Ambiguous Borders: Curanderismo and World Christianity

Abstract

precis:

Curanderxs are healers who utilize a variety of means such as prayers, herbs, Christian icons, Spiritist rituals, images from religions, and such commonplace objects as eggs and dirt. Christian leaders often reject curanderismo as overly syncretistic or even as witchcraft. Nevertheless, many curanderxs are devout Catholics and even understand their gifting and practices through the lens of Christianity. This essay draws on the work of Kwame Bediako to demonstrate how these peripheral Christian curanderxs have translated diverse knowledge into Christian idiom and vice versa. Through examining examples of curanderxs, this essay shows how "Christian" much of the history, discourse, and living tradition of curanderismo is. It is an area of ambiguity that challenges Christianity's borders.