Christianity in Latin America /

Prien's history of Christianity in Latin America (first ed., in German only, Das Christentum in Lateinamerika, 2007) is a masterpiece of scholarship, combining both fabulous detail and genuinely insightful descriptions of large-scale changes and broad social developments. The author (emer., Univ. zu Koln, Germany) is perhaps best described as a church historian (rather than as a cultural or social historian), and writing in that style, he offers a book with a wealth of detailed information (and documentation) about the official policies and practices of the Catholic Church in Latin America and about the specific individuals who created, contested, and carried out these policies and practices (and who sometimes reconfigured them to fit either their own preferences or the needs of the region). Church histories of this genre can sometimes become boring recitations of people, events, and dates, but that is never the case with Prien's prose and its excellent translation. This book sings. It is not a work intended for beginners, but those who are already familiar with the religious history of the region will find this publication to be enormously helpful, even indispensable. While the volume is expensive, it is worth every penny. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. D. Jacobsen Messiah College