Monica A. Coleman is a professor of constructive theology and African American religions at Claremont School of Theology in southern California. There she also serves as a co-director the Center for…
The highway that leads from the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza back to the resort-lined coast of the Yucatan Peninsula runs straight through several small towns. And there beside the Virgin of Guadalupe and San Judas Tadeo a gargantuan lawn statue of La Santa Muerte—Mexico’s patroness saint of death—looms over the rest.