The Americas' First Sermons

The Nahuatl Sermonary of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún

Bernardino de Sahagun, Ben Leeming

• Publisher: University of Utah Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781647692551
  9781647692575
• eBook ISBN:
  9781647692568
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Translating & Interpreting

The first English publication of the earliest surviving Christian sermons from the Americas

The Americas' First Sermons presents the first English translation and critical study of the complete set of sermons composed by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún and his Nahua students at the Imperial College of Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, Mexico in 1540. The volume represents a crucial moment in the cultural exchange between European and Indigenous civilizations in sixteenth-century colonial Mexico.

With the collaboration of Mario Alberto Sánchez Aguilera, this edition offers unprecedented access to the collaboration between European friars and Nahua scholars in translating Christian concepts into Native languages. It captures Sahagún's evolving methods across three phases (1530s–1560s) through his extensive annotations, bridging the divide between his ethnographic and doctrinal works. Unique in its analysis of both text and manuscript features—such as rare maguey paper—it highlights Indigenous intellectual contributions at the Colegio de Santa Cruz. This translation provides essential insights into early colonial religious negotiations and makes previously inaccessible material available to scholars across multiple disciplines.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures and Tables
• Note on Orthography
• Acknowledgmets
• Introductory Study of Newberry Library Ayer MS 1485
• Translation and Presentation
• The Sermons of Ayer 1485