Pentecost At Tepeyac

In this study of the cult of Guadalupe a noted Latinx scholar argues that, rather than an expression of Marian devotion it is instead better understood as a popular form of pneumatology.

This book develops a Latinx pneumatology, or theology of the Holy Spirit, exploring the image of Guadalupe as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. All symbols are cultural creations. Furthermore, the Spirit being divine is beyond all cultures and, therefore, no one symbol–whether dove, flame, breath, or any other–can be the only symbol possible. Non-European cultures can and must culturally symbolize the divine, in their respective ways, in order to experience and express their faith in God.

The feminine too can culturally symbolize the divine. Espin focuses on the empowering action of the Spirit among the indigent and marginalized majority of humankind and their cultures, and thus on the Holy Spirit’s subversive, empowering role in human history, societies, and cultures.