Study of Christianities; Religions of Latin America; Theories of Religion; Native American Religions
Garry Sparks holds a BA from Austin College (Sherman, Texas) in Philosophy and Spanish, an MA in Latin American Studies (Anthropology and History) from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MDiv and PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago where he also taught in the College and the Writing Program. Prior to George Mason University, he taught Humanities and Theology in the Honors College at Valparaiso University (Indiana), and then was Assistant Professor of Humanities and Global Study of Christianity at the University of Louisville (Kentucky).
His research and teaching interests focus on anthropological (socio-cultural and linguistic) and ethnohistorical understandings of theological production in the Americas, particularly among Indigenous peoples. His areas include critical histories of Christian thought, theories of religion and of culture, religions of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and religion in Latin America. He specifically attends to the periods of first contact between Iberian mendicant missionaries and Native Mesoamericans as well as current religious movements like liberation theologies, “Indian” theology (teología india), Latin American Protestantism, and the revitalization of Indigenous traditionalism (such as Maya Spirituality or kojb’al). Since 1995 he has done human rights work with and conducted fieldwork and language study among the K'iche' and Kaqchikel Maya of Guatemala.
His previous publications include two books: The Americas' First Theologies (Oxford University Press, 2017) and Rewriting Maya Religion (University Press of Colorado, 2019). His third book project, in collaboration with Dr. Frauke Sachse (Dumbarton Oaks), will be a critical edition of the Kislak 1015 manuscript tentatively titled "Pastoral Fieldnotes: Edition and Commentary of a Sixteenth-century Missionary Handbook from the Maya Highlands," supported by the Library of Congress, Jay I. Kislak Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. See, for example, Humanities (Winter 2018); and Library of Congress "Pic of the Week" (March 2018).
He is also currently coordinating in a multi-year collaborative project to produce the first critical translations into English and Spanish of the entire Theologia Indorum ("Theology for/of the Indians") from K'iche'an manuscripts with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Academy of Religion as well as support from the American Philosophical Society. For more on this project, see: University of Bonn, Dept. of Ancient American Studies; "News at Mason" (May 2018); Mason Spirit (Nov. 2018); DAMALS and Archaeologie-Online (Dec. 2018).
He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Latin American Religions and on the advisory committee for The Maya Book Project.
Books
Rewriting Maya Religion: Domingo de Vico, K'iche' Intellectuals, and the Theologia Indorum (University Press of Colorado, 2019). Reviewed in the International Journal of Latin American Religions (Nov. 2020), Latin American Antiquity (March 2021), The Americas (April 2021), Hispanic American History Review (Feb. 2022), and Religious Studies Review (March 2022).
The Americas' First Theologies: Early Sources of Post-Contact Indigenous Religion (Oxford University Press, 2017). Reviewed in Reading Religion of the American Academy of Religion (Jan. 2018), The Americas (Oct. 2018), Rivista di storia del christianeismo (Jan. 2019), Anthropos (2019), and Religious Studies Review (Dec. 2019).
Book Projects
Pastoral Fieldnotes: Edition and Commentary of a Sixteenth-century Missionary Handbook from the Maya Highlands, with Frauke Sachse (University Press of Colorado and Library of Congress Press, in process).
Recent Articles and Chapters
“Books and/as Idols: Affective Discourse in Early Colonial Dominican and Maya Writings.” The Transatlantic Bartolomé de las Casas: Lascasian Heritage, Indigenous Cultures, Scholastic Thought, and Historical Reception. Edited by Rady Roldán-Figueroa and David Thomas Orique (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2023), 113-147.
“Shifts in Semantic Souls, Transmigration of Meanings: From a Mendicant toward a Maya Theory of Translation.” Time, Space, Matter in Translation. Edited by Pamela Beattie, Simona Bertacco, Tatjana Soldat-Jaffe (New York: Routledge, 2022), 91-103.
“Chapter 88: Modes of Interpretation of Indigenous Religious Ethics (of the Americas).” In The Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics, Vol. II. Edited by William Schweiker, Maria Antonaccio, Elizabeth Bucar, and David Clairmont (Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2022), 759-768.
Career Development Faculty Research Development Award (2021)
American Academy of Religion, Collaborative International Research Grant (2020)
National Endowment for the Humanities, Scholarly Translations Grant (2016-2019)
Mathy Junior Faculty Research Award (2016-2017)
National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Stipend (2016)
HNRS 130 Self, Other(s), Identity (Religious Autobiographies)
RELI 100 Religion and the Human Experience
RELI 235 Religion and Literature (Native Mesoamerican Religious Stories)
RELI 236 Religion and Film (Beyond Christ-types and "Reel Religion" Puns)
RELI 333 Spiritual Autobiography (Ideas of "Self" and "Religion")
RELI 345 Introduction to Catholicism (A Case of Christianity and Cultures)
RELI 369 Religion and Revolution in Latin America (Introduction to Liberation Theology)
RELI 385 Modern Christian Thought and Critics (From the Enlightenment to L.A. Gangs)
RELI 420 The Invention of "Indians" and "Religion" (Capstone Seminar)
RELI 425 Directed Readings: Lukumí (and other African-inspired religions in the Americas)
RELI 634 Topics in American Religion
2023 Summer Workshop: Missionary Manuscripts in Mesoamerican Languages
PhD in Religious Studies, The University of Chicago (2011)
MDiv in Religious Studies, The University of Chicago (2004)
MA in Latin American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin (1996)
BA in Philosophy and Spanish, Austin College, Sherman, Texas (1993)
“Dialogic (Re)Emergence of an Indigenous Religion (Including Native Christianities).” Princeton University, January 2022.
“Tracing a Legacy of Fr. Domingo de Vico’s ‘Theology of the Indians’: A Summa Americana.” Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C., August 2021.
“Deity Droppings: Tracking Maya and Christian Doctrines of Divinity.” Disciples Divinity House of the University of Chicago, May 2021.