One of the most important contributions to the study of religious resistance and rural rebellions in the Philippines has come from the works of nationalist scholars. They have shown that peasant revolts that have been widely studied cannot be constructively understood without considering their precolonial origins. This essay examines the role of religion in rural revolts in terms of its broader historical connections. It reviews some of the pre-Hispanic continuities in the selection of authentic leaders in the Philippines during the early Spanish period. It concludes that Christianity was localized not simply because it was imposed but because it was propagated by a small group of radicalized, educated friars meeting some of the indigenous criteriafor effective leadership. Thesefriars were some of the early ancestors of today’s liberation theologians.

Author: Kathy Nadeau

Published by: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion