Abstract: This paper argues that Jesuits promoted modernity in the Latin American colonies through a Baroque rhetoric and ethos. It analyzes De procuranda indorum salute , a text published in 1588 by José de Acosta, one of the most influential organic intellectuals of the Society of Jesus. Acosta's text constitutes a fundamental guide for evangelization and embodies the Jesuit modernizing impulse. Based on this work and supported by the thinking of the philosopher Bolívar Echeverría, among various historiographic sources, this paper disputes the widespread thesis that establishes a relationship of exclusivity between modernity and Protestantism, a thesis that portrays Catholicism and the Latin American region as retrograde and feudal. Second, this paper proposes, this time in clear opposition to Echeverría, that the program represented by Acosta seeks to orient the colonies toward a modernity with capitalist characteristics instead of an "alternative modernity," as the Ecuadorian philosopher argues. Finally, it concludes that Acosta's strategy requires a solid subjective transformation that falls not only on the Amerindians but, above all, on those who dominate; that is, settlers and missionaries.
Matías Larramendi-Salvat (2025) studied this question.