Missionaries who travelled to the New World in the 17th century encountered an array of cults and rituals. Catholics and Calvinists were united in viewing this idolatry as superstitious. Ballériaux presents a study of French, Spanish and English missions to the Americas, based on a comparative analysis of the goals expressed in their writings.

Introduction: 1. Custom as Ethos and Habituation: Native Paganism and Idolatry 2. Conversion: Will, Grace and Good Works 3. Nomadic Lifestyles: Civility, Law, and Godly Government 4. Assimilation versus Segregation: Two Competing Missiologies 5. Community Building: Commonwealth and Christian Missions 6. Conflict: Rejection of European Political and Religious Authority. Conclusion. Index.

Catherine Ballériaux has studied philosophy, American studies, and history at the Universities of Liège and Antwerp, Belgium, and Pittsburgh, USA She holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is currently a Researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for European Enlightenment Studies at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.