This is the Cathedral at Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, another is facing opposing it. I looked through the amazing structures and chapels within this church, and was amazed at how delicately crafted and detailed the paintings and art were.
I walked through it using a audio guide and listened to archbishops and other priests of this church tell its history. I knew that missionaries and monks used cultural figures in order to communicate with the indigenous locals. Using local metaphors in order to interpret theological issues in a culturally sensitive manner. It was actually interesting to see a guinea pig at the center of the Last Supper being shared by Jesus and the disciples. This example, however leads to a question of how do metaphors and interpretations change the meaning of the subject. Some have the leeway of not having a crucial effect of delineating from the central context, such as, having the guinea pig at the center of the Last Supper. But how about the role of the saints? This has been a main source of criticism for many Catholics from their Protestant counterparts.
Through the Cathedral, there were several statues of saints and some were identified as the saint that people ask prayers from to help them gain wives or husbands (almost tempted on this one). I'm aware that part of what took place with Santeria and some voodoo gods during the colonization was to project the identities of these gods onto Catholic saints as a way of preserving their religion and to avoid perishing from the consequences of the inquisition. A covert way to maintain their culture and faith. However, so much of these have been adapted into the religion that this has become part of the mainstream catholic practices in some cultures, warranting the criticism of idolatrous practices. (such as the concept of 'praying to the saints' to receive their wishes...which i believe is the bastardization of asking the saints to pray for them) So, how do we practice and balance cultural values that are necessary to communicate and digest theological issues, while avoiding it to change the central theology of the Bible? With the appreciation that there are also discussions on how to have a balanced interpretation of the Bible since for most of what we currently think and interpret have always been interpreted through the lenses of the hegemonic groupings of the Western world?
Another picture of the smaller cathedral on the other side of the plaza.
