Conquest and Conversion

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In Story of Christianity by David Bentley Hart, read the chapter “Colonies and Missions” on pages 281-287.

Converted by Love or Force

Columbus gave the island that he landed on a proper Spanish name as he claimed it for Ferdinand and Isabella. He called it San Salvador which means “Holy Savior.” After greeting the curious natives with gifts, he commented that they could be “converted to our holy faith by love” rather than by force.

This became a big question for missionaries, and it was not always answered the way that Columbus had hoped. Sometimes there were courageous and selfless missionaries that won the heathen by their persevering love. But there were also ruthless “Christian” conquerors who forced baptism upon the natives at the tip of a sword.

Within 50 years of Columbus’ arrival, conquistadors like Hernando Cortez and Francisco Pizarro had plundered and conquered the new world and all but destroyed the native civilizations of Aztecs and Incans, respectively. Of course, the destruction came by more than the sword.

These Europeans unknowingly introduced diseases like smallpox to the native population who had never dealt with it. Their immune systems were not prepared for it and some estimates claim that as much at 90% of the population was wiped out by diseases that the Europeans were immune to. This must have looked like the hand of God bringing a plague on these heathen people. It’s not surprising that many of the conquistadors saw it as their divine mandate to conquer or convert these people.

When the Pope divided up these lands with the Treaty of Tordesillas, he also commissioned the kings of Portugal and Spain with the responsibility to evangelize the lands conquered by their soldiers. So, Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, and Jesuit missionaries traveled on nearly every ship. And they were just as eager to convert the heathens as their captain was to find a new port of trade.

Encomienda and Reform

Spain’s first policy towards the Indians was a simple feudal-like system called encomienda, which literally means “entrust”. In this system, groups of Indians were entrusted with the responsibility of providing labor for the Spaniards and in return, the Spaniards provided protection and training in the Catholic faith.

Some in Spain saw this as racial oppression and denounced it as cruel and brutal. One such reformer was a priest named Bartholomew de Las Casas. He didn’t believe that God would ordain brutality as an instrument of Christian conversion. He argued for the equality and freedom of the Indians. He said that the only way to convert them was the way that Columbus had proposed, peaceful preaching of the Word and the example of Holy Living.

He made his appeal to Charles V in 1542 and was able to get The Law of the Indies passed. These laws established the principle that Indians had rights too. By the way, this is the same Charles V who was the Holy Roman Emperor that Martin Luther testified before at the Diet of Worms. He had inherited control of Spain after the deaths of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Portuguese Wrestle with Adaptation

The Portuguese faced a problem that the Spanish never encountered in the Americas. They met highly developed civilizations and ancient religions far stronger than those of the Incas or Aztecs. This had a significant impact on the way many Christian missionaries approached Asian peoples. In most cases, the idea of conversion by conquest was abandoned in favor of a different method called adaptation.

By 1549, Francis Xavier, one of the founding members of the Jesuits, landed in Japan and found them welcoming to the European outsiders. Buddhism had fallen out of favor as the nation we being governed by feudal lords called Daimyo who were more concerned with promoting trade.

In Japan, Xavier saw that while the gospel must transform and refine the Japanese, it need not discard everything in Japanese life and culture. Xavier’s team looked for ways to express the Christian faith in the culture of the Japanese. They adapted to local customs and values in every way that they could. Their work was met with remarkable success. Within 40 years’ time, the Jesuits established a new town as a home for the Christian converts called Nagasaki. There were as many as 300,000 Christians in hundreds of churches and even two Christian colleges.

Unfortunately, in the early 1600s, new rulers in Japan were fearful that foreign missionaries meant foreign invaders. They began to outlaw Christianity and persecute those who would not renounce their faith. Between 1614 and 1642, over 4,000 Japanese Christians were made witnesses for Christ being martyred by the sword, burned at the stake, or boiled alive. The once-thriving Christian work in Japan disintegrated.

The Door to China

In 1567, a small island off the coast of China, called Macao, became a Portuguese colony. Entrance to China, however, seemed impossible because the Ming dynasty had no interest in contact with the outside world. They considered the Chinese the givers of culture with no need to receive from these greedy Europeans. Confucianism was dominant in the culture and the nation was governed by its ideals and teachings.

Matthew Ricci did not look like a Jesuit missionary. He was trained in mathematics, astronomy, and cosmology, but after moving to Macao and learning the language and customs of the Chinese, in 1583, he gained permission to move to the province of Chaoch’ing. He dressed in Mandarin clothes, spoke the language like a native, and was able to open to them new fields of learning. He made a map of the world for them and introduced them to the new science of the calendar.

Convinced that any significant missionary work would need to come from the capital itself, Ricci sought permission to enter Peking, and he was granted that permission in 1600 as he brought gifts of new mechanical clocks to the emperor. Ricci’s skill gained the Emperor’s favor and he was allowed to stay in Peking until his death in 1610 at which time, the church numbered around 2,000.

This policy of toleration and cooperation continued and in 1692 it reached its highest point when the emperor issued a decree of toleration and commended the peaceful nature of the Christian faith. This was not to last as other Christians, seeing the level of mixing of Chinese culture with Christian faith, complained to the Pope who issued a papal bull in 1715 banning these Chinese services. When the Chinese emperor heard of this, he understandably took offense and prohibited further Christian evangelization in China.

This question of toleration in missions is not over. Sometimes, we use a big fancy word to talk about it today, syncretism. Syncretism is the blending of Christian beliefs and practices with those of the dominant culture so that Christianity speaks with a voice reflective of its culture. When you think of it like that, it’s hard to argue against it, but if it goes too far, then it can look like you are reaching for the best of the two religious worlds. What do you think?

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