‘Narcosaint’ Jesús Malverde Miraculously Materializes at Trial of El Chapo Guzman

Last updated on: November 21, 2018 at 7:41 pm By Andrew Chesnut

Co-authored by Dr. Kate Kingsbury* and Dr. Andrew Chesnut While many Americans are now familiar with Santa Muerte, her less known paisano or compatriot, fellow Mexican folk saint Jesús Malverde is increasingly visible on both sides of the border. His latest appearance, to the great surprise of many, was in the Brooklyn court where El Chapo Guzman is being tried on multiple accounts of drug trafficking. One of Guzman’s attorneys claimed the 6 inch figure of the mustachioed Sinaloan folk... Read more

The Knights Templar and Saint Nazario – The Narco-Gospel of a Mexican Drug Cartel

Last updated on: November 14, 2018 at 10:16 am By Andrew Chesnut

The interminable drug war in Mexico reveals that the lethal mix of religion and terrorism isn’t peculiar to the Middle East. Mexico is home to the world’s second largest Catholic population and third largest Christian one, behind only the U.S. and Brazil. Just as ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorize several continents in the name of Islam, certain drug cartels have appropriated folk saints and in the case of the Knights Templars (Caballeros Templarios) even created their own. Folk saints, such as Santa... Read more

Exorcising Mictecacihuatl – The Origins of Day of the Dead in Mexico

Last updated on: November 1, 2018 at 12:30 pm By Andrew Chesnut

Co-authored by Dr. Andrew Chesnut and David Metcalfe* In the U.S., the Catholic festival of All Hallowed Eve has taken on the darker image of Halloween, with haunted houses, horror movies, and the departed returning for trouble rather than tradition. In Latin America and Europe, where Catholic cultural influences have remained relatively strong, the first and second of November continue to hold their ancient ties to festivals associated with honoring, celebrating and continuing interaction with the dead. In Mexico, before... Read more

The Exorcist vs Witches – Battling for the Soul of Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Last updated on: October 23, 2018 at 8:28 am By Andrew Chesnut

By guest contributor David Metcalfe* “And therefore, tremble in fear, now, Satan…you corrupter of justice! you begetter of death! you betrayer of the nations! you robber of life! …I adjure you, ancient serpent…” – Father Merrin in The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty Throwing caution to the wind last week, Father Gary Thomas, an exorcist assigned to the Archdiocese of San Jose’, danced right out into the devil’s playground – entering the U.S. political fray with a questionable comment on... Read more

Deciphering the Narcotheology of the Knights Templar Mexican Narcocult

Last updated on: October 24, 2018 at 1:10 pm By Andrew Chesnut

Authored by guest contributor Dr. Kate Kingsbury* – please note this piece is an abbreviated version of a copyrighted article due to appear in The Small Wars Journal in November 2018, a journal edited by Dr. Robert Bunker Latin America is the most Catholic region on earth and as such religion, unlike in much of the secularised West continues to play a primordial part for the large majority of its inhabitants. Indeed, religion is a coping strategy for negotiating the... Read more

Is Brazil Still Catholic? Andrew Chesnut Discusses the Brazilian Religious Landscape on NPR’s Interfaith Voices

Last updated on: September 29, 2018 at 7:35 am By Andrew Chesnut

I began my academic career as a specialist in religion in Brazil and authored the first book in English on the Pentecostal boom in the country that is now home to the largest Pentecostal population on earth. That Brazil is also home to the largest Catholic population on earth, in addition to the second largest overall Christian community, after the U.S., makes the Latin American giant the epicenter of global Christianity. In the following radio interview with NPR’s Interfaith Voices... Read more

Catholic Church Picks a Bone with Cameroon Skull Cult

Last updated on: September 25, 2018 at 6:21 pm By Andrew Chesnut

Authored by guest contributor Dr. Kate Kingsbury* The Bamiléké of Cameroon have long believed that after the corpses of their ancestors have rotted they can be exhumed and the skulls used to communicate with the spirits of the dead, as well as their godhead, to receive spiritual guidance. Locals have named this form of ancestral worship: La Culte des Crânes, or the Skull Cult. The religious rite, which has necromancy at its fulcrum, is of ancient origin and the Bamiléké... Read more

Pope Francis and the Sexual Abuse Crisis – An Interview with Andrew Chesnut on Canadian Radio

Last updated on: September 16, 2018 at 8:00 am By Andrew Chesnut

Arlene Bynon (AB): Andrew Chesnut is joining us, the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Andrew Chesnut, welcome, thank you for being here. Andrew Chesnut (AC): Thanks for having me back, Arlene. AB: Andrew, what do you make of where we are right now? This is not a new story, but there is a new intensity here. AC: Yeah, the level of the scandal is really just unprecedented. In my three decades of being... Read more

An Analytical Snapshot of American Catholics

Last updated on: September 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm By Andrew Chesnut

Pew Research Center, for which I have served as an academic consultant, has published seven key facts about American Catholics, which I have included here in bold type followed by my own analysis in standard type. The Catholic Church is larger than any other single religious institution in the United States, with over 17,000 parishes that serve a large and diverse population. In spite of its size and influence, the church in recent decades has faced a number of significant... Read more

Why is Exorcism All the Rage Across the Globe?

Last updated on: September 1, 2018 at 11:33 pm By Andrew Chesnut

Authored by guest contributor Dr. Kate Kingsbury* Early Christianity featured exorcism at its fulcrum. Deliverance from the devil was the preserve of holy individuals living and dead, with no particular formalities attached. In the Medieval ages, exorcisms became more indirect, frequently exorcised objects such as salt, oil and water were utilised. Later, the exceptional holiness of saints and their shrines, as miracle workers, began to take precedence over actual exorcisms. As the Middle Ages rolled on exorcism became a... Read more