of both traditional Christianity and liberation theology. While some see here a danger of syncretism, these developments can be experienced as a breath of fresh air. \'Much has been said about the Mayas, but they have not been allowed to speak for themselves\' (anthropologist Rafael Girardi, 1962). This book is an attempt to allow religious spokespersons from a very ancient and creative civilization to share their faith, which has remained hidden for five centuries.
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1 online resource (xvi, 329 pages) : illustrations, map. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-329) and index. :
9789004319981 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Aztec Religion and Art of Writing : Investigating Embodied Meaning, Indigenous Semiotics, and the Nahua Sense of Reality /
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In her groundbreaking investigation from the perspective of the aesthetics of religion, Isabel Laack explores the religion and art of writing of the pre-Hispanic Aztecs of Mexico. Inspired by postcolonial approaches, she reveals Eurocentric biases in academic representations of Aztec cosmovision, ontology, epistemology, ritual, aesthetics, and the writing system to provide a powerful interpretation of the Nahua sense of reality. Laack transcends the concept of "sacred scripture" traditionally employed in religions studies in order to reconstruct the Indigenous semiotic theory and to reveal how Aztec pictography can express complex aspects of embodied meaning. Her study offers an innovative approach to nonphonographic semiotic systems, as created in many world cultures, and expands our understanding of human recorded visual communication. This book will be essential reading for scholars and readers interested in the history of religions, Mesoamerican studies, and the ancient civilizations of the Americas. 'This excellent book, written with intellectual courage and critical self-awareness, is a brilliant, multilayered thought experiment into the images and stories that made up the Nahua sense of reality as woven into their sensational ritual performances and colorful symbolic writing system.' - Davíd Carrasco, Harvard University
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004392014 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mesoamerican religions and archaeology : essays in pre-Columbian civilizations /
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The main goal of this work is to produce a methodologically sound and ethically valid interdisciplinary introduction into the exciting world of ancient Mesoamerica.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781784915032 (ebook) :
The Sacred Mountain of Colombia's Kogi Indians /
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The Kogi Indians of the Sierra Nevada, an isolated mountain massif of northern Colombia, have preserved much of their cultural heritage, notwithstanding the onslaught of outside influences. To the casual observer their austere and withdrawn way of life presents a picture of abject poverty but long-term ethnological study reveals dimensions of inner depth which are evidence of a very rich and cherished tradition going back to pre-Conquest times. Kogi cosmogony and cosmology, their religious philosophy, and their interpretation of nature, as described by men of priestly training, bear witness to a creative imagination of great power. This study tells us of their macrocosm and microcosm; the structure of the universe and the spinning of cotton thread; time-space concepts and the symbolism of a small gourd vessel; biological cycles and temple architecture, and all this within the compass of a sacred mountain which to the Kogi is the centre of the universe. The ethnological importance of this essay is equalled by its value to the Humanities, and opens a new dimension of Amerindian studies.
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1 online resource (98 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004420533