Inheritance Without Captivity

Sor Juana was a daughter of the Catholic Church, Renaissance humanism, and indigenous Mexican culture—traditions that shaped her profoundly and constrained her severely. Her authenticity lay not in rejecting inheritance but in refusing to be defined entirely by it. Inheritance without captivity describes the mature relationship to tradition: you receive what nourishes you, you honor the sources, you study them deeply, and you simultaneously claim the right to disagree, reframe, and create new meaning. This differs fundamentally from both fundamentalism (treating tradition as frozen truth) and rootlessness (severing connection to originary sources). Sor Juana's poetry drew on Spanish baroque forms while challenging their assumptions about women's intellect. Her theology was orthodox yet provocative. This concept invites practitioners to ask: What has my tradition given me that I truly need? What assumptions embedded in it do I need to resist? How can I be faithful to the best of my inheritance while remaining free? Authenticity across traditions requires this both/and stance—deep gratitude and intellectual independence held simultaneously.