The not-so-crypto crypto-Jews of New Mexico: update on a decades-old debate

For over two decades an academic debate has raged over a possible crypto-Jewish presence in New Mexico. On one side are scholars who advance two claims: first, that many of New Mexico’s early colonists were crypto-Jews and second, that practices associated with some Hispano families in modern New Mexico reflect crypto-Jewish traditions originating in the colonial period. On the other side are scholars who question the evidentiary basis of both claims. This article provides an update on this debate by (1) reviewing scholarly reviews of two key monographs published since the debate first erupted in the mid-1990s and (2) by presenting new data relevant to the possibility that modern claims of ‘crypto-Judaism’ derive from Adventist proselytizing. The article concludes with an assessment of the many reasons why the original hypothesis has been, and will likely continue to be, popular despite the doubts that many scholars have raised.