| For generation after generation, the Christian people have fervently recognized the presence of the gospel message in the experience of Guadalupe. The faithful are clear. Guadalupe makes present a power, an overwhelming sense of the sacred. Orlando Espin reminds us that if theologians are to trust the "faith-full" people's intuition, then we must strive to understand her theological meaning. Yet, as historians D. A. Brading and Stafford Poole have ably documented, much of the current interest and controversy I concerning the Guadalupan image stems from conflicts regarding the historicity of the image. What is missing are theological interpretations of this image. This dissertation is one response to this lacuna.The symbol of Our Lady of Guadalupe signifies, for some, support for diverse liberation movements (social, cultural, political, or religious) as evidenced by Virgil Elizondo's reading, and, for others, the ongoing hegemony of a patriarchal world order as can be seen in the work of Chicana feminist theorists (Norma Alarcon, Gloria Anzaldua, and Laura Elisa Perez). However, these two interpretations of Guadalupe fall short of presenting clearly the way in which liberative human aspirations are integral to, but not synonymous with, the Christian goal of redemption. This limitation and its significance come into focus by means of a combination of Roycean insights into the nature of reality and the drive toward salvation. If, following Josiah Royce, we conceive of reality as composed of signs and sign relations and of salvation as the result of an interpretive process, then we can argue that religious symbols mediate redemption to the extent that they disclose an efficacious vision of the Christian community here on earth that cherishes above all else the emergence of a universal, redeemed humanity. Therefore, theological interpretations of Guadalupe that assert that this religious symbol mediates liberation remain inadequate unless they also predicate the fullness of redemption. Failing this, a theological interpretation will undermine the intelligibility and validity of Guadalupe as a Christian symbol. |
