In class this week, we begin a new unit on the religious issues at the heart of colonization. How was colonization founded upon specific cosmological definitions of whom indigenous peoples were and how Europeans (Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, and Jews) should relate to them?

This week, we explore the Doctrines of Discovery and Catholic Christian approach to colonization. Next week, we explore Protestant Christian approach to colonization and begin to study how Jews approached their role in colonization.

Your Packback discussions this week How have these original colonial ideas from the Doctrines of Discovery changed or have some stayed the same?

SOURCE

For source type:You can build on last week’s post, depending on what your source was; or, you can branch out:

• Find a new news article
• Specific court cases
• Mission-work promotional videos
• pop-videos
• advertising
• Etc…

For source topic: Try to focus on sources focusing on “Doctrine of Discovery” itself or some aspect of Catholicism in America today that relates to the Doctrines of Discovery. I know that this could be very limiting depending on your browser and search engine, but do make the effort. We will look at Protestant and Jewish engagements next week. If you find posts for those religious groups, save them for next week!

TITLE your post with an opened question about some angle related to the Doctrines of Discovery you would like to explore through conversation.

WRITE in your question’s discussion section:

• State what search terms were most useful for you.
• Briefly describe the types of sources in your search results.
• Identify the source you are discussing.
• Outline the major issues involved in the events, topic, or conflict that this news article reports on.
• Are there aspects of the Doctrine of Discovery at work here; or have the issues morphed enough to have different names?
• What makes this issue complex?
• Thinking back to your title question, what subtopics do you think would be involved in discussing and speaking to your question?
• Add anything else that would contribute to a rich discussion.—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
• After you finish this give two responses for two students and provide sources for your response
• The post for first student:
  

  Does the Doctrine of Discovery continue to influence Native Americans?

  

  My Google search was “Native Americans and The Doctrine of Discovery”, but unfortunately I didn’t find the answer I was looking for and then Google linked me to “What was the Doctrine of Discovery and how does it apply to native people’s sovereignty? I found that I was interested, so I chose a few articles to read.One of the articles mentioned that “Indigenous and native peoples spoke out against the continued use of the internationally recognized principle of ” terra nullius” – which describes land belonging to no one but that could, in some cases, be acquired through occupation – as well as anachronistic norms, like the Regalian Doctrine, under which private land title emanates from the Spanish crown. “After a careful reading of The Doctrine of Discovery I found that this is indeed not in accordance with our laws, nor with Christian teachings. But it is also true that most of the Americas are not indigenous now. I have also watched many of these in conjunction with my previous searches. For example Prinz Three Irons hunts the face of the Big Horn Mountains at Montana and Wyoming state line in winter 2019, a place where most Crow hunters received fines from Wyoming Fish and Game officers, despite treaty rights.https://fourpointspress.com/2022/01/25/hoping-for-…I can’t help but wonder if we are still under the influence of The Doctrine of Discovery and why we still have news like this coming out to this day. Do we really feel that aggression is the right thing to do? My question is, please, in the context of the current state of Native Americans, do you think we are influenced by The Doctrine of Discovery?Source: ‘Doctrine of Discovery’, Used for Centuries to Justify Seizure of Indigenous Land, Subjugate Peoples, Must Be Repudiated by United Nations, Permanent Forum Toldhttps://www.un.org/press/en/2012/hr5088.doc.htm
  Christopher Columbus and the Doctrine of Discovery – 5 Things to Knowhttps://www.ictinc.ca/blog/christopher-columbus-an…

  Source: https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/christopher-columbus-and-the-doctrine-of-discovery-5-things-to-know

The post for the second student:

What is behind The Doctrine of Discovery? Should we as Christians accept The Doctrine of Discovery?

My Google search was “The Doctrine of Discovery”, but unfortunately, I didn’t find the answer I was looking for and then I searched for “find The Doctrine of Discovery “. I looked carefully at several sources.

The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/sp…

James Cook and the Doctrine of Discovery – 5 Things to Know

https://tinangata.com/2019/06/01/james-cook-and-th…

It seems to me that The Doctrine of Discovery is not consistent with the Christian doctrine that the Christian’s mission is to preach the gospel and bring love and truth to others, and that acts of aggression and slavery are not teachings of love, so please separate the aggressor from the Christian, and even more so separate the gospel from war.

But when we look closely you will see that in the social context of the time, even if there was no The Doctrine of Discovery, there would have been others. It is easy to see from this that The Doctrine of Discovery was not really a Christian doctrine, but a pretext for invading other countries in an open and honest manner, as required by the social environment of the time.