The Ideals of Renewal of European Spiritual Movements in the Americas

Abstract

This article aims at revealing the connections between the ideals of renewal contained in the European devotions of the Late Middle Ages and those of the missionaries during the first wave of the Evangelization of Mexico. Inspired by a variety of spiritual movements aimed at building an indigenous church and centred on upholding the Law of Christ, these missionaries concur with both the reformers of the Brethren of the Common Life and Luther’s political philosophy of attaining a perfect communitas. This research focuses on demonstrating how the ideals of spiritual renewal articulated by Franciscan mystics and missionaries in the Americas embraced the same theological sources as those used by Groote, Eckhart and à Kempis in the Late Middle Ages.