Christianization of the Philippines: Revisiting the contributions of Baroque churches and religious art
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department/Unit
Theology and Religious Education
Document Type
Article
Source Title
Mission Studies
Volume
32
Issue
1
First Page
47
Last Page
65
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Abstract
This paper aims to contribute to discussion on how the Catholic religion took root, spread, survived, and progressed in the Philippines. It seeks to address the Christianization of the pre-Hispanic Filipinos and the subsequent embeddedment of the Church in indigenous culture. It also discusses on H. Richard Niehbur's typology of the gospel-culture relationship as discussed by De Mesa (2007). From the fundamental congruencies between Filipino traditional religion and Catholic Christianity, this paper asserts that the lack of tension between the traditional religion of the native Filipinos and Catholicism allowed Christianity to take root, develop, and dominate in the Philippines. In addition, the entrenchment of the Church in indigenous culture and its expression in church architecture, religious art, and popular devotions specifically in the Church of Saint James the Great at Paete, Laguna and San Pedro de Alcantara Church at Pakil, Laguna are discussed. This is to correlate the important contributions of Baroque churches and religious art in the Christianization of the people in the Philippines. © 2015 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.
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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1163/15733831-12341379
Recommended Citation
Del Castillo, F. A. (2015). Christianization of the Philippines: Revisiting the contributions of Baroque churches and religious art. Mission Studies, 32 (1), 47-65. https://doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341379
Disciplines
Religion
Keywords
Christianity--Philippines--History; Religious art--Philippines; Religious architecture--Philippines
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