バルトロメ・デ・ラス・カサス : 彼のインディオおよびインディアスの現実に対する認識を中心に

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This article discusses Las Casas's understanding of the following three aspects : ( 1 ) the native Indians, ( 2 ) the causes of the Indians' suffering, ( 3 ) relations between the colonial system in the Indies and the Catholic church. To clarify his viewpoint, I compare his understanding with that of other missionaries and colonists in the same period. The image of the Indians that the Spanish people in the 16th century had were : they are barbarous, cannibal, homosexual, illiterate, and lazy. The Spanish insisted that the Indians were so inferior that they should be subject to the Spanish. They also believed that Spain had the right to use military power to convert the indigenous population to Christianity, because preaching alone was not an effective mean of conversion. Las Casas opposed these ideas and emphasized the Indians' virtues humility, patience, gentleness, and non-violence. He insisted that the missionaries must communicate the Good News by preaching the word of God and performing acts of love. Moreover, he refused to discriminate between Europeans and others, and he respected the Indians as equals. Missionaries and colonists said that the cause of the Indians' suffering was their idol worship. They also thought that this suffering was a punishment of God and that the Spanish people were not reprehensible for what they did against the Indian population. However, Las Casas insisted that the real causes were the encomienda system, the use of military power, and the Spanish greed for gold. At the same time, he saw the suffering Christ in the oppressed Indians and he developed this perspective during his lifetime. Almost all contemporary missionaries for economic reasons affirmed and supported the colonial system based on the encomienda system. This colonial system oppressed and exploited the Indians. Las Casas called this colonial system "destruction" and he pointed out that the Catholic church was connected to this "destruction" by having an economic relationship with it, by, for example, receiving donations to build churches or convents, serving the colonists in their personal chapels, or receiving Mass stipends. Las Casas wrote that all priests who received economic support from the colonists were in sin and they, as well as the colonists, had a duty to pay compensation to the Indians. Las Casas did not value the success of the missionaries, for example, the fact that the Catholic church in Mexico took pride in having more than four million converts in fifteen years. He could find no meaning in having so many converts when uncounted numbers of Indians were sacrificed.
2002-08-01

バルトロメ・デ・ラス・カサス : 彼のインディオおよびインディアスの現実に対する認識を中心に

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