"Christians preached that the followers of Christ made individual decisions regarding their beliefs, and that they chose Christian moral behaviors; thus at death Christians were separated from sinners by a judgmental God. Notions of heaven, hell, and purgatory were the very antithesis of Osage beliefs. The Osage maintained they were certain to reach the other world after death, regardless of their earthly behavior. The Osage paid little attention to the afterlife, although they believed it was much like their present-day life on the prairies, only with an abundance of game and ever-bountiful gardens." "The Osage prayed, but not to be saved from eternal damnation. They sent their prayers to Wa-kon-da, their all-pervasive holy spirit, in the sacred smoke of their pipes to ask his help to find bison, bear, and deer to feed their people. They prayed for successful raids against the Pawnee, but never for salvation. The Christian faith was simply too alien. Neither Catholicism, with all its seeming similarities, nor Protestantism, with its sharp differences, was attractive or believable enough to tempt the Osage to abandon their traditional beliefs." "During more than fifty years of interaction with these aggressive Christian missionaries committed to converting them, the Osage continually resisted. As longs as the Osage men were able to hunt and raid on the plains, and their women and children were free to farm on the prairies, they remained Osage. Throughout their resistance they were able to maintain, adapt, and change their ceremonies and rituals based on their beliefs - Osage beliefs."--BOOK JACKET.