Based on the readings, it was rather ironical that the religious missionaries helped in the promotion of colonization as well as the institution of slavery and oppression while they preached about Christian values. This must have added to the confusion and the difficulty of convincing the people to embrace Christianity, because the teachings differ from the principles of colonization which entails the use of power. It will be useful to start with how power and religion has helped in fostering the foundation of colonialism.
When the Europeans set out to colonize regions outside their sphere, it was their goal to spread Christianity and this can be noticed as they set to create and live in a religious community with the natives (Salisbury, 501). This was most exemplified in the book entitled The Jesuit Relations, where the missionaries reported that they were able to establish “a comprehensive and lasting peace” (Greer, 136) in some native communities, and this has helped in the creation of better political society. Yet both authors went into separate ways as to their discussion about the missionaries, in fact, Greer provided a compilation about the experiences of the Christian missionaries in spreading the teachings of Christ in the different tribes. On the other hand, Salisbury discussed about how the missionaries had acted, not on behalf of their mission as an envoy of the Christian faith, but as supporters of the “larger economic and political goals of the English colonial effort”(Salisbury, 507). Moreover, while the narrative’s by Greer recounted pleasant encounters with the natives, Salisbury’s work talked about resistance from the settlers.
Question: Based on the readings, the query that comes to mind is that, Why was there an apparent different perspective as to the role of the missionaries during the colonial era?
Works Cited
Greer, Allan. The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in Seventeenth-Century North America. Bedford/St. Martin's, n.d. Print.
Salisbury, Neal. Religious Encounters in a Colonial Context: New England and New France in the Seventeenth Century. N.p., n.d. Print.
