The subject of missions-formal efforts at religious conversion of native peoples of the Americas by colonizing powers-is one that renders the modern student a bit uncomfortable. Where the mission enterprise was actuated by true belief it strikes the modern sensibility as fanaticism; where it sprang from territorial or economic motives it seems the rankest sort of hypocrisy. That both elements-greed and real faith-were usually present at the same time is bewildering. In this book seven scholars attempt to create a "new" mission history that deals honestly with the actions and philosophic motivations of the missionaries, both as individuals and organizations and as agents of secular powers, and with the experiences and reactions of the indigenous peoples, including their strategies of accommodation, co-optation, and resistance. The new mission historians examine cases from throughout the hemisphere-from the Andes to northern Mexico to California-in an effort to find patterns in the contact between the European missionaries and the various societies they encountered. Erick Langer is associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of Economic Change and Rural Resistance in Southern Bolivia, 1880-1930 and editor, with Zulema Bass Werner de Ruiz, of Historia de Tarija: Corpus Documental. Robert H. Jackson is the author of Indian Population Decline: The Missions of Northwestern New Spain, 1687-1840 and Regional Markets and the Agrarian Transformation in Bolivia Cochabamba, 1539-1960. He is an assistant professor in the Department of History and Geography at Texas Southern University.

This work describes the re-shaping of mission in Latin America in recent years. It covers a broad spectrum of Christian movements that coexist in the area. The book includes themes related to theology of mission, ecclesiology, history, social action and leadership. It is designed to serve as a guide to understand different Christian trends in contemporary Latin America. Most contributors belong to the young generation of Christian leaders emerging in different locations of the region--from the Central America, the Caribbean, and South and North America. They are sensitive to the differences that are part of denominational identity. This work is unique and calls for a meaningful and mature dialogue among Christians in the continent. Latin America is still a continent of hope where Christianity continues to grow in the midst of poverty, social and political struggles. Christian workers are seeking for unity and mutual understanding. Promising young leaders are emerging and bringing innovation, vision and dynamism to the Latin American church in every country. ""If missiological writing from and about Latin America in the English language has been lagging behind, this volume heralds the revitalization within this arena and area. Alvarez has mobilized a younger generation of bilingual missiologists who have lived or worked across the Americas to provide an update and perspective on Latin American mission that anticipates developments in the next generation even while looking ahead into the middle of the twenty-first-century global context. May this tribe increase!"" --Amos Yong, Professor of Theology & Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA ""This volume is completely unique! I am impressed by the level of maturity shown by the writers. Most of them are part of the new generation of scholars that is reshaping mission theology in Latin America. Their papers are open to dialogue and mutual understanding. Alvarez has gathered excellent documents from writers of the North, Central, South America, Brazil and the Caribbean. This effort is remarkable!"" --Dario Lopez, Professor of Mission Theology, Seminario Biblico Gamaliel and Administrative Bishop of the Church of God in Peru ""This book produces just what it promises. It is a compendium of scholarship and practical wisdom for endeavoring mission in Latin America in the twenty-first century. This fresh resource for scholars, people, and preachers alike will influence the scope and direction of mission in Latin America in the future. Read, reflect, enjoy, but most of all, take seriously its claims and propositions."" --Johnathan E. Alvarado, Senior Pastor, Grace Church International, President and Professor of Theology, The Greater Atlanta Theological Seminary, Atlanta, GA Miguel Alvarez (PhD, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies) is a missionary from Honduras and serves as Director of Hispanic Ministries for the Church of God in the State of Virginia. He is Associate Representative of Superbook at the Christian Broadcasting Network and Adjunct Professor of Theology and Mission at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. Alvarez is former President of the Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries in Manila, Philippines and former Administrative Bishop of Church of God in the Northeast Hispanic Region of the United States.

A readable and succinct account of how Indians fared under their Spanish Franciscan colonizers.

Predominantly Catholic for centuries, Latin America is still largely Catholic today, but the religious continuity in the region masks great changes that have taken place in the past five decades. In fact, it would be fair to say that Latin American Christianity has been transformed definitively in the years since the Second Vatican Council. Religious change has not been obvious because its transformation has not been the sudden and massive growth of a new religion, as in Africa and Asia. It has been rather a simultaneous revitalization and fragmentation that threatened, awakened, and ultimately brought to a greater maturity a dormant and parochial Christianity. New challenges from modernity, especially in the form of Protestantism and Marxism, ultimately brought forth new life. In The Rebirth of Latin American Christianity, Todd Hartch examines the changes that have swept across Latin America in the last fifty years, and situates them in the context of the growth of Christianity in the global South.

Predominantly Catholic for centuries, Latin America is still largely Catholic today, but the religious continuity in the region masks great changes that have taken place in the past five decades. In fact, it would be fair to say that Latin American Christianity has been transformed definitively in the years since the Second Vatican Council. Religious change has not been obvious because its transformation has not been the sudden and massive growth of a new religion, as in Africa and Asia. It has been rather a simultaneous revitalization and fragmentation that threatened, awakened, and ultimately brought to a greater maturity a dormant and parochial Christianity. New challenges from modernity, especially in the form of Protestantism and Marxism, ultimately brought forth new life. In The Rebirth of Latin American Christianity, Todd Hartch examines the changes that have swept across Latin America in the last fifty years, and situates them in the context of the growth of Christianity in the global South.

This is the first book to explore the impact of American corporate culture on Latin American societies in the decades before World War II.

This comprehensive history of the church in Latin America, with its emphasis on theology, will help historians and theologians to better understand the formation and continuity of the Latin American tradition.

There are few Latin American scholars who have been more involved in the churches' mission for so many years and in so many parts of the continent as the author of this book. Samuel Escobar's knowledge of its history, theological thinking, ecclesial diversity, and practical outworking is second to none. The scope of his reading is impressive. His ability to analyse and provoke further thought is outstanding. This is a genuine handbook of Latin American missiological thought and missionary engagement that covers all the different Christian traditions. I highly recommend it as an invaluable source for understanding the ways in which Christian mission has been undertaken through the years in this great Continent.

Spanish missions in the New World usually pacified sedentary peoples accustomed to the agricultural mode of mission life, prompting many scholars to generalize about mission history. James Saeger now reconsiders the effectiveness of the missions by examining how Guaycuruan peoples of South America's Gran Chaco adapted to them during the eighteenth century. Because the Guaycuruans were hunter-gatherers less suited to an agricultural lifestyle, their attitudes and behaviors can provide new insight about the impact of missions on native peoples. Responding to recent syntheses of the mission system, Saeger proposes that missions in the Gran Chaco did not fit the usual pattern. Through research in colonial documents, he reveals the Guaycuruan perspective on the missions, thereby presenting an alternative view of Guaycuruan history and the development of the mission system. He investigates Guaycuruan social, economic, political, and religious life before the missions and analyzes subsequent changes; he then traces Guaycuruan history into the modern era and offers an assessment of what Catholic missions meant to these peoples. Saeger's research into Spanish documents is unique for its elicitation of the Indian point of view. He not only reconstructs Guaycuruan life independent of Spanish contact but also shows how these Indians negotiated the conditions under which they would adapt to the mission way of life, thereby retaining much of their independence. By showing that the Guaycuruans were not as restricted in missions as has been assumed, Saeger demonstrates that there is a distinct difference between the establishment of missions and conquest. The Chaco Mission Frontier helps redefine mission studies by correcting overgeneralization about their role in Latin America.