Spread Of Christianity Dbq Essay

Christianity is a widespread and powerful religion because of its beginning in the Roman Empire. Factors contributing to this included spreading ideas without difficulty throughout the entire empire, the appeal of Christianity to the people, and the rule of Emperor Constantine.

Getting their land taken away from them and getting killed, all while the natives were exceptionally nice and welcoming of the Spaniards. So, in the end what played a bigger role? Christianity or colonialism?

The Indigenous people of America are called Native Americans or often referred to as “Indians”. They make up about two percent of the population in the United States and some of them still live in reservations. They once lived freely in the wilderness without any sort of influence or exposure from the Europeans who later came in the year of 1492, and therefore their culture is very different from ours. The Iroquois are northeastern Native Americans who are historically important and powerful. In the following essay we will discover some differences between the religious beliefs of the Native American Iroquois and Christianity to see if culture and ways of living have an effect on the view of religion, but we will also get to know some similarities. I am going to be focusing on the Iroquois, which are the northeastern Native Americans in North America.

An important aspect of Todorov's thesis is his well-supported claim that it was precisely the claim to European racial superiority that Christianity strongly reinforced and provided justification for the actions of the Spanish, even in its most severe manifestation. In fact, Todorov invokes the unimaginably horrible image of Catholic priests bashing Indian baby's heads against rocks, allegedly to save them from damnation to hell, which their "savage" culture would have otherwise consigned them to. The logic of this deed and others like them illustrates the destructive influence of Christianity in the Colonial project, which lies at the root of the hegemonic self-image of Western experience--first defined from the perspective of Columbus and Cortes.

When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away gives an in-depth history of the Pueblo Indians before and after the Spanish conquest. It describes the forced changes the Spanish brought to the Indians, and also the changes brought to the Spaniards who came to “civilize” the Indians. The author's thesis is that the Pueblo Indians and other Indians were treated cruelly by the Spanish, who justified their crime by claiming they were civilizing an

The Natives learned to read, write, and farm. The European conquistadors were the masters of this learning experience. The Indians had learned about the Spanish trades. Bernal Diaz wrote about the positive impacts on the Indians made by the Europeans. (Doc #1) This document states, “Many sons of chieftains know how to read and right, and to

They saw themselves as acting in the best interests of these people, bringing them Christianity and civilization. This attitude destroyed traditional beliefs and social values, however, and had a negative effect on colonized populations.” European explorers such as the Conquistadors wanted to convert the indigenous people to Christianity and by doing this they destroyed the culture of the native americans. If you did not convert you were killed and if you chose to convert then you lost touch with your original religion and traditions. Due to the uncompromising behavior of the conquerors religions, traditions and social values of the indians have been lost. European explorers viewed themselves as superior to the indigenous people and by thinking this way they ended up eradicating the diversity of

Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.

The greed for gold and the race for El Dorado were the main inducements of the Spaniards who, at the peril of their lives, crossed the ocean in unfit vessels in a mad pursuit after the gold and all other precious property of the Indians” (Peace 479). The royal rulers of Spain made it a rule that nothing would jeopardize their ability to rob the land from the native people of Latin America. The missionary process, “had to be encouraged, but the missionaries could not be permitted to dominate the colony at the cost of royal rule” (Gibson 76). The European governments established missionaries to cleanse their minds of any guilt aroused by the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children. When European “ships arrived in the 16th century to colonize the land and exploit its natural resources, they killed indigenous people and brought black slaves from Africa. Millions of indigenous people were slain and their cultures completely destroyed by the process of colonization” (Ribero). The overall devastations caused by the Christianization of the native inhabitants created a blend of cultures within the indigenous civilizations which gradually isolated old native ways into a small population of oppressed people. The Christianized people became a symbol of loyalty to the European powers and were left alone simply on their religious status. This long term mission of total religious replacement caused very strong and advanced

The Spanish colonizers had a huge influence on the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Peru’s, culture, language, traditions, religion, even on their native food. One can say that this came into being shortly after Columbus discovered the New World. The Spanish conquistadors, who sailed with Columbus to the New World, were the first to leave their mark on the new territory. We still see some of these traditions in today’s society. The Spanish taught the Indians of their oral traditions of legends and jokes, music, food, beliefs, and customs. The Indians even picked up on their native tongue, Spanish, and used it as their own and still do to this day. There are many things in the Mexican culture which have contributed to the shaping and molding of the modern Latino society, such as the Mexican history, culture, language, religion, and traditions.

It is believed that the history of Christianity basically surrounds Christian religion, the church and it various denominations at the present. The various denominations which are vivid at the present are as a result of the developments from the early histories of Christianity. With that fact at hand, Christianity historians and lovers of history believes that Christianity started from Jerusalem during the 1st century AD. From Jerusalem, it spread to the East regions towards place such as Jordan, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Assyria and some parts of Asia. Christianity in the latter regions was easy adopted given the fact that in some of them, the art of writing had long been discovered. The art of writing therefore helped in the spread of Christianity because there was a dire need to store Christian teachings through writing. During the fourth century, other extended regions adopted Christianity which was spread through apostles and which was also spread through writing. The extensive places included Armenia, Georgia and Aksum Kingdom.

From the very beginning times of Christianity, its message has identified with and transformed communities of people. Christianity itself grew out of a people group who had an identity that stretches back in time thousands of years. The worship of Yahweh, geographically born in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) has spread through history to the farthest islands of the seas.

The single most important aspect of European empires, beginning just prior to the fall of Rome, is the spread of Christianity to all areas of the continent in as little as a few hundred years. Many theologians state that Christianities spread is the indirect influence of God and the adoration of people to one true faith. Though it is true that Christianity has brought about people that even atheists could call saints, it is unquestionable that Christianity was so monumental because it united larger groups of people and its spread is contributed to adherence to local customs and its lack of new ideas in comparison to other religions of the day.

the Catholic religion. In reality, the Spanish saw the native people not as good as them and

The Mayan civilization derived from a massive empire that covered Mesoamerica from modern-day Mexico in the north into El Salvador. While the Mayan culture has remained prominent in isolated pockets in some areas of Mexico and Guatemala, in general the culture was extremely integrated into the colonial culture of the Spaniards, rather than being lost through a process of acculturation. Spanish legislative policies towards the indigenous Mayans were lenient and allowed them to keep their language and customs for the most part. The encomienda estate system in the Americas relocated the natives to allow them to work on the Spanish estates, where they were taught English as their primary language, as well as conversion to Christianity (Shuman, 1999). Religion was one of the few areas where the Spanish actually forbade native practices, forcing Christianity on the Mayans. Rather than replacing the native beliefs, the gods were merged together into the personhood of the Catholic Saints. This overt religious practice appeared to the Spanish as colonial, while still retaining the traditional meaning for the Mayan peoples (O’Neil, 2009).