No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Several currents of “enlightened” doctrine ran swiftly and strongly through Latin America by the end of the eighteenth century. Scholarly work of the past two decades obviates the need to prove that the new philosophy, the new science, and the new politics found acceptance in the Spanish world. Forbidden books made their way into Latin America with relative ease, the Inquisition proved ineffective in preventing the spread of new ideas, and the Spanish crown itself not only promoted useful knowledge but encouraged “ modern ” philosophical studies. Aside from special studies on the Enlightenment, however, the more general histories of Latin America too frequently take the position, implicit if not explicit, that the Catholic clergy, monolithic in their obscurantism, constituted the primary obstacle to the complete victory of “enlightened” ideas. It appears to me that this point of view is somewhat inaccurate. This paper holds as a thesis, rather, that the clergy were seriously split on practically all aspects of the Enlightenment. Some supported, some opposed, and many were indifferent to or ignorant of “ enlightened ” notions. The degree of support or opposition varied, and not all who opposed or supported the movement, supported or opposed it in toto.
This article was originally presented as a paper at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, in a joint session with the Catholic Historical Association, December 30, 1958.
1 Sarrailh, Jean, La España Ilustrada de la Segunda Mitad del Siglo XVIII (México, 1957), pp. 573–579, 605–612, and 660–661.Google Scholar
2 Téllez, Emeterio Valverde, Bibliografía Filosófica Mexicana (2nd ed.; León, 1913), 1, 130.Google Scholar
3 Ibid., I, 143.
4 Quoted in Téllez, Emeterio Valverde, Apuntaciones Históricas sobre la Filosofía en México (México, 1896), pp. 41–43.Google Scholar
5 Ibid.
6 Furlong, Guillermo S.J., Nacimiento y Desarrollo de la Filosofía en el Rio de la plata, 1538–1810 (Buenos Aires, 1952), pp. 69 and 159 ff. and 246 ff.Google Scholar
7 Bacca, Juan David García, Antología del Pensamiento Filosófico en Colombia (Bogotá, 1955), p. 35.Google Scholar
8 Alzate, José Antonio, Gacetas de Literatura de México (Puebla, 1831), 1, 12–13.Google Scholar
9 Fernández, Jesús María S.J., and Granados, Rafael S.J., Obra Civilizadora de la Iglesia en Colombia (Bogotá, 1936), pp. 81–84 Google Scholar; de Caldas, Francisco José, Semanario del Nuevo Reino de Granada (Bogotá, 1942), 1, 229–231 and III, 6–7.Google Scholar
10 Téllez, Valverde, Bibliografía, 1, 109 on Diego Abad.Google Scholar
11 Ibid., I, 128 on Agustín de Rotea.
12 Carbia, Rómulo D., La Revolución de Mayo y la Iglesia (Buenos Aires, 1945), pp. 20–22 Google Scholar; Zuretti, Juan Carlos, Historia Eclesiástica Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1945), p. 190.Google Scholar
13 Shafer, Robert J., “Ideas and work of the colonial economic societies, 1781–1820,” Revista de Historia de América, 44 (December, 1957), 331–368.Google Scholar
14 de Oviedo, Basilio V., Cualidades y Riquezas del Nuevo Reino de Granada, ed. by Cuervo, Luis Augusto (Bogotá, 1930), pp. 57 and 71–74.Google Scholar
15 Pérez Sarmiento, José M. (ed.), Causas Célebres a los Precursores (Bogotá, 1939), 1, 163 and II, 183–185.Google Scholar
16 The three pastoral letters cited are included in Papeles Diversos of the García collection of the University of Texas.
17 Peña, Roberto I., El Pensamiento Político del Deán Funes (Córdoba, 1953), pp. 174–175.Google Scholar
18 Furlong, op. cit., pp. 313–316.
19 Carbia, op. cit., pp. 101–102.
20 Posada, José Restrepo, “El Doctor Nicolás Cuervo y nuestras primeras relaciones con la Santa Sede,” Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades, 28 (January-February, 1941), 290–291.Google Scholar
21 Ancona, Eligio, Historia de Yucatán desde la época más remota hasta nuestros días (Barcelona, 1889), 3, 20–21, 37–38, 114–121, and 188–189.Google Scholar
22 Medina, José Toribio, D. José Mariano Beristain de Souza Estudio Bio-Bibliográfico (Santiago, 1897), pp. xv-xvi;Google Scholar; Beristain, Joseph Mariano, Discurso Político Moral y Cristiano (México, 1809), pp. 17 and 31–32.Google Scholar
23 Fisher, Lillian E., Champion of Reform Manuel Abad y Queipo (New York, 1955), pp. 65–96.Google Scholar
24 Edict of Archbishop Fonte of Mexico, July 18, 1820, in Vera, F. H., Documentos eclesiásticos de México (Amecameca, 1887), 2, 341–347.Google Scholar
25 Archivo Epistolar del Sabio Naturalista José Celestino Mutis (Bogotá, 1941), II, 154.
26 Lanning, John T., “The Enlightenment in Relation to the Church,” The Americas, 14, no. 4 (April, 1958), 493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
