Sin and Confession in Colonial PeruA central tenet of Catholic religious practice, confession relies upon the use of language between the penitent and his or her confessor. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as Spain colonized the Quechua speaking Andean world, the communication of religious beliefs and practicesespecially the practice of confessionto the native population became a primary concern, and as a result, expansive bodies of Spanish ecclesiastic literature were