ABSTRACT
At the dawn of the 16th century and in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, Western Europeans had begun to conceptualize religion not only as a plural reality but as a distinct and independent sphere of their social life. Missionizing in the New World has long been represented through a simple dichotomy between Western Christian vectors on the one hand and indigenous pagan receptors on the other. Indigenous attachment to their culture and identity also triggered various responses to Christian doctrine and forced missionaries to adjust their strategies for evangelization. From a missionary standpoint, a native convert was the one who adhered exclusively to Christian doctrine and put it into practice in all aspects of their daily life. Acceptation of Christianity among indigenous peoples varied considerably as their attitude toward it went from absolute denial to complete and sincere conversion, with in between a wide range of alternative postures.
