Translated Christianities - Mark Z. Christensen Latin American Originals

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or as a Sunday sermon, the result is a wonderful example of how Nahuatl religious texts could familiarize Christian doctrine and contain very unorthodox material.

      The “Nahuatl Bible” (before 1560), 1–16

      Then, along with the others, Paul’s horse was running; our lord God brought about that his horse was struck by lightning. And then Paul’s body quickly crumbled greatly and all turned to dust. His demons just gathered it up and put it in a cloak. And then Paul went straight to heaven.

      And when our lord God saw Paul, he said to him, “Why did you kill Sebastian, for he builds temples for me and sweeps on the road by which they enter my home in heaven? I am merciful to my children, the poor or humble who are afflicted, who endure hardships and earn their way with effort. I am not merciful to those who have possessions, belongings, and many houses but to those without houses on earth who greatly suffer.

      “Now, Paul, really look where the humble come to settle. I am caring for the happiness, prosperity, riches of those who cry, are sad, sigh, who always go about seeking me, languishing greatly, joining their hands, who kneel down. This heaven will be the house of them only; here are their houses, houses of gold; they will come to sit on golden seats, for no one else sits on their seats. And now that you have beheld it, Paul, can you count all that is here, the eternal happiness and prosperity? And now that you have seen it, look also at hell, for there is much fire and smoke there, and the smoke reeks badly. My children the angels will go along, taking care of you.”

      Then the angels took him to hell. And Paul saw things in hell; he was very frightened and wept; he stood on the hot coals for only a short time, but it seemed to him like twenty years. He saw the semblance of the devils and demons with their iron tongs with which they cut us up; they place our bodies in metal tubs; the evil ones never give relief in all eternity. Paul saw and beheld a great deal; all the torments cannot be expressed, cannot all be told, we cannot mention them all here. And when Paul came to, he greatly wept and was very sad.

      The angels told Paul, “Be afraid, look upon the evil demons with fear! Serve them no longer, no longer make offerings to them, get rid of those whom you served and venerated as gods, before whom you bled yourself and also before whom you were cutting your ears, the evil demons.”

      And when he had regained consciousness, three times he said, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

      Then all those who were there, who had been keeping his body, said, “Is the ruler (Paul) a bad omen for us? And how is it that his body was collected and we gathered it up in bits?”

      But Paul told them, “Don’t take me for something monstrous, my lords, let me loose. As to what I saw and beheld, now I will speak to you and tell you what I beheld; for we sinned greatly when we killed God’s beloved, such a thing should not have been done. Go and bring back Sebastian’s body; because of this I had died. But now our lord God still favors me.”

      Then, they went to get Sebastian from where they had repeatedly shot arrows at him. And when they went and got Sebastian, from very far away there could be seen his light that our lord God in heaven placed upon him (Sebastian). Then they loosened his body; it was still as though he had not died; he was still very sound; the reason he was very sound was that the angels of God helped him; they brought him to Paul’s home.

      Then he (Paul) said, “O my honored noble, greetings; I went to heaven and saw our lord God, and I also went to see things in hell. It was on your behalf that I went to behold things. And now, let the evil devils that are in my home be burned.” This is what Paul said.

      They then removed those (idols) they had taken to be gods and cast them down in the patio and there they burned and scorched them. And when they had burned, Paul told Sebastian, “O my honored noble, Sebastian, since the devils have been burned, for your sake baptize me.”

      Then, he (Sebastian) told him, “It is not I who is to baptize you; a person will baptize you who lives very far away; let them go call him; his name is Peter.”

      When he had come, Paul related to him how it was when he went to see heaven and hell. Then Peter baptized Paul and he (Peter) changed his name; he baptized and called him Paul. After he had baptized him, he taught him reading and writing. It did not take a whole day to teach him, but just a short time. By midday, he could already write; he wrote everything having to do with prayer and holy examples, and everything about how we people of the earth, we humans, are to live respectfully.

      And in addition, we all will earnestly pray to our father Saint Paul. The reason that we will earnestly pray to him is that he believed afterward, and with us too it was after we believed that we burned the evil demons we had taken to be gods. We are not alone or the only ones who have done it this way; for our father Saint Paul did it the same way, for which reason we will earnestly pray on his feast day to our lord. Also, he (Paul) will pray to our lord God for us; that is all of the statement; it is to be observed well.

      When his pupils had learned much of the divine words, Sebastian then assembled all the rulers, nobles, and all the commoners. He told them, “Come all of you, you rulers and nobles.” Then he said, “You heard and understood God’s word as I told it to you; not only is it said that God will have mercy on us in heaven, but we will do many things so that he will be very merciful to us and very happy with us now. Listen you rulers and nobles! God does not want you to have many women (wives) or many slaves. Today, that is all with which I do my duty toward you so that God can favor you. Cast out your women and your slaves and all your home dwellers! May they leave! And as to your houses, grant them to those who have no house, give them to the poor. And your gold/silver, all your property, your cloaks, and all that is in your home, give it all away, and also your fields. And all those who serve you whom you greatly mistreat, who produce for you what you need, whom you greatly mistreat, our lord God does not want it so.”

      And after he (Sebastian) had told them this, they became angry about it; thereupon they (the nobles) said, “What are you saying to us Sebastian? It is bad. When we were baptized, you told us, ‘Because of it God will have mercy on you.’ And after we were baptized, now you tell us, ‘Get rid of your wives; give all your property, all that is in your homes and your houses, to those without houses, all those who are poor.’ After we give it to them, where will we go, for we will no longer have property? In what will we appear as rulers when we have served the poor? And now we do not want this to be done; we had really believed your words, but now we no longer believe; we abandon what you had taught us; we no longer believe and still we will love those you do not yet take to be gods; still before our gods we will kill people; it will again be like it was before you came here.”

      After the wicked had said this to Sebastian, God’s beloved was very sad and wept. He told them, “Listen evildoers! What are you saying? Is it not a sin that you want to break our lord God’s commandments?”

      But the wicked no longer listened at all to him at that point; still he tried to restrain them, but they said, “Although it is sin, did we ask you about it? We really no longer want what you tell us; we no longer want you to live here. Go to your home, to where you came from.”

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