Franciscan Spirituality and Mission in New Spain, 1524-1599: Conflict Beneath the Sycamore Tree

Franciscans in sixteenth-century New Spain were deeply ambivalent about their mission work. Fray Juan de Zumàrraga, the first archbishop of Mexico, begged the king to find someone else to do his job so that he could go home. This discontent was widespread, grew stronger with time, and carried important consequences for the friars' interactions with indigenous peoples, their Catholic co-laborers, and colonial society at large. This book examines that discontent and seeks to explain why the exhilaration of joining such a 'glorious' enterprise so often gave way to grinding discontent.

Author: Steven E. Turley
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 01/02/2014
Pages: 214
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.07lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9781409454212

About the Author
Steven E. Turley has served as a lecturer in History at Rice University and as an adjunct assistant professor of History at Fuller Theological Seminary - Texas. He is currently a graduate and faculty chaplain at Rice University. His next research project will extend the analysis of the present book, to examine the ways in which Franciscan mission work and spirituality continued to interact and evolve as they moved into the northern territories of Mexico.