The “Bad News”. The Arrival of Christianity in Early Nahuatl Sermons from 16th Century Mexico

Abstract

In sixteenth-century New Spain, an abundant textual production was developed in indigenous languages whose purpose was to contribute in the implantation of Catholicism among the native populations. In many of these texts, particularly in the early sermons, elaborate arguments were constructed in which the arrival of Christianity was presented as the milestone that should mark a radical break for the Nahua with respect to their ancestors, who, they learned, were burning in Hell. For their part, the Nahua responded to these “Bad News”, at first, with rejection and misunderstanding, largely because these sermons were full of experimental and ambiguous discursive solutions.