A History of Race & the Church in the American Anglican Tradition. Tunnel Vision for a Believer

Transcription

1 A History of Race & the Church in the American Anglican Tradition Tunnel Vision for a Believer

2 what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? King Jesus the Christ

3 #1 The Early History of Race

4 Technology/Political Stress 1) The Rise of the Ottoman Empire: From ) The Printing Press: The authorities begin losing control over information. IF IT IS GOTHIC FONT IT MUST BE TRUE 3) The Transatlantic Discovery 4) The Protestant Reformation divides western Christendom

5 Iberia 1) The Reconquista : A period of Iberian Christian warfare to liberate the peninsula from Islamic rule. 2) Limpieza di sangre (purity of blood) beginning as early as 1449 persecutes Jewish converts to Christianity on the basis of ancestry, not religious belief. 3) 1452 Dum Diversas: a Papal Bull issued to the king of Portugal authorizing him to invade and attack Saracens, pagans and enemies of Christ, and to take their lands and reduce them to servitude. 4) 1453 Fall of Constantinople: Shock of the Turkish capture of Constantinople leads to renewed Papal urging to Christian monarchs to resist the Ottoman threat.

6 The Discoveries 1) 1492: End of Reconquista. Jews expelled from Spain, Columbus begins voyage to Asia, instead arrives in the Americas. 2) 1493 Inter Caetera: Pope grants Portugal and Spain exclusive rights to explore, administer and Christianize rival spheres of influence in areas not rule by a Christian prince in the Americas. Later updated by the Treaty of Tordesillas 1494

7 The Conquests Justified vs unjust slavery During this period it was an accepted norm to enslave enemies defeated in wartime. This was an ancient practice going back millennia. Generally speaking slavery was not the purpose of the war, rather the enslavement of the enemy after war was seen as a way of eliminating the threat and punishing those who had engaged in unjust wars, etc. The Catholic Church had previously worked to end the enslavement of Christians so that slavery was at this time limited to non-christian enemies.

8 Bartolome de Las Casas AD Protector of the Indians, Bishop of Chiapas

9 Las Cases - Born near the end of Iberian Reconquista and at the beginning of the age of discovery. Young Las Casas saw the return of Columbus from his first voyage. His father accompanied Columbus on his second voyage to the New World.

10 Las Cases cont -In 1502 after completing his studies as a jurist, Bartolome relocated to the New World to join his father who was working in the colonies. He came to get rich and participated in the exploitation of the indigenous population, and the raids against the Amerindian resistance.

11 Las Cases cont -Returned to Europe in 1506, and in 1507 Bartolome was ordained a priest. He returned to the New World in Eventually haunted by the cruelty around him he repented in 1514 and began his mission to expose and end the abuses he called this his First Conversion.

12 Las Cases cont -At first he advocated the enslavement of Africans instead of Amerindians, later to reject that as equally evil. He attempted a peaceful missionary and colonial partnership with profiteers in Cumaná -now in Venezuela- which failed in The failure led to what he called his Second Conversion and entry into the Dominican Order.

13 Las Cases cont -In Nicaragua he opposed the 1534 raids ordered by the local Spanish governor. In 1542 he was made Bishop of Chiapas, a post he held until his resignation in His great rival was the rhetorician and Aristotle scholar Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda with whom he contested the great University of Valladolid Debates He died in 1566 having challenged the moral orientation of New World Christendom.

14 Las Casas for the Church Today 1) He maintained his convictions even though they contradicted contemporary thought. 2) He recognized his mistakes and learned from his failures while continue to follow the leading of God. 3) You cannot take the easy way out. Either your faith is real and lived, or it is hypocrisy, if hypocrisy then you can repent and turn back to Christ.

15 More than a cleric, political activist, or simple chronicler of the events transpiring in the New World, however, Las Casas assumed the role of being the very conscience of Catholic Spain, a nation that grappled not only with the spiritual mandate to save souls but also with the human desire to acquire wealth. Paul Vickery - Bartolome de Las Casas: Great Prophet of the Americas

16 Race as justification for slavery and colonialism In 1537 the Church issued the Sublimus Dei bull against the enslavement of the Amerindians and followed up with the Pastorale Officium which prescribed excommunication on those who continued to enslave the Amerindians. Emperor Charles V forced the Pope to withdraw it. This form of slavery was attacked by Bartolomé de las Casas a Dominican Friar. He participated in the Valladolid University Debate on Amerindian rights and opposes the view that the natives are a lower form of humanity. In the end the Las Casas view was rejected in favor of one that justified the exploitation of non-europeans.

17 The enemy of the human race, who opposes all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the preaching of God's word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith. Pope Paul III -Sublimus Dei AD1537

18 #2 Race in English America

19 A Helpful Timeline Early Colonial English (Late) English Empire British Empire The Founding Period ( Revolutionary ) Evolving Federal Constitutional Regime >

20 Conflict with the Amerindians Wars Before the U.S.A. Existed Virginian Wars , 22-32, (Jamestown Massacre 1622) Pequot War King Philip s War Tuscarora War Lord Dunmore s War 1774

21 Relationship forged in Warfare During the colonial/imperial period the Anglican Church is the official church of the Empire. Natives could be honored or vilified depending on the situation. (The Conversion of Pocahontas should be celebrated.) Often seen as worthy defeated foes, or as menaces just over the horizon. It is racialized but not codified

22 A QUESTION OF IDENTITY WHO ARE WE LOCATION CONSTITUTION LANGUAGE RELIGION > We are Christian subjects of the English Crown.

23 TIMELINE OF FRACTURE the Transatlantic Discoveries 1501 Portuguese and Spanish enslavement of Africans begins 1515 Bartolomé de las Casas begins to preach against slavery in Spanish America 1517 the Protestant Reformation 1536 Calvin publishes Institutes of the Christian Religion 1543 Kingdom of Spain begins issuing Asiento promoting the slave trade in the colonies 1555 Peace of Augsburg establishes a truce between Catholics and Lutherans in the Holy Roman Empire (Germany and Central Europe) Thirty Years Wars kills approximately 8mil in war fought between Protestants and Catholics over religion and political power in the Central Europe. Religious Wars end, Christendom divided.

24 TIMELINE OF RACE CREATING 1607 Colony of Virginia established at Jamestown 1619 First Africans arrive in British America (Virginia) 1662 Free/Slave status defined at birth depending on mother s status 1664 Slavery enforced for life 1676 Bacon s Rebellion leads to the codification of the racial caste system 1680 All black persons disarmed and forced to carry traveling passes 1691 interracial marriage banned, interracial married couples exiled from Virginia 1705 law permits the dismemberment of an unruly slave 1715 free Negroes and Amerindians disenfranchised

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27 #3 A Great Awakening

28 The First Great Awakening It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made Christianity intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual conviction and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality. Renewed emphasis on literacy for Women Preaching to slaves encouraged. Early signs of abolitionism.

29 Anglicans During the Civil War of the British Empire

30 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. St Paul, Acts 17

31 Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. GOD, Exodus 21:16

32 8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus 10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. St. Paul Letter of Philemon

33 Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them. NorthWest Ordinance 1787

34 I am not uninformed that the six Nations have been led into some difficulties with respect to the sale of their lands since the peace. But I must inform you that these evils arose before the present government of the United States was established, when the separate States and individuals under their authority, undertook to treat with the Indian tribes respecting the sale of their lands. But the case is now entirely altered. The general Government only has the power, to treat with the Indian Nations, and any treaty formed and held without its authority will not be binding. Here then is the security for the remainder of your lands. No State nor person can purchase your lands, unless at some public treaty held under the authority of the United States. The general government will never consent to your being defrauded. But it will protect you in all your just rights. George Washington 1790

35 I believe scarcely anything short of a Chinese wall, or a line troops, will restrain Land jobbers, and the encroachment of settlers upon the Indian territory. George Washington

36 The Staining the Move West In the 1820s many Americans began to look to the West for adventure and economic opportunity. Some thought it better to leave American territory and go to a foreign county: Mexico. Mexico like the United States was fight the Amerindians. The Amerindians did not recognize Mexican claims to rule ancient Amerindian lands in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, etc. The Mexican government hoped that moving American settlers into northern Texas would create a buffer between Mexico and the Comanche tribe. At the time Mexican authorities were paying bounties for Comanche scalps.

37 #4 The Pharisees of Liberty

38 Conditions Slavery in A Christian Society

39 A Method of disunion? In 1816 the African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded. Even though they adhered Methodist governance and doctrine, they were segregated and excluded from preaching to non-blacks. This often included exclusion from seminary which impaired the training of black clergy.

40 because he chooses not what Christ really taught, but the suggestions of his own mind. Therefore heresy is a species of unbelief, belonging to those who profess the Christian faith, but corrupt its dogmas. St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica II:II 11

41 however culturally attractive they may be, actually debilitate the Church s mission George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury referring to the work of Bishop Allison in The Cruelty of Heresy

42 Second and Third Great Awakenings From and again beginning in 1858 the United States experienced Christian revivals. These movements led to an increased concern for social good. The movement s members were concerned with making society better and more just. They believed that the Bible provided moral instruction on how they should order society for betterment of all, leading to increased criticism of slavery. The revivalists New Light Christians wanted to help the poor, reduce alcoholism and fight crime. The Liberator was a newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison. He argued that slavery should be attacked because it was inhumane to blacks. This was an argument that was not often used.

43 William Wilberforce Church of England Member of Parliament Fought for the abolition of the Slave Trade Fought for the abolition of Slavery Died in 1833 a year before the abolition of slavery in Prominent role played by the slaves especially in Jamaica where they revolted in 1832.

44 Legacy of False Reconciliation

45 Politics over Orthodoxy

46 James Holly Missionary Bishop to Haiti Left the US in 1861 for Haiti PECUSA would not adopt his position against slavery Opposed by Bishop of Vermont John Hopkins who wrote A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of Slavery in 1861 to defend slavery

47 Bishop Alonzo Potter of PA vs Bishop John Hopkins of VT

48 Leonidas Polk st Bishop of Louisiana Founded University of the South Owned over 200 slaves Pulled the Diocese out of PECUSA and into PECCSA rose to the rank of Lt. Gen Died in battle against Sherman in Georgia

49 False Peacemaking

50 Politics over Orthodoxy again

51 #5 Worldliness and Alternative Memories

52 Racism and DeChristianization

53 My Personal Takeaways We already have the LANGUAGE We cannot compromise FIDELITY to SCRIPTURE for economic, status or financial incentives. We have to be PRUDENTIAL We are to be COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY We are to be advocates for ORDER We are the victims, heroes and VILLAINS of this history and we should WRESTLE with this reality.