The Explanation of Mary’s Virginity in the Second Article of Faith. An Approach in Three Nahua Texts, 16th-17th Centuries

Abstract

The second Article of Faith of Christian doctrine, pertaining to Christ’s human nature is reviewed in three Nahua works published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the authors belong to different religious orders. The second Article of Faith is about the birth of Jesus; this study analyses how the authors explained the Christian dogma regarding the virginity of Mary, who according to Christian tradition, regardless of her pregnancy and giving birth, remained a virgin. The first author, chronologically speaking, directly narrates the passage of the Article, whereas the two later ones resort to analogies or metaphors that may have facilitated the explanation of such a dogma. At the same time, the lexical field related to ‘virgin’ and ‘virginity’ in Nahuatl, as well as the epithets added to ensure greater semantic precision, are examined.