Digging for Quetzalcoatl's Christian Roots

Methodological Issues: Use of Secondary Sources

			The first problem with the majority of works proposing a Quetzalcoatl/Christ connection lies in the use of sources. Many show an over reliance on secondary sources, and are frequently uncritical in their use of those secondary sources. Most typical is the acceptance of a secondary source at face value, without any analysis of the value of the information from that source. For instance, Ferguson, Farnsworth, and Cheesman all cite Daniel Brinton's Myths of the New World, published in 1868.(1) Most of the citations are to the same or parallel passage where Brinton describes Quetzalcoatl a white, bearded and clothed in robes. As we have seen in the above analysis, it is not surprising that Brinton should make such a report, it is readily available in Spanish texts. However, Brinton merely reported what he found, and did no investigation of the theme to discover its validity. In fact, at that early date, he was missing some of the sources of the Quetzalcoatl legend which are now available. Had Brinton wanted to make a detailed analysis of this theme, he would have been missing major pieces of the puzzle. As a result, while this particular passage contains themes exhibited in the primary material, it is most representative of later, distorted material. Citing Brinton compounds the interpretive errors on the native material while providing the impression of citing an authority. A similar problem is the frequent citation of the 1883 work of Hubert Howe Bancroft, an able historian whose work was timely for its era, but is currently quite outdated.(2) The most disappointing use of secondary sources comes from Warren and Ferguson's The Messiah in Ancient America: "A story was told to the Spaniards shortly after the conquest in Oaxaca... On the day we call Tecpatl [the Aztec name for the day sign fling knife] a great light came from the northeastern sky. It glowed for four days in the sky, then lowered itself to the rock; the rock can still be seen at Tenochtitlan de Valle in Oaxaca. From the light there came a great, very powerful being, who stood on the very top of the rock and glowed like the sun in the sky. There he stood for all to see, shining day and night. Then he spoke, his voice was like thunder, booming across the valley. Our old men and women, the astronomers and astrologists, could understand him and he could understand them. He (the solar beam) told us how to pray and fixed for us days of fast and days of feasting. He then balanced the "Book of Days" (sacred calendar) and left vowing that he would always watch down upon us his beloved people." (Warren and Ferguson, 1987, 2.) This story is amazing, and is the best example of a parallel between Christ's appearance in the Americas and a remembered tale. It purports to be the record of an early Spaniard. The particularly interesting part of the quotation is the clear indication of a being descending in a beam of light from the sky. This is obviously close to the Book of Mormon description of Christ's arrival, and this quotation is the only example of a report of a being appearing in light, descending from the sky. The story is too good, however, and very suspicious. While the mention of a deity teaching the people fasting and the sacred calendar are Mesoamerican elements, as is the evidence of a miracle being recorded in a rock, the rest of the text has no support in either the native sources nor any of the later Spanish authors. Where does this passage come from? The source is Tony Shearer's Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun. (Tony Shearer, Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Sun Publishers, 1975, 71-72.) While the passage is introduced as a translation of a text from one Juan de Córdova, this is an unknown source, and is undocumented in Shearer's work. This is not unusual for Shearer, however. He is not a scholar translating a text, but a poet. His works include Mesoamerican themes, and he is obviously well read in Mesoamerican literature. Shearer reworks that material into poetry or prose. Even Shearer notes that he may be unorthodox in his approach. In his book Lord of the Dawn Shearer makes a comment "To the Reader". He says "If you are a scholar of Pre-Columbian history you are no doubt scratching your head and wondering what I'm up to." ( Tony Shearer, Lord of the Dawn, (Healdsburg, California: Naturegraph Publishers, 1971), 196.) None of his works are footnoted, so where does this citation come from? In Larry S. Ferguson's introduction to Warren and Ferguson's book, he relates an incident told by Shearer, where Shearer indicated that he kept "the Book of Mormon next to my bed and read it almost daily." (Warren and Ferguson, 1987, viii.) Although Shearer is not LDS, he clearly knows the Book of Mormon, and just as clearly used the Book of Mormon as one of his sources for this passage which he attributes to a Spaniard. In the context of Shearer's work, this is well within poetic license. In the context of a scholarly attempt to use the passage as evidence for Christ's appearance in the America's is the most ironic of circular reasoning. 1. Paul R. Cheesman, The World of the Book of Mormon, (Bountiful: Horizon Publishers, 1984), 31. Dewey Farnsworth, The Americas Before Columbus, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1956), 40. Thomas Stuart Ferguson, One Fold and One Shepherd, (Salt Lake City: Olympus Publishing Company, 1962), 148. Bruce W. Warren and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, The Messiah in Ancient America, (Provo: Book of Mormon Research Foundation, 1987), 3. The citations are all to Daniel Brinton Myths of the New World, (New York: Leypoldt and Holt, 1868). They may cite more recent editions, but the later editions add no new scholarship to the issue. Wirth, 1986, 140 also cites Brinton, but on a different passage. 2. Ferguson, 1962, 166. Warren and Ferguson, 1987, 6. Farnsworth, 1956, 43. Cheesman, 1984, 30. Wirth, 1986, 134. As with Brinton, the problem in citing Bancroft is that the scholarship is outdated by over 100 years. Neither Brinton nor Bancroft had the advantage of many of the texts available today, and neither could read Nahuatl.
			by Brant Gardner. Copyright 1998