Setting the Captives Free: Individuals who Worked in the name of Christ for Justice Among the Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. - by Colton Clay

     To better our understanding of the multitude of Christians who worked for justice among the indigenous people in the Americas, it is necessary to discuss some common pitfalls when critiquing this era of history.  It is easy to make the mistake of evaluating historical events and people based on the ideology and ethics of the present day.  Recently I challenged a hermeneutics class at our local church to evaluate the life of Mattathias, father of Judas of Maccabees, in the light of his culture and times.  It was astonishing to hear that the overwhelming majority of the participants interpreted Mattathias in the light of not only the New Testament but even modern ethics as well.  If we are to have any chance of truly understanding Mattathias, it is imperative to keep in mind that neither the NT or its profound effects on ethics were formulated or present in Mattathias culture.

     This rule of historical interpretation holds true for anyone and is widely accepted when considering “ancient” figures and events.  However, often when events are closer to our own time period or within the general framework of our culture, people become woefully lax in upholding these important principles.  

     The same exegetical flaw which impaired my students’ understanding of Mattathias has today become the bedrock of false attitudes toward interpreting European Christendom as it ventured into the Americas.  Rather than making the similar mistake for this essay and expecting sixteenth century explorers to comprehend justice and equality in the light of modern ethics, I propose we should instead be encouraged by the foresight of those who could see the light of a more fully developed Christian ethic during such a comparatively different era.

     We should also recognize that this was the time determined by God in the unfolding of His glorious plan, that by means of social upheaval and unprecedented global change He would awaken a new chapter of human freedom.  First, two words of caution: it would behoove us to take pains in avoiding our current culture’s tendency to revisionist history, idealizing pre-Christian civilizations as naive utopias cannibalized by western imperialism.  However, while the results would one day be far superior to path on which they had been, we should avoid romanticizing all of the activities of colonization thereby ignoring blatant and damaging atrocities made under Christian banners.  Both of these mistakes have hampered the recent generation’s ability to gain from the rich lessons available to them when there is a balanced appreciation due this era of history.    

     Because I see it at work and even flowering in the lives of those who by word, deed, and prayer made an inroad to the Kingdom of God, I am obliged to make mention of the theology that in Jesus’ teaching there is the seed of the Kingdom of God.  A view that in Christ an ideological seed was planted, the grain that feel to the ground, of societal reform that would lead to a kingdom of justice in which among other things, the meek shall inherit the earth.  From the life, death and resurrection of Jesus flows more than eternal salvation but also a new concept of humanity is found that will in time usher in the new Kingdom of Justice.  With the early pronouncement of this Kingdom that is within us, with us, and coming, Jesus gave birth to a vision of society described by the prophet Isaiah and heralded by Christ himself in Luke 4. 

     Regardless of our view concerning this progressive social change sparked by the life and teachings of Jesus, it can well be said that it is a matter of historical fact that progressive freedom and justice has followed the expansion of Christianity throughout the world.  If this is a matter whereby one can understand and interpret biblical kingdom prophecy or simply a matter of the residual effect of the faith is debatable.

     Either way, it is the convergence of cultural clashes with Christian ideology that make for the calls of equality, fairness and justice in sixteenth century Americas.  This was not the first time.  Case in point, once the good news of Christ had reached northern Europe, it had a radical effect upon the barbaric societies the faith encountered there. The Christian concepts of love and justice continued to reform and reshape those society, so that by the time of the European discovery of the Americas, the European empire of Christendom itself was in the throes of social, ethical and theological change which would continue a steady march to the creation of the free societies we know today.  Under the banner of Christianity those same societies would eventually, even if by force, reach out and affect the barbaric cultures of the Americas the same and possibly more effectively than in Europe centuries earlier. We would err, as many habitually do, if we forget the brutality of the Incas, Mayans or Aztec empires prior to invasion of Spanish Catholicism in this region. 

     It is also noteworthy that, for someone to assume that all the activities of the European conquerors centered entirely on missional ideology would be equivalent to interpreting all modern U.S. Middle Eastern policy to center entirely around a humanitarian effort.  Simply put, there was substantial wealth to be made in the Americas, or at the very least the promise thereof. It is better to understand the full spectrum of thought present in the mix:  it was, after all, a mad dash for money, land and power.  For many people, this was not counterintuitive to the Christianizing of the indigenous people.  The Spanish, who where conquering, viewed society to be a creation of providence: a God given and natural order to societal structure.  With this mentality their advancements give them reason to believe they have a providential right to rule. They are not being harsh or barbaric in the activities.  It is their understanding that they are following the structure inherent within God’s created system.  It could be logically assumed to them, that because they possessed both the means and foresight to occupy these lands, it was subsequently their right and calling to do so.  They would be improving the current civilization, advancing their empire which was synonymous with Christianity, and bringing the knowledge of salvation to the indigenous people in the process.  Several of these points cannot and should not be argued with, but as with so many things “the devil is in the details”. 

     It is within and truly apart of this system that Bartolome de las Casas first arrives in the Americas, not to save its inhabitants from Spanish rule but to reach them with the Catholic faith. However, with activist such as Bartolome de las Casas, combined with bold proclamations like the Sublimus Dei and the prophetic preaching of Friar Antón Montesino, a new chapter in human dignity and Kingdom ethics was breaking upon history. 

     The first question is when attempting to understand Bartolome de las Casas, who in many ways embodies the entire defense of dignity on behalf of the Americans, would be:  what prompted this change of heart?  I believe when we understand this change of heart, we gain insight into all of Christ’s servants who did not ask that the Americas not be Christianized but that they be Christianized by the true spirit of Christianity itself and not the overwhelming power of the Western Empires.  It brought to memory a personal epiphany concerning one’s accepted view of the world.  I grew up in the South, educated by and large within the public school system thereof.  It never dawned on me that my view and understanding of both the cause and characters of the Civil War where inherently biased.

     Later in life, I ventured into the northern Midwest and began to perceive an alternative view.  It was not that I was unaware that my education had been biased by my geography; it was simply a matter of having never been challenged to question those thoughts.  They had been shared by so many that they where interwoven into the fabric. Together we had all agreed and, therefore, there was nothing to question.  So it was with Bartolome de las Casas.  When he arrives in the Americas, de las Casas is himself a holder of Indians and property.  However, in time, having been transposed from the fabric of the familiar where injustice can be easily hide within comfort of the mundane, Bartolome and others began to wrestle with ethical challenges that lay before them.

     Friar Antón Montesino fired the first shot by recognizing the conflict between the praxis and law in his magnificently bold sermon: “With What Right?”  Soon, others would follow, and a lively, important debate had begun.  Bolstered by the remarkably insightful Pope Paul III, passionate monks and priest across the Americas offered debate in the matter of justice and equality on behalf of the indigenous people.  What is encouraging when considering the impact of the Christian faith is its effects and safeguards it soon worked to impose for the natives.  This was a lively debate within the community: that without the work of Christians the desires for conquest would have run roughshod over entire populations.  Often, modern critics levy undue criticisms upon Christianity without critiquing the true motivation of the economic expansion.  It is true that on every side of the discussion people took up the name of Christ.  However, where would any indigenous person find a voice of compassion outside of Christianity?  Without the call for universal brotherhood and love for one’s neighbor, empires would still advance, the weaker nations would be conquered, slavery would remain a mainstay of society.  What the faith offered, which was on bold display during this time, was lively social debate about morality and justice that continues to this day to work its way into the fabric of our cultures.  Bartolome de las Casas and his Dominican brothers stirred up the hearts and minds of people with truth and love and bravely did their part in obedience to Christ.  Their words still resonate today as the work of justice continues, especially in South America among Catholic theologians. 

     I believe it is important that Christians today work toward a balanced view of history. One that understands the ways that Christianity has been both abused and misunderstood by those who laid claim to it, while not forgetting the incredible contributions Christianity has made to the world.  We are facing a generation both within and without the church that has retreated from the social success and contributions that Christianity has had and made in favor of an unbalanced focus on its failures.  We must continue to remember the men and women who worked for justice in the name of Jesus for all people lest we forget and, in turn, fail to hold onto the liberties their work has afforded us. 

HIS 800 AGTS 

Notes: 

¹ I do not wish to imply that modern ethics are superior to the Apostolic writers. However, when we consider the surrounding culture, I believe ours has had the benefit of having had time to intertwine and digest the NT writings, thus benefiting from them in ways time had not allowed their contemporaries. 

² I do not think “ours” i.e. modern Christendom, is fully developed. I had originally used the word “dark” in lieu of “different”, however, upon further meditation concluded different to be a better understanding factoring areas where we may have digressed. 

³ The difference has major implications for either pre-dispensation or liberation theology. 

⁴ These views were not racist.  That would have been too blatant not to recognize.  They simply highlighted the events and main characters from a southern perspective.