Josefrayn Sanchez-Perry

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Josefrayn S谩nchez-Perry teaches historical theology with a focus on early modern theologies, colonialism, and Indigenous traditions of Mesoamerica. He has a Ph.D. (2021) and M.A (2018) in religious studies from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.Div. (2014) from Southern Methodist University, and a B.A. in religious studies from Northwestern College in Iowa.

He is working on his first monograph, based on his doctoral dissertation, which focused on Nahua (i.e. Aztec) ritual specialists from before and after European occupation. The book demonstrates that household ritual specialists were official participants in the life-cycles of Nahua city-states. It also shows how 鈥渓ifestyles鈥� and 鈥渓abors鈥� organized and categorized religious systems that Spanish local officials and Christian friars both abdicated and co-opted to enforce the Christian religion and European civility. The book embraces multidisciplinary approaches, such as Nahuatl and K鈥檌che鈥� Maya ethnohistory, material culture and archeology, and theological anthropologies from the medieval and early modern periods.

S谩nchez-Perry is interested in Indigenous language studies of the Americas and has worked on an online, open access Nahuatl-language curriculum with the help of Nahuatl-speakers, Sabina Cruz de la Cruz and Catalina Cruz de la Cruz (). It is a self-paced study of Huasteca Nahuatl from northern Veracruz, Mexico. He is also interested Mesoamerican pictorial documents, central Mexican archeological sites, and the changes to religious categories that came to bear during and after the conquest of the Americas.

Program Areas

Theology

Research Interests

Historical Theology; Religious Studies; Latin American Christianities; Mesoamerican Religions and Material Culture; Colonialism and Mission Studies; Nahuatl and K鈥檌che鈥� Languages

Courses Taught

THEO 393