Issue 35 Columbus & Christianity

Little-known facts about Christopher Columbus and Christianity in the Americas.

What were Columbus’s religious motivations?

What your history textbooks may not have told you.

The historic moment from Columbus’s journal.

What does it mean?

On this hotly debated anniversary, what should Christians think?

Selected quotations about Columbus.

A collection of eyewitness accounts

How Christian missionaries sometimes thwarted their own evangelism.

How should the church evangelize the Americas? Two strong leaders faced off over the question.

Early Spanish expansion and missions.

Spanish Developments, 1492–1810.

The Spain that sought political conquest also served as powerful patron of the Christian religion.

As sincere believers marched to subjugate a continent, other Christians had to oppose them.

Courageous Christians who worked on behalf of “the least of these” in the Americas.

The paradoxical men who conquered Latin America.

Junipero Serra launched a remarkable enterprise on Spain’s final frontier.

Juní­pero Serra and his successors established 21 missions in California between 1769 and 1823. Each mission was a combination military outpost and religious commune; together, they were a colorful experiment in missions.

Why is a traditionally Catholic region turning Protestant?

Of the many books about Columbus and his religious legacy, which are most helpful?