ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the connection between identity, religious history, and education. It suggests the way in which religious narratives construct identity and argues for the importance of a religious education that takes into account the contributions of Latinas/os to American religious history. The chapter provides an overview of selected contributions to the history of Latina/o religion that help counteract the dominant discourse and open the space for a critical Latina/o identity. It then discusses the importance of religious education for the Latina/o community in light of American religious historiography. The cultural and linguistic resilience of Latinas/o illustrates that the extent of cultural assimilation of Latinas/os into American mainstream society is not as pronounced as that of immigrants with a white European heritage. The encounters between Anglo-Protestants and Latina/o Catholics generated an increasing awareness of cultural pluralism in a significant number of white missionaries.
