Overtaking Catholicism: The “Iglesia Filipina Independiente” and the Quest for Religious Modernity in Early-Twentieth-Century Philippines

• In Event: 358. The Philippines in the World: Ties and Tensions in Philippine History and Cultures

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the earliest public presence of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), an independent Catholic church founded in 1902. In its two periodicals “La Verdad” and “La Iglesia Filipina Independiente” published in 1903/04 the church presents itself as a modern and contemporary version of Catholic Christianity that went beyond the perceived obscurantism of the Spanish friars. This self-understanding as representing a “religious modernity” was mainly developed through the reading of and engaging with prominent liberal and anti-clerical authors from Europe and by creating a version of Christianity that in the mind of its proponents was no longer at odds with the newest results of the natural sciences, be they related to the physical sciences or the theory of evolution. At the same time, through these periodicals the leading figures of the movement engaged in public controversies with the friars. In my presentation I will explore these debates by reconstructing three specific controversies between the authors of the IFI periodicals and the columnists of Roman-Catholic journals like “Libertas” and “La Estrella de Antipolo” and show how the IFI presented itself as the spearhead of a modern understanding of religion in the Philippines.

Author

• Adrian Hermann, University of Bonn