Maya and Catholic cultures in crisis

Abstract

In his most recent book, The and Catholicism: An Encounter of Worldviews, John Early examined the relationship between the and the Catholic Church from the sixteenth century through the colonial and early national periods. In Maya and Catholic Cultures in Crisis, he returns to delve into the changing worldviews of these two groups in the second half of the twentieth century--a period of great turmoil for both. Drawing on his personal experiences as a graduate student, a Roman Catholic priest in the region and his extensive archival research, Early constructs detailed case histories of the uprisings against the governments of Guatemala and Mexico, exploring Liberation Catholicism s integral role in these rebellions as well as in the evolutions of and Catholic theologies. His meticulous and insightful study is indispensable to understanding politics, society, and religion in the late twentieth century.