Archive for category: History

Question 1—-Reading response 300-400 words, Please read the PDF reading I have attached below first.

Questions:

In this excerpt from his 1836 work, Rev. Brownlee warns Americans of the threat that Roman Catholicism poses to American ideals. Which American ideals in particular does he think are threatened by Catholicism? How does he appeal to history to make his case? In other words, what lessons about the history of Catholicism does Brownlee want his American audience to learn?

Question 2— Discussion 200 words

Topic—The Myth of the Inquisition

Use this discussion to consider a number of questions centered on this topic: what does the myth of the Spanish Inquisition teach us about the importance of historical revision? Discuss one or more of the following questions:

How were the events of the Inquisition misremembered or distorted by Protestants?

How did American memory of the Inquisition contribute to fear of Catholicism?

What does it mean that present-day depictions of the Inquisition often exaggerate its violence? What biases or prejudices contribute to this lingering myth?

Discussion Example:

Example 1

The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 by Ferdinand II and Isabella I. Although both rulers had many Roman and Spanish Protestants killed, the Protestant-created myth of mass executions and torture during the Spanish Inquisition was obviously created with English and Dutch Protestants in mind. The Spanish Inquisition was initially done to maintain Catholic Orthodoxy and to identify religious heretics. However, English and Dutch Protestants quickly began to portray the Spanish Inquisition in a way that gave English and Dutch Protestants a feeling of moral superiority over Spanish and Roman Catholics. The English and Dutch Protestants claimed that the Spanish Inquisition was a threat to European liberty and claimed that the Spanish Inquisition had killed around two million Protestant citizens living in Rome and Spain. However, in the 1990s, scholars gained access to several historical archives of the Spanish Inquisition. The archives showed that during the first few decades of the Spanish Inquisition, there were only about 1,800 executions. After the first few decades, there were about three executions per year.  These are significant numbers, but they were wildly exaggerated by Protestants.  In an attempt to turn all English Protestants against Catholicism, England and Holland began claiming that the Spanish Inquisition had millions of bloody executions. This claim is similar to many of today’s political memes, intended less as factual portrayals and more as propaganda. Protestants were not interested in historical accuracy; they were interested in motivating other Protestants to fear and hate Catholicism. Modern-day depictions of the Inquisition continue to exaggerate its violence.  The purpose of this exaggeration today is less about creating bias against Catholicism and more about creating bias against all religions. Modern-day atheists enjoy citing the Inquisition, and the Crusades, as evidence of religious hypocrisy and violence and as a reason that religion is dangerous to society.

Example 2

The events of the Inquisition were severely distorted in order to fit the Protestant narrative of “evil Catholicism”. The number of executions resulting from the inquisition was overexaggerated severely; instead of the millions and millions of deaths claimed by protestant England and Holland, official records only confirmed a number in the lower thousands. This shows that the numbers were conveniently altered by protestants to support their own critique of Catholic Europe. This is not the first time we’ve seen this happen in this course… We saw how protestants directly fabricated the myth of Bloody Mary while hypocritically ignoring the horrible actions of protestant Queen Elizabeth and her other relatives. Once again, the English criticize Catholic Spain of being too violent and unchristian while simultaneously promoting their own version of the very same religious violence.

The American memory of the Inquisition has obviously contributed to the fear and general protestant atmosphere of this country because the inquisition (overexaggerated) symbolizes oppression and totalitarianism. This is exactly what the founders of the United States were trying to escape in England. Their whole mission was to distance themselves from mandated deference to the monarchy, and they see a parallel of this to popery. The pope is the head of the Catholic Church and makes very important decisions regarding the unification of the Church. Protestant thinkers associated this kind of power with that of the English monarchy.