As he did in his 1992 The Osage: An Ethno-historical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-Plains, Willard Rollings expands and enhances our understanding of that historically significant, but often neglected, Native nation in this new study of Christian missions

Fausz, J. Frederick

English

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
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Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
2005 
Book Review: Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the 
Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cultural Victory 
J. Frederick Fausz 
University of Missouri-St. Louis 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Fausz, J. Frederick, "Book Review: Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 
1673-1906: A Cultural Victory" (2005). Great Plains Quarterly. 197. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/197 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance 
to the Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cul-
tural Victory. By Willard Hughes Rollings. 
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 
2004. xi + 243 pp. Maps, illustrations, notes, 
references, index. $45.00 cloth, $22.95 paper. 
As he did in his 1992 The Osage: An Ethno-
historical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-
Plains, Willard Rollings expands and enhances 
our understanding of that historically signifi-
cant, but often neglected, Native nation in this 
new study of Christian missions. 
Focusing on the century between the 
Louisiana Purchase and the 1906 allotment 
of Osage reservation lands in Oklahoma, he 
argues that all nineteenth-century mission-
aries-European Jesuits and New England 
Protestants alike-failed miserably in trying to 
convert Osage full bloods; Rollings supersedes 
traditional antiquarian studies of individual 
denominations and admirably analyzes the 
critical distinctions between Catholic and 
Protestant approaches. The Osage interest in 
"civilization" through practical training and 
economic assistance from whites was con-
sistently misinterpreted by missionaries as a 
desire for Christian conversion. Thwarting 
that "spiritual invasion" was a "cultural vic-
tory" for the Osage in the mid-1800s, but they 
later proved creatively adaptive in altering 
traditional beliefs on their terms. 
Rollings has thoroughly researched docu-
mentary archives and secondary interpreta-
tions, but his overwhelming reliance on 
187 
Euro-American Christian sources, while 
omitting oral traditions or interviews with 
living Osage, casts doubt on his explanations 
and conclusions. It seems odd that a Native 
American (Cherokee) author would admit 
that "we will never be certain why they [the 
Osage] adopted Peyotism" without consulting 
tribal informants. By arbitrarily ending the 
book in 1906, Rollings also leaves the reader 
wondering why so many Osage embraced vari-
ous Christian denominations just a few years 
later. The research of R. Michael Barnett 
("Jesus among the Middle Waters: American 
Christian Missionaries and the Osage Nation, 
1820-1920," Master's thesis, University of 
Missour-St Louis, 2004) suggests that the 
evolution of Peyotism after 1906 actually made 
Christianity more acceptable to many Osages. 
Moreover, broader artistic and anthropo-
logical perspectives on Osage religion in the 
later twentieth century-such as provided by 
Garrick Bailey and Daniel C. Swan in their Art 
of the Osage (2004 )-reveal rich details that 
would have improved this study. 
Unaffected by the Gospel is a readable syn-
thesis that provides an adequate introduction 
to the subject, but it is not definitive and far 
from complete. In addition to its limited scope 
and evidence, the book has too many errors, 
repetitive passages, and interpretive omissions 
to merit full scholarly confidence. 
J. FREDERICK FAUSZ 
Department of History 
University of Missouri-St. Louis 


Book Review: Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cultural Victory

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 2005 Book Review: Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cultural Victory J. Frederick Fausz University of Missouri-St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Fausz, J. Frederick, "Book Review: Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cultural Victory" (2005). Great Plains Quarterly. 197. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/197 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. BOOK REVIEWS Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cul-tural Victory. By Willard Hughes Rollings. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004. xi + 243 pp. Maps, illustrations, notes, references, index. $45.00 cloth, $22.95 paper. As he did in his 1992 The Osage: An Ethno-historical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-Plains, Willard Rollings expands and enhances our understanding of that historically signifi-cant, but often neglected, Native nation in this new study of Christian missions. Focusing on the century between the Louisiana Purchase and the 1906 allotment of Osage reservation lands in Oklahoma, he argues that all nineteenth-century mission-aries-European Jesuits and New England Protestants alike-failed miserably in trying to convert Osage full bloods; Rollings supersedes traditional antiquarian studies of individual denominations and admirably analyzes the critical distinctions between Catholic and Protestant approaches. The Osage interest in "civilization" through practical training and economic assistance from whites was con-sistently misinterpreted by missionaries as a desire for Christian conversion. Thwarting that "spiritual invasion" was a "cultural vic-tory" for the Osage in the mid-1800s, but they later proved creatively adaptive in altering traditional beliefs on their terms. Rollings has thoroughly researched docu-mentary archives and secondary interpreta-tions, but his overwhelming reliance on 187 Euro-American Christian sources, while omitting oral traditions or interviews with living Osage, casts doubt on his explanations and conclusions. It seems odd that a Native American (Cherokee) author would admit that "we will never be certain why they [the Osage] adopted Peyotism" without consulting tribal informants. By arbitrarily ending the book in 1906, Rollings also leaves the reader wondering why so many Osage embraced vari-ous Christian denominations just a few years later. The research of R. Michael Barnett ("Jesus among the Middle Waters: American Christian Missionaries and the Osage Nation, 1820-1920," Master's thesis, University of Missour-St Louis, 2004) suggests that the evolution of Peyotism after 1906 actually made Christianity more acceptable to many Osages. Moreover, broader artistic and anthropo-logical perspectives on Osage religion in the later twentieth century-such as provided by Garrick Bailey and Daniel C. Swan in their Art of the Osage (2004 )-reveal rich details that would have improved this study. Unaffected by the Gospel is a readable syn-thesis that provides an adequate introduction to the subject, but it is not definitive and far from complete. In addition to its limited scope and evidence, the book has too many errors, repetitive passages, and interpretive omissions to merit full scholarly confidence. J. FREDERICK FAUSZ Department of History University of Missouri-St. Louis 

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1196&amp;context=greatplainsquarterly

Book Review: Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 1673-1906: A Cultural Victory

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