Abstract

This chapter briefly tells the story of the emergence of an iglesia autóctona, a local church with Indigenous face and heart in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, told from an historical perspective through an outsider’s eyes. It’s a story about how this local church has been facing its colonial reality and trying to transform itself over the past few decades in response to the resurgence of the Indigenous peoples. The chapter argues that the emergent iglesia autóctona and teología india are manifestations of resistance to colonization that open decolonial spaces in the same religious structures that have historically been used as the main instruments and force of colonization and where la colonialidad del poder is still pervasive today.