La limpieza de sangre de Jesús en <i>Las órdenes militares</i> de Calderón de la Barca: aspectos teológicos, políticos y de la representación

Abstract

It is a study of the controversy between Calderón and the Inquisition after the representation in 1662 of his play The military orders. The auto dramatizes the admission process to a military order questioning Jesus‘ purity of blood on account of his mother being Jewish. It includes objections of both gentiles and Jews to Christ divinity, as well as theological arguments on the then controversial subject of Mary‘s immaculate conception. In the study, censored texts unavailable in other editions are examined based on Walburg‘s edition. Since the autos were used as tools for preaching the gospel, its theological arguments had to agree with the official doctrine of the Church. Even though objections to Jesus entering the order were presented by evil allegorical characters, such as Guilt, inquisitors thought it could cause scandal among unlearned audience. More than church and state conflicts, the play represents important ideological and racial conflicts present in Spanish Baroque society as a source of the controversy.