Professor Yael Mabat's book Sacrifice and Regeneration delves in an insightful and informed way into the history of Adventist missions among the Indigenous populations around Lake Titicaca in Puno (Peru) during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Despite the significant documentary gaps in the local historical archives, the author gathered vital information to create a database of Indian converts and Adventist leaders. This data, combined with a thorough examination of the secondary literature on the rural and Indigenous world in Peru and Puno, sheds light on the influence of religion in the Peruvian Altiplano's culture.
The book aims to explain the American Adventists’ missionary success in a region where Catholicism was deeply ingrained in the local traditions and culture. It is noteworthy that non-Catholic religious denominations were legally permitted to worship in public only in 1915. Despite these obstacles, Adventism managed to attract a significant number of Indigenous converts, including army veterans who had experienced life outside their communities. The new religion provided them with an opportunity to rebuild their identity while reconciling modernity with a renewed Indigenous identity.
This monograph is divided into three parts. The first part analyses Puno's social-historical context and the Indigenous converts’ experience. It begins with the analysis of the emblematic case of Manuel Z. Camacho, an Aymara Indian convert to Adventism, and, from his biography, outlines the peculiar characteristics of a very influential group among the first converts: the veterans of the military service or the army who returned to their communities. Many had experienced closer contact with the urban Mestizo world, had learnt to communicate more fluently in Spanish, and had acquired new habits and customs. However, returning to their communities was a cultural shock for some of them due to the loss of their land to local haciendas’ expansion and difficulties in reintegrating into their villages with deep-rooted hierarchical structures and cultural traditions closely related to popular Catholic religiosity.
In this sense, Adventism proved to be a viable option for some of these veterans, including Camacho, who developed a new Indigenous identity that was compatible with modernity and social progress. This new identity emphasised education, hygiene, Spanish-language proficiency, temperance in the face of alcohol and coca, and a more horizontal and democratic structure and organisation than existed in traditional rural society. Consequently, several veterans held crucial positions in the Adventist schools established in Puno and served as interpreters and cultural intermediaries between the American missionaries and the Indigenous community. The followers and works of the Adventists in Puno grew notably, reaching thousands of converts and multiplying their temples and schools in the area.
In this line, the author depicts how some Peruvian indigenists and liberals initially welcomed the arrival of the Adventists, considering their work as a contribution to the progress of Indigenous communities. They viewed the Adventists’ efforts as a means to defend Indigenous rights and bring about change in the political, social and ecclesiastical power structures that were seen as perpetuating their marginalisation and poverty. This part also analyses the challenges faced by the Adventists in achieving their objectives. Their harsh criticism of the Catholic Church and their pastoral success resulted in active opposition from a sector of society and the Catholic clergy and even led to acts of violence and sabotage. However, the author notes that the violence was not unilateral, and the Adventists also resorted to it occasionally to protect their interests or even as a manifestation of their animosity towards Catholic religiosity.
The book's second part analyses the profile of missionaries who came to Puno from the United States. It shows that their activities expressed the important missionary renewal in the Anglo-Saxon Protestant world during the first decades of the twentieth century. Likewise, the peculiarities of the Seventh-Day Adventists are shown from the doctrinal and pastoral point of view. Characterised by a marked expectant millenarianism of a second coming of Jesus Christ, from 1880 onwards, they opted to develop a vigorous worldwide missionary activity that included venturing into education and health, creating schools, medical posts and clinics. These elements allowed them to rapidly expand both in the United States and the world, having one of the highest growth rates among Protestant denominations. The social profile of the missionaries was that of young people from a rural, educated middle class or recently established in the cities.
In the third part, the evolution of the Adventist mission in Puno is analysed, beginning with the work of Ferdinand Stahl, ‘the apostle of the Aymara’, a convert to Adventism in adulthood and with medical studies which carried out his missionary work in Puno between 1911 and 1920. Stahl's charisma and independence contributed to the critical increase of Adventist proselytes among the Indigenous people and his work in health. After Stahl, Harry Wilcox took over the leadership of the mission with a different approach. Wilcox's pastoral phase was less politically charged, and he aimed to reach out to the Mestizo population of Puno while distancing himself from radical indigenist organisations such as the Comité Pro-Derecho Indígena Tahuantinsuyo (Tahuantinsuyo Committee for Indigenous Rights). However, this approach led to a crisis with some of the mission's notable members, including Camacho, who was excommunicated from Adventism for refusing to renounce his political ties with the Committee.
This study is the outcome of a thorough examination of the of the social, political, ethnic and cultural factors that contributed to the religious transformation of Indigenous communities in Puno. It explores the relationship between these factors and the processes of modernisation and social protest, highlighting the diverse range of local, national and foreign actors involved in this transformation. Furthermore, it emphasises the crucial role of religion in shaping culture and society during this period. The approach taken in this work is unique in its focus on the Andean south during the republican period, making it a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate on this topic.
