Plagues, Priests, and Demons: Sacred Narratives and the Rise of Christianity in the Old World and the New by Daniel T. Reff (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 292 ops straddled the line between their social class and position, represented by pragmatic authority, and their pastoral activities, represented by ascetic authority . Yet at times, the narrative becomes disjointed, especially when moving from subject to subject in the laundry list of episcopal responsibilities, and some questions which are raised, namely about the intersection of these two versions of authority, never seem to be fully explained. This may be a symptom of the expansiveness of the topic and the sheer volume which makes simple definitions impossible. This is a very small critique of a work which was both expertly perceived and well executed. In many ways, Holy Bishops is most important as it successfully overturns a number of generally accepted fallacies, namely, that the ascetic movement and episcopal administration were at odds with one another, when it is clear from the evidence that not only did holy men take up episcopal positions, but bishops were themselves expected to be, and could derive authority from, the holiness of their own lives, while they themselves were responsible for a growing number of tasks, both spiritual and administrative. While the exact position of bishops with respect to ascetic practice or pragmatic power can not be universally determined, we are left with an understanding that in late antiquity bishops were not compartmentalized in their political, ecclesiastical, or spiritual spheres, but relied on all three to navigate in a world wrought with change and transformation. Holy Bishops not only provides a detailed study of bishops and their role in their society, but also redefines how one should understand leadership and power in this world, and how it may have been perceived by those who inhabited it. EDWARD MCCORMICK SCHOOLMAN, History, UCLA Daniel T. Reff, Plagues, Priests, and Demons: Sacred Narratives and the Rise of Christianity in the Old World and the New (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005) xiii + 290 pp., 17 figs. This book offers a fresh interpretation of the rise of Christianity in both late antique Europe and colonial Mexico. While drawing on much of the same information presented in his Disease, Depopulation, and Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518–1764, which charts the demographic and cultural consequences of Spanish-introduced infectious diseases in northwest Mexico beginning in the sixteenth century, this “comparative, interdisciplinary study” examines the rise of Christianity in both the late Roman Empire and colonial Mexico. By drawing these parallels, Reff argues that epidemics, which devastated both areas, contributed to pagan and native interest in Christianity, since early Christian and Jesuit missionaries provided charity, prayer, a new worldview, and healing rituals that appealed to people in these times of chaos. Written in a clear, engaging prose style, Reff draws on sources and ideas from anthropology, literary theory, history, religious studies, and medicine. His evidence includes a large body of primary sources (early Christian and seventeenth -century Jesuit texts), ranging from hagiography to first-hand observations by the missionaries. The book is organized into four chapters and a conclusion. Reff divides each chapter into multiple sub-headings and sub-sections, which convey to readers the main point(s) presented in each chapter; at times, however, this structure REVIEWS 293 interrupts the flow of the chapter. The conclusions at the end of each chapter provide a brief and helpful recapitulation of the main themes and ideas discussed . In addition, extensive footnotes supplement his text, and display the vast amount of information Reff has synthesized. His introduction presents a detailed overview of his methodology, goals, and arguments to be implemented and discussed in later chapters. And he addresses the theories he draws on, those of Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Clifford Geertz, and James Clifford. Using anthropologist Edward M. Bruner’s “constructivist” approach, Reff “sees all culture as continually invented and reinvented.”11 Another motif that is constantly evoked is Barthes’s notion of punctum,12 “unplanned narrative details that reflect an irreducible reality obscured by an author ’s understanding of what is important” (239), which Reff searches for in early Christian and Jesuit texts. In other words, disease and epidemics are puncta, as early Christian and Jesuit authors were not directly concerned with outlining the effects of these biological disasters...