Transatlantic Las Casas

Rady Roldán-Figueroa (Th.D., Boston University) is Associate Professor at Boston University. He is the author of The Ascetic Spirituality of Juan de Avila (1499–1569) (Brill, 2010), and The Martyrs of Japan: Publication History and Catholic Missions in the Spanish World (Spain, New Spain, and the Philippines, 1597–1700) (Brill, 2021).David Thomas Orique, O.P. (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is Professor at Providence College. He is the author of The Unheard Voice of Law from the Often-heard Text: A New Rendition of Bartolomé de Las Casas’s ‘Brevísima relación de la destruición de las Indias’ (Routledge, 2021), and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Latin American Christianity (2019).

"The Transatlantic Las Casas is a great contribution to the history of colonialism and the complex narratives of those involved. This is a volume that achieves its goals: to move beyond the Brevísima, present a less Eurocentric view, and promote Lascasian studies to generate debate and genuine disagreement." - Josefrayn Sánchez-Perry, Loyola University Chicago, in: Reading Religion, April 29, 2025

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of Figures and TablesAbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: The Past and Present of Lascasian StudiesRady Roldán-Figueroa and David Thomas Orique, O.P.Part 1Trajectories of Las Casas’s Heritage: New Spain and Peru1 The Conflicted Humanitarianism of the Spanish Colonial Government: Late Sixteenth-Century New Spain and the Impact of Las CasasJohn F. Schwaller2 “Multiplicarse ha la tierra de gente y de fruto”: Gender and Re-production in Las Casas’s and Guaman Poma’s Biopolitical Projects (1516, 1615)Paola Uparela3 (Mis)Appropriating the Authoritative Bishop of Chiapa: Calancha and His Translators as Readers of Las CasasDwight E. R. TenHuisenPart 2Las Casas and Indigenous Cultures: Caxcan and K’iche’an Maya4 Francisco Tenamaztle, Bartolomé de las Casas and the Role of Translation in the Construction of a Legal Case Before the Consejo de Indias (1555–1556)Rubén A. Sánchez-Godoy5 Books and/as Idols: Affective Discourse in Early Colonial Dominican and Maya WritingsGarry Sparks6 Las Casas and the Divine Social Orders of the Indigenous AmericansFrauke SachsePart 3Bartolomé de las Casas and Political and Moral Theology7 The Pontifical Theocracy of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, O.P. (1484–1566)Ramón Darío Valdivia Giménez8 Prudentia: Thomas Aquinas Interpreted by Bartolomé de Las CasasThomas Eggensperger, O.P.9 Moral Uncertainty and Doubt in the Affairs of the Indies: Vitoria, Las Casas, and Medina on Difficult Cases of ConscienceVíctor Zorrilla10 “No Greater nor More Arduous Step”: Lactantius, Las Casas, and Continuity in Christian Rhetoric about ConversionLaura Ammon11 Reason and the Monstrous: Las Casas’s Appeal to the imago deiTimothy A. McCallisterPart 4Bartolomé de las Casas and Early Modern Philosophy12 Hospitality or Property? The Natural Right of Communication and the “New World”Natsuko Matsumori13 The Epistemology of Bartolomé de Las Casas: An IntroductionDavid Thomas Orique, O.P.14 Bartolomé de las Casas and the Foundation of Latin American PhilosophyMario Ruíz Sotelo15 Las Casas’s Apologética historia sumaria and His Vision of the OtherLuis Mora RodríguezPart 5Historical Receptions of Las Casas: Utopians, the Black Legend, and Revolutionaries16 Political Hermeneutics of Utopias in Europe and the Americas: Thomas More, Bartolomé de las Casas, Vasco de QuirogaMaría Cristina Ríos Espinosa17 The 1516 Project for the Colonization of the Indies: The Simulacrum of a UtopiaVanina M. Teglia18 Beyond the “Black Legend”: The Reception History of Las Casas in Late Sixteenth-Century EnglandRady Roldán-Figueroa19 Enlightenment and Revolutionary Uses of Las Casas from Charlesvoix to Pancho VillaAndrew L. WilsonLascasian BibliographyIndex