Picturing Faith

After the conquest of the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Roman Catholic clergy developed graphic catechisms to use for the conversion of native inhabitants in Latin America. This book presents and analyzes a mid-nineteenth century Andean pictographic catechism produced for speakers of Quechua. A facsimile of the original pictographs is accompanied by supporting text in English (translated from the original Spanish) and Quechua.

The editors provide an introduction that outlines the origin and uses of this catechism as well as the similarities and differences between it and catechisms written for other indigenous groups in Latin America during the colonial period. Endnotes and suggested readings provide further understanding and context for this and other pictographic catechisms from Latin America.