Missionaries in the Early Modern Spanish World

Recent scholarship challenges traditional narratives about missionaries in the early modern Spanish world, revealing that evangelization efforts were not solely led by European mendicants and Jesuits. Studies highlight the significant contributions of Indigenous peoples, lay Europeans, and Creoles who preached Christianity, taught Catholic doctrine, and administered sacraments despite lacking formal theological training or ordination. Additionally, these works emphasize that missionaries focused equally on converting Catholics across ethnicities as they did non-Christians, using similar materials and approaches for both groups. This shift in mission historiography, moving beyond Eurocentric perspectives, provides a more balanced understanding of the global spread of Catholicism during this period.

Dyck, J. (2019). Missionaries in the Early Modern Spanish World. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.1353/cch.2019.0019