There was a certain concern however, with missionaries destroying the Inka spirituality that was associated with the actual land occupied by the Incas. There is a Quechua story that says a ancient Inka civilization married Pachamama, mother earth, which went on to produce human offspring. (Dean 502) This tale and others are representative of the deep relationship that the Inka people had with the earth. In fact, while other civilizations chose to cut through and destroy rock whilebuidling, the Inka actually decided to build in conjunction with natural stone formations. Dean says, “I suggest that the integrated rock outcrop was used by the Inka to express qhariwarmi in the built enviroment. In particular it articulates the coming together of
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This sale of architecture expresses a deep connection with mother earth, and is in direct correlation to the original Quechua story above. Dean puts it perfectly when she says, “[A] relationship of complements leading to a fruitful conjoining (that is, marriage and procreation). Living rock, once merged with an Inka structure, is this relationship made visible.” (Dean 505) Dean shows that the Andean people saw the life in the stones that they built their civilization on. They honored nature as an actual being. Now if this were the case, then why would they give up their land to be taken over by the Spanish missionaries? This peels back another layer to the complex conundrum that is the reformation of Incan religion. This shows that there certainly must have been a level of force that the Spanish use to initially place their Chapels on Incan land. Maybe not a great deal of force, but certainly more than the amount that Wernke acknowledges. The combination of forceful loss of property and deep religious devotion to the earth is certainly an intriguing …show more content…
In Jan Szemiński’s, “From Inca Gods to Spanish Saints and Demons” a part of Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity, Szemiński notes that the Inca people assimilated rather quickly to Christianity. Though it may have taken place over a longer span of time, as Wernke said, by the end of this time period the Inca people considered themselves more Christian than the Spanish. (Szemiński 56) This however is not the case with all indigenous peoples. In “Christianization and Indigenization: Contrasting Processes of Religious Adaptation in Thailand” by Erik Cohen, we find that the people of Thailand actually were able to not assimilate fully to Christianity. In Thailand, a buddhist country, Christian Churches always played a much smaller role in their communities than their buddhist counterparts. Cohen says, “The Christian Churches in Thailand and their missionaries enjoyed the status of being tolerated, but not particularly welcome guests” (Cohen 31) This is quite different than what we saw in Andean culture, where the Christian Churches were given prime location in the central plaza. Again, in the indigenous response to Protestantism in China we find vast differences from what happened to the Inca. In “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China” by Daniel Bays, we see that the Chinese had a similar response to Protestantism as the Thai people had to Christianity. Many of the Chinese people who
This sale of architecture expresses a deep connection with mother earth, and is in direct correlation to the original Quechua story above. Dean puts it perfectly when she says, “[A] relationship of complements leading to a fruitful conjoining (that is, marriage and procreation). Living rock, once merged with an Inka structure, is this relationship made visible.” (Dean 505) Dean shows that the Andean people saw the life in the stones that they built their civilization on. They honored nature as an actual being. Now if this were the case, then why would they give up their land to be taken over by the Spanish missionaries? This peels back another layer to the complex conundrum that is the reformation of Incan religion. This shows that there certainly must have been a level of force that the Spanish use to initially place their Chapels on Incan land. Maybe not a great deal of force, but certainly more than the amount that Wernke acknowledges. The combination of forceful loss of property and deep religious devotion to the earth is certainly an intriguing …show more content…
In Jan Szemiński’s, “From Inca Gods to Spanish Saints and Demons” a part of Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity, Szemiński notes that the Inca people assimilated rather quickly to Christianity. Though it may have taken place over a longer span of time, as Wernke said, by the end of this time period the Inca people considered themselves more Christian than the Spanish. (Szemiński 56) This however is not the case with all indigenous peoples. In “Christianization and Indigenization: Contrasting Processes of Religious Adaptation in Thailand” by Erik Cohen, we find that the people of Thailand actually were able to not assimilate fully to Christianity. In Thailand, a buddhist country, Christian Churches always played a much smaller role in their communities than their buddhist counterparts. Cohen says, “The Christian Churches in Thailand and their missionaries enjoyed the status of being tolerated, but not particularly welcome guests” (Cohen 31) This is quite different than what we saw in Andean culture, where the Christian Churches were given prime location in the central plaza. Again, in the indigenous response to Protestantism in China we find vast differences from what happened to the Inca. In “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China” by Daniel Bays, we see that the Chinese had a similar response to Protestantism as the Thai people had to Christianity. Many of the Chinese people who