Native Religions and the Cultures of North and South America (review)

This welcome volume consists of eleven chapters written by ten different authors and the editor, as well as a brief introduction by editor Lawrence E. Sullivan of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University. The collection attempts to depict the wide range of religious beliefs and practices to be found in Central and South America, with special attention paid to major cultural and geographical areas. Rather than try to cover all religions in this vast region (an impossibility), Sullivan instead chose to include only representative religions from each major cultural area.

The volume contains chapters on the Baniwa (Robin M. Wright), the Kayapo (Terence Turner), precontact religions of the Aztec (David Carrasco), the Mayans (Mercedes de la Garza), and the Inca (R. Tom Zuidema), as well as illustrative contemporary examples of religions from the Andes (Juan M. Ossio), the Argentine Chaco (Elgardo Jorge Cordeu), the Amazon rainforest (Lawrence E. Sullivan), and Mexico (Alfredo Lopez Austin and Peter L. van der Loo).

There is little attempt to provide uniform treatment of the various religions covered. Each chapter takes a slightly different slant. Some chapters address entire ritual calendars, whereas others focus on a particular aspect of a single ritual. This lack of uniformity is appropriate given the tremendous diversity of religions in the region, and it is one of the strengths of the collection. A weakness, however, is that some cultural areas are neglected entirely. For example, there is no attention to religions of the circum-Caribbean region or to relationships between circum-Caribbean religions and the religions of the lowland South America.

Some chapters are more topical than regional: A number of chapters deal with creation myths (notably the chapters by Alfredo Lopez Austin and Terence Turner), whereas others focus on shamanism (Robin M. Wright) and the logic of urban ceremonial centers (David Carrasco). The most wide-ranging synthesis is provided by Lawrence E. Sullivan in his chapter, "The World and its End: Cosmologies and Eschatologies of South American Indians." Sullivan describes prophetic movements in various parts of South America, emphasizing Amerindian ideas concerning the apocalypse. He convincingly argues that the religious worldviews of South American natives should be seen as sophisticated, coherent, comprehensive, and critical.

Of greatest interest to readers of this journal are the chapters by David Carrasco, R. Tom Zuidema, and Mercedes de la Garza. Carrasco's chapter, which focuses on the Aztec sacred cities of Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan, gives as much attention to mythology and ritual as to art and architecture. Carrasco deftly summarizes a lifetime of meticulous research but offers few new insights. Although generally sympathetic in his portrayals of Aztec religious beliefs and practices, Carrasco does not glorify their religion; he depicts Aztec sacrifice in all its gory detail.

Chapter four, "Sacred Forces of the Mayan Universe," by Mercedes de la Garza, constitutes a tour de force of recent scholarship on Maya religion. Garza's chapter is not only the longest in the volume but is by far the most comprehensive treatment of a single religious tradition. Although Garza's work on Meso-American religions is not as well known as the works of David Carrasco, H. B. Nicholson, or Miguel Leon-Portilla, she provides an excellent overview for the specialist. The account is both balanced and accessible, evidencing judicious use of early chronicles (both native and European), archaeological findings, secondary sources, and native mythology. Like all the chapters in this collection, "Sacred Forces of the Mayan Universe" constitutes a laudable example of multidisciplinary research.

Like the religion of the Aztecs and the Mayans (Carrasco and Garza), Inca religion was also city based. R. Tom Zuidema correctly points out that the Inca state was one of the few state systems in history to govern for a prolonged period without having developed a system of writing. Although recognizing...