The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1501–1600
4 works
1541
Spanish
Toribio de Benavente Motolinía · c. 1482–1569
An early friar's account of the conquest's aftermath — mass baptisms, epidemics, the destruction of temples — by a man the Nahuas named for his poverty.
1564
Nahuatl
Coloquios y Doctrina Cristiana
Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua elders
A reconstruction of the 1524 debates between the first friars and Aztec priests, giving the Nahua side space to argue that their gods gave them life and food.
c. 1545–1579
Nahuatl
Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España
Bernardino de Sahagún and his Nahua collaborators · c. 1499–1590
Twelve books on Nahua religion, government, medicine, trade, and natural history, compiled from interviews with elders and written in Nahuatl by native scribes.
c. 1574–1581
Spanish
Diego Durán · c. 1537–1588
Aztec history and religion recorded from native accounts and painted books by a friar raised in Mexico who spoke Nahuatl from childhood.
1601–1700
2 works
1690
Spanish
Juana Inés de la Cruz · 1648–1695
A critique of a celebrated sermon by a Portuguese Jesuit on Christ's greatest act of love, arguing that it was his restraint in withholding benefits.
1691
Spanish
Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz
Juana Inés de la Cruz · 1648–1695
A Mexican nun answers a bishop who told her to give up study, defending a woman's right to learn from scripture, from the fathers, and from her own experience.
6 of 1774 works