Any reader who glimpses the title of Alan Durston's study, Pastoral Quechua, is bound to be both surprised and intrigued. While one might think of Quechua as the language of countless indigenous peoples in Hispanic America, one rarely associates it with the term pastoral, although it was, indeed, the cornerstone of the Roman Catholic project of evangelization in much of the Americas. Upon quick reflection, nothing could be more obvious than the missionaries' need to make extensive use of the indigenous peoples' languages to bring them the word of God, and what the Spaniards regarded as a civilizing system of moral teachings and rules as they were expounded by the Roman Catholic Church. As Durston demonstrates in great detail, the Quechua language was very much at the center of the controversy in Roman Catholic missionary circles as to how to bring God's word and law to the indigenous peoples of Peru. His study, which examines the 100-year period from 1550 to 1650, should not be considered light reading. On the contrary, Durston has written a carefully documented history of the many ways in which Spaniards sought to study, learn, and then employ Quechua to convert the newest members of the Church's flock.

In his introduction, Durston presents the purpose of his study under the aspects of themes, scope, and sources. The book's first chapter introduces the reader to numerous technical aspects of the study of Quechua and to how specialists approach their studies of the language and its use in the missionary context of colonial Hispanic-America. Durston presents the linguistic controversies surrounding decisions by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to privilege one dialect of Quechua over others and considers the many intricacies of translating Christian terminology into Quechua. Specifically, he offers a chronological study of the development of “pastoral Quechua” in the light of policies that had been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent, as well as the many additional norms established by the Spanish crown and hierarchy. Of particular interest is Durston's intriguing study of the local attempts to implement the linguistic policies of the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish crown by examining questions of theological authenticity, pastoral efficaciousness, and ecclesiastical and civil authority.

To this end, Durston then divides his work into two parts: “History” and “Texts,” each of which contains four chapters. Chapter 2, following the chronological approach of this study, considers the 1550s and 1560s as a time of “Diversity and Experimentation,” and largely focuses on decisions made at the First and Second Councils of Lima (1551–52; 1567–68). Chapter 3, “Reform and Standardization — 1570s and 1580s,” examines the years leading up to what may be considered the most significant ecclesiastical meeting to legislate pastoral and linguistic policy in southwestern South America during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Third Council of Lima (1582–83), and also highlights the numerous contributions of the Jesuits to the Church's evangelizing project. Durston explores the problems of vernacular suitability and authority in much greater detail in chapter 4, “The Questione della Lingua and the Politics of Vernacular Competence — 1570s–1640s,” and, in chapter 5, “The Heyday of Pastoral Quechua (1590s–1640s),” discusses the pastoral effectiveness of the policies implemented by the Third Council of Lima. After completing part 1 of this study, the reader is thoroughly prepared to appreciate the significance of Durston's examination of Quechua pastoral texts from the period.

Part 2 is also divided into four chapters, organized this time around the structure of an explication de texte. Chapter 6, “Pastoral Quechua Linguistics,” explores issues of Quechua dialectology, orthography, and Christian terminology, in light of the historical events presented in part 1. Durston applies his literary and authorial findings to Quechua texts in chapter 7, “Text, Genre, and Poetics,” where he examines both translations and original texts. Of particular interest is Durston's presentation of tropes and the role of textual figures, especially as these relate to the delicate issue of theological accuracy. An entire chapter, “God, Christ, and Mary in the Andes,” is dedicated to the quintessential challenge of trying to merge indigenous concepts of the Divinity with the Christian structures of the Blessed Trinity and the role of the Virgin Mary. Durston's fascinating study encompasses lexicological elements as well as the role of poetry, hymns, and iconography. “Performance and Contextualization,” chapter 9, highlights interesting cultural accommodations that were incorporated into catechetical and liturgical “performances.” The conclusion is a summation of previous work, but also offers an interesting final thought regarding Garcilaso de la Vega's justification of the Conquest.

Written at the level of higher graduate students to researchers, Durston's excellent study will be useful to scholars in many fields: linguistics, anthropology, theology, Quechua literature, semantics, history, sociology, and Hispanic studies. While accessible enough for nonspecialists because of its clarity, the book is also of great value to specialists, who will find a wealth of technical information and careful analysis in its pages.