How Latin America saved the soul of the Catholic Church - Edward L. Cleary (2009) and Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America - Robert Brenneman (2001) - Christianity in Latin America
Download
Read an extract
Themes
Christianity, Catholic Church, Protestantism, Pentecostal movement, Evangelical church, liberation theology, Latin America development, gang members reformation, Catholicism, God, gang, religion, Edward L Cleary, Robert Brenneman, colonization, slavery, indigenous people
Reader
Abstract
Extract
of 6
Abstract
The voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World was partly inspired by the Christian religion. Christianity greatly fostered the conquering of the new world. The Catholic Church, especially, clutched on the claim that it was taking missions to the indigenous people, while playing a huge role in the conquest of the Americas. The missionaries and other Europeans imposed their religious beliefs on the natives as a means of colonization. The Catholic Church, however, did not declare the native Christians immediately, they had to first fit into the status of equality with the Europeans. Christianity therefore played a huge role in the economic, political and social developments of the Americas. The Church and the state operate mutually for reasons that are peculiar. The drive to have a mutual understanding is facilitated by the urgency of power.
Extract
[...] The Catholic church does not allow the congregation a unique relationship with their God, the Father prays for everyone, the prayers are rarely original and the Father is always a middleman between a believer and God. One can also state that due to the various implications of the Catholic church with oppression of low-income earners, the Gangs have developed a distrust for them. This means that they associate God with integrity and equality. It is a code of the Latin American Gangs not to mess with God. The ex-member of the gang also having acknowledged this respect cannot tell on the rest of the gang members. [...]
[...] It was accused of the corruption that was continuing to oppress the poor, while bettering the lives of a few leaders. The liberation theology was developed during this period.9 It was meant to rid the poverty off of the impoverished. The theology has faced a lot of opposition over the years since it seeks to change the relationship between the church and the congregation, by relinquishing power to the people. Its developers also claimed that the Catholic church had a stake in the poor living conditions of the low-income class. [...]
[...] The shunning of such acts in the Catholic church won't allow for their public discharge. Pentecostal churches, however, have developed in their theological compositions, rites that enable the reforming gang members to rid themselves of this shame.4 The discovery of the Americas quickly turned them into diverse cultural and religious grounds. There were African slaves, European Christians, Jews, Muslims and the natives. Latin America has had to develop a tolerance culture, since all these religions coexisted for some time.5 The Europeans were unfortunately able to decimate the cultures and ultimately the religions of the natives and of the African slaves. [...]
[...] Cleary (2009) and Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America - Robert Brenneman (2001) - Christianity in Latin America Name Class Date Christianity in Latin America The voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World was partly inspired by the Christian religion. Christianity greatly fostered the conquering of the new world. The Catholic Church, especially, clutched on the claim that it was taking missions to the indigenous people, while playing a huge role in the conquest of the Americas. [...]
[...] Brenneman does not explicitly tell us the relationship between these Gangs and God, he, however, implies it in the different findings he records. The rejection of the Catholic church and the preference over the evangelical Protestant churches informs us that the gangs have a deep connection with God. [...]
