Crossing Swords: Politics and Religion in Mexico

by Roderic Ai Camp

Overview

Based on a decade of field research, this work is the first book-length, scholarly examination in English of the role of Catholicism in Mexican society since the 1970s through 1995, and the increasing political activism of the Catholic church and clergy. It is also the first analysis of church-state relations in Latin America that incorporates detailed interviews of numerous bishops and clergy and leading politicians about how they see each other and how religion influences their values. It is also the first analysis of the Mexican Catholic Church which uses national survey research to examine Mexican attitudes toward religion, Christianity, and Catholicism, and provides the first inside look at the decision-making process of bishops at the diocesan level.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195107845
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/09/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	1660L (what's this?)

About the Author

Roderic Ai Camp is Philip M. McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim at Claremont McKenna College and serves on the Advisory Board of the Mexican Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution. His books include Politics in Mexico (OUP 2006) and The Metamorphosis of Leadership in a Democratic Mexico (OUP 2010).

Editorial Reviews

Catholicism reflexively comes to mind at the juncture between Mexico and religion, yet the relationship between our south-of-the- border neighbor and increasingly activist contemporary clergy has not always been angelic. In his study of the Mexican church's religious and secular roles from the 1970s through the 1990s<-->both pre and post-constitutional changes on church-state relations<-->Camp (Latin American studies, Tulane U.) surveys attitudes toward religion, interviews church and government officials on their reciprocal influences, and describes the bishops' decision-making process. Extrapolates implications for the US, with its growing Hispanic population. Lists Mexican bishops from the 1880s on. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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