Description
Book SynopsisOffers a concise and far-reaching synthesis of the Church's role from the earliest contact between the Spanish and native tribes until the modern day
Trade ReviewSchwaller has produced a book that has long been needed in Latin American studies...one leaves reading [him] with vivid details rather than pre-digested summaries. * Journal of Latin American Studies *
Stimulating...Schwaller takes readers on an even-paced and informative journey through 500 years of Catholic history. -- Matthew Butler * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *
What Professor Schwaller has accomplished is a rather pleasant review of the pre-Columbian civilizations—the classic Maya, the Aztec and the Inca—followed by the Iberian history of the late Middle Ages and the missionary endeavors of the early Spanish Franciscan and Dominican friars in New Spain and the vice-royalty of Peru and the Portuguese in BrazilThis is his area of specialization, and he tells the story well. -- Diego von Vacano * America Magazine *
As Latin America assumes the role of the world's most Catholic continent, it becomes all the more necessary for anyone interested in contemporary Christianity to understand its historical roots. Schwaller's well-written and thoroughly researched history serves as an excellent guide to Latin America's turbulent religious past, and its contemporary realities. This is a valuable book from a distinguished scholar. -- Phillip Jenkins,author of The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity
Provides an essential account of the presence and influence of Catholicism in Ibero?America. From its colonial past to a future facing many challenges, the Church has a multifaceted story. Schwaller gives us the most comprehensive overview to date of a cardinal component of Latin American culture. This book will be of great interest to all fields across the social sciences and the humanities in Latin America. -- Diego von Vacano
Schwaller captures the fundamental question of power in this heart?felt analysis of the Catholic Church in Latin America over five centuries. Both colonial and national political figures sought to instrumentalize the institutional Church while multiethnic and multiclass peoples re?imagined the faith within their own communities. How those tensions expressed themselves in time and place is the core of this contribution to the field of Latin American history. -- Douglass Sullivan‒González,author of Piety, Power, and Politics: Religion and Nation in Guatemala, 1821-1871
Schwaller provides a largely cohesive and authoritative narrative, which offers strong judgments about the church during each period under discussion, and seeks to highlight commonalities over regional differences. * Commonweal *
It is comprehensive, providing a good overview of its subject...it appreciates complexity and diversity within the Church. * Missiology *
Schwallers book is ambitious, succinct, and well written; the authors institutional focus is clear and the book is a good source for understanding the interplay between the Catholic religion and history during five centuries in Latin America, [] John Frederick Schwaller fearlessly and clearly champions the churchs role, hierarchy, history, and & divine purpose in Latin America. * H-Net Reviews *
another fine work of synthesis that brings together more than a generation of rich scholarship in the field * Hispanic American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Religious Origins of Catholicism in Latin America2 Spain and Portugal in the New World3 Conquest-Spiritual and Otherwise 4 The Colonial Church 5 Reform and Enlightenment6 The Church and Clergy at Independence 7 Working Out the Differences 8 The Established Order and the Threat of Popular Religion9 Revolution and Reform10 The Mid-Twentieth-Century Church 11 The Decline of Liberation Theology ConclusionGlossaryNotesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author
