Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-220) and index.

God's mission and America's -- "Civilizing : from necessity to virtue -- Sources in Roman Catholic Missions -- Protestants and the Indians -- Against the grain : the Quakers and Roger Williams -- Missions and millennium -- New nation, New Errand -- Home base and foreign footholds -- Mission apologetics -- The Language of spiritual expansionism -- Legacies -- Christ, not culture -- "Little else than disappointment" : lessons from the American-Indian missions -- Hawaii and the perils of success -- Rufus Anderson and the new mission policy -- A moral equivalent for imperialism -- Thermidor : resistance to the Anderson policies -- Protestant liberalism and missions -- Religious conservatism and cultural faith.

Maintaining consensus : the watchword and its spokesmen -- Activism under fire -- "Activism" : the view from Europe -- Fundamentalist objections -- Tradition under fire -- Vision and revision -- William E. Hocking : Re-thinking missions -- Criticizing the critics : The Battle over the laymen's report -- Familiar debates in an unfamiliar world -- The Ecumenical-evangelical standoff -- A Church for others : the Hoekendijk prescription -- Contesting rights to the heritage -- Realignments and second thoughts -- Mission for a "people among peoples."