The controversy, the conquest, the mission, the vision. Columbus - conquistador or Christ-bearer? Did Christopher Columbus exploit the people of America, or did he evangelize them? What were his true goals, his motives, his reasons for undertaking the dangerous voyage? Cortez - militarist or missionary? Did Hernando Cortez subjugate the people of Mexico - or did he liberate them? And why all the controversy over these explorers? Is it really to correct the historical record? Or is it an assault on the values of Western Civilization and Christianity which is the source of those values? 

There are two primary perspectives on the colonizing of the American continent: the first being that colonization was an imperial force that exploited and subjugated the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and the second being that it was a providentially-ordained event with Columbus and Cortez attempting to reach Natives for Christ.

Written in response to the controversy surrounding the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyages, John Eidsmoe interprets the crumbling image of Columbus and Cortez as an assault on Western Christian values. Taking the position that evangelization doesn't lead to cultural genocide, but to salvation, this providential-history text highlights Columbus and Cortez as agents who, by the will of God, brought God to the Natives. 304 pages, softcover.