Overview

In this book, David Lindenfeld proposes a new dimension to the study of world history. Here, he explores the global expansion of Christianity since 1500 from the perspectives of the indigenous people who were affected by it, and helped change it, giving them active agency. Integrating the study of religion into world history, his volume surveys indigenous experience in colonial Latin America, Native North America, Africa and the African diaspora, the Middle East, India, East Asia, and the Pacific. Lindenfeld demonstrates how religion is closely interwoven with political, economic, and social history. Wide-ranging in scope, and offering a synoptic perspective of our interconnected world, Lindenfeld combines in-depth analysis of individual regions with comprehensive global coverage. He also provides a new vocabulary, with a spectrum ranging from resistance to acceptance and commitment to Christianity, that articulates the range and complexity of the indigenous conversion experience. Lindenfeld's cross-cultural reflections provide a compelling alternative to the Western narrative of progressive development.

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9781108926874

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Reviews

'David Lindenfeld emphasizes the Indigenous experience across a range of responses, from grateful acceptance to bitter resistance and all points in between. His nuanced account is neither simply imperial in tone nor crudely and damningly anti-imperial. Particularly impressive is the range of examples and illustrations, which include the Nahua (Aztecs), the Cherokee and Sioux in North America and multiple peoples across Africa, Asia, and Oceania.' Philip Jenkins, The Christian Century '… it is recommended for students of mission history and world Christianity and will be instructive as an introduction to Christianity among the IPs of the Americas, Africa, and Oceania.' Rathiulung Elias KC, Religious Studies Review

Author Information

David Lindenfeld is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History, Louisiana State University. He has been researching cross-cultural religious interactions worldwide for nearly two decades and is co-editor, with Miles Richardson, of Beyond Conversion and Syncretism: Indigenous Encounters with Missionary Christianity, 1800-2000 (2011). Lindenfeld is active member of the World History Association and the Yale-Edinburgh Group on Missionary Christianity.

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