Nomine Dei. Community and translation in Bartolomé de las Casas, Vasco de Quiroga and Manuel da Nóbrega

Translation in the American religious communities of the 16th century

Abstract

In this work we will attend to the value of the word of the Other given by Las Casas, Quiroga and Nóbrega in their propositional texts, with special emphasis on the way in which this value enters into the community dynamics of their social projects. Thus, we will be able to reflect on the spaces configured in the treatise De unico vocationis modo ([1534-37] 1975) by Bartolomé de Las Casas, the Información en derecho ([1534-35] 1985) by Vasco de Quiroga and the Cartas ([1549-60] 1931) by Manuel da Nóbrega as communities centered on the leading figure of the evangelizer-interpreter. In addition, as a complement, we will analyze the role of the translation of the name of the Christian deity in the grammars and vocabularies produced by the acolytes of those religious (Domingo de Vico, Maturino Gilberti and José de Anchieta), to think about this process of religious transculturation from the attempt to evangelize the language of the Amerindians.