ABSTRACT
American Indians often insisted that Christianity was not new to them but a restoration of ancient practice. Frequently they responded to the first Christian missionaries by asserting that their elders had told them the same things, that former generations had lived Christian lives, or that they had already received preparatory visions from the Christian God. From this perspective, Christianity was less of a foreign intrusion than an indigenous cultural revival. Generally, Indians responded positively to Christianity to the extent that they perceived or could create such continuities.
