Mimesis of Faith and Jesuit Praxis: Imagination, Rhetoric, and Spiritual Exercise in José de Ancheta

Abstract

This article proposes a reading of the works of José de Anchieta through the concept of mimesis of faith, understood as a structuring principle of the Jesuit forma mentis within the colonial context of the sixteenth century. Moving away from both hagiographic interpretations and exclusively condemnatory approaches to missionary activity, the study examines how the spirituality of the Society of Jesus — particularly the presuppositions of Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises — organizes regimes of representation, imagination, and affectivity. Through the analysis of devotional poems and other writings, the article demonstrates that Anchieta’s mimetic practice does not aim at the imitation of sensible reality, but at the production of images shaped by the pedagogical discipline of the religious gaze. Methodologically, the study engages with the history of mentalities and reflects on fear and imagination —drawing on theorists such as Costa Lima and Hansen — as cultural practices embedded in the colonial experience.