2002/03/01 by Christopher L. Chiappari · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Religion and Society Interactions #Politics and Society in Latin America #Religion and Society in Latin America #Maya #Indigenous #Liberation theology #Context (archaeology) #Ethnic group #Natural (archaeology) #Sociology #Anthropology #Religious studies #Philosophy #Environmental ethics #Aesthetics #Theology #History #Archaeology #Ecology
paper · doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00099
openalex publication_date 2002/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This paper describes the theology or, more accurately, the cosmology of a particular version of Maya religion in highland Guatemala. This version is consciously drawn from the ancient Maya tradition, especially the Pop Wuj (Popol Vuh), often called the Mayan Bible, but it incorporates other ideas and elements as well, including such modern ideas as inclusivity and freedom of membership. Thus while not directly influenced by liberation theology, it offers a potential alternative to it in its synthesis of the traditional and the modern. As in most indigenous religions, it considers the natural world to be sacred, and emphasizes the strong connections between the natural and the supernatural, between earth and the cosmos, and between the living and the dead. But it also presents a moral vision and a path of liberation from the harmful trends of ecological destruction and social disintegration that are such a part of the contemporary world. Finally, although it is deeply rooted in the local, it is also oriented toward the larger world, as its message and its practice are open to anyone, irrespective of nation of origin, ethnicity, or residence.