writing response

Revolutions are funny things. On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther would famously pin a letter to the door of his local church sparking what would become one of the most important movements in European history, the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s 95 theses, as they came to be called, began as criticisms regarding the practice of indulgences (paying the church to have sins forgiven). He could have had no idea that they would escalate into a direct challenge to power of the Catholic Church across Europe and the beginning of a schism that endures to the present day. It would also set in motion a chain of events that would lead to nearly 200 years of bloodshed across Europe culminating in the Thirty Years War, the most devastating war in European history up to that time. The rift created by the Reformation would come to define the divisions between Protestant Europe and Catholic Europe. It would also come to dictate how the various European nations ruled their empires. The Reformation irrevocably broke the control that the Catholic Church in Rome had exercised over European society. As a consequence, the English, Germans, Dutch and others would never again come to defer decisions to the Vatican. The monarchs that embraced the Reformation would never again have to share power with the Pope. This would essentially free these societies and unleash centuries of societal change and cultural dynamism. The Reformation would come to have a great many unforeseen consequences for many years to come stretching into the present day. In 1537, Pope Paul III would issue Sublimus Deis, a papal decree stating that the natives of the New World had souls and must be converted to the Catholic Faith. This simple decree, backed by the power that the church still exerted over its Catholic vassal states, chiefly Spain and Portugal, would also come to have drastic effects on the demographics of the New World. Many have argued that this decree was directly a consequence of the Protestant Reformation. The chief difference can be seen in the populations of the Spanish Empire vs the British and French Empires. This would be modern day Latin America vs the United States and Canada. In Spanish America, the Pope’s decree meant that the native populations had souls and therefore had to be converted to Catholicism. While they were still subjected to innumerable abuses, they could not be systematically slaughtered. The church’s desire for influence in the new world was directly tied to extending its own power. It was the power and control of the Catholic Church that allowed the policy to be enforced. In order to ensure compliance with its decrees, the Church and the Spanish Monarchs dispatched a regular stream of priests into the New World with the express intent of converting the natives. These same priests would often come to be the biggest champions of native rights. Bartolome de Las Casas is but one shining example. It is his defense of the Indians that is often credited as having influenced the passing of Sublimus Deus. In the British colonies. there was no such overarching power. The protestant settlers who would come to populate North America had no one to force restraint on their part when it came to dealing with the natives. To the English colonists, the Indian was a savage, more animal than man. Native populations were rarely converted to the faith. Few attempts were made to force their assimilation into European culture. Without the power of a centralized hierarchy (like the church) to restrain them, the colonists had no restraints when it came to the natives. Slaughtering natives carried no punishment whatsoever. And slaughter they did. Conversely, it would be the Protestant nations that would lead the European push to modernity. In Britain, France, Germany they would pursue science and philosophy. It would be here that modern notions of republican government and human rights would be born, Meanwhile, Spain would engage in the Inquisition, a vicious program of torture and expulsion targeting all non Catholics within the Spanish empire. The consequence of these events is this… Spain and its colonies would become the backwater of Europe, unenlightened and undeveloped. Having expelled anything and anyone who did not conform to strict church doctrine, Spain would come to lag behind Protestant Europe in every way, technologically, institutionally and philosophically. But… its Catholicism would also come to spare the native populations of the new world from extinction. Today the native ethnic populations of Latin America remain the dominant demographic. In North America, the extermination would be so complete that these populations would never recover. History can be complicated. There are many unintended consequences. Knowing what we now know… was Luther’s Revolution a good thing? Who knows… Your assignment is as follows… Review the included documents… a. Martin Luther’s 95 theses b. A defense of the Indians by Bartolome de las Casas … then answer the following questions. Note: You should have a minimum of 400 words collectively for your responses. Questions 3. In your own words, substantiate or reject any part of the following theory regarding the Reformation. Explain which parts you agree with or disagree with and explain why. Requirements: 8sen