Missionary Scientists

Andres I. Prieto

Description

Missionary Scientists explores the scientific activities of Jesuit missionaries in colonial Spanish America, revealing a little-known aspect of religions role in the scholarship of the early Spanish Empire. Grounded in an examination of the writings and individuals authors who were active in South American naturalist studies, this study outlines new paths of research often neglected by current scholarship.

What becomes clear throughout Missionary Scientists is that early missionaries were adept in adapting to local practices, in order to both understand the scientific foundations of these techniques and ingratiate themselves to the native communities.

Spanning the disciplines of history, religion, and Latin American studies, Missionary Scientists reshapes our understanding of the importance of the Jesuit missions in establishing early scientific traditions in the New World.

Sujets

• Latin American Studies
• History of Science
• Histoire
• Religión
• South America
• Latin America
• Religion
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 28 mars 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826517463
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

MISSIONARY Scientists J S  S S A, –

Andrés I. Prieto

MISSIONARY SCIENTISTS

Missionary Scientists

Jesuit Science in Spanish South America, –

Andrés I. Prieto

Vanderbilt University Press 

© 2011 by Vanderbilt University Press Nashville, Tennessee 37235 All rights reserved First printing 2011

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Latin scripture fromBiblia Sacra Iuxta Vulgatam Clementinam, 10th ed., edited by Alberto Colunga and Laurentio Turrado (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1999).

is book is printed on acid-free paper made from 30% post-consumer recycled content. Manufactured in the United States of America Design by Dariel Mayer

Publication of this book has been supported by a generous subsidy from the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Prieto, Andrés I. Missionary scientists : Jesuit science in Spanish South America, 1570–1810 / Andrés I. Prieto. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.  978-0-8265-1744-9 (cloth edition : alk. paper) 1. Jesuits—South America—History. 2. Jesuits—Missions— South America—History. 3. Jesuits—South America—Intellectual life—History. 4. Natural history—South America—History. 5. Religion and science—South America—History. 6. Peru (Viceroyalty)—History. I. Title. 3714.174 2010 271 ΄ .5308—dc22 2010020349

To my parents, Isabel and Ignacio, for everything.

To Magdalena, for everything else.

  

 



 

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Introduction: Science and the Jesuit Ways  of Proceeding

 :   Jesuit Struggles in Peru Confessing the Power to Heal Christianizing Demonic Knowledge

 :    Science and Expansion Astronomy between Chiloe, Lima, and Rome

ix

1

13 36 62

91 116

 :      e Two Faces of Acosta’sHistoria natural y  moral de las Indias 143 e Irreducible Difference of America 169 Local Nature, Local Histories 195

Epilogue: e Jesuit and the Armchair Philosopher Notes Bibliography Index

221 229 259 275

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

s with most projects, I would have never been able to carry this book  to completion without the help, support, and encouragement of friends, and A Classical Languages Department at the University of Connecticut. Osvaldo  colleagues, and institutions. is book has its origins in the Modern F. Pardo patiently taught me how to read colonial Latin American texts and how to ask questions of them. His sharp reading and critical skills, his sense of humor, and our shared love of South American music have formed the basis of a friend- ship that goes beyond the merely academic. Benjamin Liu, Rosa Helena Chin- chilla, Miguel Gomes, and David Herzberger all took a keen interest in my career and research, and, more importantly, offered my family and me their friendship upon our arrival in this country. Rolena Adorno, at Yale University, has always shown an interest in my work and has provided me with advice and encourage- ment throughout the years.  My initial archival research in South America was generously funded by the Modern and Classical Languages Department and the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Ricardo Landeira, the chair of the Spanish and Portuguese Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, freed me from teaching responsibilities during the spring semester of , which allowed me to pursue additional research in South America and to finish my writing. I would also like to thank the University of Colorado’s College of Arts and Sciences for awarding me the  Kayden Research Grant.  In Chile, the personnel of the Archivo Nacional were always courteous and extremely willing to grant me my often-unreasonable requests, respecting my time constraints. eir efficiency has turned the Archivo into a model institution, where it is a pleasure to conduct research. I would especially like to thank Liliana Montesinos at the Biblioteca Nacional’s Salón de investigadores, who went out of her way to find me obscure books and to make sure I could receive microfilm copies even after my return to the United States. Father Eugene Rooney, S.J., generously gave me his time and help in searching the Chilean Jesuit archives and databases in Santiago.

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