Introduction -- Epidemic disease and the rise of Christianity in Europe, 150-800 CE -- The rise of Christianity in the New World: the Jesuit missions of Colonial Mexico, 1591-1660 -- The relevance of Early Christian literature to missionaries in Colonial Latin America -- Conclusion
Summary
Plagues, Priests, and Demons is a comparative, interdisciplinary study of the rise of Christianity in the late Roman Empire and colonial Mexico. Analysis of early Christian and Spanish missionary texts reveals that epidemic disease undermined pre-Christian societies, encouraging pagan and Indian interest in new forms of social and religious life
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-279) and index