
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Critique of a Sermon and Other Letters
Crisis sobre un sermon, Carta de sor Filotea (by Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz), Respuesta a sor Filotea
Liverpool University Press
Will be published approx. on 28. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
292 pages
978-1-80596-577-0 (ISBN)
Description
Sor Juana's Respuesta a sor Filotea (1691) is one of her most widely read works and an established text in the history of women's writing. Less frequently studied is the epistolary exchange to which it responds, particularly Juana's Crisis sobre un sermon (or Carta atenagorica, 1690), her response to a sermon by the Portuguese Jesuit Antonio Vieira on Christ's greatest fineza, or demonstration of love. In the Crisis, Sor Juana puts into practice what she would later argue in the Respuesta: that women could, and should, engage in theological study, and that a woman's well-reasoned argument would defeat any man's ill-founded and unorthodox thought. This is the first annotated, critical edition and English translation of the complete published exchange between Sor Juana and Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz, with a comprehensive introduction, commented textual variants, and extensive textual notes. The introduction explores how the Crisis can be read in relation to Juana's other works, including her love poetry, her eucharistic drama El martir del Sacramento, and Primero sueno. By analysing its central themes, this study argues that the Crisis is key to Juana's defence of women's learning, while also shedding light on her views on gender, theological enquiry, and the dynamics of love, both religious and secular.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Liverpool
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 147 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80596-577-0 (9781805965770)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Alice Brooke is Associate Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow in Spanish at Merton College. Her research and teaching interests focus on the literature and culture of the seventeenth-century Hispanic world, in particular New Spain. She has a special interest in women's writing, the works of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and religious cultures. She is the author of several articles on Spanish Golden Age drama and poetry, and of The autos sacramentales of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Edited and translated
Content
General Introduction
Critique of a Sermon/Crisis sobre un sermon
Other writings (Sister Philothea's Letter/Carta de sor Filotea by Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz and The Poet's Reply to the Most Illustrious Sister Philothea/Respuesta de la poetisa a sor Filotea de la Cruz)
Appendix
Bibliography
Critique of a Sermon/Crisis sobre un sermon
Other writings (Sister Philothea's Letter/Carta de sor Filotea by Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz and The Poet's Reply to the Most Illustrious Sister Philothea/Respuesta de la poetisa a sor Filotea de la Cruz)
Appendix
Bibliography