The New Woeld Faiths

Mihye Yoon
HS201 Dr. Riedl
Sep. 12, 2011

Study Questions for New World Faiths (100 Points)

  1) Why do you think Butler began the book with stories of Algonquin dreams, Judith Giton, the African’s petition, and Nathan Cole? What do these stories have in common?
By beginning the book with these stories, Butler tried to show us how religion affected individuals and societies in early America differently. For instance, Judith Giton escaped her country for freedom of religion, and she believed God changed her life happily, while African slaves’ wrenching petition was never taken care of by the Protestant bishop in London. This story shows us religion did not disturb the advance of slavery in the colonial period. On the other hand, Algonquian-speaking Indians believed gods give signal about life that must be followed through dreams and visions, and Nathan Cole’s life was deeply affected and changed by religious experience. However, these stories have in common in the way that religion in the early America was woven in the people’s daily life.

  2) In the Chapter 1, how does Butler describe the religious beliefs, and the religious divisions, throughout Europe? What about within England?
French Catholics separated from Spanish Catholics, Protestants in England from those in the Netherlands. England became Protestant and separated from the Roman Catholic Church, but then England switched back to Catholic Church under Mary I.

  3) Compare and contrast the religious systems of African and Indian peoples. What did their belief system have in common with those of Europeans?
  4)   How would you explain Spain’s religious policy in the new world? How did these policies affect Indians, and what was Las Casas’s impact?
  5) Describe the origins and development of Spanish missions in Florida, Nuevo Mexico, and California. How were local native peoples affected in each case?