The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870

Download or read book The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870 written by William G. McLoughlin and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Cherokees and Christianity, William G. McLoughlin examines how the process of religious acculturation worked within the Cherokee Nation during the nineteenth century. More concerned with Cherokee "Christianization" than Cherokee "civilization," these eleven essays cover the various stages of cultural confrontation with Christian imperialism. The first section of the book explores the reactions of the Cherokee to the inevitable clash between Christian missionaries and their own religious leaders, as well as their many and varied responses to slavery. In part two, McLoughlin explores the crucial problem of racism that divided the southern part of North America into red, white and black long before 1776 and considers the ways in which the Cherokees either adapted Christianity to their own needs or rejected it as inimical to their identity.