Empires of God

Linda Gregerson is Caroline Walker Bynum Distinguished University Professor of English at the University of Michigan. She is the author of The Reformation of the Subject: Spenser, Milton, and the English Protestant Epic. Susan Juster is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Doomsayers: Anglo-American Prophecy in the Age of Revolution, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

• Introduction-Susan Juster and Linda GregersonPART I. LAUNCHING IMPERIAL PROJECTSChapter 1. The Polemics of Possession: Spain on America, Circa 1550-Rolena AdornoChapter 2. Cruelty and Religious Justifications for Conquest in the Mid-Seventeenth-Century English Atlantic-Carla Gardina PestanaChapter 3. Religion and National Distinction in the Early Modern Atlantic-Barbara FuchsChapter 4. The Commonwealth of the Word: New England, Old England, and the Praying Indians-Linda GregersonPART II. COLONIAL ACCOMMODATIONSChapter 5. Catholic Saints in Spain's Atlantic Empire-Cornelius ConoverChapter 6. A Wandering Jesuit in Europe and America: Father Chaumonot Finds a Home-Allan GreerChapter 7. From London to Nonantum: Mission Literature in the Transatlantic English World-Kristina BrossChapter 8. Dreams Clash: The War over Authorized Interpretation in Seventeenth-Century French Missions-Dominique DeslandresChapter 9. "For Each and Every House to Wish for Peace":Christoph Saur's High German American Almanac and the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania-Bethany WigginPART III. VIOLENT ENCOUNTERSChapter 10. Reconfiguring Martyrdom in the Colonial Context: Marie de l'Incarnation-Katherine IbbettChapter 11. Book of Suffering, Suffering Book: The Mennonite Martyrs' Mirror and the Translation of Martyrdom in Colonial America-Patrick ErbenChapter 12. Iconoclasm Without Icons? The Destruction of Sacred Objects in Colonial North America-Susan JusterFinal Reflections: Spenser and the End of the British Empire-Paul StevensNotesList of ContributorsIndexAcknowledgments

"In its effort to unearth complexity as well as its intellectual and methodological diversity, Empires of God offers a sometimes bewildering, but frequently rewarding, entry into the interplay between its two central characters: "empire" and "religion." It provides scholars of Atlantic world religious history with a strong and theoretically driven survey of the field, particularly issues related to conquest, violence, evangelization, and the influence of the colonial world on discourses of religion in Europe." (Church History) "This stimulating collection of essays from leading scholars of literature and history explores the complex relationships between Christianity and empire in the English, French, and Spanish Americas. . . . A major contribution of this work is thus to place religious thought at the heart of the analysis of colonialism." (Religious Studies Review) "A fine collection with plenty of fascinating articles, particularly in the second and third sections which present us with various individual religious initiatives and experiences. . . . The variety of subjects discussed in Empires of God will eventually help to sharpen the minds of scholars working on one of the many connections of religion and (Atlantic) empire." (Sixteenth Century Journal)