Mexico's Spiritual Reconquest: Indigenous Catholics and Father Pérez's Revolutionary Church

By Matthew Butler

Mexico's Spiritual Reconquest brings to life a classically misunderstood p caro: liberal soldier turned Catholic priest and revolutionary antipope, "Patriarch" Joaqu n P rez. Historian Matthew Butler weaves P rez's controversial life story into a larger narrative about the relationship between religion, the state, and indigeneity in twentieth-century Mexico.

Mexico's Spiritual Reconquest is at once the history of an indigenous reformation and a deeply researched, beautifully written exploration of what can happen when revolutions try to assimilate powerful religious institutions and groups. The book challenges historians to reshape baseline assumptions about modern Mexico in order to see a revolutionary state that was deeply vested in religion and a Cristero War that was, in reality, a culture clash between Catholics.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826345069
• ISBN13: 9780826345066
• Release Date: May 2023
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"