American Historical Review December Issue

The December issue of the American Historical Review will soon appear both in members’ mailboxes and online. It includes an article on religiosity in eighteenth-century Mexico, an AHR Forum on “Histories of the Future,” and an AHR Conversation on “The Historical Study of Emotions.” There are four featured reviews, followed by our usual extensive book review section.

In “The Supple Whip: Innovation and Tradition in Mexican Catholicism,” Matthew D. O’Hara examines a religious movement that flourished in 18th-century Mexico, the Holy Schools of Christ (Santas Escuelas de Cristo). These groups combined collective piety sometimes associated with “Baroque” Catholicism, such as the lashing of flesh, with a desire for both spiritual and worldly improvement. O’Hara resists characterizing the Holy Schools as a moment of “hybrid modernity” or some other variation on the modernity paradigm. Instead, by focusing our attention on both the groups’ activities and their writings, he reveals how innovation required tradition and thus how cultural practices during this period were often future-oriented without being “modern.” (Read More….)

This post first appeared on AHA Today.