Doing History: Global Christianity in the Early Modern Era

1. Making comparisons: What common Christian elements can you identify in these visual sources? What differences in the expression of Christianity can you define?
2. Considering Mary: The Catholic Christian tradition as it developed in Latin America, China, and India as well as Europe assigned a very important role to representations of the Virgin Mary. Why might such images of Mary have been so widely appealing? But in what ways does the image of the Holy Mother differ in Sources 15.3, 15.4, and 15.5? In what ways were those images adapted to the distinctive cultures in which they were created?
3. Pondering syncretism: From a missionary viewpoint, develop arguments for and against religious syncretism using these visual sources as points of reference.
4. Considering visual sources as evidence: What are the strengths and limitations of these visual sources, as opposed to texts, as historians seek to understand the globalization of Christianity in the early modern era? What other visual sources might be useful?