«La ciudad de nuestra conciencia»: the conversos and the construction of the judeoconverso identity (1449-1556)

Abstract

The construction of Christian identity by Judeo-conversos was a process that developed parallel to the creation of the character of a heretic whose faith was suspect, associated from that moment with the image of the converso. It was a process that in large part could be described as rowing against the current, while the Inquisition converted the «cristianos nuevos» into the paradigm of heresy in the 16^th century. The work of intellectuals like Alonso and Teresa de Cartagena was not limited to responding to the attacks of those who did not want the conversos entering into the Christian «citadel». In fact, they helped their people to construct a Christian identity through their history and the peculiar style of Christianity, that distinguished them from the «cristianos viejos»: that of an interior spirituality and of a «iluminismo paulino». The proof that this was not the isolated work of few intellectuals and humanists of the 15^th century is found in the figure of Juan de Ávila. A hundred years later, Juan de Ávila’s Paulinism created a spiritual language that became a code communicating with his readers and followers. One of the most important aspects that the Cartagenas and Juan de Ávila held in common was a vibrant awareness of pertaining to the «other shore of Christianity», formed by those critical with the mentality of «limpieza de sangre» and the Inquisition. Ávila added to the Paulinism his reflexions on the concept of the «beneficio de Cristo», another monumental contribution by the conversos to the Christian thought in the Modern Age.