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Book Reviews

To cite this article: (1999) Book Reviews, , 8:2, 315-333, DOI: 10.1080/10609169984700

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 BOOK REVIEWS

era-speci® c vocabulary has now been replaced with m ore current references to human
and economic ª agencyº (326, 378), ª postm odernistº issues (328, 370), and the
ª subalternº (329, 344±45, 349, 362, 371). The substitution will in time date this version
of the study also.
Finally, Larson’ s retrospective helps orient the future. She calls attention to the future
potential to use gender to ª blast open rigid race/class binarisms left over from earlier
debatesº (369). Larson states the need (1) for studies of the ª variety and m ultiplicity of
popular actions, intellectuals, ideas, and identitiesº (379) and (2) ª to probe the interior
recesses of Bourbo n state power, as it became caught on the horns of recidivist Toledan
schemes of tribute reactivation and progressive, protocivilizing reforms aimed at social-
izing (even assim ilating) interstitial racial, laboring groups that ® t into neither republic
(of `Indians’ or of `Spaniards’ )º (379).
For its perspectives on the development of Cochabam ba, its evidence on how the
historian’ s craft changes over tim e, and the topics requiring more study, this volume
should be (re)read. For graduate students, in particular, the author’ s ® eld experiences
offer valuable insight into the transformation of an idea into a ® nished project and tom e.

Susan E. Ram õ Â
rez
De Paul University

Liberales, protestantes y masones: M odernidad y tolerancia religiosa. PeruÂ, siglo XIX.

By FE RNANDO ARMAS ASIN. Lima: Ponti® cia Universidad Cato lica del PeruÂand
Centro de Estudios Regionales Andino ª Bartolom eÂde Las Casasº , 1998 . Pp. 297.

Fernando Arm as Asõ Â n’ s study of the continual struggles in nineteenth-century Peru over
religious freedom contributes to a number of issues in modern Peruvian history. Upon
independence in the 1820s, political groups agreed on the suprem acy of the Catholic
Church. Liberals, however, sought to allow Protestant groups to operate, a position that
the Church and its conservative allies, of course, opposed. Arm as Asõ Â n shows how this
controversy, which ranged from speeches in Congress and the pulpit to street battles,
shaped political struggles and ultim ately affected the nation’ s immigration and economic
policies. Not only will historians of Peru bene® t from this well-written and ® nely
researched book but scholars of Church and state in Latin America and those interested
in contem porary Protestantism in Latin Am erica will also bene® t from its even-handed
analysis.
Liberals had several m otivations for seeking broader leeway for Protestant groups.
Som e intellectuals interpreted the Catholic Church as a principal cause of Peru’ s social
and political problems and thus sought to break its m onopoly. This was the position of
some of the more doctrinaire (and isolated) thinkers in the years after independence and
of the radical political groups that emerged towards the end of the century. More
important, however, was the belief that the prohibition of Protestants’ activities im peded
efforts to increase Peru’ s participation in the international comm odity m arket and to
attract northern European im migrants. In fact, this last factorÐ the efforts to allow
religious tolerance in order to foster immigrationÐ constituted the m ost enduring
incentive for the liberals’ ® ght for religious tolerance, kindling policy battles from the
m iddle of the nineteenth century into the twentieth. The case for religious tolerance thus
com bined with racist social doctrines to promote the addition of northern and central
European immigrants as the solution to Peru’ s problem s. Chapter by chapter, the author
examines the changes in the nature of the controversy and the ensuing shifts in political
alliances.

332
 BOOK REVIEWS

Armas Asõ Ân tells an interesting story, enlivening the text with anecdotes and quotes.
He has taken full advantage of English-language sources from Protestant groups as well
as ephem eral literature of the period, such as the 1888 pam phlet with an irresistible title,
El com unismo de las tumbas, a vehement response to liberal efforts to permit non-Cath-
olic cemeteries. The reports from the Am erican Bible Society and from Seventh Day
Adventists who attempted to educate Indians in the Lake Titicaca area at the turn of the
century provide the author with particularly rich sources. The controversy over religious
tolerance often centered on aspects of the Church±state relations such as cemeteries (the
Church mightily opposed Protestant ones), civic weddings, and Bible distribution.
Throughout the book, Arm as Asõ Â n takes an intelligent, tactful stance, pointing out the
contradictions of liberal though t, particularly its em phasis on theory rather than Peruvian
reality, and the reactionary hyperbole of supporters of the Catholic Church who saw
every advance of religious freedom as the end of Peru. He highlights the venerable
chasm in Peru between discourse and practice. Although som e Protestants were run out
of town, in general, even in the midst of feverish Catholic rhetoric, non-Catholics were
able to operate throughout Peru. W hile the discussion about religious tolerance focused
on Protestants, Armas Asõ Â n also refers to debates about non-Christians such as the
Chinese.
At times the author sticks too close to the traditional political chronology , showing
how his research supports and contributes to the standard view. I thought that his
m aterial could have questioned the periodization and the nature of the key political
groups, particularly liberals, as well as the Masons. He is somewhat reluctant to
introduce his ow n argum ents, allowing the material to speak for itself and then
summ arizing his views in the ® nal chapters. These are, however, m inor qualms about a
stylish book that deserves a broad readership inside and outside of Peru. Arm as Asõ Â n has
shown the importance of the controversies over religious tolerance, providing important
interpretations and material for other historians. Finally, La Cato lica University and
Centro Bartolom eÂde Las Casas, two key research and publishing institutions that rarely
join forces, should be com mended for the coedition of this book .

Charles F. Walker
University of California, Davis

333