Literary and Cinematic Representations of Jesuit
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LITERARY AND CINEMATIC REPRESENTATIONS OF JESUIT MISSIONS TO THE GUARANI OF PARAGUAY, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FILM AND NOVEL OF 1986, THE MISSION by FREDERICK HALE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF THEOWGY in the subject MISSIOWGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOfERS: PROFESSORS W.A. SAAYMAN AND J.N.J. KRITZINGER June 1997 PREFACE At the University of South Africa a doctoral thesis "should show evidence of original work and constitute a decided contribution to the knowledge of and insight into the subject" about which it is written. The present thesis does so by examining how missionaries and their endeavours, especially the controversial Jesuit reducciones, or model communities, for the Guarani people of Paraguay, have been depicted in a cross-section of literary and cinematic works, focussing on the film and novel of 1986, The Mission. In it I have demonstrated how in one case after another writers in various genres have used this chapter of ecclesiastical history as evidence to support their own causes. Surprisingly little of a scholarly nature has previously been written about this general topic, and next to nothing about The Mission, despite the great international attention and professional awards which the film received. For that matter, screenwriter Robert Bolt, who earlier had won acclaim for his A Man for All Seasons and many other works for the stage and screen, has been the subject of only scant scholarly enquiry. This study could not have been completed without the faithful assistance of many people in academic, ecclesiastical, and other circles in South Africa, Sweden, England, and the United States of America. At the risk of overlooking some of them, I wish to recognise many who have facilitated my research and writing. My cordial promoters at the University of South Africa, Professor Willem Saayman and Professor J. N .J. Kritzinger, readily accepted the task of supervising the creation of this thesis and encouraged my progress on it between 1994 and 1997, both while I was on annual visits in South Africa and during my lengthy stays overseas. I am particularly grateful for their approval of my novel topic and the interdisciplinary approach I have employed in exploring how literary and cinematic artists have portrayed Jesuit and other missions. At the University of Uppsala, where I was a postdoctoral fellow for two extended periods, I enjoyed the friendly support of and many stimulating conversations with other missiologists and postgraduate students of missiology whose diverse range of interests nurtured and to some extent dovetailed with my own. iii Stepping back many years along the path of my education, I must express my gratitude to the many scholars at various institutions in South Africa, Norway, and the United States of America who diligently prepared me to undertake this kind of study. Particularly noteworthy in this regard are the men who taught me theology, history, and literary analysis at Harvard University, the University of Oslo, the University of Hamburg, Johns Hopkins University, the University of South Africa, and the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. Whatever acumen I have in these disciplines I owe in large measure to them. Librarians at more than a dozen institutions have facilitated my research in ways far too numerous to list here. I wish to thank especially those at the Universities of South Africa, Cape Town, Uppsala, Oslo, Birmingham, and Minnesota as well as their counterparts at the British Library, the South African Library, Luther Seminary, Concordia College, Macalester College, and the Lake Agassiz Regional Library for their unfailing courtesy and efficient assistance as I ferreted out materials in Swedish, Norwegian, English, German, French, Afrikaans, and Dutch. The present study is part of a larger project which has focused on the depiction of missions and missionaries in literature and film. It has already yielded articles for several journals in South Africa, India, and the United States of America. I wish to thank the editors of Missionalia, Religion and Theology, Journal of Military History, Scandinavian Studies, and The Griot for co-operating with me in this expansion of the frontiers of scholarship. In accordance with the requirements of the University of South Africa, I declare that this thesis is my own work. \ %0 ·OS· 1 809.9338266289 HALE ~ 11~ ~1111111111~111111111111111111~ 11111 ~ 0001707787 CONTENTS Page PREFACE ii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 The Expanding Parameters and Sources of Missiology 1 Purposes of the Present Study 3 Methodology 4 Personal Stance 7 Related Scholarly Literature 9 Structure of the Present Study 10 Notes 14 II. THE REDUCCI6NES, THEIR HISTORY, 15 AND THEIR HISTORIOGRAPHY Introduction 15 The Origins and Purpose of the Society of Jesus 16 Roman Catholic Missionary Endeavours in Latin America 19 Spanish Settlers and the Guarani 26 The Reducci6nes 31 The Gradual Suppression of the Society of Jesus 36 A Witness to the Results of Closure 43 Liberationist Interpretations 44 Notes 50 III. VOLTAIRE'S CRITIQUE AND DEFENCE 52 OF THE REDUCCIONES Introduction 52 Montesquieu 53 Candide 54 Resurrecting the Dead Image 60 Notes 63 v IV. R.B. CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM'S 64 A VANISHED ARCADIA Introduction 64 Scottish Hidalgo or Revolutionary Socialist? 66 Stated Purposes and Research Methodology 77 ~k ~ Attitudes towards Indigenous Peoples and Colonists 85 Cunninghame Graham's Contemporary Rhetorical 89 Use of the Reducci6nes Notes 103 v. HOCHWALDER'S DRAMATISATION: 107 A PLEA FOR RELIGIOUS TOLERATION AND MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY Introduction 107 Fritz Hochwalder 108 Plot Summary 112 The Strong Are Lonely - A Play with a Difference 127 Conclusion 132 Notes 134 VI. MISSIONARY IMAGES IN THE CINEMA 135 Livingstone 137 Ra.in 140 Hawaii 142 Zulu 145 Black Robe 150 At Play in the Fields of the Lord 153 The Inn of the Sixth Happiness 155 Notes 157 VII. PIVITTAL IMPLICATIONS OF 158 LIBERATION THEOLOGY The Genesis and Character of Liberation Theology 159 The Inescapable Issue of the Legitimacy of Violence 163 Helder Camara's Qualified Endorsement of Violence 165 Nestor Paz as Christian Guerrilla 168 Leonardo Boff's Opposition to Violence 170 Two Divergent Latin American Protestant Voices 171 Alfonso L6pez Trujillo contra Liberation Theology 174 and Violence vi The International Controversy over Liberation Theology 176 Conclusion 178 Notes 180 VIII. ROBERT BOLT: INCONSISTENT 182 IDEOLOGUE AS SCREENWRITER Formative Influences 182 The Origins of a Career in Drama 185 Creating Historical Moral Dilemmas for the Cinema 187 Bolt As a Political Activist 189 Notes 193 IX. CREATING THE FILM 194 Launching the Transatlantic Project 194 Guaunanas as Guarani 198 Creating a Visual Masterpiece 199 A Financial Success, Too? 201 Notes 204 x. DANIEL BERRIGAN'S INFLUENCE 205 AND CRITICAL DIARY A Book about a Filming Expedition - and More 205 The Man and His Ministry 207 Berrigan's Roles 210 Berrigan's Attitude towards Historic Jesuit Missions 212 Berrigan's Attitude towards Liberation Theology 215 in Latin America Berrigan's Evaluation of the Filming of The Mission 223 Berrigan's Overall Evaluation of The Mission 232 Critical Reactions 234 Conclusion: The Significance of Berrigan 236 Notes 238 XI. THE FILM THE MISSION 241 Overall Structure and Voicing 242 The Ministry and Active Quietude of Father Gabriel 245 The Spiritual Odyssey and Death of Rodrigo Mendoza 249 The Tragic Dilemma of Luis Altamirano 254 Savages in Eden? The Image of the Guarani 259 The Reducci6nes and the Guarani Church 260 Modes of Mission 261 vii The Liberationist Epilogue 264 The Music of Ennio Morricone 266 Conclusion 270 Notes 274 XII. THE NOVELISATION OF THE MISSION 275 Plot Summary 277 The Question of Language 286 The Moral Death and Rebirth of Rodrigo Mendoza 288 Father Gabriel As a Complex Defender of the Oppressed 299 The Distressed Soul of Luis Altamirano 305 The Collective Image of the Colonists 312 The Ambivalent Image of the Guarani 314 Other Theological and Missiological Issues 317 The Question of Historicity 322 Notes 325 XIII. CRITICAL RECEPTION OF THE MISSION 326 Introduction 326 An International Chorus of Praise 327 Echoes from South Africa 331 Jesuit and Other Roman Catholic Reactions 333 Protestant Reactions 335 Transatlantic Negative Criticism 337 Roland Joffe's Comments after the Premiere 340 Diverse Other Voices 342 The Quandary of Divided Expert Opinion 344 Notes 349 XIV. CONCLUSION 351 General Observations 351 The Artists and Their Causes 353 An Auspicious Mode of Analysis? 355 The Cinema and the Future of the Gospel 359 Notes 362 BIBLIOGRAPHY 363 CHAYfERONE INTRODUCTION The Expanding Parameters and Sources of Missiology During the latter half of the twentieth century, one internationally recognised truism in the field of missiology, especially in various European countries, North America, and South Africa, has been that its parameters have continued to expand as a broader diversity of scholars and other individuals have sunk their ploughs into its fertile soil. To cite but a few examples of this evolution of the discipline, investigations of such topics as liberation theology, proselytism not merely of but also by non-Christians, cross-cultural traditional healing, and feminism have either germinated in or been transplanted to it and yielded a cornucopia of theses, mono graphs, and shorter studies. There is scant reason to believe that the development of missiology will not continue in diverse directions during the twenty-first century. Few factors have contributed more heavily or significantly to this general maturation than the willingness of missiologists to pay serious attention to a broader range of sources than was hitherto the case. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the historical study of missioris. Until well into the twentieth century, historians of the expansion of Christianity since the proliferation of Protestant missionary societies after about 1790 relied largely on missionaries' own testimonies and those of their sponsoring organisations.