Dr Butler provides a new interpretation of the cristero war (1926-29) which divided Mexico's peasantry into rival camps loyal to the Catholic Church (cristero) or the Revolution (agrarista). Focusing on the state of Michoacan in western-central Mexico, the book shows how matters of faith were as crucial to peasants on both sides as political factors. Based on oral testimonies and evidence from many ecclesiastical and state archives, this study makes an important contribution to the religious history of the Mexican Revolution.
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While Mexico's spiritual history after the 1910 Revolution is often essentialized as a church-state power struggle, this book reveals the complexity of interactions between revolution and religion. Looking at anticlericalism, indigenous cults and Catholic pilgrimage, these authors reveal that the Revolution was a period of genuine religious change, as well as social upheaval.