Christianity Comes to the Americas 1492-1776 - Hardcover

Lippy, Charles; Choquette, Robert; Poole, Stafford

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1557782342 ISBN 13: 9781557782342

Publisher: Paragon House, 1998

Synopsis

The dramatic influence of Christianity on the Western Hemisphere was never more profound than in the era of colonization and expansion that began with Columbus and continued through the American Revolution. Christianity Comes to the Americas examines the many powerful religious forces that shaped American culture and society in Canada and the Mississippi Valley (French Catholicism), in British America (Protestantism), and in Mexico and Central and South America (Portuguese and Spanish Catholicism). The separate narratives chronicle the forces of schism, reformation, and politics that motivated Europeans to make their westward voyages. It reconstructs the sailing routes; the missions and convents; the guiding personalities; the disputes over doctrine, politics, and slavery; and the evolution of the various forms of American Christianity. Three distinguished historians retell, from the vantage point of the latest historical scholarship, the stories that began in late medieval Europe and came to a conclusive turning point near the end of the eighteenth century: The growth of Protestantism in British America The expansion of French Catholicism in Canada and the Mississippi Valley The spread of Spanish and Portuguese Catholicism in Ibero-America This comprehensive historical survey is sensitive to the twentieth-century issues that were spawned in the ôNew Worldö by colonial practices: slavery, ecological imbalance, isolationism, xenophobia, regional independence movements as in Quebec, and the abuse of Native American rights.

About this title

About the Author

Charles H. Lippy, Ph.D., is professor of religion at Clemson University in South Carolina and co-editor of The Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience.

From Library Journal

Three religious historians describe the role of Christianity in the European exploration and settlement of North, Central, and South America. Stafford Poole traces Spanish and Portuguese Catholicism; Robert Choquette traces French Catholicism; and Lippy traces Christianity in British North America. Each section is distinct and connections among them are not made, although there is a three-page introduction. Most studies in this area concentrate on particular topics or regions; this book attempts to cover the entire history of Christianity throughout the Americas from 1492-1776. The result is a dense and almost breathless presentation, full of information but sometimes wanting in analysis. Readers with some knowledge of European and/or church history will be best served. For larger public and academic libraries. (Maps and index not seen.) Previewed in "Rediscovering Columbus," LJ 8/91, p. 120-122.
- Wendy Knickerbocker, Rhode Island Coll. Lib., Providence
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Paragon House
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1557782342
• ISBN 13: 9781557782342
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400