The theologian and the empire : a biography of José de Acosta (1540-1600) / by Andrés I. Prieto.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formative Years
1 The Making of a Jesuit (1540–57) 17
1 The Acosta Family 20
2 An Early Vocation 25
3 The Formation of a Jesuit 33
4 A Writer in the Making 39
2 The Young Scholar (1557–71) 42
1 Valladolid and the 1558 Lutheran Repression 45
2 Acosta the Theologian 51
3 The College Years 58
4 The Overseas Vocation 63
Part 2
Peru
3 A Theologian for the New World (1572–74) 75
1 A Troubled Province 79
2 Acosta’s First Tour of the Andes 85
4 The Trial of Francisco de la Cruz (1574–76) 100
1 Angels, Demons, and a New American Church 108
2 The Politics of the Inquisition 116
3 De la Cruz and the Evangelization of Native Andeans 119
4 Rethinking Accommodation 130
5 The Visitor and the Viceroy (1575–78) 133
1 The Problem of the Doctrinas 135
2 An Inquiry into the Spanish Rights to Peru 139
3 Between Idealism and Pragmatism 148
Andrés I. Prieto - 978-90-04-68086-9
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4 De procuranda indorum salute and the Colonial Project 154
5 Juli 162
6 Labors and Tribulations (1577–81) 168
1 The Provincial at Work 170
2 Plotting the Expansion of the Jesuit Province 174
3 Acosta’s Last Trip through the Andes 179
4 The Battle for San Pablo 185
5 Stamping out Lascasismo 189
7 The Third Lima Council (1582–85) 207
1 The Banning of Mestizos 211
2 Valera, Acosta, and Accommodation 219
3 Acosta and the Third Council of Lima 227
4 Evangelization and the Creation of a Colonial Self 231
Part 3
Between Spain and Rome
8 Writing the Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1584–89) 251
1 Acosta’s Last Years in the Americas 254
2 Sánchez, Acosta, and Iberian Imperialism in Asia 259
3 From De natura novi orbis to the Historia natural y moral de
las Indias 276
4 The Historia natural y moral and the De auxiliis Controversy 281
9 The Memorialista Crisis (1588–91) 295
1 A Shifting Political Landscape 296
2 The Politics of the Spanish Inquisition 303
3 Acosta and Sánchez in the Court of Philip II 310
4 Acosta’s First Trip to Rome 315
5 Acosta, Visitor 323
10 The Fifth General Congregation (1591–1600) 331
1 The Acosta Brothers’ Gambit 333
2 The Fifth General Congregation 344
3 The Final Years 363
Epilogue 369
Bibliography 373
Index

"Although Jesuit contributions to the European expansion in the early modern period have attracted considerable scholarly interest, the legacy of José de Acosta (1540-1600) is still defined by his contributions to natural history. The Theologian and the Empire presents a new biography of Acosta, focused on his participation in colonial and imperial politics. The most important Jesuit active in the Americas in the sixteenth century, Acosta was fundamentally a political operator. His actions on both sides of the Atlantic were instrumental in the configuration that Peruvian colonial life and the Jesuit order acquired entering the seventeenth century"-- Provided by publisher.

isbn 978-90-04-46204-5 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-68086-9 (e-book)
DOI 10.1163/9789004680869

Local access dig.pdf. [Prieto-Acosta.pdf]

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