The autos sacramentales of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: Natural Philosophy and Sacramental Theology

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651-1695) was the most significant literary figure of the colonial period in Spanish America. In recent years, scholars have also uncovered her important role in the circulation of scientific ideas in the late-seventeenth-century Hispanic world. This book is the first study to seek to bring together these two fields, and to analyse the role of early scientific ideas in her literary works. In particular, it focusses on her three religious plays, written to be performed in Spain or Mexico City for the feast of Corpus Christi. By analysing the presence in them of empirical ideas, it demonstrates how Sor Juana sought to reconcile the changing currents of philosophical thought with orthodox Catholic theology.