This collection of fourteen commissioned essays covers the time from the conquest to the present and also includes Latin America's many faith traditions: Catholicism, Protestantism, indigenous religious traditions, African-based religions, and Pentecostalism. Each essay, using language appropriate for undergratuates, has been written by a scholar in that particular field. This book also serves as a companion to the folume of primary sources prepared by Penyak and Petry, "Religion in Latin America: A Documentary History."