Translating Catechisms, Translating Cultures is a collection of eleven articles, including an introduction by one of the editors of the volume, Antje Flüchter. The articles originated at the conference “Comparing Catechisms—Entangling Christian History,” held 14–16 May 2014 at the University of Oslo and organized by Flüchter. Flüchter and the other authors place their work in the context of recent arguments in European religious history demonstrating that early modern efforts to homogenize Christian culture met with various degrees of success, and that both the church hierarchy and everyday believers were changed in the process. Scholars have used a variety of words as they refer to this process, including accommodation, compromise, and negotiation; in this case, since the contributions are centered around catechetical texts, translation is the appropriate word. Each article examines cultural translation in a variety of missionary contexts in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

The authors also argue for a perspective that is both global (leaving room for larger narratives and similarities that cross cultural or regional boundaries) and local (recognizing differences between evangelized groups). This “glocal” perspective comes through in the wide geographical range of the essays: authors examine cultural translation in catechisms and other missionary texts from England, the Americas, India, Ethiopia, Japan, and China. It is also for this reason that all the authors focus on the Jesuits, who were, as Flüchter notes, a force for the global implementation of the ideals of Tridentine Catholicism, while at the same time infamous for accommodating local cultures.

Each article contains its own historiographical arguments, often specific to a particular missionary region or population, but all emphasize common themes. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the concept of an intercultural space created when the Jesuits tried to adapt and teach catechetical texts to their new converts. Catechism was the gold standard of religious education in the early modern period, so missionaries believed in its efficacy, even in new and very different circumstances. But as they began the process, they found that changes in texts and methods were necessary and inevitable. In this intercultural space, something new appeared, whether it was a new genre of text, a new vocabulary, or a whole new adaptation of Catholic doctrine or practice.

For example, Anand Amaladass examines the catechetical writings of three Jesuit missionaries in South India. These missionary-scholars borrowed terms from Sanskrit and adapted them for their Tamil audience. They also created some completely new terms. The result, over a centuries-long process, was an entirely new Christian vocabulary, specific to the Tamil language. Giulia Nardini provides additional evidence of this translation process, also in South India, examining the creation of new types of texts to teach Catholic doctrine. Something similar occurred in Japan, as examined by Rouven Wirbser. Interactions between missionaries and converts created significant changes in the format of the catechism, as well as new and unorthodox understandings of marriage among the Japanese Christians. John Ødemark's contribution examines the creation of pictorial representations of Catholic doctrine in Latin America—perhaps the most striking of the new creations found in an intercultural space. Although the exact origin of the system of writing/images used for religious instruction remains disputed, it seems clear that both missionaries and indigenous peoples corroborated to create it. In an interesting contrast, John Steckley's article provides evidence of what happens when translation failed. He examines Jean de Brébeuf's attempt to create a new Christian vocabulary in the Huron language, Wendat. The new terms did not catch on, however; the article thus implicitly demonstrates that the process of cultural translation often took much longer than the career of just one or two missionaries, no matter their fortitude and creativity.

Although not every contribution can be mentioned here, all of the articles are well researched with strong arguments that illuminate the mechanisms involved in the process of cultural translation. The concepts used by the authors are not particularly new, but the articles do provide evidence that illustrates those concepts quite well. It is unfortunate that Brill did not provide more thorough editing, as some articles contain multiple typographic and grammatical errors. Still, this is a useful volume due to its geographical scope, and the fascinating examples of evangelization and textual-cultural translation at the ground level.