Spreading the Faith

ESSAY 1 “Spreading the Faith”

Some religions consider evangelization or missionary activity to be an important part of devotion to God. Christianity and Islam are both considered to be ‘missionary religions.’ Even in the new world, both Aztecs and Incas required their conquered subjects to worship their conqueror’s deities, although the subject people were allowed to add them to their own native pantheons.

If we assume that it was eventually inevitable that Europeans and Amerindians would eventually come into contact in some fashion, it is likely that in any scenario, they would have experience religious conflict. Write an essay evaluating the efforts of Catholic missionaries (Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, etc.) to spread the faith among the conquered Amerindian peoples. Keep in mind examples of mercy and justice, as well as cruelty and exploitation by Spanish priests. Using examples from the readings, primary documents and films in this course, develop an argument criticizing or defending the overall missionary endeavor in its efforts to convert native Americans to the “true faith” and to protect them from oppression and exploitation by Spanish colonists and conquistadores.

Did Catholic missionaries mitigate the horrors of disease, slavery and conquest? Or did they exacerbate the destruction? Make use of counter-examples.

Do NOT make an argument based on twenty-first century values. Make your argument based on the given nature of the fifteenth and sixteenth century worldviews, historical context and economic realities. Make a sincere effort to avoid anachronisms.

INSTRUCTIONS

· Review the first three chapters of the textbook dealing with the “conquest” and evangelization of the Americas.

· Consider pro- and con- examples from Black Robe and The Mission.

· Read the primary source document from Penyak and Petry “Penyak PART III Conversion” as preparation for writing this essay.

· Review the J. González text, chapter 2: “ The Arrival of Christianity.”

· Review notes from the class lecture on week 3, January 24.

PREPARE AND SUBMIT

Write a well-organized essay with a minimum of 1,400 to 1,500 words (4 to 5 pages double-spaced) in which you address the following:

PROMPT: Analyze and discuss the material that has been assigned, and address the following statement: “ Despite some examples of harsh or cruel missionary activity, many, if not most Catholic missionaries sincerely had the best interests of the Amerindians at heart .” Discuss if you agree or disagree with the statement.

ALTERNATE PROMPT: Analyze and discuss the material that has been assigned, and address the following statement: “ Despite possible good intentions of some Catholic missionaries, most missionary work enhanced the oppression and suffering of Amerindians .” Discuss if you agree or disagree with the statement.

REMINDERS

· Paragraphs in an essay are not numbered. Any questions that are associated with an assigned reading are there to serve as a guide for your discussion.

· Your discussion should incorporate all of the information from the documents or the textbook, and outside sources as one essay in a flowing paragraph style.

· All statements must be supported, and all sources including your textbook and assigned readings must be cited in the essay, and included in your reference list.

· Failure to do so constitutes Plagiarism, and the college has strict policies and penalties for failure to comply.

· You may use APA to format your essay, or Chicago or MLA, depending on your major. Feel free to use the style that your field or discipline prefers, as long as you use it consistently.

· Proofread your work. Make sure that you have looked for all of the spelling and grammatical errors and corrected them, and that you have organized your work into coherent paragraphs.

· Prepare the assignment as a Word Document, double-spaced and using a standard font of 12 points.

· An extension of 3 days will be allowed for any students who make appointments to take the essay to the Writing Center in the library or one of the History tutors in the history department.

· Submit the essay in the Turnitin dropbox in Blackboard. PLEASE DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SEND IT TO ME AS AN EMAIL OR BB MESSAGE ATTACHMENT. It will NOT BE graded. It must be uploaded in the appropriate drop box to receive a grade. If you have problems with the drop box or with uploading it, let me know and ask for help. Blackboard is very glitch with Apple products.

POINT VALUE: 100

GRADING POLICY

· Analysis and discussion 30%

· Support (evidence) of argument 20%

· Organization 20%

· Following instructions 15%

· Style and Grammar 15%

REMINDER: Make sure to proofread! All written work must comply with Standard English rules, including proper capitalization, grammar, word choices, sentence structure and spelling.