Riding together along the road between Philadelphia and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1760, two men – one a Euro-American Quaker and the other a Munsee Indian – had an opportunity to discuss religion, a topic of great interest to both individuals. The Quaker thought he could use the occasion “to say something” to the other man “about our Savior's words and good examples, when on earth.” The Munsee Indian, named Papoonahoal, listened as the Quaker, through an interpreter, inquired whether Papoonahoal “was disposed to hear such things.” Papoonahoal seemed interested in Quakerism; however, now was not the time for such talk. Papoonahoal's response indicates how Native Americans valued ceremony and honored the power of words. Rituals of preparation, he implied, were needed before broaching sacred matters. “Such words are very good,” Papoonahoal said,

The era from the 1730s to the 1790s was one of religious ferment within areas that were, or had been, part of the British North American colonies. The exchange on the Philadelphia road was just one of a multitude of encounters in an increasingly diverse world in which religion was often part of a “trade in culture.”