The Nahuatization of Paul in La conversión de san Pablo

The Nahuatl text of the Conversion of Paul preserved in a sixteenth-century manuscript from colonial Mexico offers a privileged view of the evangelistic theater in its formative stages. This essay reviews the different treatments of Paul's conversion in extant Latin, Italian, English, Castilian, and Catalan plays of the twelfth through sixteenth centuries before examining the even more independent Nahuatl text. While the European plays elaborate the canonical account recorded in Acts 9, 22 and 26, the Nahuatl text relies on passages from Acts 13:9, II Corinthians 12, the apocryphal Apocalypse of Paul as well as medieval lore concerning St. Sebastian, all of which are manipulated to produce a highly original script. Paul, Sebastian, the ancient Jews, and early Christians are refashioned to fit comfortably into the Amerindian world, into the here and now of the writer and his intended audience of Nahua nobility. The Nahuas likely proved more receptive to Christian teachings when they believed that they were included in God's plan for humankind. Despite the early date of the Nahuatl text (1530?), we cannot infer from it the existence of a medieval Castilian play on this theme because the Nahuatl text has no features in common even with those late sixteenth-century Spanish conversion plays that have survived. (CS)