Links
*ITS Home *Jewish Learning Channel
*Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series*Publications *About Us

Monographs on Comparative Religions

Christianity

Ron Duncan Hart

Introduction

The Guides to Religion and Culture at present include Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. The purpose of this series is to provide education and understanding of the religious traditions in our increasingly linked world.
These volumes are written as an anthropology of religion, and I have attempted to state the beliefs, practices, and histories in words that are consistent with each religious tradition. I have provided historical, social, and cultural information to define the context within which each religion has come into being and developed as a living society today. To the extent possible, I have discussed and reviewed these materials with religious scholars and believers from each tradition although I recognize that there are internal differences in belief and practice within religions, and I have tried to reflect those in a correct manner.
     Belief and behavior are at the heart of our self-definition as human individuals and the emotional core of our identity. Our religious and/or ideological identity is so important that
it shapes major life decisions. This series is published recognizing the powerful importance of religious belief and practice among us as humans, respecting and honoring the uniqueness
of the spiritual nature that defines us.

Monographs on Comparative Religion

Christianity
Ron Duncan Hart 

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Early Christianity: Faith in the God Who Became Man
2. Christendom: The Divide Between East and West
3. The Triumph of the Christian Church in Europe
4. The Fragmentation of Christendom
5. The Spread of Christianity and the Enlightenment
6. Christian Missions
7. Latin American Christianity
8. North American Christianity
Bibliography
Acknowledgments

A complete description of the largest religious tradition in the world is an impossible task and even writing a short introduction for the modern reader is daunting. It could only be done through extensive reading and drawing information from others who have taught me so much. I would like to thank the professors who have contributed to my knowledge and understanding of religion and culture and Christianity: Professors David Bidney, Robert Chazan, Jeremy Cohen, Alan Johnson, John Messenger, and Gregory Pritchard among others. I am especially indebted to Prof. David Bidney, who gave me insight into the interaction between religion and culture. Based on his research on Baruch Spinoza and his personal study with Ernst Cassirer, he drew from a complex background to explain the analysis and objective validity of cultural reality and symbolic forms. From the classroom to dinner in his house and long hours of conversation in labyrinth of his book-lined office, he gave me a basis for my work and thought. To my family I give special appreciation for hours and days of discussion about our experiences and understanding of spirituality, faith, and life. They have challenged me to re-think and re-write many times to be honest and fair in the portrayal of my religious understanding and that of others.   

Introduction
In addition to this volume, Gaon Guides to Religion and Culture include others on Islam and Judaism to give a complete overview of the religions identified with the Abrahamic covenant of monotheism. This series is published with the purpose of providing education and understanding of the religions traditions in our increasingly linked world. These volumes are written as an anthropology of religion, and I have attempted to state the beliefs, practices, and histories in words that are consistent with each religious tradition. I have provided historical, social, and cultural information to define the context within which each religion has come into being and developed as a living society today. To the extent possible, I have discussed and reviewed these materials with religious scholars and believers from each tradition although I recognize that there are internal differences in belief and practice within religions, and I have tried to reflect those in a correct manner. Belief and behavior are at the heart of our self definition as human individuals and the emotional core of our identity. Our religious and/or ideological identity is so important that it shapes major life decisions. This series is published recognizing the powerful importance of religious belief and practice among us as humans, respecting and honoring the uniqueness of the spiritual nature that defines us.

1 Early Christianity: Faith in the God Who Became Man
Christianity is the world’s largest religion with 2.4 billion followers. It is a creed based religion, and the central beliefs are that Jesus was the Son of God, divine and human, and the Messiah who was predicted in the Hebrew Bible by the prophets. Christians believe that Heaven and Hell exist in the life after death, and that only those who believe in Jesus and follow his teachings will go to Heaven. Faith says that Jesus suffered, died, and was resurrected from the dead in order to grant eternal life to those who believe in him and trust in him for the remission of their sins. Christians believe that Jesus ascended into heaven, where he reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, completing the Trinity. Christians are concentrated in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Over the centuries, Christianity became intertwined with the culture of Europe, so that it was sometimes referred to as Christendom.
Even today as Europe is becoming increasingly secular, its culture is still understood to be Christian. Although Christianity has missionary activity in many non-Christian parts of the world, its identity is as a religion has been concentrated in the circum-Atlantic basin. The practice of Christianity flowed out of Europe into the Americas and Africa along with the colonists who occupied and controlled those areas. As the secularized Europe of today is moving away from its Christian history, the new center of Christianity is shifting to the Americas and Africa. The 550 million Christians in Latin America make it the largest concentration in the world. Europe is second with 530 million, Africa third with 440 million, and the United States fourth with just over 200 million. There is little presence of Christianity in Asia. Christianity began as a Jewish sect, then it became Roman, and later European, American and African.
Like all religions, Christianity works within its social and cultural context. Just as Christianity took on the cloak of European culture, including the pagan holidays of Christmas, Easter, and Halloween when it was adopted in that part of the world, so it has taken on indigenous elements from both Africa and the Americas in later centuries. Christianity has its roots in Jewish and Hellenistic thought of the period of the Roman Empire. Jesus was a Jew, as were his early followers, and he was one of many Jewish reformers who envisioned a new Judaism during the crisis of Roman rule in the first century C.E. He drew crowds as he spoke out against the religious establishment of the day in Jerusalem, and he proposed a new religious order based morality and ethics rather than the ancient Hebrew and Middle Eastern practice of animal sacrifices. He was not the only Jew making these suggestions, and Judaism would fundamentally reform itself after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E. Although the origins of Christianity are Jewish, it quickly spread into the Greco-Roman world and its later development was more Roman and European.
The fact that the scriptures of Christianity are primarily written in Greek rather than Hebrew or Aramaic points out its Greek and Roman underpinnings. The fact that Jesus emphasized following the Judaic teachings of the law and prophets was de-emphasized by later Christian leaders.
In the Middle East, groups of Christians have always existed, and they preserve the oldest traditions in Christianity. The Armenian, Maronite, and Coptic Christians are important Christian groups in that part of the world, but today there is also a small, symbolic presence of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant Christianity.
The Armenians stand out as the most important Christian group of this region, and Armenia is the only predominantly Christian country in the Middle East. Armenia is also the oldest Christian country in the world, having celebrated 1700 years as a Christian nation in 2001. As with Maronites and Copts, Armenian ethnic identity is closely tied to their religion. Since Armenia is a small country in the Caucasus, it has been conquered by more powerful neighbors at different times in the past and has suffered persecution because of its religious identity. In 450, the Persians conquered Armenia and demanded that the population convert to Zoroastrianism. The Armenians fought for thirty years and eventually prevailed. This experience was to be repeated in the early twentieth century when one million Armenians died in their resistance to Turkish control. Many consider that experience as the first example of state sponsored genocide. The Armenians recovered from those events and continue to be a unique case in the mosaic of Middle Eastern religious life.
The Maronites are another important Christian group in the Middle East. They come primarily from Lebanon where they have been a large and important population. They have a history of being wealthy landowners and merchants, and they even controlled the Lebanese government for long periods in the twentieth century. They trace themselves back to St. Maron, a Syrian monastic leader who died in 407. They follow a Syriac liturgy that dates back to the early centuries of Christendom. In recent decades many Maronite Christians have left Lebanon as a result of conflicts with Muslim groups.
The Coptic (Egyptian) Christians have existed since early Christianity spread to Egypt in the first century C.E., and Christian monasticism appeared for the first time in Egypt. The period that led up to the emergence of monasticism was a time of anxiety in Egypt (300 to 500 C.E.), and many thought that civilization had failed. The Copts continue to be an active, although sometimes persecuted, group in Egyptian life today, and they represent some 10 percent of the population. In the Medieval period, European Christianity appeared in the Middle East with the Crusades. It started when the Byzantine emperor made an appeal to the Christian kings in Europe for assistance against the Seljuk Turks who were threatening his empire. To strengthen his case he said that the Muslims were desecrating Christian holy sites in Palestine and ill-treating Christian pilgrims although apparently Muslims had done neither. The first Crusade started in 1096. Within three years the mounted and armored Christian knights had overpowered the local Muslim armies, and four Christian kingdoms were established along the eastern Mediterranean seaboard. There have always been other pockets of Arab Christians in the Middle East, such as the Palestinian Christians and until recently there were the Iraqi Christians concentrated around Mosul in the north of Iraq.
Christianity is a minority religion in the Middle East today. Militant groups have been persecuting Middle Eastern Christians, and many have been driven from their homelands.

Early Christianity: Jews and the Hellenists
The story and message of Christianity was recorded in the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Today it is generally accepted that the oldest of the four is Mark, written at about the time of the fall of the Temple. Matthew and Luke were probably written down ten to twenty years later, and they follow the basic guideline of the Mark narrative. John, which seems to have been written between 90 and 100 C.E., is different in content, as well as literary style and structure. Although attributed to specific followers of Jesus, they might have existed as oral traditions before being written down.
Jesus was born at the beginning of the first century C.E. and was raised in the town of Nazareth in the Galilee region in a carpenter’s family. When he was thirty-years-old, his friend and cousin, John the Baptist, was arrested and killed for preaching that God’s kingdom was going to replace the temporal one which King Herod controlled. This seems to have had a profound impact on Jesus, and shortly he began to travel through the region preaching the same message. Although he put himself in danger by doing this, he attracted a following, and they called him rabbi or “teacher”. Jesus and Judaism. Jesus taught within the context of Jewish life in Israel about the corruption of traditions among the priestly class under the Romans and the need for a more personal religion that was not controlled by the priests.
The Christian New Testament contains little of the teachings of Jesus. The most complete statement is given in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. The following excerpt shows how he reinterpreted the early tribal levitical law in terms of a personal religion of morality: Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Blessed are the sorrowful; they shall find consolation. Blessed are the gentle; they shall have the earth for their possession. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to see right prevail; they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who show mercy; mercy shall be shown to them. Blessed are those whose hearts are pure; they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers; they shall be called God’s children. Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of right; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (Matthew 5:3-10)
The few teachings recorded from Jesus give a picture of a Jewish reformer, who is outside of the Temple system teaching a decentralized version of Judaism. He was opposed to the corruption of Judaic religious practice that had occurred during the centuries of Greco-Roman cultural presence in Israel. His teachings challenged not only the Temple hierarchy in Jerusalem but also the Roman political domination which ultimately led to his death.
Karen Armstrong says that Jesus voiced the aspirations of his contemporaries and centuries old dreams of the Jewish people. These dreams were that a Messiah would come to re-establish the independent kingdom of Israel and that the people of Israel would once again know the religious and cultural golden age that political sovereignty would afford them. Armstrong goes on to say, During his lifetime, many Jews in Palestine had believed that he was the Messiah: he had ridden into Jerusalem and been hailed as the Son of David, but, only a few days later, he was put to death by the agonizing Roman punishment of crucifixion. Yet despite the scandal of a Messiah who had died like a common criminal, his disciples could not believe that their faith in him had been misplaced. There were rumors that he had risen from the dead. Some said that his tomb had been found empty three days after his crucifixion; others saw him in visions, and on one occasion 500 people saw him simultaneously. His disciples believed that he would soon return to inaugurate the Messianic Kingdom of God, and, since there was nothing heretical about such a belief, their sect was accepted as authentically Jewish by no less a person than Rabbi Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel and one of the greatest of the tannaim. His followers worshiped in the Temple every day as fully observant Jews.
Ultimately, however, the New Israel, inspired by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, would become a Gentile faith, which would evolve its own distinctive conception of God. (1993:79-80) Jesus’ teachings and religious practice conformed closely to those of the Pharisees at the time. He followed the Torah and taught observance of its commandments. His teachings that the most important mitzvot (commandments) were loving others and doing acts of charity, were similar to those of the Pharisees. His statement of the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do to you) is similar to that of the great teacher Rabbi Hillel who lived shortly before Jesus. In addition to being a teacher in the Pharisaical mode, Jesus was also a populist preacher, practicing faith healing, exorcizing demons, and doing other miracles in the rural areas of the Galilee province. The belief in these miracles is evidence to many Christians of the divinity of Jesus. After Jesus’ death, his resurrection and appearance to followers was seen as the greatest miracle of all. Although few of his teachings were recorded, many of his stories were, and he used them to teach correct behavior. In the stories he criticized the religious elite of his day (the story of the Samaritan), taught care for those who feared diseases (leprosy), and showed respect for those of low social status (tax collectors, prostitutes, and the poor). In these stories he taught social tolerance, selflessness, and sincerity in social behavior.
Although Christianity has become a predominantly creedal religion, the original teachings of Jesus were primarily social and behavioral with little if any attention to creed. After the death of Jesus, his closest followers, led by Peter, continued his teachings among the Jews. Soon, a stronger force appeared on the scene, Paul, and he used his Greek education and Hellenistic tendencies to carry the teachings of Jesus to Turkey and Greece. Initially, he spoke to Jews, but soon he was speaking to Gentile audiences that he found receptive.
Paul and his followers gradually eclipsed the original disciples of Jesus, and Christianity, as we know it, was essentially created by Paul. His writings, which dominate the New Testament, are about evangelizing and church organization, and the original teachings of Jesus about a religion of personal morality seem to slip from focus. Over the next four centuries Christianity evolved from being a Jewish religion to being a Greco-Roman, neo-Platonic religion. The Greeks had believed that it was possible for a human being to become divine, and some early Christians believed that Jesus was a man who had taken on divine characteristics. In the Gospels, Jesus never claimed to be God, and in his lifetime he was referred to as Messiah, not as God. The “divine” powers that Jesus had to heal were also said to be available to his followers if they believed. Neither did Paul say that Jesus was God, but he used a more generic Jewish phrase, calling him the child of God.
By the third and fourth centuries C.E. it was increasingly accepted that Jesus had been God on earth, and the Council of Nicea was called in 325 to settle the doctrinal dispute. The bishops confirmed that Jesus was God and established the Nicene Creed as the basis of Christian belief.

"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things, visible and invisible, and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, those things that are in heaven and those things that are on earth, who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made man, suffered, rose again on the third day, ascended into the heavens and will come to judge the living and the dead. And we believe in the Holy Spirit."

The Council of Nicea occurred during the reign of Emperor Constantine who became a Christian, giving the new religion greater prestige. Then in 380 as the power of Rome was crumbling, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. When Rome fell to the Visigoths in 410, many non-believers blamed the Christians for their problems. As these last events were occurring, Augustine emerged as the great Christian thinker, and he became the predominant influence on the religion until the Medieval period.

2 Christendom The Divide Between East and West
After the fall of Rome to the Germans in 410 the center of Christianity shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, which controlled the Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and much of North Africa until the rise of Islam in the seventh century. After the Muslim expansion started in the mid to late 600’s, Christians lost control of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. At that point the center of Christianity shifted to Western Europe. Eastern Christianity was the bulwark holding off the expansionism of the Muslims until the late 1300’s and then finally in 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks ending the last vestige of the Roman Empire. At the same time as the Christian kings were defeating the Muslims rulers of Spain in the fifteenth century, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine Empire and took over eastern Europe where they ruled for most of the next five hundred years. Christianity as Belief Christianity is a creedal religion, and you become a Christian by believing in the divinity of Jesus and publicly expressing that belief. It is belief that makes you a Christian.
Although there are several widely accepted creeds, the two most important are the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed, which was discussed in the last chapter. The latter is used primarily in the Eastern rite and Roman Catholic churches.

The Apostles’ Creed is used in many Protestant churches, and it begins with the following statement:
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into Hell. The third day he rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty…"

These Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds give the basic statements of Christian theology, which can be summarized in the following four points:
• Jesus is the Messiah. This is the central belief of Christianity. Following the Jewish belief that a Messiah will come to create a perfect age on earth, Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah who brought a new revelation from God replacing and updating the older revelations to Abraham and Moses. The crucifixion and death of Jesus was actually a triumph because it was his sacrifice as God that was to purify the sins of all the people in the world. This leads to the second major belief of Christianity.
• Salvation comes through belief in the divinity of Jesus. Christians believe that the world is divided into good and evil with the former concentrated in Heaven and the latter in Hell. By believing in Jesus as divine, people align themselves with the forces of good in the world, and those who do not accept Jesus are shunted into the world of evil whether they are actually bad people or not. All humans commit sin by doing wrong (lying, stealing, lusting, dishonoring parents, killing, etc.), all behaviors that God has commanded people not to do. By committing sin, people are contaminated by evil and must be saved from it by salvation. It was the death of Jesus on the cross that cleanses people from these sins and saves them from an eternity in Hell.
• God is central to all existence, and the Godhead is divided into three parts, the Trinity, which includes God the father, God the son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. God the father is the remote existence in Heaven that does not interact with people on earth. This dimension of God created the world in the beginning and set life on the track that it follows. God the father is the ultimate cause that drives the world, which would not exist otherwise. Jesus is the son of God who came to earth to bring a renewed message of the word of God to humans, following up on the earlier teachings of the Jewish patriarchs and prophets. Since Jewish religious tradition had taught that wrong doing had to be cleansed by making a blood sacrifice of an animal, Jesus chose mortal death to be the ultimate sacrifice for all of the sins of humanity. For those who believe in Jesus no other sacrifices need to be made. The Holy Spirit is the third manifestation of God, and this Spirit comes to earth to communicate God’s will to those who are Christians.
• The Bible is God’s word. It includes the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament, and the New Testament, which is made up of the writings of the followers of Jesus, most notably Paul. Jesus did not leave writings, but the events of his life and some of his teachings are recorded in the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Most of the other books of the New Testaments were written by Paul in his role as an organizer of churches throughout the Greco-Roman world. Fundamentalist Christians believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, while others believe that there was more human input, a position that allows for textual analysis and criticism. Some version of these four core beliefs exist in the various branches of Christianity although the specific details vary widely from Roman Catholics to the various Eastern rite Churches (Greek, Russian, Coptic, Maronites, Armenians, etc.) and the various denominations of Protestantism. Some branches of Christianity claim exclusive right to the truth of their doctrinal creed, denying the legitimacy of the beliefs of other Christians.
Since creed is the central defining factor for being a Christian, differences in creed become chasms across which people do not necessarily share Christian identity. The Practice of Christianity The practice of Christianity is defined by ritual, which is more pronounced in the “high” church tradition of Roman Catholic and the Anglican/Episcopal churches. The “low” church practice of Evangelical Protestants, such as Pentecostals and Baptists, has less formalized ritual, but it is still present. There are four central practices shared by most branches of Christianity.
• Baptism. Christians are anointed with water (or in some churches fully immersed in it) as a public demonstration of the washing away of their sins and their acceptance into the Church. In doing so, Christians follow the example of Jesus who was himself baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist, before he began his ministry. In the high church tradition, children are baptized shortly after birth to guarantee their place in Heaven, but in many Protestant traditions people are only baptized after they are old enough to decide for themselves that they want to identify as a Christian and be in the Church.
• Communion. Jesus had a Last Supper with his twelve closest followers shortly before his death, and every branch of Christianity continues to practice a ritual meal to re-confirm their oneness with God. Wine and unleavened bread are shared to symbolize that meal, and Christians believe that the wine represents the blood of Jesus and the bread his body. For a number of centuries the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation suggested that the wine and bread actually took on the essence of the body of Jesus. For all Christians Communion represents a spiritual union with Jesus and a union with their fellow Christians who are partaking of the ritual meal. Some see the practice of communion is a symbolic continuation of the Jewish practice of the Passover Seder, which is a celebration of God’s deliverance of the Jews from bondage in the land of Egypt.
• Congregational Worship. Christianity is organized around a group of believers who come together in regular worship. The various branches of Christianity organize these congregations differently. For example, the leadership among Roman Catholics is organized into a complex hierarchy, which culminates in the Pope with celibate priests, monks, and nuns who are set apart from normal everyday life. In contrast, Eastern rite churches (which are hierarchical) and Protestant churches (which tend to lack hierarchy) in general do not practice celibacy among the clergy. The more hierarchical churches do have more highly formalized worship services, whereas the Evangelical and charismatic Protestant tend to have more participatory and spontaneous worship practices, even including spirit possession of the participants.
• Evangelism. Christianity is a proselytizing religion. In the early years after the death of Jesus his followers divided into two camps, one led by Peter with a Jewish focus and the other led by Paul with an evangelical focus reaching out to the larger Greek and Roman world. Ultimately the followers of Paul won and defined Christianity as an expansionist church building religion. Over the next few centuries it won a predominant following in the Mediterranean world and later in Europe, the Americas, and the southern half of Africa. Christians of the Western world today continue to practice evangelism, both Roman Catholics and Protestants. Historically, this has frequently brought Western Christianity into conflict with the other great proselytizing religion, Islam. Although Christians see themselves as fundamentally divided in the way they baptize, have communion, worship, and proselytize, they do share this basic core of Christian practice. The core of practice is the profession of faith in Jesus along with baptism and worship. Some Christians are aggressive in evangelism, while others are more devoted to showing their faith through social action and helping. The divisions within Christianity lead to myriad ways of practicing the religion, but the bond that unites all Christians is their belief in the divinity of Jesus.

Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church
The Byzantine Empire was the Greek speaking eastern half of the old Roman Empire. In 330, before the fall of Rome, Emperor Constantine had transferred the main capital from Rome to Byzantium, and the city was renamed after him, Constantinople. Later, in the 600’s the official language of the Empire was changed from Latin to Greek. With the rapid expansion of the Muslims out of Arabia in the latter half of the seventh century, the Byzantines lost their richest territories, Syria and Egypt. Later, they would lose Anatolia to the Turks, who were invading out of Central Asia. Weakened by the losses, the Byzantine kingdom was no longer an empire. In 1203 and 1204, not long after the loss of Anatolia, the Fourth Crusade coming out of Western Europe attacked Constantinople rather than going to the Holy Land. The city was sacked and large sections of the city were burned. The Byzantine territories broke up into smaller kingdoms, and it never recovered from those losses. In 1453 Constantinople was conquered by the Turks, and the Byzantine period came to a close. Orthodox Catholic Church.
Known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, it is the second largest Christian Church in the world with 250-300 million followers. They live mostly in Eastern and Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Russia. Churches within specific countries normally take the name of the country, such as the Russian Orthodox Church or the Greek Orthodox Church. Jesus is considered to be the head of the Church, and in contrast to the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church, there is no bishop at the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There are four Patriarchs who make decisions for the Church, and the Patriarch of Constantinople is usually considered to be the first among equals, but he is not equal to a Pope.
Beliefs and Practices. The Orthodox Church defines itself as “orthodox” and identifies as the original Christian Church founded by Christ and his disciples and the most traditional Church. It defines itself as “catholic” or universal in its union with Christ. When the Schism with the Roman Church occurred in 1054, each Church considered itself to be the original Christian Church and the other was the break away branch. Both the Roman and the Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Creed, and both share the same core of beliefs about the godhead. The central belief is the Holy Trinity of three distinct, divine beings, sharing an eternal immaterial essence. Although the central set of writings accepted into the canon of the scriptures is the same between the Roman, Orthodox, and Protestant Churches, there are differences.
The Protestant canon includes only the thirty-nine books of Hebrew canon, but the Orthodox Church recognizes another ten books acceptable to be read in worship services. Since Jesus is the head of the Orthodox Church, his words in the four gospels are given the highest respect. Although priestly celibacy is highly respected in the Orthodox Church, more than 90 percent of the priests are married in contrast to the Roman Church. Single men who are ordained into the priesthood are expected to remain monastic, and a married priest whose wife dies cannot remarry. So there are limitations.
Art.
Some of the most beautiful religious art in the world is to be found in Orthodox Churches. The liturgy itself fuses the spiritual and the aesthetic to make a unique experience of worship. The chanting, incense, vestments, and ritual movements of the priests in the service create a rich experience that is complemented by the images on the surrounding walls, a total sensory environment. The images of Christ, the Virgin, angels, and saints are on the walls of Churches, and smaller more personal images can be added to other objects that can be used in prayer or meditation. These standardized images can be painted with great technical skill and are a highlight of the Orthodox experience.
The Schism with the Roman Catholic Church has been as much about culture as it has been about theology. The Orthodox Church is the majority expression of Christianity in the Slavic world. The languages are Greek, Russian, and other eastern languages. While both the Orthodox and the Roman Churches have images of Christ, the Virgin, and saints, in the Orthodox they are stylized painted images, and in the Roman world they are frequently three-dimensional realistic statues. As the Russian and Slavic worlds frequently come into conflict with the world of Western Europe over cultural, economic, and political issues, so the Churches of the East and the West find themselves in opposition to each other on Church administration, lifestyle, and in some cases beliefs.

The West and the Roman Catholic Church
In the West most of the institutions of the Roman Empire declined or disappeared after the Germanic invasions of the fifth century, the Christian Church survived and eventually began to grow. By the year 600 Christianity controlled Europe west and south of the Rhine and the Danube, all of the circum-Mediterranean basin, including Asia Minor up to the Caucasus region. The thinker who most embodies the rise of the European, post-Roman Church was Augustine.
Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430).
Augustine was born in what is today Algeria, and he received a classical late Roman education studying the writings of Virgil, Cicero, and other writers of importance. He continued his education in Carthage where he became acquainted with a broad cross-section of philosophy and Christian sects. He was in Carthage when Christianity was named the official religion of the Roman Empire. At the age of twenty-nine he traveled to Rome and Milan where he was baptized, and later he was named the Bishop of Hippo in his native North Africa. Although he was renowned as a preacher, his greatest impact was as a writer with ninety-three books to his credit. He is arguably the most important Christian writer outside of Paul and the authors of the gospels.
His autobiography, The Confessions, has been one of the most influential books in the two thousand years of Christianity. In the book he confesses to the conflicts he feels between his dreams of spirituality and his sensual and material desires. A common premise in Roman philosophy had been that knowledge led to virtue, suggesting that a person who has sufficient information will know how to act ethnically.
Augustine argued that was not necessarily the case and that in addition to knowledge, will was required for spiritually and ethically correct behavior. He said that will and choice ultimately shaped the moral character of the person. Accordingly, he thought that Adam’s sin was a failure of will, a weakness passed on to all humanity. Only dependence on God could give the strength of will to humans to live godly lives. This paradigm of will and obedience to God became a central belief in Christianity.
Augustine’s other classic was The City of God which was written after the Germanic invasion of Rome in 410, and in part it sought to answer the question of how such disasters fitted into the divine plan for the world. He suggested that states came into being in response to people’s tendency to sin and commit evil, and that a state that did not provide the correct moral environment for its people had lost its validity. States were potentially corrupt, but in contrast the Church represented God on earth which made the spiritual power of the Church superior to the temporal power of the state. This became a central feature of Church-State relations well into the Medieval period.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism had been one of the knottiest problems from the time of the conflicts between Peter and Paul. With the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire and the outlawing of pagan religions, a definition of Judaism had to be made. As an exclusive religion, how would Christianity recognize another religion that did not accept the truth of its central beliefs? Augustine’s “doctrine of the living witness” became the Church standard on how to interact with the Jews. He suggested that Jews were necessary because they had the original covenant with God, and they were God’s chosen people. They could also read the Hebrew Bible and explain it to the Christians who could not read Hebrew.
Christians needed the Jews to keep direct contact with the original language of the Bible. However, he also argued that Jews had lost their place with God because they had not accepted Jesus as Messiah, and their dispersal throughout the world was evidence of what happens, even to God’s chosen people, if they do not accept God’s plan. He argued that Jews must be preserved because they had a distinctive role in God’s plan for human history and salvation. Jeremy Cohen sums up Augustine’s position saying,
“The De civitate Dei does not suffice with explicating the phenomenon of Jewish survival as the fulfillment of divine prophecy. It interprets the divine prophecy of Jewish survival as a mandate for the faithful: Slay them not, that is ensure their survival and that of their Old Testament observance; and scatter them, guaranteeing that the conditions of their survival demonstrate the gravity of their error and the reality of their punishment.” (1999:33)
Augustine shaped Christian thought from the late Roman period to the Medieval period of Church dominance in Western Europe. The Formation of Christendom in Western Europe (480 to 1095) While most of the institutions of the Roman Empire declined or disappeared after the Germanic invasions of the fifth century, the Christian Church survived and eventually began to grow. By the year 600 Christianity controlled Europe west and south of the Rhine and the Danube, all of the circum-Mediterranean basin, including Asia Minor up to the Caucasus region. After the Muslim expansion started in the mid to late 600’s, the Christians lost the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. The center of Christianity at that point was Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Eastern Christianity became the bulwark holding off the expansionism of the Muslims until the late 1300’s and then finally in 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks ending the last vestige of the Roman Empire.
Just as the Christian kings were defeating the Muslims rulers of Spain in the fifteenth century, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine Empire and took over Eastern Europe where they ruled for most of the next five hundred years. With that, the center of Christianity shifted to Western Europe. The Christian synthesis with traditional European religions. The rapid expansion of Christianity under the Roman Empire led to it taking on diverse cultural manifestations as local people assimilated to the new religion. In the Mediterranean world, Christianity had made its synthesis with Greek and Roman thought, as described earlier, adding a layer of beliefs that did not conform to the Jewish roots of the religion. Now the Germans and other new converts to Christianity in the West brought their traditional beliefs with them into Christianity. The Germans added Christmas at the winter solstice to the practice of Christianity along with their festival of lights, reverence for “Christmas” trees and forest greenery, and bouts of drinking. This winter festival was Christianized to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Easter, the Spring celebration of fertility with rabbits, was Christianized to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus, producing a celebration of new life. These localized cultural manifestations that became attached to Christianity in the various regions produced distinctive versions of the religion. The cultural differentiation of the various branches of Christianity became so powerful that it began to break up into its distinctive creedal and liturgical traditions. Christianity and Jews. For centuries after Augustine, most Churchmen followed his position that Jews should be allowed to live among Christians.
Two names stand out in the long history between Augustine and the Medieval period, Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) and Archbishop Isidore (570-636) of Seville. Both agreed basically with Augustine’s theological positions, but each became more restrictive toward Jews. Gregory called for missionary activity to preach to the Jews but prohibited the use of force to convert them, and on a number of occasions he intervened to stop violence against Jews and synagogues. On the other hand, Isidore prohibited Jews from holding public office, and he ordered that Jewish children were to be taken from their parents and raised in monasteries and taught the Christian faith. By the eleventh century, there were small Jewish populations scattered throughout much of Western Europe, but many countries had restrictive legislation against the Jews, such as prohibiting land ownership and controlling which businesses they could operate.

3 The Triumph of the Christian Church in Europe (1000 to 1500)
During the eleventh century, civilization in the form of a literate society with permanent political and religious institutions and the architecture to house them began to appear in western Europe, and the motor driving this process was the Church centered in Rome. This new civilization was Christian. Art, philosophy, literacy, and even politics were done in the name of Christianity. Christendom was the merging of civilization and religion. The Church was not only the powerful cultural force in Europe at this time, but it also competed as the most important political force. It could declare war and call up armies as it did in the Crusades. The Church’s emphasis on cultural and religious homogeneity in Europe led to anti-Semitism which was articulated by leading Christian thinkers. As would happen throughout European history, Christian secular leaders then translated the anti-Semitism into physical attacks on Jewish communities resulting in unknown thousands of deaths.
The Militant Church and the Crusades (1096 to 1204)
Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade against the Muslims in the Holy Land in 1095, and it was launched the following year. The Crusades occurred as the Popes used their ecclesiastical power to militarize the mission of the Church and direct it against Muslims. When the Crusader knights of the West arrived to the Holy Land in 1099 to re-establish Christian control over the holy sites, they brought a war of destruction that was shocking to the Arabs who were more accustomed to negotiating the surrender of civilian populations rather than annihilating them. Crusaders killed tens of thousands of civilians in Jerusalem, and thousands were even killed on the holy mount at the al-Aksa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
Actually, many of those killed were Christians and Jews living in Jerusalem, but since they looked Middle Eastern, the Crusaders could not distinguish between them and the Muslims. So, they killed them all. In Jerusalem, the chronicles of the Crusaders say that the blood and bodies of the victims came up to the bellies of the horses. After initial success, the Christian kingdoms were defeated one by one over the next few decades, losing their foothold in the Middle East.
As the power of the Crusaders began to slip, the Second Crusade was called but to little avail, then after Saladin re-conquered Jerusalem in 1187, the Third Crusade was called in 1189. It, too, was of no avail. When Saladin re-conquered Jerusalem in 1187, there was no mass killing of civilians, and he established a rule of religious tolerance for Christians and Jews. Muslims are proud of the fact that Saladin did not massacre Christians, as they are quick to point out to Westerners today. Saladin is an icon, and he is honored in many parts of the Middle East, in story and in statues. The disastrous Fourth Crusade, launched in 1202, never reached the Holy Land, but turned against Byzantium, sacking the city and essentially destroying it as a political power, and it never recovered.
The rise of the militant Church with the Crusades led to the consolidation of ecclesiastical power in Europe, but it also led to religious intolerance, specifically anti-Semitism, and the use of armed violence against both Muslims and Jews. The year 1096 was a watershed for Christian Europe. Not only did the Church emerge as the dominant institution, but it was ready to use the force of arms against those who challenged its position.
As it established religious homogeneity in Europe, it began the oppression of dissident Christian groups and Jews. The 1096 call to crusade against the Muslims led groups in Germany to also attack the only non-Christian group in their midst, the Jews. Crusaders attacked the Jewish neighborhoods in several Rhineland cities, including Cologne, Mainz, Metz, Worms, Speyer, and Trier, and killed an estimated 10,000 people, one-quarter of the Jews in Germany. Jews were given the choice of conversion or martyrdom. The militant Church emerged here with the sacralization of violence. Later, the Vatican army was established, and eventually the Vatican engaged in warfare with its enemies like any temporal state.
During this same period, the Inquisition was also established as the militant arm of the Church against domestic unbelievers. Twelfth Century Renaissance This was a time of growth in both Christian and Jewish scholarship with an emphasis on rationalism in theology. Christian universities were established, and Christians began learning Hebrew, reducing their dependence on the Jews to read the Hebrew Bible for them. Gothic churches were built for the first time. Although rational thought and logic were valued, there was a rise of anti-Semitic thought. Among the Jews, mystical studies became important as can be seen in the kabbalistic thought in Spain and southern France.

Universities, Gothic Churches, and Rise of Rational Thought.
As cities began to develop, the schools attached to Cathedrals grew into the earliest universities. First, the Universities of Bologna and Paris came into existence, and then later Oxford and Cambridge. Students came from distant places to study in these early universities. Peter Abélard, one of the great thinkers of this period, came to study in Paris as a young man. In keeping with the emphasis on rational thought at the time, Abélard was intrigued by logic, and he believed that it could solve most problems. He believed that by doubting every theological premise and systematically questioning it, that one could arrive to the truth. He and others believed that logic purified faith, and that logic would coincide with correct faith. They went back to the Greek philosophical texts which they re-interpreted in light of Christianity. These texts had been lost in the Western world, and it was through Muslim scholars in Cordoba, Spain and in other places, that they were able to obtain copies.
Even as the Christian kings of Spain fought to defeat the remaining Muslim rulers there, Christian scholars were exchanging information with their Muslim colleagues on philosophy, medicine, and other subjects. Gothic church architecture made its first appearance during this period. During the tenth and eleventh centuries, Romanesque architecture was heavy and quasi-military. These churches were frequently located in rural areas and were defensive structures with thick walls and narrow windows.
The transformation to the light, airy Gothic architecture was made on the outskirts of Paris in the parish of Saint-Denis. Abbot Suger initiated the rebuilding of the abbey church in 1137, and by 1144 it was basically complete. The ribbed, vaulted ceilings were lighter, and that combined with flying buttresses used to re-enforce the walls, permitted making them thinner and opening up spaces for large stained glass windows. The high ceilings, open spaces, and light of the Gothic churches created the classic European temple of worship. Although rational thought in the universities and the enlightened aesthetics of Gothic architecture might suggest a more tolerant Christianity, on the contrary a strong undercurrent of intolerance also marked the twelfth century Church.

Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Christendom
Although Christian militancy against the Muslims spent itself in the campaigns of the twelfth century, Popes of the early thirteenth century called for Crusades against fellow Christians. The most threatening social enemy of the Church at the beginning of the thirteenth century were the Albigensians, a heretical Christian sect located in southern France. They refused to accept the hierarchy of the Church, as well as rejecting doctrines on the sacraments and the relationship between God and people.
In 1208 Pope Innocent III called for a Crusade against the Albigensians and essentially annihilated the group. With that success, popes also called for two different Crusades against Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of extensive territories in Italy and Germany, because of the Vatican fear that he was encircling territories ruled by the Church. These campaigns against other Christians undermined the credibility of Church and effectively ended the use of Crusades. During this time, the intolerance against heretics and non-believers within Europe was growing. The first accusations of Blood Libel were made against Jews in Gloucester, England in the first half of the thirteenth century. When the body of a dead boy was found, Jews were accused of killing him in a ritual sacrifice and using his blood to make the Passover matzah. This led to attacks on the Jewish community and the killing of many Jews. The Mendicant Orders: Dominicans and Franciscans.
Christianity was transformed in the thirteenth century by the formation of the preaching orders, especially the Dominicans and Franciscans, a new direction for the traditional self-contained monastic orders like the Benedictines. The members of these new orders lived in towns and actively proselytized in their communities, putting overt pressure on non-Christians to convert. The Dominicans especially focused on converting Jews. Dominicans and Franciscans served as faculty in the new universities and were actively involved in translating classical literature into Latin. The Church was focused on stamping out heresy during this period, and Inquisitions were established to identify and prosecute the heretics.
Dominicans and Franciscans were commonly the inquisitors who pursued the straying souls, frequently Jews, who had converted under pressure with no genuine commitment of being Christians. The increasingly anti-Jewish consensus in Christianity led to the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, the first of its kind in Europe. Later, Jews were expelled for periods of time in other European countries. In the mid-1300’s a non-religious event shook Christendom, the Bubonic plague. Medieval Europeans commonly interpreted the plague in religious terms and blamed the Jews for causing it. That inflamed the residual anti-Semitism and led to attacks on Jewish communities in which thousands were killed. Anti-Semitism in Europe reached a fever pitch in the late fourteenth century. Christian Spain and the Re-Conquest
The re-conquest (reconquista) of Spain from the Muslims was an eight hundred year long crusade to drive the non-Christians out of the country. During this time, Christians and Muslims frequently collaborated with each other and intermarried. Muslim and Christian kings would ally with each other to fight against other Muslims or Christians. Educated people spoke both Arabic and Spanish as well as Latin. It was a re-conquest that included substantial periods of peace, and trade regularly flowed between the two groups. So, it was not always war, but in the end another war would always be fought. In medieval Europe, war and religion were the two most important forces in the society, and in Spain they were fused into one long religious war.
The passion for loyalty to Christianity reached a height in Spanish Christian society that was not matched in other European countries. To be Spanish was to be Christian and loyal to Rome. The equation of Spanishness and Christianity was so fused with the Spanish soul that people would say, “Hablo cristiano” (I speak Christian) to say they spoke Spanish. They assumed that Spanish was the language of Christianity, and that attitude was taken to the Americas where Indian converts were expected to learn Spanish.
The Spanish Inquisition was established to catch disloyal converts, arrest and torture them, and even burn them at the stake if necessary. As the Christian kings completed the re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, they wanted to use religious solidarity to complement their nation building. They thought that having a unified nation could be achieved more easily if people were unified religiously. So, Muslims and Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, but many did so only superficially. These “New Christians” were constantly suspect of not being true believers, so the Inquisition was a religious police service to identify, arrest, torture, and ultimately condemn to death people who did not truly believe in the official Christian creed.
In 1492, Spain was firmly entrenched in the medieval world of castles, knights in armor, and soaring cathedrals. It was the most zealous Christian nation in Europe, having defined its national temperament in the re-conquest against the Muslims. The young men of Spain were enamored with the glories of war and conquest, and they were successful. As the Christian kings Ferdinand and Isabella accepted the surrender of the last of the Muslim kingdoms in Granada on New Year’s Day in 1492, they were beginning a new world. Spain was still fractured into several Christian kingdoms, but that would soon be changed as Ferdinand and Isabella unified Spain under their rule. A number of activities celebrated this momentous victory that forever changed Spanish history, and one of them was the approval of a voyage by Christopher Columbus to explore a route to Asia across the great sea. Spain had always looked to the east and the Mediterranean, but in this watershed decision, the kings launched Spain in a new direction, which would also change Spain and the world forever.

4 The Fragmentation of Christendom (1500 to 1550)
In European Christianity, the fi fteenth century produced some of the best and worst moments in its history. While the first stages of the Renaissance were budding in Italy, the most extreme expression of religious intolerance was being played out next door in Spain. From 1050 to 1400, the Church had been one of the central forces in creating the emerging civilization in Western Europe. Literacy and art developed through the Church, and it had important roles in the emergence of commerce and institutionalized government.
In Medieval Europe life was focused almost exclusively around a Christian cosmology of Heaven and earth and angels and devils. This cosmology was challenged by the humanism of the Renaissance that began in the five important city states in Italy: Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States, and Naples. At the pinnacle of its power, the Church was challenged by secularism and Protestantism. Martin Luther. On All Saint’s Day in 1517, Martin Luther (1483-1546) nailed his list of ninety-five theses on indulgences to the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle, opening a debate on the practice of selling indulgences to people on the promise that they would not be punished for their sins.
The conflict between Luther and the papacy ultimately was a conflict between German Christianity and the Roman Christianity of the Mediterranean world. The Germans were accustomed to more austerity, independence, and a more literal interpretation of the scriptures while the Mediterranean Christians were more accustomed to hierarchies, ostentation in the churches, and the authority of the Church to interpret the scriptures. The selling of indulgences by the Church became the specific point of conflict between the German and Mediterranean Christians. What were the indulgences? Christian theology teaches that people who commit sins alienate themselves from God. According to the Roman Church, the sinner had to confess his or her sins to a priest and perform the penances assigned to them to be reconciled with God. This theology is based on the idea that God is merciful, that Jesus died for the sins of humans, and that the Church is the way through which sinners reach Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. The Church had given out indulgences for those who went on the Crusades, and later in the Medieval period the practice of granting indulgences grew. People even came to believe that you could buy indulgences for those who were long dead.
By Martin Luther’s time indulgences were being sold to help cover the costs of building St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, so it had become a means of raising funds for the Church. Luther protested that the selling of indulgences was not biblical, and the defenders of the Church saw this as a challenge to the papacy. Luther was ordered to recant or be excommunicated, and he refused to recant, which led to his excommunication.

Over the next few years, Luther worked out the basic tenets of Lutheran or Protestant theology which was organized around four questions about Christian life. 1) How does a person gain salvation in this life? Whereas the Roman Catholic Church had taught that salvation was through faith and good works, Luther revised that to say that only faith could save a person. 2) What is the ultimate authority in Christianity? The Roman Church had taught that authority came from the Bible as interpreted and taught by the Church. Luther agreed that the Bible was the authority, but he said that each individual, not the Church, was responsible for interpreting the Bible. 3) What is the Church? To the Roman Church, it was the clergy, but Luther re-interpreted this to say that it was the entire community of believers. 4) What is the preferred form of Christian life? The Roman Church taught that the preferred way of life was one totally dedicated to religious service whether in a monastery or as a member of the clergy. Luther taught that all occupations were valid before God and that all were needed in the Christian community.

These teachings revolutionized the Christian way of life and transformed the nature of its institutions. Luther’s teachings became known as Lutheranism, and they were particularly important in the German provinces. John Calvin. The other great stream of Protestantism was founded by John Calvin (1509-1564) who converted early to Protestantism. His teachings became known as Calvinism, and they emphasized asceticism, hard work, and religious reward. In 1541 he was invited to help reform the city of Geneva, and he developed the idea of the city as a church, creating a Protestant theocracy. He emphasized the absoluteness and omnipotence of God’s rule and inspired the people of Geneva to practice a strict morality. There was no tolerance for slackness, and people were punished for criticizing pastors, missing sermons, quarreling, drinking, or indulging in frivolous acts such as dancing or playing cards. Dissenters were exiled from the city or put to death. It was a Protestant version of the Inquisition.
Between 1517 and 1547, the reform movement led by Luther and others spread quickly throughout northern Europe until it included Germany, Scandinavia, England, Scotland, and parts of France and Switzerland. During these three decades the Roman Church reacted slowly to the widening breach between it and the new Protestants. Some of the popes seemed to think that it was a theological dispute that would be resolved, and others seemed to be little interested in the far off northern provinces which were also considered the less civilized areas of Christendom. Finally, in the 1540’s a movement started to reform the Church from within, still with the idea of eventually seeking reconciliation with the Protestants.

The Counter-Reformation, the Inquisition and the Division of Christendom
While the Protestant movement was spreading like wildfire in northern Europe, the Vatican was in the throes of reconstituting itself with virtually imperial status. St. Peter’s Cathedral, the largest in Christendom, was being built. The high Renaissance was in process, and Pope Julius II was its patron, commissioning some of the best art works in European history. Rome was the center of Christendom, and the heady events that were happening there must have made the protest of an insignificant professor in rural Germany seem irrelevant. Julius II did call the Lateran Council in 1512 to initiate reform, but what it achieved was too little and too late. Finally, the Council of Trent was called to deal more seriously with the reformation of the Church.
The Council of Trent (1545 to 1563).
Pope Paul III established the Council of Trent with the intention of making a reconciliation with the Protestants. However, their insistence on the Scriptures as the sole basis of authority eliminated the possibility of returning the Catholic fold. International politics also complicated the efforts at reconciliation. Charles V, King of Spain and the Hapsburg territories, opposed pressuring the Lutherans, many of whom lived in his kingdoms, because it would lead to further unrest there. The French kings opposed reconciliation because they preferred a Germany divided between Protestants and Catholics.
The bishops in the Council of Trent re-affirmed the validity of both the Scriptures and Church mandates as sources of religious authority. It also re-affirmed the sanctity of the seven sacraments and the Church position on transubstantiation of the host in Holy Communion. The Council initiated important reforms affecting the bishops and clergy. It decreed that bishops must live in the dioceses they headed and that clerics were to remain celibate, giving up their mistresses. The sale of indulgences was forbidden. Schools were established to educate the clergy. In contrast to past practice, the clergy were to be recruited from the poorer classes, and they were required to evidence some vocation or calling for the priesthood. The marriage ceremony was standardized, requiring both parties to express their vow of marriage in front of witnesses, one of which must be the parish priest. After the Church started the Counter-Reformation, the spread of Protestantism essentially stopped, but Christendom was already divided into two irreconcilable camps. The Inquisition. The Inquisition was another tool used by the Church during this period to staunch the spread of heretical beliefs, which were primarily Protestant and Jewish. Although Inquisitions existed before the Protestant movement, they gained power and became more formalized during the Counter-Reformation period.
The Inquisition is a broad term used to refer to a range of inquisitorial activities by the Church. Early Inquisitions were frequently set up by a bishop or archbishop to look into local activities that were suspect, but an Inquisition could also be ordered by the Pope to explore the suspicion of heresy. The most famous was the Spanish Inquisition which was set up in 1480 by the Spanish monarchy with the approval of the Pope, and it became a full judicial bureaucracy with Inquisitors, jailers, and treasurers among other positions. It was originally set up to identify Jews who had supposedly converted to Christianity but who still practiced their traditional religion. This became a serious problem after the pogroms of 1391 that killed tens of thousands of Jews and forced many others to convert to Christianity to save their lives. Many of these forced conversions were not genuine, and people continued their traditional Jewish practices. Later, there were other groups with beliefs viewed as heretical by the Church, especially the Protestants. All were sought out by the Inquisition for prosecution. During the 354 years of its existence, the Spanish Inquisition arrested and jailed tens of thousands of individuals. People were commonly tortured to get confessions, and sometimes they were killed in the process of the torture. Many were burned at the stake, and many more were sentenced to long prison terms without appeal.
The Inquisition issued its last death sentence for religious crimes only a decade before it was finally abolished in 1834. Although the Church ran the Inquisition, the Church did not carry out the death sentences. Those who were sentenced to be burned at the stake were turned over to the secular authorities for execution. The Division into Mediterranean and Germanic Christendom.
By 1550 western Christendom was divided into two main camps following the cultural lines that have existed since the Roman Empire. The Mediterranean world (Italy, Spain, and France) with its traditions of inherited hierarchies and class, large extended families and collective social organization, baroque art, and gusto for life remained firmly Catholic. The northern European, Germanic countries (Germany, England, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries) with their emphasis on austerity, individuality, smaller families, and more ascetic lifestyles were perhaps never culturally in sync with their southern co-religionists. They broke away to establish a religious tradition that was culturally appropriate for them.
This division between Mediterranean Catholic and Germanic Protestant Christendom can be observed today in Europe and the Americas. As the exploration and colonization of the Americas occurred, it was also divided into Catholic and Protestant camps according to the nations that carried out the colonization. The breach between the two main religious groups of western Christendom has seldom been bridged. Since the Vatican Council II called by Pope John XXIII in the 1960’s, ecumenical contacts between the Roman Catholic Church and mainline Protestant churches have occurred, but the evangelical branch of Protestantism has generally not be open to these contacts.

The Religious Wars (1550 to 1650)
Although the permanent division of Christendom was an established fact, conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants frequently sprang up between the two groups. Whereas Luther challenged the authority of the Church, the Religious Wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries changed Europe so completely that the Church would never regain the power that it once had. As Christian fought against Christian, Catholics and Protestants killed each other over differences in belief. After this, Christian Europe would never be unified again, and the hostilities generated by the Catholic-Protestant wars could still be felt three and four hundred years later. The cultural memory of these wars continues today in Northern Ireland where Protestants and Catholics hurl insults at each other and even bullets and bombs. In Britain, it is still against the law for a Catholic to become Prime Minister or King.

France. The first of the religious wars occurred in France following the dual calamity in 1559 of its defeat by Spain and the death of its King Henry II. The teachings of John Calvin had made significant inroads into Catholicism in France, particularly among urban people. Calvin wrote in French, so his writings were more readily accessible to most people than were those of the Church written in Latin. By 1559 it is estimated that perhaps 10 percent of the French had become Protestant or Huguenot. The sons who followed Henry II as king were weak, and many of the nobility took advantage of this opportunity to convert to Protestantism and challenge the authority of the monarchy. At the level of the nobility, the conflict that arose was over the power of the monarch and the nature of government. While pro-monarchy Catholic nobles fought with the anti-monarchy Protestant lords over the power of the monarch, the lower classes fought over their religious differences. Each side declared the other illegitimate and authorized violence against them. The culmination to this conflict came in the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 in Paris when Catholics attacked Huguenots. Over the next five weeks as many as twelve thousand Huguenots were killed in the main cities of France. This led to a fifteen year period of religious conflict which completely disrupted French society.

Netherlands. The seventeen provinces of the Netherlands existed as a loose confederation that were ruled by the Spanish monarch. By the 1560’s Calvinists had made significant inroads into the northern provinces, and in 1566 Protestants aroused by fiery sermons attacked the Catholic Cathedral in Antwerp destroying its interior. It contained the largest collection of religious art in northern Europe, including paintings, sculptures, altars, books, stained glass windows, and other ornaments. This unleashed attacks on thirty other Catholic churches throughout the region. A Spanish army was sent in to quell the riots, and it was able to regain control in the ten southernmost provinces which became the Spanish Netherlands, today known as Belgium. The seven northern provinces declared themselves an independent Protestant country. Queen Elizabeth of England supported the Protestant side in the Netherlands, giving both money and troops over a period of years. When Elizabeth had her Catholic cousin, Queen Mary of Scots, beheaded, the Pope Sixtus V offered King Phillip II of Spain a sizable reward to invade England and depose Elizabeth. The invasion of England appealed to the Spanish because it would enable them to cut off the support for the Protestant provinces of the Netherlands. The Spanish Armada was created to escort the invasion from the Netherlands, but its defeat in 1588 ended the possibilities of the Catholic invasion of England. As Spain was fighting in the Netherlands, they were also pursuing the conquest of the Americas. Dutch and English publishing sources seized on the accounts of atrocities in the Americas to brand the Spanish with the “Black Legend”, which portrayed them as cruel.

The Thirty Years’ War
This War (1618 to 1648) was fought within the Holy Roman Empire, and it was the most destructive of the religious wars. It not only found Catholics against Protestants, but Calvinists were also against Lutherans. The War started in Germany which was an uncontrollable collection of local political fiefdoms about half of which were Lutheran. The conflict started in 1617 when the Catholic king of Bohemia closed some Lutheran churches, and the latter retaliated. In the ensuring struggle the Protestants were eliminated in Bohemia, but the conflict spread to Protestant Denmark and Sweden. The Catholic Hapsburgs, who ruled Spain and controlled the Holy Roman Empire, led the fight against the Protestants in Germany. Although the Hapsburgs were well financed by the silver and gold arriving from the Americas, they did not have the resources to totally dominate the Protestants. The French entered the War in opposition to the power of the Hapsburgs and helped the German Protestants fight them to a standstill. Germany was devastated in the process. The peace that was finally signed in 1648 marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire and created modern Europe, consolidating the national lines between Catholic and Protestant countries.
The hostilities between Protestant and Catholic forces in Europe have continued to be played out to the present. In the exploration of the Americas it was Protestant England against Catholic Spain. During the height of colonialism in the nineteenth century England and France squared off against each other in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia as each acquired territories. The struggle between Protestant Germany and Catholic France continued to dominate the continent of Europe in the twentieth century in World Wars I and II. Although the Religious Wars faded into the past after 1648, the conflict shifted to social and cultural issues. The Cultural Wars of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries The Religious Wars unleashed such passions and hostilities in Europe that it unveiled the cruel violent side of human behavior and unintentionally produced skepticism among some about the very nature of religion itself. Simultaneously, the Spanish, English, Portuguese, Dutch, and French were actively exploring other parts of the world with the reports of exotic civilizations and religions totally foreign to Europeans. European Christendom had been challenged to its core, and a common religious ideology would never be re-established. Fears of religious enemies became deeply rooted and neighbors turned suspicious of neighbors, leading to witch hunts and heretical purges.
The Great European Purge of Witches.
Catholic Europe had long had the Inquisition to hunt down witches along with Jews and other heretics, and the belief in witches was carried over into Protestantism from the beginning. During the struggles between the two divisions of Christendom, thousands of women were put to death as witches on both sides. From the launching of Luther’s movement to the end of the seventeenth century, 110,000 people were tried for witchcraft in Europe, and approximately 60,000 were executed for the alleged crime. By far the majority of people put to death as witches were women, mostly unmarried and middle aged or older. They frequently worked as midwives or practiced traditional medicine. These most vulnerable members of the society were targeted as witches, and they were frequently accused by their neighbors, not of having done anything against them, but of the imagined act of communing with the Devil or of having sex with the Devil. They were also accused of committing cannibalism and other abhorrent acts. Accused witches sometimes accused important people in the community of having attended sabbats, or witch meetings. In this way, men were also accused of being witches. The misogynistic nature of witch hunts carried out by the male authorities of both Catholicism and Protestantism highlights the role of gender control. Jews were another vulnerable sector of the society, and they were frequently persecuted by the same religious entities that pursued witches. The linkage between these two groups is also suggested by the term “sabbat” which is used for witch meetings and the word “Shabbat”, the Jewish sabbath. Both Protestant and Catholic Europe sought to rid themselves of Jews and witches which they saw as threatening to the larger religious community.

5 The Spread of Christianity and the Enlightenment
European Christianity arrived to Africa, Asia, and the Americas as an extension of the political, military, and economic expansion of the European powers following 1492. Although Jesus was born as a Middle Eastern person, he was portrayed as a European with fair hair and blue eyes after Christianity was Europeanized. Jesus became the European religious icon. Christianity became linked with Europe and with the triumph of the European economic system, and in much of the non-western world it is looked upon as an expression of European culture. Western European Christianity also defined itself as the only true Christianity, largely ignoring the Eastern versions of the religion (Greek or Russian Orthodox, Marionite, and Coptic).
Medieval Europeans and the Non-Western World During the Roman Empire the Mediterranean was a multi-cultural world in which people from the Middle East, Africa, and Europe interacted, worked, and fought with each other regularly. The fragmentation of political power in Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire eventually led to the Dark Ages and the Medieval periods in which most medieval Europeans had no contact with people different from themselves. This began to change in the fifteenth century. Renewed contacts with Africa and Asia expanded their knowledge about the world that surrounded them. Interaction of World Cultures, 1450 to 1550. For one hundred years between 1450 and 1550, the dynamic of the world changed radically and put a new world order in place. At the start of this period China was the wealthiest country in the world, the Middle East and India were close behind. Europe was only beginning to emerge from its insular, medieval period, defined by the passiveness of the walled castles and towns where people congregated to protect themselves.
By the end of this period in 1550, Spain had transformed Europe and the world as a result of making contact with the American civilizations, and American wealth began to pour into Spain and Europe greatly increasing its wealth. Portugal had transformed trade with its voyages to the East by demonstrating the possibility of water routes to the sources of the spices and luxury goods from Asia that Europeans so admired. As the overland Silk Route was replaced by the water routes, the Central Asian and Middle Eastern traders lost their lucrative businesses, and those regions of the world fell into economic and political decline.
With Europe controlling the Americas and the sea routes to the East, it was launched suddenly into the first era of global trade with the resulting power and wealth. British, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and Spanish pushed out to claim colonies around the world, and each attempted to spread the practice of Christianity, which became identified as the imperial European religion.

The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment occurred after contact was made with the Americas and the scientific breakthroughs in thought during the Renaissance. The information about radically different societies in the Americas, Asia, and Africa challenged European beliefs coming out of the Middle Ages about the nature of life and society itself. This came at the same time as traditional Christianity was losing its appeal after the cruelty and destructiveness of the religious wars. Some people became skeptical and even cynical about the virtues of religion.
The authority of Christianity was challenged by the fact that entirely new continents were discovered that were not mentioned in the Bible. Some asked if the Bible were authoritative and true, why did it not mention the Americas and the people there? Some even questioned whether the people in the Americas had souls and could be converted to Christianity until a Papal Bull solved the doubt by declaring them human and subject to conversion. During the Enlightenment, the principle of religious tolerance became established among intellectuals, and it eventually spread to all European and American societies. Copernican astronomy had demonstrated that the earth was not the center of the universe, and Galileo experimented to establish truth about the world rather than relying on the Bible to determine truth. Rationalist and analytical thought turned toward science and away from religion for the explanation of existence and the world. This questioning gave rise to new secular theories about the nature of society and human life that started the process of secularization in European thought.
Describing this period, Jonathan Israel says "...after 1650, a general process of rationalization and secularization set in which rapidly overthrew theology’s age-old hegemony in the world of study, slowly but surely eradicated magic and belief in the supernatural from Europe’s intellectual culture, and led a few openly to challenge everything inherited from the past--not just commonly received assumptions about mankind, society, politics, and the cosmos but also the veracity of the Bible and the Christian faith or indeed any faith." (Israel 2001:4)
The early leaders of Enlightenment thought were Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), René Descartes (1596-1650), Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), and John Locke (1632-1704). Although Hobbes is the oldest of this group much of his work was done in later life. Hobbes was English, and he never broke from the Church of England, but he defined humanity in political terms rather than religious ones.
Descartes’ famous dictum, “I think, therefore I am,” perhaps best defines this new form of thinking. Questioning was at the center of his thought, and he believed that his ability to doubt reaffirmed his existence as a thinking being. Descartes represents the essential belief of rationalism that reason can accurately distinguish between truth and falsehood. Building an integrated structure of knowledge based on reason is the surest means of being correct and avoiding errors in thinking. Descartes questioned how we as imperfect humans are capable of thinking of the perfect being that is God, and he concluded that imperfection cannot lead to perfection. That being the case, the perfect God must exist independently of humans, and it is from that existence that we are able to perceive it. He was able to demonstrate the truth of the existence of God through reason without relying on the scriptures, indicating the sea change that was occurring in European thought.
John Locke sought to develop laws for human behavior and the mind, similar to Isaac Newton’s laws of physics. Locke said that the human mind was a blank at birth, and it developed with exposure to the external world. He saw human behavior as malleable and not inherently flawed as Christianity taught. He viewed people as being equal, free, and responsible for their own religious decisions, and he argued that the government provide religious freedom and not legislate on religious matters. His thought laid the basis for the guarantees of religious freedom in the English and North American traditions. The implication of his thought is that if all religions are equally acceptable, no one religion has preference over another, which served to undermine the authority of the established churches of the day.
The rejection of organized Christianity culminated during the Enlightenment with Voltaire (1694-1778). Referring to the Church, Voltaire’s famous call to “Crush the Infamous Thing” came to represent the anti-clerical thought of the period. The rationalists of the Enlightenment focused on this world and the attempts to improve it, whereas the Church downplayed these issues to focus on the next world. Voltaire’s writings celebrated the emerging science of his day and criticized the monarchy and Church. He used satire to expose the foibles of the rich, the powerful, and the religious establishment. Voltaire marked the turn toward secularism, science, and the future, relegating the Church and established religion to the Medieval past.

The Age of Exploration, Colonialism, and Missions
The first wave of European expansion had been the age of exploration and colonization of the Americas which contributed to the Enlightenment. The wealth flowing into Europe from the Americas helped finance Spain in the Religious Wars. The irony of silver mined by American Indians being used to finance Catholics wars against the Protestants in Europe would be an indication of the increasing globalization of the world. From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, Europe thought was moving away from its Christian focus toward secularism. The dominant thought of the culture increasingly became economic rather than metaphysical. As industrialism arose, quickly followed by the neo-colonialism of the nineteenth century, economics and materialism became the predominant concern.
During the Medieval period, Europeans had only limited contact with the rest of the world. Although Christian monks studied in Muslim centers of learning and brought new scientific and mathematical knowledge back to Europe, most medieval Europeans had no contact with people different from themselves. Then, Europeans began to awaken from their Medieval provincialism to see the world. Marco Polo returned from his sojourn in China, and in 1299 he wrote his account of China which became one of the most popular books of the fourteenth century. Marco Polo’s writings informed Europeans for the first time in detail of a world so different from their own. In 1375, the Catalan Atlas of the World pulled together enough information to suggest the larger world beyond Europe. Then, of course, came 1492 and the discovery of the Americas. Europe and the world were on the verge of a cultural transformation that would create the Modern era and bring us to the global society of today. European Expansionism and Christianity European expansionism began with the Spanish in the Americas. Although Spain was not the most powerful country of Europe, it had a more prominent ocean exposure than did other European countries. The Spanish had a cultural advantage in their crusade mentality that gave an ideological focus and fervor to their mission. The Spanish Christians had been fighting the Muslims for almost eight hundred years in a political and religious crusade to unite the country under the Christian kings. That attitude was extended to the Americas where the Spanish rallying cry was “God, Gold, and the Crown”, which meant converts for Christianity, wealth for themselves, and territories for the king to rule. The Spanish conquistadores arrived to the Americas with the drive for riches and the glory of God and the Crown. That drive plus the military advantages in weapons gave the Spanish the edge needed to win against overwhelming odds.
The Century that Changed the World
1450 - Moorish architects in Spain were producing the finest quality buildings in Europe. The Ming Dynasty controls Asia and has just completed voyages to the West.
1453 - Turkish armies took Constantinople/Byzantium converting the Christian city into a Muslim one, Istanbul. 1455 - Gutenberg printed Bible with movable type using a Korean invention.
1486 Bartholomew Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope opening the way for later voyages to the east.
1492 - Columbus’ voyage to the Americas. 1498 - Vasco de Gama reached India by the Cape of Good Hope.
1512 - Michelangelo completed painting of the Sistine Chapel.
1517 - Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to door of the Wittenberg Church.
1521 - The fall of Mexico to Cortes in the name of Spain.
1530 - Carlos V (Spain) ruled much of Europe and Latin America.
1532 - The fall of the Inca Empire to Pizarro.
1543 - Copernicus suggested earth moves around the sun.
1549 - St. Francis Xavier arrived to Japan initiating religious contacts.

6 Christian Missions
Although the Portuguese were the first Europeans in South Asia, the Dutch and English arrived shortly afterwards. Eighty English businessmen formed the British East India Company and established trade with India in 1619, and they eventually replaced the Portuguese as the leading European power. Both the Portuguese and the British come not only as merchants but also as Christians. Having recently fought the religious wars in Europe, they brought their religious zeal to India. Just as the merchants established an economic empire, the missionaries dreamed of a religious empire, converting the millions of Indians to Christianity. When the British missionaries saw that the Hindus were not learning English to read the Bible, they learned Sanskrit, Hindi, and other languages to translate the Bible for purposes of proselytizing.
The British influence in India began with its economic system, then religion, language, manners and customs, and the political system. Religion was part of the larger package of European influence on India. The East Indies Company had been opposed to Christian missions, but missionary presence grew quickly anyway. The first British missionaries arrived in 1793, espousing the belief that they had the religious obligation to safe the heathen Hindus from hell. Missionaries believed that Hindus would go to the Christian hell if they were not converted. William Carey was one of these first missionaries, and after one year he realized that the Hindus were not responding to his message, but he said that his faith continued because of God’s support. The movement grew until the missionaries in Indian numbered in the thousands, and it was part of the crusade to bring British culture to the subcontinent. The British brought not only religion, but cricket, clothing fashions, dinner customs, and many other expressions of their life and culture. This was a time of excited exoticism in England, and people took to the seas in unprecedented numbers to go to far off India with their moral superiority. Missionary accounts from this time period read like the genre of British colonial travel writers with long accounts of the difficult passages at sea, the inevitable fevers and illnesses, and the hardships of life in the tropics. Although they did face real dangers and difficulties, early missionaries saw their suffering as a way of enhancing their spiritual quest.
The introduction of Christianity was one aspect of an overall campaign of introducing English culture. The attempted Anglicization, including the introduction of the English language, religion, education systems, and law among other things, created more resistance than acceptance among Indians. Christian missionaries acted as an extension of the colonial presence with condescending attitudes toward the Indian people and their religious traditions.
James Pratt expresses characteristic views from this period. “In fact, there can be no question of the great value of Christian activity among these low and despised millions. The religion of these various peoples is a base form of animism and magic, which has not the remotest relation to morality. They are the prey of superstitious fears and ignoble customs, the slaves of impulse, with no defense in public opinion or cultured self-control against the various forms of vice and temptation to which they are exposed. To make anything of such people might well seem hopeless; but many a missionary has wagered his life on the outcome." (1915:426-427)
Although few converts were made, missionaries did play an important role in advocating social reforms and establishing schools and hospitals. The supporters of Christian missions were proud of these achievements as can be seen in the comments of Pratt. From the beginning of the gallant venture till to-day the missionary has taken the great woes of this sad land to his heart, and in imitation of his Master he has not been content with preaching the Gospel, but has given his life also to healing the sick, comforting the sorrowful, feeding the famine-stricken, caring for the orphan, and teaching young men and little children. One is uncertain whether to admire most the missionary hospitals or the missionary schools and colleges, both of which have been brought to such a remarkable development. (Ibid.)
Today, after two hundred years of Christian missionary work in the country, 2.4 percent (25 million) of Indians identify as Christians. Although there are many reasons for this, one of the important ones must be the strength of the existing religious traditions, especially Hinduism (80 percent of the people) and Islam (14 percent).

7 Latin American Christianity
When the Christian Kings, Fernand and Isabella, defeated the last Muslim kingdom in Spain on January 1, 1492, it was considered a religious and military victory. Christianity was to be the official religion of the unified Spain that they were building, and eliminating the Muslims was a key step in that direction. Long before this victory Fernand and Isabella had decided that religious unity would be necessary to create a unified Spain, and they set out to expel the non-Christians, the Muslims and Jews. Ninety days later, on March 31, Fernand and Isabella announced the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews. These two events marked a turning point for Spain. Instead of the pluralism for which the Spanish kingdoms had been known, it became a unidimensional society in which the Inquisition was used to enforce Christian homogeneity under the threat of torture and death. In a curious twist of fate, as one of the events celebrating the new Christian Spain that they were constructing, they approved the voyage to the west of Christopher Columbus which was to project Spain into an inconceivably large world of non-Christians, the Americas. The Spanish came to believe that their culture was Christian culture, their language the Christian language, and their Church the true Church. This faith in their exclusive right to God’s truth fueled their expansion into the Americas, and their belief that the ends justified the means. Indians who did not submit to Spanish (and Christian) sovereignty were killed or enslaved and literally worked to death. They sought to build new Christian kingdoms in the Americas with the military, Crown, and Church unified in their common goals. The Americas became the proving ground for the religious, political, and economic expansionism of the Spanish version of hegemonic Christendom. Once again in Christian history an entire realm of non-Christians was to be converted to Christianity. With Rome, Christianity was declared the official and only religion by imperial decree, and people were made Christians. Now in the case of the Americas, empires were defeated by force of arms, and the process of missionizing Indian communities began. The Church made agreements with the secular authorities to have control of missions and education in the Americas. Over the next 300 years the Church would use schools and missions as tools to convert and educate the American populations in Christianity, and they would use the Inquisition to police their faith. Through this process the Church built the largest concentration of Christians in the world, supplanting even that of Europe.
This role of Latin America as an important center of Christianity was recognized with the election of Pope Francis in 2013, who is from Argentina, the first non-European pope in 1300 years. The Christian missions movement has transformed Christianity from a European religion into a largely American and African one. In parallel processes the mission movements in Latin America and Africa largely followed the armies and colonial control of European countries. The Spanish and Portuguese control of the Americas was more complete than the more fragmented European colonial presence in Africa, resulting in Latin America being more solidly Christian. Latin America The construction of the new civilization that was to become Latin America began in the sixteenth century as the Spanish and indigenous inhabitants of the Americas synthesized their cultures and religions into a new lifestyle. The Spanish contributed a hierarchically administered Church, which was synthesized with the existing indigenous religions. The Spanish colonial social organization divided the people into a rigid caste system of Europeans, mestizos, Indians, and Africans, each one with their own unique religious expressions. Latin America is a mosaic of indigenous and African peoples mixed with the Spanish, Portuguese, and other Europeans. The Spanish who came to the Americas were culturally influenced by the Muslims and Jews who had long lived on the Iberian Peninsula. Those influences from Spain were melded onto the Indian and African religions to produce mestizo and mulatto religious heritages. The Conflict between Religious and Secular Authorities After the contact made by Columbus with the Indian groups in the Caribbean in October of 1492, the conflict between religious and secular authorities was quick to appear. The secular people were interested in controlling the Indian populations and using their labor to exploit mineral wealth and do public works among other things. The use of force in controlling the populations and the forced labor led to high rates of death among the Indian people. The religious people protested because they did not have the opportunity to save the souls of these Indians before they died. The saving of souls and creating Christian communities was in direct opposition to the desire for wealth and empire on the other hand. The secular and religious interests of the Spanish regularly came into conflict. In the Andes, a special kind of church architecture evolved which included an “Indian” porch, and some of these churches still exist today. The central part of the church was enclosed as would normally be, but the entrance had an open-walled porch area where Indians could stand and observe and listen to the service without going inside. Baptized Christians could enter and sit for the service, while the unbaptized stood outside. This architecture was symbolic of an attitude toward Indians that still exists in Latin America. A common expressed about undesirable behavior is “Que no sea Indio” which translates “Don’t be an Indian”, and it means “Don’t do the wrong thing.” Indian behavior is the wrong behavior, it is not Christian.
Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, the Church and the Dispute over the Rights of Indians
Bartolomé de las Casas denounced the conquistadores as indiscriminately killing the Indians in violation of Christian tradition and the natural law of respecting the life of others. Although the protests of Las Casas did not stop the massacres or the exploitation of the indigenous populations, his arguments for Indian rights became one of the great statements of all time for human rights. Las Casas was not alone among the clergy in denouncing the social abuses of the Conquest. Later, Father Antonio de Montesinos added his voice to the call for reform and human rights for the Indians. In the 1550’s, Las Casas had a debate at the University of Valladolid with the leading Aristotlean philosopher of the day, Juan Ginés Sepúlveda about the civil and human rights of indigenous peoples and the European expansion. Las Casas argued that the indigenous peoples of the world had the same human rights as any European. On the contrary, Sepúlveda argued that the military power gave Spain the right to take land and enslave indigenous people whom he considered to be “natural slaves”. The real debate was over whether the Spanish had the right to impose their government and religion on the indigenous civilizations of the Americas. This was the first case of European conquest at the beginning of the European expansion into the world, and it is important because it defined the terms that all other countries would follow as they used superior arms to defeat indigenous groups in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and other areas. The Inquisition In addition to ruling the conquered peoples and collecting taxes, the goal of the Spanish Crown in the Americas was to create Christian societies. The problem was that the populations of these colonies were predominantly non-Christian with 90 percent or more of the people being Indian or African.
The Americas were also a haven for conversos, or recently converted Jews. In Spain, they were perceived as a threat and religiously suspect, and the Inquisition focused on them as sources of heresy. Migrating to the Americas was an attractive alternative for conversos because it represented a new society distant from the controls of the Church. As early as 1508, the bishops of Havana and Puerto Rico warned that conversos were filling their colonies. The Crown had prohibited conversos from migrating to the Americas, and it required a certificate of “clean blood”, meaning no Jewish or Muslim ancestors in the family, before granting permission to travel to the New World. However, there were many loopholes, and people knew how to use them. Since the Inquisition was not established in Latin America until 1569 (Mexico and Peru) and 1610 (Colombia and Venezuela) where it had limited impact until 1640, that gave a window of opportunity in the early colonial period for Spanish citizens of Jewish descent to make a life in the Americas free from the fear of that dreaded institution.
The Inquisition was established in the Americas as a part of the Counter Reformation effort to re-establish the control of the Catholic Church and as a part of the Crown’s effort to tighten control over its new empire. It sought to control the heresies introduced by pagan and heretical beliefs of Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Indians, and Africans, all the people of religiously different backgrounds. Although Jewish and Protestant influences were suppressed by the mid-1600’s, the Indian and African influences continued to be prevalent. The Church was a key element of the conquest culture. Although the priests were the defenders of the human rights of the Indian peoples of the Americas against the Spanish mercenaries, at the same time they supported the Spanish colonial regimes and persecuted Indians for their traditional religious beliefs. Priests burned Indian books and offered them salvation before turning them over to the military to be killed. In some cases, such as Fray Pedro Simón in Colombia, priests justified the genocidal tactics of the Spanish by demonizing the indigenous people as being cannibals and barbarians.
The Church functioned as an important component in the machine of conquest, tearing down the traditional ideologies and threatening the Indians with damnation if they were not practicing Christians. The Church, Independence, and the New Republics In 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo called for the independence of Mexico in a famous speech remembered as “El Grito de Dolores”. That call for independence resonated throughout the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Although the Church was a part of the Colonial establishment, it was Father Hidalgo, the local priest in a small town in northern Mexico, who called for action and touched a nerve of resistance that had been building up against the Spanish. Father Hidalgo was expelled from his position for involvement in the Independence movement. The Church opposed independence throughout Latin America and actively supported the Spanish, working against independence.
When the Spanish were defeated, the power and influence of the Church was limited in the new Latin American republics, which were organized along the lines of French revolutionary thought. Jesuits were expelled because of their aggressiveness in supporting the Church and their opposition to Independence, and the activities of the preaching orders, the Dominicans and Franciscans, were greatly reduced. Church properties were confiscated as a means of reducing religious power, and many were not restored until the mid-twentieth century. Antagonism developed between the Church hierarchy and the leaders of the Independence movements because of their mutual distrust and opposition to each other. Conservatives supported the continued role of the Church, but Liberals did not. The Liberal leaders of the Independence were influenced by the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and they saw little value for the organized Church in the new social order. As a result, the Catholic Church was marginalized as being Spanish and colonial. In spite of that, the Church has continued to be the wealthiest entity in Latin America countries, and it has used its influence to preserve its wealth and that of its elite constituency.
Latin America and the Fusion of Religions
Latin America is a world culture created between three different religious traditions: the indigenous civilizations, the Christian culture of the Spanish conquerors, and in certain areas African cultures (Brazil, the Caribbean basin, and Pacific lowlands of Colombia and Ecuador). As a result of these divisions, Latin America is composed of a series of distinct religious and cultural areas, based on the unique histories and ethnic groups of each country. Latin America is “Latin” because the European influence in this area is from the Roman and Latin influenced cultures of Iberia (Spain and Portugal). Although the official culture in each Latin American country is “Latin” and controlled by the small European elite, in contrast, the culture of the masses of people draw largely from indigenous and African traditions. There is not one, but several, Latin American religious cultures based on climate and ethnic heritage. Latin America is not so much Spanish as it is a series of mestizo/mulatto cultures formed in the crucible of the colonial experience in which the small Spanish minority ruled. Christian Spaniards set up a caste system with themselves at the top, and Indians and Africans at the bottom. There was prestige in being a Christian and speaking Spanish, borrowing the culture of the conquistadores.
Syncretism.
As indigenous kingdoms and chiefdoms were conquered, they were pressured to convert. Of course, people who convert under pressure are not always willing to give up their true beliefs. Not being European, the indigenous and African peoples in the Americas did not understand, nor practice, their newly adopted Christianity like Europeans. Since Latin American Catholicism has been characterized by the blending of Christianity with local practices, the result has been a hybrid system that integrates them. An example is the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Patron of Mexico, who in 1531, only ten years after the Spanish defeat of the Aztecs, appeared on Tepeyac Hill just outside of the capital city to an Indian man, Juan Diego. The same hill had been dedicated to the worship of the mother earth goddess Tonantzin under the Aztecs, and the Virgin was seen as a dark skinned, Indian woman, essentially a Christian replacement for the Aztec deity. Just as Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was renamed Mexico City to become the Spanish capital, the Aztec goddess was fused with the Virgin beginning the cycle of acculturation to Spanish beliefs. Among many people in Mexico today, the Virgin Mary is still known by her traditional name of Tonantzin. This story can be repeated many times all across Latin America as Indian and African gods, goddesses, rituals, and healing practices have been fused with Christian practices. In the Indian traditions of Latin America the godhead commonly has both male and female figures. When the Spanish introduced the trinity of Christianity, it was understandable to the indigenous people that there were three figures in the godhead, but the absence of a woman figure was difficult to comprehend. To indigenous people Mary, as the mother, was understood to be a special interlocutor with Jesus, and she had a special status alongside her son, Jesus, and the father, God, completing the holy family. So, she came to have a central role in the practice of Latin American Christianity. Iconism. Within Latin American Catholicism, religious images and symbolism are a visualization of beliefs, and they portray the values and behaviors that people are to emulate. The images are a visual language, teaching people the beliefs of Christianity. When a Quechua man dressed in traditional clothes kneels before an image of St. James (Santiago) the Conqueror in the cathedral on the plaza of Cuzco to pray, it may seem ironic because St. James is mounted on a horse in full armor like a Spanish conqueror. Even though the Quechua man is illiterate, he knows the story of St. James because of the image, and he sees this saint as a person who might intercede for him before God. The icon is his book from which he can learn the basics of Christian theology and especially the role of the saints. To this Quechua speaker who knows little or no Spanish, the icons give visual messages to help him remember the major events and beliefs of Catholicism.
Conservatism.
The Church in Latin America historically has been conservative in its beliefs and rituals, in some cases retaining beliefs from the colonial period in the twenty-first century. This is one of the results of Christianity being introduced into Latin America as a part of a colonial system which has never been completely eliminated. The Church, government, and military functioned like a three-legged stool on which the colonial system rested. If any one of the institutions was threatened, the entire cultural system of Spanish control of Latin America would have collapsed. Beliefs and Practices of Latin American Catholicism Although the Roman Catholic Church is a dominant presence in Latin America, it is not monolithic, and it is sub-divided into groups, representing distinct interests and needs. Approximately 90 percent of Latin America’s 600 million people identify as Catholic. A cross-section of the countries shows the number of Catholics as Argentina, 92 percent; Brazil, 80 percent; Colombia, 90 percent; Ecuador, 95 percent; Mexico, 89 percent; Peru, 90 percent; and Venezuela, 96 percent.
Although Catholicism is the most visible representative of Christianity in Latin America, it is practiced in various ways, ranging from the traditional Church to the popularizing Church, Folk Catholicism, and Liberation Theology. The Church itself is conservative, but the everyday practice of Catholicism is dynamic, and it generates new practices in the lives of people. In the tradition of the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, the official Roman Catholic Church defines itself as the only way to salvation based on the seven sacraments, attendance of mass, regular confession, and approved prayers to God through the saints. The priest is the connection with God, and the emphasis is on religious practice within the physical walls of a church. The priest gives the sacraments by which the believers mark the great moments in their lives through holy rites that communicate their oneness with God. The sacraments are baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, marriage, anointing of the sick, penance, and holy orders. The Priest and the Church guide the ritual life of the believer. Not only is attending mass important to salvation, but regular confession is essential to living a godly life. Mass and confession link the believer to the Church as a regular place of worship and prayer. Women, older people, and the wealthy are the ones who are most faithful to the traditional Church, and to them the rituals of the sacraments, attendance at mass, and confession are comforting expressions of their faith. In much of Latin America, only women, children, and older people go to mass regularly. Few adult working aged men attend mass, but in contrast they are very much present in the street festivals of folk Catholicism and other popular activities. The traditional Church emphasizes that the goal of faith is to enter heaven, so the believer should downplay his or her involvement in the things of this world in order to enter the next. This re-affirms the neo-Platonic separation of the body, mind, and soul and says that political power and wealth in this world are less important than spiritual rewards in heaven. This is particularly emphasized with the masses of Latin Americans who languish in working class poverty conditions. They are promised rewards in the next life if they are faithful to the Church in this one. The sacraments are the avenue to salvation which is individual and personal. Through these teachings, the Church re-enforces the social, economic, and political status quo. For this reason, the Church is popular with the wealthier classes, but it becomes a barrier for the poor who seek social change. It is not surprising that the majority of the people who convert to Protestantism come from the poorer classes and rarely from the wealthy and educated.
Folk Catholicism
The intermixing of Indian, African, and Spanish religious traditions has resulted in a uniquely Latin American religious synthesis, called Folk Catholicism, a combination of local cultural practices with those sanctioned by the Church. For centuries the mixture of Catholicism and quasi-Christian religious beliefs has been practiced outside of the Church in the streets and homes of Latin Americans. Everything from street festivals to curing ceremonies become religious events, and people have blended traditional beliefs with those of their Spanish overlords to produce a unique mestizo version of religion. Synthesis of the Christian Trinity with Indigenous Gods. In both Indian and African adaptations of folk Catholicism, people have synthesized the trinity and saints with traditional spirits and gods. As indigenous and African spirits and gods are synthesized with Christian ones, new religions are formed. They are neither completely Christian, nor completely indigenous or African. They correspond to the unique circumstances of the colonial experience in the Americas and represent the fusion of cultures that characterizes this part of the world. The Brazilian and Caribbean cultures are inherently Afro-Christian, just as the cultures of Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia are inherently Indianized Christian. Patron Saint Festivals. Every town in Latin America is expected to have a patron saint, and traditionally the annual celebration of the day of the saint is a large street festival, usually the most important event of the year for the town. These patron saint festivals are also popular in small towns in Spain, but in Latin America people are more uninhibited at festival time, and the roots of Indian and African cultures manifest themselves. The central event which usually starts the patron saint festival is the display of the figure of the saint in a procession through the streets that allows as many people as possible to see it. The priest leads the procession out of the church and along the streets sprinkling the faithful lining the route with holy water. Behind him comes an altar boy or layman carrying the incense burner swinging it from side to side with the incense wafting over the crowds. Next comes the saint carried on the shoulders of men on a canopied platform, swaying with the rhythm of their steps. The saint is surrounded by the most beautiful flowers. As it makes its way along the designated route, the crowds of people part to allow the saintly figure to pass then they fall in behind praying as they follow it back to the church. Throughout the year the saint is kept in its special place on an altar in the church, and there is a women’s society that is responsible for the care and dressing of the saint. There may be several sets of fine clothes and even jewelry for the figure, and before the festival, women of the group clean and dress the saint for its presentation to the community. It is an honor to be a member of the women’s group that dresses the saint or the men’s group that carries it in the procession, and membership in these groups may even be inherited from parent to child. Once the saint has returned to its place in the church the festival itself begins. The patron saint festivals are also good for business because the town is filled with people, and they are buying as well as celebrating. Food stalls are set up complete with outdoor kitchens, and people begin eating in the morning and continue until well in the afternoon. The food varies from region to region within Latin America. In the Andes, people eat mostly potatoes and beef, and in Mexico and Central America they eat beef with rice and beans, but in either place it is usually accompanied with beer. A bull fight is frequently celebrated as a part of the patron saint festival. In the smaller towns where these festivals are most popular a bull fight ring is made by a simple plank circular fence set up in the town plaza or some other convenient place. A few local bulls are rounded up and brought in to confront the men who want to challenge them with their bravado. The men who enter the ring are not trained bull fighters, nor do they kill the bull, but the act of defying the horns of the bull can be an exciting part of these street festivals. Much like the Roman circus from which it is derived, the bull fight confronts human intelligence with the dangerous brute force of nature. It is a moment of spiritual challenge between goodness represented by humans and evil represented by the wild destructiveness of the bull. The control of humans over the powers of nature is re-affirmed time and time again as the pageantry of the bull fight is repeated. Its association with the patron saint festival draws the parallel with the ultimate victory of Christianity over the forces of evil.
Promesas.
The promesa or promise to God is another defining practice of folk Catholicism. It is based on the idea that God will respond to a sacrifice on the part of the believer and grant the petition or prayer that the person makes. If the sacrifice is genuine and demanding on the believer, it is thought to be more compelling for God. In Bogotá, Colombia the mountain of Montserrat towers almost one thousand feet above the city itself, and the top of the mountain has a church and shrine complex which is a pilgrimage center. People who have a special petition to God, such as the healing of a seriously ill loved one, may climb the mountain on their knees to reach the shrine above. It is a difficult climb up these steep slopes which can take people hours, and they arrive with their knees bleeding and in pain. It is that blood and pain that they offer to God as they plead for divine intervention in the problems that they themselves cannot solve otherwise. Lesser promesas will be made for smaller problems, such as praying ten “Hail Marys” per day for twenty days so that a daughter or son makes a passing grade in a difficult class at school. When the problems of life are outside the believer’s control, it may seem that only God can solve them. When the believer does not see the problems as having human causes or answers, he or she turns to the magical world with faith that ritual properly performed might get God’s intervention to solve the problem. The person sees cause and effect as mystical. God can solve the problem.
Shamans and Curanderos.
Another avenue of folk Catholicism for the treatment of health are the curanderos or shaman healers, and for the rural and small town poor they are frequently the first line of defense for health. Either might use a combination of herbal remedies and magical practices to cure the person, but a shaman has a wider range of powers through which he or she can contact the supernatural powers. The shamanistic tradition of healing comes from Asia, and the use of herbs and other natural substances is a richly developed medical tradition in China. The Indian based shamans and curanderos in the Americas draw on a parallel tradition that may well have its roots in those Asian origins. There are both Indian and African roots for these practices, so they exist in both mestizo populations (Indian-Spanish areas like Mexico and the Andean countries) and mulatto ones (Afro-Iberian in the Caribbean or Brazil). In Mexico, Central America, and the Andean countries it is common to find the herbal remedies in open markets with a display of roots, leaves, ground up substances that can be used singly or combined in complex prescriptions to cure specific pains and illnesses. These traditional healers can be men or women. The shaman is usually from an Indian or mestizo village, and he or she may have served as an apprentice for years or even decades learning the songs and rituals necessary to accompany the herbal cures. Shamans frequently practice within a long tradition of knowledge and cultural continuity. On the other hand, urban curanderos can be people who have learned the herbal cures but do not have the other background of ritual practices. A curandero or herbalist can be a local woman in an invasion barrio (squatter’s settlement) on the edge of one of Latin Americas mega-cities who has a good knowledge of herbal cures and who is consulted by her neighbors for minor illnesses for themselves and their children. She will charge a modest fee and may even supply the herbs. People prefer to consult these local healers and only go to a medical school trained doctor if the illness is intractable or debilitating. Shamans and curanderos blend into folk Catholicism because people believe they have powers that go beyond the natural qualities of the herbs. They are not priests, but they can contact the supernatural to help in the cure. The reliance on shamans and curanderos varies according to the social class and ethnicity of the person. A person of Indian or African origin will more readily have access to a shaman who lives in a rural or small town environment. A person of mixed background (mestizo or mulatto) living in a town or the working class area of a city might have access to a local curandero, and in the city there are specialized stores that stock the herbal remedies they prescribe. A person of the European educated elite might also use herbal remedies, but they will probably get them from a homeopathic doctor who uses a scientific basis for his or her work.
African-Based Religions
In the countries of the Caribbean basin and in Brazil there are a number of African-based religions that have been synthesized with Christian beliefs and practices. These range from Santería in Cuba to Spiritism in Puerto Rico, Voodoo in Haiti, Spiritual Baptists and the Orisha religion in Trinidad, and Candomblé in Brazil among others. These religions are characterized by drumming, dancing, spirit possession, and the use of herbs and other substances for healing, protection, and even trance inducement. The African-based religions have a loose organization in which each local group can have its own set of beliefs and worship liturgy. They are open to changes and in fact do introduce new beliefs and practices from one generation of believers to another. Many of the African gods or spirits (orishas) have been synthesized with Christian saints and prophets, perhaps done under the duress of priests pressuring Africans to convert during the colonial period. Not all African deities have Christian counterparts, and these religions are increasingly emphasizing their African roots today. Some of the orishas that have Christian counterparts are Shango (St. John), Ebeje (St. Peter), Dada (St. Anthony), Erele (Jonah), Ogun (St. Michael), Osain (St. Francis), Oya (St. Catherine), and Shakpana (Ezekiel or St. Jerome) among others. Religious meetings can begin well after dark and last into the early hours of the morning or even until dawn. People drum and dance, eat and drink, visit with others, and might become possessed as the night drags into morning. The orishas are called during the drumming and dancing, and they come down and possess worshipers. The orishas are said to mount a person when the possession starts, so the possessed person is called the horse. When the person is possessed by the orisha, she or he can scream out as if struck in pain and then fall on the floor in uncontrollable writhing. Frequently their eyes grow large and fixed, and the person can tear their clothes. After this initial period when the possession might come on like an attack, the person settles into more predictable behavior acting out the character of the possessing spirit for an hour or more. The possession is evidence that the orishas have been present among the people, and the possession of multiple worshipers is the culmination of the religious service. Animals can also be sacrificed, and people bring chickens and goats to be offered on the shrine of the resident orisha. First, the animals are ritually cleansed with an herbal bath, and then they are led to the shrine where their heads are severed. Their blood is poured onto the shrine to complete the offering. Connecting with the orishas is a visceral experience. The soft glow of dozens of candles or other lights around the altar lights up the holy of holies and holds back the black mantle of night. The drumming throbs in your ears, and the swaying of the dancers wraps you into a cocoon of sound and rhythm that pushes out the rest of your consciousness. Even if you are not mounted by an orisha, you are lost in the other world of the spirit for the eight hours or so that the service lasts. Even people, who do not want to be mounted and who are not really believers, can wind up possessed and writhing on the floor, showing that the power of the African spirits was greater than they had thought. Some of the leaders of the African-based religions have magical powers that can be used in healing, making love potions, or attacking your enemies. Magic is the ability to perform certain rituals that lock in the supernatural force to act for prescribed purposes. If you can perform the magical ritual properly, you will be guaranteed the desired result because the ritual is a lock on the supernatural force. These magical powers can cause a person to fall in love or to lose it, can bring on illness or cure, bring on death or stave it off, or can bring a person good luck or bad luck in work. The belief in these magical forces is wide spread in the Caribbean and Brazil, but it can also be found in other areas. Magic is a parallel force to religion which works through a different channel to connect with the supernatural. The religious experience is one of awe and obedience before the divine, but magic is the manipulation of the supernatural force for a human purpose. In religion, the supernatural controls the humans, but in magic it is the reverse.
The Twentieth Century the Church, Civil Wars, and American Influence
The religious changes of the twentieth century have been profoundly affected by the growing influence of the United States in Latin America and the simultaneous growth of Protestant missions, beginning in the Caribbean basin states. The Mexican Revolution that started in 1910 began the process of religious reform in modern Latin America. The powers of the Church were greatly curtailed. No outdoor public meetings could be held, and the interiors of many churches were white-washed to eliminate the Christian icons. The Church lost its control of state religious functions, such as education and marriage, reducing its influence in the society, and greater religious freedom was allowed. Protestant churches began to operate freely, and Jewish people could worship openly. This created a new religious environment in Mexico, one in which Protestants and Jews were recognized as well as Catholics. This led to an era of Protestant missions coming mostly from the United States. Communism, the Church and the Cold War. After World War II the political situation throughout Latin America divided between the religious conservatives identified with the Church, the United States, and capitalism and the social liberals who tended to be anti-clerical and pro-social reform, and sometimes pro-Communist. In most of the region, the Church aligned itself with the anti-Communist forces while the intellectuals aligned with the social liberals. This period of armed conflict between religious conservatives and social liberals started in the mid-twentieth century. The Church rallied to support the military as it battled Communism in Argentina and Chile in the 1970’s, Peru in the 1980’s, and Colombia from the 1950’s to the present. After the emergence of Liberation Theology in the 1960’s, some members of the clergy began to support the cause of the poor. Following the tradition of Bishop Bartolomè de las Casas, Father Camilo Torres in Colombia and Bishop Romero in El Salvador among many others dedicated their work and even sacrificed their lives for the cause of social equality for the poor.
Liberation Theology.
The Liberation Theology movement developed in the 1960’s and advocates political awareness of the evil of oppression and exploitation that exists in Latin America. The people associated with this movement believe that the political and economic exploitation of people is not Christian and that the Church must use its influence to correct that cultural malady that reduces so many people to poverty and powerlessness. The Latin American council of Bishops meeting in Medellín, Colombia gave authority to this movement to develop its position. Liberation Theology is based on the premise that exploitation of the poor is ungodly, and that Christians should work to correct the abuses and inequity in the social class system. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) created an atmosphere of freedom of thought within the Catholicism, and it denounced the wide disparity between the rich and the poor in the world. In other meetings in Latin America during those years, theologians developed the idea of social action as Christian, especially in Rio de Janeiro in 1964 and Bogotá in 1965. At the start of the twenty-first century in Latin America, the Church in Latin America represents many different social and political positions. The traditional Church exists with Bishops and Cardinals who are closely involved with the political and economic elites of their countries, but there are also priests who are involved in social activism and trying to help their parishioners. Rather than telling the poor that they should wait for the afterlife for their rewards, more priests believe that they have a right for a better life on earth. Along with the changes introduced by the Liberation Theology movement, other new expressions of Catholicism have emerged, and collectively these are known as the Popularizing Church. The Popularizing Church. In recent decades a movement led by younger priests has tried to re-connect the practices of the Church with the everyday lives of the Church members, which some are calling the progressive Church. This is the Church of Vatican II and Pope John XXIII in which mass is said in the local language of the people, guitars and local music are played in the services, and the Bible is more actively studied by people. This has made the mass more exciting as people move from traditional sacred music to popular styles of music that respond to contemporary tastes. These younger priests more readily discuss topics that have been taboo in the past from premarital sex to abortion, and they tend to be more involved in social causes. Helping those in need is seen as a way of acting out Christianity. The charismatic movement within the Church is another avenue through which people have become more expressive of their religious feelings. The Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit) is the central figure for believers in this movement, and they feel that the Spirit comes down and possesses them, making God a visceral experience inside of themselves. This is a mystical movement, characterized by the feelings of awe and celebration of God. Charismatic groups frequently gather in the houses of individual parishioners to read the Bible, pray, and sing, which are experiences that did not occur in the traditional Church. These groups may be led by lay people or priests who are seeking more dynamic ways to express their religious experience. The charismatic movement has a parallel in the Protestant Pentecostal groups, which have had considerable success in Latin America, and it appeals to those looking for a mystical quality in religion. Liberation Theology, the Popularizing Church, and the Protestant evangelical movement have introduced powerful social changes in the religious world of Latin America over the last century. Religious life in the region has been marked by the invasiveness of the North American presence and the revolutionary movements that have challenged the traditional Church and social order. The social and economic needs of the poor have challenged both Catholic and Protestant Christianity to think about human rights and justice within the context of their overall religious view of the world. Protestantism Although Latin America is predominantly Christian, some Protestants do not accept Catholics as truly Christian, a mind set that continues the conflict of the seventeenth century religious wars in Europe. To those Protestants, Latin America is a mission field similar to China, India, or Africa. The Protestant mission movement in Latin America developed essentially as an anti-Catholic movement. Not only do Evangelicals believe that Catholics are not truly Christian, but they also see much of the Latin American population as not being truly Catholic. Some see traditional religious practices among Indian or African populations as being “witchcraft” or worse. These North American-centric views of Christianity were the foundation of the Protestant mission movement in Latin America. As the North American commercial and political presence grew in Latin America, so did the presence of Protestant missions. Just as Catholicism is identified with the expansion of Spain in Latin America, so Protestantism is identified with the expansion of the United States into the region. The Protestant population in Latin America ranges between 5 and 10 percent in most countries, but it has a larger presence among the poor and the people of African descent. The successful Protestant churches are the more evangelical ones with lively music and spirited meetings. Pentecostal groups have been particularly successful, and their openness to talking in tongues and having trances has found a niche among working class groups. Since worship in Protestantism is more individualized, it offers a more direct spiritual experience with God. For example, a person confesses their sins directly to God, not to a priest, and this spiritual independence appeals to many people. Protestant churches are usually small and controlled by the local people, so there is an immediate connection between the church and the community. There is also an intimacy in the services as if it were a gathering of friends, and pastors regularly draw the members of their extended family, friends, and neighbors into these churches. These churches are highly participatory, so lay people are involved in singing in the choir, leading music, teaching, or church administration among other responsibilities. There is a sense of ownership, loyalty, and identity in these churches that binds them together in the face of the wealth and power of the Catholic Church. The success of the Protestant movement seems to be a reaction at least in part to the centralized hierarchical organization of the Catholic Church. Although these churches are usually poor, funding from churches in the United States helps to support them through construction of church buildings, providing training, and publishing printed materials in Spanish. Social Class and Protestantism. Since converts to Protestantism usually come from the working classes, they are frequently people who want to be upwardly mobile. The fact of their conversion indicates their interest in social change. They want to create a better life for themselves, and Protestantism represents the United States, the capitalist world, and increased material success in this life. Although Protestants frequently report economic improvement in their lives after conversion, it actually has more to do with changes in personal lifestyle than any actual increase in income. One of the key issues of improved conditions for some families is the curtailing of week-end drinking by men which results in the family having more money available. Protestant families tend to emphasize education and shared family commitment to the church, and they frequently attend services as a family group. Historically, Protestantism has had little appeal among the established, elite classes of Latin America. Those groups are usually closely identified with the Catholic Church, which has been a supporter of their class interests. Given the strong association of Protestants with the working classes and African descent people, the Eurocentric elites have avoided them.
Guerrillas and Protestantism.
Given the interest of Protestant converts in social change, it is not altogether surprising that where there are high rates of conversion sometimes there are also high rates of support for guerrilla resistance to national governments. Protestants do not become guerrillas normally, but they are responding to the same desire for social change as the guerrillas do. While some people within the community turn to religion as an answer for their problems, others turn to political action or even armed insurgency for the same reasons. This was the case in Guatemala where Protestant churches had considerable success during the latter decades of the twentieth century at a time when the guerrilla movement was its strongest. It has also occurred in Colombia where the regions of the country that produce people for the guerrilla movements are also regions where Protestants have had success. Guerrillas and Protestants do not support each other, rather they respond to the same needs and compete as to who provides the better solutions.
Non-Believers: The Secular Population Latin America also has a large and powerful secular movement that historically has worked to control the power of the Church, and the enlightenment ideology of this group emphasizes the rationality of human behavior and the need for social justice. Although most Latin American countries show Catholic identity at 90 percent or more of their population, many of those people are non-practicing and consider themselves as more secular than religious. Many were baptized and experienced religious education as children but do not practice Christianity actively. This secular population is frequently more liberal politically than their religious active Catholic or Protestant fellow citizens. Many of the educated elite, especially intellectuals and artists belong to this group. This group of secular liberals has long sought to control the power and influence of both the Catholic and Protestant churches, and in all countries of Latin America there is separation of church and state largely as a result of the efforts of this group. The secularists are not an organized group, so it is difficult to know how many they are. There are no statements of faith, no churches where they meet, and no rituals to act out their beliefs. This large undifferentiated population has a major impact on the various countries of Latin America, but it is like a cloud. It is there, and you can see the results, but it cannot be completely grasped. The people who identify more with rational secularism, than the Church are also frequently anti-clerical. This does not mean that they are anti-religious, only anti-Church establishment. Although the Church holds a dominate position in Latin America, much of the intellectual and artistic elite is anti-clerical. They see the Church, and its representatives, as aligning with the wealthy elite and manipulating the poor, uneducated masses. They are opposed to the clergy as they are to the wealthy landed elite. They believe that the priests use the beliefs of the masses of the people to manipulate them to support the political ends of the Church, rather than limiting itself to spiritual concerns. An example of this occurred in Colombia during La Violencia (The Violence) than occurred following the assassination of a popular liberal Presidential candidate in 1948. For years killers stalked the country killing people, who favored the other political party. Country priests were known to support the Conservative cause from the pulpit and offer forgiveness to those who killed Liberals, and more Liberals were killed than Conservatives. Such events contributed to the building of a strong anti-clerical sentiment among many in Colombia, and other parts of Latin America.
The Masonic movement is important in some countries, and people with anti-clerical attitudes readily identify with its anti-papal tendencies. The anti-clericalism in Latin America is fed by the anti-Spanish feelings among many people, feelings that come from the colonial period. The Church overtly persecuted many of the leaders of the Independence movements in Latin America, protecting its alliance with the Spanish Crown, and that has not been forgotten. Another historical event that feeds anti-clericalism was the forced conversion of Jews, who had to convert or be expelled from Spain. Many of these anusim, or forced converts, never became truly Christian, and in some cases their resentment toward the Church evolved into anti-clericalism. Throughout generations the resistance continued toward those who had coerced them with the threat of violence.
Religious Change, Revolution, and Protestantism
Substantial religious changes have occurred in Latin America over the last century. The Roman Catholic hierarchy is still a powerful force in virtually every country, but the Church has changed. Liberation Theology and the Popularizing Church have made fundamental changes, and the rise of Protestantism and the acceptance of Jews have introduced a degree of religious pluralism unknown earlier. Today, the religious landscape of Latin America is quite different than the way it was at the beginning of the twentieth century. Through this new mosaic of religious movements, Latin Americans of differing social classes and ethnic backgrounds seek out the religious practices that respond to their social and spiritual condition. 8 North American Christianity In the Americas two different paths were followed for conquest, settlement, and religion. In Latin America there were large existing populations organized into wealthy empires. Both the Aztec and the Inca Empires were larger than Spain itself. The Spanish took the route of conquering and administering these empires, but most Spaniards came as colonial administrators, soldiers, or priests. Few stayed and settled in the Americas. Priests came primarily as missionaries to convert the Indians.

In contrast, North America was a large continent with a more dispersed indigenous population, none of which was organized into the vast empires of Latin America. The English Protestants came to conquer these lands as settlers, farmers and cattle herders, who would take over land and push out the existing Indian populations. They brought a Christianity that was primarily for themselves. The Protestant pastors attended the settlers, and they largely saw the Indians as the enemy. As in Europe, the Protestant north contrasted with the Roman Catholic south, both in lifestyle and in religion. North America was to become a leader in the world of Protestant Christianity, and it maintained a predominantly European cultural style of Christianity.
Protestant North America
The Pilgrims who arrived to Plymouth Rock came as religious dissidents looking for a land who they could practice religion as they chose. The English, Scottish, Scandinavian, and German Protestants who followed them over the next two centuries came looking for economic opportunity as well as a world that would permit them freedom of worship. The United States and Canada became predominantly Protestant. In contrast to the Spanish Catholics in Latin America and the French Catholics in Canada who tended to come as single men and frequently married local Indian women and mix with the indigenous population, Protestants normally came as family units, set up their own towns and had little or nothing to do with the Indian populations. As a result, Protestant North America tended to remain European genetically and culturally. There was virtually no borrowing of indigenous religious practices into Protestant practice in contrast to Latin America. Mainline and Evangelical Churches. Since most of the early settlers in the 1600 and 1700s were predominantly English, the Church of England became the dominant Church in the Eastern seaboard colonies. Later, after the War of Independence, the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States was established. During the early period various colleges were established to train clergy. The first was Harvard (1636) to train Congregational (Puritan) clergy, then the College of William and Mary (1693) to train clergy for the Church of England, and Yale (1701) also for Congregational clergy. This tradition of church-based colleges became important in the United States, and many denominations established colleges to train clergy and other young people from their church. These churches continue to have an important presence in the eastern half of the United States, and the Episcopal Church is known for formality and ritual in its services. In the early 1800s as settlement moved westward after the War of Independence the frontier people adopted the Methodist and Baptist movements, which were spread by itinerant preachers who came periodically, holding several religious services at week-end camps. This were largely farming communities, and people were dispersed over wide areas, but they would come together for these concentrated religious events that would take on an emotional, revival atmosphere. Preachers would speak mostly from the writings of Paul about the importance of spreading Christianity, and these movements took the identity of being evangelical and proselytizing. The churches followed the puritan tradition in the United States and emphasized a simple lifestyle. Hard work was valued and time not working was to be used in Bible study, prayer, or family activities. Dancing and other frivolous activities were prohibited. Heavy drinking was common in the western territories, and the evangelical churches became associated with the Temperance Movement, and alcoholic drinks in any form were prohibited. The ethnic divisions in the United States tend to divide the population by religion between north and south and east and west. Scandinavian and northern European immigrants settled more in the northern half of the United States, and as they migrated western have tended to stay north. In contrast, the south was settled largely by Scotch-Irish and German Protestant immigrants, and they have tended to migrate along the southern route to the Southwest. In a similar way, they have kept their religious preferences. As a result, the Lutheran and other northern European churches tend to dominate along the northern tier of states, and the Baptist, Methodist, and other evangelical churches tend to dominate the southern tier of states. At the outbreak of the Civil War, northern and southern Baptists and Methodists broke into separate denominations over the issue of slavery. In the twentieth century Methodists eventually reunited the northern and southern halves of the church, but Baptists never have. Italian and Irish Catholic immigrants arrived more to the northeast and Midwest. When the United States took the Southwest from Mexico in the War of 1848, the population was Spanish speaking and Catholic, and that tendency continues today, especially in New Mexico and Arizona. The largely Mormon state of Utah is unique in the country. The northeastern quadrant of the United States has historically been the point of arrival for European immigrants, and it has all of the European Protestant churches, as well as the largest Catholic and Jewish populations. The southeastern quadrant has the largest evangelical Protestant groups, and the Southwest has a large traditional Spanish-speaking Catholic population. Although the West Coast has representatives of all of the above mentioned religious groups, it is probably the most secular region in the United States.
Twenty-First Century Christianity
Although Christianity is a proselytizing religion with missionary activity in many non-Christian parts of the world, its geographical location is almost exclusively concentrated in the circum-Atlantic basin, including Europe, North America, Latin America, and Africa. Christianity spread to the Americas and Africa along with European colonial occupation. The indigenous civilizations of the Americas were conquered and occupied by the European powers in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and Africa was conquered and colonized in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Christianity in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries has been characterized by the popularity of the Pentecostal movement. The mystical religious behavior of the Pentecostalism has taken on a more important position in the Americas. In fact it has pushed both Catholicism and mainline Protestant churches toward “Praise Worship” styles, a more celebratory practice that incorporates popular music and expressive behavior in worship. Liberation theology, the growing role of women, and the dialogue with non-Christians each indicates the broadening of Christian practice toward greater tolerance of groups of people who were marginalized traditionally.

Conclusions
With sweeping cultural changes over the last 2000 years, Christianity has evolved from its Jewish roots through Greco-Roman thought to later European, American, and African versions of the religion. In Europe, Christianity has been synonymous with civilization itself for most of the last thousand years. Only in the last couple of centuries with the rise of capitalism has Christianity lost its role as the ideological center of European civilization. In the Americas, Catholic Latin America with its almost 600 million people vastly outnumbers the predominantly Protestant North America. In Africa, Christianity and Islam confront each other in a continent almost equally divided between them. The Americas and Africa, colonized in the name of Christianity, have emerged to replace Europe as the center of the religion. Time Line Christianity And Its History First Century C.E. Life and teachings of Jesus Writings and church organization up to Paul 300’s Christianity is named the official religion of the Roman Empire The Council of Nicea and doctrine of the divinity of Jesus 354 to 430 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, the writer who had the most influence on early Christian thought 1096 to 1204 Crusades against Muslims and other non-Christians Christian pograms against the Jews in Europe 1200 to 1400 Establishment of the mendicant orders Bubonic plague. Growing intolerance toward unbelievers 1400’s Christian conquest of the Muslims in Spain. Renaissance begins in Italy. 1500’s Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the growth of Protestantism. Counter-Reformation 1550-1650 The Religious Wars 1600 to 1800 The Great European Witchhunts The Enlightenment: Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, and others 1800 to 1900 Science, technology, and industrialism dominant in Europe Christian missionaries are active in European colonies 1900 to 2000 Increasing secularism in Europe Latin America emerges as important center of Christianity.
Bibliography
Armstrong, Karen. 1993. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. New York: Ballantine Books.
Cohen, Jeremy. 1999. Living Letters of the Law. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cohen, Martin A. 2001. The Martyr: Luis de Carvajal, a Secred Jew in Sixteenth-Century Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Originally published in 1973 by The Jewish Publication Society in New York.
Israel, Jonathan I. 2001. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacCulloch, Diarmaid. 2011. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. New York: Penguin Books. McGrath, Alister E. 2015. Christianity: An Introduction. Third Edition. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. Pratt, James Bissett. 1915. India and its Faiths. New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company. Pages 426-427. The Revised English Bible. 1989. Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Wilken, Robert Louis. 2013. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D. is a cultural anthropologist from Indiana University. Hart has written a dozen books on religion, cultural history and social change. He is a former University Vice-President and Dean of Academic Affairs. He also has worked in South America with the Ford Foundation, UNICEF, and other international agencies. He has awards from the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Fulbright among others.

Institute for Tolerance Studies a 501-c-3 organization
www.tolerancestudies.org