Rare 18th-Century Guaraní Manuscripts and Indigenous Christianity

Описание: The University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections Division hosted a presentation titled “Spiritual Exercises for the Guaraní-Christian Soul: Two Rare Eighteenth-Century Indigenous-Language Manuscripts” on Thursday, November 6, 2025.

The presentation was given by Leonardo Cerno, Fulbright Scholar in Residence, and Shawn Austin, associate professor of history. Cerno is among the world’s leading experts on the colonial variant of the Guaraní language and on modern Guaraní-Spanish bilingualism in South America. In fall semester 2025, he and Austin co-taught Indigenous Communities and Languages in Spanish and Portuguese Lowland South America, 1500-1800, a course examining the complex linguistic and cultural histories of Indigenous peoples during the colonial era.
University Libraries recently purchased digital copies of two rare manuscripts from the Hispanic Society in NYC, making them available online. These texts offer unique insights into this intersection of Jesuit spirituality and Guaraní expression.

Cerno and Austin will discuss the content and significance of these manuscripts, exploring how they reflect a distinctly Guaraní form of Christianity that blended local traditions with global religious practices.