Scholars of Latin America have long examined the role of José de Acosta as not only a Jesuit theologian but, also, one of the most influential colonial actors in the history of South America. Prieto’s The Theologian and the Empire contributes to this tradition while challenging a simple characterization of Acosta by offering new insights into the debates and conflicts of the 16th century that shaped him as an imperial agent. Acosta’s imperial ties, Prieto makes clear, cannot be separated from his vision of evangelization. The violent colonization of native communities under Spanish rule, thus, was never separate from the form of Christianity preached by Acosta. The two are deeply intertwined through Acosta’s participation in the political landscapes of Iberia, Rome, and Peru. The book is organized into three parts, tracing the chronology of Acosta’s life as a student, theologian, and Jesuit in the Americas in addition to his final years in Spain and Rome. Each chapter examines the life of Acosta as defined by active conflict with different political and religious leaders. Prieto places special emphasis on Acosta’s time in Peru but also demonstrates how this period relates to Acosta’s early years in the south of Spain as well as how it would shape his relationship with the Society of Jesus upon his return to Europe.

Part I begins with Ignatius de Loyola founding the Jesuits in 1540 – the same year of José de Acosta’s birth in Medina del Campo (p. 17). Distinct from existing religious orders due to their fourth vow to evangelize wherever they were sent by the Pope, by 1550, the Jesuits presented an attractive opportunity for Catholic youth in their provinces in Spain, Portugal, and India (p. 18). Alongside their commitment to obedience as a virtue, the Society offered educational opportunities in their schools and colleges across Castile. Not yet 12 years old, the young Acosta fled his natal home to join the Jesuits in Salamanca. He would soon return to study Latin at the Jesuit College in Medina del Campo that opened in 1551 with the financial support of merchants of converso descent, including his father (21). Nearly all of the Acosta children devoted themselves to a religious life, as five of their six sons became Jesuits and two of their three daughters joined convents (p. 21). By 1554, the Acosta brothers constituted half of the students enrolled in the Jesuit College in Medina del Campo (p. 25).

In part II, Prieto describes how the 16th-century humanist revolution shaped Acosta as a “theologian for the New World.” Prioritizing rhetoric and argumentative over demonstrative logic, the humanism Acosta encountered during his time at the Jesuit college in Alcalá de Henares would be particularly evident in his writings on topics like nominalism (p. 56). Despite never graduating from Alcalá, Acosta forged relationships with his peers and mentors that defined his career as a Jesuit and professor of theology in Ocaña (p. 63). Acosta’s relationship with Francis Borgia during his teenage years proved to be deeply influential as Borgia was elected Superior in 1565 and, upon receiving Acosta’s multiple requests to be sent abroad between 1568 and 1569, dispatched Acosta to Peru in 1570 (pp. 64–71).

For nearly two decades, Acosta served in different capacities as a Jesuit in Peru. Yet, as Prieto notes, his service to the Society was never intended to be missionary in nature (p. 75). Instead, Borgia sent Acosta to aid the Jesuits in overcoming political and moral quandaries as well as scandals which drew the ire of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, the Inquisition, and other powerful actors within colonial society. In chapter four we see how, as a calificador (authority on theology) in the trial of the Dominican friar Francisco de la Cruz and core supporter of viceroy Toledo’s intense plan for the resettlement of Indigenous Andean communities, Acosta became increasingly conservative in his perspective on the utility of native history and language in the Christianizing of Peru (p. 99).

Critiques of Spanish imperial practices by Dominicans like Bartolomé de las Casas further shaped Acosta’s support for Spanish dominion over Indigenous Andeans and the labor conditions this authorized (p. 160). He drew on Augustine to argue that Spanish imperial expansion was providential in nature and required a pastoral obligation towards native communities who he characterized as deficient in comparison to Europe because of cultural differences rather than biology (p. 157). As seen in chapter seven, Acosta accepted a limited version of native languages like Quechua and Aymara as useful for evangelization (p. 227). In this vein, Acosta collaborated with Andean translators to produce a trilingual confession handbook that would standardize the translation of Catholic dogma into native languages during the Third Lima Council (1582–1585) (p. 231). As Prieto notes, these linguistic strategies were intended by Acosta to help counter what he viewed as accommodationist practices in the missions (p. 232).

In part III, Prieto situates the writing of Acosta’s well-known Historia general y moral de las Indias during the 1580s as a product of theological conflicts between the Jesuits and Dominicans over the functions of grace as well as fractures internal to the Society (pp. 253–258). Most notably, Acosta’s opposition to plans for the conquest and evangelization of Asia proposed by his fellow Jesuit Alonso Sánchez can be observed in his claims about the hierarchy of civilization (pp. 260–263). Acosta encountered Sánchez in Mexico during his voyage back to Spain, and their differences would inform Acosta’s relationship with the new Jesuit superior Claudio Acquaviva as well as Phillip II upon his return to Europe (p. 296).

This book advances the study of colonial Latin American history forward in diverse ways. Documenting Acosta’s political and religious influence in 16th-century Spanish transatlantic empire, Prieto sheds new light on the life of Acosta. Expertly weaving together a fluid account of how the Jesuit theologian must be understood as an imperial actor, The Theologian and the Empire is a nuanced and detailed intellectual biography. Prieto’s offerings would be a welcome contribution to any course on religion in Latin America as well as graduate seminars grappling with how to read complex colonial actors.