Religious Culture in Modern Mexico - (Jaguar Books on Latin America) by Martin Austin Nesvig (Paperback)

About the Book

This nuanced book considers the role of religion and religiosity in modern Mexico, breaking new ground with an emphasis on popular religion and its relationship to politics. The contributors highlight the multifaceted role of religion, illuminating the ways that religion and r...

Book Synopsis

This nuanced book considers the role of religion and religiosity in modern Mexico, breaking new ground with an emphasis on popular religion and its relationship to politics. The contributors highlight the multifaceted role of religion, illuminating the ways that religion and religious devotion have persisted and changed since Mexican independence. Focusing on individual stories and vignettes and on local elements of religion, the contributors show that despite efforts to secularize society, religion continues to be a strong component of Mexican culture. Portraying the complexity of religiosity in Mexico in the context of an increasingly secular state, this book will be invaluable for all those interested in Latin American history and religion.

Review Quotes

All the essays are well written and rooted in considerable scholarly research. . . . It should also appeal to anyone concerned with the role of religion and the Catholic Church in the modern era.

Collectively the authors address, often in imaginative ways, the breadth and depth of religiosity in Mexico and its consequences.

Religious Culture in Modern Mexico compliments Martin Nesvig's other recent edited volume . . . providing the most comprehensive overview of current research on religion in Mexico.

This follow-up to Nesvig's earlier collection of essays on local religion in colonial Mexico is conceptually more challenging than the excellent colonial volume because of the paucity of the literature on religion (as opposed to the literature on church-state relations) in the modern period, and because of the complexity of the political context. It succeeds brilliantly. Individually, the essays reach high levels of scholarly excellence, but even more impressively, they come together to provide an exciting new perspective on Mexican history in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

About the Author

Martin Austin Nesvig is assistant professor of history at the University of Miami.