The Christian church gave a very pushy introduction of itself to the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

“Who can doubt that gunpowder shot off against the heathen is incense for the Lord?”-Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes.

As colonialism continued some in the church advocated for less harsh treatment of the natives.

Bartolomé de las Casas, “protector of the indians”, advocated before Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, on behalf and the natives. He also speculated that rather than use native people as slaves, Africans could be used as forced labor (though he later expressed opposition to all forms of slavery.)

The beginnings of Christianity were rooted in violence and later turned to liberation. The Colonial Era centered around the spread of Christianity to the New World and it was facilitated through European military personnel and was enforced by the new government that took over Latin America. Political rule and religious beliefs worked together to spread Christianity at all costs. Practices began to turn violent as terrorism was thought to be acceptable if it meant spreading the word of God. Jacobsen says, “The monarchs of Spain and Portugal viewed their action in the region as a religious crusade, and the endeavor had papal approval. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V issues a document called Romans pontifex that gave Catholic rulers permission to seize the land of the “pagans” and to enslave local inhabitants as long as the ultimate goal was conversion. In this violent style of evangelism, savagery and sacred theology went hand in hand. Using rhetoric that most Christians today find disturbing, the sixteenth-century Spanish theologian Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda explained that “terror” could sometimes be a very useful tool in spreading “the light of truth and scatter[ing] the darkness of error” (Jacobsen, pg. 154). Violence and other drastic measures were taken and accepted in the name of God. The lack of separation between religion and politics allowed for this extreme approach to spreading Christianity to Latin America. For example, a special agreement known as patronato real gave the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs almost complete control over the Catholic Church in their newly conquered lands. Doctrine and few other things remained in the control of the Pope, all other matters relating to Christianity were controlled by political authorities. “Colonial Latin America was divided into two Spanish viceroyalities (further subdivided into a variety of audencias) and one Portuguese royal colony called Brazil” (Jacobsen, pg. 155). Christianity also divided power and status by race and implemented these unjust racial hierarchy systems that were seen throughout the church and political system in Latin America at this time.

There was a “movement across Latin America that became known as liberation theology. Its proponents pledged to work for the poor against what they saw as an oppressive ruling class. It was inspired by the Second Vatican Council, the historic gathering called in 1962 by Pope John XXIII to bring the Church closer to the faithful. Among Vatican II’s most symbolic changes: priests who historically faced the altar began facing the congregation. And the liturgy, celebrated for centuries in Latin, was simplified. It’s now conducted in the local language…Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, a priest from the Maryknoll Order, brought his belief in liberation theology to the context of Nicaragua’s politics and its civil war. He joined the leftist Sandinista government that overthrew the right-wing dictatorship in 1979. He became Nicaragua’s foreign minister” (pbs video). The liberation theory was said to have had a basis in Maarxism. It was also said to have focused less on individual relationships with God and more on bridging religion and politics in order to solve and take stances on socio-political problems that often were ruled by the opinions of the Church. Liberation theology was held together by the conviction that Christian theological reflection and social action needed to be combined in self-conscious service to the poor. This new relationship between theory and action was called praxis. Liberation theology combined doctrine and activism in a new way, enlarging the work of Catholic Action and seeking to involve everyone, not just professionals, in the work of transforming society. Most notably, liberation theologians encouraged the poor to speak and advocate for themselves.

The regions new social dynamics have opened space for Pentecostalism to grow and flourish and have forced Catholics to confront the need for choice in matters of faith. The rise of Pentecostalism and religious choice have spurred a revival of sorts within the Catholic Church itself.

The Western ways of Christianity can learn from Latin American Christianity by refocusing its efforts on the poor. Latin American Christianity post-colonialism focused heavily on assisting the poor and focusing on personal relationships in order to help their individual communities. Also, Western Christianity can learn to break down the status hierarchy that is sometimes still seen in Christianity through the attendance of masses and other factors. Western Christianity can learn to focus on personal relationships with God and helping each other reach those personal goals toward their relationship with God, instead of attending mass and not being as present as Latin American culture often is. Western Christianity can learn from Latin American Christianity by living out Christian values in our daily lives and throughout our communities.

John 10:10 says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” which gives identity, purpose, and promise. To the Christians of Latin America, their identity was in Christ, their purpose was to follow him, and they were promised abundant life (spiritually for eternity). Jesus came to save sinners who were enslaved to the promise of death by their rebellion and denial of God, but Jesus gives liberation from the spiritual death which they deserve. The idea of liberation becomes a rallying cry for the people of Latin America in the postcolonial age. Christianity first came to Latin America during the Age of Exploration. Spain and Portugal sent missionaries both to save souls and to gain temporal wealth. However, the greed of man seemed to overpower the desire to bring salvation to the lost so often the message of salvation was accompanied by violence, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination. It was not until the postcolonial age began that the Christianity of Latin America was able to develop and assert their understanding of theology with the common appeal being “liberation”.

During the colonial era “The “patronato real” gave the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs almost complete control over the Catholic Church in their newly conquered lands. Political authorities, not the pope, oversaw missionary activity, established dioceses, appointed bishops, and regulated all other matters of the church life.” (pg75, Jacobsen). This closeness of church and state being seen in Colonial Latin America was against what the church had worked so hard to do. Medieval Popes pushed very hard for the independence of the Church from political parties. But being thousands of miles away, Rome could not impose their will on the colonies in Latin America and the political system and parties took complete control over the Church and how it was ran with respect to the Doctrine of which the Pope would decree.

Liberation theology emerged in the 1960’s as a response to the unjust arrests and killings of those protesting the mistreatment of the poor along with other political problems they saw in the society. Liberation theology was the combination of both social analysis and social action rooted in traditional Catholic teaching. It asserted that one’s Christian theology should shape how they reflect upon social circumstances and therefore should also guide how they act in response. This relationship is called Praxis, or theory and action working together. Liberation theology also advocated that the poor should speak and represent themselves. Pentecostalism also had rise during this time since it was less formal and did not demand as much as Catholic mass did. Pentecostalism resonated with the poor much more than Catholicism did, due to its less rigid traditionalism as well as its joyful worship and constant preaching/proclamation of hope and what is to come. Liberation theology was a way to reclaim the sacred and reconcile the oppressed that were put down as  a result of an original oppressed by the colonies. Leaders of the Liberation theology movement pushed for connection between the rich and the poor, to see their equality in God and their salvation which is given unbiasedly to one another.

Western Christianity can take away from Latin American Christianity that social and political environments/problems are not what identify one another. A Christian’s identity is found in Jesus Christ and nothing else. That identity should however help Christians work through social and political problems they may face as their guiding nature rather than their own sinful desire. Christianity will look different depending on where you go, but that should not be due to the body of the church, it is simply a result of the environment around them. The connecting source for Western Christians and Latin American Christians is not how they go about their everyday life, it is who their identity is in, and that is Christ Jesus.

Through the violence of colonization and the conquering of the New World, Latin America was brought under the influence of Christianity. Missionaries brought with them death in the for of subjugation and sickness, as well as enslavement and violent conversion. Because of the power initially given to the conquistadors by the Pope, and the distance from Rome and the majority of Christian power, the most influential people, those with control over the state, also had control over the religious activities in their areas. They controlled who was appointed to which office, who had control over the life of the church. This relationship tied together the conversion of the native population with their exploitation for monetary gain. The extortion of the natives was not sustainable, from both a religious standpoint, or a numbers standpoint. The initial wave of ruin very quickly diminished the population, and the religious thinkers of the area decried the abuse of these people. so instead of the enslavement of the natives, they turned to Africa for slaves. Millions of Africans were brought to Latin America, permanently affecting the culture and the people within. With such a huge influx of Africans, the diversity of the land increased. This, and the continued draining of natural resources by the European nations led the people to strive for independence.

Liberation theology emerged during a later time of social unrest and violence. The war between capitalism and communism was in full swing and each nation was pressured in to picking a side. Many dictatorships arose in Latin America were taken because of even a slight sympathy towards communism. Eventually the church had to speak out against these actions, and culminated in even more violence. After the church took an official position on trying to focus more effort on helping the poor live a better life, many priests and bishops spoke out against the military regimes. Many of them were killed. Liberation theology is a social and religious mixture, focused on the betterment of the poor and helping those in need. It requires social action along with understanding of the religious teachings. It has since died down in importance, as it lost steam after the church stopped supporting the ideas, and they became less necessary with the decline of human rights violations.

Latin American Christianity is heavily invested in the well being and uplifting of its people. It is active in social issues and emphasized the necessity to take action and to make change for the better. I think this is something that many churches in Western Christianity do, to an extent, but many more do not. With so many people believing in these causes and religions, they could do much to help those in need, and could do much more then they are already doing. Another thing that I think should be more emphasized is loving thy neighbor. Christianity is diverse in Latin America, and from the reading we get a sense that it is a brotherly diversity, with those from all denominations coming together to enact social reform. Many Americans have a hard time talking about religion, and if you do not go to the same church there is an almost instant undertone of hostility, because they would rather focus on the differences then on the similarities, and the things they can do together.

Latin America, defined as Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, was introduced to Christianity through violent methods. This “violent evangelicalism” was politically motivated, as colonizers sought to bring the New World under Christian political rule (74). The colonizers, primarily from Spain and Portugal, received permission for Pope Nicholas V to seize the land of Latin America and introduce Catholicism. The patronage system gave the Spanish and Portuguese settlers unlimited authority over the Catholic Church in their land, meaning that the pope was not considered the head of this sect of the institution. As Jacobsen points out, this system represented a total reversal of what medieval popes so intensely fought for: “independence of the Church from political control” (75). The colonizers obsession with control was racially motivated, as the Europeans believed themselves to be morally and intellectually superior to the Latin Americans.

For many years after gaining independence, religious ideology in Latin America almost exclusively was associated with whichever political party was in power. Following the tumultuous 1960s, liberation theology, a new method of viewing religion, was taken up by many Latin American Catholics. This approach “combined social analysis (often from a Marxist perspective) and social action with traditional Catholic teachings” (86). This manner of thinking emerged due to the political oppression in many Latin American countries, and people began to see the church as a vessel for expressing economic and social justice. Service to the poor is a cornerstone of Christian ethics, and the long oppressed masses began to see the hypocrisy of a supposedly religious driven government allowing such a large gap between rich and poor. The liberation movement reached its peak around 1980, when Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated on the altar, just as he was about to consecrate the bread and wine for the Eucharist. Romero had long been a vocal advocate for social and economic justice, and often criticized the church for their lack of caring for the poor. Romero saw Christian ethics as inseparably connected with activism, and he gained many followers as a result. Following his assassination, his legacy continued, as many began to pressure the church to act true to their values. Liberation theology subsided in the 1980s, after democratic governments were installed in many Latin American countries.

By seeing Latin American Christianity, the West could learn that followers of different denominations of Christianity can work together to achieve social change. Though Latin America is primarily Catholic, Jacobsen asserts that the liberation theology movement was one that required the participation of all Christians, not just Catholics. In my experience, Catholics are often times very closed off, and are unwilling to engage in interfaith dialogue, even with practitioners of other forms of Christianity. It would be wise for Western Christians and Catholics to be more open to working together to bring about social change, just as the Latin Americans were able to do in the 1980s.

Christianity was brought to Latin America through violent means, and today it holds 40 percent of the worlds Catholics, although Pentecostalism is rising. Beginning in the late 1400’s, the monarchs of Spain and Portugal used their conquest of Latin America to also push their religious values. This wave of domination was considered a religious crusade equally as a political move of colonization and Imperialism. The “patronato real”, or royal patronage gave the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs complete authority over the Catholic Churches in their new land. This meant the bishops, priests and all church missionary activity, was governed by the political rulers. Another dimension to this oppression was race. The conquistadores used the indigenous people for work but this ended partly because the Church began to view them as children of God, and partly because they were being wiped out through over work and foreign disease. This catapulted Latin America’s involvement with the slave trade and between 1650 and 1860 over ten million African slaves were brought to Brazil, the Caribbean and other Spanish colonies. With Africans, indigenous, creoles (born in New World), mestizos(mixed) and penninsulares (from Spain or Portugal), race became another way to oppress and categorize human worth and divide the Catholic and Christian experience.

The experience of the high cast Catholic and the low cast were very different. Penninsualres and creoles thought of the lower casts as children and incapable of spiritual thought. When trying to missionize to them indigenous culture was referenced because it made the transition easier. What resulted was a new form of “Popular Catholicism, meaning Christianity created by the people.” (Jacobsen, 79) The Latin American Independence movements of the 19^th century made a shift in the religious sphere, but not as dramatic as the revolutionary enlightenment ideals that flourished in the United States. In Latin America, postcolonial rule, the role of religion largely rested upon which political party was in power. “Favor was shown to the Church when conservatives were in office, and restrictions were placed on the Church when liberals were in charge.” (Jacobsen, 83)

What ultimately led to the formation of liberation theology was this build of a dramatic differences in the way in which the Church was viewed by the growing gap of rich and poor that translated into slanted and oppressive politics. Post WWII countries were forced to chose between dictatorships that aligned with either communist, or democratic capitalism. US backed “democratic” dictatorships further alienated people and put pressure on the church to respond. With the creation of Vatican II there was increased emphasis within the Church on the poor. This ultimately translated into a new theology focusing on liberation through a sense of equality reached when people who are oppressed, marginalized and poor are reached out to and lifted up internally free. Pentecostalism has seen a more dramatic rise in the past century also because of the great divide between rich and poor. Pentecostal worship services are joyfull and full of hopeful song, this is a bright light in the reality of living in barrios or fevalas. Pentecostalism was less formal than Catholic mass also translating to hose living in poverty as more accepting and welcoming.

Leaders in the Liberation Theology movement like Oscar Romero of El Salvador preached the salvation of men and society through an intimate connection with each other and equally the poor and suffering. By building base communities that regular gathered, Bible teachings could be explored and translated onto the local structural level. This combined Christian doctrine with grassroots activism. Just as Christianity began in Latin America interwoven with politics, liberation theology was an intermixed political/religious way of dealing with the aftermath of oppression, organically grown from the hands of the oppressed. Liberation Theology like “popular” Catholicism was a way of reclaiming the sacred as personal and putting it into action to create a better reality.

I think the west could learn from the development of Liberation Theology that there is God in community, in poverty and in simplicity. It seems that as Western Christianity (and Asian Christianity) have grown, so has the idea that the gospel delivers salvation, be it through the next life. It is theology heavy on the external dimensions. Liberation theology seems to work on the inner self by relating outwardly to those having a different experience and then opening up to the possibility of social change in the now. By being liberated from “economic oppression and racial prejudice” practitioners can be open spiritually.